Introduce Yourself

[ItISjustme]

I'm female, currently living in Australia but originally from Scotland. I have a law degree but ended up in nursing. Worked as an RN in the US (hello, Texas!) for a few years. Mother of two, one of each, and when I look at my bright, independent, educated to Masters degree daughter and think of these poor fundy girls who will never have an ounce of her life, I could weep.

Got here via the Duggars. I too was initially beguiled by the glossy exterior and it took me too long to discover the ugly truth beneath. I stopped watching when I did.

I'm a lapsed Catholic so I know all about hell, which is good because that's clearly where I'm headed.

[doubtingkimmy]

Hello all, I'm Kim. I'm in my late 40's, married, with one child. With the exception of the years I spent in college earning my BS, I've lived in PA all of my life, in the same very, very Catholic city. I'm a SAHM right now, but I've worked for more years of my life than not, and hopefully will be returning to the cruel old job world soon, if someone will employ my raggedy old behind.

I love Free Jinger, and read here every day, although I almost never post (by the time I've gotten a chance to read through a thread, all of the best answers have already been taken). I loathe and despise patriarchy and all that it implies, and find its far right religious practitioners far more scary than any zombie apocalypse. Who would have ever thought that The Handmaid's Tale would turn out to be prophetic when it was first written?

[Dixiebelle]

Wow, natural born triplets are rare. Were they identical? Dr. Phil's older son is married to 1 of identical triplets.

I am a 2 time breast cancer survivor, good luck on the journey. It's not easy.

I have identical boys, and a girl (you would not believe how many people ask if she is id too!).

Thank you! I breastfed them for a really long time, so you would think I would get a pass on the BC (according to that PP guy I read about). I am finishing up radiation next Tuesday and then hopefully I will be done. :)

[NurseNell]

I have identical boys, and a girl (you would not believe how many people ask if she is id too!).

That's about as dumb as a friend's husband who asked me how we were going to understand our son when he started to talk. I asked why wouldn't we understand him. "Well won't he speak Spanish because he's from Colombia?" I kid you not!!!! :o The sad thing he seriously believed he would speak Spanish despite the fact he had been with us, his English speaking parents, since he was 9 weeks old.

[SoybeanQueen]

I'm 34, female, live in Kansas. I'm a writer. My kids are 10, 9, 6, 5 and 4 months.

[ellerigby]

I'm 27, recently married, and happily childless (though my husband and do I want kids someday). I'm a public interest lawyer in Phoenix, AZ. I've lurked on this board for a long time, though I only post occasionally. ;)

[Anxious Girl]

I'm 20, love genealogy (my heritage is Natvie Mc-Maq Canadian, French, Irish, and Italian for anybody that cares), history, anime, playing pokemon and drawing. I want to learn French, Italian, and Spanish. I might also want to learn Japanese and Russian. I feel that some of my hobbies are childish though. I love this forum because even though it's snarky, people are very kind when support is needed and I feel like I can talk about feminism and acceptence here better than with most of my immediate family members when I feel like they don't accept my opnions and feel as though I'm "attacking my race". I have been to Italy to visit relatives, and my goal is to save money to travel around Asia and Europe. Has 2 dogs. I take online college courses and work. *feels like she's in school again* :oops:

[VVV]

Dear VVV. Please give me some tips! My son is a junior majoring in Music Theory and Composition; what can we do to keep him from having to use his back up plan?!?

Oh, that's hard...the only career paths that come to mind for that combination are either get a PhD and look for a tenure-track professorship somewhere, or get lucky writing music for a best-selling video or computer game. But I took the bare minimum music theory so I'm hardly an expert in opportunities there. My degrees are in performance. I have a position in a professional orchestra which entailed running the brutal audition gauntlet before landing my current job, which I've held for over twenty years.

I do not encourage even my most talented students to seek a career as a performer. They have to want it badly enough to do it in spite of good advice to the contrary. They must also be extremely talented, willing to work hard, and lucky. My oldest son is extremely gifted and in fact will be performing with the top Texas All-State orchestra this weekend--a real accomplishment for a high school musician. Last year he was awarded the "Most Likely To Become A Professional Musician" trophy at his school orchestra banquet. When I saw that, I told the director he left some words off the trophy. "What?" the director said, to which I said, "Most Likely To Become A Professional Musician Over His Mother's Dead Body."

Don't get me wrong, I love my life and feel fortunate to be able to do what I love for a living. But the struggles to get to where I am, and the struggles to stay here (my orchestra, like many, has had financial problems in the past), are not worth going through if you can be happy doing anything else.

[Jessica]

23, from Monterey CA originally, now in Provo. Married with 1 sweet little boy. :)

[Guest Anonymous]

I'm in my early 30s. I was born and raised in the south and fled to a liberal Midwestern metropolis several years ago. I was not raised with religion; I'm missing the so-called "God gene" and I identify as agnostic. I generally find fundies to be both fascinating *and* repellent. I dodged a bullet many years ago when I divorced an increasingly fervent born-again Christian (raised Catholic, turned SDA) who used the Bible to justify treating me like shit. Now I enjoy snarking on fundies here with you fine folks!

[Dixiebelle]

That's about as dumb as a friend's husband who asked me how we were going to understand our son when he started to talk. I asked why wouldn't we understand him. "Well won't he speak Spanish because he's from Colombia?" I kid you not!!!! :o The sad thing he seriously believed he would speak Spanish despite the fact he had been with us, his English speaking parents, since he was 9 weeks old.

OMG! LOL! I swear every time I decide nothing people do will surprise me anymore, something comes along to prove me wrong! :lol:

[ZTwist]

Oh, that's hard...the only career paths that come to mind for that combination are either get a PhD and look for a tenure-track professorship somewhere, or get lucky writing music for a best-selling video or computer game. But I took the bare minimum music theory so I'm hardly an expert in opportunities there. My degrees are in performance. I have a position in a professional orchestra which entailed running the brutal audition gauntlet before landing my current job, which I've held for over twenty years.

I do not encourage even my most talented students to seek a career as a performer. They have to want it badly enough to do it in spite of good advice to the contrary. They must also be extremely talented, willing to work hard, and lucky. My oldest son is extremely gifted and in fact will be performing with the top Texas All-State orchestra this weekend--a real accomplishment for a high school musician. Last year he was awarded the "Most Likely To Become A Professional Musician" trophy at his school orchestra banquet. When I saw that, I told the director he left some words off the trophy. "What?" the director said, to which I said, "Most Likely To Become A Professional Musician Over His Mother's Dead Body."

Don't get me wrong, I love my life and feel fortunate to be able to do what I love for a living. But the struggles to get to where I am, and the struggles to stay here (my orchestra, like many, has had financial problems in the past), are not worth going through if you can be happy doing anything else.

Congratulations on your son's accomplishment, you must be very proud of him!

Yeah, my son is probably going to go on with his education, his really understands and likes music theory, and try for a position at the college level. I agree about performance, that's incrediblly difficult; he ideally would love to write for films or video games, but that's also hard. He has a true passion for music ( no humming at the dinner table!!) so we felt it would be cruel not to encourage him.

[Rosie]

I'm Rosie, a 50yo married mother of two. I live in one of the Mid-Atlantic states.

I've lurked at freejinger (in this incarnation and the previous one) for ages and would likely get a B or a B+ if someone quizzed me on fundies as I don't keep all of them straight. (I'd get an A on a Fundie Royalty quiz, however.) The Duggars were my gateway fundies back in the early 2000s, but I've been following the Maxwells since about then too. (I have a sick fascination with the Maxwells. I can't seem to get enough of them.)

I cannot keep the Morton/Sanders families straight, can never follow who is married to whom etc., and don't find them interesting enough to try.

[nolongerIFBx]

I turn 35 on Friday :crying-blue: , was raised IFB and would consider myself fundie-lite. I recently shed my SAHD status and moved into the studio apartment-like home I've been building on for 9 years- not that I was a good SAHD. I learned to drive and had a real job! :o After wasting a few years with non-accredited college courses at an IFB college I started working my way through a degree at the ebil University I work at. I have two furbabies of the feline variety :animals-cat: - an Oriental Shorthair and a Peterbald- and am currently contemplating becoming a single mother by choice, likely by embryo donation- if I can manage to eliminate my debt before I turn 40. Even if I chicken out, at least the debt will be paid off. :think:

(And I love smilies!)

[Guest Anonymous]

I'm 31, from the south Louisiana, and I'm an RN. Married and I have two year old twins. I'm brand new here, and this forum is an excellent way for me to pass the day at my boring desk job. =)

[FrancineFishpaw]

I'll be 47 in 9 days. Married for 26 yrs to a recently retired Master Gunnery Sergeant in the Marine Corps (read 'adjustment'). RN at a small ICU in this quaint coastal SC town. 2 kids (boy 24, girl 18). About to be empty nesters except for the 2 rescue pit mixes and 2 rescue cats! Love old movies from the 20's, 30's, and 40's. Love reality TV to a point (no Bachelor, Survivor, Idol, Swamp People please!) Have really enjoyed watching the Duggars grow and definitely love the snark. Worried about how they'll readjust to "the old life" when the show is canceled. Fear they will be "ruined forever". THAT'S what kind of Duggar TV I'd like to see. #curious (God! I'm posting like Smugs)!

P.S. I'm from MO and am APPALLED Frothy got the nom! #shame :oops:

[jesssnerch]

Me too! ^^^^^

[asinglevoice]

Hi all! I'm brand-new here, though I've been lurking for *ages*. I'm 23 and from Michigan and in my last semester of academic work in college, woohoo! Not raised religious in any way, shape, or form, though my mother is now throwing herself headlong into Christianity and attempting to drag me along with her, despite my complete lack of interest :roll: . The Duggars are probably my gateway fundies, but I'm bizarrely fascinated with the Maxwells - what a strange group of people.

[PokaDot]

I'll stop by, say hi :).

I used to post on the old board (same username-started posting during the Emily days), I never got around to registering here until lately.

I found this place via TWOP ages ago.

[FarmWife]

Lurked for a long time. 32. Homeschooling mom of 4 kids. Christian, but not fundie. Drawn here by the large number of ATI, Pearl-admiring, and other Fundie homeschoolers we interact with on a regular basis. They simultaneously fascinate and infuriate me. FreeJinger is my guilty pleasure after the kids are in bed (or, like right now, when I should be making them breakfast.)

[gnegirl]

Major lurker, i'll be 45 in a few months, married, atheist, liberal, childfree, with cats :)

Altho i suspect one of the cats is a secret fundie... (just kidding)

[jjmennonite]

I live in Alberta, Canada - God's country - beautiful mountains. I was raised Mennonite - original fundies, as somebody else mentioned. Then 'God showed them the light' and my parents left the mennonites for pentacostel - all the same beliefs minus the funny clothes and beards. Attended Baptist church as a teen, and almost went to a Gothard 'Basic Youth Conflicts' seminar. I left that all behind with my childhood.

Spent my youth getting a degree, and traveling to all the continents except Antarctica. Worked in South Africa and England.

I am 53, a single mother of a beautiful 19 year old daughter who is at the ebil university. Got lots of fur-kids - rescue dogs. Still travelling when I can. Going to Cuba in 10 days.

Found Free Jinger from No Longer Quivering - some time ago. Have been reading for a few years - don't say much. I can relate to pretty much any religion discussed here - either have attended or am surrounded by members. So much fun and intellegence on this board, and a little drama. I LOVE it.

[NJMom]

I'm 48, have two teen boys in high school, married, work part-time, Presbyterian (been so all my life), a deacon at my church (find it very satisfying) and found FJ from TWOP after the Duggar thread was closed down.

[Austin]

I am in my mid-30s, live in the PacNW. Was raised fundie Catholic, married a whacko evangelical as a virgin bride, left, and got on with my bad self.

Mother of one amazing 4 year old, married to my soul mate. I like cake, I loathe Patriarchal Dominionism and the subjugation of women/girls, and the religious takeover of politics.

FJ is my density.

Now that is funny. :lol:

[Deleted02]

Soon to be 24, full time student in a small town in NC that I can't wait to ditch one day. I do odd jobs such as babysitting, pet sitting, and yard work to make money. I have been searching for a part time job with no luck so far.