Simply Living

For those of you unfamiliar with my sister's blog, you really should be there, she has much more profound things to say. Recently she has been attempting to live in a very sustainable manner, which she calls "living simply," for religious and pragmatic reasons. Her first post of the New Year is a simple piece on what she appreciates about living simply. For those of you who are curious, previous posts provide additional information about specific changes that she has made, and there is a tasty cookie recipe as well, bonus!

I have been wanting to write something inspirational to kick off the new year, but have not had any idea what to say to that effect. Thus, I direct you to my sister's blog, which I find much more inspiring, and shall write a little in response.

While visiting Oregon, I have been staying with my sister, so I have had a fair bit of immersion into her simpler living. Personally, my lifestyle tends towards the simplistic; most of that is intended to keep my stress at manageable levels rather than out of altruistic motives, and I tend to draw the line at making my life more complicated in an attempt to simplify it, as attempting to bake my own bread seems like it would inevitably do. That said, I can vouch that simple living is not an unpleasant experience at all.

For myself however, I shall concentrate on simply living. My sister sometimes seems more mature than I, and, in this case, I think that she has figured out what she wants out of life a bit quicker than I. This facilitates tweaks, albeit drastic, time consuming, and impressive, to lifestyle. Fortunately, although I am still searching for something that feels right, there are good times along the way. So, may your year be simple and contain the occasional moment of joy!

Laying the Foundation

"Every journey begins with a single step."

No doubt most are familiar with this clichéd saying, if you type it into Google you will obtain hundreds of results. This only makes it more surprising that I cannot find to whom it should be attributed! Thus does my "blogging" career begin with disappointment.

I have been, if not agonizing, then worrying about, what I should put into this first entry. In fact, it has taken me almost a week to overcome my timidity and boldly throw myself out of the nest and into the Internet. It is not just the plethora of options that Blogger offers, which seem quite daunting to this shy soul, more than that it is the alternately apathetic and antipathetic nature of the medium in which I swim. However, the mental unease of knowing my unchristened, ignored blog lurked on one of my Firefox tabs did eventually grow heavier than the unease associated with exposing myself like this, and thus do I begin. Seeing as I am beginning, perhaps I should finish with some comments about myself and this journal.

1) I am a self-proclaimed moderate, mainly through alienation from both sides of our two-party system. I make no claims about my views actually being moderate; many of them are quite the opposite. I do not speak for any association of moderates, or radical far middlists, only myself.

2) I prefer mild language, both in my writings and in comments that, hopefully, are posted here. Personally my strongest insults usually hover around "nutcase," although I have been known to ramp it up to "stupid" if I am emotional. Keeping this in mind will help decipher why I am seem to be taking some issues sitting down, my language may be relatively mild, but I still might be aghast or enraged. I have no intent on censoring for strong language (see next point), nor will I faint dead away if someone uses an "adult word". I consider my language to be a form of respect for my reader, and I request that contributors show similar respect please.

3) On the other hand, I may censor for content. There are some things with which I do not wish to be associated. I will not list them; I doubt I could produce anything resembling an exhaustive list. Again, pleased be governed by respect for myself and other "netizens" you may affect. Should I feel it necessary to censor a comment, it will be removed, I may make note of it, and I may not.

Thank you for respecting my personal parcel of cyberspace.