Humble Beginnings

Whenever I'm reading a great blog, I think, "I wish I had an awesome blog that people from across the world would stumble upon and gain profound insights just by reading my musings." Then I go through a cycle of motivation (where I try to think of a creative blog name and ultimately fail), self-deprecation ("I'm just not witty enough to have a successful blog!"), false promises to my now-defunct LiveJournal ("I already have a blog, I just need to start writing in it again! I'll post an entry tomorrow!") and denial ("I don't really want a blog, it's just a fad that takes up too much time..."), and then without fail, I read another awesome blog, and the cycle repeats. Such is life.

So now, I am breaking that cycle. While I don't presume that my blog will ever be widely read or turned into a bestselling book/feel-good movie (hey, my name is Julie and I like to cook, but I'm not getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars just to be me), maybe it will give me an outlet for all of those moments when I say, "I wish I had somewhere to chronicle this seemingly meaningless event in my life." Or, to vent my frustrations and document the vast array of indiscriminate thoughts floating around in my mind. We'll see.

That being said, a little background may be helpful. I am a 22-year old graduate of a private Christian college in Pennsylvania, where I studied youth ministry, music, and how to procrastinate on every assignment thrown my way (except for my Big Final Research Paper, which I completed more than 24 hours before the deadline, thankyouverymuch). I had planned to go right into youth ministry after college, but some things happened here and I decided to get another degree first. Now I'm at a Lutheran seminary in Pennsylvania (there are only two, so I'm opening the door pretty wide for stalkers) studying youth ministry (oops just narrowed it down to one) and loving almost every minute of it.

I'm originally from Baltimore, which is where I spend my time when I'm not living and learning on a battlefield. I have a mom and a dad who are pretty incredible, and an awesome little sister who is growing up way too quickly for my liking. We have a red short hair miniature dachshund named Gracie, who is the best dog ever (this is not up for debate). If I were in a sentimental mood, I would say something like "My family has made me who I am, and I am eternally grateful for everything they've done for me." Note: I am always in a sentimental mood.

Now, as for the name. Like I said, my number one deterrent in starting a blog has always been the name. I mean, what if this takes off and garners global attention? I don't want to have a blog with a second-rate name! By the way, if that happens, I'll probably hire a marketing team (Lindsay, you're chief of staff) and an internet expert to come up with a new name and transfer all of my posts to a new blog under it, erasing all history of this one. But we'll cross that bridge when/if we come to it.

Anyway, back to the name. I'm in seminary, so obviously that makes me a seminarian. However, I am deeply troubled by the image that most of the world has of seminarians. You think we're all serious, studious people who do nothing but read the Bible and theology books all day, or sit around in clerical collars talking about how pious we are compared to the heathens of the world. There are some like that among us, but I want to dispel that rumor!

The seminarians I have met (myself included) are people. Yes, you read it here first, seminarians are people too. We make poor choices and don't always say the right thing, and sometimes we even skip chapel. But we have a lot of fun and we do our best to love people the way Jesus loved people, and we're just following this (sometimes crazy) call that God has blessed us with.

All that to say: I like to think of myself as pretty sassy. Merriam-Webster says that sassy means impudent, which means "marked by contemptuous or cocky boldness or disregard of others." I renounce that definition, for your information. Instead, I prefer to use M-W's other characterizations of someone who is sassy: vigorous, lively, and distinctively smart and stylish. The latter two can be debatable at times, but I am nothing if not vigorous and lively. I promise to you, my loyal reader(s?), that I will strive to make this blog as sassy as possible. You won't find a lot of heady discourse on deep theological topics; you will find me wrestling with issues that come up in my seminary education. If I start to get boring, send me a virus that will incapacitate blogspot until I've become more exciting (just kidding, seriously, don't send me a virus); nobody wants a bland blog!

Alright, well, I am off to plow through some busy work. That's right, folks, you heard me correctly: I am in grad school, and I have busy work. This may be a topic for another blog post in the future, so I won't steal my own thunder, but suffice it to say that if busy work took a long walk off a short pier, I would be none too disappointed.