42itous

Five years ago, on Tuesday, January 13th, 2004, I started a LiveJournal account.

It was the coldest winter I've ever experienced, with the temperature not reaching above freezing for three weeks that January. I lived in a poorly-insulated first floor apartment where we turned the thermostat up to 80 degrees but the actual temperature wouldn't budge above 60.

I had recently quit my job at Boston Costume with no new employment on the horizon. I felt it was time for a change from my career in theater, and started looking on Craigslist for childcare work.

As luck would have it, childcare work came to me via friends of friends, and January 13th found me on my second day of babysitting for a brother and sister -- age eight and five, respectively. I would work with these children over the next two-and-a-half years, watching them grow not only in height but also in artistic ability, intellectual curiosity, and their own unique and delightful senses of humor. The two of them reminded me of myself and my brother (

hoopdiver) at their ages, and I relished the opportunity to help introduce them to various geeky (and less geeky) books, movies, songs, and games that I remembered from my own childhood.

A week later, on Tuesday the 20th, I would begin working mornings at a private costume shop, where we build costumes for theater companies, theme parks, advertisements, and opera companies. I love assembling a garment, putting the pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle. I also love making many of the same costume, as it's contemplative work. I've surprised myself by developing strong friendships with several of my coworkers (I've traditionally been better at being friends with men than with women, and all my coworkers are women).

In January 2004, I was enjoying a still-new friendship, with

majordomo. We had been introduced by

elsinoreblue the previous summer, but had only started to become friends in November, when my job at Boston Costume was starting to tangibly erode. In December we went on what we'd later call our first date, but in January we were still just friends. I was captivated by his generosity, his caring, and the way he could make almost anything into a joke or a pun. By that March we'd be officially dating, and we'd get married in 2005, on my 27th birthday.

In the winter of 2004, I would join the National Puzzlers' League, choosing "42itous" as my nom. This had been my favorite "word" since high school, appealing to me for its auspicious synonym and its nod to the answer to the question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. My original LJ name was "marfta," a high school nickname. After some time in the NPL, I became more comfortable with 42itous as a nickname (and usually, as an apt descriptor), so it seemed natural to change the name on my LJ account.

In the spring of 2004, I would begin bicycling to work, and I would continue doing so as my commute shifted, growing from five miles a day to thirteen and then settling back to nine. I'm a fair-weather biker: I try only to bike between 30 degrees and 80 degrees and when the streets are dry.

When I look back at how my life was in January 2004, there is one more thing that I feel a need to mention, because I can't really imagine what my life would be like without it: square dancing. I know, to the uninitiated it sounds hokey, and I'm not going to go into all the ways it isn't, but: in the fall of 2005 I learned to square dance, a workout for both mind and body. I already knew many members of the square dance club, but seeing them every week, and dancing with them, and making mistakes that interfere with other people's dancing, and being forgiven for those mistakes... has made me see them as a new branch of chosen family, people with whom I feel at home.

I was a painfully shy, antisocial child. You'd never guess it, to see me today. I am a social person, I have many close friends, and I love to be around them. I am lucky to have found so many people I feel comfortable with.

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From:

nosrednayduj

And if other readers are excited about trying square dancing too -- the next class is just around the bend! Click around on the square dancing link above to find out more. [this has been a paid advertisement. yeah right]