An Introduction and a Cast of Characters

Welcome to my first blogging experience!

That's a lie, but ignore that.

First, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Penitent, an unfortunate name that was given to me from birth. The name is particularly unapt--what with all its religious connotations--since I am an atheist. Or, at least, I am as close to being an atheist as a creature of doubt can truly be.

Now, allow me to introduce my "cast of characters." There is a part of me that hates a cast of characters, since I so often see one attached to a blog I don't like. And although it may happen anyway, I don't want to write a blog I don't like. But there's a part of me that likes the straightforwardness, perhaps even laziness of it. And that's the part of me that's winning right now.

One more thing. I am a foolish, unemployable anonymous blogger. That means I don't use real names. It also means I get to assign arbitrary pseudonyms to talk about real people. (I could also assign arbitrary pseudonyms to fake people, or real names to talk about real people, and no one should be the wiser.) I have decided that the theme of pseudonyms on this blog will henceforth be SAINTS and everyone will be named after a saint, so there you go.


A CAST OF CHARACTERS

John, named (for the purposes of this blog) after the archdiocese of his hometown in Wisconsin, is my boyfriend of two years. We work together, commute together, and share a room in the city as well as two cats. John is intelligent, ambitious, attractive, reflexively contrarian, and just a little bit crazy. He's a masters student right now, at the age of 26, and wants to transition smoothly into two concurrent Ph.D. programs. I don't even know if that's possible, but see? Just a little bit crazy.

He can trace his father's lineage to Brigham Young of LDS fame, but in fact he did not meet his father until he was seventeen years old. Then, he only met the man when he sued him for 17 years' worth of child support payments. Thanks to the lawsuit, John was able to attend a schmancy university he wouldn't have afforded otherwise. The lawsuit also allowed him to meet his dad--well, to be more accurate, forced his dad to meet him--which ended up being a good thing, because they hit it off and have been good friends ever since. Incidentally, anyone who doubts the power of genetics ought to see John and his father. They are so alike in mannerisms, temperament, belief systems and behavior patterns that it is difficult to believe that John's father played no part whatsoever in bringing him up. But that is exactly how it was. Meanwhile, John's mother does not resemble him in any evident way.

I mentioned that we have two cats. The cats aren't named after saints. I will call them Duncecap and Stalin.

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Maybe the real reason why I have avoided writing a "cast of characters" has less to do with its lameness and more to do with the fact that I write too much.

I have to do work now. But I'll come back later and add to this.