Bringing everyone up to speed.
This is the Basic Facts Meme. Rather than culling it from my Friends' Page, I hunted it down because between the people I haven't spoken to in years and the people who are new to my livejournal, I'm feeling dangerously close to being an "LJ Lurker."
First Name: Adam
Age: 21
Location: Scarsdale, NY, but really Eastchester.
Occupation: I think officially I'm an employee of Kelly Services, though I haven't yet done any work for them. More on this later.
Partner: I recently reunited with my college girlfriend, alz_be_ta. We cook good food and drink fine wine and generally live outside our means together. I am very pleased with this development.
Kids: None, though it is an eventual goal (much to many peoples' surprise and dismay).
Brothers/Sisters: I have a sister (Katie, 19) who attends Vassar College. It was for the wrong reasons and she didn't deserve it, but we've been getting along for most of the last 5 years, so I don't mention it much.
Pets: Two cats, named Haley and Louise. They are named after Haley Joel Osment and the character from Katherine Paterson's Jacob Have I Loved, respectively. They have adorable territory wars all over my house and every morning I wake up with one of them on my chest.
List the 3-5 biggest things going on in your life:
1. The Job Search. I admit I wasted a few months this summer, but luckily, the economy tanked right after that, so people are very sympathetic. And Kelly Services, which I think some aunts of mine used when it was Kelly Girls and only provided secretaries, seems happy enough to take on my resume, and has made many promises to employ me soon which I don't believe for a moment.
2. Self-Betterment. I am pursuing things that I enjoy doing in my free time. I'm going to therapy, gardening, cooking, exercising, and generally attempting to do things that make me healthier and happier. This may seem kind of simple, but those who know me know that it's a significant departure from my previous life philosophy of "scowling while drinking abusively."
3. Actuarial exams. Since I've been old enough to understand the concept of jobs, I have vowed that actuarial science is the one job that I will not do. I wanted to be an astronaut. Needless to say, for job stability and the highest pay you can receive without further education, I'm taking a very simple probability exam that will make it impossible for me to be anything but an actuary for the rest of my life.
Where and for what did you go to school for?
I went to Vassar College, Class of 2008. I have a major in Japanese, but I tell people that I have a double degree in Japanese and Mathematics. I'm only off by a credit or two anyway.
Parents: My father is an actuary. He makes this job look attractive by going in at 7 AM and coming home at 9 PM. He enjoys dark chocolate, the harmonica, and emptying out his toolbox, cleaning it out, and putting everything back.
My mother is a freelance copy editor, though most her work is for the Pension Board of the United Church of Christ. She enjoys salads from California Pizza Kitchen, buying things she doesn't need, and I don't think she has ever cleaned out her purse.
I've been getting along with both of them very well lately.
Who are some of your closest friends?
This is a silly question. You can't quantify your friends' values and rank them. That being said, definitely Lindsay and Sally.
I hope this turned out useful and not just boring.
And now, because I feel like it, I will do the other meme that's going around. If you post on this entry, I will tell you something I admire about you. Or tolerate about you, as the case may be. Or both.