Re-introduce Yourself! (virgin, attending, churches, experience, atheist)

[Feathers in Hair]

Bump! C'mon everyone!

[Katzpur]

Hi, all! Kathryn here. I guess since I’m the one who started this thread, I ought to do more than encourage everybody else to contribute.

I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah 57 years ago, and have lived here all my life. I was born into an LDS family and raised in the Mormon faith. My parents – and particularly my dad – always taught me to question what I was taught and not just to accept everything I heard in church as fact. I think I also inherited a little bit of his tendency to be a bit of a doubter. At any rate, his wisdom paid off, and the beliefs I hold dear found their way into my mind and heart over a period of years. It was in questioning them that I came to realize their truth. This process was what led to my interest in LDS apologetics and to this great forum.

I graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in English. At that time (over 30 years ago) the curriculum focused primarily on English literature, which was okay. There was no undergraduate degree offered back then in linguistics. Had there been one, that is undoubtedly what I would have majored in. The study of language has always fascinated me.

After college, not wanting to teach English, I was pretty undecided about my future. Then in about 1976, I sort of stumbled into computer programming. That was back in the days of punched cards and computers with 8k of memory. Well, I fell in love with computer programming and have been a programmer/software designer for about 30 years now. But here’s the crazy thing… I’m very good at what I do, but the computer hardware and networking is just not my thing. I had to have Amy post my picture for me because I wasn’t able to get it to work myself.

I’ve been married to my husband, Matt, for over 35 years. He is the most considerate, patient, loving man I could ever have hoped to spend my life with. We have two grown children – James (26) and Brooke (23). Yes, we waited for nine years to have James, and it was planned that way. No grandkids yet, and I’m in no hurry.

As I said, I have a strong interest in LDS apologetics. I also love to write. Maybe that’s why I spend so much time here at RF. I love to travel. If money were no object, I’d probably spend much of my time seeing the world. My favorite US city is New York, and my favorite European city is Venice. When it comes right down to it, I can’t think of anywhere in the world I wouldn’t want to go. I love eating out at nice restaurants and going to movies and plays. I’m also a shopaholic (but a very smart shopper). Animals are my passion. I don’t know what it is about them, but I am drawn to them so powerfully and care about them so deeply. It’s hard for me to imagine life without them. Right now I have two Collies (Jasmine, who is mostly white, and Gender, a tri-color) and a sweet black and white cat, Annie, whom I rescued a few years back.

I love springtime. I also like summer and fall. But I absolutely detest winter. I love the color green (especially emerald green). I love raspberries. I love taking long naps and long, hot showers. I hate spiders (I don’t count anything with more than four legs as a legitimate animal, I guess). I love musical theatre. Les Miz and Evita are my favorites. Hopes, dreams and goals? I've always wanted to go skydiving.

And I talk a lot.

[Green Gaia]

Thank you for sharing yourself with us, Kathryn!

[Master Vigil]

I think this is a great idea, and a way for me to see how much I have changed since I first came here. Which was A LONG time ago.

So let's see my first intro shall we?

I read through some of the forum here and was pleased at what I read. I noticed alot of you are humble in your spirituality and are not claiming to "know everything and be always right." This I liked. Therefore I decided to jump in and share my philosophy with all of you. I'm sure all of you are wondering just what is a Vigil. Well, first I should start at the beginning. (I hope this doesn't take too long 8) ) Well to start off, I was brought up Roman Catholic. So some of my philosophy may mirror it even though its not supposed to. As do alot of spiritual people, I developed physchic abilities and such which now have become more empathic abilities. I am also joined by 6 wolf spirit guides that have helped me understand my role in the spirit world. As wierd as it sounds, I am actually able to smell souls and spirits. Which is due to my soul being part wolf. But thats a whole other story. Through my martial arts experience of around 9 years, I've studied zen and taoism and meditation. These I like. And I also believe them to be close to native american systems, which I like as well. (being a spirit wolf and all.) In conclusion, I would love to discuss my philosophy and way of life with all of you and hope that maybe I can help out some of you as well. And if anyone would like to learn a little more about my philosophy, you can visit my website... http://vigiltemple.8m.com

take care and may the spirits be with you.

Now lets see what has changed. I suppose nothing has "changed" per se, except for my URL for my website. It's now http://www.dan-bernardo.com

As for everything else, it has expanded, grown, and evolved. I can now see the spirits once more, after a long hiatus since my 16th birthday. I am teaching the Vigil lifestyle at a local holistic center, and have developed a meditative exercise called Pulsus which I teach there as well. I have also started to counsel psychic, or as some would call "Indigo" children. To whom I hope to help understand the spirits, their perceptions, and keep them as humble as possible. I also do freelance film, graphic, and web design as a side job. These are 2 Pulsus demo's that showcase some of my film work.
Pulsus Demo 1
Pulsus Demo 2

In august of 04, I was on the winning sparring team at the 8th ITF World Championship in Orlando Florida. Which was a wonderful experience.

I also fabricate my own custom flutes out of bamboo, and PVC. I make transverse, native american style, and Shakuhachi flutes.

Other than that, I believe everything has been the same, or roughly the same since I first came here.

[michel]

Originally Posted by Maize

I challenge all the other Admins and Super Mods to re-introduce themselves!

Ah.....um.....

My real name is Michel ( I never quite understood the idea of a different user name, and if I did have one, I would most likely forget it) . I was born in what was the Belgian Congo, Now Democratic republic of the Congo, and my first two languages were Kiswahili, and French.


I too, am an RF a-holic; I have been going to the meetings now for a while, but can't seem to kick in the habit............

Let's see, I joined in Sept 2004.

I am 56, married (It will be for 30 years nov 2006) with two sons, Andy (27 years old) graduating this year from UNI with a degree in electronics (relating to media, ie vision, music); he hopes to be a sound engineer, and possibly design studios.

James will be 22 (at the end of May this year) and is in his final year at UNI with a degree in Modern languages. He already has a job Lined up in Mexico for a year after he graduates, teaching English as a foreing language (sorry, forgot to say he is reading English, French and Spanish, with Italian lagging not far behind - though it will not be part of the degree).

I worked for 24 and a half years for a bank, and had to retire on Medical grounds due to stress. Since then, my physical health has gone down hill as well; I am 'sort of disabled' and hate it, because my mind tells me I can do things, but when I try, my body says 'No'.

We live on the South Coast of England (Bournemouth) and are lucky enough to have a nice house 15 mins walk from the town Center (on a good day, when I can manage it). We live on the edge of the 'New Forrest' which is wonderfully preserved.

There are many interesting and very old buildings, Roman sites, etc near us, and we of course live within a stone's throw from Stonehenge.

Hobbies; RF, Singing (but that usually has to be when my wife is out of the house because I have very good voice production); I sang at the local Church Choir for a while . The reason I left, unfortunately, was that I was so disappointed with the behaviour of the other people in the choir, and also the congregation (There was a lot of what I consider to be very Un Christian gossipping, moaning about other members) that I started to think 'This is not what I need'.

When I first came here, I listed my religion as 'my own' because, to be frank, I wasn't sure what I was. I had very little contact with religions all my life, and bar schooling in England (where we have the Anglican Church, or Church of England as I knew it), I have never really been a church - goer. Having said that, I did go to keep my Mum company for a short while when still living at home, and then, above when I was in the Choir.

One strong point has always prevailed though, and that is my belief in God, and in the teachings and examples of jesus Christ; I have never stopped believing in him, and consider that the prevailing message of Christianity is 'Love'. If anything comes up, and I have to make a moral judgement on it (just for myself, of course), I ask myself what Christ would have said and done in my place (I hope I understand him enough to be able to do that). My belief is that 'Love conquers all', and although Life has often not reflected that, I refuse to be swayed from that stance, and hope I will never become cynical.

At the same time as being a follower of Christ (as I call it), I believe in reincarnation, lots of other peculiar things (such as the Tarot, Palmistry, astrology, and divining (as in divining rods - but not just for water), I believe in Astral projection, and try to be a faith healer and also do Reiki, added to reflexology and aromatherapy (they all go into one nice bundle, they are easily integratable). I don't see these other beliefs as being against Christianity, though I know there are members here who would think otherwise; well, each one to his own. At the end of the day, I believe we will be judged on the true content of our hearts, and although I sin rather a lot (as I am sure most theists would admit to), I try to be 'better'; sometimes, I am just not very good at that !

I now am waiting for grandchildren (but that doesn't seem likely for a while ), because I love babies, but there is no way that I could be a father again (my health would mean that any child of mine now would have a 'Grandad' as a father, which I don't think is fair on a child ).

I am really very uneducated, compared to most people on this forum (especially in theology), but have learned quite a bit (some of which has stuck in this dull brain of mine) since joining here. Trouble is, I have a dreadful memory; I can recall things from a long time ago far better than from the last few years; that doesn't help when trying to learn new things.

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by michel

I was born in what was the Belgian Congo, Now Democratic republic of the Congo, and my first two languages were Kiswahili, and French.

I am SO glad you finally got around to "re-introducing" yourself, Michel. I've always wondered about the spelling of your name. It's kind of unusual, so I'm assuming it's the French spelling of the name. Am I right? So you are "tri-lingual"! I am seriously way, way impressed. I would absolutely love to be fluent in more than one language.

I am 56, married... with two sons, Andy...[and] James...22.

I already told you we had a lot in common. Unless I'm mistaken, you are the closest RFer to my age. And guess what else? My son is named James Andrew.

At the end of the day, I believe we will be judged on the true content of our hearts

And although I know there are many beliefs we don't share, this is one that we definitely do.