answers, part 3

[cellio]

The poll is here.

Do you have any big regrets?

Yes.

Oh, that's probably not the question you really wanted to ask. Ok, I can elaborate. :-)

The only time that I initiated a breakup of a romantic relationship, it played out badly and I feel that this was largely my fault. I'm not certain what specifically I could have done better, but I'm sure I could have handled it better in some way. The other person got hurt pretty badly (though he tried not to let it show), which was certainly no one's intent, and the friendship has never been the same. (It wasn't a hostile breakup; it was more of a "this isn't going to work" situation.)

---

Somehow you are on my read list.... do you know how you got there because I don't remember...

I don't know. As far as I know we don't know each other in real life, and we don't appear to have friends in common right now. Maybe we did and you saw me on a "friends of friends" list, or maybe you surfed randomly or via similar interests?

---

How far is your shul from where you are and how long does it take you to walk there?

Approximately 1 mile (less as the mole digs, but that's not an accurate measure of surface distance -- it just means don't trust maps in Pittsburgh). It takes me about 20 minutes to walk there on average. I can rush it in 15 minutes or so, but I rarely feel the need to rush on Shabbat.

---

Would you mind telling your conversion story (the long version)?

I don't mind. Let me try to figure out the best way to bridge the gap between the short summary and the longer version that, among things, manifested in approximately 150 pages of journal at the time. This may take a few days.

Actually, here's an oddball question (which is not, itself, an answer to your question, but more of a tangent): I could post that journal over a similar span of time in a different LJ ("reruns"?). It would take about a year altogether. (I think there's value in not just reading it all at once. I can't just post the entire thing as-is anyway, as I have to edit out people's real names and stuff like that.) Would this be at all interesting to anyone? Don't worry; I'm not using this as a way to blow off your question.

I'll also entertain more-specific questions by email, if that helps any. The hardest thing about trying to tell a big story is figuring out the parts that would be seen as interesting and significant to others.

Comments

Thanks....

[kayre]

Thanks for sharing the conversion story... interesting path!

[spydielives.livejournal.com]

I converted to reform judaism about 11 years ago. Unfortunately the options here are not comfortable to me right now (I think its me, not them for various reasons) for community.

I would be interested in your longer story... it might get me to write my own "longer history".

Spydie

[rectangularcat]

I'd love to get a real-rime version of your LJ reruns about conversion.

I converted to being a Jehovah's Witness for 2 years prior to entering university. It is also a long story on how it started and ended. I think the exposure to a fundamentalist/cultish church was a good thing for me. It definitely taught me a lot about human behaviour.

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

Reruns sound great to me. :)