Who is Renaissance Molly?
by Molly
I struggle to describe myself at times. Really, what an immense charge to be given: "Describe yourself in 500 words or less: GO!"
"K, well," (This is to be done in your best possible Brian Regan voice) " female...hungry... umm....has .... hair...?"
Ok so here goes in no particular order except one, perhaps, of stream of consciousness: wife, anthropology and history major, administrative assistant, homeowner, cat-owner, husband-owner (Do I own anything else.... no ok moving on), writer, gamer, programmer (kinda, working on it), knitter, crochet...er hmmm (I crochet...), musician, pirate, tennis player, cook, baker, drinker, eater, lover, fighter(ha ha thats a lie, I don't fight anything except maybe cravings), photographer, video editor, sewer.... Perhaps there are more, but let's stop.
The long and short of it is that I have too many hobbies to keep up with at times
But I love it.
My husband and I got married in 2011 and we live in Maryland. He is a programmer so his passions are computers and games and programming (oh my!). As such he said "You're just editing your book now: you should blog!"
"UGH NO! Blogs are for self INDULGENT annoying people who just like to hear the sound of their own....typing...."
"No really, Molly" he continued "I think it'd be good for you, you can blog about anything, you have lots to share with people!" Well I was stubborn about the whole thing for a long time, but here I am: blogging. I've learned a lot so far, even in the short time I've been doing this. I've learned html and css and js. As such, I've learned why wordpress is so desirable for those of us who don't know how to code. That to be said, I've been quite jealous of those of my friends who can update their blog once a day, if they so choose, while I'm sitting here going "Derp, code, test, compile!" However, I also have learned the benefit of knowing how to make this site look JUST how I want it. And I feel empowered knowing about all the stuff under the hood.
So you may have noticed that I have a lot of categories in my nav menu. And as such, I have much work to do. But let me tell you a bit about how I came to decide upon those topics.
Let's be honest, I would say I love to cook, but I really just love to eat. Fortunately for my husband and I, I really do love both. I grew up watching two very good cooks in my home: they knew about fresh ingredients, tools, and techniques. Mom did the daily cooking (and as such, got bored after a while of cooking because there's only so often you can cook a chicken and get excited about it) yet it was her daily dedication to feed her family a good dinner each night from which I learned the basics. Yet her passion was baking. Left handed but right brained, Mom loved the artistry which went into baking (and decorating) beautiful cakes and pies. Her joy came from presenting her annual Christmas "wicked" cake (four layers of chocolate cake cushioned by white sweet filling and encased in a dense fudge frosting, so named because it was said the cake was so wonderfully chocolatey that consumption thereof must be a wicked act). Dad, on the other hand, the engineer of the family, took a slightly more technical look at cooking. Dad doesn't bake much, but he's a master of the grill, knowing, instinctively, when to stoke the fire or turn the meat (and most importantly, when not to). He made sure to answer all my questions about substitutes, substitues, and ingredients (he also would buy me a chocolate bar when I went to the store with him, so that was always a plus). Dad was the one who wanted to try new recipes and was also the one that had an instinct to pair flavors. So when I went to college, I packed up all I knew and brought it with me.
I find all aspects of cooking exciting: ingredients, recipes, techniques, details, plating! I love that first taste of a really tasty meal I've labored on for hours, I love finding the perfect combinations of flavors, I even love failing miserably and marking a food I've always wanted to try off my list (then going out for Chipotle).
I love to craft too. Ever since I was little I found it hard to vocalize this aspect about myself: People would ask "what do you like to do in your spare time" and I felt like I was under some social pressure to say "oh just hang out with my friends" or to try and take the book worm angle and say "I like to read." Although not lies, they were half truths, because really what I wanted to say was:
I love to craft!!!!!!
I mean, really, is it bad that a kid likes crafting? I think not. But hey, kids are self conscious about weird things at times. I think I like to see the result of something on which I have labored. Perhaps food is the same, but that goes away (oh so quickly) but a craft is something I can revisit and look at again! (They also make good gifts because I'm really bad at buying gifts). I started Knitting and Crocheting when I was about 12 but only picked it back up again recently. Where as a youth I struggled with keeping my stitches consistent, now I can focus on engineering patterns and shapes (with amigurumi dolls, in particular). I enjoy cross stitch for similar reasons, in that I can make my own designs. I like to mess with photoshop and video editors; I like to play music and make stuff up on my piano (although it's not really wonderful, it's relaxing). I like to figure out things on my concertina and play along with the Pirate Band that I'm a part of ( Scales and Crosstones ). I like to do little doodles to cheer up my husband or coworkers on a daily basis (and I often find my little doodles are the best way to express the funny things in my head).
Not least among my hobbies is writing. I always liked to write because I felt free to make up worlds and situations and people in my head. But when I entered High School, all my writing power was devoted to research and school work and so I had no more time to write creatively. In fact, this problem only got worse when I got into college. By that time, the thought had totally escaped my mind. But after college and after all the planning involved for our wedding, I found that after work I felt like I had nothing to do and nothing to work at. Well I saw someone post about NaNoWriMo and was curious why the tag was always coupled with a word count. So I looked it up and found a whole community of people who wanted to write too but were just as much an amateur as myself! It was so wonderfully refreshing to think about something other than work for once; to concentrate my creative efforts into creating a story line and characters and events in a world all my own. It gave my mind something to do while I was stuck in beltway traffic and would help me fall asleep at nights. It was so refreshing and so my writing spanned long past November (per the NaNoWriMo goals) and I have not stopped writing since. I don't think i have dillusions of grandure, but I do hope that i get better and better as I continue to write.
Which all sorta brings us back to this point: