New Beginnings

After a long hiatus - almost a year - I'm back on Blogger. Only this time, I'm anonymous.

It's probably appropriate to start out with a short FAQ, right?

What's with the site name?
No, it's not Lesbian Tics! Lesbian + Antics = LesbiAntics (pronounced LEZ-bee-AN-tics). I went through a few other possibilities (Lesbiantically?), but liked this one best. I actually hate the 'L-word' (a close friend of mine calls me and Aphrodite 'pixies', which I love), but for some reason I liked it in the blog name. So sue me.

Am I going to be interested in your writing if I'm not gay?
I certainly hope so. Many posts will be about gay- and lesbian-related topics, sure, because my partner and my lifestyle are a big part of me, but just as many (if not more) posts will just be about me as a person, and my thoughts and feelings, and things that are going on in my life. Don't get scared off by my being gay - there are lots of interesting things about me besides that (at least, I like to think there are :)).

Is Athena your real name?
No. My girlfriend (wow, it feels good to be able to write that 'out loud') calls me Athena, because she says that with my curves and muscles, I look like what she imagines Athena would look like. (I'm pretty sure Athena would have had hair longer than two inches, but to each her own.) Another reason is that I prefer to compete in the Athena category when I do my triathlons, rather than in my age group (for the self-serving reason that I'm far more likely to scrape an award from a category with fewer women in it). So in turn, I call her Aphrodite - goddess of love. No, those aren't our real names, but they'll serve the purpose.

Why are you anonymous?
This requires a little bit of background. I've had a website in some form or another since I was 14, but I finally started blogging in earnest in mid-2003, when I spent a year and a half abroad. It gave my family and friends a way to keep up with me while I was overseas, and once I got back, it was such a strong habit that I just kept it up - and they kept reading. But then Aphrodite came into my life, and I realized that for probably eight years, I had been hiding the fact that I was gay, even from myself. (I'll be posting about that soon.) The blogging became intermittent, then stopped altogether, just because there was so much I couldn't say. I've since come out to most of my friends (with very positive reactions) and my parents (with not so positive ones), but the rest of my family, plus some of the friends who read the previous site, are still in the dark, and I don't intend to enlighten them (again, I'll be posting about that soon). That means I can't write about Aphrodite on the old site, and I desperately want to be able to do that, so I started LesbiAntics. A few of my closest friends know this address, but the rest of the reading population comes from the glorious abyss that is the Internet.

How long have you and Aphrodite been together?
Thirteen months now. Our anniversary is November 18th, 2006 (something else that will be detailed in a future post).

What's that list over on the right-hand side?
That's my Life List - or, if you prefer, Bucket List (I think there's a movie coming out soon by that name, but I've been keepng that list for way longer than they've been working on the movie). In short, it's stuff I want to do at some point in my life. It used to be a lot longer, but a lot of things that I desperately wanted a few years ago (to swim at the Olympic Trials, to learn Swahili...) have lost their appeal now that I'm a little older, so they've been banished from the list. The things listed here are the biggies - things I really want to do that aren't likely to change. The crossed-out items are, obviously, things I've accomplished already.

Can I email you?
Sure. I read all my comments, too (and respond to most of them), so feel free to respond in that way if you'd like.

I have a site like yours. Will you link to me?
Sure. Leave a comment, and I'll start a list in the right-side column. Also, feel free to link me on your site if you like; you don't need my permission the way some webmistresses demand.

Let me know if you have any other questions, and I'll update the list. I look forward to getting to know you all.