Unleashing my Inner Grammar Nazi

Please note, as far as copyright goes: What I said is copyrighted by me, the rest is copyrighted by the owner of Joseph's Left One. Not that I expect this to be an issue, because if I ever did catch someone stealing content from my blog, I'd be angry, flattered, and bewildered at the same time.

No, I just didn't edit the e-mail I sent him and I should have. Because this bothers me, here is what I said with the corrections that should have been made before I sent it.

This week's profile is the always-thoughtful and interesting Lair of the Sinister Porpoise.


JLO: How and why did you start blogging?

You know, Blogger Beta has caused me more problems than it should have of late. I assume it even lists my Google e-mail address instead of the one I link to on the site, which is my Yahooo e-mail address. Starting to blog was fairly easy -- I just set up a Blogger account, but why is a different issue. The Lair of the Sinister Porpoise started out as a way for me to work some things out I'd been going through, not the least of which was my struggle with gender identity which I'd just allow to come to the surface. As I saw it as something as a spiritual issue, religious posts began to develop. It didn't matter to me if I worked away in anonymity and no one discovered it. In many ways, it served the same purpose a personal journal should serve.

JLO: What do you enjoy about blogging? Dislike about it?

Well, personally, I love it when someone praises my writing, which has happened three times over the course of my blogging career. My sister found out about it (I did not tell her, but I forgot to clear the history after using her computer) and made a comment about the secrets I'd been keeping from her. Strangely, the one about not knowing I could write so well annoyed me more, as it's an ability I've never hidden. Whether or not I can write well is a decision I'd rather leave up to the readers. It was Gunner the second time, and the third was an unexpected comment on one of my unrelated blogs and a follow up e-mail that I should enter a blogging contest they would have and would be likely to win. Still, while it satisfies my ego, it's only a minor point. I like to write, blogging satisfies that need and I've found I do best with short, thoughtful posts.

I must admit I also love some of the spam comments. Some invoke my rage if it's some Fundamentalist trying to sell some Anti-Mormon product that makes the assumption that our religious quests should bring us to his religion. The one or two ads for penis enlargement i left up and had great fun mocking, but I think I've got that sort of thing under control know as you can post comments anonymously to Blogger with word verification on.

What do I dislike about it? This question would invoke less emotion from me if I did not have problems with offline blog posting tools because I've switched over to Blogger beta. Google's response on this is I have to wait for them to catch up. Is it that hard for them just to let me use my original Blogger account rather than my e-mail account?

JLO: What do you read regularly?

Mostly fantasy and science fiction, although I've started borrowing the detective novels the local library has. In non-fiction, my tastes run towards science, religion, history, and computers. I'm a huge fan of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series and Frank Hebert's Dune.

But if you tell me a good story, you'll draw me in even if I disagree with your work entirely.

JLO: What do you like to do when you're not blogging?

Well, there are things I'd like to do, but unfortunately my job cuts into social time simply by its scheduling. I've played D&D for many years and have a collection of obscure RPGs that I don't think anyone ever intends to run. Mostly, I spend a lot of time on the computer, and when I'm not there, I'm either reading, napping, or out for a walk. I'd love to take up fencing someday and even found a place locally that teaches it, but need to get some transportation issues settled first.

JLO: Where would you say you are in the process of recovery from Mormonism?

Well, you can pretty much get a good idea of the stages I've been through through by going through the archives since I've started the blog. At first, I too, felt betrayed and angry at the church. I did trust it, but I never seemed to go into the great deal of anger so many Ex-Mormons have. Perhaps because I'd seen how poisonous pent up anger can be from other issues and though moving on would be more prudent. I looked around at other religions and tried to hurry into one. Then I slowed down and realized I didn't need to. I'd say I'm at the point of letting go of years of sexual repression and figuring out exactly what I am on that front. This isn't quite the same as the gender issues, I've known about those for years, but simply didn't want to even admit the possibility to myself.

JLO: What advice would have you for people trying to deal with leaving the church?

It was easier for me. I come from Pennsylvania Dutch stock rather than the pioneers who went across the plains. I can't imagine what multi-generationl BIC Mormons go through. I'm a child of convert parents outside of the Morg Corridor. It also seems that because of the Mormon emphasis on geneology, I know heresy was something of a family tradition, and a few of people who were likely my ancestors were killed in Zurich, Switzerland and had their names recorded in The Martyr's Mirror.

But even for BICs like me where it's not a part of your heritage (Hex Signs, scrapple, and pot pie would have far more bearing on my heritage than jello and funeral potatoes), I think we tend to think it's not an ongoing process. We don't really recover. It's always going to be a part of us. We just need to break out of Mormonthink where the Mormon indoctrination was harmful. I've fooled myself into thinking I was done several times, then some new issue will crop up. I don't even think it's a good idea to try to deny what our past has made us into. For me, I find bits of Mormon history and theology too bizarrely fascinating to just leave alone. I'd probably feel the same way about Scientolgy, and like some of my non-Mormon acqauintances don't believe my stories about Mormonism, I doubt I'd believe the stories of a former Scientologist.

JLO: What else do you want to say about your interests, hobbies, career, education, whatever?

Well, because of my searches away from Mormonism I maintain an interest in theology and belief. My carreer attempts are currently along the lines of becoming self-employed because I simply don't like bosses. My education is at the "some college" level and I was a computer science major, which strangely enough lends itself well to the if-then thinking required by most theologians.

JLO: Where did you come up with the name of your blog?

You'd think there'd be some interesting story behind the screen name in the first place, but there isn't. The Sinister Porpoise comes from my misuse of a Latin phrase i intended to mean left-handed person. When someone told me he saw that all he could think of was "The Sinister Porpoise." I happened to like that alias better and have used it as my aliases on many places ever since. Today it serves as a reminder not to take life so seriously. "Lair of" was I suppose just a way of attracting a little more attention to a limited interest blog, which ultimately, I expected no one to read. I can't say I'm displeased with the turn of events a year later when I suddenly found myself being included in Outer Blogness and the Disaffected Mormon Underground.