I realized I haven't really update the "about me" section for a while. I think I took out some key things that are not me anymore, but that's about it. This doesn't seem quite correct because, while I have "lost" a couple of things that were important to my being, I have also gained an exponential amount of things as well. So, let's get started shall we?!
My name is Bri (Brianna, actually), but I go by Habbala here. Habbala was a nickname given to me when I was about 4. There was a little neighbor boy who couldn't say Brianna, so he started calling me Habbala. My dad still calls me Haab. My dad and I aren't the closest, and I liked naming my blog something that still connects us.
I started blogging as a way to keep my family updated and to keep track of pictures, stories, and such. But now, it's so much more. I love to write. I love sharing stories that affect people. I love the community of blogging friends that gather here (Here being the interwebz, obviously).
When I started this blog, I lived with my boyfriend of almost three years. There was a lot of recipes and home-y stuff included in my posts. Part of that was because I really like that sort of thing, and part of it was because, at that point, I was trying to desperately to be the person he could "take the jump for". I wanted to be perfect, and in that quest, I lost myself.
So, this blog has been a kind of record of my journey of finding myself again, and it's a work in progress. I am a 24 and living on my own for the first time in my life. I am an academia drop out, leaving a PhD program after completing my Masters degree. I wanted to do something that actually had tangible results. I didn't want to simply study social problems, I wanted to know that the work I did was improving a situation. I am blessed beyond belief to have found my job. I am challenged, appreciated, and given a long-lead to explore and fly.
I grew up in San Diego, but my family has always been here in the bay area. This is the first time in my life I have lived near my family, and it's amazing. I live less than ten minutes from my grandparents house, and my grandparents are the most important people in my life.
I am hopelessly optimistic. I refuse to believe that there is not a silver lining in any situation. I believe in the healing power of laughter and red wine. I don't stay still for long periods of time, there is a reason my nickname in middle school was Sugar High. I am learning to be alone more, but I am generally a social person with a full calender of get-together's, coffee dates, and dinners planned.
I collect words. Fill journals with quotes, poems, and song lyrics-- sometimes I write my own. I am a progressive liberal. I am also Christian. After a few years of being SO ANGRY with the hatred and judgment coming from people in the church. I am re-trying to see how my faith and my core beliefs fit together. I still have a lot of questions about Christianity and hesitations with a lot of the things that happen in churches, but my belief and faith in God has never been a question. But you should know that I voted for Obama, believe that my dear friend Jimmie should be allowed to marry his amazing boyfriend, and that being Pro-Choice does not mean I am Pro-Abortion. (How about that, politics and religion all in one paragraph!). I believe in being a good person. Helping people. Being kind and striving to make the world better.
If I were a genre of movie I'd be a musical. That actually sums up a whole lot about me.
