Who Are You?

I’ve been writing this blog for about three years now. It has been an immensely rewarding experience that has forced me to carefully think through — and rethink — a variety of my assumptions. When I’ve been too hasty or too lazy to have an informed opinion, but have nevertheless opened my big mouth, you’ve been sure to call me out. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me, and thank you for keeping me humble. 🙂

Still, I have one complaint. There appear to be about a thousand people (if my traffic reports are to be believed) who read this blog regularly but who never post comments. And that’s totally fine, of course — I’m gratified that you even think this blog is worth reading! But still, I’m curious. Who are you, oh mystery reader? What do you do for a living? What makes you stick around here?

If you don’t want to post a comment publicly, just drop me a note via my contact form. I’d love to hear from you. 🙂

Of course, it isn’t fair to ask these questions and not volunteer a bit of personal information about myself. I’ve generally refrained from doing personal posts, mainly because I’ve always assumed that nobody would be interested in that stuff. But, as I’ve become a more avid reader of other blogs, I’ve realized that I really appreciate knowing something about the person whose blog I’m reading. It gives me useful perspective on what they post and why. And if I appreciate it, maybe you will too?

So here’s some random stuff about me. In the future, it will be less random.

• I’m married to a wonderful women named Eve Crevoshay. Eve is my college sweetheart. She’s a cute brunette who grew up in the middle of nowhere (rural Vermont), in a home that didn’t have electricity until she was two and didn’t have an indoor flush toilet until she was a teenager. Eve works for Facing History & Ourselves, a non-profit whose mission is to “engage students in an examination of racism, prejudice, and antisemitism in order to promote the development of a more humane and informed citizenry.” She’s an English major, like me, and a lover of chocolate, also like me. But she still won’t play most video games, ten years into our relationship.
• I like snowboarding (though I’m not yet good enough to tackle black diamonds with flair), gardening, writing, and obviously games of all kinds. I love to get myself into political debates, even though I know that political debates are generally pointless — people inevitably emerge from them more convinced of their own positions than ever. I’m most content when cuddling on the couch with Eve and my dog, Pooka. I treat Pooka like a daughter (much to the amusement and dismay of my parents…)
• I’m one-half Romanian, one-fourth Egyptian, and one-fourth Moroccan. Almost no one has ever been able to successfully guess any part of that. People generally think I’m Italian or something. In fact, when I visited Italy once, a remarkable number of people began conversations with me in Italian… too bad I only knew the word “gelato.” 🙂
• My current favorite boardgame is Agricola. My all-time favorite is Scrabble. My favorite PC game is Planescape: Torment. I can’t bring myself to pick a favorite console game; nothing really stands out for me above all others that I’ve played.
• I was accepted to medical school in college, and decided at the very last minute not to go. Hardest decision of my life, and probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

That’s enough about me. What about you?