• Hi everyone! My name is Gia. I live in Toronto (originally from Calgary) and I've been practicing Judaism for about 2-3 years. Both of my parents are atheist Jews (my dad's family were Russian Jews and my mum's were Italian Sephardim), so I didn't have a religious upbringing at all. I slowly got more and more interested in exploring my background and then in college, I finally joined a synagogue. Now I'm the president of my campus Jewish Student Life club and just finished a Jewish leaders fellowship program. Sadly I aged out of Birthright before I got a chance to go, but I'm sure there will be other opportunities anyway.

    I also just finished taking the conversion class offered at my synagogue. My rabbi thought it would be a great way for me to learn more about Judaism and let me take the course even though I'm obviously not converting (and it was a great experience).

  • hugs!

    For my depression, I think the most helpful things have been journaling, art, talk therapy, and medication. The most difficult thing is kinda forcing myself to do things that I know I like doing but feel too lethargic or apathetic to do, but a lot of times that helps too (for me, that would be going for walks outside, watching TV). Even just making myself shower when I don't feel like it can be good.

    And no worries, not too personal! Greysexual is a place on the asexual spectrum (in my case, it means that I don't generally experience sexual attraction but it can happen), and biromantic means that I experience romantic attraction to people of various gender identities. The split attraction model doesn't really apply outside of asexuality (as far as I know anyway).

    Thanks for your lovely comment! Nice to meet you. :)

  • Current Preferred Handle: @gia

    Previous Handle/Platform: I'm volpixi basically everywhere (including on here, too)

    Comms I like to hang out at and why: I'm not super sure yet because I'm still new, but I've been liking let's get coffee. I saw a queer Jews comm but I haven't explored it yet.

    Comms I wish existed so I could hang out there: maybe a Harry Potter comm? I haven't looked so there probably is one but IDK.

    Stuff I like and am interested in and/or want to chat about: sports (hockey, tennis, rugby), video games (esp. Mario, Pokemon, Zelda, indie games, Undertale), tattoos, photography, art, poetry, Netflix, Judaism/Jewish culture, Harry Potter, astrology, LGBTQ things, (plus size) fashion, celiac/gluten free cooking, animals

  • Thanks!

    I feel like my answer could be kind of endless (especially with poets!), so I'll just name a few important ones: Dostoevsky, Philip K Dick, Sylvia Plath, Jhumpa Lahiri, Ginsberg, Neil Gaiman, JD Salinger, Leonard Cohen. And, if you couldn't tell by my cat's name, TS Eliot of course. :)

  • It's definitely seems like it's taken the best of both worlds. I hope it works out that way in the long run.

    And thank you! :D Nice to meet you, too.

  • mmm cold brew is the best :)

  • Thanks! :D

  • I read "the Emperor of All Maladies" too quickly and thought you said "the Interpreter of Maladies" and was very confused about your description of the book for a minute! :)

  • I haven't tried any recipes yet so I'll give it a go! Thank you!

  • I need a gluten free version of challah. Or just let myself get sick sometimes... it's so good.

  • All of the above, but I'm especially interested in movie nights, book clubs, and recommendations. Less interested in memes.

  • My family doctor and I were discussing how my depression and anxiety diagnoses didn't seem sufficient based on symptoms we noticed after I started medication (and realized were present all along but depression/anxiety were more "obvious" I guess so we missed them). He told me that he was certain I have BPD.

    I had a referral for a psychiatrist who diagnosed me with... depression and anxiety (and implied I had read up on ~other disorders online and "decided"/pretended I had them). My family doctor said a diagnosis isn't the most important thing for me anyway, but he could and would diagnose me if it came down to it (if I was applying for disability accommodations at school or whatnot).

    So, long story short... I found out because I have a good GP who cares about me and doesn't have that weird stigma that a lot of psychiatrists seem to have against diagnosing/treating BPD.

  • I had the same thing happen to me when I was on Cipralex (same as Lexapro). I'd wake up with little cuts on my ankles and feet from scratching. I recently switched off of it and haven't noticed any new cuts. Didn't make the possible connection to the medication until reading your post - I just assumed it was my anxiety. I think it's worth mentioning to your doctor whether you think it's a big issue or not.

  • I'm fighting off a cold so I'm rotating between orange juice and water.

  • Other: grey-asexual (mostly no sexual attraction but sometimes) / bi-romantic