(no subject)
Sep. 20th, 2015 06:31 pmI'm making an effort to make an effort to post more often -- stay connected, you know. To that end, I thought I'd start slowly, with a meme. :D
"If you would like to play, leave a comment saying you want to do the meme, I give you an age (please tell me how old you currently are as well), and you fill out the meme questions at your own journal with what applied to you back then, and what applies to you now. "
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naye gave me 17
When I was 17,
I lived in: Raytown, MO, USA It's an older suburb of Kansas City, full of ordinary houses and big yards, streets with big ditches and few sidewalks. Lots of kids walking to parks, and hanging out at school playgrounds after hours -- there wasn't a whole lot to do around there. I was going to a high school on the same street as my old middle school, and my old elementary school, with kids I'd been in classes with since kindergarten. My older brother had moved out by then, but there were still three of us kids (though my sister may have been close to leaving), with my parents, three or four cats (I can't remember if the fourth one was there yet or not) and two dogs -- it was a full house, and largely cozy.
I drove: a Honda Civic It was, I think, an '86 -- it was used when my dad bought it, and both my big brother and my big sister had driven it for a while. It was a pale sky blue hatchback with hail damage on the hood, and it mostly looked like an old roller skate. It was fun enough to drive -- cornered well, and only shook a bit when you were going more than 60 mph. I'd only been driving for a few years, and hadn't yet gotten any speeding tickets. I'd only been in a ditch once -- a gentle slide over snow, and a friendly neighbor who helped me shove the car back onto the road. Sometime before I turned 18 I got a new car -- a '92 Civic, still a hatchback, but this one was bright red and -- gloriously -- it was a stick shift. My dad taught me how to drive it in empty parking lots, which was nerve racking because parents, but it finally clicked driving around my neighborhood all by myself, and from then on, I loved it. I called that car Annabell, and put in Spider-man floormats and a Spider-man steering wheel cover. I washed it every week, and waxed and polished it. I took long drives around the city, just to enjoy the radio with the windows down and the way Annabell felt flying down the highways. I adored that car.
I was in a relationship with: nobody. I didn't really date in high school -- there was a kid in middle school I'd "gone out" with for a few weeks. He gave me presents, and we talked on the phone (twirling the cord and sitting against the hallway wall) but he stole my wallet out of my locker and I stopped talking to him. When I was 17 there were a few boys I flirted with, and a few that flirted back, but I wasn't much interested in more. I turned down a date for homecoming, and didn't go to prom. I did have a crush on the president of the art club, but it was a quiet thing.
I feared: not much. I had a comfortable, secure sort of life -- good grades, amiable classmates. I was, perhaps, afraid of being embarrassed, as most teenagers are, and I was nervous about college, which I was starting to look into. But real fears just weren't something I had experience with.
I worked at: Doc's Sorbet and Ice Cream Shop. Which was a summer job, mostly -- it closed every winter. This would have been my second season there -- the sweet spot. They'd just given me a raise ($7.50 an hour!) and I hadn't yet gotten tired of the smell of malt powder and the bleach we used to clean the place after hours. It was a tiny shop, that used to be a garden shed owned by a couple of chiropractors. Often I was the only one there, and would have to lock up to go get some food at a nearby McDonald's, or to go to the restroom in the chiropractors' office. There was a patio with ivy climbing over trellises, and twinkle lights woven over it all. The ice cream and sorbet was delicious -- they sold a lot to hotels and restaurants in the city.
I wanted to be: a professional photographer. I was taking photography courses in school, and really loved the darkroom, and looking at the world through a camera lens. I had vague ideas of starting up a portraiture studio, or taking nature shots for magazines. I was in an Explorers program (kind of a job-placement Scout thing) with Hallmark, and once a month there'd be a class, and twice a month there'd be a field trip and we'd all use a few rolls of film, which they'd develop and then go over with us for technical and artistic advice during the class. It was a lot of fun.
Now, I'm 32.
I live in: Kansas City, MO, USA. In an apartment I mostly love, in the heart of downtown. I have a bit of a low key antagonistic thing going with a loud neighbor, but that's mostly a matter of truce right now, because the landlords have her on a three strike list and she's used up two of them. The apartment itself is within walking distance to a lot of cool stuff -- the River Market, the grocery store, the Alamo Drafthouse movie theater, the Kaufman Performing Arts Center, the main branch of the Kansas City Library -- which is good because
I drive: Nothing. :( I lost Annabell the Civic years ago, when I fell asleep at the wheel (no one was hurt but the car). For several years I drove my mom's old Mercury Villager -- a mini van. I never much liked it, and about nine months after I moved into this apartment I got t-boned at an intersection and lost that one too. I mourned a lot more for Annabell. Since then I've taken the bus, which is often a pain in the ass, but is certainly cheaper than buying a new car, and paying for insurance, gas, and downtown parking. I still love to drive though, and do so every time I get the chance.
I am in a relationship with: My husband Chad! We were married just a few weeks ago, but we've been together for about two and a half years. He's a musician, who does mostly Industrial Metal type stuff he puts together on his computer -- it's not entirely to my taste all the time, but I can see how passionate about it he is. He also does a sort of bluesy, electronic jazz I like quite a bit. He's really skilled at it, and collaborates with other musicians across the country. He also plays the guitar, and the drums, and the piano . . .
We both play a lot of video games. He likes to watch me play, and likes to play together when we can. Its a good bonding thing.
He's allergic to cats, which is unfortunate since I have three of them, but nevertheless, he's bonded to the furballs. Luckily, he's gotten somewhat accustomed to them -- his allergies don't bother him as much as they used to. :D
I fear: falling back into debt. I'm THIS CLOSE to paying off an ill advised loan, which will let me start paying down my credit cards and actually putting money aside for once. I haven't had a savings account for something like 9 years. Finances are the largest source of stress for me by far, and until I get some cushion under me they will continue to be so. At this point, I have bad dreams about unanticipated vet bills, broken ankles, and lost jobs that would make me take out another loan, and continue the paycheck scraping tension for years to come. I can see the corner just ahead, but I haven't turned it yet, and that scares me.
I work at: Half Price Books It's a used book store that started out of Dallas, and is now a Privately Owned chain across the country. I really like it -- I like the philosophy behind it, I like that it's environmentally conscious -- we recycle a LOT, and take pains to make green choices -- I love that there are no shareholders to appease, which means I like the way they treat employees, and I love the job itself. I work at one of the larger, more eclectic locations, since it's near an art district and a couple of universities. It makes for some interesting buys, and interesting clientele. Pretty much all the employees here are tattooed liberal musicians/artists, which is awesome.
I want to be: a bookstore owner. I want to own a tiny used bookstore that specializes in science fiction, and that has a room set aside for table top games and nerd themed beers. A little bookstore/gameshop/bar sort of thing. One day maybe. It could happen!
It's fun, sometimes, to see what's the same, what's different, what you've almost forgotten and what feels like yesterday. And to think of what might be totally different in a year's time. In five years. In six months.
"If you would like to play, leave a comment saying you want to do the meme, I give you an age (please tell me how old you currently are as well), and you fill out the meme questions at your own journal with what applied to you back then, and what applies to you now. "
naye gave me 17 When I was 17,
I lived in: Raytown, MO, USA It's an older suburb of Kansas City, full of ordinary houses and big yards, streets with big ditches and few sidewalks. Lots of kids walking to parks, and hanging out at school playgrounds after hours -- there wasn't a whole lot to do around there. I was going to a high school on the same street as my old middle school, and my old elementary school, with kids I'd been in classes with since kindergarten. My older brother had moved out by then, but there were still three of us kids (though my sister may have been close to leaving), with my parents, three or four cats (I can't remember if the fourth one was there yet or not) and two dogs -- it was a full house, and largely cozy.
I drove: a Honda Civic It was, I think, an '86 -- it was used when my dad bought it, and both my big brother and my big sister had driven it for a while. It was a pale sky blue hatchback with hail damage on the hood, and it mostly looked like an old roller skate. It was fun enough to drive -- cornered well, and only shook a bit when you were going more than 60 mph. I'd only been driving for a few years, and hadn't yet gotten any speeding tickets. I'd only been in a ditch once -- a gentle slide over snow, and a friendly neighbor who helped me shove the car back onto the road. Sometime before I turned 18 I got a new car -- a '92 Civic, still a hatchback, but this one was bright red and -- gloriously -- it was a stick shift. My dad taught me how to drive it in empty parking lots, which was nerve racking because parents, but it finally clicked driving around my neighborhood all by myself, and from then on, I loved it. I called that car Annabell, and put in Spider-man floormats and a Spider-man steering wheel cover. I washed it every week, and waxed and polished it. I took long drives around the city, just to enjoy the radio with the windows down and the way Annabell felt flying down the highways. I adored that car.
I was in a relationship with: nobody. I didn't really date in high school -- there was a kid in middle school I'd "gone out" with for a few weeks. He gave me presents, and we talked on the phone (twirling the cord and sitting against the hallway wall) but he stole my wallet out of my locker and I stopped talking to him. When I was 17 there were a few boys I flirted with, and a few that flirted back, but I wasn't much interested in more. I turned down a date for homecoming, and didn't go to prom. I did have a crush on the president of the art club, but it was a quiet thing.
I feared: not much. I had a comfortable, secure sort of life -- good grades, amiable classmates. I was, perhaps, afraid of being embarrassed, as most teenagers are, and I was nervous about college, which I was starting to look into. But real fears just weren't something I had experience with.
I worked at: Doc's Sorbet and Ice Cream Shop. Which was a summer job, mostly -- it closed every winter. This would have been my second season there -- the sweet spot. They'd just given me a raise ($7.50 an hour!) and I hadn't yet gotten tired of the smell of malt powder and the bleach we used to clean the place after hours. It was a tiny shop, that used to be a garden shed owned by a couple of chiropractors. Often I was the only one there, and would have to lock up to go get some food at a nearby McDonald's, or to go to the restroom in the chiropractors' office. There was a patio with ivy climbing over trellises, and twinkle lights woven over it all. The ice cream and sorbet was delicious -- they sold a lot to hotels and restaurants in the city.
I wanted to be: a professional photographer. I was taking photography courses in school, and really loved the darkroom, and looking at the world through a camera lens. I had vague ideas of starting up a portraiture studio, or taking nature shots for magazines. I was in an Explorers program (kind of a job-placement Scout thing) with Hallmark, and once a month there'd be a class, and twice a month there'd be a field trip and we'd all use a few rolls of film, which they'd develop and then go over with us for technical and artistic advice during the class. It was a lot of fun.
Now, I'm 32.
I live in: Kansas City, MO, USA. In an apartment I mostly love, in the heart of downtown. I have a bit of a low key antagonistic thing going with a loud neighbor, but that's mostly a matter of truce right now, because the landlords have her on a three strike list and she's used up two of them. The apartment itself is within walking distance to a lot of cool stuff -- the River Market, the grocery store, the Alamo Drafthouse movie theater, the Kaufman Performing Arts Center, the main branch of the Kansas City Library -- which is good because
I drive: Nothing. :( I lost Annabell the Civic years ago, when I fell asleep at the wheel (no one was hurt but the car). For several years I drove my mom's old Mercury Villager -- a mini van. I never much liked it, and about nine months after I moved into this apartment I got t-boned at an intersection and lost that one too. I mourned a lot more for Annabell. Since then I've taken the bus, which is often a pain in the ass, but is certainly cheaper than buying a new car, and paying for insurance, gas, and downtown parking. I still love to drive though, and do so every time I get the chance.
I am in a relationship with: My husband Chad! We were married just a few weeks ago, but we've been together for about two and a half years. He's a musician, who does mostly Industrial Metal type stuff he puts together on his computer -- it's not entirely to my taste all the time, but I can see how passionate about it he is. He also does a sort of bluesy, electronic jazz I like quite a bit. He's really skilled at it, and collaborates with other musicians across the country. He also plays the guitar, and the drums, and the piano . . .
We both play a lot of video games. He likes to watch me play, and likes to play together when we can. Its a good bonding thing.
He's allergic to cats, which is unfortunate since I have three of them, but nevertheless, he's bonded to the furballs. Luckily, he's gotten somewhat accustomed to them -- his allergies don't bother him as much as they used to. :D
I fear: falling back into debt. I'm THIS CLOSE to paying off an ill advised loan, which will let me start paying down my credit cards and actually putting money aside for once. I haven't had a savings account for something like 9 years. Finances are the largest source of stress for me by far, and until I get some cushion under me they will continue to be so. At this point, I have bad dreams about unanticipated vet bills, broken ankles, and lost jobs that would make me take out another loan, and continue the paycheck scraping tension for years to come. I can see the corner just ahead, but I haven't turned it yet, and that scares me.
I work at: Half Price Books It's a used book store that started out of Dallas, and is now a Privately Owned chain across the country. I really like it -- I like the philosophy behind it, I like that it's environmentally conscious -- we recycle a LOT, and take pains to make green choices -- I love that there are no shareholders to appease, which means I like the way they treat employees, and I love the job itself. I work at one of the larger, more eclectic locations, since it's near an art district and a couple of universities. It makes for some interesting buys, and interesting clientele. Pretty much all the employees here are tattooed liberal musicians/artists, which is awesome.
I want to be: a bookstore owner. I want to own a tiny used bookstore that specializes in science fiction, and that has a room set aside for table top games and nerd themed beers. A little bookstore/gameshop/bar sort of thing. One day maybe. It could happen!
It's fun, sometimes, to see what's the same, what's different, what you've almost forgotten and what feels like yesterday. And to think of what might be totally different in a year's time. In five years. In six months.
