Moar February Meme Questions. I'm late.
Mar. 1st, 2023 05:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maeve668. What is a view about the world that has changed for you as you’ve gotten older?
I thought the right wing had reached its post fascism heights with Reagan until Trump et al -- the whole metastatic, writhing cauldron of sickness that is the resurgent Christofascist Republicans and neonazis etc just fucking confounds me. I mean, it's not like I thought socialist revolution was on the cards -- I was never that ultraleft. But I was pleased that the WORD socialist made it back into the political discourse, and pleased at the growth of DSA (the Democratic Socialists of America) after Bernie's runs in 2016 and 2020... but it's really hard to hold on to that, given the thundering herd of the right. I mean... there are countervailing tendencies, but it's hard not to shudder.
9. What is a fad you fell into? How do you feel about it now?
I don't think I ever really did fads. Maybe in middle school? Probably not. More likely I made a faint, lukewarm, hesitant nod towards a fad, like cowl neck sweaters, and then immediately retreated, especially because my own cowl neck sweater was from K-Mart and pilled immediately and it was just pointless.
10. What is something you would like to be able to say no to more often?
"Work, obviously." We are as one here, too, Microbie. GOD I wish I could retire. I have... five more years? I think? But it seems like forever, and any horrible thing could happen to my work life in the meantime.
11. Is there anything you wish you didn’t have to do right now?
Ditto
12. If you could go on a trip anywhere right now where would you go?
I wish I had so much fucking money that I could travel to Europe in style and luxury on some damn huge passenger ship. I think one or two of those still exist. NOT a cruise; just going from New York to Southhampton, or wherever such ships go. And then I'd visit friends from Brighton through London and Newcastle to Edinburgh.
13. What is your best recent memory?
Hm. I'm usually good at enjoying small moments, but this is hard, when you're called upon to recall one instantly. Also it's weird to say recent "memory". I'm confused by that. A memory is by definition from the past. I don't know if I think about RECENT memories... that seems to beg the question of how good one's aging memory IS. Okay, this is weird, but the one that comes to mind is, strangely, from the very early days of the pandemic. My niece Rosie would come over a lot because we had a family "pod" and she couldn't really go outside the house to see anyone else in person. So she'd come over here a lot, and bake. She made a lot of bread that was wonderful the first day, and rock hard, the second.
14. If you could choose between having a personal chef, housekeeper, or personal trainer which would you choose?
I think a personal chef, even though I have always liked to cook. I don't do it any more and I swear to god it would almost be cheaper and certainly more healthy to have someone else cook for me. I mean, as opposed to DoorDash or Ubereats or whatever.
15. What is your relationship to physical exercise?
I don't have a relationship to physical exercise.
16. When you were a child how did you imagine your adult life?
I think I've said before that I have a very clear memory of me at age five, imagining the future female commune I would live in with my friends. I think I was imagining this partly in response to some of those friends wanting to play wedding with their Barbies. Later, I vaguely thought I'd be a writer or a professor of history, but I pictured my life as being more or less the way my parents' lives were: a month of summer vacation, a stable job that paid a mortgage, etc.
17. When was the last time you surprised yourself?
Surprised myself. Hm. I always surprise myself by how long I can procrastinate to the absolute last possible minute and then get all that procrastinated work done in a ridiculously small amount of time.
18. If you could eliminate one thing from your life today what would it be?
Diabetes. Yeah, if I could eliminate diabetes I would be very pleased.
19. What is something you'd love to try?
I used to want to try sky-diving, but nah. If I were in better physical shape (a LOT better) I'd love to be one of those old volunteers who works on an archaeological dig. I'd like to go to outdoor hot springs.
20. Do you feel like you gained anything from the books you were required to read in school?
I loved the majority of the books I "was forced to read in school". I can name most of them now. In high school English: Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear, The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew, Othello, Oedipus Rex, Antigone, Mother Courage, Mythology by Edith Hamilton, The Odyssey, The Old Man and the Sea (okay,
I hated that book), The Catcher in the Rye (hated that book too), The Once and Future King, The Glass Menagerie, Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist, The Grapes of Wrath, Ethan Frome, The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Crucible, Daisy Miller, The Scarlet Letter, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Points of Departure (a collection of short stories including some Graham Greene, Alan Sillitoe, Nadine Gordimer and John Updike, Absalom, Absalom, As I Lay Dying, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and that's it
... there are some I am forgetting, but I remember most of them. I did take English AP, so some of the excess titles are those.
In Russian history, we read one Russian novel of our choice (I chose Ivan Turgenev's Fathers and Sons and to date it is still the only Russian novel I have read, though my older niece is constantly trying to get me to read more. And we also read Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon.
In French, I remember Les Jeux Sont Faits, Huis Clos,L'Etranger (which I loved and which led to a fascination with Camus), a collection of poetry, Le Petit Prince (which I loathed), Tartuffe, L'Invalide Imaginaire, and Candide (which I adored).
21. What part(s) of your work do you enjoy the most? The least?
The most: planning interesting lessons. The least: grading and paperwork
22. Why do you dress the way you do?
I work from home! Never mind athleisure; I own more pairs of comfy pajama bottoms than I could EVER HAVE IMAGINED three years ago. If I have to go back to in person next year, god knows what I will wear. UGHHHHHHHH.
I thought the right wing had reached its post fascism heights with Reagan until Trump et al -- the whole metastatic, writhing cauldron of sickness that is the resurgent Christofascist Republicans and neonazis etc just fucking confounds me. I mean, it's not like I thought socialist revolution was on the cards -- I was never that ultraleft. But I was pleased that the WORD socialist made it back into the political discourse, and pleased at the growth of DSA (the Democratic Socialists of America) after Bernie's runs in 2016 and 2020... but it's really hard to hold on to that, given the thundering herd of the right. I mean... there are countervailing tendencies, but it's hard not to shudder.
9. What is a fad you fell into? How do you feel about it now?
I don't think I ever really did fads. Maybe in middle school? Probably not. More likely I made a faint, lukewarm, hesitant nod towards a fad, like cowl neck sweaters, and then immediately retreated, especially because my own cowl neck sweater was from K-Mart and pilled immediately and it was just pointless.
10. What is something you would like to be able to say no to more often?
"Work, obviously." We are as one here, too, Microbie. GOD I wish I could retire. I have... five more years? I think? But it seems like forever, and any horrible thing could happen to my work life in the meantime.
11. Is there anything you wish you didn’t have to do right now?
Ditto
12. If you could go on a trip anywhere right now where would you go?
I wish I had so much fucking money that I could travel to Europe in style and luxury on some damn huge passenger ship. I think one or two of those still exist. NOT a cruise; just going from New York to Southhampton, or wherever such ships go. And then I'd visit friends from Brighton through London and Newcastle to Edinburgh.
13. What is your best recent memory?
Hm. I'm usually good at enjoying small moments, but this is hard, when you're called upon to recall one instantly. Also it's weird to say recent "memory". I'm confused by that. A memory is by definition from the past. I don't know if I think about RECENT memories... that seems to beg the question of how good one's aging memory IS. Okay, this is weird, but the one that comes to mind is, strangely, from the very early days of the pandemic. My niece Rosie would come over a lot because we had a family "pod" and she couldn't really go outside the house to see anyone else in person. So she'd come over here a lot, and bake. She made a lot of bread that was wonderful the first day, and rock hard, the second.
14. If you could choose between having a personal chef, housekeeper, or personal trainer which would you choose?
I think a personal chef, even though I have always liked to cook. I don't do it any more and I swear to god it would almost be cheaper and certainly more healthy to have someone else cook for me. I mean, as opposed to DoorDash or Ubereats or whatever.
15. What is your relationship to physical exercise?
I don't have a relationship to physical exercise.
16. When you were a child how did you imagine your adult life?
I think I've said before that I have a very clear memory of me at age five, imagining the future female commune I would live in with my friends. I think I was imagining this partly in response to some of those friends wanting to play wedding with their Barbies. Later, I vaguely thought I'd be a writer or a professor of history, but I pictured my life as being more or less the way my parents' lives were: a month of summer vacation, a stable job that paid a mortgage, etc.
17. When was the last time you surprised yourself?
Surprised myself. Hm. I always surprise myself by how long I can procrastinate to the absolute last possible minute and then get all that procrastinated work done in a ridiculously small amount of time.
18. If you could eliminate one thing from your life today what would it be?
Diabetes. Yeah, if I could eliminate diabetes I would be very pleased.
19. What is something you'd love to try?
I used to want to try sky-diving, but nah. If I were in better physical shape (a LOT better) I'd love to be one of those old volunteers who works on an archaeological dig. I'd like to go to outdoor hot springs.
20. Do you feel like you gained anything from the books you were required to read in school?
I loved the majority of the books I "was forced to read in school". I can name most of them now. In high school English: Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear, The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew, Othello, Oedipus Rex, Antigone, Mother Courage, Mythology by Edith Hamilton, The Odyssey, The Old Man and the Sea (okay,
I hated that book), The Catcher in the Rye (hated that book too), The Once and Future King, The Glass Menagerie, Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist, The Grapes of Wrath, Ethan Frome, The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Crucible, Daisy Miller, The Scarlet Letter, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Points of Departure (a collection of short stories including some Graham Greene, Alan Sillitoe, Nadine Gordimer and John Updike, Absalom, Absalom, As I Lay Dying, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and that's it
... there are some I am forgetting, but I remember most of them. I did take English AP, so some of the excess titles are those.
In Russian history, we read one Russian novel of our choice (I chose Ivan Turgenev's Fathers and Sons and to date it is still the only Russian novel I have read, though my older niece is constantly trying to get me to read more. And we also read Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon.
In French, I remember Les Jeux Sont Faits, Huis Clos,L'Etranger (which I loved and which led to a fascination with Camus), a collection of poetry, Le Petit Prince (which I loathed), Tartuffe, L'Invalide Imaginaire, and Candide (which I adored).
21. What part(s) of your work do you enjoy the most? The least?
The most: planning interesting lessons. The least: grading and paperwork
22. Why do you dress the way you do?
I work from home! Never mind athleisure; I own more pairs of comfy pajama bottoms than I could EVER HAVE IMAGINED three years ago. If I have to go back to in person next year, god knows what I will wear. UGHHHHHHHH.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-02 02:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-03-02 12:48 pm (UTC)I never made such assumptions as a child/teenager.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-03 01:46 am (UTC)