serene | Retrospective

It's been a long time since I had the time to just sit around and play on LJ, but today is still my birthday (observed), and I'm blowing off anything that's not exactly what I want to do.

I stole this survey from

hobbitbabe, who has probably had as drastic a changing past-ten-years as I have.

Ten years ago:

1) How old were you?
THEN: I had just turned 32
NOW: Ten years older than then

2) What was your online presence?
THEN: Two months earlier, I had gotten my first online account. I started in sex chat rooms -- hey, I had been celibate for four years! -- and met TOTGA. We fell in love in July and were together on and off over the next nine months or so. In September, I was probably on liveuniverse.com (now defunct) almost exclusively. I hadn't yet discovered Usenet or listservs or bulletin boards.
NOW: This LJ, some other LJs I keep, manymany listservs, manymany Usenet groups (chief among them alt.polyamory), and five or six very busy email accounts, including two work accounts. Oh, and my new magazine, of course, which will have online archives.

3) Where did you work?
THEN: I was a stay-at-home parent, and I did a little temping here and there.
NOW: I work 20 hours a week at UC Berkeley, a few hours a week at 4TheBest, a volunteer job at the local women's cancer center, and I try to run a happy and orderly home, with varying success.

4) Where did you live?
THEN: In Chula Vista, California, in a really cute apartment over my mother's garage. It had wood floors and vaulted wooden ceilings, and I loved it very much.
NOW: In a basement apartment we call The Hobbithole, with

someotherguy and

wtfpotatoes and

sogwife some of the time. I also love this place very much. I've lived in four other places between then and now.

5) Who did you live with?
THEN: My mom,

wtfpotatoes (aka "Munchkin The Younger"), Munchkin The Elder, and sometimes their mother and/or father
NOW: See #4.

6) How was your health?
THEN: Excellent. I didn't even need health insurance, because I was nearly never sick or in pain.
NOW: Annoying, but not scary. I have unexplained joint pain and high blood pressure, but I'm in basically sound health. Also, in 2007, I had half my thyroid removed and there was some cancer there. I am cancer-free now, though.

7) What pets did you have?
THEN: Two cats -- Bob and Precious. Their brother lived downstairs with my mom.
NOW: None

8) Who was your boyfriend/girlfriend/partner/spouse/S.O.?
THEN: TOTGA. I also had a flirtation going with Naked Guy (to TOTGA's eternal annoyance. He got a bad vibe off of Naked Guy, and was sure he was going to hurt me. As it turns out, he (Naked Guy) wasn't toxic, just boring). It's hard for me to process the fact that just ten years ago, I hadn't even met cute-poet-chick yet.
NOW:

stonebender and

someotherguy, two really excellent boyfriends.

9) (added by me) Who were your friends?
THEN: A, whom I've known since I was 14; C, whom I've known since I was 12; my mom; some San Diego poets, but none I was especially close to. I was at the tail end of a long (5 or 6 years) hermitty streak.
NOW: My mom; my partners; Many many many many people I met on the internet.

10) Any kids? Any plans for kids?
THEN: I was raising the Munchkins
NOW:

wtfpotatoes is my rent-a-teenager, and I really like her

11) What was your worst struggle?
THEN: Being in love with someone who wouldn't tell his wife about me
NOW: Honestly? Nothing huge, but it's a big adjustment having three people in this space instead of two.

12) What was your biggest joy?
THEN: The kids and falling in love for the first time.
NOW: My family and the new magazine. I have total NRE for the magazine and the whole small-press venture.

13) What did you consider your greatest accomplishment?
THEN: My journalistic successes on the local newspapers.
NOW: The fact that really good writers and artists are eager to throw their energies behind the new publishing venture.

14) What advice would you give your younger self?
Don't be afraid of holding out for happiness. Don't let love make you accept it when people are treating you badly.

15) What would your younger self say to you?
Way. To. Go.

16) Looking back, is your life in 2008 what you thought it would be in 1998?
Nope, not at all! I didn't even know about cute-poet-chick, who was my life from 1999-2003. I was years away from meeting my current partners, who are better for and to me than I ever could have imagined. I never thought I would actually move away from my mother, and I'm still sad that I have. I thought I'd be a temp forever, and here I am with a real job, a pension, and two of my own businesses. Yeesh. Change.