Month Meme - Day 2
Ganked this from mrstater. Would love to see more people do it, if you've got any time at all!
Day 2: All the places you’ve lived
(1) I was born at a hospital in Wichita, Kansas and lived in a suburb of Wichita most of my childhood. The suburb was Haysville and I think I had a fairly typical middle-America suburban childhood. I don't remember the youngest stuff, obviously, but once I was a little older (8 or 9 maybe with my big sister as a pseudo babysitter?), I'd walk or ride my bike to school and of course summers were the best. In the summer, I had the run of the town and would go to the park, the creek, the community pool, the public library, the Dairy Queen, the grocery store candy aisle, friends' houses, and wherever else I wanted to go. There was a railroad track running through town and the only rule was no crossing the railroads except to get to the library which was barely on the other side. I don't think it was a bad side of town kind of thing; I think it was just a getting too far from the house kind of thing. I could be wrong, but either way I did grow up with a "wrong side of the tracks." Hooray for suburban childhoods!
(2) When I was 11, we moved to the country. We briefly lived in a little rental house between the selling of our house in Haysville and moving out to Leon, but that barely counts. My only real memory of that place is being up late watching the presidential election returns after my parents had gone to bed. Since this was when I was 11 and in fifth grade, it isn't really surprising I'm extremely politically active and aware today and am a political historian professionally. Anyway, when we really moved, went to a little town called Leon on the other side of Wichita and further out from the city than Haysville. It was middle of nowhere country. My closest neighbors were a few thousand head of cattle. I couldn't have ridden my bike to any destination because it was miles to anywhere. Fortunately my sister started driving about the time we moved out there so we could still get places :) We built our house in Leon and it wasn't anywhere done yet by the time we moved, so we actually had to live in a camping trailer set up in the garage while we built the house around us. I loved shingling the roof and my mom and sister were terrified of how much I was willing to run around up there with my dad. I was in Leon for middle school and the first couple of years of high school but in my mind it is just middle school.
(3) We moved to Texas when I was fifteen and going into my junior year of high school. That royally sucked. When we moved to Leon, I stayed in my old Girl Scout troop and would go back to see my old friends there once a week for Scout meetings and then occasionally on the weekends and the like. Plus I'd made a whole bunch of friends in the four years in Leon. There was no going back to see people from Texas. Plus, it was in time for my junior year of high school! Just when there's things like junior prom and people starting to gear up for senior year and the idea of saying goodbye to all these people you've know since you were five and all that, I'm the new kid. I did make a couple of pretty good friends, but there's only one person from my high school I ever still see or consider to be a really close friend. It is the timing of both of these two moves that causes the weird thing in my head that says Haysville was elementary school (which it was completely), Leon is middle school (which it was completely but plus some high school) and Pearland (the Houston suburb we lived in) is high school (even though it is only half of high school). The other thing that sucked about moving to Texas was that it took a few months for us to find a rental home so we again lived in the camping trailer for several months. I was 15 and basically living in one room - not one bedroom but one room for bedroom, living room, and kitchen - with my parents, sister, and dog. It would have been find when I was 8. It hadn't even been that bad when I was 11. But at 15, I would have killed for privacy. I hate Texas.
(4) The exception to the "I hate Texas" rule is San Antonio. And maybe Austin. I lived in San Antonio for six years because I got my BAs and my MA from the University of Texas at San Antonio. I loved almost every moment in San Antonio and would happily move back. San Antonio is where I ceased to be my parents' kid and became my own person. I made fantastic friends who had such a profound impact on me, I figured out what I wanted to do with my life, and I figured out more about who I really am. Basically, everything you are supposed to do in college or your late teens / early twenties if you don't go to college. San Antonio will always be special to me.
(5) Last but not least, good old Williamsburg, Virginia. Ye Olde Colonial Towne. I've been here since 2005 and at my current rate of progress, I will be here until I die. I'm here to get my PhD and there are days I love this town and days I hate it. The longer I'm here, the more I hate it, but it really is a nice vacation spot and would be a fantastic place to be an undergrad. It's just a crappy place to be a grad student, especially for something like a Humanities PhD when you have to be here soooo long.
The Days of the Meme
1. Your name
2. All the places you’ve lived
3. Your first best friend
4. Your childhood fears
5. What you were like in high school
6. Your favourite and least favourite subjects at school
7. Your first boyfriend or girlfriend
8. Your oldest hobby
9. Your sexuality
10. What you look for in a partner
11. Your kids, or your feelings about having kids
12. Your pets, past and present
13. Foods you love and foods you hate
14. What your life was like ten years ago
15. How much alcohol you drink
16. Your worst illness
17. What you do at work
18. A question or comment people should never make to you
19. The style of clothing you feel most comfortable in
20. Whether you’re an extrovert or an introvert
21. Who you have a crush on
22. A friendship you lost
23. Three achievements you’re proud of
24. Your political views
25. Your religious beliefs
26. Your perfect night out
27. Whether you like to plan ahead or be spontaneous
28. What you look for in a friend
29. Whether you’re a night owl or a morning lark
30. How you would like people to remember you
Day 2: All the places you’ve lived
(1) I was born at a hospital in Wichita, Kansas and lived in a suburb of Wichita most of my childhood. The suburb was Haysville and I think I had a fairly typical middle-America suburban childhood. I don't remember the youngest stuff, obviously, but once I was a little older (8 or 9 maybe with my big sister as a pseudo babysitter?), I'd walk or ride my bike to school and of course summers were the best. In the summer, I had the run of the town and would go to the park, the creek, the community pool, the public library, the Dairy Queen, the grocery store candy aisle, friends' houses, and wherever else I wanted to go. There was a railroad track running through town and the only rule was no crossing the railroads except to get to the library which was barely on the other side. I don't think it was a bad side of town kind of thing; I think it was just a getting too far from the house kind of thing. I could be wrong, but either way I did grow up with a "wrong side of the tracks." Hooray for suburban childhoods!
(2) When I was 11, we moved to the country. We briefly lived in a little rental house between the selling of our house in Haysville and moving out to Leon, but that barely counts. My only real memory of that place is being up late watching the presidential election returns after my parents had gone to bed. Since this was when I was 11 and in fifth grade, it isn't really surprising I'm extremely politically active and aware today and am a political historian professionally. Anyway, when we really moved, went to a little town called Leon on the other side of Wichita and further out from the city than Haysville. It was middle of nowhere country. My closest neighbors were a few thousand head of cattle. I couldn't have ridden my bike to any destination because it was miles to anywhere. Fortunately my sister started driving about the time we moved out there so we could still get places :) We built our house in Leon and it wasn't anywhere done yet by the time we moved, so we actually had to live in a camping trailer set up in the garage while we built the house around us. I loved shingling the roof and my mom and sister were terrified of how much I was willing to run around up there with my dad. I was in Leon for middle school and the first couple of years of high school but in my mind it is just middle school.
(3) We moved to Texas when I was fifteen and going into my junior year of high school. That royally sucked. When we moved to Leon, I stayed in my old Girl Scout troop and would go back to see my old friends there once a week for Scout meetings and then occasionally on the weekends and the like. Plus I'd made a whole bunch of friends in the four years in Leon. There was no going back to see people from Texas. Plus, it was in time for my junior year of high school! Just when there's things like junior prom and people starting to gear up for senior year and the idea of saying goodbye to all these people you've know since you were five and all that, I'm the new kid. I did make a couple of pretty good friends, but there's only one person from my high school I ever still see or consider to be a really close friend. It is the timing of both of these two moves that causes the weird thing in my head that says Haysville was elementary school (which it was completely), Leon is middle school (which it was completely but plus some high school) and Pearland (the Houston suburb we lived in) is high school (even though it is only half of high school). The other thing that sucked about moving to Texas was that it took a few months for us to find a rental home so we again lived in the camping trailer for several months. I was 15 and basically living in one room - not one bedroom but one room for bedroom, living room, and kitchen - with my parents, sister, and dog. It would have been find when I was 8. It hadn't even been that bad when I was 11. But at 15, I would have killed for privacy. I hate Texas.
(4) The exception to the "I hate Texas" rule is San Antonio. And maybe Austin. I lived in San Antonio for six years because I got my BAs and my MA from the University of Texas at San Antonio. I loved almost every moment in San Antonio and would happily move back. San Antonio is where I ceased to be my parents' kid and became my own person. I made fantastic friends who had such a profound impact on me, I figured out what I wanted to do with my life, and I figured out more about who I really am. Basically, everything you are supposed to do in college or your late teens / early twenties if you don't go to college. San Antonio will always be special to me.
(5) Last but not least, good old Williamsburg, Virginia. Ye Olde Colonial Towne. I've been here since 2005 and at my current rate of progress, I will be here until I die. I'm here to get my PhD and there are days I love this town and days I hate it. The longer I'm here, the more I hate it, but it really is a nice vacation spot and would be a fantastic place to be an undergrad. It's just a crappy place to be a grad student, especially for something like a Humanities PhD when you have to be here soooo long.
The Days of the Meme
1. Your name
2. All the places you’ve lived
3. Your first best friend
4. Your childhood fears
5. What you were like in high school
6. Your favourite and least favourite subjects at school
7. Your first boyfriend or girlfriend
8. Your oldest hobby
9. Your sexuality
10. What you look for in a partner
11. Your kids, or your feelings about having kids
12. Your pets, past and present
13. Foods you love and foods you hate
14. What your life was like ten years ago
15. How much alcohol you drink
16. Your worst illness
17. What you do at work
18. A question or comment people should never make to you
19. The style of clothing you feel most comfortable in
20. Whether you’re an extrovert or an introvert
21. Who you have a crush on
22. A friendship you lost
23. Three achievements you’re proud of
24. Your political views
25. Your religious beliefs
26. Your perfect night out
27. Whether you like to plan ahead or be spontaneous
28. What you look for in a friend
29. Whether you’re a night owl or a morning lark
30. How you would like people to remember you