census meme
I've been seeing this a lot in the last couple days, so what the heck:
1961: I hadn't been invented yet, but soon. :-)
1971: I was in grade school and living in the house my parents still own with them, my sister, and the dog (who was really great with kids). My father's job occasionally sent him away for several weeks at a time; what I knew about this at the time was that he was on a ship somewhere. My mother was not yet working outside the home but would go to nursing school in a couple more years. The school bully lived two doors down from us and was an ongoing problem. The best part of school was the weekly visit from the lady from the blind association, whose job was supposed to be remedial tutoring of handicapped kids. Neither of us was going to tell anybody that I didn't need "remedial"; we found ways to spend the time to our mutual benefit.
1981: I was in college and doing much better after giving up on the math major in favor of a program I'd never heard of before, technical writing. It turned out that I could take nearly all the computer science courses I would have gotten as a math major and CS, not math, was the original goal, so that worked out. I was living in a dorm room with three other people; I stayed in that quad for all four years but the roommates cycled every year. My first encounter with the ARPANet was the SF-Lovers mailing list. I joined the editorial board of the school newspaper. I was attracted to the SCA by the fighting, and through the SCA people was introduced to a role-playing game called RuneQuest!.
1991: I was working as a technical writer again after several years of being a programmer. On my first day at that job my mentor, after setting me up on a Unix workstation with X-Windows, hacked my machine to send virtual insects scurrying across my screen. Thus did I learn what it means to run a server on a network. :-) I was living in a rented duplex in Squirrel Hill with a friend; the landlady lived in the other half and treated us very well. Nonetheless, late in the year I signed a purchase agreement for a house in Swissvale (with high ceilings and woodwork and stained glass, ooh). I'd been playing the hammer dulcimer for several years and had recently upgraded from my starter instrument to a large Dusty Strings instrument (3 octaves chromatic). In the SCA I was singing in the Debatable Choir (it might not have been called that yet), playing in the Debatable Consort, shooting archery, and doing miscellaneous other things, but not fighting any more. I was also the East Kingdom chronicler (newsletter editor). Late in the year I asked three friends if they were interested in forming a folk-music group; they were.
2001: Early in the year the doomed company I worked for finally imploded, fairly spectacularly. I went to work for a small company and a wacky German engineering manager who I suspect had never met a deeply technical technical writer before. Dani and I, with my three cats, were living in the house we bought together in Squirrel Hill (with woodwork and stained glass and a turret, ooh), having been married the previous year. I finally sold my previous house to some very bizarre people (but their check was good). I became a member of my synagogue's board of trustees. I was leading the folk music group On the Mark and we were having lots of fun. I was still singing with the Debatable Choir; I can't remember if I was still playing in the Consort but I think probably not. This was the year we built the little house on the flatbed for Pennsic. I began playing in an excellent D&D campaign, signing up with LiveJournal as a side-effect.
2011: The wacky German manager is gone and the small company has been acquired by a big one, but I'm still there, building software interfaces and applications. We are in the same house and all three cats are still with us, the older two having just turned 18. I am once again on my synagogue's board of trustees. My rabbi and I have been studying talmud in chevruta for several years, and more recently our second rabbi and I have been studying midrash in Hebrew. I lead a weekday morning minyan once a week. I am again in the Debatable Choir (after having taken a few years off). I am less active in the SCA and pretty much only participate locally. Dani and I are playing board games a fair bit. I continue to meet nifty people on the internet.
1961: I hadn't been invented yet, but soon. :-)
1971: I was in grade school and living in the house my parents still own with them, my sister, and the dog (who was really great with kids). My father's job occasionally sent him away for several weeks at a time; what I knew about this at the time was that he was on a ship somewhere. My mother was not yet working outside the home but would go to nursing school in a couple more years. The school bully lived two doors down from us and was an ongoing problem. The best part of school was the weekly visit from the lady from the blind association, whose job was supposed to be remedial tutoring of handicapped kids. Neither of us was going to tell anybody that I didn't need "remedial"; we found ways to spend the time to our mutual benefit.
1981: I was in college and doing much better after giving up on the math major in favor of a program I'd never heard of before, technical writing. It turned out that I could take nearly all the computer science courses I would have gotten as a math major and CS, not math, was the original goal, so that worked out. I was living in a dorm room with three other people; I stayed in that quad for all four years but the roommates cycled every year. My first encounter with the ARPANet was the SF-Lovers mailing list. I joined the editorial board of the school newspaper. I was attracted to the SCA by the fighting, and through the SCA people was introduced to a role-playing game called RuneQuest!.
1991: I was working as a technical writer again after several years of being a programmer. On my first day at that job my mentor, after setting me up on a Unix workstation with X-Windows, hacked my machine to send virtual insects scurrying across my screen. Thus did I learn what it means to run a server on a network. :-) I was living in a rented duplex in Squirrel Hill with a friend; the landlady lived in the other half and treated us very well. Nonetheless, late in the year I signed a purchase agreement for a house in Swissvale (with high ceilings and woodwork and stained glass, ooh). I'd been playing the hammer dulcimer for several years and had recently upgraded from my starter instrument to a large Dusty Strings instrument (3 octaves chromatic). In the SCA I was singing in the Debatable Choir (it might not have been called that yet), playing in the Debatable Consort, shooting archery, and doing miscellaneous other things, but not fighting any more. I was also the East Kingdom chronicler (newsletter editor). Late in the year I asked three friends if they were interested in forming a folk-music group; they were.
2001: Early in the year the doomed company I worked for finally imploded, fairly spectacularly. I went to work for a small company and a wacky German engineering manager who I suspect had never met a deeply technical technical writer before. Dani and I, with my three cats, were living in the house we bought together in Squirrel Hill (with woodwork and stained glass and a turret, ooh), having been married the previous year. I finally sold my previous house to some very bizarre people (but their check was good). I became a member of my synagogue's board of trustees. I was leading the folk music group On the Mark and we were having lots of fun. I was still singing with the Debatable Choir; I can't remember if I was still playing in the Consort but I think probably not. This was the year we built the little house on the flatbed for Pennsic. I began playing in an excellent D&D campaign, signing up with LiveJournal as a side-effect.
2011: The wacky German manager is gone and the small company has been acquired by a big one, but I'm still there, building software interfaces and applications. We are in the same house and all three cats are still with us, the older two having just turned 18. I am once again on my synagogue's board of trustees. My rabbi and I have been studying talmud in chevruta for several years, and more recently our second rabbi and I have been studying midrash in Hebrew. I lead a weekday morning minyan once a week. I am again in the Debatable Choir (after having taken a few years off). I am less active in the SCA and pretty much only participate locally. Dani and I are playing board games a fair bit. I continue to meet nifty people on the internet.