Borg_meme responses for kareina
1) If you hadn't have found the SCA (or it wasn't there to have been found), what activity/ies do you think would have filled that niche in your life?
Possibly science fiction/fantasy/media fandom; possibly animal breeding; possibly both. Along with everything else I do outside the SCA, like cultural events, zoo and garden memberships, etc. I'd probably volunteer more with them.
2) You've moved often, showing as much willingness to pick up and go to somewhere new as I have. Do you think you are done moving, or are your feet starting to itch again?
That's always a tough one to answer. I'm glad you asked it, because even though our attitudes about moving are not identical, you have more of a chance of understanding where I'm coming from than many. Some people have been downright rude, expressing loud "sympathy" or feeling sorry for me that I've been "rootless". You don't catch me being rude right back, expressing loud sympathy that they're so parochial and have never had the opportunity to live somewhere else, but have always been stuck in the same town (although with one or two "special" individuals, I have thought it very loudly). Never leaving one place is your entire life is no more "normal" than moving fairly frequently; you and I both lived in Alaska, where a great deal of the population was very transient due to military, seasonal work, airlines moving them in and out, etc. The average American now moves 7 times in her lifetime.
I personally think there is something to be said for the willingness to run away from home at least once in your lifetime. In my case I never really had a home, since my nuclear family moved away from Illinois, where I was born, when I was 6.5 and my mother remarried. My stepdad had been in the Navy, and ergo he got itchy feet about every three years on the average; he was neither wise enough nor self-analytical enough to identify that trend in himself and realize that was what was going on, but he was always searching for "the perfect job", and because of his specialty in aircraft mechanics, he was in hot demand up until his accident. In the last years of his life, he settled pretty hard in a small town in east Texas. I realized at a point in my late 20s that I had probably picked that up as habit, and I made a real effort to combat it; until now, I've never really been able to live exactly where I'd like in any part of the country. :-) I was also strongly resisting family of origin pressure to move back to Illinois, and all the people wondering aloud why I didn't move back to "family"; I hate the Midwest, and I didn't have that much in common with my relatives at the time. Now that another generation has grown up and more of us are able to communicate online, the latter's not an issue; if I had to move to the center of the continent, my first choice would be Toronto, but if I couldn't get into Canada, I think it would be Minneapolis based on what I've read about the city. The fact that my brother and sister-in-law live there right now is a bonus; but they're already talking about moving someplace "west, in the mountains" again when my SiL retires. I don't feel the need to move closer to them then just to be closer; it would probably be Wyoming or Montana, and Scott wants never to be more than a couple of hours from the ocean.
So, bottom line, I don't have itchy feet in terms of wanting to leave; I like Salem, I love my house, and I'm happy with a lot of the options that are close to me. I do crave access to things like the beach, and like a 24-hour cosmopolitan city once in a while - so I think the solution would be to win the lottery so I could go to SoCal once in a while - I get a high from the city at night with all the things going on there, and all the lights, and just the energy, but there's no way we could live there and the downsides of living and working there outweigh the things I like about it.
That said: I have no idea if I'll ever more again. I hope not, because I love where I'm at; but you know, I have only once or twice planned to leave a place in the long run (like Fairbanks, or when I graduated high school, when my mom literally wanted me to live at home forever). I've always moved in response to a combination of factors. And I had no respect for the people who clung on in Alaska because they'd lived there since they were kids, or they just didn't think people should move more than once or twice in their lives, when the economy crashed in 1985 and they were letting their kids go without new winter coats or heat in the house besides the fireplace (and yeah, I knew people like that).
3) Do you have a "favourite" place of all the places you've lived? Why?
One thing I've discovered is that all places have their downsides and their good sides. I don't have a single favourite, so I'll go with "where I am now". No place is perfect, and that's why I don't get the people who never try to leave their home town or county even for travel somewhere else, and think more than an hour drive is "loooong". I love Seattle; expensive to live in now and traffic is nuts if you have to commute. I love Juneau; too isolated.
See, for me, *part* of living somewhere is its interconnectedness to other places; since no one place can have it all, how hard is it to get some other amenities? We can't live right on the ocean; how hard is it to get there? I got Scott started on X-country skiing, and last year we were lucky enough to be able to launch off our front porch (except my skiboots failed); this year, how hard is it going to be to get to X-country ski locations? I love Disneyland, but you can't live someplace just to go to Disneyland all the time; how easy is it to get there?
Some stuff I've realized about myself: I don't like living in the country; I'm basically an urban girl who likes things like concerts, ballets, opera, symphonies, cultural festivals; restaurants; coffee houses. My part of Salem has the neighbourhood style I like: older homes, lots of variety of architecture, big old trees, character - NO CCRs (I'm a die-hard opponent of CC&Rs and ridiculous restrictions people place to try to involve themselves in others' business - it's no concern of any individual's what someone else's home or property looks like!!!) and walkability to a lot of great things. Small towns are overrated--I really like a more progressive, liberal environment and want an area that is moving more towards that with green practices, more public transit, and more thought to the community than in exploitative practices that benefit only a few individuals. I like small cities for living, metropoli for visiting.
4) What are the benefits you see to having lived in multiple countries and more than once continent?
A heightened awareness of the chauvinism and blind spots in the various countries. One thing that came out glaringly was the very restricted version of actual news information America receives in its media feed, and how very monolithic the availability of news, information and entertainment truly is., I loved the fact that, in Australian news, you routinely had significant news from other countries in South Asia and the South Pacific, and it wasn't all sanitized; there would be "feel good" pieces on chat shows, but there wasn't the sense of having to pad out local news with "human interest stories" you see here; instead, there would be news about a recent action on the part of the government of Thailand. I appreciate not having news dumbed down and overpatriotized. There was more of a sense of being left to make up your own mind about what's important.
5) If cats hadn't existed, what sort of animal companion would you have chosen?
Hm. I don't know that I would have. I like most animals, and love a few kinds; I *might* have gone with dogs, because my family had both as a child, but I honestly think that I would not have had animal companions in house were it not for kitties. I do like dogs, but haven't owned property until recently and firmly believe one should not have dogs without owning property for them to inhabit (except for things like teacup chihuahuas, which hardly deserve the name "dog") - or at least being in a rental situation with some land and a long term understanding landlord. I would've been more likely to have had no kitties and tried for more overseas contracting assignments.
Possibly science fiction/fantasy/media fandom; possibly animal breeding; possibly both. Along with everything else I do outside the SCA, like cultural events, zoo and garden memberships, etc. I'd probably volunteer more with them.
2) You've moved often, showing as much willingness to pick up and go to somewhere new as I have. Do you think you are done moving, or are your feet starting to itch again?
That's always a tough one to answer. I'm glad you asked it, because even though our attitudes about moving are not identical, you have more of a chance of understanding where I'm coming from than many. Some people have been downright rude, expressing loud "sympathy" or feeling sorry for me that I've been "rootless". You don't catch me being rude right back, expressing loud sympathy that they're so parochial and have never had the opportunity to live somewhere else, but have always been stuck in the same town (although with one or two "special" individuals, I have thought it very loudly). Never leaving one place is your entire life is no more "normal" than moving fairly frequently; you and I both lived in Alaska, where a great deal of the population was very transient due to military, seasonal work, airlines moving them in and out, etc. The average American now moves 7 times in her lifetime.
I personally think there is something to be said for the willingness to run away from home at least once in your lifetime. In my case I never really had a home, since my nuclear family moved away from Illinois, where I was born, when I was 6.5 and my mother remarried. My stepdad had been in the Navy, and ergo he got itchy feet about every three years on the average; he was neither wise enough nor self-analytical enough to identify that trend in himself and realize that was what was going on, but he was always searching for "the perfect job", and because of his specialty in aircraft mechanics, he was in hot demand up until his accident. In the last years of his life, he settled pretty hard in a small town in east Texas. I realized at a point in my late 20s that I had probably picked that up as habit, and I made a real effort to combat it; until now, I've never really been able to live exactly where I'd like in any part of the country. :-) I was also strongly resisting family of origin pressure to move back to Illinois, and all the people wondering aloud why I didn't move back to "family"; I hate the Midwest, and I didn't have that much in common with my relatives at the time. Now that another generation has grown up and more of us are able to communicate online, the latter's not an issue; if I had to move to the center of the continent, my first choice would be Toronto, but if I couldn't get into Canada, I think it would be Minneapolis based on what I've read about the city. The fact that my brother and sister-in-law live there right now is a bonus; but they're already talking about moving someplace "west, in the mountains" again when my SiL retires. I don't feel the need to move closer to them then just to be closer; it would probably be Wyoming or Montana, and Scott wants never to be more than a couple of hours from the ocean.
So, bottom line, I don't have itchy feet in terms of wanting to leave; I like Salem, I love my house, and I'm happy with a lot of the options that are close to me. I do crave access to things like the beach, and like a 24-hour cosmopolitan city once in a while - so I think the solution would be to win the lottery so I could go to SoCal once in a while - I get a high from the city at night with all the things going on there, and all the lights, and just the energy, but there's no way we could live there and the downsides of living and working there outweigh the things I like about it.
That said: I have no idea if I'll ever more again. I hope not, because I love where I'm at; but you know, I have only once or twice planned to leave a place in the long run (like Fairbanks, or when I graduated high school, when my mom literally wanted me to live at home forever). I've always moved in response to a combination of factors. And I had no respect for the people who clung on in Alaska because they'd lived there since they were kids, or they just didn't think people should move more than once or twice in their lives, when the economy crashed in 1985 and they were letting their kids go without new winter coats or heat in the house besides the fireplace (and yeah, I knew people like that).
3) Do you have a "favourite" place of all the places you've lived? Why?
One thing I've discovered is that all places have their downsides and their good sides. I don't have a single favourite, so I'll go with "where I am now". No place is perfect, and that's why I don't get the people who never try to leave their home town or county even for travel somewhere else, and think more than an hour drive is "loooong". I love Seattle; expensive to live in now and traffic is nuts if you have to commute. I love Juneau; too isolated.
See, for me, *part* of living somewhere is its interconnectedness to other places; since no one place can have it all, how hard is it to get some other amenities? We can't live right on the ocean; how hard is it to get there? I got Scott started on X-country skiing, and last year we were lucky enough to be able to launch off our front porch (except my skiboots failed); this year, how hard is it going to be to get to X-country ski locations? I love Disneyland, but you can't live someplace just to go to Disneyland all the time; how easy is it to get there?
Some stuff I've realized about myself: I don't like living in the country; I'm basically an urban girl who likes things like concerts, ballets, opera, symphonies, cultural festivals; restaurants; coffee houses. My part of Salem has the neighbourhood style I like: older homes, lots of variety of architecture, big old trees, character - NO CCRs (I'm a die-hard opponent of CC&Rs and ridiculous restrictions people place to try to involve themselves in others' business - it's no concern of any individual's what someone else's home or property looks like!!!) and walkability to a lot of great things. Small towns are overrated--I really like a more progressive, liberal environment and want an area that is moving more towards that with green practices, more public transit, and more thought to the community than in exploitative practices that benefit only a few individuals. I like small cities for living, metropoli for visiting.
4) What are the benefits you see to having lived in multiple countries and more than once continent?
A heightened awareness of the chauvinism and blind spots in the various countries. One thing that came out glaringly was the very restricted version of actual news information America receives in its media feed, and how very monolithic the availability of news, information and entertainment truly is., I loved the fact that, in Australian news, you routinely had significant news from other countries in South Asia and the South Pacific, and it wasn't all sanitized; there would be "feel good" pieces on chat shows, but there wasn't the sense of having to pad out local news with "human interest stories" you see here; instead, there would be news about a recent action on the part of the government of Thailand. I appreciate not having news dumbed down and overpatriotized. There was more of a sense of being left to make up your own mind about what's important.
5) If cats hadn't existed, what sort of animal companion would you have chosen?
Hm. I don't know that I would have. I like most animals, and love a few kinds; I *might* have gone with dogs, because my family had both as a child, but I honestly think that I would not have had animal companions in house were it not for kitties. I do like dogs, but haven't owned property until recently and firmly believe one should not have dogs without owning property for them to inhabit (except for things like teacup chihuahuas, which hardly deserve the name "dog") - or at least being in a rental situation with some land and a long term understanding landlord. I would've been more likely to have had no kitties and tried for more overseas contracting assignments.