Another week, another Five...
Pulling up another Five from the archives this week...
1. What is something amazing that has happened in the last five years? I'm going to keep this light, personal, and mundane: my couch. We'd had a futon for years (twenty, to be precise), and while it served us well, I'm a lounger, and futons are for more upright and virtuous people. Two years ago we got this one in coffee brown with a large matching ottoman. Couldn't be more comfy. It looks crisper in the photo than in real life, where it's a bit smushy.
2. What is something you would love to happen in the next five years? On the macro scale? Open doors and social support for immigrants and refugees everywhere. Universal heath care here in the US. On the micro? Yikes, now everything micro seems petty. Peace, love and good health, all around!
3. Do you make "life plans" or do you live spontaneously? Life is what happens while you're busy making plans. Unfortunately. If I had my way it would be all life plans, all the time, but experience proves me wrong over and over on this point.
4. Do you think about what you might do when you retire? All the time! More or less what I do in the summers and on weekends right now but with no student papers to grade, *ever.* I hope I'm in good enough health to appreciate it. (And I hope we actually have enough money to quit working at some point; I really worry about this.)
5. Is your lifestyle similar to your parents, grandparents, or something utterly different? Similar in certain ways--I went into the same profession my father did, after all, and I inherited (or acquired) his bookishness and introversion and slight obsessiveness and my mom's love of detective stories and baked goods and chatting. But very different in the sense that I don't have kids, or a car, or house in the suburbs. Both my grandparents and parents led very child-centered lives and were never very interested in venturing far from home even once the kids left the nest, and I'm happy not having kids and want to travel the world and get to know folks who are different from myself. Growing up, I would have said my brother was the black sheep in the family--he seemed most different from the three of us temperamentally--but he's gotten more and more like my father over the years and created a family life very similar to theirs, and I've drifted away from the three of them in all sorts of ways, large and small.
Added bonus this week: Animals! Two videos that made me laugh out loud: happy dog with happy soundtrack and a cat watching a particularly stressful scene in a horror movie. Click though--you won't regret it.
Want to play along? Text box below!
1. What is something amazing that has happened in the last five years?
2. What is something you would love to happen in the next five years?
3. Do you make "life plans" or do you live spontaneously?
4. Do you think about what you might do when you retire?
5. Is your lifestyle similar to your parents, grandparents, or something utterly different?
1. What is something amazing that has happened in the last five years? I'm going to keep this light, personal, and mundane: my couch. We'd had a futon for years (twenty, to be precise), and while it served us well, I'm a lounger, and futons are for more upright and virtuous people. Two years ago we got this one in coffee brown with a large matching ottoman. Couldn't be more comfy. It looks crisper in the photo than in real life, where it's a bit smushy.
2. What is something you would love to happen in the next five years? On the macro scale? Open doors and social support for immigrants and refugees everywhere. Universal heath care here in the US. On the micro? Yikes, now everything micro seems petty. Peace, love and good health, all around!
3. Do you make "life plans" or do you live spontaneously? Life is what happens while you're busy making plans. Unfortunately. If I had my way it would be all life plans, all the time, but experience proves me wrong over and over on this point.
4. Do you think about what you might do when you retire? All the time! More or less what I do in the summers and on weekends right now but with no student papers to grade, *ever.* I hope I'm in good enough health to appreciate it. (And I hope we actually have enough money to quit working at some point; I really worry about this.)
5. Is your lifestyle similar to your parents, grandparents, or something utterly different? Similar in certain ways--I went into the same profession my father did, after all, and I inherited (or acquired) his bookishness and introversion and slight obsessiveness and my mom's love of detective stories and baked goods and chatting. But very different in the sense that I don't have kids, or a car, or house in the suburbs. Both my grandparents and parents led very child-centered lives and were never very interested in venturing far from home even once the kids left the nest, and I'm happy not having kids and want to travel the world and get to know folks who are different from myself. Growing up, I would have said my brother was the black sheep in the family--he seemed most different from the three of us temperamentally--but he's gotten more and more like my father over the years and created a family life very similar to theirs, and I've drifted away from the three of them in all sorts of ways, large and small.
Added bonus this week: Animals! Two videos that made me laugh out loud: happy dog with happy soundtrack and a cat watching a particularly stressful scene in a horror movie. Click though--you won't regret it.
Want to play along? Text box below!
1. What is something amazing that has happened in the last five years?
2. What is something you would love to happen in the next five years?
3. Do you make "life plans" or do you live spontaneously?
4. Do you think about what you might do when you retire?
5. Is your lifestyle similar to your parents, grandparents, or something utterly different?