Sian, Her First 25 Years.
25 years ago today, at 5:18 am, I was born.
At first I was very small and wiggly. I don't believe I had a plan.
At 15 months I speak my first full sentence- "More cheese please!" Thus is formed a life-long love affair with both talking and cheese.
At the age of two, upon being asked what I want to be when I grow up, I give the answer now famous in my family lore, "A lion."
At the age of two and a half I knock over a mug of hot tea, causing third degree burns on my face and shoulder. I am hospitalized for a month, and end up with skin grafts (and eventually a scar) on my upper arm where my sleeper held the hot tea against my skin. My face however escapes unharmed, which is why you, the eager public, can enjoy it in its (mostly) unblemished form to this very day.
At the age of four my mother reads all 14 books of the original Oz series aloud to me. Also, A Christmas Carol, and Lloyd Alexander's 5 wonderful books that make up The Prydain Chronicles (much under-read children's classics, you should read them). My mom and I venture into Borders Books (a small independent bookstore in Ann Arbor) to purchase "Rinkatink in Oz". I run in tight circles saying "Rinkatink rinkatink rinkatink!" The love of books is obviously firmly place by this point.
At the age of nine I move to Ypsilanti. My best friend Kat and I spend several years living in our own sparkly little world. We determine that we will be documentary filmmakers in Australia, with me behind the camera and her on-screen. Also, I plan to be an oceanographer. And an actress.
At the age of eleven Become A Woman and am afflicted with braces (although in fact I thought my braces were Very Cool and Grown Up).
At the age of thirteen my career as an athlete ends with my quitting both soccer (at which I was horrible) and track (at which I was actually rather good.) Also, my braces come off. I decide I will be a writer.
At the age of sixteen I transfer from Ypsilanti High School to the Rudolph Steiner School of Ann Arbor, where I join the first junior (and later senior) class at the school. I meet and befriend a very sweet, shy person- chesire_smile. No, that's not a typo. I also go on my very first college visit that year- to a little Quaker school called Earlham College, about which I know next to nothing. I fall in love with the school, and decide to go there, major in Japanese studies, go abroad on the SICE program, then graduate, go to grad school, and become a translator. Still working on that last one.
At the age of 18 I am accepted to Earlham college. I cry in the car on the way there. "I just got things figured out," I say, "And now they have to change again." In my early weeks I have a brief flirtation with a guy from my Japanese class who's also from Michigan, one oldstancher. He tells me I'm cute in Japanese, assuming my nascent Japanese skills aren't up to translating (which they in fact are). We drive to the Sunshine Cafe in his old VW bus and talk till three in the morning one night, when neither of us can sleep. But he already has a girlfriend from back home, and anyway, I think he is probably kind of an asshole- after all he is a Dirty Hippie, and I live on the Wellness (substance-free) hall. I decide to start taking the greyhound back to Michigan to avoid carpooling with him.
At Earlham College I meet a whole host of wonderful people, not least of all saracariad, the best roommate ever. I date a few nice guys, including my friend hethatishere (who actually asked Sara out first! :D ) The pack of us have many adventure, including Earlham's first (and second, third, and fourth) annual Christmas Cart and XXXmas celebration.
At the age of twenty I went to Japan on the SICE program. Before we left I noted in my journal, "I really feel like I have connected with everyone, except oldstancher. I just don't think he likes me, I think he thinks he's too cool- he didn't even seem nervous on the ropes course! I hope he doesn't make everyone else think I'm a dork."
In Japan I drink socially for the first time, and realize a lot of those Bad People I never associated with due to over-rigorous anti-drug training in school, are actually pretty nice. Coming home from the SICE Halloween party, crossing the deserted campus of Iwate Daigaku, I kiss oldstancer. It is just starting to rain. I later attempt to give up kissing him, but I've never managed it since.
At the age of twenty-two oldstancher and I move into a house with a bunch of crazy and fabulous people, including mercurywingspan and hairshorts. Much hilarity ensues. I graduate from Earlham college and am accepted into the MA program at the University of Michigan's Center for Japanese Studies. oldstancher and I get an apartment and some extremely attractive cats together.
At the age of twenty-four I get my MA, and my driver's license. I drive to Vermont to attend Middlebury College's Japanese Summer Language School. Whew.
So, dear friends and readers, there is is. Today I am twenty-five, and this is what I have to show for my first quarter century of work. I made a lot of plans, and only followed through on a few of them. I grew up a lot. I had my heart broken, and broke a few hearts in my turn. I worried about a great many things I needn't have, and failed to worry about quite a few that could have used the attention. I now have two degrees, many wonderful friends, and a partner I love and trust and want by my side for the rest of my life. I am looking for my first Real Job. It's time to start on a whole new quarter century.
But not until tomorrow ^_^
At first I was very small and wiggly. I don't believe I had a plan.
At 15 months I speak my first full sentence- "More cheese please!" Thus is formed a life-long love affair with both talking and cheese.
At the age of two, upon being asked what I want to be when I grow up, I give the answer now famous in my family lore, "A lion."
At the age of two and a half I knock over a mug of hot tea, causing third degree burns on my face and shoulder. I am hospitalized for a month, and end up with skin grafts (and eventually a scar) on my upper arm where my sleeper held the hot tea against my skin. My face however escapes unharmed, which is why you, the eager public, can enjoy it in its (mostly) unblemished form to this very day.
At the age of four my mother reads all 14 books of the original Oz series aloud to me. Also, A Christmas Carol, and Lloyd Alexander's 5 wonderful books that make up The Prydain Chronicles (much under-read children's classics, you should read them). My mom and I venture into Borders Books (a small independent bookstore in Ann Arbor) to purchase "Rinkatink in Oz". I run in tight circles saying "Rinkatink rinkatink rinkatink!" The love of books is obviously firmly place by this point.
At the age of nine I move to Ypsilanti. My best friend Kat and I spend several years living in our own sparkly little world. We determine that we will be documentary filmmakers in Australia, with me behind the camera and her on-screen. Also, I plan to be an oceanographer. And an actress.
At the age of eleven Become A Woman and am afflicted with braces (although in fact I thought my braces were Very Cool and Grown Up).
At the age of thirteen my career as an athlete ends with my quitting both soccer (at which I was horrible) and track (at which I was actually rather good.) Also, my braces come off. I decide I will be a writer.
At the age of sixteen I transfer from Ypsilanti High School to the Rudolph Steiner School of Ann Arbor, where I join the first junior (and later senior) class at the school. I meet and befriend a very sweet, shy person- chesire_smile. No, that's not a typo. I also go on my very first college visit that year- to a little Quaker school called Earlham College, about which I know next to nothing. I fall in love with the school, and decide to go there, major in Japanese studies, go abroad on the SICE program, then graduate, go to grad school, and become a translator. Still working on that last one.
At the age of 18 I am accepted to Earlham college. I cry in the car on the way there. "I just got things figured out," I say, "And now they have to change again." In my early weeks I have a brief flirtation with a guy from my Japanese class who's also from Michigan, one oldstancher. He tells me I'm cute in Japanese, assuming my nascent Japanese skills aren't up to translating (which they in fact are). We drive to the Sunshine Cafe in his old VW bus and talk till three in the morning one night, when neither of us can sleep. But he already has a girlfriend from back home, and anyway, I think he is probably kind of an asshole- after all he is a Dirty Hippie, and I live on the Wellness (substance-free) hall. I decide to start taking the greyhound back to Michigan to avoid carpooling with him.
At Earlham College I meet a whole host of wonderful people, not least of all saracariad, the best roommate ever. I date a few nice guys, including my friend hethatishere (who actually asked Sara out first! :D ) The pack of us have many adventure, including Earlham's first (and second, third, and fourth) annual Christmas Cart and XXXmas celebration.
At the age of twenty I went to Japan on the SICE program. Before we left I noted in my journal, "I really feel like I have connected with everyone, except oldstancher. I just don't think he likes me, I think he thinks he's too cool- he didn't even seem nervous on the ropes course! I hope he doesn't make everyone else think I'm a dork."
In Japan I drink socially for the first time, and realize a lot of those Bad People I never associated with due to over-rigorous anti-drug training in school, are actually pretty nice. Coming home from the SICE Halloween party, crossing the deserted campus of Iwate Daigaku, I kiss oldstancer. It is just starting to rain. I later attempt to give up kissing him, but I've never managed it since.
At the age of twenty-two oldstancher and I move into a house with a bunch of crazy and fabulous people, including mercurywingspan and hairshorts. Much hilarity ensues. I graduate from Earlham college and am accepted into the MA program at the University of Michigan's Center for Japanese Studies. oldstancher and I get an apartment and some extremely attractive cats together.
At the age of twenty-four I get my MA, and my driver's license. I drive to Vermont to attend Middlebury College's Japanese Summer Language School. Whew.
So, dear friends and readers, there is is. Today I am twenty-five, and this is what I have to show for my first quarter century of work. I made a lot of plans, and only followed through on a few of them. I grew up a lot. I had my heart broken, and broke a few hearts in my turn. I worried about a great many things I needn't have, and failed to worry about quite a few that could have used the attention. I now have two degrees, many wonderful friends, and a partner I love and trust and want by my side for the rest of my life. I am looking for my first Real Job. It's time to start on a whole new quarter century.
But not until tomorrow ^_^