Retrospective
Sep. 27th, 2005 06:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellarienMeme via ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mrissa. I can go one decade farther back.
I was in my first term of secondary school -- this equates roughly to US 6th grade, but in the British system of those days it was a huge milestone, the transition from 'primary' to 'secondary' school, bringing with it uniforms and fountain pens and actual timetabled lessons with a different teacher for every subject, as well as a two-bus commute each way and formal homework every night. I was discovering the delights of Latin and realizing that I might as well forget the purely-oral French I had been taught at junior school; 'setun' and 'setoon' were not in fact definite articles. I weighed five stone (70lb) and took size five shoes, and thought it would have been tidy if I was five feet tall as well, but was in fact about 4'8". My forefinger and thumb were soaked in Royal Blue Washable ink every night.
I was settling into a tiny bedsit in Birmingham, preparing to be a PhD student and struggling to come to grips with the idea that my father had only months to live. I'd had my hair cut, and was already regretting it; I was wide-eyed and excited at the thought of entering the wonderful world of research.
I was in my first year in London, living in a one-bedroom flat in Bethnal Green, enjoying a job that was stretching me more than the previous one, and playing tourist on alternate Saturdays. At that point, I was still enjoying living in London, though that would change in six months or so.
I was here in Tucson. This week, I'd have been frantically preparing for a conference in Tenerife. That was a year of much travel and professional excitement, and also the year when I realized how much computers had improved recently and ended up buying two, desktop and laptop, to replace my 1997 laptop, and learned to use PowerPoint.
I was also in the throes of having an O visa petitioned for on my behalf -- at the end of October I'd make a brief trip to Mexico to get it issued. I'd recently discovered crochet, and was busily collecting a hook of every possible size and a ball of every coloured thread from Walmart, Michaels, and Jo-Ann Crafts.
That was the week the students moved into the Birmingham house that I'd been staying in, and helping to renovate, for the previous couple of months. I was on a three-month working visit to my old research group at the university, trying to complete and write up a project while surrounded by construction noise and dust; at home I was staying up too late every night being a builder's mate and making cups of tea. Things had made a lot of progress in the previous month, but the renovations were by no means finished when the tenants arrived; we celebrated the completion of the bathroom with midnight champagne on the stairs, the night the last one moved in. The week started with an earthquake; at the end of it I fled to Sheffield for a weekend of sanity.
Another visa application was in progress, and I was fretting about it and about renewing the lease on my apartment. I'd come back to Tucson from a couple of weeks vacation in England and gone almost immediately to Colorado for a two-week visit. I had 150 unread books and a roach problem.
Yet another visa application, after I'd been home for six weeks in order to get the the previous one-year one issued for its last two months of validity. I'd just obtained the wherewithal for a broadband connection, but not yet set it up. The unread-book list was down to sixty or so.
We said goodbye to the last summer student of the year. Various papers are flying around, nearly ready to submit. The high temperature was 103F, which is a bit high for late September. I picked up groceries after work.
I took the real laptop into work as usual, for the first time since I left at the beginning of August, and went cactus-flower-hunting at lunchtime and uploaded the photos as soon as I got back. It's nice to have my routine back. To-read list stands at 40, and I'm happy if it stays there or thereabouts.
Another nice, normal work day, I hope.
mrissa. I can go one decade farther back.Thirty years ago
I was in my first term of secondary school -- this equates roughly to US 6th grade, but in the British system of those days it was a huge milestone, the transition from 'primary' to 'secondary' school, bringing with it uniforms and fountain pens and actual timetabled lessons with a different teacher for every subject, as well as a two-bus commute each way and formal homework every night. I was discovering the delights of Latin and realizing that I might as well forget the purely-oral French I had been taught at junior school; 'setun' and 'setoon' were not in fact definite articles. I weighed five stone (70lb) and took size five shoes, and thought it would have been tidy if I was five feet tall as well, but was in fact about 4'8". My forefinger and thumb were soaked in Royal Blue Washable ink every night.
Twenty years ago
I was settling into a tiny bedsit in Birmingham, preparing to be a PhD student and struggling to come to grips with the idea that my father had only months to live. I'd had my hair cut, and was already regretting it; I was wide-eyed and excited at the thought of entering the wonderful world of research.
Ten years ago
I was in my first year in London, living in a one-bedroom flat in Bethnal Green, enjoying a job that was stretching me more than the previous one, and playing tourist on alternate Saturdays. At that point, I was still enjoying living in London, though that would change in six months or so.
Five years ago
I was here in Tucson. This week, I'd have been frantically preparing for a conference in Tenerife. That was a year of much travel and professional excitement, and also the year when I realized how much computers had improved recently and ended up buying two, desktop and laptop, to replace my 1997 laptop, and learned to use PowerPoint.
I was also in the throes of having an O visa petitioned for on my behalf -- at the end of October I'd make a brief trip to Mexico to get it issued. I'd recently discovered crochet, and was busily collecting a hook of every possible size and a ball of every coloured thread from Walmart, Michaels, and Jo-Ann Crafts.
Three years ago
That was the week the students moved into the Birmingham house that I'd been staying in, and helping to renovate, for the previous couple of months. I was on a three-month working visit to my old research group at the university, trying to complete and write up a project while surrounded by construction noise and dust; at home I was staying up too late every night being a builder's mate and making cups of tea. Things had made a lot of progress in the previous month, but the renovations were by no means finished when the tenants arrived; we celebrated the completion of the bathroom with midnight champagne on the stairs, the night the last one moved in. The week started with an earthquake; at the end of it I fled to Sheffield for a weekend of sanity.
Two years ago
Another visa application was in progress, and I was fretting about it and about renewing the lease on my apartment. I'd come back to Tucson from a couple of weeks vacation in England and gone almost immediately to Colorado for a two-week visit. I had 150 unread books and a roach problem.
One year ago
Yet another visa application, after I'd been home for six weeks in order to get the the previous one-year one issued for its last two months of validity. I'd just obtained the wherewithal for a broadband connection, but not yet set it up. The unread-book list was down to sixty or so.
Yesterday
We said goodbye to the last summer student of the year. Various papers are flying around, nearly ready to submit. The high temperature was 103F, which is a bit high for late September. I picked up groceries after work.
Today
I took the real laptop into work as usual, for the first time since I left at the beginning of August, and went cactus-flower-hunting at lunchtime and uploaded the photos as soon as I got back. It's nice to have my routine back. To-read list stands at 40, and I'm happy if it stays there or thereabouts.
Tomorrow
Another nice, normal work day, I hope.
