Do you remember when?

at 11, 1977-78, I was in 5th grade in the Ft Worth area, undergoing the worst of the child abuse.
at 21, 1987-88, I was in the Scarborough Faire Performing Company and voluntarily Xtian.
at 31, 1997-98, I was living in Houston and in and out of a relationship with my now ex-fiance.

Let's assume that everything written here is preceded by "uh... as far as I can remember..."

Favorite album
at 11: that big Bee Gees album, definitely
at 21: Hmm. I listened to a lot of ELO back then due to bf.
at 31: Let's say Jethro Tull's 'Original Masters'.

Favorite fast food
at 11: Pizza
at 21: McD's cheeseburgers
at 31: 7-layer burrito (about the only veggie fast food available at the time in Houston)

Favorite instant food
at 11: cheese and mustard
at 21: cheese and mustard
at 31: cheese and mustard. Other likes and dislikes come and go, but cheese, ideally with a touch of mustard, is a standard. So are grapes.

Favorite actor(ess/s/es)
at 11: Hell, maybe Ruth Buzzi. Or Julie Andrews. Or Carrie Fisher. No wait...the chick on the 'Isis' show. She was beautiful.
at 21: Christopher Guest
at 31: Maybe Will Smith, maybe Val Kilmer

Job situation
at 11: Dad's corner store - cashier, stocking, pricing, bookkeeping
at 21: Picture framer
at 31: Project coordinator for oilngas

Main musical instrument
at 11: piano
at 21: saxophone
at 31: air drums

Home computer
at 11: does an Atari game system count?
at 21: bf's PC Jr
at 31: bf's frankenclone

Favorite alcohol
at 11: church wine
at 21: amaretto coladas...if you've never tried one, do
at 31: probably still amaretto coladas, but starting to learn about wine

Political leanings
at 11: Democrat
at 21: Democrat
at 31: Socio-anarchist (i.e. Green)

Number of letters written per year
at 11: dozens, I'm sure
at 21: no idea
at 31: several handwritten, starting to use email regularly at this time

Preferred format of recorded media
at 11: record album
at 21: record album
at 31: very reluctantly switching to CD

Music playback device
at 11: Mom's stereo
at 21: My 4-in-1 stereo I've had since age 13
at 31: boom box

Living situation
at 11: suburban home in Ft Worth area
at 21: living with bf's family
at 31: rental house 1-2 miles from now ex-fiance in Houston

Annual conferences/conventions attended
at 11: WWI Veterans annual convention. My grandfather was a WWI veteran, and my mom was the Texas president of the ladies' auxilary for years.
at 21: North Texas Irish Fest
at 31: CMA

Career aspirations
at 11: archeologist
at 21: many things crossed my mind
at 31: history professor

Vehicle(s) driven
at 11: silly question
at 21: 196X Chevelle with a lot of getupngo
at 31: 1988 Tercel, RIP

Last concert seen around this time:
at 11: something at Mayfest
at 21: Rush, Tangerine Dream
at 31: local pagan band

Favorite shoes/boots
at 11: barefoot
at 21: barefoot
at 31: barefoot. Shoes suck 90% of the time.

Typical clothing
at 11: whatever my mom made me wear
at 21: jeans and t-shirts (as part of a continued rebellion of years of 'whatever mom made me wear', which didn't include jeans)
at 31: flowy, comfortable clothes



20 Years Ago...
Year of Hell, the Total Lack of Self-Esteem mix. Slept with anybody I fancied because I didn't care about anything enough to do better. Had MJ for the first time. Tried coke and thankfully hated it. Acid was fun. Ex-gave me climydia and I didn't know, and wound up in the hospital for 3 days with permanently damaged tubes...can't have kids without surgery. Ex-RHPS gang ganged up against me for some unknown reason - think ex's new gf was behind it due to need to control her man utterly. They vandalized my apartment once. Had a queen fall in love with me in a desperate attempt to go straight, and then attack me while drunk once. Drank a lot towards the end. No reliable job. Joined Scarborough, and it was a damn good move on my part...gave me something positive to do, good people to be around. I got a lot of my shit together at age 20.

10 Years Ago...
Year of The Pink Carpeted Apartment. It had a lot of good points and some bad. I broke up with my bf of 6.5 years. Hooked up with someone I loved but did not like, and we have enough sex to begin to make up for 6.5 years of once a month. Met my best friend, and we moved in together. She freaked out about anyone telling her anything (and I really hated her ex, and I didn't even know the full story at the time), so she moved out a few months later, shortly followed by Willow. Took my second degree in my mother coven. The coven that year was a great mix of people who really cared about each other. We were almost all single at the time, too, so there was a fair amount of shagging, especially at the Pink Carpeted Apartment, whether I was there or not. It was a great time - friends over at my place for movies and food, shagging without jealousy or competition, good vibe to the coven work.

5 Years Ago...
Very good year. Was in the middle of a very sane, healthy, loving relationship. My coven had just gotten started, and that was largely a very friendly, loving, good-working group at the time. Living in Austin in a rent house in Crestview.

1 Year Ago...
Moved to Portland (then Port Townsend) after my father died. Ate a lot of blackberries. Got a job at a pagan bookstore. D left me and came back.

1 Month Ago...
Happy with work, though it's going pretty haltingly. Talking more about Europe than Argentina. D scares me with a drunken attack on Thomas.

1 Week Ago...
Crampy. Work event went nothing like planned.

Yesterday...
Very up and down.

Today...
On my way to meet some friends of D's and go swimming. Left my scooter at a repair shop to see why it's not starting reliably.

Tomorrow...
Off to Salt Lake so I can drive to Colorado. Very looking forward to a few days there. Need to plant my plants before I go.

Next Week...
Colorado and New Mexico.