Ask Marie, Part 1
Apr. 22nd, 2008 08:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elenearielFirst, from my_everafter:
What? Old boyfriends? Intriguing! Do tell!!!
Whee, this is fun! Thanks for your questions, peoples. Look for a second installment coming soon, and don't forget you can still leave more questions here.
my_everafter:What? Old boyfriends? Intriguing! Do tell!!!
No old boyfriends, sorry. :D Unless you count Josh from first grade, but that was only because I kissed him (on the CHEEK, people) to make him leave my girls-only club meeting. He ran from my cooties in approximately the same way a cat runs from the prospect of a bath: fast, furious, and scared to death.
I want to know everything else too. Like what you wanted to change your name to in the third grade and why your crazy grandparents live next door.
Priscilla. Don't ask.
The short answer ... wait, no, there isn't a short answer. So here's how it went down: when I was about eight and my grandparents were still mostly sane and loving, my parents decided they wanted to move closer to them so that we kids could have grandparents nearby, and we would be around when and if they needed help as they got older. We wanted to move back to Texas, where they were living at the time. They said, "No, this town is dying and we don't want you to move here. We'll move somewhere else." So they started traveling cross-country looking for a new place. When they got to Oklahoma and camped overnight at a state park, some fisherman gave them a mess of catfish. They thought that was so nice that they decided to stay.
And that is the completely unromantic story about why I moved to Oklahoma. "Why'd you move here?" "Oh, some guy gave my grandparents fish."
But then they bought a house, and it was an Ugly house, and had no Trees. So a year later, when we started searching for a place so that we could move up from Florida, they came house-hunting with us across the river and were like, "huh, there are Trees over here. And the houses aren't Ugly." And when we found two houses for sale, side by side, we bought them.
And then my grandparents became Old, and Feeble, and Paranoid, and Stubborn, and the more they need us the less they like it. But that's okay. Because someone has to do it, and it teaches us all a lot of lessons in How Not To Grow Old.
Also, did you go to college and if so, where? I've honestly completely forgotten how old you are so you may still be of college age and I'm just dumb like that.
Tsk, tsk, the whole point of this exercise is that there are no dumb questions! I'm twenty-three. I never went to college full time (or for a degree) because by the time I could have done that, I was working full time and I liked the money I was making and the position I had more than the thought of going back for a degree that would cost me money and then effectively render me too educated for my job. If I need it in the future, I'll go back and get it, but I'm not going to quit a perfectly good job that I love in order to get it now. As an fyi, I do a lot of continuing education for work, and I've been certified by the Oklahoma State Department of Libraries.
I did, however, take some for-fun classes at Roger's State University. (I found out later that I apparently intimidated everybody else in the class. Bwaha.)
Were you homeschooled? (Again… I *think* you were, but can't remember details.) Did you ever go to any school aside from being homeschooled?
You remember correctly! I had never even set foot into a "real" school until I took those college classes. Homeschooling was absolutely perfect for me and allowed me to develop a lot of interests that I wouldn't have had time for otherwise, as well as have time for things like volunteering and similar activities. My parents did a great job (except that I never did learn to like math, alas.)
Do you and your parents see eye-to-eye for the most part?
I'd say that yes, we do. Or maybe we don't, but there's hardly ever any big conflict about it. I've been rather surprised at how easily they've let me grow up, considering that I'm the oldest child, only girl, and still living at home. They are very, very good about letting me be an adult and about the most I have to put up with is mild and mostly unspoken disapproval. :) There are only one or two big issues where our viewpoints differ, and even on those we've reached fairly peaceful understandings. There are some minor issues: my mother doesn't always appreciate my taste in shoes, and she's still working on getting over the mentality that only hookers paint their nails red. We also have some different theological ideas, but it's more issues that are interesting for us to debate rather than arguments.
Internally I think we are largely very, very different - I'm an over-active imaginer, a dreamer, a romantic (mixed with a large dose of practicality which keeps me from being completely worthless, thank goodness.) My parents are very ... normal. They don't get the Lord of the Rings. much less why I spent a solid week learning to write in runes. They don't understand the lure of fantasy at all. Or sci-fi. Or most of the music, books, and movies I can get completely wrapped up in. So a lot of times I don't think they know quite what to do with me. :D Luckily my tastes are so broad that I like a lot of the normal things that they do, so we still have things to talk about!
And fromsavetheolives:
Why do you live 700 miles away? Honestly.
See answer to "why do your crazy grandparents live next door?", above.
I want to know everything else too. Like what you wanted to change your name to in the third grade and why your crazy grandparents live next door.
Priscilla. Don't ask.
The short answer ... wait, no, there isn't a short answer. So here's how it went down: when I was about eight and my grandparents were still mostly sane and loving, my parents decided they wanted to move closer to them so that we kids could have grandparents nearby, and we would be around when and if they needed help as they got older. We wanted to move back to Texas, where they were living at the time. They said, "No, this town is dying and we don't want you to move here. We'll move somewhere else." So they started traveling cross-country looking for a new place. When they got to Oklahoma and camped overnight at a state park, some fisherman gave them a mess of catfish. They thought that was so nice that they decided to stay.
And that is the completely unromantic story about why I moved to Oklahoma. "Why'd you move here?" "Oh, some guy gave my grandparents fish."
But then they bought a house, and it was an Ugly house, and had no Trees. So a year later, when we started searching for a place so that we could move up from Florida, they came house-hunting with us across the river and were like, "huh, there are Trees over here. And the houses aren't Ugly." And when we found two houses for sale, side by side, we bought them.
And then my grandparents became Old, and Feeble, and Paranoid, and Stubborn, and the more they need us the less they like it. But that's okay. Because someone has to do it, and it teaches us all a lot of lessons in How Not To Grow Old.
Also, did you go to college and if so, where? I've honestly completely forgotten how old you are so you may still be of college age and I'm just dumb like that.
Tsk, tsk, the whole point of this exercise is that there are no dumb questions! I'm twenty-three. I never went to college full time (or for a degree) because by the time I could have done that, I was working full time and I liked the money I was making and the position I had more than the thought of going back for a degree that would cost me money and then effectively render me too educated for my job. If I need it in the future, I'll go back and get it, but I'm not going to quit a perfectly good job that I love in order to get it now. As an fyi, I do a lot of continuing education for work, and I've been certified by the Oklahoma State Department of Libraries.
I did, however, take some for-fun classes at Roger's State University. (I found out later that I apparently intimidated everybody else in the class. Bwaha.)
Were you homeschooled? (Again… I *think* you were, but can't remember details.) Did you ever go to any school aside from being homeschooled?
You remember correctly! I had never even set foot into a "real" school until I took those college classes. Homeschooling was absolutely perfect for me and allowed me to develop a lot of interests that I wouldn't have had time for otherwise, as well as have time for things like volunteering and similar activities. My parents did a great job (except that I never did learn to like math, alas.)
Do you and your parents see eye-to-eye for the most part?
I'd say that yes, we do. Or maybe we don't, but there's hardly ever any big conflict about it. I've been rather surprised at how easily they've let me grow up, considering that I'm the oldest child, only girl, and still living at home. They are very, very good about letting me be an adult and about the most I have to put up with is mild and mostly unspoken disapproval. :) There are only one or two big issues where our viewpoints differ, and even on those we've reached fairly peaceful understandings. There are some minor issues: my mother doesn't always appreciate my taste in shoes, and she's still working on getting over the mentality that only hookers paint their nails red. We also have some different theological ideas, but it's more issues that are interesting for us to debate rather than arguments.
Internally I think we are largely very, very different - I'm an over-active imaginer, a dreamer, a romantic (mixed with a large dose of practicality which keeps me from being completely worthless, thank goodness.) My parents are very ... normal. They don't get the Lord of the Rings. much less why I spent a solid week learning to write in runes. They don't understand the lure of fantasy at all. Or sci-fi. Or most of the music, books, and movies I can get completely wrapped up in. So a lot of times I don't think they know quite what to do with me. :D Luckily my tastes are so broad that I like a lot of the normal things that they do, so we still have things to talk about!
And from
savetheolives:Why do you live 700 miles away? Honestly.
See answer to "why do your crazy grandparents live next door?", above.
Whee, this is fun! Thanks for your questions, peoples. Look for a second installment coming soon, and don't forget you can still leave more questions here.