Interview #1
Jun. 7th, 2003 03:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
omorkafrom ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
greeneyedpagan:
1. When you were 16, what did you think you would be doing when you were
29? Is your life at all what you envisioned it would be?
Actually, I could have been a lot farther off. I had always intended to teach, and at age 16 I think I was pretty sure I'd be teaching math, although I was thinking college-level math at the time - freshman calc and the like. I'd also envisioned myself as a member of the "occult scene," although as a 16-year-old in Mississippi at the time, I had no idea what such a thing would look like! What I really wanted at that age was Ivars Peterson's job, but as you can see, he still has it, so I was willing to teach as a close second.
I knew I wouldn't be living in Mississippi anymore, and I was already in the process of pulling away from my parents as fast as I could. Of course, I didn't know who I'd be married to, having not met the Spouse yet, and while I sort of vaguely knew Houston was a possibility, Atlanta or New Orleans would have surprised me less.
Probably the largest difference between what I expected at 16 and what I am now is that I expected to have at least one and probably two children by now.
2. What do you think your life will be like when you are 40? Do you
think you can make better guesses now than you could when you were 16?
Actually, if anything, I expect the course of my next ten years to be significantly less predictable than the last ten. I've given it permission to vary more, I think - I have less of a "script" in mind, I'm more open to people teaching me life lessons that I'm not "prepped" for.
Having said that, by age 40 I expect to have completed my Ed. D. degree. I'll have probably worn out my interest in public schooling, by one or two years, and either have transitioned to a university (UH or one of its branch campuses, probably) or to one of the government educational services, like the regional service centers or the Dana Center. (Actually, at age 40 I may still be in the process of doing this.) Hopefully, I'll still be in contact with some of my former students as friends; if I'm in a university faculty, I may be teaching one or two of them again. I probably won't still be in touch with many of my colleagues from public school, but those I am, I hope to have the same sort of relationship with that you see in war veterans who covered each other in hostile territory!
I'll still be in Houston, since the Spouse isn't about to leave. If I'm going to have children of my own at all, they'll have arrived by then and be in their first years of school themselves.
I'll be somewhat more active in the local Pagan community, and perhaps in the live music community. I'd like to have a coven of my own, although 40 might be a little young for that yet. I'd also like to have a regular chanter's group, like the drum circles that float around in the local scene, although obviously with a different focus.
3. What is your absolute, most primal, driving passion? How do you
sustain it?
Love of knowledge and, even moreso, the process of learning. For me, I don't sustain it - it sustains itself through me. It's far bigger than I am - I'm its conduit, the rocks it sluices through down an infinite waterfall. Hopefully some of my kids get splashed each year.
4. Looking through the eyes of your husband, how would you describe
yourself?
Ouch. If you'd asked me this a year ago, I would have been able to give you a very strong answer, immediately. Now, I'm not so sure, but here's a guess:
Someone powerful, with a strong emotional and physical presence. Someone deep, and not always easily read. Someone impatient, capable of imposing her will on others without giving them time to reach their own conclusions. Someone with ravenous appetites that threaten those around her, but also nurturing those who share them. Someone with a mind both sharp and quick, that can cut deeply when not held in check. Someone with a large heart, greedy and needy but also giving in turn.
5. Do you see yourself as a grown-up? If yes, in what way? If not, why
not?
Yes. I've never really thought of myself as a child or a teenager, even when I was. Now, I have to guide, threaten, cajole, and lead gaggles of youngsters through both a system I never made and a curriculum I did - and do so with some sort of credibility. I have to be a grown-up to do that.
Besides, only grown-ups have real sex. Believe me, having seen a bit of what these kids are doing, it's fake sex. :) (Not that its being fake will keep them from spawning, unfortunately.)
6. What do you consider to be your worst trait? Your best trait?
My worst trait is probably my perfectionism. I can get stuck on a single detail for a long time, to the exclusion of other data. A lot of my problems dealing with other people stem from this - I can't get past that one thing they do which irks me. It also means that I have a hard time forgiving people - the one slight looms larger in my mind than all the good things they've done. I can never be content with "good enough," both in my own work and in other people.
My best trait is my intelligence. Most of my self-image is based on it.
If you want me to interview you--post a comment that simply says, "Interview me." I'll respond with questions for you to take back to your own journal and answer as a post. Of course, they'll be different for each person since this is an interview and not a general survey. At the bottom of your post, after answering the Interviewer's questions, you ask if anyone wants to be interviewed. So it becomes your turn-- in the comments, you ask them any questions you have for them to take back to their journals and answer. And so it becomes the circle.
Who will play? May I interview you? Would you like to interview me?
greeneyedpagan:1. When you were 16, what did you think you would be doing when you were
29? Is your life at all what you envisioned it would be?
Actually, I could have been a lot farther off. I had always intended to teach, and at age 16 I think I was pretty sure I'd be teaching math, although I was thinking college-level math at the time - freshman calc and the like. I'd also envisioned myself as a member of the "occult scene," although as a 16-year-old in Mississippi at the time, I had no idea what such a thing would look like! What I really wanted at that age was Ivars Peterson's job, but as you can see, he still has it, so I was willing to teach as a close second.
I knew I wouldn't be living in Mississippi anymore, and I was already in the process of pulling away from my parents as fast as I could. Of course, I didn't know who I'd be married to, having not met the Spouse yet, and while I sort of vaguely knew Houston was a possibility, Atlanta or New Orleans would have surprised me less.
Probably the largest difference between what I expected at 16 and what I am now is that I expected to have at least one and probably two children by now.
2. What do you think your life will be like when you are 40? Do you
think you can make better guesses now than you could when you were 16?
Actually, if anything, I expect the course of my next ten years to be significantly less predictable than the last ten. I've given it permission to vary more, I think - I have less of a "script" in mind, I'm more open to people teaching me life lessons that I'm not "prepped" for.
Having said that, by age 40 I expect to have completed my Ed. D. degree. I'll have probably worn out my interest in public schooling, by one or two years, and either have transitioned to a university (UH or one of its branch campuses, probably) or to one of the government educational services, like the regional service centers or the Dana Center. (Actually, at age 40 I may still be in the process of doing this.) Hopefully, I'll still be in contact with some of my former students as friends; if I'm in a university faculty, I may be teaching one or two of them again. I probably won't still be in touch with many of my colleagues from public school, but those I am, I hope to have the same sort of relationship with that you see in war veterans who covered each other in hostile territory!
I'll still be in Houston, since the Spouse isn't about to leave. If I'm going to have children of my own at all, they'll have arrived by then and be in their first years of school themselves.
I'll be somewhat more active in the local Pagan community, and perhaps in the live music community. I'd like to have a coven of my own, although 40 might be a little young for that yet. I'd also like to have a regular chanter's group, like the drum circles that float around in the local scene, although obviously with a different focus.
3. What is your absolute, most primal, driving passion? How do you
sustain it?
Love of knowledge and, even moreso, the process of learning. For me, I don't sustain it - it sustains itself through me. It's far bigger than I am - I'm its conduit, the rocks it sluices through down an infinite waterfall. Hopefully some of my kids get splashed each year.
4. Looking through the eyes of your husband, how would you describe
yourself?
Ouch. If you'd asked me this a year ago, I would have been able to give you a very strong answer, immediately. Now, I'm not so sure, but here's a guess:
Someone powerful, with a strong emotional and physical presence. Someone deep, and not always easily read. Someone impatient, capable of imposing her will on others without giving them time to reach their own conclusions. Someone with ravenous appetites that threaten those around her, but also nurturing those who share them. Someone with a mind both sharp and quick, that can cut deeply when not held in check. Someone with a large heart, greedy and needy but also giving in turn.
5. Do you see yourself as a grown-up? If yes, in what way? If not, why
not?
Yes. I've never really thought of myself as a child or a teenager, even when I was. Now, I have to guide, threaten, cajole, and lead gaggles of youngsters through both a system I never made and a curriculum I did - and do so with some sort of credibility. I have to be a grown-up to do that.
Besides, only grown-ups have real sex. Believe me, having seen a bit of what these kids are doing, it's fake sex. :) (Not that its being fake will keep them from spawning, unfortunately.)
6. What do you consider to be your worst trait? Your best trait?
My worst trait is probably my perfectionism. I can get stuck on a single detail for a long time, to the exclusion of other data. A lot of my problems dealing with other people stem from this - I can't get past that one thing they do which irks me. It also means that I have a hard time forgiving people - the one slight looms larger in my mind than all the good things they've done. I can never be content with "good enough," both in my own work and in other people.
My best trait is my intelligence. Most of my self-image is based on it.
If you want me to interview you--post a comment that simply says, "Interview me." I'll respond with questions for you to take back to your own journal and answer as a post. Of course, they'll be different for each person since this is an interview and not a general survey. At the bottom of your post, after answering the Interviewer's questions, you ask if anyone wants to be interviewed. So it becomes your turn-- in the comments, you ask them any questions you have for them to take back to their journals and answer. And so it becomes the circle.
Who will play? May I interview you? Would you like to interview me?
