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Dec. 30th, 2002 10:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vyvyanxI _will_ write a long account of the wedding, honeymoon and Christmas Real Soon Now (TM), but first I want to participate in the "20 years ago today" meme that's circulating again.
25 years ago: I was three; I think we were still living on the outskirts of Bristol, supported by my father's PhD grant (!) with our ferocious cat Tup. My memories are of a very dark house, sharpening my finger in a pencil sharpener (to see what would happen) and my mother teaching me to read.
20 years ago: I was eight; my parents had moved to a bungalow in Towersey, a small and boring village just outside Thame (a small and boring Oxfordshire market town). Towersey now has an annual folk festival of international renown, to which a university friend of mine used to go to deal drugs; in 1982, however, it was a one-tent affair where the village women brought home-made jam and the village men participated in the abomination known as morris-dancing. I spent my home life doing schoolwork, talking to my mum, writing derivative fantasy novels and drawing pictures and maps of other worlds. At school I had no friends and lots of enemies, and devoted my full attention to not showing any emotion ("just ignore them and they'll leave you alone") which, alas, didn't work.
15 years ago: I was thirteen; my parents had moved to a thatched cottage in a different small boring village just outside Thame. I spent my home life doing school work, talking to my mum, arguing with my dad (about politics, the environment, animal welfare and gay rights) and watching TV. At school I had no friends and many enemies; I devoted my full attention to not showing or feeling any emotion (I had got quite good at it by now) so as not to attract attention (it still didn't work). I had discovered my libido, and divided my fantasy life between my years-long obsession with Rowan Atkinson, and a disturbing fascination with the most extreme and degrading forms of non-consensual SM I could think of.
10 years ago: I was eighteen; I had finally escaped my school and got to Cambridge. University life was everything I had hoped for and more. I loved my subject (5 different medieval languages); I made many friends, including my best friend Adam; I went out with numerous people and treated them abominably, because I couldn't quite believe they were taking it more seriously than I was. I spent my time drinking, going to parties, going to lectures, working, flirting and roleplaying. I had a wonderful time.
5 years ago: I was twenty-three; I was still at university, in the second year of my PhD (having changed department to Linguistics after my MPhil). I was two years into my first really serious relationship, with IWJ (who was finishing off his PhD at the time). I shared a set of rooms in college with Adam, and was gradually becoming more part of the geek circle I still know. Around this time, I discovered nethack.
2 years ago: I was twenty-six; I was still living in college, now half-way through a research fellowship in historical linguistics. I was sharing my room and net connection (unbeknownst to the college) with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-syndicated.gif)
kaet, who I'd been going out with for about a year, and who was writing up his PhD. I spent my time rather lazily doing research, going out for meals with D, going out for pizza and to the pub with my geek friends, roleplaying, and going to the Calling and WUS. My friend Adam had also embarked on a research fellowship, and lived in the same courtyard in college.
Now: I am twenty-eight; I have finally left the university; I am living in Cambridge in a flat above a hairdresser's; I have just got married to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
razornet; I am on reasonable terms with my parents (though they irritate me significantly); I have a part-time Open University position lined up; I am trying to get my book published with OUP. Everything is pretty cool, really :-)
25 years ago: I was three; I think we were still living on the outskirts of Bristol, supported by my father's PhD grant (!) with our ferocious cat Tup. My memories are of a very dark house, sharpening my finger in a pencil sharpener (to see what would happen) and my mother teaching me to read.
20 years ago: I was eight; my parents had moved to a bungalow in Towersey, a small and boring village just outside Thame (a small and boring Oxfordshire market town). Towersey now has an annual folk festival of international renown, to which a university friend of mine used to go to deal drugs; in 1982, however, it was a one-tent affair where the village women brought home-made jam and the village men participated in the abomination known as morris-dancing. I spent my home life doing schoolwork, talking to my mum, writing derivative fantasy novels and drawing pictures and maps of other worlds. At school I had no friends and lots of enemies, and devoted my full attention to not showing any emotion ("just ignore them and they'll leave you alone") which, alas, didn't work.
15 years ago: I was thirteen; my parents had moved to a thatched cottage in a different small boring village just outside Thame. I spent my home life doing school work, talking to my mum, arguing with my dad (about politics, the environment, animal welfare and gay rights) and watching TV. At school I had no friends and many enemies; I devoted my full attention to not showing or feeling any emotion (I had got quite good at it by now) so as not to attract attention (it still didn't work). I had discovered my libido, and divided my fantasy life between my years-long obsession with Rowan Atkinson, and a disturbing fascination with the most extreme and degrading forms of non-consensual SM I could think of.
10 years ago: I was eighteen; I had finally escaped my school and got to Cambridge. University life was everything I had hoped for and more. I loved my subject (5 different medieval languages); I made many friends, including my best friend Adam; I went out with numerous people and treated them abominably, because I couldn't quite believe they were taking it more seriously than I was. I spent my time drinking, going to parties, going to lectures, working, flirting and roleplaying. I had a wonderful time.
5 years ago: I was twenty-three; I was still at university, in the second year of my PhD (having changed department to Linguistics after my MPhil). I was two years into my first really serious relationship, with IWJ (who was finishing off his PhD at the time). I shared a set of rooms in college with Adam, and was gradually becoming more part of the geek circle I still know. Around this time, I discovered nethack.
2 years ago: I was twenty-six; I was still living in college, now half-way through a research fellowship in historical linguistics. I was sharing my room and net connection (unbeknownst to the college) with
kaet, who I'd been going out with for about a year, and who was writing up his PhD. I spent my time rather lazily doing research, going out for meals with D, going out for pizza and to the pub with my geek friends, roleplaying, and going to the Calling and WUS. My friend Adam had also embarked on a research fellowship, and lived in the same courtyard in college.Now: I am twenty-eight; I have finally left the university; I am living in Cambridge in a flat above a hairdresser's; I have just got married to
razornet; I am on reasonable terms with my parents (though they irritate me significantly); I have a part-time Open University position lined up; I am trying to get my book published with OUP. Everything is pretty cool, really :-)
