MEME ,,, when I was 43 years old...
Mar. 30th, 2013 03:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
curmugeonNow back into the time machine for a trip way back.... to 1990. After you read this, and if you want to participate leave a comment including your present age and I will give you an age to look back at and tell about. I was given this age (43) by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jblindsight....
1.) The year was 1990. I had been working for public works in Santa Ana California and was living in Belmont Shore, a very lively district in Long Beach. I was renting a one bedroom apartment on Glendora Avenue, just two blocks from the beach and less than one block from 2nd Street, the main business district in the area. The neighborhood was a mix of small houses and a few small (5 units of less) apartment buildings). Living there was very much a dream land. I was single, I was riding my bike a lot, I had a Hobie catamaran in my carport, and was living well. I also did double duty as the 'manager' of the building, collecting the rent checks, posting 'pay or quit' notices, and hogging all the parking for my truck and my boat. Life was good.
For contrast, the year is 2013. I'm living in a double wide mobile home on 2 - 1/2 acres in a rural setting miles from the ocean. I'm in my present location as I have lived here for the last 10 years, being a caregiver to my Mom as she slowly faded away. I'm now retired, I make about as much money as I did in 1990, but as costs and inflation have taken their toll, it doesn't go as far as it did then. I still ride bikes, I don't have a boat, and life is so so.
2.) In 1990 I was driving my 1976 Toyota SR5 pickup. It was red in color, had bucket seats and a console. It was capable of towing my boat the few short blocks to the boat launching area and for hauling my bike and camping gear on my adventures.
Now I have two cars, a red 2004 Nissan Frontier pickup (if you live in the country a truck is a required item) and a 2010 Nissan Versa 5 door.
3.) Relationships were more fleeting. I was dating a former co-worker who had moved away to San Diego and generally doing the single scene with a mix of people I met in the Belmont Shore area. Later I broke off the relationship with the former co-worker because she was becoming somewhat 'crazy', she did have to seek mental health treatment because of drug use.
Now I am single, in the meantime I did try marriage once, been there, done that, it was a life lesson. I presently have more friends, I tend to spend a lot more time alone. I spend a bit more time at the local bar where I have met some interesting women most a lot closer to my age. I've had one long distance relationship that lasted for 15 years end when Rosemary died as the result of complications from surgery. I have many friends that I have met through Live Journal that continue today.
4.) One the subject of fears... in 1990 I was foot loose and fancy free (that phrase should date me) and I lived without fear, I was willing to pursue most anything because if it gave me a rush of adrenaline, I liked that.
Now I live with a few fears. Being alone and remote I have to be careful about what I do because if I was to severely injure myself I could fall and lie on the ground for days before anyone might come to check on me. I fear growing old. I mean really growing old. I don't want to think what life will be when I'm 75. I've had more than my share of health problems, I've survived so far. I pay a lot for health insurance just to be able to stay healthy but I know that I'm living in fear of some debilitating crisis that will leave me unable to care for myself. I have no children, so when I leave this realm, there will be nothing to remember.
5.) I was working in 1990 for the Department of Public Works in Santa Ana, CA. I was hired because of my computer knowledge into an engineering job. The department was still doing things the old fashioned was, by hand, but they were thinking about the future. I moved the department into computer aided design and introduced the first networking to the agency. I can recall a budget meeting where we had to justify the purchase of four computer workstations costing $4000 each.. It was an uphill battle getting the people in the department computer literate and teaching people how to share files and to turn out a product that was technically correct. That was to be my job for many years to follow.
Now I'm retired. I worked for Santa Ana for 22 years. I retired early to care for my Mom, moving to Anza and leaving the work world behind. I'm glad I left when I did, as I've seen wages and benefits cut as the economy has crumbled.
6.) In 1990 I was 10 years out of college. I was measuring my success in wages not grades. My goals at the time was to be making my age (43) times $1000... that was what I wanted to do and I was doing it. I find it interesting that I had a degree, but worked the majority of my working years in areas outside the scope of my education. I was a Geography major, and worked in engineering and computer science. One thing I did a few years prior to age 43 was to reinvent myself. I had been working as a cartographer for the Automobile Club of Southern California and saw that job as a dead end. I went as far as I could go but the only way for advancement was for someone above me to retire or die., thus reinvent.
The future... I have ideas, I know I don't want to be where I am, too many memories, not many pleasant ones. I'm pretty much a non conformist, I don't like boundaries, I am vocal about things I don't like. I'm liberal but very disappointed in the general political system we have today. I want to live the last years my life exploring, places, people, food, cultures, and finding a place to be my cabin on Walden Pond. I may take up writing, I have a lot of things in my head that need to be put to paper. I want a tiny house in the woods, remote enough to not see my neighbor but close enough to be able to keep social contact with the world.
jblindsight....1.) The year was 1990. I had been working for public works in Santa Ana California and was living in Belmont Shore, a very lively district in Long Beach. I was renting a one bedroom apartment on Glendora Avenue, just two blocks from the beach and less than one block from 2nd Street, the main business district in the area. The neighborhood was a mix of small houses and a few small (5 units of less) apartment buildings). Living there was very much a dream land. I was single, I was riding my bike a lot, I had a Hobie catamaran in my carport, and was living well. I also did double duty as the 'manager' of the building, collecting the rent checks, posting 'pay or quit' notices, and hogging all the parking for my truck and my boat. Life was good.
For contrast, the year is 2013. I'm living in a double wide mobile home on 2 - 1/2 acres in a rural setting miles from the ocean. I'm in my present location as I have lived here for the last 10 years, being a caregiver to my Mom as she slowly faded away. I'm now retired, I make about as much money as I did in 1990, but as costs and inflation have taken their toll, it doesn't go as far as it did then. I still ride bikes, I don't have a boat, and life is so so.
2.) In 1990 I was driving my 1976 Toyota SR5 pickup. It was red in color, had bucket seats and a console. It was capable of towing my boat the few short blocks to the boat launching area and for hauling my bike and camping gear on my adventures.
Now I have two cars, a red 2004 Nissan Frontier pickup (if you live in the country a truck is a required item) and a 2010 Nissan Versa 5 door.
3.) Relationships were more fleeting. I was dating a former co-worker who had moved away to San Diego and generally doing the single scene with a mix of people I met in the Belmont Shore area. Later I broke off the relationship with the former co-worker because she was becoming somewhat 'crazy', she did have to seek mental health treatment because of drug use.
Now I am single, in the meantime I did try marriage once, been there, done that, it was a life lesson. I presently have more friends, I tend to spend a lot more time alone. I spend a bit more time at the local bar where I have met some interesting women most a lot closer to my age. I've had one long distance relationship that lasted for 15 years end when Rosemary died as the result of complications from surgery. I have many friends that I have met through Live Journal that continue today.
4.) One the subject of fears... in 1990 I was foot loose and fancy free (that phrase should date me) and I lived without fear, I was willing to pursue most anything because if it gave me a rush of adrenaline, I liked that.
Now I live with a few fears. Being alone and remote I have to be careful about what I do because if I was to severely injure myself I could fall and lie on the ground for days before anyone might come to check on me. I fear growing old. I mean really growing old. I don't want to think what life will be when I'm 75. I've had more than my share of health problems, I've survived so far. I pay a lot for health insurance just to be able to stay healthy but I know that I'm living in fear of some debilitating crisis that will leave me unable to care for myself. I have no children, so when I leave this realm, there will be nothing to remember.
5.) I was working in 1990 for the Department of Public Works in Santa Ana, CA. I was hired because of my computer knowledge into an engineering job. The department was still doing things the old fashioned was, by hand, but they were thinking about the future. I moved the department into computer aided design and introduced the first networking to the agency. I can recall a budget meeting where we had to justify the purchase of four computer workstations costing $4000 each.. It was an uphill battle getting the people in the department computer literate and teaching people how to share files and to turn out a product that was technically correct. That was to be my job for many years to follow.
Now I'm retired. I worked for Santa Ana for 22 years. I retired early to care for my Mom, moving to Anza and leaving the work world behind. I'm glad I left when I did, as I've seen wages and benefits cut as the economy has crumbled.
6.) In 1990 I was 10 years out of college. I was measuring my success in wages not grades. My goals at the time was to be making my age (43) times $1000... that was what I wanted to do and I was doing it. I find it interesting that I had a degree, but worked the majority of my working years in areas outside the scope of my education. I was a Geography major, and worked in engineering and computer science. One thing I did a few years prior to age 43 was to reinvent myself. I had been working as a cartographer for the Automobile Club of Southern California and saw that job as a dead end. I went as far as I could go but the only way for advancement was for someone above me to retire or die., thus reinvent.
The future... I have ideas, I know I don't want to be where I am, too many memories, not many pleasant ones. I'm pretty much a non conformist, I don't like boundaries, I am vocal about things I don't like. I'm liberal but very disappointed in the general political system we have today. I want to live the last years my life exploring, places, people, food, cultures, and finding a place to be my cabin on Walden Pond. I may take up writing, I have a lot of things in my head that need to be put to paper. I want a tiny house in the woods, remote enough to not see my neighbor but close enough to be able to keep social contact with the world.
