A Bug's Life

A meme!
How this works:
You comment, I give you an age (please tell me how old you currently are - I don't know all of your ages) and you fill out the meme questions with what applied to you back then, and now.

darth_tigger gave me 18. This was 1988-89, I turned 18 on the day I got my A Level results, missed out on missed my first choice university by a grade, and spent the year doing a gap year job.

I lived in: Edgware, north London, with my mother and sometimes my sister. Pretty far out but on the tube line and very handy for going in to London for cinema and stuff.

I drove: under duress, hating it, but trying to learn before going up to university. Didn't get as far as taking the test until some 20 years later. Mum used to pick me up from work sometimes and get me to drive back.

I was in a relationship with: Phil from Manchester, my school best friend's boyfriend's best friend. We wrote lots of letters. It lasted about a year, should have been less but neither of us had learnt to realise when something wasn't working.

I feared: I don't remember, I was pretty positive about prospects for success at study and future work and not having to live in poverty in a gutter, because getting a good job is so easy when you're clever, yes? No? I was pretty bullish about going around London on my own and coming home late at night, as the alternative was not going out, and sod that for a lark. The main fear I remember is never getting another boyfriend after Phil left me. Teenagers, eh?

I worked at: GEC, as a student, on liquid crystal displays, back when 7-segment displays were everywhere and things with 7x5 pixels were awesomely amazing. We made 3D LCD glasses which basically blacked out each lens in time with a changing display. It was fun, I got to do wet science and electrical science and computer science and make things and melt things and use optical benches and lasers and microscopes and plot graphs, and it was a great basis to have to then go and do a degree with all the reservations about "So when would I ever use this abstruse theory in the real world/work?" I would love to send my smart-ish phone back in time there - the colours! The resolution! The tiny on-board power and drivers!

I wanted to be: a Scientist. Possibly a Nobel prize winner.

***
Now (at 42):

I live in: Cambridge, have done for about 8 years now. Loads of stuff, nice people, and close to London (or "that London" or "teh London" as people seem to call it these days).

I drive: rarely, having passed my test but still finding it uncomfortable and unenjoyable. It's tamaranth's car, it lives in a narrow garage that I find it impossible to enter/leave the car from, and that's if I were able to get it in or out in the first place. It's like wriggling a bent coathanger under a shed door to unhook a key, getting into that car in the garage, leaves me knackered.

I am in a relationship with: no one at present. Hamsters don't count.

I fear: Never getting another boyfriend. 42-year-olds, eh? And with the mobility issues, I fear if I lose my job I may not be lucky enough to get another one that would accommodate my needs. And in general, I fear the impact of the recents cuts and the direction of attitudes towards unemployed and disabled people. People at the top work hard and deserve their money! A lot of people at the bottom also work hard and are not rewarded. People at the top should STFU and stop believing in magical trickle-down economics.

I work at: counting nurses. It is surprisingly difficult. Next year (July) we start getting data on new things about nurses, so will be able to do some decent work on attrition factors and getting people from study into the workforce.

I want to be: Nah, I'm good as I am, I think. Mostly. I've turned out alright, with integrity and stuff, I've done cool things and have good memories in the bank, I try to be a good thing in people's lives, and if all else fails I can make puns on Twitter and entertain people for a couple of seconds. Ephemera ftw.