random association meme
Feb. 20th, 2009 10:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
floatingleafAsk me to associate you with five things. When I do this, post this meme and an explanation of your interest in those five things in your journal.
I got this from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mellacita, and here is what she associated me with:
1) LOTR FPS
2) yaoi
3) food/diet
4) immigration/citizenship
5) Chicago
1) I guess this one requires no explanation. My favorite fandom since 2004. Still number one.:)
I love LOTR RPS as well, but just can't write it for some reason - and it will always be my second choice when it comes to reading, too. Except for some outlandish fantasy AUs that take me just as far away from reality as Tolkien's world does.:)
2) I flirted with yaoi a bit back in 2003/04, when I was first discovering the joys of internet (found Dany&Dany's website while searching for Anne Rice fanart, and it just sort of went from there). Then I discovered LOTR slash and forgot all about it. Well, almost. Thenakashaelfwitch dragged me to the Yaoi Con in San Francisco in 2007 and got me hooked on pretty-boy-love all over again.:D By now I have assembled a nice little "not for children" comic collection.;) I want more, but my current financial situation doesn't allow for sinful pleasures that cost money - even if I thought they were cheap before. *cries*
3) I'll take this opportunity to mention that I am still keeping my 'almost ideal' weight (with fluctuations anywhere between 133-135 lbs, but hardly ever more or less). A relatively healthy diet (with small, harmless indulgences every once in a while) has pretty much become my second nature. I don't get any overwhelming urges for bad stuff (I barely notice the bakery section in stores anymore, and seeing some of the fake sweets, snacks or sodas almost makes me cringe). I had bought those two small pints of icecream back on New Year's Eve, right? I had about two scoops to celebrate, then I stuck the rest in the freezer. Guess what? They're still there. I had another two sccops on Valentine's Day, just because. Will probably have some on my birthday too. And there will still be enough left for another occasion.:D Now that's what I call economic approach, LOL. And it's not even due to any deliberate planning on my part. I just usually don't feel like eating that kind of stuff (I need an excuse for it, like a holiday or something). I'd rather have a bowl of fresh strawberries, believe it or not. *shrug*
4) Well, I already wrote so much on that topic I'm not sure I need to say anything else, lol. In short, immigration was never something I wanted or dreamed of doing, and even if it was, United States certainly wouldn't have been my country of choice (it would be either Greece or Ireland, most likely). But this is what happened, for a number of reasons, and I learned to live with it. Ironically, the main driving force behind my family's collective decision to move here was escaping economic hardships. And look where we are now. Someone up there in the clouds is having a good laugh, I think. *sigh*
5) Definitely not my choice of place to live (see point 4). I just recently saw an article on Yahoo that said Chicago was on the top ten list of 'most miserable US cities'. Here's the gist of it: "Lousy weather, long commutes, rising unemployment and high sales tax - welcome home". Yep. I have nothing to add - except maybe the disgusting state of some public roads (I take the same route to work every day; you'd think I should know by now where all the potholes are and be able to avoid them, and yet, mysteriously, they seem to constantly pop up in new locations). Oh, and we have this little joke about four seasons in Chicago: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction. Very funny - except not, because it's way too true.:P
But so as not to end this post on a negative note - there is one thing I like about living here. Cultural diversity. And that applies pretty much to the whole immigration thing, too. Being immersed in a mix of different nations/ethnicities/ways of life gives me much needed perspective I probably lacked before. Polish culture is so uniform I often felt like a stranger, the odd one out (not being raised Catholic was weird and outlandish enough - let alone the whole gay thing, lol). I still feel that way sometimes - but here, somehow, it is okay. Everywhere I look I see someone more exotic than I could ever hope to be - and it makes me smile in relief more often than not.:P
I got this from
mellacita, and here is what she associated me with:1) LOTR FPS
2) yaoi
3) food/diet
4) immigration/citizenship
5) Chicago
1) I guess this one requires no explanation. My favorite fandom since 2004. Still number one.:)
I love LOTR RPS as well, but just can't write it for some reason - and it will always be my second choice when it comes to reading, too. Except for some outlandish fantasy AUs that take me just as far away from reality as Tolkien's world does.:)
2) I flirted with yaoi a bit back in 2003/04, when I was first discovering the joys of internet (found Dany&Dany's website while searching for Anne Rice fanart, and it just sort of went from there). Then I discovered LOTR slash and forgot all about it. Well, almost. Then
akashaelfwitch dragged me to the Yaoi Con in San Francisco in 2007 and got me hooked on pretty-boy-love all over again.:D By now I have assembled a nice little "not for children" comic collection.;) I want more, but my current financial situation doesn't allow for sinful pleasures that cost money - even if I thought they were cheap before. *cries* 3) I'll take this opportunity to mention that I am still keeping my 'almost ideal' weight (with fluctuations anywhere between 133-135 lbs, but hardly ever more or less). A relatively healthy diet (with small, harmless indulgences every once in a while) has pretty much become my second nature. I don't get any overwhelming urges for bad stuff (I barely notice the bakery section in stores anymore, and seeing some of the fake sweets, snacks or sodas almost makes me cringe). I had bought those two small pints of icecream back on New Year's Eve, right? I had about two scoops to celebrate, then I stuck the rest in the freezer. Guess what? They're still there. I had another two sccops on Valentine's Day, just because. Will probably have some on my birthday too. And there will still be enough left for another occasion.:D Now that's what I call economic approach, LOL. And it's not even due to any deliberate planning on my part. I just usually don't feel like eating that kind of stuff (I need an excuse for it, like a holiday or something). I'd rather have a bowl of fresh strawberries, believe it or not. *shrug*
4) Well, I already wrote so much on that topic I'm not sure I need to say anything else, lol. In short, immigration was never something I wanted or dreamed of doing, and even if it was, United States certainly wouldn't have been my country of choice (it would be either Greece or Ireland, most likely). But this is what happened, for a number of reasons, and I learned to live with it. Ironically, the main driving force behind my family's collective decision to move here was escaping economic hardships. And look where we are now. Someone up there in the clouds is having a good laugh, I think. *sigh*
5) Definitely not my choice of place to live (see point 4). I just recently saw an article on Yahoo that said Chicago was on the top ten list of 'most miserable US cities'. Here's the gist of it: "Lousy weather, long commutes, rising unemployment and high sales tax - welcome home". Yep. I have nothing to add - except maybe the disgusting state of some public roads (I take the same route to work every day; you'd think I should know by now where all the potholes are and be able to avoid them, and yet, mysteriously, they seem to constantly pop up in new locations). Oh, and we have this little joke about four seasons in Chicago: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction. Very funny - except not, because it's way too true.:P
But so as not to end this post on a negative note - there is one thing I like about living here. Cultural diversity. And that applies pretty much to the whole immigration thing, too. Being immersed in a mix of different nations/ethnicities/ways of life gives me much needed perspective I probably lacked before. Polish culture is so uniform I often felt like a stranger, the odd one out (not being raised Catholic was weird and outlandish enough - let alone the whole gay thing, lol). I still feel that way sometimes - but here, somehow, it is okay. Everywhere I look I see someone more exotic than I could ever hope to be - and it makes me smile in relief more often than not.:P
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-06 09:17 pm (UTC)i love how you think, the combination of realism and optimism that shines out of you. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-07 02:10 am (UTC)I do have to say, though, that I was much worse (angsty/whingy/miserable) when I was younger. Age sort of mellows you out, I guess (as you realize that life's too short to tear your hair out over some stupid stuff, lol) - and in my case that's a good thing.:)
Btw, your icon is so sexy it gives me premature hot flashes.;P *loves*
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-07 05:25 am (UTC)and holy moly, i'm totally enamored of the icon, too. it's distracting me to no end again today.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-07 07:11 am (UTC)Hmmm... it's extremely interesting that you should think so, because quite a few people in my life (starting with my mother) would tell you that I am exactly the type of person who settles. But then maybe what they think would be best for me isn't really my idea of best, you know?
Actually, that might be the thing - I am finally allowing myself to just be me and do what I like to do without feeling guilty about it. And that probably gives me some measure of optimism I lacked before. So these days I whinge more about external circumstances keeping me from getting somewhere I want to be, than about my own inevitable failure to become the kind of person other people think I should become. If that makes sense. Because everyone has their own recipe for happiness, and no one can possibly tell me how to achieve it. Even if they think they know best (like my mother :P).
Took me long enough to figure that out - but better late than never, they say.;)