10 years ago meme

[silver_sun]

The ten years ago meme. Because 10 years ago I was just about to finish university.

1) How old were you?

THEN: 23
NOW: 33

2) Where did you go to school?
THEN: Bradford University (just about I was in the middle of my final year exams)
NOW: Not at university any more

3) Where did you work?
THEN: Whatever part time work I could fit around studying, mostly open day helper or working on the university's night bus.,
NOW: Bradford council.

4) Where did you live?
THEN: Bradford.
NOW: Bradford.

5) How was your hairstyle?
THEN: Fairly long, about middle of my back kind of length and a gingery-brownish colour that my hair is if I don't do anything to it.
NOW: Getting towards shoulder length and in need of a cut.

6) Did you wear braces?
THEN: No
NOW: No

7) Did you wear contacts?
THEN: Yes
NOW: Yes

8) Did you wear glasses?
THEN: Yes
NOW: Yes

9) Who was your best friend?
THEN: I have a few close friends, but none that would really fall into the best friend I can tell anything to category, not even Fin.
NOW: I have a few close friends, but none that would really fall into the best friend I can tell anything to category, not even Fin.

10) Which of your pets was still alive?
THEN: I don’t have any pets.
NOW: I don’t have any pets.

11) Who was your boyfriend/girlfriend?
THEN: My boyfriend, Fin.
NOW: My husband, Fin :)

12) Who was your celebrity crush?
THEN: Sean Bean.
NOW: Probably somebody like Gareth David Lloyd or Michael Socha at the moment, although there are about half a dozen others that come a very close second.

13) Who was your regular-person crush
THEN:There were a couple of people, long standing friends, and I’m fairly sure that with one of the crush goes both ways, but nothing will ever come of it.
NOW: I don't think I have one any more.  Even the people who were my closest friends are a lot more distant than they were.

14) How many piercings did you have?
THEN: Three. One in the bottom of each ear, and one top of my right ear that I had done during freshers week at uni.
NOW: The same three.

15) How many tattoos did you have?
THEN: None.
NOW: Still none.

16) What was your favourite band/singer?
THEN: Bon Jovi.
NOW: Not sure, probably Hurts

17) Had you smoked cigarettes?
THEN: No.
NOW: Still no.

18) Had you got drunk?
THEN: Yes, although never so much as to fall over or forget what I’m doing/saying.
NOW: Yes, although never so much as to fall over or forget what I’m doing/saying.

19) Had you DRIVEN?
THEN: No, no one in the family even had a car.
NOW: Yes, passed my test eight years ago.

20) If so which car?
THEN: Hadn't passed my test yet
NOW: Currently without a car as I can't afford to run one.

21) Looking back, are you where you thought you would be in 2013?
No. I suppose that's the most concise answer. Ten years ago I had just handed in my dissertation (for which I received a 1st, although my over all degree was a 2:1 - I missed the over all first by 1.5%) .
Had I got the first I would have almost certainly tried for a Masters degree, but with a 2:1 there was little to no chance of funding and I couldn't afford it without.  I was disappointed, but I'd managed to get a job with an archaeology unit and life just felt like it was going to get better and better.

Ten years ago I'd hoped that I'd work my way up in that archaeology job or maybe go to work for a museum and that I'd get to see some of the world, and that would have made something of my life. Things like a car or a house or even getting married to Fin weren't all that high in my list of things to do.

But things happen and your priorities are forced to change.  I'm not unhappy with what I have, I have someone I love and a little boy, but I still miss the life that I had and the future that could have been if I'd put what I wanted first a few times.

Perhaps the biggest difference is though that ten years ago I could look to the future with hope and the optimism that if I tried hard enough that anything was possible.  Now there's nothing but ....I don't know, resignation? realism? and if there is any hope it's just of the kind that says 'don't let it get any worse'

Not the most positive note to end on I know, and I don't really feel as bad about things as that makes it sound.  I worry about my families health, about money, about Alexander growing up and me not knowing how to do normal stuff (my own childhood was odd, I know it. I didn't go to school, I rarely (like maybe once or twice a year) played with any children other than my brother,)

But you deal with what life gives you. You make it work because you have to and maybe sometime things work out.  Because if I'd been doing this meme sixteen or seventeen years ago I'd have been writing about how I thought I wouldn't get to go to college. My life has changed more than I ever thought it would in that time and perhaps in the future it will change in a positive way again.