noodle

We've done the "where do you see yourself in 5 years", but I don't remember looking back and seeing where we've come... if I missed it, please remove or merge this thread.

I found my myspace blog from 2005 to 2009 over the weekend and I re-read some of it while copying it into a word doc and it made me really look at where I was back then and just how far I've come. A lot of it I didn't want to read because I was so angry and jaded and I'm just not there any more. I was in the off part of an on-off relationship, in an "artsy" apartment in the "cultured" part of town (read: falling apart ancient craptastical place with no central air or heat), frustrated with a lot of things and trying to survive on a fairly limited income. I'd lost a ton of weight and was in good shape, but was still smoking cigarettes and driving a really shitty car. I mean REALLY shitty. I was trying to come to terms with our on-off relationship and where I wanted to see my life going and was trying to convince myself I was happy. I was actually really hot in the summer and really freaking cold in the winter, not healthy, so skinny I scared my family, angry with the world, and short-sighted about my future. I had a hard time seeing the future.

I look at where I am now, and I'm amazed my stupid-ass made it this far. The on-relationship is way more happy than not, I have central heat and air, three kittehs, an awesome car, working on my PhD, still making meh money but I have prospects once I graduate. I'm less angry, more cynical but only about appropriate things... most of the time. Definitely got healthier, but need to get back to that healthy weight and tone as I kinda passed it a little bit and kept going.

I wonder though, have you all looked back five years ago?
How do you see your prior self?
Are you happy with progress, frustrated with lack of such?
Do tell.

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uncle phil

we are in the process of buying the florida home that was way too overpriced 5 years ago...

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"We were wrong, terribly wrong. (We) should not have tried to fight a guerrilla war with conventional military tactics against a foe willing to absorb enormous casualties...in a country lacking the fundamental political stability necessary to conduct effective military and pacification operations. It could not be done and it was not done."
- Robert S. McNamara
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"We will take our napalm and flame throwers out of the land that scarcely knows the use of matches...
We will leave you your small joys and smaller troubles."
- Eugene McCarthy in "Vietnam Message"
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never wrestle with a pig.
you both get dirty;
the pig likes it.

bagatelle

Well, I was home with my daughter, she was few months old. We had house waiting for renovation, and it's been ongoing for several years. I wasn't in my best strength at the time physically.

Husband was always busy elsewhere, I stayed home a lot and then I also started playing online games and joined my first forums. Unfortunately since then, too much time wasted online and also having let myself get involved and affected by people online with their problems. Not knowing the best way to respond or sometimes just ignore.

Now I'm hoping the job I started in June will keep me connected to working world satisfactory in the future. Having kids has always been quite big fall from social life for me, since I wanted to take care of them their first years plus what made returning to work difficult was, because I didn't have an old job to return to after mother leave.

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Plan9

On the moon, apparently. With shitty eyesight and horrible tan lines. Picture is from within a week of exactly five years ago.



February 2006. Recently married and in charge of a bunch of kids in the desert. Looking back at my what my life consisted of at that time is embarrassing and scary. I was horribly naive. I had all these dreams that involved a person I barely knew and had zero idea what I was going to do with myself once I "broke free" of the "horrible chains" of military service. Turns out the woman was crap and I should have put more effort into the job (never put a partner above employment opportunities, people). I don't have any worthwhile regrets as far as the major life events that got me to where I am today as a retard with a free college degree and a rock star couch. Life got pretty bad five years ago. Life is [hesitate] better now. I'm still working through the whole get-a-real-job thing and trying to find room in my chest cavity for another woman after the last girlfriend kicked me the curb. I suppose the next two years will be decisive in the employment / relationship categories for me as I either continue my serial monogamy or decide to "settle down" with someone. It is a little daunting to think about. Go back 15 years and we'll talk wish-I-had-a-time-machine regrets. 5 years? I can live with 5 years.

Being older is better.

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Whatever you can carry.

"You should not drink... and bake."

bagatelle

Agreed. Consider the relationship, when a partner is not willing to support your career or education plans.

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Plan9

I usually get shit from women about that line. I'm glad that someone understands that life isn't a romantic comedy where jobs can be had so easily.

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Whatever you can carry.

"You should not drink... and bake."

bagatelle

It really is for the good of the partner as well, if both can be satisfied with their educational level or job prospections. I let my husband be as short-sighted as to decide, we both need to work and start saving for the house (at 24!) rather than I would have continued studying. In other words he wasn't ready to invest in my education by working, when I would have studied. It would have paid off by now...

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animosity

5 years ago I was in living MT. Not really doing much of anything. I moved up there (to get out of a bad situation) with a few grand in pocket and really just loafed around for the 1st qrt of 06. I moved back to GA when cash got low and met my wife the next week.

mixedmedia

Five years ago, I was in a dead-end job that I hated with no prospects of ever having anything but a succession of dead-end jobs until I, myself was dead.
I was also embarking on an on-again, off-again relationship that saw me through a transition into a student working toward a degree in a field that I have real passion for - nursing.

The relationship has ended.

But I am still in a much better place with more hope for the future than I ever would have realized five years ago...sitting at that desk...in that office...waiting on little moments of attention, affection to make me feel passionate about something.

So, yeah, glad to be here now.

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Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce

Grasshopper Green

Five years ago, I was a mess. I was working at a job that literally made me sick when I'd pull into the parking lot, my husband was working a decent paying but dead-end job, I was trying to cope with my brother's death, and my marriage was on the rocks and had been for quite awhile. I had no plans for the future, my wheels were just spinning.

Now, my husband and I are both in school (he's getting ready to apply for nursing school, I'm working toward a degree in medical laboratory science), I have a job with a kick-ass boss who values my skills and input, and my husband is my best friend, my confidant, and my rock. I'm so glad we didn't give up on our marriage. Our finances are tighter - my husband lost his job at the beginning of the recession and makes a lot less now, but at least he has a job, and it gives him flexibility to go to school. Mid to late 2010 dealt us some tough blows with the implosion of relationships and family deaths, but we've managed to get through it. Despite the financial and emotional hardships, I'm in a much, much better place now than I was 5 years ago.

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"They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings; steal a little and they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king"

Formerly Medusa

dlish

ha! but women can?

5 years ago i had no money, i was quite literally going nuts from the stress of work, and i was a total wreck.

'07 i made the move to become an expat and its been the best years of my life.

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An injustice anywhere, is an injustice everywhere

I always sign my facebook comments with ()()===========(}. Does that make me gay?
- Filthy

Plan9

Newsflash: You went full-on nuts after '07 anyway.

And something tells me there are a lot more people on here with regrets about jobs than relationships. Don't put the genitals on a pedestal.

I mean, I suppose I could start a thread but whenever I do that it almost always ends up kersplatting.

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Whatever you can carry.

"You should not drink... and bake."

Zeraph

5 years, eh, pretty much where I am now. That is I'm continuing a lot of the same things.

jewels

Sold my condo as I couldn't afford the ever-mounting maintenance expenses and association fees. With proceeds I paid off debts and rented a beautiful apartment and was also promoted to a great position in my workplace. A wonderful relationship had just begun and my girls had tons of friends and were happy with their school and home life. Things were really good.

Now, not so much. The relationship tried to last but wasn't strong enough, I made a risky major move that didn't pan out and lost over ten thousand dollars (a lot of money for a single mom with no degree) I had saved to purchase a house and am desperately trying to find a better position within the company I'm with to get my paycheck even close to where it was 5 years ago, or find a position within government again, mostly for the retirement package/pension.

I do have high hopes for this year, though, and working at getting my head to where it needs to be in order to accomplish these goals and more. I got big plans still, I do.

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We are always more anxious to be distinguished for a talent which we do not possess, than to be praised for the fifteen which we do possess.
Mark Twain

Charlatan

Five years ago I was six months into my new job in a new part of the world. I was also five months away from the rest of my family joining me in our new life together. It was a weird time. One the one hand I was fully engaged in my new job. On the other, I was a tad isolated and lonely. The sacrifice was more than worth it. Life is never easy but it can sure get better.

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"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke

PonyPotato

Well, at this time in 2006 my life was really just beginning to get interesting. I was in the middle of my second year at Ohio State, riding on equestrian team, doing volunteer work to keep my horse closer to me, working 30+ hours a week at a bar, and taking 20 credit hours of classes. This was close to the time that I ended up getting REALLY sick, having to dump the volunteer work (and move my horse back home) as well as the bar job.

This was nearing the end of my nearly-2-years of celibacy from late HS/early college. I was living with 3 guys and went on few dates. I wasn't really in a great place, mentally or emotionally, but kept myself busy enough not to really notice.

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"Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark."
— Henri-Frédéric Amiel

fresnelly

My son was two years old and I was a year into my current job. My lighting theatre career was stagnating which I regret but I was enjoying my new more stable job all the same.

I'm at the same job with a promotion and a higher salary and and we added a daughter who is now 4. Our marriage is still strongr and I look forward to our kids growing and maturing.

If there's a negative it's that I don't have as much of a social life now and we don't get out very often. I'm not saying I'm a hermit but I need to cultivate the friends I do have. For one thing, this summer I'm going to sign up for Softball.

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Building an artificial intelligence that appreciates Mozart is easy. Building an A.I. that appreciates a theme restaurant is the real challenge - Kit Roebuck - Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life

snowy

Five years ago, I was working graveyard on the weekends and trying to juggle a catering job at the same time. That was exhausting. I was sharing an apartment with my now-husband. I remember Martian didn't sleep a whole heck of a lot in those days, and often stayed up with me while I worked graveyard. I was taking a break from school at the time, too.

I am much happier where we are now. I'm happily married, I graduated, I have a MUCH better job with regular hours that I enjoy a LOT more, and I live in an awesome house with kittehs coming out my ears.

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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

ASU2003

I was traveling to the same place I am now. And I had not traveled to any of the other places that I have been to before 5 years ago.

The only thing that has really changed in the past 5 years is how much money I have in my bank account however. It is scary to think that there is about a 70% chance I might be in the exact same place 5 years from now.

LordEden

I looked like that. It's amazing how much weight I've put on since then.

Let's see... 2006. I had just graduated with a degree in MS Office that I didn't want to use. I was happy(-ish) cooking in a kitchen, but not really cooking to my full potential. No job prospects, no girlfriend, and living in a frozen wasteland. I realized at this point that all the "friends" I had were only around because I knew where to get the best pot.

I pretty much was drowing myself in a bottle of booze as this was the beginning point of my "if I'm drunk, I can't be unhappy" stage of my life. Living in a trashed apt with my best friend who couldn't pay his bills.

I was unhappy and was using drugs to make myself feel happy. This is when the panic attacks took over my life and I had nothing else to live for.

Thinking back, 2006 sucked.

*****

Also, This.

I wish I would have spent half the energy I spent trying to find "someone" into finding a good job. I might not be so poor right now.

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Vice-President of the CinnamonGirl Fan Club - The Meat of the Zombiesquirrel and CinnamonGirl Sandwich

keymaker

I was making twice the money I am now but since then I paid off my house and all my bills so we are good. I was 45 then so I felt a little better as 50 does wear on you. But I would say it has been a good 5 overall

PonyPotato

I'm following Eden's example and posting a photo of myself from 2006. (This was taken in April.. I seem to have zero photos of myself originating between Dec 2005 and April 2006)



I no longer have glasses (laser eyes! whoo!), I no longer have the sternum piercing (just the scars), and my lobes are no longer stretched. I think I look significantly different now.

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"Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark."
— Henri-Frédéric Amiel

filtherton

This is what I was doing five years ago, give or take 6 months. My daughter had just been born and I was finishing up an associate's degree in the maths and on my way to engineer school. I was sick when this picture was taken and I'm sick now. Fuck.

I've since remove the piercings, graduated school, worked a year and started up school again.

-mia

5 years ago - slitting my wrists.
today - recovered.

Jove

This thread has reminded me to do something exciting so I can remember something worth discussing in another five years. If this doesn't clue you in, I have no memorable stories or idea of what I was doing five years ago except maybe working at the same place and maybe starting grad school.

amonkie

I will have to find a picture from that time.

I was extremely excited about my life prospects 5 years ago. I had just moved across the country after graduating from college. I didn't have a job but I had a good chunk of savings so was able to just enjoy my new surroundings. I was in a relationship that I thought I wanted that has since ended but at the time I couldn't have been happier.

I remember finally feeling free of my past, and all of the criticisms and family pressure that came with it. I will be the first to admit I was incredibly naive at the time.

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Calling from deep in the heart, from where the eyes can't see and the ears can't hear, from where the mountain trails end and only love can go... ~~~ Three Rivers Hare Krishna

Cynthetiq

My god, 5 years ago to the day was a harrowing experience for me. I was not in a good place or a good space. I can't even describe it at the moment, just a few more days to pass.

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roachboy

i was teaching in philadelphia and performing a lot with clairaudient (my sound collective). the idea of moving to chicago was taking shape but hadn't quite become definitive. i still wonder what would have happened had i not moved. but i did. i don't regret it at all---it was just a big change that i didn't plan out adequately.

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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite

Baraka_Guru

Five years ago, I was in a new job and uncertain of myself.

Now?

I'm in the same job and still uncertain of myself. Okay, maybe I'm a bit less uncertain now.

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

lunxpress

Five years ago, I had just moved into a new town, after becoming a newly single parent.

My children were still pretty small and I carted them back and forth to daycare and preschool, all while trying to work. I decided to succumb to what was expected of me from my family ; making dinners and ironing clothing. I felt washed up and was trying to accept that I had to start all over again (again). I was sadly trying to fit into a life of play dates and assessment meetings with boring suburbanites who rambled about sales at Walgreens, while strategically allowing their car’s make and model to slip in.

I continued to pursue my “dream” so to speak, and finally caught a break.

Better now.

laconic1

Five years ago this week I found out my mom had been diagnosed with cancer. Five years ago I was working in a dead end job. I knew I could do better, but didn't put forth the effort to find a replacement job since I wasn't sure of exactly what I wanted, and there were a couple of girls at my job I really liked.
Well, within two years the girls I liked had moved on, and that place descended into an unbearable hell until I quit in the summer of '09 with no job prospects in the middle of the worst job market of my lifetime. My mom passed away from cancer last summer. I have a new job now, but the prospects are limited. I get along with my coworkers and as a whole I respect my current coworkers much more than the group of people left at my old job at the time I quit.
As a whole though I have made no progress the last five years. Losing my mom was by far the biggest loss, but my career being completely derailed and having no idea how to get it back on track is the biggest challenge I have to deal with in the next few years.

MeltedMetalGlob

Five years ago?

I was casting for an independent feature film I was planning to shoot, was working a job at a place that was spiraling down, and my daughter was only a few months old.

I'd post a pic, but A) I haven't changed in that time, and B) I still have a few posts to go before I can post pics anyway.

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How's your mom, Ed?

Ourcrazymodern?

Five years ago I was blissfully ignorant of the ensuing few.

Every day's a diamond.

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BE JUST AND FEAR NOT

m0rpheus

Renting an apartment instead of owning my house.
Not engaged.

Other than that, pretty much the same.

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"it never got weird enough for me." - Hunter S. Thompson

Wandrin

My wife had me fully civilized 5 years ago. When I met her, I was living in a motor coach and traveling to the next job. Five years ago I had met her, married her, bought a house, and settled into a community. I made changes in my work to allow me to spend a lot of time with her. I cut out the adaptive intelligent robot side of my work and focussed on what I could do in Silicon Valley.

I never sold the coach that I had lived/worked in for the 16 years before I met the one that stole my heart. I improved it, over the years. I live in it now that I lost her to cancer. My time with her was too short.

Ooops, sorry. I go off sometimes.

A friend had a band. He was a great blues guitarist. We went to go see him play, 5 years ago. He was brilliant. The audience loved it. He said that he was so excited by all of the offers he had received and that he was more than a little overwhelmed. I told him that I would meet him for breakfast. He blew his brains out that night.

That's what I remember from exactly 5 years ago.

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If ignorance is bliss then why are the ignorant so angry? - Shannon Wheeler