Question Meme

[teaberryblue]

furiosity asked me this question a while ago and I keep flaking on answering it.

Are you in your current career for good or is it a stepping stone to something else for you?

It was funny, because I think in some ways this question highlights the difference in the way F and I approach life, and kind of in a Slytherin/Gryffindor dynamic. Sorry, non-Harry-Potter-nerds on my list. Just trust that it makes sense.

Because it wouldn't even occur to me to think about that!

I haven't read or seen Yes Man, but the way I approach life is very similar to that premise. I generally do whatever seems like the most exciting and fulfulling thing to do right now is.

Right now, I love comics and I love being around them all day. I enjoy my job, my coworkers, and what I do. Will I do it forever? Probably not, but only because I might find something else I love more! Or life might take me somewhere else.

I don't believe in fate or destiny and I do believe in human agency. So life taking me somewhere else isn't one of those "well, I'm meant to do THIS now!" But I do believe that there are always a million options open to people to do all kinds of things. So I will do this until either I get bored, I find something else I like better, this naturally morphs into something else, or there is no longer a need for me here. I don't do five-year plans, unless you're talking about places I want to visit and liquors I want to taste.

The benefits of this job (and every job I have ever had) are that I get to immerse myself in a subject that I want to learn more about all day long.

This is not to say that I don't have any ambitions. It's just that my ambitions are not structured in grand overarching plans. They are more project-oriented-- one of them will be completed in a couple weeks, another one is being completed as we speak. I work a lot better as a piecemeal kind of person and I don't have the patience for long plans. I think the old AA One-Day-At-A-Time way of looking at life is something I subscribe to everything I do. Today, I will draw a comic. Today, I will mix a new cocktail. Today, I will write a page of a novel. And I end up finishing things because all those little todays build up into years, but I don't often look down the road much more than a month or two.

I hope that answers your question! Would anyone like a question? Please comment here!

Comments

[rattsu.livejournal.com]

I would like a question please!

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

We talk to each other a lot about American cultural norms, habits and institutional issues that are weird and seem outdated, brutal, inhumane, and otherwise to a Swede. How about the opposite? Are there systemic practices or institutions, or cultural norms of any kind that we have in the US that you wish you had in Sweden? It can be anything from a sweeping governmental policy or way of life to a type of snack food. If you can't think of an American one, pick one from another country!

[gabbygrl.livejournal.com]

Can I have one?

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

I know you have been trying to sort out this Growing Up stuff lately. So! A lot of the time, people do those things where they write letters to their younger selves or talk about advice they wish they could give their younger self. I'm going to switch it around. If you met 12 year old you on the street, what advice would you want 12 year old you to give you?

[cacophonesque.livejournal.com]

Oh sure! I'll take a question.

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

You have been offered the opportunity to write a grant proposal for one million dollars to go to a charitable non-profit (or multiple charitable non-profits). You have been guaranteed that your proposal will be accepted. What would you propose and why?

[furiosity.livejournal.com]

Thank you for answering! :D

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

It has been nagging at me all week! Thank you for the question! It was a good one.

[cetacea.livejournal.com]

I feel like that's a really spectacular way of looking at life. Sometimes (okay, often) I get super-overwhelmed by my 5-10-life year plans for life, so I've been trying to take a more one-day-at-a-time approach to things. It's a mindset that is difficult for me to swallow, but I really feel like thinking that way would improve a lot of my anxieties about life-things. Also, there are so many things I want to do (in terms of careers/jobs) that it seems silly to me to have a grand plan to do just one of them.

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

I still get anxious about the future! But that's exactly it, there are too many things I would love to do if I get the opportunity, so I feel like having one plan in mind is boxing myself in!

[guingel.livejournal.com]

I am happy to hear that this is how you think about things, because I have never had a long-term plan ever. Didn't know what I was majoring in when I got to college, had no clue what I was doing after.

Mostly I think this is because there's never been anything that I loved doing that I was also interested/able to make a career out of. . . People always are saying stuff like "Set your sights on your dream and work towards it, and you can achieve it!" but I've. . . never had a dream. XD

That sounds a bit tragic, but I'm also quite happy where I am now and plan to stay here while it's enjoyable and then see if I need to move on later. But it's tough when my friends are like "OK, I'm going to work here for a few years and then they'll pay for me to go to grad school to study this" and so on and so on.

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

I actually DID the "setting your sights on your dream" thing. And I did it. And discovered I HATED doing it. I had that experience a couple times, actually! So then I kind of revised my life-approach. It is a lot more fun to bounce from new thing you like to new thing you like than it is to spend years of your life working to achieve something only to get there and find out you hate it.

[purplehaze9.livejournal.com]

question plz

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

I'm going to ask you the opposite of the question I asked rattsu. Since being in Korea, what is the one aspect of Korean culture, way or life, etc., that you wish were part of the American way of life?"

[cheshire23.livejournal.com]

I would like a question!

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

Now that Tori is getting old enough to show a distinct personality of her own, how are Alex and Tori different? What do you see in them that are the same? Are there things Alex does that you see Tori as emulating, rather than them being part of her innate personality?

[dragonmagelet.livejournal.com]

Since apparently I am still getting kicked in the ass by this virus, knock me out with a QUESTION!

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

OK!

Tell us about one book, movie, tv show, or other pop culture stand-out from your childhood that you loved as a kid but that you now realize was problematic from a social perspective (due to issues of race, gender, sex, religion, socio-economic class, whatever)?

[dragonmagelet.livejournal.com]

Oooo, good question! Whenever this happens I am always really torn, because honestly my tastes--and my value system, honestly--haven't changed very much if at all since I was a child. It also happens relatively infrequently because I was educated in a very politically-correct environment; few of the books we read in grade school were about WHITE people, let alone RICH ones!

The other source of media input in my childhood was my mother, who read me a lot of books from her childhood and with whom I watched a lot of Star Trek TNG and Fred Astaire. With anything from a long time ago, my mom was very careful to provide me with context. Reading that stuff now--books like HALF MAGIC or MRS. PIGGLE-WIGGLE--I'm startled by the bizarre behavior of the adult women. But I wouldn't say that those issues were problematic because, when I was reading them, it was like reading about a fantasy world where mothers have nothing better to do than bake brownies and meddle in their children's lives, where everyone has plenty of money and crime doesn't exist. It didn't have an impact on my expectations or my value systems. The points those books made that were relevant to my life, about friendship and good manners, aren't problematic at all. I think the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books actually teach kids really important lessons about personal agency and responsibility.

On the other hand, thanks to Disney films I persisted for many, many years in the belief that one's beauty as a female was judged on one's singing voice and the length of one's hair.

[henpecked.livejournal.com]

I think your answer totally lines up with what I know about you and have inferred from our conversations! I really admire this quality about you, incidentally. I feel like I spend so much time making plans to do stuff that I never actually have any time or spend any real time enjoying my "NOW." I think I'm getting better at it, though!

I would like a question!

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

That's so funny, because you don't put off a planny-mc-plannenstein vibe. But I also think you're enough younger than me and a lot of being in your 20s is being in stasis and making plans and waiting for plans to come through and that kind of stuff. I don't think my answer would have been the same five years ago. It definitely took me a while to get to the point where this was my general outlook.

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

Oh crap,I forgot your question.

I really liked your post about Halloween costumes and the difference between complaining that all the costumes are available are "sexy" versus judging women for *wanting* to wear "sexy" costumes. What is something else that you (or other people you know) do that you feel people judge you (or other people you know) for because they're applying an assumption based on a "type" that they're associating that behavior with?

[liret.livejournal.com]

I would like a question!

Also, I am curious as to which goal will be completed in a couple weeks.

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

The completed goal is a secrety work one!

Question: You talk a lot about zombies, but in reality, what fictional construct would you least like to face were it to actually exist? "And why" implied.

[thaliontholwen.livejournal.com]

I want a question! I like questions!

(That may be slightly more enthusiastic than needed; I'm more than a little crazy today.)

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

As a substitute teacher, you've gotten to experience classrooms from a different perspective than regular classroom teachers. What is the most important piece of advice you would like to impart to regular classroom teachers gleaned from your experience taking over their classes for a day at a time?

[oxymoronassoc.livejournal.com]

Ooh this is a really interesting view point to read. I am curious: when you do work on projects and such, are you more detail orientated or big picture? I am guessing the former. I really enjoyed reading this because it is so the opposite of how I am.

Also, if you don't mind, I'd love a question. :)

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

I like to think I am both, but I am definitely detail oriented. I have a sortable spreadsheet for my Thanksgiving grocery list that includes item, amount, what dish it's for, and where in the grocery story it will be located. It has 168 items on it.

And for question: I have known you for a really long time and watched as your lj has become increasingly popular, which is kinda cool to see (and it also sort of tickles me when people who don't know you link me to something in your lj). Do you feel like having an increased readership has changed how you post in/ use your journal, and in what way?

[blythe025.livejournal.com]

I like your response. I think that's a great way to live and has a greater chance of garnering joy than the idea that what's here today is a stepping stone to a better happier tomorrow. Happiness exists today. It's a good thing to remember. :)

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

Yeah, so many times when I made Big Plans, the Big Plans would fall through, or simply not be what I had expected. The way I do things now, I know I'm always happy in the short term, which pretty much means that barring major life tragedies...I'm kinda always happy!

[gildedage.livejournal.com]

QUESTION ME UP LADY

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

Oh I have had one I have wanted to give you all freaking day.

If you could switch any two Presidents in history (like, make Jimmy Carter take Grover Cleveland's place and vice-versa), which would you switch, and why?

[elikrei.livejournal.com]

Can I have a question? I read all of your stuff and look forward to it, but have been writing not at all myself....

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

Sure you can! In studying psychology, what do you feel is the most dangerous misconception the general public has about your field of study?

[elikrei.livejournal.com]

I feel like I'd have to go with failure to understand mental illness - how serious it is. Because "dangerous" could be exactly the right word for it.

Phrases stick with me from the books I've read. A woman who spent thousands of dollars while manic and tried to kill herself while in a mixed state (mania + depression), told by a relative she shouldn't "lithiumize" away her feelings. Coming home after a hospitalization for anorexia, a girl looked in the mirror and, trying to convince herself, said, "Maybe I'm not that fat"; her mother responded, "Well, I wouldn't go that far."

A girl going through depression told me once, "I'm sick, and I'm desperate to be taken as seriously and with the same patience and kindness as a sick person would."

[astraevirgo.livejournal.com]

I'd like a question. :D

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

Okay! Let's say you were put on a think tank to create a more ubiquitous youth service program in the US. What are some of the things you would like to see come out of that program/ how do you envision it working?

[novangla.livejournal.com]

Very illuminating-- I'm glad you wrote up that answer. It's good to have different examples of career-mindsets around.

You make tough questions! But I am up for a challenge. :| :D

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

Okay! I like doing the questions for people with interesting interests! Pick one current problem in American politics/current events, and tell us which American political figure whose peak time in the political arena was at least 100 years ago you would choose to solve it, and why. (Ex: why Andrew Jackson should solve global warming)

[novangla.livejournal.com]

Ohhh interesting! I will think on it tomorrow and try to choose wisely.

[spiralstairs.livejournal.com]

I'll have a question, please! :) (Btw, awesome answer.)

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Okay, ultimate fantasy pair-up: Pick a modern story (past 25 years or so, but you can flex if you want to), be it a movie, play, book, tv show, current event, whatever, and a famous dead opera composer you would like to resurrect to turn it into an opera. And then tell us about it!

[sunnyrea.livejournal.com]

*raises hand* I would like a question please

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

Okay!

If you could meet one of the fictional characters you cosplay, in the flesh, while dressed as them, who would it be and what would you imagine would happen?

[mel06.livejournal.com]

Pick meeeeee!


And really, I can't imagine you doing almost anything else as a career.