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1) How old were you?
Just-about-to-turn-eleven, and in year six.
2) What was your online presence?
Nothing. Nil, zip, nada. Didn't even have the net at home until I was thirteen or fourteen, and didn't join my first forum until I was fifteen.
3) Where did you work?
Nowhere.
4) Where did you live?
Same place my parents still live. A house on the waterfront in a very small town about half an hour away from school. It was quite an awesome town to live in as a LITTLE kid, and it'd be nice to retire to, but I wouldn't recommended it as a place to raise teenagers. But then, I could've lived in the middle of Sydney and I still would've had no close friends and lived entirely in my head, so perhaps where I lived doesn't matter at all.
5) Who did you live with?
mum, dad, my little brother.
6) How was your health?
Er. fine, I guess.
7) Pets?
I may have had a budgie, but it might've already flown away at that stage. Possibly one of my many doomed goldfish?
8) Who was your boyfriend/girlfriend/partner/spouse/S.O.
Just-about-to-turn-eleven, and in year six.
2) What was your online presence?
Nothing. Nil, zip, nada. Didn't even have the net at home until I was thirteen or fourteen, and didn't join my first forum until I was fifteen.
3) Where did you work?
Nowhere.
4) Where did you live?
Same place my parents still live. A house on the waterfront in a very small town about half an hour away from school. It was quite an awesome town to live in as a LITTLE kid, and it'd be nice to retire to, but I wouldn't recommended it as a place to raise teenagers. But then, I could've lived in the middle of Sydney and I still would've had no close friends and lived entirely in my head, so perhaps where I lived doesn't matter at all.
5) Who did you live with?
mum, dad, my little brother.
6) How was your health?
Er. fine, I guess.
7) Pets?
I may have had a budgie, but it might've already flown away at that stage. Possibly one of my many doomed goldfish?
8) Who was your boyfriend/girlfriend/partner/spouse/S.O.
Ahaah. None. Although this was the year that I started cultivating my hilarious, painful and
crippling five-year crush. That crush was very formative, in that it set my taste very firmly on tall, skinny, kinda dorky men, with bonus points for nice singing voices and a habit of writing stories about angels.
9) Who were your friends?
I had been accelerated into year six one term into that year, and I didn't really have friends. There was a friend of a family friend who was in the class, and she and her friends looked out for me and became my friend group through high school. And there was the above-mentioned crush, with whom I was friends in that distant way boys and girls are in primary school.
10) Any kids? Any plans for kids?
I was a kid!
11) What was your worst struggle?
I assume settling into year six. Mum tells me I had a horrible time, but I've blocked most of the bad bits from my memory.
12) What was your biggest joy?
My teacher, Mrs C. She was the most awesome thing on awesometoast, and her awesomeness is only exceeded by the awesomeness of my most recent favourite teacher, She Who Is Known Only as 'Awesome'. Mrs C pulled me out of year five into her class; she made me learn my times-tables and taught me creative writing; she introduced my mother to the Gifted and Talented Association; being brilliant herself and having gifted kids, she started to make me understand that I wasn't a lone freak in the world; she promised me everything would get better in high school (it did, but only marginally); and she spent the year conniving and finangling to introduce me to what would be my greatest joy for at least the next six years, and possibly for the rest of my life: fantasy fiction.
13) What did you consider your greatest accomplishment?
Undoubtedly my storywriting. Can't remember what I was writing at the time, but as I said, Mrs C coached those of us who showed a knack, and my writing and creative faculty improved by leaps and bounds.
14) What advice would you give your younger self?
I'd give her a few books which she isn't going to discover for a few years yet. I'd start with Harry Potter, which is around but she just hasn't seen it. And I'd give her things like T.H. White, and Kevin Crossley-Holland's 'The King Who Was and Will Be', which she won't discover until she's almost too old for them.
If I were talking to myself at thirteen, rather than ten, I'd also take her off to a computer somewhere and introduce her to fanfiction, and see if she turns out more or less balanced as a result.
And I'd promise her that even if things don't improve much in high school, they really aren't lying when they say university will be better.
15) What would your younger self say to you?
"Medieval studies... does that mean you know about King Arthur?"
16) Looking back, is your life in 2008 what you thought it would be in 1998?
Ahaha. No. In 1998, I wanted to be a gifted ed teacher like Mrs C. Some things are the same though: I'm still writing, compulsively, albeit after a hiatus. I'm still interested in things no one else is. On the other hand, I actually have friends. People I like and respect, and who appear to like and respect me. This is a vast change from people who feel sorry for me because I'm socially inept, and people upon whom I look down because I measure real worth by intelligence.crippling five-year crush. That crush was very formative, in that it set my taste very firmly on tall, skinny, kinda dorky men, with bonus points for nice singing voices and a habit of writing stories about angels.
9) Who were your friends?
I had been accelerated into year six one term into that year, and I didn't really have friends. There was a friend of a family friend who was in the class, and she and her friends looked out for me and became my friend group through high school. And there was the above-mentioned crush, with whom I was friends in that distant way boys and girls are in primary school.
10) Any kids? Any plans for kids?
I was a kid!
11) What was your worst struggle?
I assume settling into year six. Mum tells me I had a horrible time, but I've blocked most of the bad bits from my memory.
12) What was your biggest joy?
My teacher, Mrs C. She was the most awesome thing on awesometoast, and her awesomeness is only exceeded by the awesomeness of my most recent favourite teacher, She Who Is Known Only as 'Awesome'. Mrs C pulled me out of year five into her class; she made me learn my times-tables and taught me creative writing; she introduced my mother to the Gifted and Talented Association; being brilliant herself and having gifted kids, she started to make me understand that I wasn't a lone freak in the world; she promised me everything would get better in high school (it did, but only marginally); and she spent the year conniving and finangling to introduce me to what would be my greatest joy for at least the next six years, and possibly for the rest of my life: fantasy fiction.
13) What did you consider your greatest accomplishment?
Undoubtedly my storywriting. Can't remember what I was writing at the time, but as I said, Mrs C coached those of us who showed a knack, and my writing and creative faculty improved by leaps and bounds.
14) What advice would you give your younger self?
I'd give her a few books which she isn't going to discover for a few years yet. I'd start with Harry Potter, which is around but she just hasn't seen it. And I'd give her things like T.H. White, and Kevin Crossley-Holland's 'The King Who Was and Will Be', which she won't discover until she's almost too old for them.
If I were talking to myself at thirteen, rather than ten, I'd also take her off to a computer somewhere and introduce her to fanfiction, and see if she turns out more or less balanced as a result.
And I'd promise her that even if things don't improve much in high school, they really aren't lying when they say university will be better.
15) What would your younger self say to you?
"Medieval studies... does that mean you know about King Arthur?"
16) Looking back, is your life in 2008 what you thought it would be in 1998?