Elinora

Gakked from all over. I'm not sure what the point of this meme is... when I read it through it sounds like I was some over-privileged brat. I had these things because my parents worked hard and saved money, and also had a bit of luck along the way.


1. Father went to college - Yes.
2. Father finished college - Yes
3. Mother went to college - Yes
4. Mother finished college - No, she went into Nursing instead
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor - Yes, Yes, and Yes. I also have a relative who created a scandal in the poetry world when he published a book on Robert Burns.
6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers - They were all nuns. They were total class.
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home - I probably had more than 50 books under my bed. Also, the Library was my second home.
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home - My dad built me a bookcase that covered the entire wall of my bedroom. It held over 800 books. In fact our entire house had been retro-fitted with bookcases.
9. Were read children's books by a parent - Incessantly. And no "picture books" either. My favorite was Jane Eyre.
10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18 - Too many to count.
11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18 - Dance, Piano, Ceramics, Gymnastics, Horseback riding
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively. - Well, I like them...
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18 - Yes, I got it when I was 16. I also go the bills for it.
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs - Yes
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs - Yes
16. Went to a private high school - Yes, I was tutored by nuns or priests for most of my school life. It made it very hard in University when the profs objected when I called them "Sir." I still have trouble addressing a teacher by their first name.
17. Went to summer camp. - Unfortunately, yes.
18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18 - Yes. Math was not my friend.
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels. - Yes.
20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18 - Yes. But there was no one to hand it down to me.
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them - If I had bothered to get a license, they would have.
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child - Stacks of it. Please, take some home with you!
23. You and your family lived in a single family house - Yes.
24. Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home- Yes
25. You had your own room as a child - Yes, thank God. I needed the room for all my books.
26. You had a phone in your room before you turned 18. - Yes, but not my own line.
27. Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course - That sounds like an American thing, but i did take University prep courses.
28. Had your own TV in your room in High School - Yes.
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College - Yes.
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16 - Yes.
31. Went on a cruise with your family - No, my mother hates boats.
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family - Still with the boat hating.
33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up - I was frequently abandoned in art galleries and museums while they went shopping. I grew up thinking this was natural.
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family - When I was sixteen I offered to start paying them from my part- time job. I frequently compalined to my parents that they were wasting my heat.

I spent a week in England with the most accommodating and welcoming keswindhover, who gave me a room of my own, made me tea, plied me with cut-rate and even free train tickets, and drove me down hundreds of small country roads in search of interesting things to see and do.   The only disappointment I has was that I was sure she would have pony.  Her back yard is clearly big enough.

Alas, she now knows that I am very bad at map-reading, and have no sense of direction.

In my rush to pack I forgot the US/UK electrical adapter for my camera, so it ran out of juice half way through.  Dearest Kes was kind enough to share hers with me.  Unfortunately, I am not 100% sure who took what pictures...

( In Search of the Divine Jane Austen, questionable mannequins, and a little bit of debauchery.. )

So I'm at Starbucks this morning, and when I leave I have a drink in one hand and a binder in the other hand. When I get to the door I don't have a free hand, so I put my shoulder against it an push gently. Unfortunately there was a chivalric gentleman behind me who decided to leap to my aid and open the door for me.

But since I was leaning on the door, when he pushed it open farther I simply followed it and fell over. Into the the stainless steel Starbucks Dog Dish on the ground outside.

He was very apologetic, and I instinctively saved my frappuchino, but they will have to fill the dish up with water again.

Also, a very happy birthday to my darling missmurchison. I worked very hard on our wedding invitainon,which you can see at keswindhover's journal here

P.s. While I was writing this, I got a phone call from a man in El Salvador looking for "Ernesto". I told him there was no Ernesto here, and he apologized polietly and said "I will see you around then." Does this mean we have a date?

Since I am jobless, I thought the best thing to do would be to spend my severance pay on a vacation. So I'm off to England for two weeks to visit my family, and also my lovely fiancéekeswindhover, who will kindly let me stay in her garden shed with the hedgehog. We will be going to Westminster Abbey to check on availability for our wedding, which sadly cannot occur until our co-fiancéemissmurchison can join us. But at least I can get a good look at the place, and decide how many flowers we will need.

We plan to do many exciting things, such as seek out all the decent book stores in the South of England, sample the pastries at various tea shops, and weep piteously at the foot of Jane Austen's grave.

http://elinora.livejournal.com/