The Friday Five Actually On Friday

[delight]

1. Do you remember when you were first addressed as sir or ma'am?
We lived in a doorman building until I was six, so the answer to this is actually when I was four and a half - the first day I walked into the building alone, without being attached to one of my parents. The doorman, who had known me since I was three, called me ma'am just like he did everyone else!

2. Do you remember when you first realized the difference between being childish and childlike?
No, but I was probably much much older than four and a half.

3. Do you remember the first time you realized you were more adult than child?
When I joined my mom's trivia IRC group, which was a subsidiary of #30plus. She let me, because I was a lonely child and was aspiring to be as good at trivia as she is (no one rivals her, I think she knows everything). I was not 30+. I was 11. Nobody noticed. Similarly, when I joined Harper's Tale, most people assumed I was college age or older. My parents, whe we were doing the neurological testing rigamarole that later revealed autism and epilepsy, told experts I hated children.

"But she is a child."

"But she can't stand other kids. She won't socialize with them. She thinks they're loud an annoying, and prefers the company of adults, most of whom really like having conversations with her."

I'm not sure I was ever a childlike child. I'm sure at times I was a childish one, though.

4. Do you remember your first taste of major independence?
It wasn't walking home from kindergarten alone, though I did do that, because it was a block and a half. This would be the first time I walked the dog by myself. I'm pretty sure I was twelve for that.

5. Do you remember what you bought with your first paycheck?
An iPod, because my old one had broken. It was not actually my first paycheck, since my first paycheck was $75. It was basically the first thing I bought with paychecks - I made $75 a week with my first adultish job (which was layout editor for my college newspaper - I self-taught InDesign and I loved it). The iPod was just shy of $700, so it took a little over two months. I was able to get away with this thanks to dorms and a meal plan.

Comments

[kalmialatifolia]

oh man i hated children too. they were SO LOUD and SO ANNOYING and they made such STUPID AND IRRITATING MOVEMENTS with their LIMBS (and my entire childhood was spent with other kids touching my hair constantly because it was apparently not-normal hair).

[delight]

You tolerate kids very well now though so you've grown! I ... have gotten a little better but it's very short bursts. I could not ever have one or live with them.

[kalmialatifolia]

ohhhh yeah. i still (INTERNALLY) lose my shit when they're at the age before they can adequately chew with their mouths closed BUT OTHERWISE I FEEL LIKE I'VE DONE PRETTY WELL. =P

[syntheid]

same on the kids, they were (are) loud and annoying and often weirdly sticky. I didn't really converse much with adults either, tbh, but either they left me alone to read or whatever or had interesting things to say to each other I could listen in on, so I much preferred adults.

[magnetic_pole]

...told experts I hated children.

"But she is a child."

Ha! Yes, folks, that can happen!

Here via F5. Enjoyed reading these! M.

[spikesgirl58]

What great answers!

That doorman was cool!

I don't have autism, but I was raised with only adults, despite having much older siblings. As a result, I never did well or enjoyed kids my own age. My friends, even today are either usually much older than me. This is a really interesting response.

Thanks for playing