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What most defined you?

Discussion in 'Tilted Philosophy, Politics, and Economics' started by tecoyah, Sep 12, 2020.

  1. tecoyah

    tecoyah Illusionary

    Most people had an experience, a teacher, a book or something that profoundly impacted what they are today in thought and personality.....what most changed your development into the amazing person you became?

    For me it has to be my Mom who is a Guru to many and enlightened beyond what I could even imagine.
     
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  2. rogue49

    rogue49 Tech Kung Fu Artist Staff Member

    Location:
    Baltimore/DC
    Well, that can be multiple things...

    1. My grandmother’s bookstore - a wonderful place called The Remarkable Bookshop. Not just a love for books, but it had toys and other gadgets and it had a certain character to it...like a small Wonka Factory.

    2. Jr High and High School - I was a geek and outcast, didn’t fit in...the clicks and everything being done and I was outside looking in.

    3. The movie theater I was an usher in - all the movies I saw again and again influenced me. (1985)

    4. My BFF - a dynamo charismatic cutie that dressed like a Penthouse Pet...she pulled me into being a rocker and so many adventures.

    5. My first real computer gig - got me into the industry that became my career and launched my first business.

    6. My mother - my moral anchor and showed me how to treat people. Kind, giving, sincere, integrity.

    7. D&D - a sense of fantastic and wonder...and it ironically triggered my dive into science and being an amateur physicist.

    And of course, all my loves and SOs...
    Nuff said.
     
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  3. cynthetiq

    cynthetiq Administrator Staff Member Donor

    Location:
    New York City
    I would pick a number of things from my past, and right now because of just how my life is currently and the way that things have played out in the past 9 months...

    It's this place, or at least best put as my online space and persona. I've been online since the mid-80s doing BBS and CB radio among other kinds of user group experiences with people far-flung away. There are BBS spaces that I recall adventures with names I met a few times at meets, there are people there I know in those circles who died too young. She was a nice lady that I had good times with. Weird I haven't really connected that to this space in that way until this moment.

    I don't talk about this place to many IRL friends. There are those friends IRL from here that I talk to on a weekly if not a daily basis. If you aren't one of them it's not because I don't like you it is probably just because we have not yet connected that way. I've met people in NYC who came from all over the world, or when I traveled the world, I met people who were just avatars and handles for many moons.
     
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  4. DamnitAll

    DamnitAll Wait... what?

    Location:
    Central MD
    Off the top of my head (and yes, I’ve mentioned most of these things on here before)...

    1. Near death at birth—splenic torsion in the womb nearly killed me; splenectomy at birth, one month premature, saved me. Doctors knew something was amiss with my mom’s pregnancy but weren’t sure what, and there was speculation I may have been ancephalic. I am pro choice and grateful my mom chose not to abort.

    2. My dad conned me into starting violin lessons at age 4. That decision, my unwitting willingness to go along with it, and (more importantly) my realization that I wanted to continue on my own terms as a teenager and into adulthood has largely shaped the person I am today.

    3. My best friend in high school fell in love with me—she was a sophomore and I a freshman— and while it took me a little longer, I eventually figured out I had fallen in love with her too. I’d felt attraction to girls growing up, but this was the catalyst to act on it with someone that felt the same for me, and it set the stage for future lesbian relationships in years to come.

    4. In 1996 my sister’s IT nerd boyfriend (and eventual husband) convinced my dad to choose the Microsoft Network as our first ISP—not AOL, not Prodigy, not Compuserve. There I found my way to the Microsoft Teen Network, getting my first taste of discussion boards and chat rooms populated with friends with whom I remain connected to this day, including two college sweethearts, one of whom I eventually married. Were it not for the first’s dalliances in website design, I might never have become a graphic designer. Were it not for the second, I most likely would never have met @Plan9 and found my way here to the TFP.

    5. My house is just shy of a mile from the train station downtown, and in 2007 I bought a “fitness bike” to get to the station more efficiently than walking to catch the train to work. Around the same time, my cousin was diagnosed with melanoma. The progression of her disease and ultimate death inspired me to buy a “real” road bike and participate in a cancer foundation charity ride in her memory. With that experience and the online research rabbit hole I fell into reading about cycling, I was hooked. Beyond the local cyclist community essentially saving my life around the time my marriage was ending, cycling has improved my life here in more ways than I can count.

    For the most part, the rest is history. While I’ve had my fair share of pivotal, memorable, impactful life experiences since then, these five are the ones that laid down the trajectory for everything else afterward to fall into place.
     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2020
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