Playing with memes--from oshun

[gandalfs_appren]

Bold the ones that are true for you.

The list is based on an exercise developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. The exercise developers ask that if you participate in this blog game, you acknowledge their copyright.

If you post this in your blog, please leave a

Comments

[heartofoshun]

Oops! I didn't count free Red Cross swimming lessons or tennis lessons at the local public park, I was too self-pitying about the ballet and piano lessons I begged for and did not get. In fact, my parents discouraged me from taking the SATs, saying it would only break my heart if I couldn't go on to school (little did they know what a nerd they were dealing with!).

So, from looking at yours, it appears that you got the educational perks without much of the spoiling with material things.

[gandalfs_appren]

My parents had no money, but their parents did....and education was always a big thing in my mother's family. My grandfather went to Yale, my uncle to MIT and Harvard, my aunt, mother and sister to Bryn Mawr.

I took the SATs and did well, but I didn't take any prep courses for them, unless you count high school!

[heartofoshun]

The prep courses in my day weren't such a big deal (but we did way better on the SATs than my kids did any in case; even smart, privileged little Laura didn't so as well as me and she did well).

[dracoena]

Self pitying for NOT getting ballet and piano lessons? Here, they even made a documentary once about those poor kids forced by their parents to take all kinds of piano/music/ dance lessons during their childhood. They said that they usually grew up dysfunctional (no time for being with friends) and did poorly at school. I had a friend who was like this: she had to take singing, piano and ballet lessons and it turned out very badly for her, for her interpersonal relationships and for her school results. Not to mention that she hates piano, ballet and singing now.

So look at it positively... even if you were very interested back then, things might have changed if you had got the lessons and had been forced to keep them up year after year.

(And another reason to look at it positively: see, I had ballet lessons for nine years, and today I know as much about ballet as you... assuming you know nothing.)

[kenazfiction]

See, I'd have to qualify a lot of mine with the fact that I'm an only child. Having a room to myself, for example. I had a privileged childhood less because my parents had a lot of money (though I'll certainly admit to a solidly middle-class midwestern upbringing) than because once the bills were paid, there was no one else to squander money on but me! ;D

Some of these questions are tricksy... the "original art" one, for example. My neighbor was an amateur watercolor artist, and gave my parents some beautiful "original" art over the years in exchange for the house/dog sitting we regularly did for her, but that's hardly the same as having a John Singer Sargent portrait of some dead relative hanging over the mantel. And my dad framed and hung a batik goose I made in art class in 5th grade-- that was original art, yes? A regular MoMA, my house!

Mutual funds and IRAs? I don't even think I had heard of those things until I was 25, and didn't look into getting one until I was 30!

[gandalfs_appren]

Some of the questions--like "original art"--really are open to many interpretations. I certainly left out the kid-stuff--there were six kids in my family, and child art all over the house!

One of the best questions, actually, is about having new-bought clothing. I was the oldest, but that didn't spare me--I got my cousin's hand-me-downs, even the ones that didn't fit. It just makes me laugh to remember all those safety pins....

[telperion1]

A lot of these questions really give a misleading impression of my level of spoilitude. For instance, I went on exactly one cruise, but it was because my grandmother wanted a "companion" and I could go for about $50 if I shared her room.

Similarly, I've flown commercially, but it's because I have an uncle who was a pilot and so could get cheap tickets through him. And they were never bought by my parents except for once when I was thirteen; after that I worked hard at jobs I was fairly uniquely qualified for -- tutors and translators. I was uniquely qualified because I was a nerd and read books while other kids built mud dams.

But they're interesting questions nonetheless. I took the meme over at my own blog.