Are you better than you were five years ago?

[Valka D'Ur]

My earlier reply was meant facetiously (but it's still true, and I'm bemused by the number of people who seem happy that I have a better TV now than I did 5 years ago ).

I write more now, after a long, long time of not writing much, or at least not getting anywhere near finishing anything. I made lots of attempts at NaNoWriMo that basically went nowhere, but in recent years I've managed to not only do outlines, but started making more respectable attempts at the stories.

And then came 2015 when I finished a Camp event, and then in 2016 I pulled off a hat trick - both Camp events and the major 50,000-word event in November. I'd been trying for that for 9 years, and finally made it.

Last year was dismal due to RL circumstances (had an unexpected move, one of my cats died, and there were major computer problems) but this year I'm back on track, trying a genre that isn't either science fiction or fantasy.

And I'm planning to adopt another cat.

 

[gozpel]

Cats? They saved my life so many times, with their way of being lovely cats.

https://www.youtube.com/user/simonscat

There is more than one little video, there are heaps!!! And all so good.

 

[The_J]

Better in everything.
I told the story already, but around 5-5.5 years ago I was a total computer nerd, not doing anything in my life except the work, which I had to, because money, you know. Then I moved country, fell unluckily in love, and this knocked me over (together with other things) and decided to improve my life.

So, going by the criteria:
Emotionally/mentally: 5 years ago I was a sad blob, often thinking about suicide. Now I'm emotionally stable and actually happy, on average .
Physically: I don't have any real health problems, so no change there. Performance wise... 5 years ago I couldn't do anything. Now I can deadlift/squat 100kg, go regularly running, did an obstacle run, will do a half marathon soon. Great improvement.
career: 5 years ago I had just started my Phd. Soon I'm going to defend it. I have published in this time. Not great, but sufficient. It's an improvement .
relationship: Didn't have any then, still didn't have any. I've been on 4 dates in the last 5 years and had once sex (-> see raves thread) related to that (and multiple times commercial solutions, but meh). So absolutely seen not tremendous, but a billion percent improvement.
whatever -> social: I now have friends and an active social life. Great improvement .

So... way better off than 5 years ago. Don't think I'll ever have such a big relative improvement ever again, and I don't think I'll ever need so much again .

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Cats? They saved my life so many times, with their way of being lovely cats.

https://www.youtube.com/user/simonscat

There is more than one little video, there are heaps!!! And all so good.

Does this ever bring back memories of trying to integrate a kitten into a household with an older cat!

Thankfully Gussy, at age 14, was pretty mellow-tempered and didn't swear all that much at 7-week-old Maddy when she decided she wanted to sleep with him.

Now Maddy is the senior cat; she'll be 11 next month.

 

[Cutlass]

I'm a little worse off. Yes, I finally got my PhD, but at a heavy emotional cost. My wife's suicide five years ago derailed my life for two years while I picked up the pieces and tried to continue with my post graduate work and writing my dissertation. I guess things are better in the employment arena. I have a good job now. I'm no longer nursing, so I'm not cleaning up after mental patients anymore. I guess my life is OK.

But I still go home to a dark house. The one my wife and I used to share. I don't know why I haven't moved. I rarely turn the lights on these days. I just hang about watching TV or getting on the internet, or doing work from home.

This is rather depressing so I think I'll stop talking about it for now.

You should find some nice nearby town and move.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I think I've gotten worse over the past five years. I don't think I'm ever going to get better.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

5 years closer to the grave, so as far as the big picture goes I'm definitely not doing better.

 

[Snerk]

Does this ever bring back memories of trying to integrate a kitten into a household with an older cat!

Thankfully Gussy, at age 14, was pretty mellow-tempered and didn't swear all that much at 7-week-old Maddy when she decided she wanted to sleep with him.

Now Maddy is the senior cat; she'll be 11 next month.

I wish my cat wasn't so hostile to all other cats. On two occasions I've tried introducing her to another cat and both times there were just endless fights or hissing. She's fine with the dog and I think she would handle another dog just fine but another cat? Forgetaboutit. Thou shalt have no other cats before me.

 

[rah]

We had litter mates and one died recently and we thought the survivor was lonely so we got another one. It's taken 6 months but the older one finally seem to TOLERATE the younger one. The younger one just wanted to be friends but Noooooooo. The older still hisses considerable but does seem to join in some versions of play. But yeah, thou shall have no other cats before me.

 

[Lexicus]

Female cats are less friendly with other cats. My parents' gray kitty is one of the sweetest little kitties around, and when we got her as a kitten our other (female) cat hated it, though kitten wasn't really fazed by it. Now that other cat passed away last year, and my parents got a new (male) kitten and the sweet gray kitty hates him, thus completing the cycle of kitty life.

Male cats are supposedly nicer with other cats than females though.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I seem to have improved professionally and in game ability (surprising given I'm in my 30's now), I wish I could say the same for health. It's not bad but I've had some scary firsts and can't get away with what I could in the past.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Female cats are less friendly with other cats. My parents' gray kitty is one of the sweetest little kitties around, and when we got her as a kitten our other (female) cat hated it, though kitten wasn't really fazed by it. Now that other cat passed away last year, and my parents got a new (male) kitten and the sweet gray kitty hates him, thus completing the cycle of kitty life.

Male cats are supposedly nicer with other cats than females though.

Age matters a lot. Some of the cats offered for adoption are middle-aged to elderly, and while they wouldn't present the stresses that a young kitten would (and usually come already spayed/neutered), I don't want to adopt a cat, get attached, and then they die in a year or two.

Maddy's a bully with food, and I had to stop feeding her and Chloe canned food - she'd gobble hers down and while Chloe was just settling into hers, Maddy would come along and push her out of the way and eat that as well. Switching to dry food that was available to them whenever they wanted it made all the difference.

 

[rah]

I have the younger one trained. When I put out the wet food, she'll leave the room and lie on the carpet for me to close the french doors until our older one has had her share. Every now and then she fights it (just playing with my head) but will eventually march out and lie down right by the door.

 

[warpus]

Analysis of changes in my life in the last 5 years:

My financial state: Mildly improved. Net worth up 20%, debts cut by 30%, income minus spending up, financial organization and awareness improved in part by means of a new master life budget spreadsheet

My social state: Improvements off the charts. I am now a member of a successful pub trivia team and share inside jokes with friends on a regular basis, and even hosted a successful board gaming night a couple days ago. However, I admit that I am also quite low on the whole scale as far as social mastery goes, so I need to continue improving on my social skills, presence, and awareness. By the time I'm 70 I'm probably going to be basically ready to go and take on life

My healthiness state: Noticable improvements. I now go to the gym a couple times a week and have been doing it for about a year. I weigh less and feel healthier. I could be eating a lot better, though, and that remains one of the things I continue to try to improve.

My emotional state: Who the hell knows anyway.

My professional state: My last performance review was the best you can get, I finally have my own office, my profile is up, and I'm about to be nominated for an award on a project I played a key role on. But in many ways I yearn for more development related bliss, which does not come as often as it used to. You know, those days or even sometimes weeks when you're really engaged on a project and are just in pure 100% problem solving mode. There is a lot of torture there as well to be sure, but all good programmers are also masochists more or less. And these days I am involved in more of the politics, involved in parts of my job I don't enjoy, and removed from parts of my job that I do enjoy. It throws me off any sort of groove I try to get, and that's the one thing I wish I could somehow improve in my professional life.

My state of general curiosity: Satisfied, but not enough. I have been to some great places in the last 5 years: Thailand, Cambodia, Mexico, Norway, Japan, and Nepal. I had many amazing adventures along the way, ate a lot of really good food, saw a lot of very interesting things, and feel like I have a much better understanding of humanity than I did 5 years ago. But most of my time has been spent in the same place (home), and even though that's completely normal and I shouldn't be complaining about it - it doesn't feel right, so it should be mentioned here as something I can improve. I wonder if I could somehow negotiate more vacation time with my boss and/or HR. I have no idea if this is possible, but I guess I might as well look into it

Overall there's big improvements in all sorts of areas, but the more "what did you do in the last 5 years?" posts come up, the more I realize how little time there really is left. A lot has changed in the last 5 years, but overall .. not really that much? It's basically the same stuff. Is this what life is going to be, until the end?

I don't know if I'm content with that. I think 5 years from now I want to be writing this from some weird place nobody's ever heard of. But first I'm going to have to figure out how I can quit my job and still make money

 

[Valka D'Ur]

...hosted a successful board gaming night a couple days ago.

What games did you play?

 

[warpus]

What games did you play?

We played the Star Trek version of Settlers of Catan, and then.. a card game involving superheroes. I forget the name of it, but you start with some lowly cards, and slowly build up your deck, as you defeat villains along the way

 

[Valka D'Ur]

We played the Star Trek version of Settlers of Catan, and then.. a card game involving superheroes. I forget the name of it, but you start with some lowly cards, and slowly build up your deck, as you defeat villains along the way

I've never played any of the Catan games, but there's a YouTube video of Wil Wheaton and Jeri Ryan and a few others playing the Star Trek version. It looks like they had a lot of fun.

 

[civvver]

Better is very subjective. What makes one better? More money, more happiness, more friends? Being a better person? Whatever that means!

But I would say yes my life is better. I had a second child, my first one is doing awesome in school, we built a nice house in a nice neighborhood with awesome neighbors who we hang with all the time. My wife and I still have our own issues to work on, I think we always will, but I'm a better husband today then back then. I make a lot more money, but we spend a lot more too with the bigger house and more kids oh and a new car in 2016. Retirement account looks good though. We went to disney world in feburary and gulf shores in april. Was pretty sweet.

I play less video games now which probably makes me objectively better but I would like to play more. Oh well, maybe in 18 years.

 

[rah]

As others have said. Five years closer to the grave but almost to retirement and due to good planning, I should be prepared to enjoy it. (hopefully for a good bit of time)

 

[Kozmos]

I'm moving up at my own pace now, financially and materially at least, but I lost a helluva a lot of confidence and sociability over the last 5 years. Neither hope nor fear remain. Just general social apathy. It's gotten to the point where I don't even feel disturbed by awkward silences and when I see someone struggling to come up with things to talk to me about I just want to say stop, it's okay, no one's home anyway, I'm on autopilot baby.