jenett: Big and Little Dipper constellations on a blue watercolor background (Default)
jenett ([personal profile] jenett) wrote2013-07-24 09:01 am

Eighth Salon: Quality of Life

Welcome to our eighth salon discussion thread. Wander in, invite a friend to come along, and chat! (Not sure what's going on? Here, have a brief FAQ.) You can find previous ones in my salon tag. Please take a quick look at the reminders at the bottom of this post, too.

Quality of life: what does it mean for you?

I was thinking, walking home from work the other day, that there's a lot of different kinds of things that make up quality of life, the "This is a good day" and "I like how I'm living".

In my current job, I don't make much money (especially given the amount of education required). But I live half a mile from work, in a gorgeous rural New England town where pretty much every view could be on a postcard. (And that's before you get to anything significantly scenic.) There's a downtown grocery store with local produce, and farmer's markets, and all sorts of other things.

I have a job that I mostly leave at work (I mean, I keep thinking about technology and libraries and information pretty much all the time, but that's because I love it, not because I have to bring work home). I have the world's most endearing and adorable cat.

But I also know that these things aren't necessarily what other people would choose (or what I'd choose at other points in my life, or if I lived in a different place, or had more money to play with.)

Things I'm watching: I'm currently rewatching season 3 of Doctor Who (I've been a fan since before I knew you could be: I grew up watching Tom Baker from under a chair in the living room.) Tonight, I'm going to go see the Joss Whedon Much Ado About Nothing for the second time so I can go with a friend (and because, on the whole, I would like to encourage people to do more projects of that kind.) What're you watching? Why is it interesting to or fun for you?

(This means I'll be out from 5ish until 9:30ish tonight. I assume you can all manage in my absence.)

Quick reminders

- [personal profile] jjhunter did a great guide to following conversations here on Dreamwidth. Also a roundup of regular Dreamwidth events.
- If you want to post anonymously, please pick a name (any name you like) that we can call you - it makes it more conversational and helps if we have more than one anon post.
- Base rule remains "Leave the conversation better than you found it, or at least not worse". If you're nervous about that, I'd rather you say something and we maybe sort out confusion later than have you not say something. (I've heard from a few people who worry they're going to say something that's going to be taken weirdly. If it helps, I am usually around and if there's a thing you'd like to get out in the conversation, but you're not sure how, feel free to PM or email or IM me, and I'll nudge the conversation that direction.)
- The FAQ still has useful stuff, and I added some thoughts about getting conversations going a few weeks ago.
- Comments tend to trickle in over the course of a day or two, with a few nearly a week later: you might enjoy checking back later if you're not tracking the conversation.
crystalpyramid: Child's drawing. Very round very smiling figure cradles baby stick figure while another even smilier stick figure half her height stands to one side. (Default)

[personal profile] crystalpyramid 2013-07-24 03:39 pm (UTC)(link)
I like my job. It is fun, it is interesting, it is Meaningful Work. I do take work home and I take student issues home and physics is always on my mind, but some of that is good. I wish I were better friends withvmy coworkers, but I do have like-minded friends in my professional organization, and that helps.

Right now it is summer and my quality of life feels very high, although technically we are sort of homeless: crashing with a friend with our stuff in a heap until our live-in date. I'm spending over an hour xlcommuting each way, but it's on trains so that's okay. I have time for deliberate exercise and time to cook and eat food from scratch, which goes a long way towards balance for me. I haven't driven a car in weeks.

Being plugged into communities is important to me. Right now it's just church; I feel like I should take a class or join a choir or someting to connect better with people. Music and food and exercise and not being bored and getting sleep. Those things seem to matter more than living space right now.