[personal profile] jenett
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.

Re: Growing the communities we yearn for

Date: 2013-07-26 12:53 pm (UTC)
kaberett: Trans symbol with Swiss Army knife tools at other positions around the central circle. (Default)
From: [personal profile] kaberett
Yes -- in looking for housemates for next year, I have been defaulting to "at least one of trans and crippy", because that means we're fairly likely to have common values/experience in areas that are really important to making shared housing safe for me (where I can't sensibly live alone, because I am much better at taking care of other people than of myself). I would really love to have the energy/etc to do more in-depth conversations with people, rather than using those shared characteristics as a crude screening tool; thank you for prompting me to think about how very narrow an experience of both - and how academic an experience of both - I'm looking for. [please do feel free to ask me for more on this!]

Re: Growing the communities we yearn for

Date: 2013-07-26 02:15 pm (UTC)
jjhunter: Drawing of human J.J. in red and brown inks with steampunk goggle glasses (red J.J. inked)
From: [personal profile] jjhunter
Are you good with us talking re: 'more' here? Am up for whatever you're up for, and yes, this feels very much like a conversation worth having for both personal & general interest reasons.

Re: Growing the communities we yearn for

Date: 2013-07-26 03:28 pm (UTC)
jjhunter: Drawing of human JJ in ink tinted with blue watercolor; woman wearing glasses with arched eyebrows (JJ inked)
From: [personal profile] jjhunter
When you say,
Yes -- in looking for housemates for next year, I have been defaulting to "at least one of trans and crippy", because that means we're fairly likely to have common values/experience in areas that are really important to making shared housing safe for me (where I can't sensibly live alone, because I am much better at taking care of other people than of myself).
Do you mean at least person who is trans & at least one person significantly less physically abled? or are you hoping for at least one $housemate who shares both of those experiences with you? Other life experiences that might correlate with someone having similar values when it comes to:

physically safe & physically accessible housing/daily living:
  • growing up with parent or sibling with physical disability;
  • volunteer or professional work experience related to caretaking, physical therapy, or implementing/ensuring physical accessibility;
  • [insert further brainstorming here]

emotionally/socially safe + supportive housing/daily living:
  • volunteer or work experience with organizations you trust re: trans*-positive advocacy / support / institutional culture
  • [insert further brainstorming here]

More generally - if you had your druthers, how many housemates would you ideally live with? Beyond financial ability to pay rent & threshold shared values, what do you look for in a housemate? May be worth listing out things you value in people you have other types of relationships with, and then circling back to what you think makes for a good housemate. What kinds of people make for good work colleagues? What kinds of people make for good friends? etc.

(I'm beginning to suspect myself that a good housemate for me, at least, is somewhere between 'potential good friend' & 'potential good work colleague' territory, and I'd be interested to hear if that fits your experience / thinking at all. And of course, I haven't mentioned a thing about family, but attachment styles can be a factor in non-romantic relationships too, especially when you're in a smaller household (<4 people).)
Page generated May. 30th, 2025 07:38 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios