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37 • Happily married • Female • from Grand Rapids • 423

Blog

Then and Now

Oooooh boy. Here we go!

Name Melissa

Age
Then: 29
Now: 35

Gender female

Occupation
Then: "Project Manager in the IT and Marketing industry, but currently looking for something that suits my science/"altruistic" interests better."
Now: Business owner, amateur real estate & stocks investor. I make and buy things that make me money.

Heroes Then: "Jerry P. (mentor of mine)
-Elon Musk - for changing history with smart technologies that will help humanity.
-Bernie Sanders - for helping me believe that a non-bought US politician can still run and win an election, even in today's corrupt society
-Michael Moore - currently spearheading the Flint water crisis protests.He is a Michigan native and I admire his strong voice against crimes against humanity.
-Louis Theroux - I love and envy his countenance in tough situations, and his desire to humanize what we tend to believe is inhumane.
-maybe Joseph Goldstein and Ricard Matthieu? - I read/listen to their books often."

Now:
-Ron Paul: True anti-establishment, pro-people, and always delivers news in a way that is hopeful rather than fear mongering.
- Bret & Heather Weinstein: Average joe, classical liberal citizens who fought for free speech and against the establishment and woke politics against great odds. True heroes. Also not fatalistic.
- Glenn Greenwald: Speaking against the establishment, always being pro-freedom.

My drug use:
Then: "Mostly caffeine in my morning coffee. I occasionally drink some red wine or a few sips of beer, but mostly for health reasons. The current belief is a glass of red wine per day is good for you. I'm probably at one glass of wine per 3 months right now... alcohol just doesn't get me excited enough to go through the trouble."
Now: Caffeine, and much less now than ever due to my full time occupation manufacturing babies.

Cigarettes:
Then: Still on occasion in conjunction with morning coffee. I've simply always enjoyed the taste and affect of tobacco. Still Turkish Silvers when I do.
Now: No.

Pot:

Then: I've tried it twice this past year while I was struggling a bit more with anxiety. I've learned the value of knowing which variety sends me into paranoid panic attacks and which calms me My last learning experience was so negative that I decided to try other methods of calming nerves. So far so good.
Now: Nope.

Politics:

Then: Bernie Sanders The irony here is these two candidates could not be any more politically polar... however, they were both genuine, anti-establishment people who I thought would be true to their word
Now: Taxation is theft!

Top five bands:

Then:
1. The Presets
2. Tycho
3. Robert Delong (will always be a fan )
4. Chaos Chaos (thanks Rick and Morty)
5. Betty Who

Now:

I don't listen to music much anymore.

Top five films:

Then:

1. Serenity (this is the only movie I will watch with pure glee over and over again).
2. Any Louis Theroux documentary (I'm cheating)
3. Spring
4. Castaway on the Moon
5. I'll cheat again and say any Miyazaki films.

Now: This can also change daily...

1. Darkest Hour
2. A Monster Calls
3. Pride and Prejudice
4. While You Were Sleeping
5. A Family Man

Top five books:

Then:
1. Watership Down
2. Mindfulness (joseph goldstien)
3. HHG
4. Daytripper
5. Jimmy Corrigan

Now:
1. Watership Down
2. The Last Lion (Winston Churchill Biography)
3. HHG
4. The Last Unicorn
5. East of Eden

Five things i cant live without:
Then:
1. My dogs
2. My friends
3. Nature and the outdoors
4. The internet
5. My sanity? Does that go without saying? Maybe it doesn't...

Now: Let's change this to "5 things I don't want to live without."

1. My husband
2. My child
3. Nature and the outdoors
4. Good books
5. Coffee

I spend most of my free time...

Then: “Lots of hiking, Photos, Playing with my dogs, traveling, Watching new TV shows, comic books, some video games, camping, biking”
Now: Raising my baby, enjoying my husband and family, building my companies, knitting outside and designing knitwear

into...
Then: “Science, psychology, philosophy, humanitarianism, mindfulness, religious studies (still)”

Now: global monetary trends, homesteading, real estate, investing, freedom

not into...

Then: Unnecessary suffering in others or myself, close-mindedness (i.e., not listening to others)

Now: Same. Also not into establishment rhetoric, fascism (the real kind, not Donald Trump tweets), the removal and obstruction of personal liberty and freedom.

makes me happy...

Then: 11 years ago - seeing a familiar face, coffee, a good book, a good beer, a sunny/cool morning out on my balcony, autumn, chocolate. 8 years ago - Sunshine, outdoor activities, autumn, swimming nude in mountain lakes, streams on a hot day (I just like it, ok?), conversation and adventure with good friends. And still all of the things listed 8 years ago

Now: My family and good health. Baby snuggles. Husband cuddles and massages. Laughing with my husband, getting together with good friends.

makes me sad...

Then: missing my friends. seeing the world repeat the same mistakes. knowing that i won't get to travel the galaxy on the enterprise.

Now: Anti-humanist mindsets.

hobbies:

Then: “Definitely not sports. Travel, Caving, Rock climbing, Biking, Hiking, Camping, Photography”

Now: Horsemanship, star gazing sometimes… I think that’s probably it now. I’ve monetized all my hobbies and don’t have time for anything anymore.

Survey, Then and Now

This might seems strange or silly, but it has been somewhat of a personal tradition for me to retake the same online surveys every few years. I consider it a lifelong science project It is interesting to check in and see how much a person changes over the years. Here's one from 8 years ago, the first and only one I ever took on WireClub... feel free to repost your own answers:

Name Melissa

Age
Then: 21
Now: 29

Gender female

Occupation
Then: wat?
Now: Project Manager in the IT and Marketing industry, but currently looking for something that suits my science/"altruistic" interests better.

Heroes Then: Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Patrick Stewart, Bruce Campbell, Ron Paul...

Now:
-Jerry P. (mentor of mine)
-Elon Musk - for changing history with smart technologies that will help humanity.
-Bernie Sanders - for helping me believe that a non-bought US politician can still run and win an election, even in today's corrupt society
-Michael Moore - currently spearheading the Flint water crisis protests.He is a Michigan native and I admire his strong voice against crimes against humanity.
-Louis Theroux - I love and envy his countenance in tough situations, and his desire to humanize what we tend to believe is inhumane.
-maybe Joseph Goldstein and Ricard Matthieu? - I read/listen to their books often.

My drug use:
Then: alcohol.
Now: Mostly caffeine in my morning coffee. I occasionally drink some red wine or a few sips of beer, but mostly for health reasons. The current belief is a glass of red wine per day is good for you. I'm probably at one glass of wine per 3 months right now... alcohol just doesn't get me excited enough to go through the trouble.

Cigarettes:
Then: during exams.
Now: Still on occasion in conjunction with morning coffee. I've simply always enjoyed the taste and affect of tobacco. Still Turkish Silvers when I do.

Pot:

Then: I don't have any.
Now: I've tried it twice this past year while I was struggling a bit more with anxiety. I've learned the value of knowing which variety sends me into paranoid panic attacks and which calms me My last learning experience was so negative that I decided to try other methods of calming nerves. So far so good.

Politics:

Then: Ron Paul
Now: Bernie Sanders The irony here is these two candidates could not be any more politically polar... however, they were both genuine, anti-establishment people who I thought would be true to their word.

Top five bands:

Then:
1. Jimmy Eat World
2. ATB
3. Silversun Pickups
4. Celldweller
5. Mute Math

Now: It is obvious to me that these band preferences change very frequently - either yearly or monthly. The ones I'm currently listening to are:

1. The Presets
2. Tycho
3. Robert Delong (will always be a fan )
4. Chaos Chaos (thanks Rick and Morty)
5. Betty Who

Top five films:

Then:
1. Religulous
2. Dark Knight
3. The Usual Suspects
4. Shawshank Redemption
5. Donnie Darko

Now: This can also change daily...

1. Serenity (this is the only movie I will watch with pure glee over and over again).
2. Any Louis Theroux documentary (I'm cheating)
3. Spring
4. Castaway on the Moon
5. I'll cheat again and say any Miyazaki films.

Top five books:

Then:
1. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
2. Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
3. Life of Pi by ? Patel
4. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide by Douglas Adams
5. Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

Now:
1. Watership Down
2. Mindfulness (joseph goldstien)
3. HHG
4. Daytripper
5. Jimmy Corrigan

Five things i cant live without:
Then:
1. food
2. water
3. air
4. gravity
5. a nice, winter jacket.

Now: Let's change this to "5 things I don't want to live without."

1. My dogs
2. My friends
3. Nature and the outdoors
4. The internet
5. My sanity? Does that go without saying? Maybe it doesn't...

I spend most of my free time...

Then: Reading books, writing blogs, venting on YouTube, posting in forums, playing soccer and tennis, playing with my DS. I know, I'm a nerd.

Now: Lots of hiking, Photos, Playing with my dogs, traveling, Watching new TV shows, comic books, some video games, camping, biking

into...
Then: science, school, debate, screaming at hockey games, beer, travel, good movies, making fun of bad movies, reading... etc.

Now: Science, psychology, philosophy, humanitarianism, mindfulness, religious studies (still)

not into...

Then: people who can't think. people who CAN think and can't have fun. people who "know" things through divine rite.

Now: wow, I was an asshole. Unnecessary suffering in others or myself, close-mindedness (i.e., not listening to others)

makes me happy...

Then: seeing a familiar face, coffee, a good book, a good beer, a sunny/cool morning out on my balcony, autumn, chocolate

Now: Sunshine, outdoor activities, autumn, swimming nude in mountain lakes, streams on a hot day (I just like it, ok?), conversation and adventure with good friends. And still all of the things listed 8 years ago

makes me sad...

Then: missing my friends. seeing the world repeat the same mistakes. knowing that i won't get to travel the galaxy on the enterprise.

Now: Probably all of the above.

hobbies:

Then: sports, writing, travel, making things, taking pictures

Now: Definitely not sports. Travel, Caving, Rock climbing, Biking, Hiking, Camping, Photography

Is Science a Religion?

Back to videos I'm more comfortable with ^_^

Things I Need to Get Better At

But where's the time?

-Become more knowledgeable in local politics
-Basic solution standardization calculations
-Apparently I need to become more savvy with TEM grid prep procedures
-Brush up on general chemistry and organic chemistry
-Calculus and differential equations!
-Knowledge in international politics could be better
-More familiarity with unix

I'll grow the list as I think of them. I wish I could just have all summer to sit down and figure out the things I've gotten rusty with and refresh myself. What things do you wish you had time to get better at (or remember)?

it goes on

"I can sum up everything I've learned about life in three words... it goes on."
-Robert Frost

Evolution Question: If we evolved from apes, why are apes still here?

Dawkins responds.

Atheists Know More About Religion than the Religious, Studies Show

Taken from USA Today Article:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/*******-28-pew28_ST_N.htm PM me for the address, or google "USA today atheists"

"The top scoring groups were atheists/agnostics[20.9 correct], Jews[20.5 correct] and Mormons[20.3 correct]. These tiny groups, adding up to less than 7% of Americans, scored particularly well on world religion and U.S. constitutional questions. It's unclear why, although highly educated people overall did best on the quiz, researchers say.

It may be that the conscious choice to take a minority faith or philosophic stand requires an intellectual engagement with religion to a greater degree than experienced by Protestants and Catholics, who dominate U.S. culture. Eight in 10 atheists and agnostics grew up in a religious tradition, chiefly a branch of Christianity, says Greg Smith, a Pew senior researcher."

Would anyone like to share their 2 cents on this "phenomenon?"