— Elan Morgan

#361: A LONG LIST OF LISTS WITH A FIVEY THEME

I have been tagged by Mr. VerSteegh.

Fifteen years ago:

I was seventeen years old.

I moved home after graduating from two years in a Mennonite boarding school feeling completely lost and directionless and wrote reams of awful poetry to prove the point.

I was kissed by a boy for the first time and didn't like it.

I drank heavily in the latter half of that year while I struggled with coming to terms with a sexuality and gender identity I couldn't pin down.

I spent the majority of my evenings drinking cup after cup of horrible coffee in a Christmas-themed Italian restaurant owned by Greeks.

Ten years ago:

I was twenty-three years old.

I took a few university courses in English and Religious Studies in Cosmopolis, but found little satisfaction in that melieu.

I found enough of my marbles and courage to quit living on welfare and ended up taking three part-time coffee shop jobs that had me steaming milk for sixty hours a week.

I shacked up for a short time with my girlfriend, Annie while on hiatus from my relationship with Starcat, and neither Annie nor I were able to find comfortable ground with either ourselves or the world at large, so it was a sad and premature parting.

I lived a block away from a local watering hole that played host to a diverse and dynamic crowd of people that never failed to entertain.

Five years ago:

I was twenty-seven years old.

I lived with my parents that year in order to save money and ended up on P-xil to deal with the stress.

I worked in a bookstore and found joy in the public institutional realm for the first time.

Except for one short and unfortunate relationship, I had been single for four years.

I reconnected with an old friend, the Fiery One, over the summer, fell deeply in love, and spent most weekends for the rest of the year travelling by bus for three hours each way to visit him in Cityville.

One year ago:

I was thirty-one years old.

I had been living in Cityville for three years since marrying the Fiery One.

I got a job I liked for the first time since moving to Cityville.

The Fiery One spent a lot of time travelling for his work, and pining for him helped me lose an extra fifteen pounds.

I finally started writing more, both in regularity and quantity, and actually enjoying some of my work.

Yesterday:

I was thirty-two years old and some number of days.

I am still living in Cityville and warming up to it a little more every time I think of it.

The Fiery One and I went grocery shopping, and I know he still likes me, because he did not lose his patience when I abandoned him in the freezer aisle to search out some decent tortellini.

We went out for sushi with Saviabella to repay her for driving me to and from work during September while the transit workers were on strike.

I watched two films: "A History of Violence" and "Land of the Dead".

Five songs I know all the words to:

"The Last Time I Saw Richard" by Joni Mitchell.

"Black Boys on Mopeds" by Sinead O'Connor.

"John Wayne Gacy, Jr." by Sufjan Stephens.

"Both Hands" by Ani DiFranco.

"I Sing the Mighty Power of God", because fifteen long years of Mennonite hymns will do that to you.

Five snacks I eat:

Buttered toast.

Tortilla chips with salsa.

Buttered popcorn with salt.