liv | Countdown meme: day 6 (Reply)

I don't love Five people who mean a lot, because I'm lucky to have considerably more than five people in my life who mean the world to me. For a start, I have to leave out half these people! And I generally don't like creating hierarchies of friends. So my take on it is going to be writing about why five people mean a lot, rather than describing in detail who they are or how I know them.

My fiancé. We find eachother's lives and thoughts endlessly interesting, and we're capable of just being together quietly when (after many hours / days of non-stop chat) we run out of urgent topics of conversation. He has both the intelligence and the shared cultural background to really get me, and instantly sees both the flaws and the strengths of any ideas I propose. He's always supportive, both emotionally and practically. He sympathizes when things go wrong, even if it's my fault, and provides useful suggestions without making me feel stupid for not having already implemented them. He's genuinely pleased for me when something goes well. We have fun together, not necessarily big life-changing things (though we have done things like visiting the Arctic circle and the city of Florence) but just going out to social events or little weekend expeditions where company helps a lot to overcome the activation energy barrier. Or even simply hanging out playing board games or watching videos.
My teenage best friend. We've been having what feels like an ongoing delightful conversation since 1996. We talk about the sorts of things that teenagers talk about, philosophical and abstract ideas and the meaning of life, and also about figuring out people and generally living our lives. Plus she has very similar experiences to me in terms of being junior academics trying to establish ourselves in the scientific world, while being (perceived as) female but not brilliant at conventional social interaction.
My best badger. She's known me since college, and she's been a huge influence on the person I've become in that time. We keep up with eachother's day-to-day existence, and also discuss personal worries and relationships and politics and all sorts of things. And remind eachother to drink enough tea to keep sane. She knows everything there is to know about me, even the bits I'm not at all proud of, and doesn't think worse of me for that. She made nearly all the cool and pretty things in my house, and is absolutely one of my favourite people to hug.
My penfriend. We've been exchanging emails since about 2003, even though I'm much worse at keeping up with email. When we occasionally see eachother in person we're incredibly physically compatible, it's almost miraculous. But mainly I think better for trying to communicate my ideas in this way, and for having someone in my life who thinks really deeply but in a very different way from most of my social circle. Just every conversation we have makes me feel energized and closer towards being the person I want to be.
My excessively long distance friend. Not only does he live the other side of the world, but he doesn't believe in social networking / blogging. Still, he's one of the people I most look up to in my life, and is endlessly patient with advice and just listening to me working things out. We mostly seem to be serious together, though he's better than anyone I know at taking me apart with teasing which is still completely friendly and sensitive, however harsh-seeming. Another friend I've known since the mid-90s, though we don't spend that much time together, even virtually.

ION I started back at the gym today, and yes, it was crowded, and yes, there were body-hating conversations in the changing room, but since I was continuing rather than starting, this was bearable. I also had a sudden brainwave: I started thinking that this whole exercising thing would be improved if I could get XP and achievements and level-ups and such, and then I realized that Chore Wars is exactly the perfect system for giving out imaginary awards for real life actions! So I've set up an account there to record my training sessions; this has the additional bonus that I can keep geeky track of exact numbers, notice when I beat my "highscores" etc. I think that will nicely complement having someone to go to the gym with for keeping me motivated.