Topic Open House: Where I live

sophinisba asked: What do you like about the place where you live? Do you ever think or daydream about moving somewhere else?

What I love about the place I live is that I have a lot of great friends here! We have a nice fan contingent going, and some of my friends here I've known for years now, and it took a while to create those relationships. It's a medium-sized city, which means I don't have to drive very far to get to the edge and see fields and woods, and I don't feel overwhelmed or trapped by the city, and traffic isn't too bad. (I'm not really a city person). But I am close to people and things that I like, and I am close to work. There are lots of nice parks and green spaces. In my neighborhood, I am close to a library, a grocery store, and "my" dog park. Also, Madison is known for being accepting of people who are queer; although on the negative side we have problems with racial segregation and school achievement.

When I day dream, I fantasize about living on a space station or space ship. Why not go for broke, eh? In the hospital and clinics where I've worked, this feels easy to imagine since they are big sprawling complexes with skyways, sky lights, internal shops and cafeterias, etc-- like cities unto themselves.

If I lived in a space station, I would probably still do scientific or medical research like I do now. The research questions that interest me are how living in a closed environment affect people's health and well being. Controlling infectious diseases would be pretty important since they would spread easily, much like they can do on a cruise ship. It would also be interesting to work in the green house or botany labs. A space station would be a small town, but it would be a port town, with people constantly coming and going. The challenge for me on a space station would be the separation from nature, but as with anywhere, perhaps there would be ways to incorporate nature into the built environment. Another area for study and work! :D

This comes from watching a whole lot of Deep Space Nine at a formative age. :D