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I think I might be the black sheep of the upper middle class. Finished at 8.5 of 22.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
1. You own a large, flat-screen TV, but it's NOT in the living room. Your living room perhaps contains books or a grand piano.
No. One TV in the living room.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
2. Your father went to college, your mother most likely went to college, all your brothers and sisters and cousins except the black sheep of the extended family attended at least some college, and your family's college education stretches back generations (except if you're newly upper middle class).
Ok. This one is true.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
3. When traveling, you prefer to choose destinations that are "not touristy" and give an "authentic" taste of local life.
Prefer to go to my in laws mountain house and get lost in the woods or go fishing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
4. You listen to NPR in the car.
True. 2 of 4 so far.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
5. If 35 or older, you participate in the community through being on the board of some local chapter of an organization, or extensively volunteering for it with your valuable free time.
True. Somehow I've been sucked into this a few times even though I'm under 35. 3 of 5.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
6. If you're male, you golf, if not for the love of it than because of social pressure.
Complete opposite here. I love golf but never play because I have 3 kids.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
7. You are familiar with the following food items, even if you're from flyover country: hummus, couscous, sashimi, banh mi, and risotto.
Familiar with most of the list, although with the exception of sashimi its been more than a year since I've eaten any of them. Ill take half a point. 3.5 of 7.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
8. You sometimes watch foreign films, and consider dubbing an abomination - you would much prefer subtitles.
I never watch foreign films. I rarely even watch American Movies.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
9. You strongly identify with your career.
True. 4.5 of 9.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
10. From preschool or a younger age, you enroll your children in a multitude of extracurricular activities - piano lessons, ballet, tennis, water polo, etc.
No. Each kid gets no more than one sport/activity at a time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
11. Your children's academic success is paramount to you, and you set very high standards. If they get a "C" in a class, either their teacher or the child has much to answer for. When in high school, you make sure they take lots of AP courses, and unless they are the brightest of the bunch, you hire a SAT tutor. Deep down inside, there's a burning desire to boast that your children went to a high-ranked university, or at least NOT one of the lesser state colleges, and certainly not a community college.
No. I was never a good student (bottom half of my high school class). I went to one of those "lesser" state colleges and got serious when my career started. So many people I went to school with saw graduation as the finish line rather than the starting line. As long as you can limp to the starting line, everyone's on fairly equal footing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
12. You love "nature", the "outdoors", and the "wilderness", and like tread softly through the woods in your $250 hiking boots with your $250 bag and perhaps sleep in your $1,000 tent, or if a northern clime, in your expensive cross-country skis. It can suck losing iPhone connectivity, though.
I love the outdoors and spend tons of time outside but without accessories. All you need is a T-shirt, shorts some tennis shoes and you can spend the whole day outside. Drives my wife crazy when I come back smelling like wild onions because I didn't want to have to carry water the whole way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
13. If you're a female, you don sunglasses even when it isn't that sunny out.
n/a
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
14. You drive only foreign cars, preferably Mercedes-Benz or BMW.
I get a new car when one falls into my lap. Usually its someone I know complaining that the dealer only offered $3k for a trade in. I'll offer $3,500 and drive it until another freebee falls in my lap. I've never had a car payment.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
15. Staying in shape and in style is a priority to you. You have a gym membership, perhaps in addition to a road bike you paid a pretty penny for.
No. Just seems to happen since I love the outdoors and working in my garden.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
16. You like, or feign to like, the fine arts, and have attended a classical music concert, opera, or play at least once or twice (going on a field trip as a kid not included). You consider it perfectly natural to listen to classical music or jazz radio and patronize art-house cinema.
I went to Sachmo fest in New Orleans if that counts. Other than that, its bluegrass.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
17. Planning for your retirement is important, and you fully understand such things as 401Ks and Roth IRAs. You might even have a financial advisor. You watch the stock market and probably participate in it somehow.
Yes. You should add if your under 35, you have a bitcoin in addition to your shares. 5.5 of 17.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
18. If you're 40 or older, your house measures over 2,500 square feet in area. If you designed it, you made sure to implement "green" features. The kitchen is spacious. Especially if in a southwestern state, you probably have some paid help cleaning it, perhaps full-time.
n/a due to age but we have 5 people in 2000 sq. feet. We back up to about 30 acres of woods which is almost impossible to get in the city. Moving to a bigger house will probably never happen.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
19. You probably don't live in one, unless you are in your 20s or early 30s, but you love "authentic" and "vibrant" urban spaces such as those found in New York City, San Francisco, and Portland, with plentiful pedestrian traffic, ample public transportation, narrow streets, and storefronts that are right up to the sidewalk rather than behind a sea of parking.
No. See above.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
20. You don't like the homogenization of the United States through chain stores and franchises, but deep down you love Trader Joe's, REI, Whole Foods, Barnes and Noble, Chipotle, Macy's, IKEA, Target, and Fogo de Chao.
Don't care. I'm not a shopper.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
21. You want your children to be creative, imaginative, think out-of-the-box, and tolerant of differences. You perhaps even enjoy when they question one of your rules.
Yes. 6.5 of 21.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
22. You regularly go to or host dinner parties. You have separate kitchen and dining rooms.
Yes. On a roll. 7.5 of 22.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
23. You have read, for leisure, at least one non-fiction title that does not fall into the category of self-help, automotive/technical, or religious books in the past year, and are familiar with authors, whom you often name-drop at above parties.
No. I prefer games.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
24. When your children are young, intellectual stimulation and creative expression is the primary goal of your toy-buying practices. No or limited cheap electronic playthings or radio-controlled monster trucks.
I never did the toy buying. That was grandparents and greatgrandparents. Everyone with kids knows the box was the best toy anyways.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
25. You have a rather refined taste in alcohol. You are familiar with local breweries, micro-brews, >$10 / bottle wines, and refined cocktails with non-obscene names.
I've said a few times in both of my comments so far that I'm not upper middle class, and have never been. I grew up squarely middle class, and never rose above that. I was emphasizing in my comments that Asian Americans can totally have the interests that the OP and New England woman are talking about and NOT be UMC. As I wrote previously, it's because Asian Americans tend to be educated, have educated immigrant parents, consume lots of media, and live in liberal areas where these interests are standard.
And I have to emphasize again that Asians are NOT the lowly, rote, robotic, boring, non-intellectual, backwards people that non-Asians usually think we are. If anything, Asian Americans tend to be a lot more intellectual, cultured, hip, hipster, multi-faceted, compassionate, nuanced, and well-rounded than others.
In every experimental or "activist" book reading from any ethnicity, I'll definitely see other Asian Americans there. In every protest, I'll see Asians. In every hiking trail, even far off from any big city in California, I'll see Asians. In every indie rock/hip hop concert or festival, I'll see Asians. So no one should be surprised that Asian Americans have these tastes that are often way more sophisticated and developed than others.
It looked like a window on an unfamiliar world to me, because I grew up among Asians in part, and their parents did not fit the description you gave. Not that it matters. I don't know where you get the "robotic, boring, backwards" thing, either. But I'm from the Bay Area, where Asians have always gotten respect, or at least, as far as I was aware, they did.
1. You own a large, flat-screen TV, but it's NOT in the living room. Your living room perhaps contains books or a grand piano.
2. Your father went to college, your mother most likely went to college, all your brothers and sisters and cousins except the black sheep of the extended family attended at least some college, and your family's college education stretches back generations (except if you're newly upper middle class).
3. When traveling, you prefer to choose destinations that are "not touristy" and give an "authentic" taste of local life.
4. You listen to NPR in the car.
5. If 35 or older, you participate in the community through being on the board of some local chapter of an organization, or extensively volunteering for it with your valuable free time.
6. If you're male, you golf, if not for the love of it than because of social pressure.
7. You are familiar with the following food items, even if you're from flyover country: hummus, couscous, sashimi, banh mi, and risotto.
8. You sometimes watch foreign films, and consider dubbing an abomination - you would much prefer subtitles.
9. You strongly identify with your career.
10. From preschool or a younger age, you enroll your children in a multitude of extracurricular activities - piano lessons, ballet, tennis, water polo, etc.
11. Your children's academic success is paramount to you, and you set very high standards. If they get a "C" in a class, either their teacher or the child has much to answer for. When in high school, you make sure they take lots of AP courses, and unless they are the brightest of the bunch, you hire a SAT tutor. Deep down inside, there's a burning desire to boast that your children went to a high-ranked university, or at least NOT one of the lesser state colleges, and certainly not a community college.
12. You love "nature", the "outdoors", and the "wilderness", and like tread softly through the woods in your $250 hiking boots with your $250 bag and perhaps sleep in your $1,000 tent, or if a northern clime, in your expensive cross-country skis. It can suck losing iPhone connectivity, though.
13. If you're a female, you don sunglasses even when it isn't that sunny out.
14. You drive only foreign cars, preferably Mercedes-Benz or BMW.
15. Staying in shape and in style is a priority to you. You have a gym membership, perhaps in addition to a road bike you paid a pretty penny for.
16. You like, or feign to like, the fine arts, and have attended a classical music concert, opera, or play at least once or twice (going on a field trip as a kid not included). You consider it perfectly natural to listen to classical music or jazz radio and patronize art-house cinema.
17. Planning for your retirement is important, and you fully understand such things as 401Ks and Roth IRAs. You might even have a financial advisor. You watch the stock market and probably participate in it somehow.
18. If you're 40 or older, your house measures over 2,500 square feet in area. If you designed it, you made sure to implement "green" features. The kitchen is spacious. Especially if in a southwestern state, you probably have some paid help cleaning it, perhaps full-time.
19. You probably don't live in one, unless you are in your 20s or early 30s, but you love "authentic" and "vibrant" urban spaces such as those found in New York City, San Francisco, and Portland, with plentiful pedestrian traffic, ample public transportation, narrow streets, and storefronts that are right up to the sidewalk rather than behind a sea of parking.
20. You don't like the homogenization of the United States through chain stores and franchises, but deep down you love Trader Joe's, REI, Whole Foods, Barnes and Noble, Chipotle, Macy's, IKEA, Target, and Fogo de Chao.
21. You want your children to be creative, imaginative, think out-of-the-box, and tolerant of differences. You perhaps even enjoy when they question one of your rules.
22. You regularly go to or host dinner parties. You have separate kitchen and dining rooms.
23. You have read, for leisure, at least one non-fiction title that does not fall into the category of self-help, automotive/technical, or religious books in the past year, and are familiar with authors, whom you often name-drop at above parties.
24. When your children are young, intellectual stimulation and creative expression is the primary goal of your toy-buying practices. No or limited cheap electronic playthings or radio-controlled monster trucks.
25. You have a rather refined taste in alcohol. You are familiar with local breweries, micro-brews, >$10 / bottle wines, and refined cocktails with non-obscene names.
This is interesting to me, being such a mix.
1. Yes to the piano. Plus 3 guitars, one classical. Two flat screens.
2. Yes, to all the college
3. No volunteering, partly due to where I lived and schedule
4. No interest in golf
5. Yes, but I also went to see the world's great cities...Rome, etc.
6. Listen to NPR and watch PBS frequently
7. Love all those food items
8. Enjoy foreign films and subtitles
9. Yes
10. N/ A
11. N/A
12. Yes but on a 6k horse with a 400 dollar tent and 400 dollar sleeping bag. For 5 years continuously.
13. No. Pretentious
14. Toyota and Mercedes but had a Corvette for awhile.
15. Yes but no bikes or gyms or ridiculously priced fashion.
16. Yes and listen to classical half the time.
17. No. Not interested but have an advisor.
18. No, no desire for big house. Oceanfront condo.
19. Yes. Rome, Florence, Sienna...the open campos and doors on the narrow streets.
20. Yes, I like them all. REI and Trader Joe's mostly.
21. If I had any, sure.
22. Go to, but don't host.
23. Yes
24. If I had any, sure.
25. Only drink micro brews and prefer Negroni for cocktails. Wine, meh.
26. That was fun...
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