Jo's Personal Blog at Blogger.com: The Book of Me Written by You

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Wednesday

"The Book of Me, Written by You" - What do you See?

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations.

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations. - See more at: http://joannfitz.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/the-book-of-me-written-by-you-topic-1.html#sthash.2TuO2bVu.dpuf

The prompt for the week is:

What do you See?

The Brief:

Public Use Allowed

Having seen the image what is the thing you thought? Write that down.
Does what you have written have any resemblance to how you view life?

Half full or half empty

Describe how you feel after you have reflected. Does that differ from your immediate thoughts?

Take a look at the picture of the glass and what do you see? A glass? Half full? Half empty? Take a good long look...

I used to dislike these types of questions because there was no one right or wrong answer. It frustrated me. I'd sit there and think about it and see it from angles and try to come up with the one right answer. After years of sitting there and thinking things through - I do tell people do NOT try and get into my brain as its a VERY scary place! - I finally came up with why I was having such a hard time with it.

I can hear you sitting there asking yourself - Well? Why? WHY? Why! Tell me! Because I'm a realist. The glass and water can be anything you want it to and it will change. Sure the glass is - at this point the camera captured it - full or empty a you wish. BUT what happens after this picture was taken... did someone fill it and drink from it? Or did they say we have our picture for the day and empty it? Guess what? It doesn't matter because whatever you were going to do with the glass and water was going to happen whichever decision you were going to make. This includes if you dropped the glass and it shatters - it was going to happen either now or later so it doesn't really matter.

Decision Making - the next step
This being said, I do try and look at all angles/sides which annoys people to no end if they realize I'm doing it. Most people go if I do step A and take a left it will head me into that direction. Others will go to step A and take a right and it will go there and then make a decision. Myself? I go to step A and then try and see what the decisions are from there and then make the next decision and so on until usually I get so confused or its so clear I'm either really comfortable with the decision or really uncomfortable with the decision I have to make that I sit there for a long time. Then its the uncomfortable one people intend to get frustrated with me because I'll just sit there.

I think the fact I used to read books called "Choose Your Own Adventures" which depended upon the decisions you make for the story have something to do with it. I used to sit down with the book, a piece of paper and pencil and list out options for each before making the decision and then make it. At the beginning I usually wasn't in a good spot at the end, but by the time I got finished? I was doing the route A to options are and what would I think do to route B and so on. I sat down and tried to route out the entire journey and I got about 1/4-1/2 of it correct which freaked other kids out. The lesson that was learned was you can map things out but just think out your journey far ahead.

Have All Decisions been good ones?

From Flickr account -

Of course not! Life had many twists and turns like a river. Some days that river runs fast and other days its almost stopped but overall that river is still moving - just like life and our decisions within it. You just have work with what you've got and try and have fun and lots of laughter while you are doing it.

Check back for the continuation of "The Book of me, Written by You" series.

"The Book of Me, Written by You" - Life Chapters

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations.

The prompt for the week is:

Life Chapters

The Brief:

Is your life divided into chapters?
How has that happened? Has it naturally evolved?
Can you easily reflect where one chapter ends and another begins?

Are there any surprises?

Are those Chapters determined by people and / or places / or significant events?

The chapters in my life have all naturally accord by decisions people have made. I like to think of it Sliding Doors" effect. Its just like the movie - you come upon one ultimate decision - do you go left or right because each of these will take you onto a different journey. Then your life go spiraling this way or that and sometimes they intersect again and sometimes they don't.
as the "

Growing up, I started reading things like "Choose Your Own Adventure" which is a story in which the reader makes decisions and it would send you in different directions based upon the decision. Life is exactly like that.

I have to say, my life has been divided into chapters. They are:

From prebirth to when my mother left my father
From when my mother and I were together until I left the US to get married
From walking off the plane until current

Prebirth to Mother leaving Father

I know from more than one person, how much fighting, yelling at one another and laughing and jokes were done. Usually the fighting and yelling were done when my father was home and the laughing and jokes were when he was away. That's how I can remember tiny snippets from that time. Nothing major just feelings really.

Mother until Migration to Australia

This was mainly one of moving and sameness. My mother did and does thrive on nothing changing and everything staying the same for about 3-4 years. Once the 3-4 year mark hits, and all of a sudden she has to move. She complains about it all, but rather than make adjustments or finding out how to stay, she up and moves again and again.

She has a routine and those of you who break it, hold on to your hats because its going to get loud. If she doesn't eat by 4:30pm then either you miss out or it gets cold - tough if you want something different. If she has a show she watches, don't try and get her to tape it or miss it or else there will be hell to pay and you'll be sworn at quite a bit.

Migration to Australia to Present

This one is more often than not thought of in happiness. We've been married over 15 years and I've only had to move 5 times and most of those were because of the time when we had a fire and moved around a bit. However, since buying our house, I haven't had to move in over 12 years and its been THE BEST in that regard.

Us in front of our house

Like all couples, it hasn't been happy times all around. We've had me first getting a job, because no one wanted to hire someone not Australian. Then I lost my job 4 1/2 years after I got one due to them selling 1/2 the business and so I was unemployed again. Then I got another full time one working for the state government only to loose that one at about the 5 1/2 year mark due to budget cuts when they cut the whole position in the state and again I'm unemployed. I've now done study for web design and finished it with A (or HD) marks, only to find the jobs need some kind of real experience in order to get them. This is where I am at now.

2014 Web Based Tech Qualification

Further, you had us try and have kids. Unfortunately being classified infertile and about 10 years ago we were told we had about 1-2% of ever having kids. This year we decided to roll the IVF dice again to try again - only to fail. At the moment, we're trying to get over accepting this disappointment.

One of our campsites at Bathurst.

That being said, we have had some good times - camping and attending a few V8 motor racing meets at Bathurst in New South Wales in Australia. We visited 14 of states in the US and the final goal will be all 50 of them. We've built a house, and am happy. The only thing I ever require is a stable roof over my head, happiness, food in the belly, and kids. It looks like they are all going to be met except the last, so I guess that's something.

Check back for the continuation of "The Book of me, Written by You" series.

Friday

"The Book of Me, Written by You" - Perfect Day Out

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations.

The prompt for the week is:

Perfect Day Out

The Brief:
Cast your mind back to a day when you experienced the perfect day out.

Describe the setting
Who you were with?
Why were you there?
What or who made it special
How does the memory of that day make you feel?

I don't think I've ever had a perfect day out which is pretty sad.

I know when I was about 8 years old or so, I used to go down to the ball field called Bradley Park, alone, and lay on the grass and watch the clouds go by which was pretty nice for a day out.

The wind was gently blowing a light breeze, the sun was going in and out of clouds. The grass was soft and tickled on the backs of my legs of which were bare due to me wearing shorts. I was laying on my back, head tilted back with my arms behind my head and eyes closed. It was pretty quiet and you couldn't hear much other than the odd lawn mower in the distance.

I think I liked it because it was so quiet and still rather than the constant go and/or shouting that seemed to be around me all the time.

Taken from Google Earth in 2014

Above is the place I'm talking about in 2014. However, now it has more baseball diamonds (when I went there was only 1, a small playground and the tennis courts), more parking and other outbuildings as you can see.

Check back for the continuation of "The Book of me, Written by You" series.

Wednesday

"The Book of Me, Written by You" - Your First Home - First house, first residence and current house

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations.

The prompt for the week is:

Your First Home

The Brief:

This can be either or a combination of any of the following
Your parent's home - the first home you can probably remember
A home away from home - perhaps collage
Your first big purchase
The first home with the love of your life and perhaps your descendants
Perhaps talk of the excitement, stress and emotional attachments to locations
Was your home in your family for lots of years, was it an old house or a new build?
Can you visualise the rooms, or have photos?

Your Parent's Home
My parent's house where I was born, they had on mortgage I believe. I know my grandmother, Jean, wanted to help both her sons out when she was bought out during the Urban Redevelopment of Newburgh, New York in the early 1960's. I believe my parents took her up on the money and used it for their first house where I was born in Newburgh, New York.

House that I lived in when I was born. Taken from Google Earth in 2013.

It had 3 levels. The main one, which you walked into had basics - a closet behind the front door, huge living room area, a good sized dining room, and a kitchen.

The other 2 levels had the other areas - upstairs contained a bathroom and 3 bedrooms and a hall closet. Also, there was a laundry chute which was later closed off. I think this was for safety reasons - mainly for my brother - which frequently rode down the chute.

The last level, which was added to, was in the "basement" area. It had a crawl space under the living room which you got to from the laundry room, another bedroom with a bathroom, a bar area and a play area which usually had my father's pool table and dart game. It also had a door leading outside up about 15 steps and into the backyard.

I lived here with my mother, father and brother and middle sister, until my mother left my father. My father continued to live in the house until 1995 when he moved to a nearby town. He was downsizing the house because he felt he didn't need all the room that was in the house with his second wife.

Although I still spent time in the house, I frequently remember the morning when we left my father - the cold, rainy, and overcast morning.

My First Residence in Australia
When I first came to visit, and then move, to Australia it was to be with my fiance and his father - my now father in law - in the place they lived for most my husband's life in Ferntree Gully, Victoria in Australia. My father in law was fine with this as he knew we needed to get on our feet before moving out.

Picture I took in 1996 when I visited. In Ferntree Gully, Victoria Australia

However, just more than 24 hours before I left the US for Australia, there was a fire - we now know it was intentionally lit - and we stayed with my husband's Great Aunt Sue until we could find a place. Which we did for a tiny bit before moving back in with my father in law in late 1997. We lived there until we built our current house.

The house was on one level. The main bedroom was by the front door, then a linen closet, with the living room being across from both. Then came the kitchen and dining room with a hallway leading to the 2 back bedrooms, laundry room, toilet and bathroom. There was a door going outside in both the dining room and laundry room.

This was special because it got me used to the Australian houses and how everything worked which was a bit different in some areas than what as normal for me.

Our Home
Then in early 2000, our home was finally done being built. This is where we currently live. Its in Narre Warren, Victoria in Australia.

The house is on one level. When you walk into the house, you come into an entry way, study and the entry into the main bedroom. The main bedroom, has a bathroom or en suite and a WIR (walk in robe) or closet.Coming out of the main bedroom and you go down a small hall which has the laundry room and dogs beds in, and then it opens our into a open planned kitchen, dining and living room. there is a sliding door leading outside and there are huge windows throughout the house.There is a
hallway which leads to 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and toilet.

This special because we built it and chose what we wanted. Also, as I moved so much during my growing up years, I'm glad to say, I don't ever want to move again and have told my husband as much. I plan on dying here because I hate moving.

Check back for the continuation of "The Book of me, Written by You" series.

Monday

"The Book of Me, Written by You" - Your Home Town

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations.

The prompt for the week is:

Your Home Town

The Brief:
We all have one, perhaps it is where we were born, perhaps it where we lived for that special time in our lives, or perhaps it is where we now live.

Wherever it is, why not tell us about it.
Explain where it is, don't forget we are across the world!
What is it that makes your "place" special?
Do you feel a nice comfy emotional connection?

This is a tricky topic for me as I've lived in many towns growing up. I guess the best way to describe my "home town" would be to say the Hudson Valley in New York in the United States as this place. This is because my mother and I moved every few years from place to place all around in that area. On the map below, this would be the region denoted by the number 8.

Taken from Wikipedia

As a timeline, I have lived all around this region:
1972-1976 - Lived in Newburgh, New York

From Wikipedia

Newburgh was where my family lived when I was born. They owned a house not far from Stewart Airport (was Stewart Air Force base) due to my father being US Navy (and later retired from). This way my mother could still get to a military base for the PX or grocery store, the doctor's and some of the other things people had access to back then. However, by the time I left home, the PX was no longer as they demolished it to make it a car park for the upcoming airport, the doctor had been taken and shifted to West Point due to budget and many of the other extras were no longer given.

1976-1986 - Various addresses around Walden, New York

From Wikipedia

Walden is where my eldest sister lived when my mother left my father. Its a small little town where, if you live in town, everything is walkable. Its a quaint little town, but I have to admit over the last 20 years its changed and not for the better. There are many people living on government payments in sections and some of the houses have not been kept up in certain sections. This is actually sad because this used to be a great little town where everyone knew everyone else.

1987-1989 - Lyon Mountain New York (this would be region 5 on the map above)

From Wikipedia

Once my oldest sister moved from Walden, she moved up to Lyon Mountain which is towards the Canadian border with her daughters. We did move up near her, but my mother could not find a good and stable paying job, so we had to move back around the area we lived in previously.

1989-1997 - Maybrook, New York

From Wikipedia

Maybrook NY was where we lived when I finished high school and went to college. We did moved a few times within the town. Again this is another tiny town only about 15 minutes from Walden New York. It was close enough to the town but not in it.

Special & Emotional connection

I think these areas were the special places because I spent my growing up years here. For the most part, it was stable as the areas we moved around to kept me in the same school district and this meant I had the same friends over the years.

Even now, we go back to the US to visit and we go to these areas so I can catch up with friends in the area. I don't believe there are many people who can say they've had the same friends for over 35 years!

My friends from school at our last reunion

Check back for the continuation of "The Book of me, Written by You" series.

Wednesday

"The Book of Me, Written by You" - Hairstyles

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations.

The prompt for the week is:

Hairstyles

The Brief:

Go on share your hairstyles over the years!
Do you have regular hairdresser habits?
Colour?
Do you dye it? (your secret is safe with us!)

Boy have I had hairstyles over the years... But they aren't too bad I have to admit, but as you will see they haven't changed much either.

I don't colour my hair but it is turning a nice white grey like my paternal grandmother, Jean. However, I know one of my sister's and brother all have my mother's salt and pepper and like wire grey hair. I love my hair colour.

Here are some of my hair styles over the years.

Aged about 1 1/2 - 2

Aged about 4

Aged about 5

Aged 6

Aged about 8 (with sister Jean)

Aged about 10

Aged about 13

Aged about 15

Aged 18 High School Sr Prom

Aged 18 High School Sr Picture


Aged 22 Graduation from college

Aged 22 before graduation

Aged 24 with soon to be husband, Brett

Aged 25 on wedding day

Aged 25 with soon to be husband, Brett

Aged 27

Aged 28

Aged 30

Aged 33

Aged 35

Aged 37


Aged 40

Aged 42

I did warn you I haven't changed much over the years!

Check back for the continuation of "The Book of me, Written by You" series.

Monday

"The Book of Me, Written by You" - Childhood reading

The prompt for the week is:

Childhood reading

The Brief:

Did you read as a child?
Did you experience the wonder of bedtime stories?
Favourite books
Did your childhood reading influence you?
Special moments and memories

I cannot remember being read to as a child. I can remember going to the library in Kindergarten and having them read to us. In the next grade we still did that but we could get some books to take home to read or have read to us. I always took them home to read or even just sit there looking at the pretty pictures.

I still remember the years one of my teachers would read to us from the series "Little House on the Prairie" and loved how it took you through another person's life. I couldn't believe all that information was in this tiny book.

The Library in Walden, NY

By the time I was in about the 2-3 grade, I found libraries. I found I could go there and read a book and be taken anywhere in my imagination. I started to read anything I could get my hands on, so I could read or try to. I say try to because they found when I was in grade 1, I had a learning disability where I had a hard time comprehending what I was reading. Was I reading? Yes, but understanding what you are reading and reading are two different things. Because of this, I was kept back in the first grade and then after this grade kept in the lower graded bracket of classes because of the problem. However, by the time I reached grade 8, I found young adult romance books.

Over the years, I did try and get my nieces and nephews interested in reading. With my nieces, they seemed to get into it a little bit but I put it down to still trying to find the genre they liked. They now love reading and have passed that along to their children. My nephews, they never took to the reading thing as far as I know. I know their mother, Jean, wasn't big into reading and thought it was a waste of time. I have lost contact with those nephews, so I have no idea if they ever took up reading at all.

The you adult books were great because they almost always had a happy ending and I was taken from my not so happy home to places where people did have other problems but they didn't seem as bad as mine and most of the time by the end of the book, they had happy endings. It really took the focus off of my own life and put it some place more optimistic.

By the time I was in high school, I had moved on to reading adult romance novels. I started reading Harlequin Romances and found they were interesting. However, after this some of the other lines from the same company came out and they were more expressive on the sex part and less on the romance and relationship part. Even today, I bounce between different lines. I do both electronic books (iTunes, ibooks, harlequin app, and amazon) and paperbacks but in the last 8 or so years mainly stick with the electronic books due to paperbacks taking up most of the house. In fact today, I still find them in suitcases, closets and nightstands I haven't looked into for awhile.

One thing I am sure of is I'm glad I can read in any language as my grandmother and great grandmother's could not for either most or part of their lives. They missed out on taking adventures or catching up with news because they could not read.

Check back for the continuation of "The Book of me, Written by You" series.