- NEW!
by Stableboy on November 16th, 2006
My Dad was a hellfire-and-brimstone Baptist preacher who scared away most of his congregation with an extreme form of Christianity of his own invention. My Mother dumped him in 1963 and raised all 6 of us cubs herself on a secretary's income. We had a lot of fun, despite being too poor to pay attention.
I was the smartest kid in class, red-headed, freckle-faced, popular and cute as a button, and was expected to turn out well. Instead, I hit some traumas in adolescence and turned into a nightmare for my mother: I took lots of drugs, got arrested and jailed several times, even burglarized the church where our family had attended many years -- ripping out the sound equipment and leaving a smart-aleck note behind.
Some good things happened as a teen: I learned to play the piano, and I became very interested in what I called the "Big Questions" -- who am I? What is life for? Is there a God and what does He want? etc. These questions turned out to be worth asking for many years to come.
But being a young teen punk wiped out my college scholarship offers, and instead of going to Cal Tech or MIT, I became an LSD-dropping keyboard player in various small-time California bands, going up and down the coast trying desperately to make enough money to stay alive.
Eventually I realized I just wasn't good enough or committed enough to make the music thing go, so I quit the music and the drugs and got a real job. But the Big Questions kept burning, and I kept reading all sorts of things in the philosophy, psychology, religion, metaphysics, science, and oddball-thinking sections of the library. I also spent time with various group programs like est, Lifespring, Contegrity, volunteer work, and the like.
I got married twice, my 2nd wife came with 2 young daughters from a previous marriage, an Insta-family. Soon I had a nice bout with alcoholism (to round out my self-abuse education) which was terminated by my Mother's sudden and unexpected death from cancer. That was the final straw on screwing around with life, I think -- it was very painful. At that point I became determined about the Big Questions -- the curiosity became an intense personal crusade to understand.
That crusade led eventually to Zen practice, which turned out to be exactly the thing I needed to have all of those fragmentary life lessons, bits and pieces read and heard, personal insights, and assorted trivia start falling into place like a self-assembling puzzle. The many hours of "just sitting", letting the mind clear itself, provided (and continue to provide) an environment where what I already knew -- but couldn't integrate -- could arrange themselves into coherent understanding about myself and my life, and provide some clarity about the universal questions I loved so much.
Oh yeah, somewhere along the line I learned how to write software so I could pay the bills.
Then I stumbled onto Answerbag in September of 2006. It's been a wild ride here.
by browneyedbeauty on November 26th, 2006
I was the result of a rocker and a hippie. I was born and lived in chico for 4 years of my life, which consisted of my mom using drugs, and my dad not wanting anything to do with me. I moved to Idaho, and my mother went into rehab. She got out, stayed sober for a few years. Then started on painkillers. It was a really hard time then. Dealing with school, raising my little sister, and a drugged out mom every night. But I made the best of it and I loved my mom so much. She was this crazy hippie who used to dance on our kitchen table with us to alanis morsette and pearl jam. We painted our faces, made dream catchers, and homeade rasberry jam. It was fun, even though it was hard. My mom died during my 6th grade summer, and I went into middle school alone, 2 weeks later. I moved to California a few years later, and I have been here ever since. Where I work at a smoothie shop and go to a great high school. And I am now a regular addict to this site! Yay!
by ptrask on November 16th, 2006
Veni
Vidi
Vici
Translation:
I came to AnswerBag
I saw questions
I answered questions
*A Star Is Born*
I was born on a Tuesday in January. It was cold outside. I was my parents’ third child, so they had a thorough understanding of how these things worked by then. Driving from Cohasset into Boston, they stopped at Grammy’s house in Quincy and dropped Mark and Matthew off to be cared for. Then, my Dad, living up to his nickname of Hot Rod Harry, made it to St. Margaret’s Hospital in record time. He dropped Mom off at the front door, and drove around to the parking lot. He then entered the rear entrance and sat in the waiting room smoking cigars (Garcia & Vega, Optimo Sports) while various hospital attendants administered to my Mom. Following the usual journey, I arrived in fine shape and immediately latched onto the nearest breast. This would prove to be a pattern in my later life. After a reasonable length of time (according to the adjusters at Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Massachusetts), my mother and I were released to my father who drove us home in his 1956 Ford 500. Upon arrival at 55 Bancroft Road, I was installed in a white bassinette in my parent’s room. Mark and Matthew were awed at the overwhelming presence that I exuded, and left me alone for the next few years. During this time, as I was growing older, my parents repeated the process four more times, bringing Claire, Andrew, Philip and Sarah home to the bassinette, one at a time.
*School Daze*
For a few years, I grew and learned while living an idyllic childhood. Then, much to my dismay, I started school. Kindergarten wasn’t so bad. I enjoyed recess, the snack, and following Lisa Se***le around constantly. I was infatuated with her, and not fazed at all by the fact that she wanted nothing to do with me. First grade, on the other hand, was like taking a bath in ice water - it woke me right up! For the first time in my young life, I was expected to do some work. I had to learn letters, numbers and face up to the fact that my family was…um…different from all the rest of the families. I learned that every household in the world had this interesting entertainment device known as a television. At the ripe old age of six years old, I couldn’t understand how one of these contraptions hadn’t found its way into our house. I knew nothing about my parent’s belief that television was responsible for the “dumbing down” of society. I just knew that all my new friends talked constantly about Superman, Batman, Ricochet Rabbit, Yogi the Bear and Secret Squirrel. I also knew that they looked down on me because I couldn’t hold an intelligent conversation on those subjects. They invented games with names like TV Tag that everyone in the neighborhood could play except me.
*Reading Pain*
In first grade, I learned how to read. To compensate for the lack of television, I started devouring every book I could get my hands on. This included the entire children’s section of the Paul Pratt Memorial Library. I used to walk or ride bike the mile and a half to the library at least three times weekly with my two older brothers. We would spend hours at a time sitting in the downstairs children’s lounge reading books. We would usually check out the maximum allowed number of books each time to bring home with us. Sometimes, when I got a little bored reading at the library, I would go exploring in the book stacks. I loved the musty “old book” smell of the place. Around this time, I was also learned that there was a reason that I so dreaded the annual trips to the school doctor’s office for the eye exam. Other kids hated the booster shots or the TB tests, but I always dreaded the eye test. Give me a needle in the arm any time rather than have to decipher those tiny squiggles in the little machine! It turns out that I took after my dad in more ways than one. In addition to being short and having a rather round body shape, I was nearsighted! My dad carted me off to Dr. Schlossberg in “the city” for an eye exam and a pair of eyeglasses. All of a sudden, I was able to see the world around me, and was able to read without putting my nose (literally) in the book.
*The Principal of Mathematics*
One of the negative side effects of being able to read from a relatively further distance was that my mathematics skills were severely diminished. How, you may be asking yourself, would improved eyesight interfere with math skills? Every day, I would sit at my desk in Mrs. Murphy’s third grade class and read books. I would put the books down in my lap and read them while pretending to pay attention to the other subjects being taught. I’m sorry to say that I corrupted another student also. Vickie Gr***en sat directly in front of me. I showed her how to hold the books down in her lap, and read away. The two of us were the most advanced in our reading and comprehension classes, while at the bottom of the barrel as far as math was concerned. Fortunately (for my later math skills), Mrs. Murphy came walking down the aisle one day and caught us red handed. We were sent to the principal’s office and were spoken to severely by Mrs. Marks. To make it worse, the principal, Mrs. Marks, was a neighbor who lived on the same street I did, and she went directly to my mom with the information.
*Sacramental Whine*
I made a decent recovery on the math learning, but to this day have to do a little extra thinking when determining what nine times six is as opposed to six times nine. I excelled in all of my other classes, and was soon moved into the honors class. I spent the next three years at the Deer Hill School shuttling back and forth between the honors and the advanced classes. I guess that I confused them a little…how could a child who was so smart, have trouble with basic skills like the multiplication tables? At this same time, I followed in the footsteps of my oldest brother, and started learning to play the trumpet. I also followed my older brothers into the Boy Scouts. Being a good Catholic boy, I started learning how to serve mass as an alter boy. For six months, I attended classes to learn the Latin mass. Just when I had learned all of the Latin prayers and responses, and prior to serving my very first mass, the Catholic Church eliminated the Latin mass. I served numerous masses over the years at St. Anthony’s parish. To this day, I’m glad that St. Anthony’s only had an alcoholic priest, rather than the pedophile priests that were in some of the surrounding town’s churches.
*Beach Sand*
During these elementary years, my fondest memories are of the summertime. My dad was a newspaper photographer for the Boston Herald-Traveler newspaper. With his seniority, and a Pulitzer Prize under his belt (1956 – photograph of the sinking of the Andrea Doria), he had the choice assignments. Unfortunately for his family, that meant that he worked the “peak news” hours of 3:00pm to 11:00pm. During the school year, we kids would sometimes not see him at all from Sunday evening until Saturday morning. In the summer, we got to make up for that. Every warm day, all summer, my mom would pack all seven of us off to Sandy Beach for the day. We would leave right after breakfast in our 1959 Chevrolet Biscayne station wagon (also known as the “wigga-wagon” due to the front-end shimmy at any speed over 10 mph), and be there by 9:00 in the morning. Mom would pack dozens of sandwiches, a cooler (igloo brand) full of ice water and some snacks. We would spend the entire day swimming, building sand castles, exploring tide pools and capturing various ocean-based life forms. Around 10:00 each morning, my dad would join us and spend time with us at the beach. We would all have our sandwiches around 1:00, and Dad would leave to get ready for work. We usually stayed at the beach until 5:00 or even later. To this day, when I bite into a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I brace myself for the inevitable crunch of beach sand!
*Track and Field*
Growing up, we lived across the street from Milliken Field. At that time, Milliken field consisted of a football field with metal goalposts at either end, a baseball diamond in the back left corner and a set of blue-grey metal bleachers on the opposite side of the field from my parents house. There was a quarter-mile long track running around the perimeter of the field. To the left of the field was an area consisting of an acre or two of overgrown fields, vernal pools and rabbit warrens. To the right of the field was a pair of tennis courts. All the while we were growing up, we were allowed to play unsupervised in the field, as my mom could always look out the front door and see the entire field. As we grew a little older and more independent, we would push that rule to the limit and play in the woods behind the Blue Bleachers. There was an old well to the left of the bleachers that we would climb down to catch frogs. We would also go exploring in the area to the left of the field that we dubbed “Shady Glade”. This was a reference to the book by Bill Peet titled Farewell to Shady Glade, which was a favorite in my family. It is only later that the name Shady Glade would turn out to be a prophetic one for the area. In Shady Glade, there were a number of seasonal ponds, and the whole area housed a variety of wildlife. Frogs, toads, various birds and small animals made their homes in the area. In addition, numerous insects, including bees, butterflies, grasshoppers and moths inhabited the sunny, meadow sections of Shady Glade. In the summertime, you could hear the crickets, katydids and cicadas chirping, buzzing and clicking the hot weather away all night long. From our earliest days, we would go wandering through the area, seeing what we could catch as a pet. My most memorable find was a spotted salamander that I took home…prepared to keep him and care for him for life. Unfortunately for Spot, our cat Stardust decided that a salamander would make a nice snack. Turns out that she was wrong, but Spot did not survive the encounter.
*Winter Solstice*
In the wintertime, Milliken Field would always start to resemble a pond. Because the field was lower in the middle than on the sides, water would stand on the field after every rainstorm. As the weather became colder, that standing water would freeze, giving us our own personal skating rink. We would lace up the ice skates and play hockey or just go skating all winter long. If snow covered the ice, we would bring snow shovels over and clear our skating rink. My dad and mom could never figure out how we had so much energy to shovel the ice, when we were always too tired to shovel the driveway at home! In Shady Glade, the little vernal pools would get a skim of ice on the surface that wouldn’t even support a child’s weight. We called the area Breakable because we would go crashing through the thin ice. We would sometimes eat pieces of this crystal clear ice, despite the dire warnings from my parents that illness would follow. One time, I found what I thought was a dead turtle in one of the ponds under the ice. I brought it home, and experienced the entire resurrection thing for myself. After three days the turtle, which had been banished to the garage by my mom, rose from the dead and went to heaven. Or at least it went to a turtle’s version of heaven. It moved into the wood pile in the back of the garage, and would venture forth to get snacks from me and my brothers. Yertle the Turtle (named after a Dr. Seuss character) eventually moved on, leaving sadness in our hearts, and many turtle droppings behind the woodpile.
MORE TO COME – KEEP WATCHING THIS SPACE!
by Cool Water on November 17th, 2006
Born cute
Hyper child
figure skater
trained for the Olympics
professional Figure Skater
Broken Back
Back Fusion
New Career
Fell in Love
New book of life starting now
by Darkling on November 25th, 2006
I have been a procrastinator from birth. I made my appearance a week late and have never caught up. I was also a night owl from birth and Johnny Carson was as recognizable to me as my parents. I spent the majority of my youth being precocious enough to cause trouble but still be endearing. I could work the VCR by the age of two (Beta! Wooo!).
My father waged a campaign of physical and psychological warfare on my family. My mother waged a campaign of denial that was just as devastating. I did my best to goad my father so I would get my lumps as well as my younger brother's. I tried my best to get custody of him after I moved out and got my crap together. My best wasn't good enough and my brother is now sliding into alcoholism.
Don't get all misty-eyed about sibling love, we still fought viciously and had our mishaps. I was a quarter of an inch away from putting his eye out with a pair of hedgeclippers (it was an accident... seriously). He walked in on a passionate kiss and startled my boyfriend at the time who promptly dropped me on the floor. When I was 12 or so, we were antagonizing each other and, as I ran out of the room, he threw a Star Trek: The Next Generation Commander William T. Riker action figure at me. Poor Riker hit the wall and broke into his component pieces. Out of spite, I stole his head and hid it in my room. As my 18th birthday approached, I was packing to move out. Tucked in a little hidey-hole, I found Riker's head and sheepishly returned it to my brother. That Christmas, I opened a package from him to find a reassembled Riker sitting at the bottom of the box with his phaser aimed at me. It is now one of my most cherished possessions.
I started taking classes at the local community college so I only had to spend a half day in high school my senior year. I was an English major but changed to computers so I could pursue the thing that has been my passion since the age of nine. I got a B.S. in Information Technology and an M.S. in Telecommunications. I've been teaching but I'm looking for a job in industry right now because I miss the practical and the hands-on.
I made a childless choice and my cats are my children. I had to be flexible about my choice, though, when I met my boyfriend six years ago. I am now mother to two cats and one boyfriend.
I was very ill for the last several years and doctor after doctor either fluffed me off or scrutinized individual symptoms instead of looking at the big picture. I finally figured out that I have hypoglycemia (I think I still had to pay the HMO even though it was a self diagnosis). I follow a very strict diet that excludes all sugar and simple carbohydrates. Over the months, my health has returned along with a new chance to actually live life. I am currently spending most of that chance as an Answerbag junkie.
Random facts:
-I have double-jointed knees and can dislocate my shoulders.
-I've taken Judo and Aikido but my boyfriend still hopes to best me in a tussle some day.
-Using my toes, I can pick things up or pinch hard enough to bruise.
-I went snorkeling in Alaska in May.
-I got to hold a baby cougar.
-I got to see what the inside of Space Mountain at Disney World looks like with the lights on. They aren't kidding when they say not to put your hands up.
by Jenniferocious on November 24th, 2006
Born in Honolulu Hawaii in 1980, my family moved to California later that year. I have one older sister.
My mom ran a daycare service out of her home, so for the first 5 years of my life I learned to cooperate and share with any number of other children. I learned to read by the time I was three, and thoroughly impressed my preschool teacher (at age 4) who couldn't believe someone of my age was such a good reader.
I attended public school for my entire school career, and do not believe that I was cheated out of anything because of it. I have every intention of sending my future children to public school as well.
For my 4th-6th grade years I was placed into classes for the gifted and talented children (the nerd class, as I like to refer to it) where we were given more advanced coursework.
I went to the only junior high school in town, and then to the only high school in town. I had a few good teachers, including a great anatomy & physiology teacher who expected us to learn many many things, which we did... but then I promptly forgot once I moved on. I was a good student, who could have done better in school, but decided that, although I was smart enough to do everything asked of me, that it wasn't worth my time and effort to get a 4.4 GPA... so I settled for a 3.65 overall. My friends thought I was an idiot for not doing all my homework, and not reading everything that I was asked to. I think I made a good decision, as I had free time to have fun, and they did not.
Between age 6 and age 14 I learned to play many different musical instruments, including (but not limited to): The piano, flute, clarinet, trumpet and trombone. The trombone was my favorite, and I continued it into college, and was hired every summer by a local theater group where I played in the orchestra pit for the musical performances.
I had a boyfriend in high school, who was absolutely lovely as far as first boyfriends go, and a great friend. We broke up because we knew we didn't have plans to spend the rest of our lives with each other (and also because I was leaving for college). 3 days after our breakup, I met my current bf. We immediately hit it off, and have been together ever since (as of right now, it's been over 8 years).
I've worked many different retail jobs, and attended a few schools since high school. I was accepted to a 4 year university straight out of high school, but it was 10 hours away from home, and I dropped out after 1 quarter. I was too far from family, friends, and, of course, my new bf.
I came back home, attended a local junior college, where I got a certificate in culinary and pastry arts, and a few associates degrees before transferring to a 4 year university and getting a bachelor's degree in business administration and accounting.
I am currently a government employee working in a small office where we make loans to rural communities to build/upgrade infrastructure (like water systems, sewer systems) as well as fire stations, hospitals and low-income housing.
I am still with that bf I met after high school, we live together, and plan on getting engaged soon (he just needs to get the ring and propose to make it official... I told him he had to do it the right way! lol)
I live in the town I grew up in, and within 2 miles of my parents, my sister and her family, and all of my friends. Also within 15 miles of my bf's parents and other family.
From here I plan to continue at my job, get married and have children (at least 2). I would like to stay living in the area, but home prices are ridiculous, so we may have to make a move to somewhere else, but I would like to avoid that if at all possible.
For now, I enjoy life, work, cook, clean, hang out on answerbag, and play video games (I'm a FFXI addict).
Nothing exceptional, and definitely nothing traumatic...really uneventful compared to the other life stories posted on here. But its my life, I've enjoyed it so far, and I plan on making it the best I can.
----------------------------
Edited 5/21/08
Since this was written, I have gotten engaged, and am planning my wedding for October, 2008. It will be at a local golf club, where we'll have the ceremony out on the course by a pretty pond with a waterfall and bridge, and lots of green plants and trees. The reception will be indoors at the same location. We are going to go on a cruise in the Carribbean for our honeymoon.
I'm no longer an FFXI addict (although I do miss it!), I still have the same job (although I will eventually leave when something better comes along), and have started taking dance lessons - salsa, and ballroom. Very fun.
I've walked in the Breast Cancer 3-day in San Diego twice, but won't be returning this year. (Both because of the wedding, and because it just takes so much time for training and fundraising.) My sister has gotten divorced, and my oldest nephew is about to graduate high school (we hope! lol). He'll be joining the Marines.
My fiancé and I plan on having some fun, and going on some vacations, for the next two years, and then we'd like to start having kids. We've agreed that we want 2 or 3. If the first two are both boys, or both girls, we won't have a third. But, if we have one of each with the first two, we'll have a third. We'll see how that plays out when it happens :)
For now, life is good, and happy.
---------------------------------
Edited 1/23/09
Well - since the last update, I'm married, but still working at the same place, living in the same house, and not much else has changed. Since the drop in housing prices, we've been looking for a house to buy. We also plan on starting our family sometime later this year or early next year. (Yay!)
We are still taking ballroom dancing lessons (basic foxtrot and waltz, lots of Salsa classes, and are now taking the Hustle.) It's lots of fun.
Still hoping the win the lottery so I can quit my job and become a stay-at-home-mom... but that's not too likely, eh?
by LynfromNM on November 24th, 2006
Nothing particularly exciting or noteworthy, but here goes:
I was born on the 12th anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day, in the infirmary of the Atomic Energy Commission’s facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. (My mom’s water broke when she was taking supper to my dad, who was working late.) I’m not sure my dad ever forgave me for being born during the nightly news. Turns out I was the middle of 3 daughters, and the tomboy. I grew up in Albuquerque, NM with a typical American middle class upbringing, riding my bike all over the place, catching lizards in the mesa, hiking in the mountains. In my neighborhood we played street football, where I excelled as a flanker. In my family we all read to each other lot of evenings. We read everything from Emerson to Marx, from Poe to Steinbeck, from the Bhagavad-Gita to the Bible. That tradition continued when I had kids.
When I was about 14 I found out that not all people had the same opportunities I did, and I was outraged that no one was outraged by this. I rebelled against my parents because at the time I couldn’t see that they cared. I went to protests and got arrested. I worked in a community center in the poorest neighborhood in my city, thinking I would somehow save the world. I didn’t, but I learned a lot. One thing I learned was that there are a lot of people who are resigned to their “place” and don’t feel they have the power to change anything in their lives. I also acted in Light Opera productions during that time, my most notable role as “Anybodys” in West Side Story. “When you’re a Jet you’re a Jet all the way…”
At 16, naïve compared to other students, I started college. I was always the straight person at parties. I majored in English, minored in anthropology. I met my future husband Larry, a kung fu student and astrophysics whiz, who tended bar at Okie Joe’s and always let me and my friends sneak in to dance. We had two daughters, but I couldn’t deal with his eventual addiction to cocaine, so we split after 8 years. I did most of the raising of the girls, living paycheck to paycheck. Larry did overcome that addiction and we are now very good friends.
I did due diligence for the government after they took over various savings and loans in the 80s, so I got to travel all over the country. I went to baseball games in every city, indulging another passion of mine. I had a few boyfriends scattered around the country. But I was always drawn to that original passion to level the playing field, and after the kids were grown I changed careers, becoming a paralegal. I joined a non-profit agency that promotes the rights and expands legal access for people with disabilities. I don’t believe in hand-outs, but I do think everyone should have the same opportunities I was given. I love my job. I love my family, too - they are truly decent and passionate folks.
by anonymous on November 16th, 2006
Oh thats a bit long and not finished yet! How about my life blurb?
Born on the 29th of December in Ascot, bounding baby Sophie emerged in our lives. She has had many ups and down, many twists and turns in her life. Now she is 15, a teenager and things are getting a hell of a lot more intresting, but harder too. So buy Boredasmustard- a Life Story. It'll make you laugh, it'll make you cry and you won't even know why!
*****- The Sun
A very entertaining read, I love it!-Stephen Fry
Wasn't as good as my book-Bill Bryson
by Wendora on December 3rd, 2006
1965: Born
1970: Became big sister to my brother Daniel
1970: Entered Public Education
1976: Got my first period
1979: Mourned the loss of a wonderful woman who was like a grandmother to me.
1981: Got my drivers license
1982: Baptized as one of Jehovah's Witnesses
1983: Exited Public Education
1984: Dated Richie
1985: Engaged to Richie
1986: Married to Richie
1987: Got my first cat
1994: Became a homeowner
1996: Got laid off for the first time
1998: Got my first tattoo
2001: Mourned the loss of my first cat
2002: Diagnosed with Fibromyalgia
2003: Got my second tattoo
2005: Got laid off for the second time
2006: Celebrated 20 years of marriage
Those are the highlights. All the other stuff is small beans.
http://www.watchtower.org/library/g/2003/9/22a/article_01.htm
by zazzy_one on December 2nd, 2006
I was born in 1966, and like Forest Gump I keep having sideways brushes with fame.
My father was a hugely charismatic methodist minister who was a lightening rod of civil rights in Chicago. He was invited twice to the White House (the NIXON Whitehouse?!) for dinner. He was one of the early founders of Project Breadbasket, which turned into Operation PUSH, which mutated into the Rainbow Coalition. He marched on Washington with ML King and I have a picture of my dad and Jessie Jackson in my living room.
He died of cancer when I was 10 years old. Thousands and thousands of people attended his funeral. They over-flowed his small town church, he meant so much to my town. My father was special. My mother was average. Dad married her as a 19 year old girl-bride. He'd loved me with all of his heart. Mother never kissed, hugged. Don't get me started on the shrew. It was like the wicked step-mother, but she was my REAL mother.
Because she'd been The Minister's wife, it was hard to ever convince anyone in my small town how she treated me. (Still is...and I've moved half a country away.)
Because I had to get away from her, I was prone to answer the call of every little Romeo in town. Thought that somehow I would get married and hit the road. Lots of free sex. Very little movement from Peyton Place. I went to high school with John Cusack and Jeremy Piven. John was in my driver’s ed class and years later in law school, I embarrassed myself when he opened a theater in Chicago. Had one too many drinks at intermission and told him he was really mean to me in high school. He grabbed my hand and looked into my eyes and said “I’m so sorry about that.” It was funny because he was so nice and it made me feel so petty. Like: sorry little lady that you are still dwelling in HIGH SCHOOL. Lol.
Went to college in rural nowhere'sville Illinois. Steve Harris was one of my best friends: the bald black guy in The Practice.
Had a baby in college. Unintended effect of baby without marriage: forced me BACK home since no job. Stayed home with the shrew for a year until I was at the local Bodega and a cute guy in a tan Honda picked me up. We got an apartment (ROACH MOTEL) together. Took my son.
Dickwad and I worked at Nine West Shoes on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago. He met a more fashionable wannabe than me. Started slapping me around a bit. Next thing I knew, I came home and she was in the waterbed that I'd purchased with my hard earned cash with Dickwad--the waterbed I'd bought him for Christmas. No scene. Just walked nextdoor to my friend's roachier apartment and me and my son slept in the wild kingdom (horrible mice and roaches) for a couple of months, until I pulled myself out of the depression enough to find some real roomates.
I got a room with some hip, young kids. All of them wanted to be "actors." One was in Second City. She isn't famous. Actor-wannabees, waiters in fact. But we waited at a really hip Chicago-area restaurant. Steve Colbert waited there too. He is pretty much what you see. To the best of my knowledge, he is not conservative, but all the geekiness: that is 100% him. I waited and bartended. In our apartment were two waitresses, a cook, and a mooch we picked-up (the cook's best friend from Kansas, a very funny pre-Kramer, Kramer.) We all worked hard and then came home. Sometimes my son would stay with me and this fellow would babysit. We lived over a bar and one night I came home late and passed by the bar on my way home. I saw a little baby boy in the bar shooting baskets and thought "wow, that's sad. A baby boy in a bar. And then I looked closer and realized it was MY babyboy." Anyway. My son started living full-time with my shrewish mother. I went to law school. Several boyfriends. Two marriages later, here I am. Pretty much ready to move on and become the next thing I can be. Tired of lawyering, I know that I only have one life to live: there are no practice lives. I have to reinvent myself, because the only thing we are promised is our own happiness. Happiness is very important to me, and I am on an active search to drastically change my life. By this time in 2007, I hope seriously to have a new vocation.
Last year I was on the CBS Early because I’m involved in a famous legal case (involving a cute blonde teacher who had sex with her juvenile student. That cutie hates me! But every time she has a wart on her ass, they want an interview.)
by Just_Wondering...... on November 16th, 2006
Short version: I was home schooled and have never stepped in a public school for the purpose of learning there. I have been in school jyms for homeschool functions. I worked for my father since i was knee-high to a grasshopper doing building construction. I now have and office job and am loving it! I couldn't write this without saying that God has always been a big part of my life. It is not religion, as some think, but rather, a relationship. I would like to go to Austrailia some day and I would like to sky dive and have a ride in a supersonic jet fighter (not in the same flight, though!).
by hemiman on November 22nd, 2006
I was born Aug3,1953, to a hard working man, and a very loving and compassionate woman. We were living in Guthrie,Tx, dad was working for the 6666 Ranch. I was born in Paducah, Texas, about 30 miles north of Guthrie. Dad used to tell me that I was almost born in the backseat of a '49 Ford. We had electricity, but no runnin water in the house. Mom got water from a well and we had an outhouse for a bathroom. She would wash clothes with a scrubboard, me, and my two older sisters in a No.3 washtub out on the porch. Dad was a welder in WWII at the San Diego Shipyards and so he went back to welding and following the pipelines around Texas. So from 1956 to about 1959, we lived all over Texas. Finally settled down in north central Texas. I graduated from high school in 1971, entered the Navy, and was released from active duty as a Gunnersmate 1st Class, classified DAV.
I had married in 1973 to a girl I had gone steady with in HS, but in 1985 we divorced and we had a son and a daughter. Soon after, while on the local PD, I met my soulmate, Kim.I started driving trucks long haul across the country. She had one son, five years old, I had a ten y.o. son and a five year old daughter. We were married in 1986, and lived and loved until she died of cancer Thanksgiving Day, 1999. I remarried the next year to a lady I met on the internet, she had lost her husband to cancer nearly the same time Kim died, but we quickly found out that we mistook friendship for love and divorced. We are still very close friends and I am good friends with her new husband. The next year I was involved in a head-on accident with another truck, and was in Physical Therapy for about six months and had my leg operated on. I can no longer drive big trucks and walk on a cane. I quit smoking a year ago, but have contracted emphysema anyway. So, I am retired, on disability, on oxygen part of the day and look forward to seeing my grandsons occasionally. I live with my widowed mother, and we go out to eat alot and enjoy each others company. I have a girlfriend that lives about 100 miles away in Dallas and we see each other quite often. Her name is Serena. We like to karaoke and watch reruns of "Little House on the Prairie".... We rock, huh? LOL... Live has really been good to me. There are a lot of people in alot worse shape than I am in. I thank God every day for giving me the things that I do have, and for the wonderful life I have had. I spent 10-11 years on sea duty in the navy and have been around the world three times. I have been on almost every ocean/sea on the globe and nearly every major sea port in the world. I spent 30 days on the North Pole, have been around the "Horn". I helped build an orphanage in Kenya, watched native cerimonies of aboriginies in Australia, went snow sking in the Alps. I walked from Monte Carlo, to Nice,France along the cliff highway, I have seen whales and icebergs in the North Atlantic, dolphins in the Carribean. I have been scuba diving in Puerto Rico, Australia, Ivory Coast, and off the shores of Curacao. I have seen and done so many things. I have seen the Northern Lights from the deck of a war ship and sat out on the forecastle of an aircraft carrier and seen the Southern Cross. I have met so many wonderful people from all over the world that I wish I could see them again. Italy, France, Morroco, Turkey, Greece, Holland, Spain, Ivory Coast, Mesina Omahn, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and the list goes on and on. I am convinced that there are not really that many bad people in the world, just bad leaders.
by Fisherofman on November 16th, 2006
Born
Fire/Brimstone
Realized that was stupid
Drugs/Alcohol
Realized that was stupid
Legalism/Conservatism
Realized that was stupid
Open minded
Here I am
by onzanzabarsands on November 16th, 2006
I was born green (literally), to my mexican mom and german dad. The youngest of 5 (15.13.11 and 6 years between myself and them). Moved to Kansas when I was 2, been sick since I was little. Diagnosed with diabetes when 12, told I wouldn't graduate or live past 18, cuz I was too sick. Still here and 32, told I'd never have children, have some. Husband got murdered by nephew, then remarried to a wonderful man. Later diagnosed with fibromyalgia, neuropathy, kidney probs, and retinopathy. In the last year have had 8 total surgeries to my eyes, lost the right one. Now I sit in front of my computer and wait for my kids and hubby to get home. Do homework with the kids, fix supper for the family and answer questions on answerbag as long as I can see through one eye and have a little information that I can share with the world. And that my friends, is the Reader's Digest version!
by travis bickle on November 16th, 2006
Anthony Bourdain.
by jt007m on December 2nd, 2006
Born 11/26/78. My Filipino/Spanish mother taught at an elementary in Camden, NJ and my Chinese father was gone by the time I was 2 years old. We always had an extended family (mom's) living with us - aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins.
Growing up, I was practically raised by my grandmother, spoiled by an aunt, and resented by my mother. I resented her as well. Anytime I would have something, it would be taken away and sent to the Philippines as a gift to one of my many cousins that she was helping get through medical school. Starting around age 8, I began playing piano. And with my mother working in an all African-American school, I was around a wide variety of music - tribal, gospel, R&B, and rock. My mother was also a leader in the Filipino Catholic community. She organized prayer groups, directed choirs, and helped rebuild parishes. (Remember the church in the 6th Sense? It was my mom's committee that got that church back on it's feet). On my own, I began to dabble in regional modeling and community acting. I even got into a JC Penny catalogue.
At 16, I moved out and came to live at my uncle's in Houston for my senior year. After graduating, I moved around from school to school as I tried to make it as an actor and a dancer.
By 21, everything was going great. I was living in NYC for the second time and I was working several jobs in the performing industry and even had a demo deal with a major label. That deal went south, but I had found validation.
In mid-2000, I moved to LA (without ever having visited) with my best friend. He left after a couple months without any luck, but I began to do really well. I got roles in plays, musicals, movies, and tv shows and I sang in several bands. I got caught up in the whirlwind of Hollywood. By late-2002, I was living in my car and had a physical addiction to heroin.
After a the death of Elliott Smith, I began to gather my wits and courage. In late February 2004, I drove from LA to Austin then Houston and quit heroin cold turkey.
I began to refocus on my music. In early, 2006 I released an album and then went on a national tour in the summer. After coming home from 2 months on the road, I'm back to playing shows in Houston and Austin, writing new material, and working as a production consultant. Then, in November, I found Answerbag while fact checking some lyrics. And the rest is history...
I could go into a lot more detail, but then who'd see the movie when it came out?
by Mrs.Dufresne on November 16th, 2006
Here's the extra ultra condensed version:
1974: Born
1988: Went to "Heaven"
Stayed in "Heaven" for 5 years
1993: Went to "Hell."
Stayed in "Hell" for 9 years and learned a hell of a lot.
2002: Was welcomed back into "Heaven".
and have stayed there ever since.
Moral of the story, Life is what you make it.
by RFlagg on November 16th, 2006
On March 16th 1992, I was born to a couple of bohiemian former Austinites in Portland Oregon.
I was an observent, calm child, that did''nt last long.
I was homeschooled up untill first grade, it was the worst year of my life. (The first grade, not the homeschooling.)
In early 2000 shortly after the birth of my sister, my family moved to Houston Texas, it's been going downhill since then.
Despite my frequent attempts to escape this place, we just can't get out.
I'm still homeschooled, and have no plans to become even halfway normal untill my planned move to Oregon, then, I will go into Highschool, and hopefully be happy.
EDIT- Or at least that was what I thought.
I now have no plans to move back, I will instead, someday, start out with my love and maybe one or two other close friends, on the road, in a van, stopping off in towns to torment people randomly, and then moving on.
by thinkin on November 16th, 2006
ok June 1 1977 born to an unwed 15 year old. Was going to be put up for adoption my mom backed out. Was raised by my grandparents for 2 and a half years after that. My mother and father finally got married and my mom became pregnant with my sister my father died 6 month later so again my grandparants raised me and my sister for a few more years. Then my mother meet an abusive cocain adicited drunk and had two more childeran with him. I was sent to reform school at the age of 14 and came home when i was 17 got pregnant and married then a year and a half latter got divorced. More to nevada for a while developed a meth habit there and almost lost my son. Got married to a man i only knew for a month ended in a fight and jail time 3 months later. Moved back to my home town to leave with my grandparents again and get my life straight. Meet a wonderful man that i am afraid to marry but have been with off and on for 11 years and we have 3 beautiful childran together. My motto is if i was to buy a cemetery ppl would stop dying. I have no luck unless it is to make my life worse. Well that covers 29 years of my life.
by amanda_0517 on December 12th, 2006
God my life story is LONG and confusing! I'll tell ya though. Let's see whn my mom was 4 months pregnant with me she got in a car accident killing my 2 year old sister so she went crazy and started doing every drug she could think of. I was born with some heart and health problems, but alive. She left me on the next door neighbors door step for a year I stayed htere my dad found me and he was already re-married so she adopted me. My dad started smoking weed and got very abusive with me and my mom, (my birth parents had a problem with me because they wanted my baby sister not me and because she died) Let's see so he went to jail for kidnapping me from school with a gun to my head didn't see him again until I was about 16 years old. I talk to him from time to time, I met my birth mom and that side of the family when I was about 12 years old. I don't have anything to do with them though. I quite school at 16 years old beacuse of everyone giving me problems and fighting with me. I moved out at 17 years old with my high school sweetheart and got married at 18 years old. We had lots of problems with him cheating and wanting other women. I was very depressed and starting doing METH got addicted and then after about a year I stopped because I went ot rehab, me and my husband found out I was pregnant. After 3 months of being pregnant I found out my baby didn't develope her heart so I had a miscarriage which was very hard and my husband was cheating on me with a lot of women out of town (TRUCK DRIVER) so I left him. My divorce was final this year. I haven't sen him since. Found out recently he gave me HPV which I've had to have a few surgery's for to get rid of. Still dealing with that my 2nd surgery is Jan. 2007! I have been with my fiance and his children for 7 months now. I moved in with him and we are doing great. Plan on getting married this next summer with a big formal wedding. I'm excited! Well that is about it that I can think of. I forgot to tell you my adopted mom had a little girl when I was 17 years old. She is 3 now and adorable! She's my baby girl! Well thanks for listening! LATER!
by TheAnswerer on November 16th, 2006
I grew up in Seoul, South Korea and moved to Vancouver, Canada when I was 4. Now I live by the hotel I stayed at when I visited the Rockies when I was 3. I have grown up to be a DJ on the net and also an AnswerBag Maniac. It is a fun life living in Vancouver!!! My life has a long ways to go and I will enjoy the rest of it well!!!
by staffie on December 20th, 2006
born in 1982 really early so was in hospital a while,
got a brother i n 1984.
life was good until i started secondary school.
started rebelling against parents in teenage years.
met my bf at 15 still together now
my mum died few yrs back
moved out at 17
went back at 20
moved back out at 24
battled with depression/anxiety
thats all really
by slc14xc on November 24th, 2006
born in '92! yeah im 90's child. born near boothwyn, PA. then when i was like 18 months we moved over to the windy city, chicago! then moved back to PA into lancaster!
pshh, my young childhood was just like any other.
but now i love sports, i've been playing soccer for 10-11 years now and our team is 13th in PA. i run cross country and i love it, soo far running as a freshman my 5K personal record in 19:06. i used to take moo-duk-kwan but due to school sports and such i dont have much time anymore. i am a second degree blue belt, 3 belts away from black. i love swimming, music. people say im wierd but i perfer unique. im a bad influence. teachers look out for me. cant listen to rap or country. love war movies.. and comedies. gonna go into the navy. im not a stoner. but i love party-ing and hanging out.
that pretty much me and my life soo far.
by FallenMan on October 30th, 2007
I am African-American. I think thats crucial :). My mother was a drug addict, when I was born it was me her and drugs against the world! (So she said) Although she kept trying to sell my diapers for money.. cant say that I was too happy about that, cant say that I knew what was happening.
My father took me from her (they never married :P something about drugs didnt appeal to him)and basically I grew up with a man who worked most of the time and had to figure out how to be a single parent with a demanding job. His solution? Babysitter.
From 6 months till I was about 14 I had this babysitter, which basically didnt suit me well because I wasnt allowed to go to anyones house and have anyone over. I was never home, and I never saw my father, except for a few hours of the day, and then when I was older, I saw him only in the mornings.
Not having a family, not really having long term friends (most of them had to be at the babbysitters and they left after a few months or a few years, got used to meeting new people) being black, shy, and a few other things made me question life at a very early age lol. Then as my life took a turn for the better, it took a turn for the worse.
My father found out he had cancer year 2001, and basically I spent most of the rest of my time fretting over the my fathers life, and being amazed at his amazing will power to do everything in his ability to remain alive. Cutting junk food cold turkey, excercising, taking a myraid of pills, researching and researching to try and stay alive. For himself, to be sure, but also for me. Love doesnt get much better than that.
Somewhere half way in this ordeal, my sister passed away (I had a brother and sister they were just in their 20's and on their own, and were children of my mother), my first taste of death in my older years. As the years wore on, my father deteroiated, and it taxed my very soul to have to witness my hero fade away. To be sure I wept over this, and struggled to keep my sanity.
Then this past year I witnessed the death of my grandmother, broken hip, brother, car related accident, my father finally died... His heart gave out while I was on a field trip, he phoned a friend, pleading for help, friend came too late.. my father died still fighting to keep a grasp on the threads of life.. and then my uncle died also of cancer. I was kicked out of my house, thrown back into the home of my babbysitters (God I dreaded the day I would have to return), and left without a soul in the world to comfort me. Truly that I survive to this day is a miracle beyond comprehension.
I am still in the process of putting myself in a position to be completely self sufficient, my father did leave me quite the estate, but sadly was unable to finish a will and so I have to go through the agony of probate... I cant really tell you why I'm still alive, but I can tell you that I appreciate every breathe given to me, and that I intend to hurdle every obstacle in my path. I will make my life every bit worth the effort my father put forth to provide for me. And that is my life story =P.
Also I should add that when I was younger I suppose I might of turned out to be those kids that slacked off, but I was given a tutor until I was in the 5th grade, which kept me in line. In the 6th i was determined to show I didnt need one so I worked my hardest, when I found out my father had cancer, I devoted my time to advancing myself in school, taking as many AP courses as possible, and burrying myself in video games. I turned out to be quite the intelligent little kid ;P. It was hard though, I was basically white washed, or basically I was articulate which meant, I was too white to hang with the blacks, I wasnt too black to hang out with everyone else, but I'm sure I gave a rather biased first impression... Iunno I kept to myself, I felt like it was me against the world, and Gah I truly think I touched on insanity, which really helped keep my sanity I truly do believe :P.
by bagless77 on March 25th, 2007
My mother was a sad woman that felt that her story could only be told by a man. She fell in love with my father, who left before I took my first breath in her miserable world. She dressed me in beautiful dresses and gave me a happy name and loved me with more passion than I have ever known her to have in all my life as her daughter. Then, it changed. As I grew and developed characteristics of my own and my thinking did not line up with her own, she turned on me. I became the wretched reminder of everything that was wrong with her. My act of living was the reason my father left. My little ways of approaching my environment were slaps in her face that told her she was a bad mother. She was poor and lonely and I was bringing her down. She married a man that loved me more than her and made that very clear. I was his princess and he loved being my daddy. My mother used this against him every time he would try to leave. She once tossed me on the hood of his car as he was speeding out of the driveway. He did get away when I was 8 after giving my mother a son. That was the day she told me he wasn’t my real Daddy so I didn’t need to be sad he was gone. My mother loved her little boy and cherished every moment with him. At the age of 15, I told my mom I felt like her old luggage. I felt that I used to be so new and I was beautiful and she took me out all of the time. Then one day she got new luggage with many more pockets. I was put into the closet as she remembered the fun we had, but it was really much better with her new bags. He was a legitimate child and he was her baby. I got involved in drugs and wasn’t doing very well in school, despite having tested at a 148 IQ. When I became pregnant at 16, I was sent away and no longer welcome in her home. I came back briefly after high school, but was on my way again within months. I settled in with the baby’s father, who beat me for a year. When I left, my mother had my child taken away, claiming that I was unstable. She got custody for a year and a half. I lived in my car until I luckily found another abusive man to take me in. I got pregnant again and after he fractured my rib when I was 7 months pregnant, I vowed to get out as soon as possible. I got an apartment and my little girl back and I thought things would be okay. I met a great man and we were to be married and I was happy. Then, one day I came home and he had moved out (after 2 years) and I never saw him again. I moved in with my best friend, went back to college, and met my husband. I wanted to get married right away as I was terrified of losing another man (what would we do without the little gifts from our parents?) and got pregnant right away. Nobody thought we would make it. We are here 4 years later and trying for a fourth child. I will be okay and each chapter of my life has brought me here and I will never look back, although I might take a photo album out once in a while. LOL
by Littlemisswallflower on December 23rd, 2006
I may be one of the youngest people on answerbag that actually takes it seriousley.
I was born at 10:13 PM in Pittsburgh, Pennsyvania on May 6th, 1993 (May 6th= Sigmund Freud's birthday as well :D)
I attended Catholic School until the grade of 2, at which time tuition became too much for my happily married parents to handle-- after all, my brother had just graduated from 8th grade, and my other two older brothers needed tuition payed as well.
From there, I attended Westwood Elementary School. There I met up with a friend I had met several years before at a park. I refused to hang out with her at lunch because of her "boyfriend" (how seriouse can 3rd graders get...) so I instead played with my cousin and also refused to talk to my now best friend.
I graduated elementary school with good grades.
Over the summer I got my tonsils and adnoids removed.
Now we move in to the extremley stupid years of my life.
6th grade was stupid. I had a horrible case of homophobia, started being what I called at the time "goth" and as a result looked like a little boy-girl. I was also convinced I loved this completley stupid guy- who I now hate, and ignored the guy I love now. That year I also became official best friends with my best friend now. In any case. The year ended. In a big way. With my eldest brother being shot SEVERAL times randomly for littereally NO reason at all. That made my sumer emotinally painful and insane. Luckily though he survived. I just lost all sense of security in my life.
That summer was annoying. I want to bible camp with my best friend, and suffered greatley-- that might have been because it wasn't my religion though, or because they were just WAY too uptight there.
7th grade. I fell in love. But I hated myself too. Enough to cut, and act like the typical self pitying "emo" that I was, writing dark poetry and talking about how I wanted to kill myself. The guy I love, loved me too, but we were both too shy and things happened, so I never got to be with him. I still love him though. Over the summer I got to thinking about how it was stupid I was feeling sorry for myself. Thus I decided to change. I am now in 8th grade. I dress brighter, am trying to bring up my grades, and am a MUCH happier person. I have also been losing weight since last December (I am currently at 140 from nearly 200 pounds). The only unfortunate thing is that I was diagnosed with Severe dismophia. I'm working on that. But I still believe I am the fattest and ugliest thing to hit the face of the earth. In October, my grandfather died. So that was depressing. Latley I've been getting depressed because I haven't got a real outlet to talk to someone about anything thats on my mind and people keep comming to me with their petty 8th grade issues. I love giving advice. Really I do. But sometimes I need a break. I am slowly getting better from my dismorphia (or at least trying) and I have a therapist. This is all the dark side of me. Other than that I'm loud, bubbly, energetic and have a wide aray of interests. So thats my life (in a nutshell). I also love giving answers on this site, and learning new things from it.
CONT. In 8th grade i developed an eating disorder
i am now in 10th grade, and weigh 115 lbs.
i have a boyfriend, bad grades, and enjoy research, cryptozoology, philosophy, and physics, and I am ashamed that I have been overcome with something as pathetic as an anorexia/bulimia. i think a lot, love space, and broad thinking.
im really open minded, and don't believe or disbelieve in anything.
i think i liked myself better in the past.
by ShellyNu on December 20th, 2006
Well...Born in Harare,Zimbabwe - July 17 1985.Moved to Botswana when I was 3.Started school when I was 4.5(they get you young there),and had a fabulous childhood.My parents ran teh SOS Children's Village there, so I had like, 140 kids to play with on a daily basis.And I was mates with pretty much all of them.Left Botswana in 1994,and moved to NIgel.To describe this town is very difficult.But here goes: if the world ever needed an enema, it would definitely pass through Nigel.And I got laughed at because I wore shoes to school.THAT kind of town.Only stayed there 5 months,because my dad had bought a plot across the road from my uncle, who is even more difficult than my dad(who's very hard to live with), and they fought, and we left.again. This time we ended up in a postcard town called Swellendam.It was beautiful.But very hard to live there,as we were one of maybe 2 or 3 English speaking families in the city.And we couldnt speak Afrikaans.Well, I learnt very fast, and now I am fluent.Out of necessity and nothing else. We only stayed there for 7 months, because it was just too much for me to have the crap beaten out of me every day just for speaking English.So we moved to Cape Town.Lasted there for a whole 3 years! It was great fun, and I made lifelong friends there. From there, after I had finished primary school, we moved to Johannesburg.My mom was so depressed,and wanted nothing better than to move back to CT,but my dad would have none of that,so we just learnt to live here.Now, aside from the crime, there is nowhere in the world I could imagine being happier.I did my 5 years of high school at a girls school - dont groan, I spent more time at the boys school than anywhere else.It hasnt always been easy to live like this,but it's the only way I know, and I think I've turned out pretty damn stable when I could have been a raving lunatic. My dad is 69, has 5 kids from a previous marriage, and is suffering from emphysema. My mom turned 50 this year, and is still battling along. She is my best friend.We worked together for 2.5 years at a transport company,but things started falling apart last year when we were held at gunpoint in our office,a nd beaten up and such.Not cool.Then at the end of last year we were retrenched (part of the reason was because we didnt fight hard enough with those b*stards with the guns for the money they took). We both hit severe depression, but managed to pull ourselves out of it.The fact taht it was an unlawful retrenchment helped tho...we demanded a decent payout, and I walked away with about 30 times more than I would have had it been lawful.YES, we milked it.So we took our packages and put them into a ladies boutique, which failed miserably,and has since closed.My mom got a job in April, I got one in September,a nd things are looking up again (*I whisper when I say that,because I dont want some vindictive god/dess with a warped sense of humour to hear and lay some more on me*) And between now and Xmas, we are moving house again. This time it's in the same city, which is a good thing. It will be house no 21 in as many years. So it's been a very bumpy adventure, but it's made me who I am today, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Except I'd like to be skinnier. :P
by timetogetserious on December 20th, 2006
Born in 1970 in Sydney Australia. Had a very tough and abusive childhood due to an alcoholic mother, mind you i only learnt this at 35.
Got decent grades at school, went to a private school. Much preferred sport though, represented my country as a junior in tennis. Gave up tennis and played rugby union thereafter.
Got married at 24 nd broke up at 29. Remarried and happy now, with 2 beautiful daughters, one 4 months and the 2 years.
Was very successful in my career, made to senior executive level by 34 and was making great money. Lost my last corporate office job due to politics and decided that was enough of corporate life for me, it hurt too much after i lost my dream job. These days happy running my own landscaping and garden maintenance business.
Plenty of living left to do in this life though !
by Simply msFortunate on December 12th, 2006
I was born under a Virgo sun and an Aquarius moon. Which, if you are wondering, makes for a very very odd individual.
I was raised by my mother (an overbearing Kindergarten teacher) and my father (an office worker bee of some type). My childhood was uninteresting and contained most of the same coming-of-age challenges and experiences as everyone else's. I scraped through school by the skin of my teeth, and by the time I graduated high school I was ready to clear out of small-town New Hampshire.
I thought it would be really cool to move out of my parents house and down to western Taxachusetts, at age 17.
WRONG.
Needless to say, I moved back to my parents' house within 6 months. And stayed there for 6 months, doing little more than eating and sleeping (and working about 15 hours a week at a record store). When I finally got around to moving out, I met a really nice man and married him (at age 19 - he is 14 years my senior).
Things have been good. I've spent the last few years playing receptionist for various companies. There have also been 6 tattoos and a love/hate relationship with booze (hey, that kinda rhymes!). Overall, it's been an interesting couple of decades...what I can remember of them...
by Anonymoose on December 12th, 2006
My life isn't nearly as interesting as some others on here but in the interests of answerbaggers everywhere I will give it a go.
Born in 1973 the youngest of 6 to middle class parents. Both parents married and just celebrated 50yrs of marriage. Went through grade school hell for 8 years(Don't be unpopular in a private school full of stuck up rich kids) Went to High School and did Ok there. Graduated and went to a tech college. Had one kid with High School Sweetheart. We married and had 2 more kids. Celebrated 12 years of marriage this year. Just bought our first house. The book is still being written and I am hope for one of those gushy, happily-ever-after endings.
by Amber757 on December 3rd, 2006
I was born in Virginia Beach, VA.
Parents had a wonderful marriage.
My dad was in the Navy.
He got stationed to Italy.
We moved to CA for 6 mths for him to learn Italian.
We moved to Italy.
Best 4 years of my life!
I was homeschooled from 4th-7th grade.
I Loved Italy so much.
I speak fluent Italian.
Last year in Italy my parents went through some differences.
My mom attempted suicide 3 times.
My life was horrible.
My mom leaned on me for support during this hard time.
I was under so much stress.
We moved back to Virginia Beach in June, 2006.
I am now an 8th grader at the smallest middle school in Virginia Beach.
I have lots of good friends and what happened in Italy seemed so long ago.
It still has a scar on my life but God is healing me.
My parents are still getting a divorce soon and it's definitely going to be life changing...
by 8 Jan 2004-10 Dec 2009 on December 2nd, 2006
It's a long, weird story that occasionally resembles Sci-Fi. Here is a brief list of highlights:
1973 - Born to a scared mom and abusive, mentally-ill father.
1979 - Mom kicks dad to the curb; raised by single mother from then on
1980 - House burns down 'mysteriously'; moved to new town
1980-1991 - Grew up, went to school. Gradually got more jaded, cynical, and smarter, though most of that was my own doing and not the school's.
1992 - Joined US Navy
1994 - Dropped from Nuke school; hit the fleet; met a nice girl
1994-1998 - See exciting new lands, meet exciting new people, and drink exciting new beers!
1998 - Left the Navy; moved back to Northeast US
2001 - Got married to that nice girl I met years ago
Most of the details in between are interesting as a whole, but individually not worthy of mention and too numerous to list even if they were. It's too bad really as those MANY little things add up to making me the bastard I am today.
by Namaste formerly future_health_educator on November 24th, 2006
I came, I asked, I learned, I failed, I learned, I loved.
by Faith111 on November 23rd, 2006
I try to choose:
Forgiveness over Venegence
Peace over War
Happiness over Sadness
Thankful Heart over Grumbling Soul
Life over Death
Love over Hate
Hope over Despair
Light over Darkness
Reasoning over Blind Faith (inclding faith in God by reason alone)
by EL1 2 on November 16th, 2006
My life story:
September 11, 1989: Born
June 29, 2078: Died
by FreshApples on November 16th, 2006
i'm only 13, so not too much to say, only that i live for the north-central steam engine show.
by Mr. McClister on November 16th, 2006
Well....August 20, 1987 Naples, Italy...The world changed that day...I was born. To sum up my life I am just going to say I kicked some ass and I rocked some roll. It has been pretty B*&((in and I am living by the motto "Keep on keepin on"
by Andy Is Wicked Married to Penal Colony on February 21st, 2008
We'd be here a long time if I told that story :)
by LinkinParkfan on May 19th, 2007
Both my parents grew up poor, my father did meth before the marriage. My father loved music, my mom loved books. My father was a cheat, he never payed the bills. My mom was an honest woman, and therefore took my two brothers, my sister and I and divorced him. I grew up on the coast of california and washington, then moved to Idaho where I started to develop a love for music, nursing it with the help of my friends and teachers. My friends would encourage me and my teachers would lend me instruments. If my father thought I cared about the instrument enough, he'd buy me one online. I am 13 now, and I play at least 15 instruments, all well. I plan to start a band and earn big bucks, or become a writer and earn big bucks, a backup for me is using my artistic skill in drafting, to do album designs for huge bands. Thanks for asking, I needed to get it all out.
by incredible on January 23rd, 2007
I think that Brian's story is amazing so am not sure if mine will be as great but here goes:
I was born in Sweden and grew up in Britain and in 1974 when I was one year's old, my dad had left my mother and because he was babysitting me whilst drunk and nearly set me and the cot on fire. I never knew who my dad was and then along came my step-father.
He began abusing me and my brother right from the beginning physically and sexually. My mother was always throwing hot irons at my brother for spray painting cars in response to what was going on at home and she was a violent mother too. I used to play a lot by myself and wandered around empty parks and would attract the attention of an old lady who'd give me food I was always hungry!. Then one day when I was three and half years old, my mom had my sister I had no idea she was coming into the world.
She was my step-father's natural child and so was loved so much and me and my brother had to keep away from her. My step father began to make bruises on my legs from the abuse and social services came to sort it out. I was taken away to live in a home with other children and found it really hard to fit in. My mother didn't seem sad that I had gone and I just had to get on with it. I was happy to be going away from my family and because of what they were doing to me and I was very unhappy as any child in that situation would be. I lived at a foster home for that year until I was just over the age of four and was being sexually abused there too by the male forster parent who was suppossed to be a trusting carer. I only ever saw my mom once whilst she was on a visit but she was holding my sister and didn't seem interested or hapy to want to be there and so it was a sad experience for me.
I came home when I was four and a half and don't remember whether my brother was there or not, but he seemed to be absent all of the time. My step father began to abuse me all over again and sexually too. He was violent and used to beat my mother all of the time and was a well known boxing champ and feared by everyone in the village. He used to hurt my brother badly too and did the same to him as he did to me but everyone either liked him or feared him. I had no one I could tell about what was happening to me and because my mother was too afraid, I just kept quiet about it all in case he did something very awful to me and my family.
When I was six years old, I could not read or write and because of the traumatization of what I had gone through and the constant fear of my home life. I was sent to a special needs school at eight years of age because I could not focus upon my schooling. I was bullied by other kids for being quiet and reserved and often called a spastic.
I was almost fifteen when I told my mother who already knew and then was taken away into foster care. I hated foster care and could not adapt to my new life and so became rebellious and began running away and bunking off school. I still saw my mom but she was still with my step father and so each time I saw her it got harder for me to want to when all she would do was talk about him. I went off the rails at 18 and took a large overdose of pills and nearly died but survived.
I began my education in my twenties and could read and write by the time I was 21 and did some qualifications in english and maths I struggled with but got through it all. I met my first boyfriend when I was 21 and he was gay but he and I fell in love and got together. We travelled and I lived in Canada for three months visiting his parents which was an amazing experience. We lived in Scotland and all over Britain in the five years we were together. We split up after five years because he wanted to travel more and I wanted to focus upon my studies conscious that I still had a lot to do. I did an undergraduate diploma in Social work studies but only completed one year due to a guy I met who took me away and abused my trust in him. I was left abandoned in the middle of nowhere in the country by him and we were living in a tent for six months before that. I then moved back to Coventry where I once lived and got myself back up on my feet and got a job as a care worker for people with learning behaviours.
I also began counselling to finally talk about and deal with my childhood past that had been such a painful experience and what had contributed to the decisions I had made in my young adult life. I have had therapy on and off for ten years.
I then met my third boyfriend who was homeless and who I took in and looked after. He turned out to be bisexual and confused about what he wanted and kept taking money from me. He and I went to University together in Wales and he began to ruin my education with his behaviour of stalking me after we split up and made my time very hard and so I felt forced to leave my course and University. I had completed two years of a history degree.
I then met david, my fourth partner who was a lot older than me and who was a very enigmatic man with so many interests. I quickly warmed to him and he took me in and soon, became his lover. He began beating me and controlling me and I ended up in a woman's refuge after a year of being with him. I then came to Surrey just over two years ago now and have been single ever since David and have worked but am keen to complete my degree so that I can become something. I am 33 and have done a lot for my age and have given up smoking for the first time in ten years four weeks ago.
I want to have the quality of life I deserve now and would like to be married and have children too, but not sure if that will happen as I am stil a long way trusting men after my experiences. I would ideally like to be a graphic designer or book illustrator and writer, not sure if I can make it there, but will try my best as I am full of courage, but I am a survivor and very proud of that.
by kitty loves you on January 5th, 2007
Born to my parents in Winter 1966, my brother followed in 1968. My Mother left us asleep in our cribs whilst my Dad was working nights and never returned, I was 2 at the time and my bro was just a baby, she left us for an ex boyfriend.
My Dad struggled to cope looking after us and holding down a job so we were shipped off to Ireland to stay with family.
As I was missing my Mum, I gave them all a hard time and was promptly shipped back to England to stay with various relatives, also giving them a hard time as by now I was missing my Mum, my Dad, and my brother.
My Mum came back on the scene when I was about 5, and she won custody of me, but not my bro, who was and still is to this day living in Ireland, but her boyfriend didn,t much like kids so I stayed with my Mums mum, (I would refer to her as Nanna, but it wouldn,t be a deserved title for her)
I gave her hell, basically because she gave me hell in the first place, so by the time I was 8 I was shipped off to Scotland to live with my Dad, which made me really happy until i realised I had been landed with the wicked-step-mother-from-hell, so I continued to move around from one family member to another, and finally settling with my Dads Mum, who I love dearly. She and my Grandad ran a pub/restaurant but still managed to bring me up the best they could.
I left home at 16, got my own place and had 3 jobs and a whale of a time, until I fell pregnant, got married at 18, and by 21 I had 2 kids, a mortagage up to the hilt, half of a business, a husband with a roaming eye and one god almighty headache.
So, after 7 years of un-wedded bliss I got divorced, never got a penny from the sale of the house or the business, but I had my health and my kids and I have never looked back since!
by Knopper67 on December 22nd, 2006
I lived. I died. Then for some strange reason I'm alive again.
by Firebrand on December 21st, 2006
Born a first child
Exist
Waiting to die
(not too soon I hope) I need time to write my fabulous story but my typing needs to improve a lot first.
by trampp on September 21st, 2008
been here done that
by naturesgurl on October 2nd, 2007
I was born in 1982. To a women who didn't really want me. My father left, her to raise me by herself. Thier stories conflict with one another, but I only believe one. My mother, was a women who would sit in the bar all night long, and come home drunk with this man, and that one. She was married at one point to a decent guy and cheated on him with her sister's brother in law. Soon after that divorce, she got with an abusive man, who not only beat her on a regular basis, but me also. finally after the years of abuse from him, she finally got the balls to leave. She then met a nice guy who wanted to marry her, no abuse just a nice all around guy. Of course since he treated her right and me to, it wasnt good enough for her. She soon met the man that would ruin my life... Another abusive man, not only physically, or emotional, But sexually. I was raped and molested by this man for about three years, under my mothers nose. She even walked in on him messing with me and turned around and walked out to let him finish. I soon had my first suicidal experience, winding up in the hospital. My mother would tell me that i was no good, worthless and ungreatfull all the time.
Finally after the years of her lying to me about who my father was i found out the truth, only for her to tell me he was no good and never could love me. I started to spend time with him and his new family. I learned alot of truths from him. I found out they were truths by asking my grandmother who was almost always present when he would stop. He tried to get to know me for years, only to be shut down by my mother. About a year after meeting my father my mother kicks me out. I move in with him, she had no problem signing me over to a no good "piece of shit" as she put it.
After living there for awhile, and my mother not calling having any contact with me, I confessed to my dad what my stepfather was doing to me. He told me to call my mother, only to hear her say 'IF it happened you wanted it to.." after the hearing i didnt hear from her again until i was 18.
Fast foward, I was doing fine, i had my father in my life, didnt have to worry about if there would be clean clothes to wear to school. Or if there would be something other then mac and cheese with hotdogs cut up in it for dinner. I ate real food, and had nice clothes that were always clean. I did well in school.Had relationships, that some needed to end sooner then others. I worked hard in high school. Found the man of my dreams, got married, and we are trying to buy a bigger home, because we are trying to have a family. I have fertility issues, and finally found a doctor willing to treat me. I take care of my grandmother who has parkinsons, amongst other things.
I have three dogs, and a cat. I love animals. i have a pitbull, pug, and a german separd mix. My cat is a polydactyl kitty that kinda resembles a raggamuffin cat. They all get along great!
by joshwardman on September 11th, 2007
do you mean in detail
well ill summerise as i work 80 hours a week
Born 1988 12th september
raised in a small village in a not so perfect family beaten as a child has seen many terrible things through the eyes of a four year old
was in a coma from being run over on my own street
moved to a town
had no friends bullied through school as people have made me out to be gay
left school went to work in a factory had my first kiss just before turning 18 had three girlfriends
kept my mum from killing herself in a string of suicide attempts having no recolection of my dad no father figure i aim to far better then that bastard could ever be
survived an arson attack on my house
am with my current girlfriend and it will be our 6 months and my birthday tommorow
im only 18 so its not very long
but i am a registered organ donar and give alot to charity
by SMores on August 16th, 2007
Born
Raised by mom
Dad never was really home that much
home schooled
never had friends
showed horses (still am to)
parents got divorced
moved to a small town
started going to public school in 4th grade
i was smart
i eventually became popular around 7th grade (last year)
just cuz i got along with everyone
started wondering about the bigger things in life
like what do i want to do with my life when i get older
i came up with 3 careers that i want to pursue
Acting,Photography(modeling maybe), and Journalism
and now im checking my email and talking on msn
and writing a very short list of my life story
LOL theres alot more things that happened to me but.. im to lazy to wirte them all down lol
by devilspunchbowl on August 1st, 2007
I'm 15 now...
My life has been a series of moving around to different countries up until I was 9..
At 12, I began my spiral into drugs...
By the age of 13, I was an LSD/cocaine addict..."red flag" ADDAC called it...
the presence of my current 18 year olf boyfriend, my "over developed" body and my 17, 18 year old druggie friends didn't help...
the junior high i went to consisted of half of grade seven on some kind of drug permanantley...
i moved schools (again, the 17th one) as my parents hoped i'd snap out of the cocaine..
i didnt. i got kicked out of that school for innappropiate sexual behaviors. i was 14.
before my 15th birthday, i was taken to the hospital for a cocaine overdose...i was in there for 2 months.
i was sent to an "alternative" school, and fell in love with it.
i have been clean for 6 months now and yes, it is as hard as hell.
however, i have continued dancing and riding horses...
and have currentley been given a scholarship to train in dance studies in new york after high school.
so my life has been a whirlwind of drugs, alchoal and overall stupidity. Luckily I didn't get into too much crime (well, that I got caight for) and I didn't sleep around...
So nothing unfixable!
by Tarot2757 on July 25th, 2007
Ok, where to start, I was born in 1957(as far as I know) the reason i say this will become apparent for anyone who reads this, the woman I called mother may or may not have been my real birth mother and my father I have never seen all I know of him is he may have been native American. I have lived in England as long as I can remember and the first ten years of my life are a blank to me for one reason or another.
I was moved from school to school and house to house quite regularly sometimes because the job my mother did
sometimes for other reasons that at a young age made no diff to me.
When I was old enough I enlisted in the Royal navy and served six years, was married once (failed my fault no idea what marriage meant and well temptation got in the way) after this I had a few jobs here and there not sure of what I wanted.
eventually became a vehicle mechanic and went to work, two years later had a gear box dropped on me from a height (not my fault) and that was that, so decided computers were the way to go.
At age thirty eight had to apply for for new birth certificate no prob you may think but this was where things got really out of whack. Sent off information required to relavent offices, waited and waited and waited, "ok" says I and made phone calls only to find out some strange facts. Fact one: the hospital I was supposedly born at did not nor ever had existed, Fact two: the county was real but the town or village therin was not in that county but a long ways away, Fact three: they had checked this place as well in case I had made the mistake and nope no hospital there either in fact registra had never had anyone with my surname or first name at the time born on that date.
Ok so I go fish microfish that is, and with a great deal of investigating and time I find that the name I had been using given to me by my mother or I assumed does not nor did not exist and her surname was also false.(complicated aint it)
No father that I knew of at the time, and now no mother(birth mother that is) more digging i find the sister I thought I had I dont the family I have are not biological family and no one wants to tell me where I came from, but hey Im having a wonderfull time right? however there is an upside to all this I met a wonderfull woman we have been together now twenty four years (not married) have two kids a boy my stepson and a girl my daughter, I have a name now mine by right and a family that is groing as my son is hitched and my daughter has a terrific fella with a good job good parents and great prospects I have two grandchildren from my son and his significant other.
I work when I am able as I am disabled now still with computers building upgrade and so on and have my belife in things of a spiritual nature, I am not rich in money but in the things that matter in this life I have everything I need.
Alls well that ends well as they say, so to all who read this, Be happy, stay well, and may the spirits shine their blessing on you each day.
by faithfulvisions freebagger on May 29th, 2007
I was born on April 10th, 1937 to the late Idessa Butler and Willie Butler- 96 years old. I was born at 6:35 am on April 10th. I am the seventh child born to this union. I am also the baby of this union.
My mother died in 1938. She had a stroke. She was in labor (childbirth). During those day's there wasn't many doctors and if there was a doctor, he was miles away. Transportation was by wagon or car that had a crank. You know crank up the car more. Medical care was not given in time as a result my mother died. I never saw a picture of my mom. In those days the family photos were usually kept in a bible. Well the houses burned down the picture was in the bible it burned up. Although I never say my mom, I do have strong memories of her. Every chance I get, I ask people about her. They said she was a beautiful black woman, kind and loving. The night before she died she washed all of our clothes, gathered a lot of food, prayed over each child individually and instructed my father to take good care of her children and gave up the ghost, died 1938.
I was named after my grandmother Mary Eubanks. My grandmother asked my dad if she could raise me and dad consented. I lived with my grandmother from 9 months 'til I was thirteen years old, because she was getting older, I was getting older where I needed more attention when I was fourteen I went to live with my father and step mother who lived in the city McComb, Mississippi. I am the first of my immediate family to finish high school. I attended Amite County grammar school for eight years. I used to walk on the dirt road through the pastures and fields for three miles each way. I never had any one to help me with my lesson, but I never failed a class. Thank God. My life with my grandmother was good, however she had her younger children there, my Uncle Charlie and Uncle Bud. She was so busy raising her kids and all the other kids and grandkids until she couldn't keep watch over us. My uncles Charlie and Bud would rape me and then tell me if you tell I am going to beat you up. So, I didn't tell. I was too afraid. I was so uncomfortable from the men you know there were grown and I was a little girl. Sometime I was too sore to play. My grandmother would say, "Honey, what's wrong?" Of course, I didn't tell her because I was afraid to tell. I was very lonely and afraid.
I also had a "mean old grandfather". They were sharecroppers who farmed from March to October. They never made any clear money. After each season Mr. Son McCurrun would say, "You didn't clear any money". So we worked again, again and again no profit.
My grandfather Jim Eubanks would get drunk every weekend. He was so mean to my grandmother. He would get drunk and come home and threaten to kill us. My grandmother would get all of us out of bed and we would to hide in the woods. I wasn't as afraid of him as I was the darkness and the snakes! It always amazed me that my grandmother would accept that kind of treatment. However after having my own family, I can understand that back in those days, there wasn't an alternative. We made it through each farm season. I couldn't understand either, how one could work over and over again year after year and not clear any profit. I was young, but I wasn't dumb. In those days, you dare not speak your mind, you wouldn't know if you'd get a hand slap across your mouth or a belting on your naked behind.
Memories of my sisters and brothers
Sometimes, I would go to visit my other sister's and brothers who lived about ten miles west of me, my one sister L.V. who is three and a half years older that me, was always jealous of me. She would fool me to come home. Honey I have a doll, some new clothes etc. When I would get a long way from my grandmother and visit my siblings they didn't have anything. My sister would fool me and when I would get there it was another trick. She played that trick over and over again. She's still playing the same old games. She's 64 years old. L.V. have always been jealous of me. She still is today. She seems to always find some way to hurt me.
Once she confessed to me about her jealousy, she got pregnant at fourteen, got married at fifteen. She had six children by the time she was 20. On the other hand, I was very popular in high school and she wanted to be like me. She explained this to me and she asked me to forgive her. I did. I said to myself this is final, all over, but it was only temporary. It's worst now. In fact, she is vicious, angry, mad, mean, and it's scary. I am actually afraid to be alone with her because she has so much anger and bitterness and forgiveness. When I point out these things to her she gets violent so I had to pray forgive her and stay away from her hoping she'll come to herself before it's too late.
My oldest sister Essie Lee is 71 years old. I stayed (lived) with her for two years, my sophomore through graduation. She was as nice to me as she knew how to be. She was a widow. Her husband got killed in World War II. She drank a lot, but when she was sober she was like a mother. I learned from her mistake. I promised myself that I would never drink.
My oldest brother Jimmy Lee is 68 years old. He is my big brother. He and his wife have seven children. Jimmy Lee is quite a guy. He had his home build from the ground 30 years ago. We didn't think he had a dime because he always played broke, but he did. He said he would spend fifty cents and save fifty cents. That's how he was able to build a new brick home. He lives in McComb, Ms.
My sister Idessa Coleman died in 1979. She had lung cancer. She was a jewel, kind, sweet. She had four children. She was one of the first people's to help integrate the schools in Mississippi. She was also one of the first blacks to work in a factory in Mississippi. Her boss liked her so much that when she died; he hired her oldest son to replace her. He's still there as a supervisor.
My brother Robert (66 years old) who was married for 28 years, is responsible for me being here in Chicago. He and his wife used to buy me clothes when I was in high school. Robert is the brain in the family. He started his own business way back in 1960. He started washing big trucks and now he has a construction company called father and son. They had seven children. Their fourth child died in 1970, Pamela of sickle cell anemia, which is a family trait. Their oldest daughter Linda was a mother of three and a registered nurse died at age 37, five years ago. She had asthma. She was like a daughter.
My brother Edward (62 years old) has four children. Edward just retired from Pepsi-Cola after 38 years employed. He is the manipulative and control one in the family. If you have an idea he'll take it and tell you what to pay. I used to really get upset over it, but I've learned to let him do what he wants and if I don't approve it, I won't participate.
My brother Theodore is 47 years old. He was like a genius in school. He went to Vietnam. He had a nervous breakdown, now he lives in a half way house for mental disturbed people.
My sister Johnnye Ruth is 45 and has two boys. We are very close. She recently moved to Atlanta, Ga., formerly of Grand Rapids, Mi. She works for General Motors. Johnny and I can talk for hours and days. We are very good friends.
Velma is 50 years old and has three children. While growing up we were cousins (Smile) My dad and Velma's mother were dating shortly after my mother died. Velma's mother was my mother's niece. (Oh!) So they lied and said we were cousins. When Velma was 20 years old she was told the truth. It was difficult at first, because Velma blamed the family, my sisters and brothers. Later, we became friends, but after she met Johnnye Ruth, she went back in her own world. She won't return phone calls or anything. See Johnnye Ruth, Theodore, and Velma are from three different women my father was married to Johnnye Ruth and Theodore mothers.
Memories of my Grandparents
My grandmother on my mother's side of the family was Mary Eubanks. She raised me because my mother Idella Butler died when I was less than a year old. She was a good grandma. She worked very hard to care for her children and a host of other grandchildren. I can remember walking for miles with my grandmother to work. She used to go and wash clothes for the Caucasian people. Her pay was 50 cents a day. She would draw the well water, wash the clothes, rub them on a rub board, hang the clothes out on the clothesline to let them dry, then she would take them down, iron them and put them away all for 50 cents and whatever meats, flour or other commodities the people would give her. My grandmother really loved me. I was named after her and I was her deceased daughter's baby, therefore, I was special. It caused a lot of problems within my immediate family, because my siblings were not treated as well with my dad and stepmother. So, whenever I would go to visit them they would be real mean to me.
My grandfather on my mother's side was so mean to my grandmother and their children, but not to me.
I don't remember my grandmother on my dad's side, However, I remember my grandfather. He was mean! He had a stiff leg. He was considered rich for a black man in the early 1900's. He owned a lot of land. The land was rich in produce. He had peaches, pears, apples, cherries, grapes, pecans, walnuts. He also had hired people working for him. Before he died in the late 1940's, he asked my dad not so sell the land, but to keep it in the family. My dad had two sisters and eight brothers. My dad didn't listen to his dad. Several years after my grandfather died my father sold the property. Several monthes later oil was found on the property. My dad sold the land for $10,000 and each sibling received $1000 each. My dad really felt bad after the oil was found on the land, because he didn't listen to his father. My brother, Robert had offered to buy the land to keep it is the family, but my father didn't listen to him either.
High School
I started High school, Burglund High School McComb, Mo. My principle was Mr. C.D. Higgins. My favorite teacher was Ms. Ginn. Here to the right is her picture. Ms. Ginn was so stern they called her Sergeant. So, no one failed her class. She didn't allow it. She is still alive today, in California and she is 100 years old. That is a long ways from Tylertown, Ms.! She was a great woman, stern, but good. You couldn't get away from anything! I am truly grateful for Mrs. Ginn because she helped to instill in me the highest. I became an "A" student in math and Algebra because of her sternness.
The subject I liked best is school was Home Economics. The reason I liked it was because I liked to cook and sew. My second favorite was math. Back then they called it Arithmetic. History was my third favorite, english fourth. I was also in the band where I was in and out. I started with the flute and the piano. I wasn't consistent, I was a drop out.
I was a cheerleader for four years. I was very popular in school. I dated the fooodball stars. I had four good girlfriends, Mable, Dora Mae, Deloris and Laverne. Laverne was my favorite friend. We decided to tell each other everything about our lives including sex. The way we became friends was that Laverne was thin and cute, and I was heavy. I was jealous of her. I would tease her. One day our ninth grade teacher, Miss Wade over heard us arguing she said, "Go outside and fight!" We went outside and became friends. She is still my best friend today after 46 years. Amen. Laverne didn't keep her promise about telling all her secrets. When we were in the tenth grade, there was a rumor going around in class, Laverne is pregnant. I got so angry and I said "No, She's not. She's not having sex." But when I went to Laverne, she started crying and she said, "Mary I am pregnant." I was so angry and shocked. I had introduced Laverne to my friend Robert. They eventually got married. Laverne had to loose a year out of school to have her baby. She graduated in 1957, a year after I graduated. You can see I have a pattern of people disappointing me for years.
After graduating from high school I moved to Chicago, Il. And Lavern and Robert moved to Milwaukee, Wi. She and Robert got a divorce 14 years later. However, I spent I year with them in 1963 when I divorce my own husband. They were good to my son and me. Gregory, my son was 6 years old and Laverne's son Robert was 8 and her son Reginald was 5. Laverne is presently married to Isiah. Robert, Laverne and Isaih are very good friends today.
I graduated from high school May 29, 1956, and I came to Chicago on September 1, 1957. I was so happy to see the bright lights in Chicago, only to discover the next morning, that it was dirty.
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Comments
Haha, I actually read it all, you interesting person you! Ooh, I met a real-life Buddhist (you're just a fake digital person). He's really cool!
by Fisherofman on November 16th, 2006
A real-life Buddhist? Did he glow in the dark? I've always wanted to see one of those -- but my Mom wouldn't take me to the freak show.
by Stableboy on November 16th, 2006
Yeah, your awesome.
by travis bickle on November 16th, 2006
I don't know! But he DID have sort of a...OK, imagination ran out, good night.
by Fisherofman on November 16th, 2006
So even heroes have flaws! Nice story, thanks for taking the time to answer it. No wonder you're such a great answerer; you have gone through such a journey. Thanks for sharing those personal details.
by EL1 2 on November 17th, 2006
That would actually make a good book.
by lady fuschia on November 17th, 2006
Thanks -- but where would I find time to write a book? There's 168 unanswered questions still in "What's that pill"...
by Stableboy on November 17th, 2006
Wow..48 years old...how's it feel to be an old guy?
by ptrask on November 17th, 2006
I believe you are one year younger, grasshopper. You'll know the answer soon.
by Stableboy on November 17th, 2006
As long as I don't have to snatch your balls...er...I mean snatch a ball from your hand!
by ptrask on November 17th, 2006
What LP were you in?
by ptrask on November 29th, 2006
YOU ARE P.K.! Another similarity between us. I am a methodist minister's kid.
by zazzy_one on December 2nd, 2006
Leave it to you to answer this question which for many would entail a complex and long story, succinctly. I can't do it, or maybe I just think it will be too painful to recount. Props to you (and a rating). "To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent." And diligent you are.
by justinoldguy on December 2nd, 2006
That's a great quote. Wish I'd gone to college so I recognized it!
by Stableboy on December 2nd, 2006
I like that. I was prepared to write a book when I seen the question. u summed your life up in a few paragraphs and it was super...kudos guy!
by Colton44 on December 5th, 2006
Thanks. Data compression is my hobby.
by Stableboy on December 5th, 2006
Its wonderful that you found Zen practice...I have also been dabbling in it - need to find inner peace....good luck!
by Sarita1 Goes Bollywood on December 5th, 2006
Do you have a teacher? I really recommend having a teacher; it's tough territory to navigate solo.
by Stableboy on December 9th, 2006
My husband is really into zen and ayurveda and the sutras and chinese mediation and I kind of dabble as I watch him and I pick up a few of his books and look through them. I Really like to listen to Master Sheng Yen. He is credited, locally as well as internationally, for sparking a revival of Chinese Buddhism.
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama once described Master Sheng Yen as "extremely modest, a true spiritual practitioner of deep and broad learning." Master Sheng Yen was also appointed as one of the chairs of the World Council of Religious Leaders.
I watch his program "Dharma Drum" where he is asked questions and he gives some simple yet deep answers.
by Sarita1 Goes Bollywood on December 11th, 2006
Sounds like a sharp sharp guy. I don't know him. And I've sure never heard of a television program hosted by a Buddhist teacher! Talk about a tough sell to the advertisers! :-)
by Stableboy on December 11th, 2006
i'm not the biggest fan of reading on others, but this was particularly interesting for many reasons. thx for sharing :)
by Tinkabelle on December 27th, 2006
Very interesting story, I can relate more than you could imagine.
by Brickson on January 4th, 2007
All of these things that you have been through make you the person you are today...and a very popular one at that!
by kitty loves you on January 5th, 2007
Thanks dear. Tell that to the folks who want to ring my neck and I'll get you an extra 20 points! :-)
by Stableboy on January 5th, 2007
Job done!
by kitty loves you on January 5th, 2007
Really? And how would you know who wants to wring my neck?
by Stableboy on January 5th, 2007
LOL! Right next to "For a good time, call Jenny @867-5309"
by Stableboy on January 5th, 2007
Oh, right. ~~~~ anyway, as long as we're on the Katkit topic, how about pressuring her to return to the self-portrait avatar? My gun is empty, it needs a woman's touch.
by Stableboy on January 5th, 2007
"To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent" --- This is an old Zen Buddhist quote.
by Anonymous on February 3rd, 2007
Wow. I just read this, I can't believe I hadn't already! I never had a clue about loads of that stuff, very interesting!
by Carmella on February 8th, 2007
Take a look at the bottom of this category. I broke one of my own rules by posting an answer to this question.
by Anonymous on February 9th, 2007
Wow, indeed. You are eternally interesting and intriguing. Like a U.F.O, only less .. glowy :)
by PrettyPirate on May 22nd, 2007
Thanks... we've come for your offspring, btw. Get busy.
by Stableboy on May 22nd, 2007
Ahh, interesting story, that, and funny you should mention it. Will pop you an email.
by PrettyPirate on May 22nd, 2007
That would make a good bedtime story if I get kids.
by LinkinParkfan on May 23rd, 2007
Beautiful family, and I hope your life hasnt really gone down the toilet again =[.
by FallenMan on October 30th, 2007
Wonderful. But I was just wondering - have you become an atheist?
by ACCOUNT CLOSED on December 21st, 2007
No... what gave you that idea?
by Stableboy on December 21st, 2007
I sense a misplaced comment, terisa! :)
by Stableboy on January 20th, 2008
Gosh what a wonderful story, Im glad someone has finally found peace. Heartening. God Bless.
by Wisdoms Words on September 5th, 2008
nice life story ^.^
by sheridan on October 15th, 2008
I'm with you mate. some times the one starts to think about these big questions a lot.
since you read a lot and you seem open-minded...I want you to think of me as a blink in you're life.with out judging each other i mean.
first you ask what is the purpose of our life?
i tell you it's to worship Allah the all mighty..
second thing you ask..is there a god?
i say there's a god because if you look at how much the world organized in little details..(science,human body, nature..) there are a lot of variables in the universe yet it keeps it chronological and systematic order...all of that by the power of The all mighty (Allah)..
and there's only one god because if there's more than one god you would notice a two types of creation in every thing and they would have wanted different things and eventually ruined the universe.bottom line there's only one god which is i believe Allah.
i open a little door for you to seek the truth..there are other big questions (Islam ) answers for you such as
by rocketeer on January 31st, 2009
what happens after we pass away?
by rocketeer on January 31st, 2009
Stableboy is a Buddhist and doesn't have much time for proselytizing, I suggest you don't bother. It's disrespectful, amongst other things.
by Carmella on January 31st, 2009
what makes you think that being a Buddhist helped him with his big questions..may be there's still questions that he doesn't know>>>
i say he can know how Islam answers these questions...
i found peace within my self in Islam my be he would...
by rocketeer on February 1st, 2009
I'm Stableboy's fiancee. He's a Buddhist, as he states very clearly in his answer. He's got absolutely no interest in converting to Islam and why you think he would is odd.
by Carmella on February 1st, 2009
lol...
by FallenMan on February 2nd, 2009
Nice story.
by Flipp3r on April 4th, 2009
Thankyou for your story Stableboy :)
by Kuche Nawa on May 9th, 2009
WTF? Fiancee? When did that happen?
by ptrask on May 10th, 2009
I thought you knew! We've been together 18 months, engaged for over a year :)
by Carmella on May 10th, 2009
Congratulations Carmella.
by Anonymous on May 10th, 2009
Thanks! Who were you before you became Anon?
by Carmella on May 10th, 2009
You once knew me as petrusromanus. Tell SB to drop me an e-mail:)
by Anonymous on May 10th, 2009
Ah, petrus! Consider it done.
by Carmella on May 10th, 2009
Hi petrus!
It's a dang thing about life stories that they refuse to stay neatly encapsulated in an answer ... until you're dead, at least :)
Sorry, Peter. I was sure you knew too. It's hard to keep track. :)
by HasntBeen on May 12th, 2009
I knew you guys were together (although I'm still not sure which one of you crossed the pond!) I just didn't know you were engaged. Congratulations!
by ptrask on May 12th, 2009
Thanks! I'm thinking maybe we should convert to Islam so there are fewer "differences of opinion". One thing the Prophet definitely got straight: the man's in charge, yes? :)
by HasntBeen on May 12th, 2009
Horrors...differences of opinions...gasp! You guys must not be compatible! :-)
by ptrask on May 12th, 2009