30 Day Meme - Part the First
OK, so my last post was a bit of a downer and I don't like to concentrate on the negative. As a side note, I have an appointment with the gastroenterologist tomorrow and should be scheduling the procedure for next week.
I have been inspired by devoosha to post this and so I will. It might be hard to do it on a daily basis because we will be going on vacation in a couple of weeks, but I will do my best.
Day 01 - Introduce yourself, in great detail
Well, I started to post this last night but ran out of steam. I'll try again now.
I was born in Brighton Beach which is in Brooklyn, NY and we lived there until I was 8. We lived blocks away from the famous Coney Island amusement park and we used to go there very often. I can remember the long walks home from the beach, whining all the way. My mom would buy me an Italian ice which lasted about 3/4 of the way home and then the whining level increased to epic proportions. I remember hanging out on the room of our brownstone with my friend Gracie Bell in our white nightgowns watching the fireworks every Friday and Saturday night. We used to eat bunches of grapes while we oohed and aahed at the spectacle.
When I was 8 we moved to Levittown, on Long Island. This was a HUGE change - totally different world. Brooklyn was noisy, crowded, people everywhere, everything in walking distance. Levittown was the suburbs - deserted, empty, quiet and seemed completely removed from anything interesting. Eventually I got used to it and learned to love riding my bike all over the neighborhood, climbing the apple tree in the front yard and the willow tree in the back yard. I never really felt like I fit in, but then I've never really felt like a true New Yorker, even though I have lived here all my life. I guess that is why I want to move to Vermont so much. That's where I belong.
I've always had a chameleon personality - I can get along with almost anyone by adapting to their interests. In high school I had friends from almost every clique there was. I was friends with the jocks, the artsy crowd, the stoners and the brainiacs. I was pretty much a brain too - took all AP classes and really liked school.
Went to college in Buffalo, NY. It was as far as I could get from my parents. I always had a rather up and down relationship with my parents. They were teachers, great with other people's children - not so much with their own. As regular readers of this journal know, I have an older brother who is a quintessential waste of space. We have no relationship and I do not honestly know if he is alive or dead at this point. My parents were devoted to each other and probably should not have had children, but that was what was expected of a married couple in the 1950s, so they did. Their emphasis was on my brother - first born, male, etc. I was an afterthought and I knew it. I never got in trouble, made straight As and was the classic "good girl". Didn't matter. I couldn't get their attention if I set my hair on fire.
We were heavy on the cultural events in my family. I honestly cannot count the numbers of concerts, Broadway shows, museums and other events that we attended. We also went camping every summer from the end of June to the beginning of September, when school started up again. My parents were both public school teachers, so they had the same summer vacation I did. Almost all of their friends were teachers too, so I didn't know anyone who worked in the corporate world. I thought everyone had the whole summer off. When I entered the workforce as an adult, the concept of 2 weeks vacation time came as quite a shock.
College was liberating and scary and fun. Got involved with a guy my sophomore year who turned out to be bad news but we rarely know that at the start. He was a wife-beater in training which set the stage for my disastrous marriage. More on that another time perhaps.
I graduated with 2 BA degrees; one in English Literature and one in Political Science. I was supposed to go to law school but I had an epiphany in my junior year of college and realized that being a lawyer was my father's dream, not mine.
I started working in Manhattan as a secretary/office manager - sort of like Joan Harris on Mad Men, but not nearly as gorgeous. (But with similar cleavage.) I moved into law firms as a legal secretary because it paid better. Gradually, I became the office guru on whatever technology system was being used and finally made the switch to working in the IT department of a law firm. I built my career from scratch - none of the jobs I've held since I was a legal secretary existed prior to 1980. I've been a hardware tech, software trainer, systems administrator, IT manager, IT director, project manager, litigation support manager and now I am back almost full circle as a senior technical trainer for a litigation support company.
Married at 25 to a guy who seemed ideal but wasn't. Had 2 children who are now almost 22 and 18. Marriage lasted 19 years, most of it terribly unhappy. He is a borderline - borderline personality disorder. He sees everything in black and white - you are either for him or against him. He is also a nasty, violent son of a bitch. Nuf said.
I've lived on Long Island all my life - yes, Brooklyn is part of Long Island, they just don't like to admit it. During my marriage we lived out east on the Island which made for a very long commute into NYC. Now I live back closer to the City, so the area is more crowded but the commute is shorter. I'm hoping that by next Spring we will be moving to Vermont. Working on it.
Day 02 - Your first love, in great detail
Day 03 - Your parents, in great detail
Day 04 - What you ate today, in great detail
Day 05 - Your definition of love, in great detail
Day 06 - Your day, in great detail
Day 07 - Your best friend, in great detail
Day 08 - A moment, in great detail
Day 09 - Your beliefs, in great detail
Day 10 - What you wore today, in great detail
Day 11 - Your siblings, in great detail
Day 12 - What’s in your bag, in great detail
Day 13 - This week, in great detail
Day 14 - What you wore today, in great detail
Day 15 - Your dreams, in great detail
Day 16 - Your first kiss, in great detail
Day 17 - Your favorite memory, in great detail
Day 18 - Your favorite birthday, in great detail
Day 19 - Something you regret, in great detail
Day 20 - This month, in great detail
Day 21 - Another moment, in great detail
Day 22 - Something that upsets you, in great detail
Day 23 - Something that makes you feel better, in great detail
Day 24 - Something that makes you cry, in great detail
Day 25 - A first, in great detail
Day 26 - Your fears, in great detail
Day 27 - Your favorite place, in great detail
Day 28 - Something that you miss, in great detail
Day 29 - Your aspirations, in great detail
Day 30 - One last moment, in great detail
I have been inspired by devoosha to post this and so I will. It might be hard to do it on a daily basis because we will be going on vacation in a couple of weeks, but I will do my best.
Day 01 - Introduce yourself, in great detail
Well, I started to post this last night but ran out of steam. I'll try again now.
I was born in Brighton Beach which is in Brooklyn, NY and we lived there until I was 8. We lived blocks away from the famous Coney Island amusement park and we used to go there very often. I can remember the long walks home from the beach, whining all the way. My mom would buy me an Italian ice which lasted about 3/4 of the way home and then the whining level increased to epic proportions. I remember hanging out on the room of our brownstone with my friend Gracie Bell in our white nightgowns watching the fireworks every Friday and Saturday night. We used to eat bunches of grapes while we oohed and aahed at the spectacle.
When I was 8 we moved to Levittown, on Long Island. This was a HUGE change - totally different world. Brooklyn was noisy, crowded, people everywhere, everything in walking distance. Levittown was the suburbs - deserted, empty, quiet and seemed completely removed from anything interesting. Eventually I got used to it and learned to love riding my bike all over the neighborhood, climbing the apple tree in the front yard and the willow tree in the back yard. I never really felt like I fit in, but then I've never really felt like a true New Yorker, even though I have lived here all my life. I guess that is why I want to move to Vermont so much. That's where I belong.
I've always had a chameleon personality - I can get along with almost anyone by adapting to their interests. In high school I had friends from almost every clique there was. I was friends with the jocks, the artsy crowd, the stoners and the brainiacs. I was pretty much a brain too - took all AP classes and really liked school.
Went to college in Buffalo, NY. It was as far as I could get from my parents. I always had a rather up and down relationship with my parents. They were teachers, great with other people's children - not so much with their own. As regular readers of this journal know, I have an older brother who is a quintessential waste of space. We have no relationship and I do not honestly know if he is alive or dead at this point. My parents were devoted to each other and probably should not have had children, but that was what was expected of a married couple in the 1950s, so they did. Their emphasis was on my brother - first born, male, etc. I was an afterthought and I knew it. I never got in trouble, made straight As and was the classic "good girl". Didn't matter. I couldn't get their attention if I set my hair on fire.
We were heavy on the cultural events in my family. I honestly cannot count the numbers of concerts, Broadway shows, museums and other events that we attended. We also went camping every summer from the end of June to the beginning of September, when school started up again. My parents were both public school teachers, so they had the same summer vacation I did. Almost all of their friends were teachers too, so I didn't know anyone who worked in the corporate world. I thought everyone had the whole summer off. When I entered the workforce as an adult, the concept of 2 weeks vacation time came as quite a shock.
College was liberating and scary and fun. Got involved with a guy my sophomore year who turned out to be bad news but we rarely know that at the start. He was a wife-beater in training which set the stage for my disastrous marriage. More on that another time perhaps.
I graduated with 2 BA degrees; one in English Literature and one in Political Science. I was supposed to go to law school but I had an epiphany in my junior year of college and realized that being a lawyer was my father's dream, not mine.
I started working in Manhattan as a secretary/office manager - sort of like Joan Harris on Mad Men, but not nearly as gorgeous. (But with similar cleavage.) I moved into law firms as a legal secretary because it paid better. Gradually, I became the office guru on whatever technology system was being used and finally made the switch to working in the IT department of a law firm. I built my career from scratch - none of the jobs I've held since I was a legal secretary existed prior to 1980. I've been a hardware tech, software trainer, systems administrator, IT manager, IT director, project manager, litigation support manager and now I am back almost full circle as a senior technical trainer for a litigation support company.
Married at 25 to a guy who seemed ideal but wasn't. Had 2 children who are now almost 22 and 18. Marriage lasted 19 years, most of it terribly unhappy. He is a borderline - borderline personality disorder. He sees everything in black and white - you are either for him or against him. He is also a nasty, violent son of a bitch. Nuf said.
I've lived on Long Island all my life - yes, Brooklyn is part of Long Island, they just don't like to admit it. During my marriage we lived out east on the Island which made for a very long commute into NYC. Now I live back closer to the City, so the area is more crowded but the commute is shorter. I'm hoping that by next Spring we will be moving to Vermont. Working on it.
Day 02 - Your first love, in great detail
Day 03 - Your parents, in great detail
Day 04 - What you ate today, in great detail
Day 05 - Your definition of love, in great detail
Day 06 - Your day, in great detail
Day 07 - Your best friend, in great detail
Day 08 - A moment, in great detail
Day 09 - Your beliefs, in great detail
Day 10 - What you wore today, in great detail
Day 11 - Your siblings, in great detail
Day 12 - What’s in your bag, in great detail
Day 13 - This week, in great detail
Day 14 - What you wore today, in great detail
Day 15 - Your dreams, in great detail
Day 16 - Your first kiss, in great detail
Day 17 - Your favorite memory, in great detail
Day 18 - Your favorite birthday, in great detail
Day 19 - Something you regret, in great detail
Day 20 - This month, in great detail
Day 21 - Another moment, in great detail
Day 22 - Something that upsets you, in great detail
Day 23 - Something that makes you feel better, in great detail
Day 24 - Something that makes you cry, in great detail
Day 25 - A first, in great detail
Day 26 - Your fears, in great detail
Day 27 - Your favorite place, in great detail
Day 28 - Something that you miss, in great detail
Day 29 - Your aspirations, in great detail
Day 30 - One last moment, in great detail