They say it’s my birthday. Ok, really – it IS my birthday. Since this is my blog, I figured why not wish myself a happy one. Can’t hurt, right?
Miniature Coins from Mom
I’ve had a love of coins for many years, but haven’t been an avid collector. My mom, on the other hand, has her hands into every aspect of United States coin and bill collecting. for decades Recently she has begun to share parts of her collection with me as I have shown more interest.
For my birthday this year, she sent me a large number of regular coins that I was missing from my collection, both recent and older ones. Along with them, she also sent me an awesome set of miniature coins. I have never seen miniature coins but they seem to be fairly common online. The ones in this set are:
Aren’t they nifty? I put the regular 1999 Dime to show scale.
Mom also sent me something precious this time: A collection of Lincoln Head Cents and Roosevelt Dimes that has been passed down in her family. While the monetary value of these coins is limited, the sentimental value is tremendous. Scribbled on the front of the 1949 coin folders in blue ink, hardly legible, is the name of her mother Mary. These are obviously from her collection, handed down to my mother. I will cherish them for years to come.
When I tell someone I am writing my autobiography, I often get asked how I am able to write in depth about things that have happened in my life. Many people believe it is impossible to remember things that happened years or decades ago. I can tell you from experience that you can’t remember everything – but you can definitely remember a whole lot more than you ever imagined!
With a little help from friends and family, combined with a lot of work and detailed capturing with extensive memory exercises, I believe everyone can be successful at writing their life story.
Where I Began
I began my path to documenting my life about ten years ago at the age of 23. It seems like a very early age to start writing a personal history, I know. but it has taken me that long just to document until now. Don’t let this be discouraging though. Documenting one’s life is never complete, and the process can be very fun and therapeutic.
I first began by collecting all of the photographs and documents in my house and sorting them by year, placing them in individual envelopes, one envelope per year. You can also do this by topic, depending on how you want to write your story. Year was easiest for me because my birthday falls at the start of the school year, so it seemed a natural break for chapters. Eventually, I had all of the physical items sorted by year and in separate labeled envelopes. This took me about a year to accomplish.
At the same time I was collecting and sorting, I was cataloging “memory topics” using Microsoft Excel. A memory topic is my term for something you want to write about. I split up my memory topic into Excel sheets with a small range of years like this:
After college I split up years in chunks of 4 or 5, whatever felt natural based on what was happening in our lives. Then, I started to capture. At first you will have hundreds of memory notes to capture in each of these sections. I did tons and tons of memory exercises to help remember details of my life that I wanted to write down. Each “memory topic” got its own line in the spreadsheet, and I tried to put as precise a date as possible next to it.
For example, “Won first place in long jump at the track meet” was on “1983/04/21.” It could be a little less precise, such as “Used to go swimming at the pond with Jennie during Summer,” but use a date that you can sort by like “1985/06/01.” Do the best you can to capture a general date or time frame for each memory. That way, you can begin to sort by date. Even if you have to put only a year down, you can mark “Broke my arm swinging in the tree in the back yard sometime in 1961″ and date it “1961/01/01.” This will make it easier to sort later.
There are lots of ways to jog your memory. Let’s take fifth grade. I knew where I went to school and where I lived at the time. I found my old report card and class picture to help identify what subjects I took, what my grades were, who my teacher was and some of my friends. I remembered walking to school, so I checked out Google Earth to look at my old neighborhood. That led me to recall adventures on the way to and from school, and information about the neighborhood and the kids nearby.
I drew a map of the elementary school as I could remember it, and from there I knew I was a Hall Monitor at a certain intersection and one of the boys used to run by and scare me half to death. There was a trophy case and one time my picture was hung in it for Student of the Week. Drawing the lunch room made me remember what kind of tables we had, and who I ate lunch with, and what I brought for snacking. Drawing a map of the gym and the playground helped me remember that I played softball that year, and I even dressed up like Eleanor Roosevelt for a school play. (Hey what do you know? I forgot I played Eleanor Roosevelt! Time to add another memory topic…)
I think you get the idea. Drawing maps has been a great way for me to remember little details. Draw maps of where you lived, went to school, and other places you frequented. Look up the places on Google Earth. You would be amazed at what you can find. Remember that tree you used to climb? How about that batty old neighbor who used to chase you off her property with a broom? Try and capture as much detail as possible. Write everything down at first. You can delete stuff later if you want, but you can’t write it down once you forget it again. Trust me – if you don’t write it down, you will forget it just as suddenly as you remembered it.
One thing to keep in mind is that you can write with an audience in mind, such as your children or grandchildren, but don’t assume they know everything about your memory topic. They may not know what your childhood home’s layout was, so something as simple as adding a scribbled map of your house or neighborhood will add an immense amount of context to your stories. Try to capture your memories as if you were on the reader’s side, asking questions about them. Imagine how your reader would envision your memory, and try to add as much detail as possible to make that vision correct for them.
Use the internet as a way to find out what was happening during the time of your life you are trying to remember. There are lots of pop culture trends, activities and historical events that can help. Try searching for what was popular in music, movies, books, toys, games, technology and society. Don’t forget about events of the day, which are easy to find online. Look up Oscar, Emmy and Grammy winners, Billboard Top 10 lists, and political timelines. Consider what was happening in your life when that President was elected, or when the war broke out. How did it impact you, your family, your friends? How did it impact the country or the world, from your point of view?
Check out websites online that describe memory exercises for this purpose. Here are a few good ones that I’ve found to help with the process:
How I Dug Deeper
Once I had thousands of memory notes captured, I started to dig deeper. I looked through all of the pictures I could find from my childhood. Instead of looking at the picture, I looked into it. Peer into the background and see what’s there. Scan it into the computer and enlarge it for more detail, if you can. Aside from who is in the picture and maybe where and when it was taken, most photos have a hidden story.
Look deeper into the pictures you have. Do you see those old green curtains in the background? Do you remember the time you tried swinging from them and the whole rig came crashing down in the living room? How about the kitchen table and chairs. Did you draw under that table without Mom knowing it? Look at that old gold colored couch your parents bought. When did they buy it? When did they sell it? What other pictures were hanging in the hallway, and why were they important? Ask questions about every single object in the photograph that you can decipher.
Don’t do this just with pictures of yourself or your own house, either. Do this with photos of other places and people. Every little thing can jog your memory. It might be a picture of your neighbor in the front yard, but in the background it shows your Grandma was visiting from out of state because her car was in your driveway. Why was she there? Was she visiting for a wedding, a graduation, a funeral? You never know what you will find in the background of your pictures.
Try this little exercise on for size. Attempt to list every place you have lived, with the full address. Can’t do it? Look at old letters and return addresses. Check online for public directory listings of your old places to see if you can complete the list. Another great exercise would be to list all of the schools you went to and their addresses, or all of the cars you have owned in your lifetime. What about all of the jobs you have held? When did you work there? Why did you leave?
Another great digging resource are your friends and family (until they get tired of your questions, anyway). If there’s something you remember vaguely but maybe did in combination with another person, ask them about the memory of it. For example, I remember my Mom took me horseback riding when I was young. When I asked her about the experience, she was able to tell me the date and who went with us, where we went, why we were there, and how that day ended up. It was much more than I expected, and she was happy to relive the memory and tell me more about that day she took me horseback riding. I am very lucky it that I still have my Mom and Dad to ask crazy questions of, and they are still answering me. If you can’t do that, try calling upon other family members or friends who might be able to help.
How I Started Writing
Starting the actual writing can seem very daunting. If you’ve come this far in the process, this should actually be the easy part! Just do it. Just start writing. Open up a word processor and give it a shot.
With a majority of my memories captured and organized, I began to write my autobiography. (Nine months later, I’m still not quite done yet.) I sorted my Excel spreadsheets by date, and tackled them on one memory topic at a time. I tried to stick to a general outline such as discussing my birthday, holidays, school, vacations, events and specific details I remembered from that year. I tried to touch on each of these topics in every chapter, adding other things as I saw fit. Each year has it’s own chapter in my book, but you are free to organize and write about the topics in any way you please. After all, it’s your book!
I don’t consider any chapter completed at any time. If I remember something new that I forgot to write about, I simply go back to that part of the book and integrate it. Don’t worry too much about editing at this stage. You can always edit and move things around later. The most important part of this process is capturing the details in as organized a way as you possibly can.
How I Keep Digging
Every day, I still remember something that I thought I had forgotten. For these memories, I keep a note file on my phone, but you can use your computer or even a small notebook that you carry with you. I was watching a commercial last night on television for Celebrity Ghost Stories, and suddenly recalled the time my friends and I lit candles in her basement and used a Ouija board. I made a quick note on my list and then can elaborate on it later.
Another way to capture little stories on the go is to email them to yourself. If you’re a techie like me, sending yourself an email is probably a normal occurrence. If you’re waiting at the doctor’s office or for your kid’s karate class to finish, grab your notebook and jot down any memory you want to write about.
Remember to elaborate on the facts. Memories are more than just who, what, when, where and why. Instead of simply writing that my Mom liked to make peanut brittle, talk about the activities surrounding it. The peanut brittle made the house smell like candy for days, and Mom used to break it apart and pack it in coffee cans, wrapped in Christmas paper and give them away as gifts. Include Mom’s recipe for Peanut Brittle if you have it. And about that time Dad broke his leg – what was he doing when it happened? How did he react to it? What was the motorcycle he was riding when it happened? Where did he get it? Whatever happened to it years later?
Organizing in the Age of Technology
Surprisingly for me, I found the earlier part of my childhood to be a breeze compared to attempting to capture life after the year 2000. The reason? Technology! My favorite thing has become my worst nightmare in terms of collecting and documenting my activities. There are tens of thousands of digital pictures to look at. There’s my online blog which dates back to 2004. There’s Myspace and Facebook and Twitter, each of which has captured tiny tidbits of my daily life for the past several years.
This is where I am currently stuck in the writing of my life story. I have begun capturing and sorting memory topics for this time period just like I had done for my years before technology took over. Some of the topics include technology itself, like when I got my first cell phone and when I joined Facebook and Twitter. I have written at length about how my Motorola Droid has changed my life, providing access to email on the go and integration with social networking applications. Capturing general observations about current events and activities today will make it a lot easier to remember them tomorrow!
In Summary
Writing an autobiography is not simple, and it’s never really “done.” However, it is one of most rewarding and enriching things I have experienced so far in my life. I’m almost 300 pages into my book, and I’m still remembering “new” memories every day.
I believe if you want to write your life story, you can do it. It just takes time, patience, and a lot of love and emotion. You can do it! If you have any questions for me about the process, leave a comment below or email me. I would love to help if it will encourage you to capture your own memories!
I like to feed animals – literally! Whenever we run across a petting zoo or a koi pond or any opportunity for me to feed the animals, you can bet I’ll stop and put a quarter in the machine. I’ve always enjoyed it for some strange reason. Here are a few times in recent memory when I took advantage of this weird fascination.
Feeding the Ostrich, Northern Arizona, August 2005
Feeding the Ducks, San Diego Wild Animal Park, March 2007
Feeding the Hippos, San Diego Wild Animal Park, March 2007
Feeding the Koi, Hawaii, September 2004
Here’s a quick update for those of you who actually read the blog now and then! If you swing by, shout out to me in the comments section so I know you were here.
I’ve been talking with my friend Suzy a lot who has an awesome blog of her own. Suzy and I have recently started getting together for beading days which are tons of fun. She is a whiz with a needle and thread, and sews beautiful clothing and jewelry. (She tried to teach me, bless her heart – but I am hopelessly lacking confidence with thread.) She posts all the time about her sewing projects and her kitties and the fun things she does. A true dedicated blogger, Suzy knows the importance of posting! I wish I had the discipline she does to share life’s little moments as often as she does.
Since January 2010 I have been slowly writing my Autobiography. So far I’m up to about 2004, with tidbits from then until now. It’s very difficult now that I’ve reached the point of the blog, ironically! I have information online here on my blog, plus journals at home, tens of thousands of (organized) photos, calendar entries, Facebook and Twitter. Trying to compile all of those sources into one chronologically correct, interesting story has proven to be a great challenge. I’ll get through it eventually, but it will certainly take some more time. At least I’m finished with my first 27 of 32 years!
Here’s a short excerpt from my first chapter describing the house I grew up in (1977-1978):
Our house was on a dead end, and we had tons of people come down and turn around in our driveway. We faced a wooded area covered in plants to the south in front of our home. To the west was a dirt access road following a deep ditch, along with field crops and lines of large trees. On the side of our home was a very long driveway leading to a detached 2-car garage which my dad built around 1974 with the help of his friends. Our back yard was very large and fenced in. We had a pen behind the garage for storage and to keep the dog, Sheila the old English Sheep dog, locked up if needed. Behind the back fence was a large garden area my Mother used to grow summer vegetables like Rhubarb. Behind that was more wooded area with huge trees. Our neighbors to the east were a family called the Shiedlers, and their kids Heather and Ty were Kathleen’s age. Kathleen hung out with Heather for years. I had a crush on Ty for a long time. He used to sit on the back deck with his boombox and blast cassette tapes of Twisted Sister and Mötley Crüe in the early 1980’s.
In other news, we are getting a brand new refrigerator on Saturday morning. It’s an LG french door bottom freezer model with 28 cu ft capacity. It’s replacing our old GE Profile Arctica side-by-side with 25 cu ft which we installed when we bought our new home 9 years ago. Let’s hope the new one works better for at least a few years.
That’s it for now. Oh yeah, except that I’ve already started shopping for Christmas and have already finished my Christmas cards for this year. (I’m desperately trying to stay way ahead of schedule!) One more day of work and then it’s the weekend!
On April 26, 2010 my husband and I attended the 12:20pm taping of The Price is Right with Drew Carey in CBS Television City outside of Los Angeles, California. The show aired on May 19, 2010 on CBS and we were sitting dead center behind Contestant’s Row, shown in almost every shot of the audience that aired during the episode.
For those who plan to be in the audience (or possibly be a contestant) on The Price Is Right, I present you with this list of things to expect when you get to CBS Television City. I wrote this list not to be an accurate representation of what you will absolutely experience, but to share our single experience with those just as naive as we were when we got our tickets to the show.
I must preface this with the fact that we have only been to one single taping, and have never been in the audience of any other game shows. This is our first and only experience, described by the true newbies that we were.
The following is a recap of what we discovered along the way during our day as an audience member on The Price is Right.
Order of Arrival Passes and Original Tickets
Line #1: With OOA pass in hand, return at your scheduled time to get in the first of three lines. There is no point in getting there early, because you will be lined up in order of arrival. There is plenty of seating available, however they clear benches #1 and #2 first so I suggest sitting on bench #5 for the long haul. Make absolutely sure you are NOT LATE to this line, or you will be automatically booted from the audience and miss your chance to be on the show. Audience members are called in groups of 30 to get in numerical order based on your OOA pass number. You will be provided with a Contestant Number at this time, which will NOT match your OOA number. First you get a green tag with contestant number that you write your name and SSN on, followed by a white bio card. The bio card will be used to help select contestants, so make it good! You must wear your contestant number on your shirt attached to your name tag until you get into the theater. Our OOA numbers were 52/53 and our Contestant Numbers were 47/48, because five people ahead of us didn’t show up to Line #1 in time and got booted. Fair warning! After everyone is lined up, they set up a temporary photo green screen and each group has their picture taken. They are later found online and you can buy a copy for $24 on their website.
Price is Right
I hope this helps at least a few folks who have no idea what to expect when they get tickets to a taping of The Price is Right. I wish we knew then what we know now about how things really work, how long you wait in line, and what you can and can’t do.
I hope you get to “come on down” if you attend a taping! Cheers, and good luck!
It’s 1:00am on day 77. My head is throbbing so badly that my right side jaw is locking up. My temples are physically pulsing against the pillow. The pain has kept me awake now for two days with small naps here and there.
Last Tuesday, after getting no response from the Barrow Neurological Institute for three weeks, I asked my neurologist’s office to help. They called on my behalf and relayed to me that Barrow said if I had not heard anything by the end of last week, to call again on Monday. Of course, I didn’t hear anything.
Twelve hours ago on Monday afternoon, I called to ask if anyone had reviewed my files. To my shock, someone actually answered the phone. I can’t tell you who, of course – they refuse to say their names when they answer the phones. Mystery girl was clearly annoyed to be speaking to me. She said that there’s a note in my file from the neurosurgeon’s office stating that he doesn’t review MRI films and that a CD of my MRI images needed to be ordered. When I asked what I could do to help speed up the process, she responded, “You just have you hang tight while we get what we need.” Afterwards, she abruptly ended our call.
I realize that this bleeding brain tumor will cause me to go blind or have a stroke. I also realize that many people with this problem DO go blind or have a stroke before someone helps them. I am not looking forward to going blind.
I haven’t been writing much because I’ve been focusing on getting my health in order. On March 3, 2010 I had an episode that my doctors and specialists are still trying to explain. My blood pressure spiked to 160/120, I was in the emergency room for several hours under surveillance. Eventually they let me go and gave me blood pressure medicine.
Ever since that happened, I’ve had a headache and the hiccups. Yes, I have suffered with a headache and hiccups for 50 days – nonstop. I’m very tired of both. While in the ER, the blood tests showed my red blood platelets were very low. My primary care physician launched me into several paths at once to find out what was going on. She sent me to a Neurologist to talk about the headaches. She sent me to a Gastroentereologist to find out why my B-12 isn’t being absorbed. She sent me to a Hemotologist to determine why my red blood platelets are so low. Finally, she sent me to an Allergist because taking Claritan-D is a no-no with high blood pressure.
One X-ray, one CT scan and two MRIs later, I was diagnosed with a Rathke’s Cleft Cyst pushing against my pituitary gland. My neurologist called for two dozen different tests. I was tested for everything from HIV to Hepatitis to FSH abundance. Luckily, all of my tests came back normal, and they now say I’m perfectly fine. So, what is causing my headaches and hiccups? What about that cyst in my head? I have cysts all over my body, so it wasn’t a surprise to me when they told me I had a cyst in my head. I have them on my wrists, on my ankles, on my skin, and covering my ovaries thanks to Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.
Upon closer examination, my neurologist has now changed his diagnosis from Rathke’s Cleft Cyst to Hemorrhagic Pituitary Microadenoma. That means bleeding tumor, to all of us regular people. It is just barely classified “micro” at 9mm x 8mm in size. Anything 10mm or more is “macroadenoma.” It is classified as a non-secreting tumor, which means I don’t have any of the regular hormone problems seen by it pushing on my pituitary gland. However, it could very well be the cause of my headaches, as well as my testosterone abundance.
Nobody seems to understand if my hiccups are related, but I believe they are. These symptoms all started on the same day at the same time, and have not changed in severity since March 3rd. My neurologist has set me up with a neurosurgeon at Barow Neurological Institute that specializes in pituitary tumors. I am still awaiting his callback. He has also set me up with a vision specialist to check my optic nerve, because these tumors often cause visual impairments if left untreated.
On the plus side, my gastro doctor told me to take Align to help with digestion. It is by far, hands down, the most incredible difference I ever could have seen from a little pill. I cannot believe how much better I feel when taking Align. It really is amazing. I used to laugh at the Activia commercials with Jamie Lee Curtis, but for real, that stuff WORKS.
To help get my red blood platelets back in order, I have started getting B-12 shots. The hemotologist believes the two are related. People say B-12 is supposed to give you energy, but I have felt nothing but exhausted for weeks. I am tired all of the time, and cranky from the nonstop headaches and hiccups.
The allergist tested me for 78 different allergies, to which I responded negatively to 27 of them. I’m allergic to all kinds of grasses, several different weeds, 3 types of trees, several molds, all mites, dogs AND cats. It was interesting to finally find out exactly what out there I’m allergic to. I guess the answer is – a lot! I was surprised and saddened to learn I am allergic to both dogs and cats. We have four cats, and they aren’t going anywhere.
To lighten the mood and give myself something else to focus on, I’ve started to learn how to make jewelry. I took some beading classes at the local bead shops, bought some books and watched some tutorials on You Tube. I’ve made several sets already and am starting to get the hang of it. It’s nice to be able to make stuff I love out of exactly the right shapes and colors to match my style.
So that just about brings us up to date. Let’s hope the neurosurgeon gets back to me soon. This headache is not making me happy at all.
After much thought, I decided to begin writing my autobiography. After eight years of memory trigger exercises to create my lifetime supply of scrapbooks, I thought it would be a shame to let such a list of memories live on without elaboration. I’m hardly able to remember everything now at just 32. I just can’t imagine waiting until I’m 64 to write all this stuff down!
I’ve got an Excel spreadsheet with bullet points of memories and topics from my entire life. There are more than 1,000 rows. I started writing last Saturday and wrote through the weekend, completing the first 50 pages (26,000 words) and up to the 8th grade. Since that time, I’ve been using my Blackberry to take notes on things I forgot to write about. So far, I’ve got 30 more topics to add to what I’ve already written.
For those who are interested, the name of my autobiography is Memoirs of a Black Rose. And no, it won’t be posted online. I may someday have it printed and bound though.
My sister Kathleen came out to visit Arizona to attend the Creating Keepsakes Scrapbooking Convention with me, October 1-3, 2009. The event was held at the Renaissance Hotel Glendale, next door to Westgate, Jobing.com Arena and the University of Phoenix Stadium. After a very delayed, very rough flight, things didn’t look too good at the end of the first night for us. Kathleen persevered through intense motion sickness, and we got things underway Thursday morning.
We had a very nice time at the convention, attending various classes, buying tons of stuff on the sales floor and cropping in our adjacent hotel rooms. We got a lot of scrappin’ accomplished together! Kathleen was working on the kids’ trip to California, and I was working on our tour of the UK and Ireland. I even bought a Cricut Expression and Kathleen showed me how to set it up and use it.
I didn’t even bring a camera, and Kathleen never used hers. How ironic is it that we attended a scrapbooking convention and didn’t take a single picture? Regardless, it was lots of fun! I’m so glad she was able to come out and join me for the weekend.
