Friday Five: All About You

I will try to keep the questions to the strictly legal this week.

1. What is your favorite hobby? Tell us some background about it as well, such as when you started or what got you into it, etc.
2. What kind of music do you like to listen to?
3. Name something you have done in your life that you are really proud of, something you want the world to know about. Don't be shy; we're all awesome people and I know we each have at least one thing we want to mention.
4. What is one thing about yourself you would like to improve on mentally/emotionally? That means we're taking "lose weight/exercise more" off the table; it's too easy and a cop-out.
5. Name one way that your life has turned out differently than you imagined it would.

 

Re: Ele's Friday Five

1. What is your favorite hobby? Tell us some background about it as well, such as when you started or what got you into it, etc. Plants, specifically orchids. I probably have 100 house plants and 50 of those are orchids. I got my green thumb from my mother and always had plants. I started growing orchids when she gave me one about 18 years ago.

2. What kind of music do you like to listen to? All forms of rock & roll.

3. Name something you have done in your life that you are really proud of, something you want the world to know about. Don't be shy; we're all awesome people and I know we each have at least one thing we want to mention. I went back to school when I was in my late 30's and got my MBA and graduated with a 4.0 gpa.

4. What is one thing about yourself you would like to improve on mentally/emotionally? That means we're taking "lose weight/exercise more" off the table; it's too easy and a cop-out.
I would like to learn to communicate with animals. I had lots of books when I was off work, but I never got into it like I wanted.

5. Name one way that your life has turned out differently than you imagined it would. My life has pretty much turned out how I thought it would, but I never planned on getting married 3 times. :mrgreen:

 

dang! very thought provoking questions here

1. What is your favorite hobby? Tell us some background about it as well, such as when you started or what got you into it, etc.

hobbies? what are those? i've found that after living here in cali for awhile you lose the ability for hobbies and get too caught up in the rat race of life out here. sadly. it did all get to me a few years ago and i was making myself sick with all the stress and such and was told i needed to learn to relax again. i tried crafts--FAIL! I tried several things and none did much for me. I ended up going back to old faithfuls.....reading books and spending time with my cats. i like to observe my cats and the little things about them. other than that i don't have what you would call real hobbies. i do the newbie kits and like putting those together and i do a lot of stuff as far as the animal shelter & donations and then i do like putting around the yard quite a bit but my body is getting old and doesn't like to do it as long as my mind does

2. What kind of music do you like to listen to?

i seem to prefer country in the last several years. when i was young i hated country and liked pop/rock & roll. and the old stuff from those days i don't mind too much but the newer stuff that isn't really any more talent than i could do myself at home with the help of some software and a computer.....don't like it too much. rap shouldn't even be called music.

3. Name something you have done in your life that you are really proud of, something you want the world to know about. Don't be shy; we're all awesome people and I know we each have at least one thing we want to mention.

hmmmmmmm.......this one is tough. i could go with something simple like getting a full ride scholarship to college based on my ACT score I only took once. or i could go with taking care of my family which i value a bit more. i think i've done pretty right by my family and have made my mom proud. oh geez, like i said, this one is tough.

4. What is one thing about yourself you would like to improve on mentally/emotionally? That means we're taking "lose weight/exercise more" off the table; it's too easy and a cop-out.

another tough one. i'm not an emotional person, never have been.....until recently i suppose. and to be honest, i don't like it. so i would have to say i need to work on my wall a little. it's not quite as sturdy as it was in my younger days.

5. Name one way that your life has turned out differently than you imagined it would.

welllllll, i'm not as rich as i had hoped i would be. at this point in my life i would have hoped that i'd be a little better set and not have to worry about stuff as much as i do.

 

1. What is your favorite hobby? Tell us some background about it as well, such as when you started or what got you into it, etc.
favorite hobby?

i don't think i do hobbies, i like activities and that can be almost anything outdoorsy and fun, i do like playing cards (is that a hobby) i like sharing my spiritual growth with my hindu/krishna temple. i like vegetarian cooking.

2. What kind of music do you like to listen to?
all of it, from rock to country to indian chant, a-z, even opera

3. Name something you have done in your life that you are really proud of, something you want the world to know about. Don't be shy; we're all awesome people and I know we each have at least one thing we want to mention.

i've learned to keep my mouth shut and not hurt anyone. i give it top priority to not mess up anyone's day or be unkind no matter what they may do. that came from learning how easy it was for someone to mess up my day or hurt me and vowing not to do that myself to anyone eles.

4. What is one thing about yourself you would like to improve on mentally/emotionally? That means we're taking "lose weight/exercise more" off the table; it's too easy and a cop-out.

i want to be more and more emotionally and spiritually mature, to not try to fix every problem right now and to patiently let life work itself out. i have found it amazing how often life does just that without all my huffing and puffing to "fix it". and find my sense of humour more often. btw, i have a long way to go on this one as each day presents me with a problem i can obsess over!

5. Name one way that your life has turned out differently than you imagined it would.[/quote]

i never imagined that all the so called disasters in life have brought with them the gifts that they have. one perfect example is tom's diabetes. did'nt ever expect the gifts and growth that came with that perceived disaster. i also never knew that big gifts came with big responsibilities. i inherited a wonderful little cottage at the beach and it has cuased me more worry, fear and insecurity than i ever had in my life. it's ALOT to take care of a beach worn 1938 cottage. it never ends! so i turns out good things can be hard, and hard things can be good. i did'nt expect life to work out that way.

 

1. What is your favorite hobby? Tell us some background about it as well, such as when you started or what got you into it, etc.
Gardening. When I bought my house 9 years ago, the front yard was nothing but scrub trees and layers of dead leaves. I've dug the whole thing up and planted a native garden. Lots of color in the summer, especially from the butterflies.

2. What kind of music do you like to listen to?
Usually blues, but since I've been getting 6 hour chemotherapy treatments, I've resorted to downloading old rock from my teenage/early 20s. I've re-found a lot of old favorites that are incredibly soothing, while still letting me chair dance.

3. Name something you have done in your life that you are really proud of, something you want the world to know about. Don't be shy; we're all awesome people and I know we each have at least one thing we want to mention.
One of the kids I've tutored learned to love math. We reframed all his math lessons around baseball. He actually made the honor roll after nearly failing 5th grade.

4. What is one thing about yourself you would like to improve on mentally/emotionally? That means we're taking "lose weight/exercise more" off the table; it's too easy and a cop-out.
I want to be more forgiving.

5. Name one way that your life has turned out differently than you imagined it would.
As a young adult, I always pictured myself as a wife and mother (married young). After the divorce, I found a career and learned how much I like being a professional.

(These are kind of serious questions for Friday night!)

 

Uh-oh, these are toughies!!! I hope my brain doesn't melt down before I get to #5!!! :lol:

1. What is your favorite hobby?
Studying Spanish. Started about a month after 9/11 because my anxiety level was really high and I wanted something to keep busy with. Now that I'm in CA, and can actually see USING it, I have picked it up again. RIght now watching CSI:NY epis dubbed in Spanish (still can't understand it very well, but I'm learning some real funky vocab, like "epithelial cells", which I can now misspell & mispronounce in 2 languages! Yippee!)

2. What kind of music do you like to listen to?
A few latin singers/groups, see above.

3. Name something you have done in your life that you are really proud of.
Just the quiet stuff I think - like when you say the right thing to someone just when they needed it, and you find out later that helped them get through a difficult day. Most of the time I think we never know about those moments, but every now and then I've had someone mention what a difference I made, even without trying to. I feel really proud of those moments - even if it wasn't through my effort or applying myself even, but knowing that even if just for one person in a small way, I made a difference.

4. What is one thing about yourself you would like to improve on mentally/emotionally?
I would like to get to a place where I can sit quietly and meditate for more than like 2 minutes without either getting up, or falling asleep. I used to meditate a lot, but then a few years ago had a lot of anxiety problems and couldn't sit still. I've worked through the anxiety stuff pretty well, but haven't found my way back to meditating more than very occasionally.

5. Name one way that your life has turned out differently than you imagined it would.
I live in an RV, and love it! Never in a million years (well, at least til a few years ago), would I have predicted that one!

Whew, I think it's time for a ... hey, where are the beer guzzling smilies? Uh oh! Whew, found one! drinking24 And me later tonight.... :dizcat (Since we're already on true confessions, for the record, I rarely even drink, I'm just in it for the smilies, LOL!!!!)

 

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Wow, you guys have given some great answers! You're right, these questions were a little thought-provoking, but sometimes that's what you get out of me. Next week will be light-hearted. You guys are a tough crowd, though!

1. What is your favorite hobby? Tell us some background about it as well, such as when you started or what got you into it, etc. My favorite hobby is photography. I have enjoyed taking pictures since high school, but I got a little more into it after college when I bought my first "real" camera with my graduation money (an SLR). About 5 years ago, I bought a bunch of photography books and started "studying" it. I put that in quotes because it's still at the hobby level; I haven't taken any classes or anything. I actually got accepted at Hallmark School of Photography about 3 years ago but couldn't afford the tuition so I didn't go.
2. What kind of music do you like to listen to? I like Top 40 stuff, country, folk, techno, Pink Floyd/CCR/Beatles type stuff. I hate the Doors and Neil Young, though, but I love CSNY. I'm picky yet open-minded.
3. Name something you have done in your life that you are really proud of, something you want the world to know about. Don't be shy; we're all awesome people and I know we each have at least one thing we want to mention. I studied abroad for a semester when I was 19 years old and a sophomore in college. It was certainly not my first time away from home, but it was the longest amount of time I'd be gone, and furthest away. I didn't really know anyone else who was there from my university and I felt pretty alone. 6 months is an awfully long time to know you have to be somewhere, and I freaked out a little bit. I called my parents crying at least 3 times a week, wanting to come home. We had been required to arrive about 2 weeks before classes started, so I didn't meet anyone or have much going on those first couple weeks, and it was overwhelming. They told me that I could come home if I was still this miserable in 3 weeks but that I needed to give it that long. I would lose that semester of college and the money that my parents had paid for me to have this chance. They absolutely didn't make me feel guilty about it at all. Looking back on it, I know it must have been really hard for them to listen to me be so unhappy, and I am proud of them for being strong like I needed them to be. Anyway, after 3 weeks, I wasn't quite as miserable and I thought that I could stick it out. It really wasn't until about 6 weeks in that I started really enjoying myself, and by the end of my time in France, I was calling my parents again, crying that I didn't want to come home. I am proud of myself for sticking it out and for making it one of the best experiences I have ever had.
4. What is one thing about yourself you would like to improve on mentally/emotionally? That means we're taking "lose weight/exercise more" off the table; it's too easy and a cop-out. This seems to be a popular answer, but I need to be more patient in certain areas of my life. I tend to get too control-freaky and want everything to happen on my own schedule, and life doesn't (and shouldn't) work that way. Lantus has been a good lesson for me in that regard.
5. Name one way that your life has turned out differently than you imagined it would. I thought that I would be a mother (to human children) by now.

 

1. Letterboxing. We started June 2009. I think we have found about 150 boxes so far. The kids (and dog!!) love it as well. you can go to atlasquest.com or letterboxing.org for info. I much prefer the atlasquest site, but do look at both, since they each have some listed that the other doesn't have.

2. Rock/Top 40

3. Taking care of my kids and furkids.

4. To open up more.

5. Well, I never thought I would lose a child. Burying a child is something a parent should never have to do.

 

Dawn, I'm so sorry to read that you lost a child. I can't even imagine. My deepest sympathies.

 

(((Dawn)))... I'm sorry to read that. You are absolutely right. It's not something a parent should ever have to do.

Ele... thanks for sharing about the 3 marriages... I never expected to marry at all... but am coming up on my second. As a teen, I thought I might have child but never a husband! Now I'm becoming a wife... to a man 17 years younger than I am... so it's like having both!

Sarah, your hobby is the same as mine... I'd love to see some of your stuff. I'm working on a bit of a tips page for photographing pets which I intend to make as a thread in Community so that people can experiment and share and ask for tips on pet photos - as well as other subjects. Maybe we can talk a bit or I can run it by you before I post it.


1. My favourite hobby is photography. I've carried a camera with me at all times since I was in high school. I had a 110, then a disk camera (remember those?), a compact 35mm, a massive digital (it was as big as an SLR and cost $1400 at the time (it was a gift to me) but was only 2 megapixels!), then to a tiny digital, now a D300 (not so tiny).... as well as going back to film SLRs ... The circle of life for a photography lover. The reason I love photography so much is that it gets me out and about... takes me to places I wouldn't normally go... gets me to talk to people I wouldn't normally talk to (and that's a rare find)... and challenges my creativity.

2. I love rock... but more often listen to jazz, big band and Rat Pack stuff.

3. in 1997, I ran the Seattle half-marathon. It was brutal but I did it. Not a full marathon, but it was the hardest thing I'd done physically in my life up to that point.

4. I would like to be better at time management - that is, not procrastinate so much. I get overwhelmed with tasks and find that I then distract myself from all of them, getting nothing at all done. I need more practice compartmentalising.

5. I thought I would be a teacher. And, somehow, I also thought, strangely enough, that I would be rich. You teachers out there will understand how funny that expectation was. I also thought I would have traveled a lot more but I know that I have done quite a bit and still have time for the rest.