Playing Favorites: Part 1

Tonight's post is dedicated to favorites, and you can probably guess most of mine.

Sports: Soccer and Baseball.
Since we never had a TV when I was a kid, neither Daddy nor I watched sports on TV when I was growing up. As far as I know, Daddy never played a sport although I believe he did lift weights when he was younger. I do know that he was concerned about his fitness, but I never saw him do more than calisthenics at home. Since I went to small private schools most of my life, the schools I attended never had much of a sports program. The school I graduated from did have soccer and basketball. I played soccer for several years as a fullback (defensive player in front of goalie). I felt like I could really contribute to the soccer team although I was never a star. Although I was on the basketball team one year, I never really played. I remember being put in the game one time when we were already loosing badly. I was only in for about two minutes during which time I made our score even worse. Anna, on the other hand, was an awesome basketball player - the star of our schools team her last two years.

Books: Too many to list them all! I had a lot of time to read when I was growing up because most of the time we lived so far away from any kids my age that I only had friends at school. Since we didn't regularly attend church I didn't really have any close friends at church. With no TV or radio to distract me, I had to find something to do with my time. I found that books can transport you to wonderful places and can be lots of fun.
Probably my all time favorite book is Treasure Island. I had (still have) a great copy with notes about all the nautical language in the margins. It was great and I still love it to this day. I read all the Hardy Boys books I could get ( I think I read all that were in print at the time) and then re-read them. I read all the Sugar Creek Gang books I could get. They were among my favorite birthday and Christmas gifts! I even read all the Nancy Drew books I could get. Boy, I had a major crush on Nancy Drew! I used to wish I could have been one of her neighbors so I could share in her adventures. Later, I read all the Sherlock Holmes stories ever written and then re-read them. Later I read the Chronicles of Narnia series which lead me to the Tolkien Lord of the Rings series. When I went off to Basic Training, I started reading the Thomas Covenant series. Recently, I've read through the Aubrey/Maturen (Master & Commander) series and I getting ready to start reading them through again. It also looks like I'll be reading the Thomas Covenant series again too, If I can get them on CD.
Books have been my best friends throughout life. They continue to be my favorite way to spend time alone. Can you tell I really love them! Going to the library used to be a real treat for me.

Well, that's enough for tonight. There will definitely be more to come.

schools

Thursday's Child

Hi Kids,
Well, the book starts out with some stats about me, so here's a few.
I was born a poor, black child .. no wait, that's somebody else. I was born on Thursday night, May 9, 1963. Guess that makes me Thursday's child.

Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go . . .
Friday's Child is loving and giving
Saturday's Child must work hard for a living
But the child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.

So I guess I have far to go, and it does seem like I'm traveling quite a bit recently.

But tonight, I'm not to far from the place I was born, Huntsville Memorial Hospital in Huntsville, AL. Of course, you know my mother was Teresa Yvonne Sightler and my dad is David Arnon West. They were only married for about a year when I was born, so I guess they never had much time to themselves before I came along. Jumped right into that family thing with both feet!

Daddy's parents were Arnon Edgar West and Jessie Clyde Swearingen. Don't know where they met, but I do know Grandpa spent some time in Kansas before moving to Georgia (Warner Robins).

Mommy's parents were William Hilary Sightler and Lillian ? Thigpen. I'm thinkin they both were born and raised in middle Georgia, but I'm not sure. Aunt Wilma could tell us I suppose, or maybe Daddy too.

Not sure how they got together, but I do know that Ralph Sparks from West Virginia met Mommy's cousin, Patsy and they got married. Now Ralph had a sister named Jean who met and married Johnny West, my Uncle Johnny. Somehow Daddy met Mommy through Ralph and Patsy. They met briefly and then corresponded via letters for a while before they got married. We'll have to ask Papa for more details next time we see him. I do know that they got married within a week of Mommy graduating from high school. Now don't get any ideas! Times were different then and women didn't work except in the home. Not many ever went to college and most of them never had a job afterwards. Besides, it's just a bad idea to get married before you even get a chance to find out who you are and what you want to do in life! Your mother and I didn't get married until we were 21/22 and even that was a bit to young!

I guess you'd have to ask Papa about where they lived in Huntsville after they got married. I've seen a few old movies and it looked kind of like a nice place for starting out.

Well, enough for tonight. Love ya, see ya later.

Moving?

Well, the day has come. I have to make a decision. Do I move to typepad or not?

I think I'll decide ... not to make a decision! whew. that was close.

OK. Seriously. I'm gonna keep my typepad account for a little while longer and let them charge me for a month or two while I continue evaluating it.

Until that time ... I'll be posting there. The link is here.

Bye. See ya at the new place (I changed the wallpaper and painted, hope you like the new look)!

Moleskines!

God's perfect little notebooks! Here are some cool hacks for using them. First heard about them on 43folders blog. After using one for several weeks, I'm hooked! Still perfecting my system, but I:

• Number the pages (lower outside corner - allows for putting date at top of page)
• Label Meta Data on top outside corner as it applies
• Reserve about 20 pages at the back and label them alphabetically for quick access items
• I also use that section for blog or webpage ideas
• Currently trying to apply GTD to this system.

Get one! Try it! You'll be hooked. I can't believe people grumble about paying $10 for a notebook of this quality.

What is 20 years worth?

** Also posted on my new, trial, typepad blog **
What would you trade 20 years of your life for?

* Most of us trade at least 12 years for a basic education.
* Some spend up to 12 more years to learn a profession.
* Others spend at least 6 years in service to our country
* It's pretty common to spend 30 years of more working to pay for a house
* At least for us Americans, we spend our whole lives working to get stuff and then working to maintain that stuff until we get new better stuff .....

Well, I've spent my last 20 years building a marriage and family. That shouldn't be as remarkable as it seems to be these days. I've spent 20 years:

* Trying to get along with someone else who sometimes has very different ideas about the world,
* Learning to put my frustration and sometimes disappointment behind me and restore our relationship,
* Learning that I'm not always right (not always ..lol),
* Learning how to show my feeling,
* Learning how to teach children about life, consequences, respect, and right behavior,
* Experiencing companionship to a level I never dreamed of,
* Finding out that love is a lot of work, a little frustration, a bit of sacrifice, and a lot of forgiveness (on both sides) mixed with moments of bliss.

I think I got a good deal; I hope you feel the same way, Renea! Sorry the guy you married 20 years ago was so clueless. Thanks for being my companion on this learning expedition!