Stephanie over at Stephanie's Confessions of a Book-a-holic tagged me for the "Eight Things About Me" meme today. Not sure I'll come up with 8 interesting things, but I'll try.
I've noticed two things while figuring out what to say about myself--1) Stephanie and I have a lot in common and 2) lots of my favorite bloggers have been tagged with this one.
Here are the rules:
1: Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
2: People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
3: At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names.
4: Don't forget to leave them a comment and tell them they're tagged, and to read your blog.
Okay, here goes:
1. Three of my ancestors were executed as witches in what some call "the witch delusion" in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692.
2. I have scoliosis and wore a brace on my back from age 10 to age 15, which, yes, includes what I like to call "the land without pity"--junior high.
3. I am afraid to fly, and yet I know that my fear is absolutely irrational, and it doesn't keep me from doing it. Though once I took the train from Los Angeles to New York--three days--rather than get on a plane. It was a really great experience, but it made me get back on planes pronto...
4. I (like Stephanie) was in a sorority in college. And, as Stephanie says, to know me now is to laugh at that. Not my finest hour, but I made some good friends.
5. Like Jenclair (at A Garden Carried in the Pocket) I still have my last pair of toe shoes. Also battered, also in a box, in a closet, but I plan to hang them in my daughter's room because I think they'll make a nice decoration.
6. And since I'm in sync with Jenclair, I'll also say that my favorite city is Edinburgh, too. My dad is from Scotland, and we used to go there to visit all the relatives on his side of the family, and I fell in love with Edinburgh. I like London, too.
7. I want to learn meditation. But I can't seem to find the time! How pathetic is that? Now that I've written it down, maybe seeing those words on the screen will shame me into figuring out how to make time.
8. I love driving vacations, and my husband doesn't. But we've agreed on starting small and trying to get to a few great spots here in California this summer. With three kids in the mini-van--I'm nuts!
Okay, I'm going to tag 8 blogging buddies--and sorry if you've already been tagged. Don't worry if you don't feel like doing it--it's just for fun.
John at The Book Mine Set
a.book.in.the.life at a.book.in.the.life
Matt at A Variety of Words
Bookfool at Bookfoolery and Babble
SFP at Pages Turned
Bellezza at Dolce Bellezza
Literary Feline at Musings of a Bookish Kitty
Brad at Turning Pages
Hope you're feeling like sharing!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
23 comments:
Cool I will do this when i get home from work this evening- not sure who else I can tag though lol!
a.book--I'm glad you're doing it! I tagged some folks who had already been tagged, so don't worry about that part...
The Salem connection is fascinating! Terrible, but fascinating.
I like London, too, but Edinburgh and Scotland just have a special hold. You said that you hoped writing it down would spur you on to learn to meditate, and I found that having written about Tai Chi encouraged me to go back to class last night. One of my favorite parts is standing meditations (qi gong/chi gung), and we did enough last night to leave me feeling much better.
I agree with Jenclair about #1.
I can one up you on the meditation thing. I registered for a "Time Management" seminar in university, but couldn't fit it into my schedule.
(and yes, I did the tag too)
jenclair--the "witches" are a wild part of my history that I didn't know about until a few years ago, and it is fascinating. As you might imagine, I've read a lot about it by now--what a tragic part of all our history.
I'm glad you went back to Tai Chi class. That's something I've always wanted to do, too :)
john--he he! That's great! Now I feel better about the meditation :)
I also think the Salem connection is fascinating and terrible.
I always think it's interesting that people hate to fly because I enjoy it, in fact I once earned my private pilots license.
I ended up tagged twice! Which is just fine, as long as I don't have to do two "8 things" posts!
That is wild about your ancestors and the witch trials. Wow. Anyway, thank you for sharing your 8 items. This is so fun to read.
One of my coworker friends is also a descendant of a Salem "witch" - Rebecca Nurse. Just curious if there might be any connection.
matt--I think I would be less afraid to fly if I piloted the plane--it's a control thing, for me.
iliana--I think it's a fun meme--I'm enjoying learning a little about everyone, too!
tara--yes! Rebecca Nurse is my 9x great aunt, I believe. Her sister Mary Easty was also hanged, and another sister, Sara Cloyce, finally escaped jail and was not killed. Another of their sisters, Susanna Towne, is my 9x great grandmother. She had already died by the time of the witch trials, so she wasn't accused. That's my connection! Then I have another witch, Sarah Osborne, that I'm more directly related to. She would be my 9x great grandmother. Crazy, isn't it? How is your coworker related to poor Rebecca Nurse? I'm interested to hear...
Ahhhh! I just tagged you for this, too! Should I tag someone else instead? Nah! I'll just leave you tagged, because then you have a link to your blog in my blog, and that's always good for a random visitor or two, right?
dewey--I just saw that you tagged me, and commented on it on your blog--probably at the same moment you were commenting on mine. We're in sync today!
Thanks for tagging me, GR! I love doing these things.
What a fascinating and awful bit of family history! And, so cool that Tara knows someone distantly related to you through your ancestor.
I used to love flying, but now I kind of hate it (although I'm not really afraid of it - I just don't like being cooped up). I don't let it stop me from flying.
bookfool--I always loved flying when I was a kid, and then when I had kids myself, the fear set in. But it's better than it used to be, and I fly anyway. I don't like being cooped up, either :)
Thanks for the tag! I'm having fun reading through everyone's responses. I'm still thinking how to approach mine, but I will play along. :-)
What an interesting history you've uncovered in regards to your family.
I love flying, but I discovered recently that when I watch planes take off, I always hold my breath. And I've always said a prayer (more like a chant, repeating the same prayer over and over again) while on a plane taking off. I've done this for as long as I can remember. I guess my love for flying only goes so far! LOL
literary feline--thanks for playing! I am so enjoying reading everyone's 8 things. I'm working on the flying thing--maybe a chant on takeoff would be a good thing for me, too!
Yikes...it's been a busy week and I'm just now getting over here!! LOVED it!! Thank you so much for playing along! I have always been incredibly fascinated with the Salem Witch trials !
Yeah...the sorority thing! Sometimes, I wonder what was I thinking?? I don't really like to fly, but I've done it.
stephanie--I really enjoyed this meme--doing it and reading others' answers! It's been illuminating, and entertaining!
Wow, that's really interesting about your ancestors at Salem. Have any family stories about them reached you? I don't like to fly either but do because trains and boats take way too long. My parents used to drag my sister and I around in the car for family vacations. It was actually lots of fun, great family time. We'd play games counting cows and license plates from different states and American flags. I have good memories of those trips so maybe you aren't as crazy as you think :)
In her words, here is my coworkers relationship to Rebecca Nurse -
"What an unbelievable coincidence! Rebecca Nurse is my great-grandmother about 10 generations back. I will get more details from my mother, but it was traced through the family name of Russell and only a few other surnames/generations to Rebecca Nurse. The Russell name lasted many generations and ended in Ohio. The Russell family was given some land in the Western Reserve of Ohio, I believe as payment for fighting in the Revolutionary War.They founded the town of Russell, Ohio which still exists." How very interesting!
stefanie--I loved car trips as a kid, too. My parents dragged my brother and me around on all kinds of driving vacations, even all the way across the country, from California to Florida, when I was 11. I still remember it fondly! I have to fly tomorrow with my husband and kids, and am not looking forward to it--but I actually love the other part of it, the being somewhere else. I wish I liked the flying more. Maybe when the kids are older and it's not so much trouble. And I'm finding out more and more about my Salem ancestors, but I don't know that much about them. It's a really interesting thing to research, though, and I'm enjoying that.
tara--you're right, your coworker's story is interesting! We're probably very distantly related. As I mentioned, I'm more directly related to Rebecca Nurse's sister Susannah Towne, who married someone named Nathaniel Hayward, but the names switch a lot before it gets down to me. My mom has it all charted out somewhere--I can get more details from her. There are some who ended up in Ohio, too, but their name isn't Russell. It's the only line of my ancestry where anyone kept any records (the rest I can only trace back maybe 3 or 4 generations), so I find it fascinating.
Wow, that's crazy (and fascinating) about the Salem "witches" in your family tree. It makes me want to continue the geneaology I was doing and kind of let drop.
I like driving vacations, too! My friend and I did a southern circuit a few years ago through South Carolina, Tenn., Alabama, Miss. Quite interesting.
camille--I'm glad my mother's genealogical research turned up something interesting, but I had to eat my hat because I thought she was a little nuts about it at first! But I am enjoying doing the little bit of research I have done.
I'll let you know if I still like driving vacations after I try to take my kids on one!
finally did it, sorry I am rubbish!
Post a Comment