4,000 Questions - #1: Growing Up

While shopping on Amazon one day, I happened upon a book called "4,000 Questions for Getting to Know Anyone and Everyone."

I bought it because I wanted to use it at family get-togethers and other parties. I don't know if our parties are like yours, but so often, we only skim the surface with one another: how's work, what are the kids up to, can you believe the price of gas, and so on. We leave so much about each other unknown and unasked, mostly because we just don't think of clever questions to ask.

So, after buying the book, I put the questions on little slips of paper, and I pull them out at holidays. At first, everyone groaned about having to answer random questions, but they've come to realize just how fun it is to find out such interesting new things about each other and they actually look forward to it.

I also thought the questions might work well on a blog, so here's what I'm going to do...I'll state the next question in the book, provide my own answer to it, and then hope that any visitors ALSO answer the question in the Comments section. What do you say?

Question #1: Where did you grow up?

My Answer:

When I was first born, my parents and my 4 older siblings lived on a houseboat called the Wayward Wind in Fairport Harbor, Ohio. I have no memories of that, but have seen photos and it looks like it was pretty cool.

My father then felt the need for even more adventure, so he bought an old 1948 flatbed truck, named it John Henry (after that steel drivin' man), and proceeded to build us a home on wheels. I guess you could say it was an early custom RV! We had a wood stove for heat, kerosene lamps for light, no TV, but we did listen to radio shows...I well remember Fibber McGee & Molly!

On the side of the truck, he painted a map of the US, with the title: "48 States in a 48 Truck." Then, as we traveled, he painted a red dotted line to show our route on the map. We traveled all over the US during the summers; when it was time to start school, we just stopped in whatever town/state we were in and registered for school. By the end of our travels, there were 9 kids, 2 cats, 2 dogs, a bird, and other pets that came and went. I've attended schools all over the US, have been to 49 out of 50 states (still need to get to Alaska!), and have never lost the wanderlust!

Your answer...

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The iPod Craze - Now I Get It!

For Christmas, my daughter wanted a new iPod Classic, which meant I could have her old 4 gig Nano. I was happy to be getting it, but not over-the-top excited. That is...until Christmas morning.

She had thoughtfully cleared out her old Nano for me, and put it and its accessories into a box and wrapped it up to put under the tree. So, when I opened it, it was ready to begin using. She helped me buy some songs from iTunes and it was ready to use.

I had also already purchased a new set of earbuds (the ones that originally came with her Nano were shot, as she had tossed them in the sand on White Crest Beach on the Cape because she was hoping to attract the attention of a nearby surfer god...the sand never came out and rattled around inside the earbuds whenever she listened to music...and the surfer god didn't notice her, but she and her friend were checked out by a group of 10-year-olds trying to look buff as they coolly strolled past the 15-year-old girls who were tanning on a blanket).

Anywho...I put the earbuds in after her quick tutorial on basic iPod use - I'm still trying to get the hang of these rotating buttons - and to my surprise, understood in an instant what all the fuss was about. It's really FUN! I know this sounds totally cornball, but with the music of your own choosing coming directly into your ears, for only your listening pleasure, you're one with the music.

Early that morning, after loading entire albums onto the iPod even though I wasn't wild about every song on the album, I made a resolution - no more full albums! I am only going to load songs that I love to listen to. That way, every time a new song comes on, I'll find myself saying, "Oh, I LOVE this song!" So, I deleted several songs that were just so-so, and now only have favorites. So far, I have 25 songs loaded on; here's a sampling of my top favorites (yes, I know...many of these are old fogie songs, but I do love them, and most of them have a special meaning to me):

Happy New Year 2009!

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New Year's Day always makes me think of fresh starts, clean slates, new possibilities, and a feeling of hopefulness.

This feeling is enhanced when I put the calendar for the new year (Susan Branch, natch) up on the wall in the kitchen next to the phone. I'm mesmerized by all of its blank spaces just waiting to be filled in - a Virgo's dream!

I do make resolutions, but I've learned to keep them to only one or two big ones that really matter to me and that I really want to do, and to make them realistic so I can actually achieve them.
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