I just never have enough time to get everything done that I want to do.
One of the things I like the best about myself is that I have a lot of interests. There is just so much out there to learn about and do, I just don't understand people who have no hobbies or interests. There is so much about which to get excited! It probably sounds really selfish, but it actually seems unfair to me that there is not enough time to pursue all the things that catch my interest.
You already know about my obsessions with martial arts and reading. I've told you that once something catches my attention, I morph into "Research Girl" and read and watch everything I can about that particular subject. I also love tattoos. I only have one myself, but once I decided to do it, I knew I could not just walk into any old tattoo shop and pick some "flash" off the wall undoubtedly being sported by housewives who wanted to "do something daring". Yes, faster than a internet google, able to navigate search engines in a single keystroke…it's "Research Girl". I decided I wanted to design my tattoo myself. I started with the finished tattoo I could visualize in my head and used internet images and fonts along with magazine photos and the like to create my own design. Long story short - it is a "3 lock box" (I'm a major Sammy Hagar fan!) and the three keys and keyholes represent my husband and 2 kids. The blue scrolls at the bottom represent Cabo Wabo. I researched shops until I found a reputable one and a friend and I went a few weeks before my 40th birthday and an idea that had started in my mind is now a permanent part of my physical being. Anyway, it just has a lot of meaning to me and it always will. And I'll never regret getting it. And the next one is going to be a dragon…Okay, got off tangent there…
Well, my newest interest is a fascination with genealogy. I received a wedding band believed to be my great-great grandfather's, but we were not sure. So, I started researching on Ancestry.com and MyHertage.com. Using the engraved initials and date on the inside of the gold band, I found out it was my great-grandfather's ring on my grandma's side. It is from 1899. Is that not wild? I plan on giving it to my son some day to use as his wedding band. Then I found old family photos I had never seen before - my grandparent's wedding and my grandma's first communion. The worst part - and the best part - I have found more questions than answers. Like my great-great grandmother, for instance. She gave birth to my great grandfather. Then she had another baby in 1847. She and the baby died in 1848. No explanation. Was it an accident? An epidemic disease? She is buried "in the family cemetery on the family farm"???? What? Since their family was one of the founding families of this community, I started trying to find out just where this family farm once stood but so far, I keep hitting dead ends. But no way am I giving up. I can trace two family lines back to the 1500's! Is that not amazing? I am just fascinated.
But I work full time. I have a husband, a 10 yo ADHD son, an 18 yo daughter who thinks money grows on trees and that it is an abomination that she be asked to do the laundry, a household. Two elderly parents not in very good health. I serve on the PTA of my son's school. I do newsletters for my work, my church, my ladies' group, my son's school. I take martial arts classes two nights per week. I try to practice martial arts a few nights per week on my own. Money problems. Friends I don't have time to see. And I really do love me some good T.V., too!
So, you see, all I'm wishing for is for those people who don’t choose to pursue anything - I would like them to donate some of their time to me. LOL C'mon, it's not that outrageous of a request. People donate vacation time to help co-workers. They donate time to charities. I’m always in a hurry trying to fit everything in that I want to do and learn. Why can't someone give me some more time to pursue all my obsessions???
The reality is - they can't. We are all given the same 24 hours per day. We all must make the decisions to use that time in the best way we know how. They always say if you want to get something done, ask a busy person. I guess that's why I get asked to volunteer so often!
Time is definitely NOT on my side. Oh, yeah, and "I Can't Drive 55" either…
One of the things I like the best about myself is that I have a lot of interests. There is just so much out there to learn about and do, I just don't understand people who have no hobbies or interests. There is so much about which to get excited! It probably sounds really selfish, but it actually seems unfair to me that there is not enough time to pursue all the things that catch my interest.
You already know about my obsessions with martial arts and reading. I've told you that once something catches my attention, I morph into "Research Girl" and read and watch everything I can about that particular subject. I also love tattoos. I only have one myself, but once I decided to do it, I knew I could not just walk into any old tattoo shop and pick some "flash" off the wall undoubtedly being sported by housewives who wanted to "do something daring". Yes, faster than a internet google, able to navigate search engines in a single keystroke…it's "Research Girl". I decided I wanted to design my tattoo myself. I started with the finished tattoo I could visualize in my head and used internet images and fonts along with magazine photos and the like to create my own design. Long story short - it is a "3 lock box" (I'm a major Sammy Hagar fan!) and the three keys and keyholes represent my husband and 2 kids. The blue scrolls at the bottom represent Cabo Wabo. I researched shops until I found a reputable one and a friend and I went a few weeks before my 40th birthday and an idea that had started in my mind is now a permanent part of my physical being. Anyway, it just has a lot of meaning to me and it always will. And I'll never regret getting it. And the next one is going to be a dragon…Okay, got off tangent there…
Well, my newest interest is a fascination with genealogy. I received a wedding band believed to be my great-great grandfather's, but we were not sure. So, I started researching on Ancestry.com and MyHertage.com. Using the engraved initials and date on the inside of the gold band, I found out it was my great-grandfather's ring on my grandma's side. It is from 1899. Is that not wild? I plan on giving it to my son some day to use as his wedding band. Then I found old family photos I had never seen before - my grandparent's wedding and my grandma's first communion. The worst part - and the best part - I have found more questions than answers. Like my great-great grandmother, for instance. She gave birth to my great grandfather. Then she had another baby in 1847. She and the baby died in 1848. No explanation. Was it an accident? An epidemic disease? She is buried "in the family cemetery on the family farm"???? What? Since their family was one of the founding families of this community, I started trying to find out just where this family farm once stood but so far, I keep hitting dead ends. But no way am I giving up. I can trace two family lines back to the 1500's! Is that not amazing? I am just fascinated.But I work full time. I have a husband, a 10 yo ADHD son, an 18 yo daughter who thinks money grows on trees and that it is an abomination that she be asked to do the laundry, a household. Two elderly parents not in very good health. I serve on the PTA of my son's school. I do newsletters for my work, my church, my ladies' group, my son's school. I take martial arts classes two nights per week. I try to practice martial arts a few nights per week on my own. Money problems. Friends I don't have time to see. And I really do love me some good T.V., too!
So, you see, all I'm wishing for is for those people who don’t choose to pursue anything - I would like them to donate some of their time to me. LOL C'mon, it's not that outrageous of a request. People donate vacation time to help co-workers. They donate time to charities. I’m always in a hurry trying to fit everything in that I want to do and learn. Why can't someone give me some more time to pursue all my obsessions???
The reality is - they can't. We are all given the same 24 hours per day. We all must make the decisions to use that time in the best way we know how. They always say if you want to get something done, ask a busy person. I guess that's why I get asked to volunteer so often!
Time is definitely NOT on my side. Oh, yeah, and "I Can't Drive 55" either…
3 comments:
I'm so with you on the multiple hobbies/interests and not enough time. My on-line knitting group had a question circulating "Would you give up knitting if someone paid you a million dollars?" Most people answered "No." I answered, "Sure! Except for reading, I'd give up every hobby I have for a million dollars - and I'll have a complete new list, just as long, by tomorrow evening. It wouldn't bother me to trade knitting, spinning, writing, beading and karate for weaving, carpentry, gardening, painting and aikido!"
Genealogy is one I burned out on long ago, though. The artifact of being dragged to the Library of Congress for hours and hours as a child and being forced into helping my mother look up dead ancestors I wasn't interested in rather than read all those fascinating books. OTOH - give me some of your last names, and the odds are really good (esp. if you have some founding families), that your family history will plug into some of the research Mom has done somewhere. The names I remember off the top of my head would be: Meagher, Stearns, Herndon, Elliot, Rose, McCulloch and Brady
My problem is I don't want to trade the current for new - I want to keep the current and add new! My family names are Eggert, Buschard, Jacobsmeyer and Wollgast (think maybe I'm German?) LOL
Genealogical research is hard work. I used to work at a non-profit Historical Society focused on PA German History. Good luck with your research!
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