Favorite Childhood Book

Do you remember your favorite book from childhood?

My favorite childhood book(or series of books) is probably “Little House on the Prairie” by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I had all the books and I read them until they basically fell apart.

When I was little I also watched “Little House” on tv every week, and then the reruns.

I wanted to be Laura Ingalls.

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Three Books

List three books that have had an impact on you. Why?

It’s hard to narrow it down to just three books that have had an influence on me.

I guess if I have read them over and over and they have continued to impact me it is a good sign that they might be in the top of my list.

The first book is probably “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood. I have read the book three or four times (I first read it in high school),and I have watched the Hulu series avidly. The book has probably had such influence on me because it echoes a lot of societal issues that are going on now in the United States. It was originally written as a reaction to the Evangelical influence on politics that started in the 1980’s, but a lot of these issues are coming back into focus now: women and their right to decide what happens to their own bodies, etc. It is a scenario of a dystopian society that can come when puritanical values and intolerance go too far.

Overcoming My Fears

What fears have you overcome and how?

The first, and one of the worst, fears I have is social anxiety.

I have always felt weird talking to people I don’t know, making phone calls, and public speaking. I have a fear of being embarrassed, doing something “stupid”, or messing up somehow.

When I first started my job in retail, I was terrified. I felt like a “fish out of water”and I was extremely self conscious. I felt almost like I was on stage when at the register or in front of customers; I felt like I was acting.

As time went on and I got to know more people-my coworkers and regular customers, and I started to relax a bit. Even outside of work I felt a little more comfortable talking to people I don’t know.

I still feel out of sorts and anxious, but not as bad.

Joyful Moments

Describe one simple thing you do that brings joy to your life.

One simple thing that I do that brings me joy is when I visit with my family. When my parents and brother are all together and getting along, it can be truly joyful.

My family used to be a lot bigger. I had my aunts, and uncles, and cousins. I didn’t really see them all that much but when we did get together it was an event. Now a lot of them are gone or everybody moved far away. The only time I see my cousins are at funerals(and one of my cousins I run into all the time at Aldi for some reason!)

It makes me cherish the family that I still have more, even if we don’t always see eye to eye.

My parents are older and my father is in a nursing home with dementia, so visiting with him is special because I don’t know how much longer he will know me or be with us. He gets so down and anxious and to try and make him laugh.

Being with my mom makes me feel good because we are very close and like the same things. We go places and have fun together.

Time to Unplug

How do you know when it’s time to unplug? What do you do to make it happen?

I am an introvert.

At the end of the day, I can leave work feeling drained and like my battery is empty. I feel like I have had the energy sucked out of me.

Sometimes this happens after doing too much or when I am very tired.

I start to feel overwhelmed and like I’ve hit the wall.

I feel like I’ve had enough.

Friendly Values

What quality do you value most in a friend?

I think the biggest thing I value in a friend is honesty/loyalty.

I had a friend who lied to me about important stuff and it ended up being the breaking point in the relationship.

She was also my college roommate, and said she was sick with a serious illness. She got everyone’s sympathy, but it turned out she was lying. She also took my food and then lied about it.

Jobs I’ve Had

What jobs have you had?

I could be called a “Jill of All Trades.”

I went to school for Communications/Mass Media. But I ended up not getting a job in Mass Media, because…well, life happens.

During college I worked as a “student helper” in the library. I worked in the “Curriculum Lab”, which contained resources for Student Teachers. I maintained the objects and books they could check out, and shelved books.

After college I worked in various other jobs.

I was a Recreation Aide/Volunteer in a nursing home.

I taught internet and computers to seniors at a Senior Center.

I worked in a hot dog trailer and concession making hot dogs and steamed cheeseburgers and selling them.

I was a Personal Care Assistant and shopper for a lady in a wheelchair.

And, finally, now I am working in retail.

My Idea of Religion

Do you practice religion?

When I was little, I went to church with my family. My father was Lutheran, and my mother was raised in the Congregational Church.

My father was more religious than my mother, so my family ended up going to the Lutheran church. Until I was eight or nine we went to services there on Sunday and I went to Sunday school and participated in kids activities in the church. I was never quite “Into It,” and I just went because my family did.

My best friend, who went to a Congregational church, invited me to join the choir there when I was ten or eleven. I went with her to church, and my family sometimes joined me there when we had concerts or performed in the choir. The choir was fun, and it was more of a social activity than an actual religious activity for me.

As I got older, I stopped going to church. I got away from the idea of “organized religion.” I did not see why you had to go to a church to communicate with God or whatever you call the “Higher Power” and that you could talk to God in your own way anytime.

Life Before The Internet

Do you remember life before the internet?

I definitely remember a time before the internet.

When I was in high school in the early 1990’s, there was no internet in my school. We had computers, but they were only good for writing papers. We didn’t look stuff up online-we still had encyclopedias or dictionaries.

It wasn’t until college that I started going online. The internet, and instant messaging, seemed like magic(albeit much more primitive than what we have now.) I would spend many hours in the computer lab looking up stuff and messaging my friends across campus, and at other colleges, on the university version of IM.

Even though we had the internet, it was still pretty slow compared to now. I finally got a computer in my house that was able to have Internet in 2000. It took hours to download a song or game. We still had dial-up so I remember that distinctive screechy sound of the computer connecting to the rest of the world.

I used it for email and gaming, but it wasn’t all encompassing and addicting as it can be now.

What I Do Best

What are you good at?

The thing I am probably most good at, and the proudest of, is my verbal ability.

This means that I am good at spelling and I am a “word nerd.” I like all things that have to do with words and writing. I used to be in spelling bees; one time in the seventh grade, the competition went back and forth between me and this other kid about ten or twelve times before I struck out on the word “discordant”(in a huge case of overthinking I imagined the word as it pertains to sound and linked it with music so that I spelled it “dischordant”!) I am still disappointed to this day that I missed out on my trophy and encyclopedia set!