Wow, how did I miss this thread? :)

I guess I'll take the plunge! :lmao

Let's see, I hit the big 50 this year. I'm 6' tall (I come from a tall lanky family), have very short hair that I cheat and keep blonde with Miss Clairol, green eyes. I have two ADs, one is 30, my 20 year old still lives with me. I've been divorced since 1989.

I have taken college courses here and there over the years but finally decided to go back full-time this fall. I will graduate with a double degree, an associate of arts, and an associate of applied sciences in medical information technology (medical billing/coding/transcription). I've worked a variety of jobs over the years including COBOL programmer/analyst, drill press operator in a welding shop, freelance writer for a biker magazine, and veterinary assistant.

I have several rescue dogs and cats, and have also had a ferret, guinea pigs, and pet rats. I love to crochet, and also used to sketch a lot till I had surgery on both arms for pinched nerves and have some disability now that affects my ability to grip a pen/pencil. I also played piano and organ (took lessons for 10 years).

I have done websites for small businesses, though I haven't had time to do that since I started college, but I do ongoing website maintenance for one client in Canada who makes pajamas for greyhounds (one of my dogs is a greyhound). I learned by tutoring myself in HTML back in 1997 when I was down with the pinched nerves and going through Workman's Comp while waiting on a proper diagnosis.

I'm so glad this thread is back!
 

The photo of my Cornish Rex vanished, as did my original post to this thread. So if anyone is wondering about the comment FD made regarding a croissant the size of a torpedo, I'll explain.

I attended L'Academie de Cuisine in Bethesda, MD and am schooled in classic French cuisine (I ain't no Julia Child!) and oriental cuisine. However, I was at the bottom of my class when it came to baking. I'm not keen on having to measure stuff.

So during one class in which we had to make croissants, I got bored kneading about a ton of butter into the dough. My croissant came out of the oven, and the chef/instructor held it up for the class to see and said, "DON'T let this happen to you." Yeah, that was some croissant - HUGE. It tasted great, but it sure didn't look like any croissant I've ever seen in a bakery.

I am the proud mother of two pure-bred Cornish Rex cats. Weird looking things. They have no guard hairs, don't shed, and their coats are wavy and very soft. They also have huge ears and an egg-shaped face. They're quite affectionate and good with children.

Then there is "Miss Mew" who somehow ended up on the roof of my house last November. I lured her down with a can of 9-Lives and she's been part of the furfamily ever since. I currently have another stray who resides in my backyard, but is fed twice daily. She's becoming tamer and letting me get closer. But with a dog and three cats, I'm up to my animal limit in this house!

I will have my bachelor's degree in May - B.S. in Legal Studies/Business Management from the University of Maryland. I did everything but the math courses online. I saved the math for last and I'm taking my courses at the local two-year college.

I hope to move back east to Baltimore within the year. I lived there my entire life and with the humid summers, mosquitoes, and cold winters, it's still my favorite place on earth. I lived near (and on) the Chesapeake Bay for many years and enjoy sailing and "stink-potting" (power boating). I'm also just a few hours away from Skyline Drive in Virginia. So I have the mountains and the water close by. Traffic is terrible, but the museums, art galleries, and cultural events more than make up for it.

WOW I am among very intelligent and interesting people!! This thread rules!! Later on I will read every post.

I am 26, from Mexico, brunette and with a few extra pounds I am planning to shed in my Kick Ass Hibernation Plan whereby I obsess about ME and MY OWN HEALTH in and out... they have told me I have a pretty face but my eyes look very sad (for now..)

I got a B Sc in Computer science and I am in tech support, I support networks for hospitals, agencies, shops. Next saturday I am starting to take theater lessons, I appeared in a short film for a friend, I had to ride a gay man as if he was a pony haha it was weird but hot but cool. .but it was artistic.. well no clothes were shed :) I think they will add it in youtube...

I also LOVE to draw and paint and its been years since I do not draw anything... but now I am getting more inspired, thanks for your great artistic tips!!

I also love psychology and activism and would love to pursue a masters degree in something related to humanities, and send this boring 9 to 6 life down the drain... go study and later on work serving coffee or something LOL

I have an older sister that KICKS ASS, she lives in France and works for Handicap International, lobbying and making campaigns to ban cluster bombs. I helped her out with an international campaign and it was wonderful to see how many people signed the Oslo petition. A dad told me he is not letting any war related toys at home and a couple of Israeli tourists signed as well (we had Lebanese war pictures), that was really moving. My sis is married with a french guy and I am glad they are coming by the end of the year

My mom divorced 23 years ago and she has been depressed ever since. Anyway she has been great support for me at this time. I went to a retirement with AA and learned to forgive her. She lives in Mex city.

My dad remarried and I am getting along better with him and his wife. They seem happy, they live in Austin TX.

Just left an alcoholic guy and my heart is in pieces right now :( now under antidepressants to help me focus on my job as it is stressful and I a mess seeing him everydat as we work together

I LOVE yoga and spiritual practices that I of course avoid when I need them most.

On the same day I got a manicure and learned to use the drill to add a closet in my room to hang on my clothes. I dress up in a skirt and then go to my workplace with 200 men! But most of them are geeks although I am starting to befriend a couple.

I live with a friend and her sister, they are great and lively.

I am a loner but starting to appreciate sharing more about myself.

I have traveled a lot in Asia and Europe, I lived in Finland and in Singapore as a student, those were my greatest times.

Thanks a lot for being out there, you are all very inspiring!! and for reminding me who I really am above these bad times and circumstances.

Where to start? I am a 36 year old mother of 2 beautiful girls. Both of my young ladies are very active, so they keep me busy and on my toes. I am about 5'5" and have an average build. I currently work in Education with Special Ed students after spending about 6 years in the MHMR field, MH side. Interesting enough, my BA's are unrelated, since I hold 2-1 in Political Science and 1 in History.. : ) I enjoy traveling and reading and movies. I prefer not to go to the theaters to see movies because I am hearing impaired and addicted to Closed caption!!! But I am up to date on all the movie rental new releases. : ) I volunteer at the local Meals on Wheels and love it. My girls and I have 3 dogs, 3 cats and 2 fish. I live in a small town, but we go at least twice monthly to one of the closer cities and do some fun stuff like laser tag, ice skating, theme parks, ect.

Try number three..../mutter mumble, I have written twice now, once accidently closing the tab, erasing everything, second time computer froze....grrrrr

OK, great thread, thank you to FD for starting this thread and to Denny for resurecting it.

Hmmm...let's see, three years ago tomorrow I went to "save" my mother's business, she and my sister were both in the hospital and if the restaurant closed the livelihood for my sister, niece, mother and stepfather vanished.

I commuted for a month or two, trying to run my own business and my mothers restaurant, three hour commute each direction, I was driving something insane like twelve hours a week bouncing in between the two businesses.

My mother leaned on me pretty hard to "take over" her business so she could retire, she was working about 100 hours a week, and it was literally killing her.

I sold my business, left my girlfriend, and moved up to "save my family".

I ultimately achieved my goal, but it cost me everything. I ran the restaurant for three years until my sisters baby got old enough to get into day care, then "pulled" my sister "off the hill" and trained her how to run the restaurant as my mother passed control of the restaurant over to me. This was a tedious and painful process.

My mother is retired, and my sister now runs the restaurant full time, achieving this objective was Godawful to say the least, anyone who has been married to an alcoholic can relate how hard this is, now imagine being "married" to three practicing alcoholics and a practicing opiate addict.

I looked and sounded exactly like "Stubborn1" on her very worst days (hugs sweetheart I know how you feel, I promise, it can be "crazy makin).

"What happened" was....I don't know, we all just got to "critical mass" and I made the decision to leave and left in under 72 hours, those three years had cost me my home, my girlfriend, my life savings, my self confidence, and my sanity.

I "returned home" broke, looking for a job, sleeping on friends couches, my friends in AA absolutely "circled the wagons" and absolutely loved me until I could learn to love myself again, those people "saved me", they really did, the outpouring of love and support was indescribable.

When I had started calling them, the answer I got from every single one of them was absolutely unconditional, they all said the same thing, "Do you have any IDEA how much we love you? Do you even realize how many people you've helped over the years, all the people you twelve stepped, the dozens of people you let live on your couch, gave jobs to, sponsored, gave a "hand up" to, that there are dozens in AA that actually say "they owe their sobriety to you" how many people "share" how important you were to them at meetings?

At that time I needed to hear that, I absolutely didn't recognize the person they were describing, to say I was "beaten up" by the last three years was an understatement of nearly biblical proportions.

I felt that what my family did was the worse betrayal I have ever heard of.

It truly cost me everything, it cost me my whole life, and they didn't care.

To add insult to injury, the woman I was dating at the time started throwing this all in my face, telling me i was "useless", calling me "jobless" and homeless" and saying "look at everything I have, you have nothing, clearly it's because you are a bad person, you deserve everything that has happened to you, and the fact you are jobless and homeless is a reflection of who you are as a human being, and I am GLAD I didn't help you, I made sure I was the last person you could come to for help.

When I left her for lying to me, drinking, "disappearing" for days and sending me poison emails, her hate filled invective filling up my "inbox" only strengthened my resolve to heal myself. I have NEVER had anybody "kick me when I was down" so badly. When I did leave her, she called it "abandoning her" and that I "hid behind my program" and that "once I didn't need her any more I left her." because I was "chickensh1t".

Nothing could have been further from the truth.

That period of my life was the darkest period I have ever gone through, darker and more difficult then my "alcoholic" bottom which is described as "pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization".

I am that person that they all "loved" again, thanks in no small part to the love they showered on me, to the support they gave me. It was harder then I can say to need help, and harder still to "accept" help. I felt pathetic, small, beaten up, my self esteem was at an all time low, not helped by this woman "that loved me" absolutely doing her best to tear me down.

Today Life is Good, I am "speaking" tonight for a group of drunks the night before Thanksgiving, I am going to volunteer my time tomorrow to help feed, and be with "sober alcoholics" then go be with a family that adopted me 33 years ago.

I am happy, joyous and free, I am surrounded by loving friends, met a girl I can not BELIEVE is real, work is rewarding and very lucrative, I can work two days a week if I so desire and still be plenty "in the green" or work more, there is the distinct possibility (as in we are working on this right now) me opening up a branch of this company here, with a great salary, bennies, profit sharing...my future looks good if I so desire to follow this career path.

My "insides" feel good, my "outsides" are all falling into place...Life is good again.

Today, I truly have reasons to be Thankful.

God bless all of you, you all are one of those reasons.

FD, thank you again for this thread. :Val004:

Hi, what a great thread. It's strange reading these posts and trying to match them up with the pain spoken about by the same people in other threads. What step are we collectively working? I'm new to all of this, expecially the steps, so I'll have to look it up. Must be one about gratitude for what we have or in that vein.

So many artists, so many gorgeous, articulate, educated women in the 40-55 age bracket. The researcher in me says..............what has happened to our men in the evolutionary process. A genuine question.

My external story goes like this. Born and raised on a dairy farm in the tropics of Australia in the late 50's. I'm talking the edge of a jungle with big swollen rivers, cyclone seasons, misty foggy days, no electricity, a battery radio, stories, dogs, cows, horses and trees 10feet in diameter with a canopy of vine growing over them. Not forgetting the odd carpet snake curled up on the bed when I got home from school. Or the aboriginal campsite down by the river. I would drift off to sleep at night, nose prassed into my father's tobacco smelling wooly jumper with the sound of the aborigianl sticks and singing drifting in and out of my mind. I have two little sisters. There is nothing we do not know about each other and we are fiercely loyal. We are more judgemental with each other than with anyone else on the planet. No man is ever a good enough partner for our sister............(well?)

Depite my fathers alcoholism he taught me a lot. Compassion, politics, solidarity, a disdain for blatant injustice, how to pick a good horse, and how to use a chain saw. He is still alive, mellowed since my mother's death 14 yrs ago.

The farm went broke and we moved to the city. This was great! Kids everywhere, up and down the street. Although I missed the animals we had lots of social interaction. i joined every club i could find and so did my sisters. Singing, drama, fife band, debating, gymnastics you name it. My mother worked at sometimes three jobs so we could have the extras, ballet, drama, music lessons and holidays at nice places. Although I now wonder if it also served to be away from Dad. Dad was either at work or at the Club. Nobody was ever home. (B

So that is pretty much how I have lived. Like a lot of you seem to have done. I have really packed it in. I learned that life was much better outside the family whether it was in a Leftie Political Party, a Theatre troup, a Movie set, a hectic job, community development, whatever. I love being with my species. I don't mind being alone but when i am I am reading. I read lots. My favorite book is still Das Kapital which can bring me to tears. I can go to bed with a research paper.

I have a Masters degree in Child and Adolescent Mental Health and am currently working in Population Health designing and implementing strategies to engage marginalised and socially disadvantaged kids in community connection programs. I love my job. But I have always loved my jobs. I kind of see them as daily social occasions where we all get together and "create" something. I'm good at writing funding submissions and my colleagues comment on how I much effort I will put in. But it doesn't feel like an effort to me....it feels exciting.

I was raised in an isolated situation, and loved it. I also loved living in the heart of big cities like London and Berlin during my 30's but by the time I hit 40 I wanted the tree change. I now live on a property with my RAH, my 30 dressage and showjuming horses and work full-time. I have lots of girlfriends. They are mostly leftie, arty types who have gone into the social welfare bureacracy of health, education or arts batting for the poor because the 70's revolution didn't happen. Some are in Aid organisations in Asia.

I adore food and although i was a chubby teenager lost weight at 17yrs and have been 8stone7lbs ever since. I'm 5'3" and olive complexioned being Scott/Irish/German decent. We have great food here being so close to Aisia. Just about everyone knows how to do a Thai or Indonesion dish. I went to America last year and couldn't find any Aisian or Indian restaurants or even take-aways. However i did like the Mexican food. In another life I would have studied languages (I love mimicking sounds) Or possibly go and learn about our indigenous culture.

Whenever we go to Europe, which is only once every five years if that, i realize how far away we from the rest of the world, which has it's distinct advantages. But I would love to be able to drive for two or three hours and be in a completely different culture like Europeans can.

Well time's up...............better give someone else a turn.

I love the Australian way of life. The space, the humour, the kind of no bull*#%t way of relating that has a healthy disdain for snobbery. New Age stuff gets on my ****. It is probably the only thing I have a closed mind to.....and biggots (haha).