Carly's Ramblings Blog - Style

Fortune Telling, Dedications, My World & A Cast Member

Today's blogs...

Welcome To My Reality – Week Forty – Seven

4. What is your opinion on fortune telling - tea leaves, tarot cards, etc?

Intriguing bit of nonsense... curiosity draws me in, but I am not sure if I would go to one or not? It may be hocus pocus but hearing something may influence you to act in a way to bring about the results - like a self fulfilling prophecy or some such thing. I prefer not knowing and following my heart and hoping going the way God has planned for me.

The creative writer part of me is intrigued. What stories you could weave... makes me want to work one into my Nano novel, just for fun.

6. If you were to publish a novel, who would you mention in the dedication page and why? How do you think they would respond? (If you have already published, we'd love to hear what you wrote in your dedication!)

I would be inclined to dedicate my book to those who believed in my creative, writing self. My grandmother - Gramzie, for her unconditional acceptance and love. She is gone now. She lived to be almost 101 but she was a vital person in my life - even now in memories. I find I write about her now more than I did when she was alive. She would be smiling down at me from heaven.

If I added anyone else.... I would say me friend, Michelle as her encouragement was always there. I think she would like the acknowledgement but probably not think it was required. Her friendship has meant a lot to me and we have known each other for over 38 years!

Those are my main ones.... but in order to not step on toes I may add my mother and my other friend, Debbie. Both are more sensitive to not being included - though they may deny it. When I think about it they are very important as well.

Debbie has helped me to share myself and let my fun side out. She is invaluable in that her outlook and encouragement are always there for me. She always makes me laugh.

My mother... well, she has raised me to be who I am. Our history is entwined and she encourages me. My childhood was under the shadow of her depression and that has shaped me, but once she got help for it she and I have been able to have conversations that have given me a lot more incite into our past.

7. Describe the world you come from. Share your world, your culture with us.

That plays well into the topic above. I recently ran across a book about being a child of a depressed parent - or some such thing. I will have to find the book again to know the title. I had a quick peek to see that much of my younger life was reflective of their description.

I grew up in a small town. My parents separated when I was seven or eight. My mother moved out after moving from the master bedroom to the spare room. A depression engulfed her. Engulfed us. I moved with her, but spent weekends with my dad - I am not sure what the arrangement was, but I did go back and forth. Mom's place was central as I went to school from there.

I was probably the only kid in my class at school that was from a 'broken home'. Add that to being an only child and you get a weird child who is painfully shy, sensitive and introverted. I was teased for being seen as odd. Grade 2 and 3 is when kids really begin to be cruel with their teasing and this when much of the fallout happened.

It was the early 1970's and I was from a small Northern Ontario town which was primarily white Anglosaxon - English, Irish and Scottish descendants. The only variation was a token Asian family (my best friend was the oldest of that family). They owned the Chinese Restaurant. There was no other ethnic groups and anyone with a disability was 'hidden'.

In December of 1978, my mother moved us to Guelph. She got a work transfer. My favourite Aunt and Uncle lived in Guelph and my aunt was pregnant with their first child. I was in grade six - an awkward age and southern Ontario kids were more ahead of me in terms of socially. So add backwards to my list of debits.

It was two months later that my dad died of cancer and a month after that my aunt had my cousin, Mikey making me no longer the youngest grandchild. With all that happened in those three months, I fell into a depression of my own - not really being overly social until high school. Although, grade eight was better with my friend Michelle (a year behind me) coming to College Avenue Public School. I was no longer so alone or isolated.

Southern Ontario was much more ethnically varied and the school I went to had special education classes at the other end of the school. (My aunt had taught there before going on to teach at the high school level). Also that same year, a girl from England and a boy from Iran moved to the area and joined the grade six class.

Writing was a life line for me in all this. Meeting my friend Debbie in grade ten built up my confidence and little by little I stepped out from behind that darkness my mother had veiled us in. Southern Ontario allowed her to get access to treatment for her depression and things improved readily.

This does not really talk about my culture, but it does snap shot into my weird little life. I am happy with where I am now. I still love northern Ontario for its quiet strength and its hardy forests, but I am also glad we made the move to southern Ontario because the social, emotion bonds were crippling us up there and here we were able to grow.

Blog City – Day 254

Prompt: If you could be a cast member on any TV Show, which one would it be?

Okay now this is a great prompt. The only problem is picking a show. I don't think I would pick CSI or Criminal Minds - though I like them, I would worry my role would be as a victim. Not good.

No reality show for me - I will watch but they are too drama nuts for my tastes to be physically there on the show.

Gotham is dark... though there is potential there. Elementary would be a good one as well. But what part could I play that would add to the show? My preference would be to be a helper not a harmer. Someone who contributes to the cases being solved or an informant who's observational skills make one an asset.