A to Z Challenge - Scary Stuff!

Today is the "Theme Reveal Day" for the A to Z Challenge. 
No "Scary Stuff" is not my theme. I only signed up for the challenge today, spontaneously, so I opted not to sign up for the Theme Reveal Challenge. 

No. "Scary Stuff" is the idea of forcing myself to write six days a week, when I have a job that requires me to be on the computer 8-hours a day, and I have low motivation to get online in the evening! If you check deeper into my blog, you will notice that I have not posted regularly for a very long time.

My life drastically changed about 4 years ago, and before that I had more time and inclination to write. I enjoyed my blog, developed friends through my blog, and even met my husband through his blog! So yeah, I loved blogging, but got away from it because I like my blog to be anonymous, and had no privacy to write for quite some time. (Please don't judge me based on my recent posts. Go back at least 10-12 posts - I think - if you want to get a flavor for my style.)


However, since it IS Theme Reveal Day, here's my theme:
A Travelogue of my Life. 

Or maybe just:
Places I've Been

...Interesting Places?

Since I'm not "officially" a part of the Theme Reveal, I guess I don't feel like it has to be a coherent statement. You get the idea. 

I promise it won't be boring. My dad was a missionary, so I've lived in four countries including boarding school, traveled to something like 20 more countries, and visited all but two US states. So I've BEEN places. 

I am a bit out of practice blogging, but hopefully this will help revive that little germ from a few years and a lifetime ago!

Relativity

I just finished reading a book by one of my new favorite "chick lit" authors.

The first book of Jenna McCarthy's that I read was called "Pretty Much Screwed" and it was a page-turner. (you know, if you like chick lit) This one took a little longer to get into, I think because my experience with birth-order psychology was different from Jenna's portrayal in Everything's Relative.

Warning: There may be subtle spoilers here. No plot points, but character points.


I've always felt a bit of an expert on Birth Order Psychology, particularly as it pertains to gender. As the 4th of 5, we have everything: Eldest daughter, eldest son, middle child (daughter), baby girl, baby boy. That's how *I* classified us, because in this world, CLEARLY, parents treat sons and daughters differently, so whereas my brother is technically "the baby", we were both treated as youngest, perhaps in different ways. My big brother was stubborn enough that my parents quickly realized he wouldn't accept the authority from my sister "the eldest" (apparently - I was too young to observe) and if they went out, he was to be responsible for himself. Thus, she did not suffer consequences for his misbehavior. Or something.


Everything's Relative has me seeing things in a different light. I've always considered myself from the perspective of the youngest...girl. But maybe that only counts where parental control comes into play. The youngest of the three sisters in this book was, "a hot mess" - acting out, rebellious, deliberately separate from her family. That's not me! Sounds a bit like the middle child in my family though, in her younger years. (Of course, not to such extremes as in the book.) So now I'm thinking, maybe my sis "Diana" was reacting to being the youngest of the three eldest siblings. Hmm...


In Everything's Relative, the middle sister is the peace-keeper who always wants everyone to be happy. A people-pleaser. That's a bit more me. A conflict-avoider of the highest order, I will freely leave the building when Diana loses her cool at me. So... maybe I'm more like the middle child of the bottom three siblings in my family? Certainly baby bro and Diana teamed up against me enough as we grew up. (And no, that's not my bias. They have both admitted as much in adulthood. They knew what was going on. I knew what was going on. It was a fact: Them vs. Me.) So maybe I should identify with the middle.

Anyway, after I got over my birth order confusion, I was able to enjoy the book a lot more. She's a good writer, and I'll keep following Jenna McCarthy. I still preferred Pretty Much Screwed, though. Maybe because it didn't hit as close to home.