- Honest, I don't know how to be serious when talking about
myself...
-
- I was born in Rock County, as was my dad and most of his
ancestors back to the 1860s. I lived
- on the edge of Janesville until I was four when my parents
moved the family to rural Whitewater (one mile east of Rock County).
Since that time my dad has lived in the same house; I've lived
here off and on since reaching adulthood. Other residences include
Texas and Oklahoma.
-
- I have an I.Q. of 156, was a gifted student in school and
graduated near the top of my class. I
- joined the Air Force the following summer, but didn't complete
basic training (kept breaking my parts). After my medical separation
from the military, I attended college here and there with no
intention of getting a degree, basically just going to classes
feed my passion for learning. Most of my classes were in mathematics
and theology, but also took some in literature, art, history
and archaeology. A decade later, on the recommendation of my
second husband, I gathered all my credits and discovered I was
one class shy of a bachelors in theology. Go figure, I'm an atheist.
-
- My hobbies (aside from Rock's history and genealogy) include
crafts of all sorts (crocheting,
- tatting, embroidery, cross-stitch, painting, sketching, sewing,
stained-glass, metal work, you name it, I probably do it) and
horror movies. The older and campier the horror, the better.
I also collect antique books, preferring old novels, old mathematical
and engineering books and works of interest to Rock County.
-
- I've had a variety of occupations ranging from standard factory
work to tutoring college students
- going for their masters degrees.
- Currently, in the evenings and on weekends, I create web
sites for small companies, non-profit
- organizations and the occasional individual; write theological
treatises by contract and digitally edit/restore photos, documents
and maps.
- During the day I'm the personal assistant of a neighbor.
I am helping him to construct a 120'x60'
- horse arena for his wife, teaching him how to use computers
and the net, cleaning house, feeding horses, running errands,
fixing vehicles... whatever needs to be done. It's the best job
in the world working for the best boss in the world - I get to
use all of my various and random knowledge and have a great time
doing it. And it's only about 1.25 miles from my home and a half
mile from my son's school.
-
- I'm now 33, twice married and twice divorced. I have one
son (soon to be 8 years old) from my
- second marriage. I don't have any contact with my first husband
to speak of but am on excellent terms with my second husband
and still consider him to be one of the best guys out there.
I don't intend to get married a third time for reasons other
than two failed marriages. Mainly because...
-
- I am bipolar schizophrenic and have multiple sclerosis (MS).
My schizophrenia is mild and
- manageable; at its worst, I tend to freak out in crowds.
My bipolar disorder is not mild but still manageable for the
most part; my unrelenting sense of humor gets me through the
lows and the highs enable me to get lots of work done, especially
on the Rock sites.
- I've had MS for quite some time but didn't know it, spending
much of my twenties thinking it was
- normal to have symptoms similar to those of my friends in
their 60s. The rest of the time I was told by physicians I was
crazy, which was true and admitted, but wasn't causing the random
numbness, pain and occasional blindness (MS usually only effects
one eye at a time but I've had only 25% vision in my left eye
since an accident when I was 15). When I woke up numb from head
to toe and totally blind last fall (except my 1/4 left eye),
the doctors finally agreed something was amiss and that it was
either MS or a brain tumor. Dozens of tests and a month later,
I was told I had MS. I think I would have preferred the brain
tumor - my paternal aunt survived two of those.
- My MS effects me physically and mentally, and, therefore,
affects my Rock County sites. Multiple
- sclerosis has limited my ability to get out to the cemeteries
as much as I would like. Sometimes I cannot see to drive, other
times I'm not mentally capable of handling driving. So, when
I do get out to the cemeteries, now I'm escorted by my father,
boss or ex-husband and can only go when one of them is available
to take me.
- Heat is also a major factor for those of us with MS. It worsens
our symptoms but fortunately does
- not cause any physical or mental damage. For me, anything
over 65 degrees makes me physically weak, takes away my balance
and makes me quite loopy. I stumble and fall, get disoriented
and often feel as if everyone is speaking Yiddish to me. Once
I get cooled off, I return to "normal" (whatever that
may be).
- The episodes cause by MS create blank areas in my brain,
and the information that was stored in
- those areas is irretrievably lost. This means that I often
lose track of people with whom I've been helping or even completely
forget they exist. Please, do not take this personally. E-mail
me and let me know I've gone AWOL and remind me of what I was
doing.
- I have no guarantee as to how long I'll be mentally or physically
able to continue handling the Rock
- County web sites. If any of you notice a significant decline
in the quality of the sites or a sudden lack of new material
to the sites, please let me know by e-mailing me. When I am unable
to check my e-mails, my father takes over. He's unable to handle
the genealogical and historical questions, but he will let me
know if it has gotten to the point where I must pass on the site
to another volunteer.
-
- All that said, I have to admit that being the coordinator
for the Rock County sites is something I
- stumbled into with little knowledge about Rock County's history
and genealogy and no knowledge on how to create and maintain
a web site. I dove in with both feet and have been having the
best time of my life ever since. It is an outlet for my manic
episodes with my bipolar disorder, keeps me focused during schizophrenic
moments, and nothing cheers me up like interacting with all my
"Rockers." When I'm editing tombstone photos or transcribing
biographies or indexing an atlas, I can almost forget I have
MS. The sites truly keep me going when, at times, it seems as
there's little reason to live. The support of the friends I have
made through the site (most notably, Carol, the biography-lady,
and Linda, who was just looking for some friendly research advice)
is invaluable and appreciated more than I can express with mere
words. You all are proof of how good the world can be.
- Upon publishing this online, I received an e-mail from the
above mentioned Carol, reminding me
- that I forgot to mention my love of steam - as in steam traction
engines. She's right - steam engines are a big part of my life
(many may already know I'm the coordinator for the American Local
History Network's site, America's Age of Steam), as are antique
machines of any sort, including tools and cars. One can usually
find me during at the Rock River Thresheree every fall by the
steam pile driver, operated by a dear friend of my family.
-
- Also, I didn't want to mislead anyone into thinking that
I mentioned my I.Q. as bragging rights.
- Not the case at all. Anyone who has, or knows someone with,
an higher-than-average I.Q. (100 being average) is aware that
the higher the I.Q., the greater the propensity for mental instability.
I've never done drugs, never been abused and have never had a
brain injury. The reason I'm a bit weird is because I have a
high I.Q. At least, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!
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