I happened across this cool blog hop a few weeks ago and it seemed like a great opportunity to get to know some of my fellow bloggers a bit better. Hosted by Stephen Tremp, Mark Koopmans, Elise Fallson, and C.M. Brown, it's a quick hop to get acquainted (or re-acquainted) with others in the vast blogosphere and a big 'thank you' to them for hosting this shindig.
Anyway, I've never really considered myself an "interesting" person. I've always been one to play things 'safe' and have never been a risk taker. I enjoy writing because it lets me do, with words, things I probably wouldn't do in real life.
Growing up, my dad was in the Navy and that meant travel. A lot of travel...at least in the eyes of a young boy. We moved about every two years until I was around twelve years old. The most exotic place we lived was Sigonella Sicily. Anyone familiar with the area knows it's near the active volcano Mt. Aetna. Aetna puts on a pretty impressive light show, from time to time, and I used to have a pretty neat collection of volcano rocks (which got lost in subsequent moves). A neat place to visit, but I don't think I'd want to live there on a permanent basis.
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| Mt. Aetna |
All that traveling, though, early in my life set me up for something positive in that I found I made friends easily. It was, pretty much, a necessity going from school to school every couple of years.
I've covered, in another post, about my beginnings as a writer....but, not as a blogger. Though, I really don't consider myself a "blogger" (or really a "writer", for that matter) as much as I do "someone who blogs occasionally", it's something I'm enjoying more an more and, especially, as I start to interact with other bloggers in the community.
When I checked my blogger profile it says I've been using blogger since 2006. Really? Wow...that must have been when I signed up, because I clearly haven't been using it since then. It's only been within the past few years that I started blogging on an even semi-regular basis.
Emphasis on 'semi'.
Anyway....long post longer....my name is Mark. I like to write and create and I look forward to interacting and encouraging my fellow bloggers and writers.
Nice to meet you =)
64 comments:
That's great you were able to make friends easily during your early years. For some people who have to move a lot when they're young, the opposite can sometimes be the case.
Since you've lived in so many places, you probably have lots of sources of inspiration.
Thanks for sharing!
As someone who has lived their entire life in the same state, I can't fathom moving around as much as you must have during your childhood. I'm a little envious :)
Nice meeting you .
You must have led a very interesting life. Pleased to meet you.
Yvonne.
Hi, Mark,
Nice to meet you. Like you, I don't believe anywhere that has a volcano (active) is a place to settle. Fascinating to visit though.
Writing definitely gives us the chance to explore and have our characters do all the things we won't do in a lifetime.
Thanks Mark for participating in Re-Introduce Myself. And there is no such thing as a boring person!
Nice to meet you. Being able to make friends is a true talent. I'm glad you were able to do that with all the moves.
I used to move around a lot, too. Though in my case we moved to a lot of different countries, which was challenging for a shy girl. I never felt like I belonged anywhere because of my accent.
Welcome to the world of regular blogging. :)
Great to meet you Mark. I would love to visit Sicily someday. *sigh* And I agree with Stephen, there is no such thing as a boring person! Glad you were able to participate in the blogfest. (:
Nice to meet you, too, Mark! Boring? NEVAHHHHHHH!!!!!
Unless I'm boring, too... then I wouldn't recognize boringness in other people... which certainly gives me pause... am I boring? Am I?
*races away with new inferiority complex*
Cynthia-- Yes, I think I was definitely fortunate to be able to make friends like that.If not, my childhood could have turned out very different..and not in a good way.
Jess-- Well, it had it's ups and down :) Nice to meet you, too!
Yvonne-- I guess it all depends on how you look at it. To me, it wasn't all -that- interesting, but I've never been on the outside, looking in :)
J.L.--Thank you and I wonder if the people of Pompeii thought the same? :) Nice to meet you, too.
Stephen-- Thanks! And thanks again for hosting this fun hop :)
S.P.-- Nice to meet you, as well, and I was fortunate, for sure.
Stina-- Definitely tougher when each move is a different country. The majority of mine were in the U.S., so there wasn't that language barrier. I hope you managed to come out of your shell, though :)
Elise--I've never had the urge to go back, but I hear it's still a beautiful place to visit. Thank you for hosting :)
Hey Mark, great to re-meet you. The idea of living near an active volcano seems scary. Or as a kid, did you not realize it? This is coming from someone who feared killer bees and tornados as a kid.
Hey, Mark! Nice to meet you! It sounds like you've had an exciting ride, thus far. I love the volcano pic! I'd love to see it up close and personal, but like you, I don't think I'd like to live by it permanently. I suspect homeowners insurance was super high, lol. :)
Nice to meet you Mark.
I don't think that any human can be called boring... we all have something different to offer...
You've travelled around quite a bit, to different places, and probably have some amazing experiences... so how on earth could you be called boring?
I don't find you boring in the least Mark. And I can relate to all of the moving. We did that a lot when I was young two. Never easy!
Hello, Mark. You had an exciting childhood. I think I would like to see an active volcano but you're right. Doesn't sound like a great place to live.
I married my high school boyfriend. Nuff said.
Hi, Mark,
Nice to meet you.... How cool to live in such exotic places growing up. I had any opportunities to travel abroad until I was in my twenties. As a kid we stayed close to home only going to the mountains near by or the sea shore.
Looking forward to knowing you better. We are a close knit community so relax and enjoy the ride.
I agree with Jess - I'm a little jealous too! My family travelled with me when I was too young to remember.
Oh, I love the look of Aetna. I grew up east of Mt. St. Helens, so I've lived a little volcanic excitement (we got a bunch of ash dumped on us when I was in Jr. High) I love when nature is BIG.
My parents were in the Navy, too. But they got out when I was three, so I don't remember life on the base much.
~M Pepper Langlinais
http://pepperwords.com
2006? I didn't know what blog was then. Nice to meet you, Mark.
What a great photo! Although I agree with you, I don't think I would want to live close to a volcano for any length of time. Interesting to read about your travels, I've lived in the same state my whole life so that sounds amazing to me.
Nice to meet you, Mark!
Wow, volcano light show. Yikes. Nice to meet you. It's always great to meet another writer, who has a hard time calling themselves a writer. :-)
Cathy--No, from checking out your blog you're -definitely- not boring!!
Sydney--Heh, I guess I was too young to know better, back then. I thought it was neat :)
Celeste--And nice to meet you too! You know, I never even thought about insurance...I think I'll have to research that :)
Michelle--Nice to meet you too, and thanks. I guess, for me, it was all 'commonplace' so it didn't stand out. It's amazing how people see things in different ways :)
Jaybird-- Well, thank you! Yeah, it can sure be tough always have to uproot and move. Maybe that's why, to this day, I'm not a big fan of traveling.
Susan--Thank you and very nice to meet you!
Juliet--Heh, yep, that about says it all...nothing wrong with that, though :)
Michael--Thank you and nice to meet you, too. It's true, bloggers have a great community, for sure.
Azara--My younger sister can probably relate to that :)
Hart--Oh wow, MSH seems way scarier than Aetna..I remember when it blew it's top back in the 80. Scary, as well as 'ashy' times, I'm sure.
M (I feel like I'm James Bond, :))--I used to love life on the base. For some odd reason, I always loved base housing, too....strange :)
Al--Back in 2006, I really didn't either..no clue as to what I was doing. Still not much of one, now :) Very nice to meet you, too.
Julie--I wish I could say I took that pic...well, I did (sort of)..from the web :) Cincinnati is a great place to live...I know from experience :)
Regina--Great to meet you, too!
A.J.--And great to meet you, as well. I think that's something a lot of us struggle with...when to, actually, label ourselves as 'writers'. Some day, though...
Hi Mark! Like you, I moved around a lot when I was a kid, from Australia to Iran, to Ghana, to Venezuela, to Canada. Wouldn't trade the experience for anything, even if I didn't have your facility for making friends.
Looking forward to reading more of your posts. :)
Hi, nice to meet you. The T.E.M.P. Agency sounds like a cool idea.
Neat that you got to see Mt. Aetna. There's a lot of volcanism around me, but nothing as showy as that.
Making friends easily is a great skill to have. You'll have no problems in the blogosphere! I find everyone interesting, so no worries there. Nice to meet you!
I live near a volcano but it's dead... Edinburgh. I'd love to visit Aetna.
Though you don't consider yourself interesting, that's an interesting story you've just told us, and the pictures of Mt. Aetna are beautiful. I've been to Sicily, but not that city. Do you still travel?
It's really good to meet you.
Kern-- Hey, nice to meet you. Man, when you say you've traveled...you mean traveled! Sounds like you've been all over and I'll bet you've had some great experiences.
Thank you and I hope my posts keep your interest :)
Wendy-- Thank you! It was an idea that had brewing, in my mind, for a few years now and figured NaNo would be a good time to put it out there.
M Pax--Yeah, Aetna is definitely cool looking and a bit of a showoff, as well :)
Nick-- I hope so and thank you...very nice to meet you, too!
Nancy-- Thank you. We were on the naval base in Sigonella and lived a bit in Catana while waiting on our housing. No, I don't travel much, these days, unless you count the 1,000 miles to my parent's home in Kentucky 'travel' :)
You've had many interesting treks exploring fascinating frontiers across the state, Mark. Thanks for sharing the happy memories with your blog buddies.
Nice to meet you! It's good to be able to make new friends!
I think you blog very regularly!
I was a military brat as well, so I know what it was like moving around. Most exotic for me was Japan.
Spacerguy-- haha, the next time maybe I'll preface it with "Marks Log: Stardate...." :)
Tyrean-- It sure is and very nice to meet you, as well :)
Alex-- I've been trying and thank you :) I think you got the better deal, though, ....I've always wanted to go to Japan :)
Hi Mark, very nice to meet you. I'm making my way around to the rest of the blogs as well. Also a new follower.
I remember some friends of mine who were kids in military families. They had it rough sometimes, making friends. But I was glad I got to meet them even if only for a short while.
Hope you'll drop by my blog as well! Have a good one. www.caledonialass.blogspot.com
I definitely know what you mean about the frequent moving. My father was a marine. The USMC has little qualms relocating servicemen--or their families, but I guess that's true for all branches.
Great meeting you, Mel! Yeah, it can be rough, at times, but with good people to meet, it makes it easier :)
@Jeff: Oh I hear you...such is the life of a military man (and his family) Well worth it, for the most part, though :)
meeting you from the bloghop...and now you're newest follower, hi! i live in a navy town here...many move in and many move out. but so many traveling stories i hear along the way
Hi Tammy and nice to meet you :) Oh yeah, such is the Navy life. I think, had my dad not been in the service, I would have joined at some point in my life.
Thank you, also, for the follow!
I've had a blogger profile for a while too, but never did anything with it till late 2010.
Travelling is awesome!
@Trisha: It sure can be :)
It's nice to meet you. I love hearing tales from people who traveled a lot as children, since I didn't do that much travelling at a young age. Yes, you would have to adapt and be more sociable.
Sounds to me like you've seen many interesting things. :-)
Nice to meet you, Mark! Sounds like you have done a bit of travelling!
Hi! I'm late! (Sorry...)
I'm jealous that you got to travel so often. I wasn't a military child, but I am a military wife. In 14 years we've been to three bases. One overseas (Okinawa), then New Mexico and now Wyoming. I was looking forward to seeing the world :D
I also hesitate to call myself a 'writer'. I write - but it seems like there are qualifications that I don't meet.
Nice to re-meet you, Mark!
I envy you your ability to make friends easily. I'm shy even in electronic social media.
To help with your blogging schedule, are you considering the A to Z Challenge in April?
@Medeia: Being adaptable is definitely a plus, yes. I have other tales of my 'traveling childhood' to tell..maybe I'll post some of them in the future :)
@Misha: I've seen a few, yes :)
@Carolyn: And very nice to meet you, too!
@Leslie: No worries, Leslie...I'm late for your post too. Heading over there right after this. Consider yourself lucky you didn't have to pick up and move as much..it gets to be a pain :P And, nice to re-meet you, as well!
@Carrie: It just takes some practice, is all :) Oh yes, definitely doing the A to Z challenge...since I missed last year. O.k, more accurately...I started, but didn't finish last year as I really didn't know what it was all about :)
Hi Mark. Nice to meet you. Part of me would have loved to have travelled as a child. The other me loves that I lived in one house for my entire childhood. Thanks for visiting my blog. Thanks for blogging. And my theory is if you blog, you're a blogger. Same goes for writing. Stand tall, my fine young fellow. You are a writer.
@Joylene: There's much to be said for growing up in just one place...lots of memories and friendships to cultivate in that way. While I loved my childhood, I still look back and wonder 'what if'. It's all what you make of it, though :)
You have a great blog and it's always a pleasure to visit...thank you for doing likewise. Awww..you called me 'young'...thank you!! You are now my all time favorite blogger!! :D Very nice to meet you!
That is a very cool -looking volcano - but I wouldn't want to be there! So nice to meet you!
I thik you can still call yourself a "blogger" but I also prefer "writer" myself since it is more inclusive of everything I do.
"Drinker of caffeine" also works! ;)
Great to "meet" you again.
Tim Brannan, The Other Side.
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/
@Sherry: Haha, I know what you mean...neat..but from a distance. Nice to meet you, too :)
@Timothy: Good point...blogging, for the most part, is writing, so...
And, yes, definitely drinker of caffeine! Very nice to meet you, as well!
I started blogging in 2005, although it wasn't more than a couple times a month.
I am the risk-taker. I'd be hang-gliding off perfectly good mountains if my husband would let me.
@Diane: You're a braver soul than me...I couldn't see jumping off a perfectly good mountain or out of a perfectly good airplane :)
Nice meeting you!
So, Mark, how many languages do you speak? I am so envious of those who are bilingual and more. I spoke Russian as a child but have lost most of it, very sad. Travel is the best revenge.
Hi Mark,
Considering you moved around so much in your early years, I'm most impressed how easily you made friends. Must have been rather tough during all those goodbyes.
I'm delighted to become aware of you, my friend. And we shall rejoice in the sharing, caring blogging community!
Pleased to me you and happy writing.
Gary
I only speak English and not that well, depending who you ask :) I was pretty young when we were moving around, so I really didn't have the inclination to pick up any other languages...I wish I had, though.
@klahanie: Yeah, some of the goodbyes were pretty tough but c'est la vie :)
Thanks Gary and nice to meet you, too....your blog looks very cool and I'm looking forward to getting a chance to read more of it :)
Volcanoes, mountains are fascinating!
I lived near Mt Rainier in Washington and visited Mt St Helen's a year after the eruption. Unbelievable, but I've never seen a live show. Not sure I want to, such an awesome / frightening expression of nature.
Nice to meet you via this blog hop!
@Yolanda: Yeah, like I said...neat to look at, but from a distance :)
Thank you for stopping by and for the follow and nice to meet you, too :)
'I enjoy writing because it lets me do, with words, things I probably wouldn't do in real life.'
Hey, it's cool you can at least do it while you're writing. Some of us have trouble going even that far!
@Suze: Like with everything else in my life, it took babysteps :)
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