Before we start, I wanted to ask you : What made you enjoy your childhood? I know this question can be hard to answer for some, as you may have gone through times in your childhood that no child should have to go through. If it is too hard for you to remember, then just wonder : What would have made your childhood awesome? What would have made you enjoy every single bit of it? :)
I have been quite busy recently with painting (with felt-tips :D), writing, and making music recently. The latter was in connection to my step sister*s child (I*ll just refer to him as my nephew from now on. Makes it easier and describes my relationship to him much better :)!); I am working on a music CD for him, with self-written children*s songs. I don*t know yet whether he*ll enjoy listening to it, and it is a bit odd for me, too, but still! ;)
Apart from being busy, I have neglected this blog whatsoever, mainly because I didn*t know how to start ... I want to start off now, however, and tell you a little about things that have made my childhood awesome ^^.
* Chess!
I think I started playing chess as soon as I could comprehend the system it worked (about the age of two or three). My grandfather* was a great chess player & taught me the rules and which figure can do what and so on. I don*t remember anything anymore, because after several years of practicing, about the age of eight or so, I said, "It*s over, no more chess for me!" and didn*t touch a chess figure until I was twenty and had to give in, because I could barely remember anything. Chess was great for strategic thinking and I still do have a side to myself which likes sciences and especially math because math tends to be a mystery to me, a mystery to be solved :D. Like a riddle or something along these lines ... It was awesome to get the chance to play chess, and also the fact I could share this hobby with my grandfather*.
* Drawing!
About the same age I started playing chess, I also learned how to draw from my grandfather*. Over the years, I developed my own style and challenged myself to incorporate new styles into my own ... I also have to say thank-you to the series "David The Gnome" because I learned drawing while watching it, especially because I developed a liking for drawing portraits. I still love drawing portraits, but of course my style changed ... It is just, I still love drawing. It was a new love I discovered in this time, and something that freed my imagination from any ties it was attached to.
* Experimenting musically!
Because of our "radio show", I also tended to think, "When doing a radio show, we also need music, so let*s create some songs!!" So we did. We jumped on the beds and went on and on in songs we made up. Also, I remember, my grandparents* had an organ in the first floor (or second floor if you think the ground floor is the first), and whenever visiting them, my first move was upstairs, to sit infront of the organ. Even when I wasn*t able yet to read the notes and such, I developed a system of writing down my musical ideas, so that I could re-play them. I started learning to play the recorder at age six, wanting to move on to guitar as soon as possible. I joined the choir at age eleven, and got my first guitar at age fifteen ... Sure I was older then, but ... making music was extremely important to me! I also wrote a song when I was ten, about the end of the world. It was pretty sarcastic & I still remember the chorus :D.
* Movies for children!
Sure this made everything more awesome! :) Movies I liked were many, many ones by Walt Disney, as well as some by Don Bluth, whose worth I found out way too late whatsoever. I think the movies by Bluth WERE precious ("All Dogs Go To Heaven", "The Land Before Time" (THE FIRST PART!!!), "The Secret Of NIMH", ...), but they partly scared me as a child. But looking back, I am still grateful I knew them so early, I heard of them so early, and that I still can recall them. Of course, Disney movies are awesome, too. :) I still love watching many of them, and they still make me cry, which is a good sign to me, too.
* Riding bikes!
Sometimes we*d pretend our bikes were horses ... I remember how much I loved getting on my bike and exploring the outside world :D. The same counts for many more things of course (inline skating, for example!), but riding bikes was something I *loved* doing. I wasn*t linked to a certain place, I could ride the bike wherever I want, and I could "travel" ... Or at least I had the idea I could do that so easily. ^^ Feeling the freedom & racing down hills was so exciting, and I still remember it with a smile. Right now, I don*t have a bike ... That*s a long story why this happened, and I am not willing to tell, but ... Yeah. Bikes ARE awesome. (And I recently watched a report on bikes and what*s going on in the bike-making community. How to build bikes, new inventions, ideas for services, and so on -- It holds great potential! And it*s healthy, too :)!!)
* Skip-it!
No, I don*t mean skipping school (Though I must admit I sometimes did, to watch "The Rose Of Versailles") ... I mean this : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8B0PfV2R0I ... It somehow symbolizes a whole bunch of other games I thought were just for kids, like collecting stickers or these slime trolls or glass comforters ... Or playing board games, or hula-hooping, or playing "We are a circus crowd!" (... And falling of the trapeze after asking a friend to push it as "hard as you can" ... Not that that happened to me ... Nonononononono. No. No, of course not :D.), or mixing your own perfume (... And later on discovering that it smells funny. VERY funny.), ... ^^
* Television shows for children!
Oh my, I can recall so many. I can still sing the intros, too, of most of them. Apart from others I loved the following : "The Rose Of Versailles", "Robin Hood" (anime), "Treasure Island" (anime), "He-Man", "Alfred J. Kwak", "Barbar - The Elephant", "The Animals Of Farthing Hood", "Jungle Book", and so on. I also remember watching "The Love Boat" as a child, or "Mister Ed", or several more ... "ALF", for example ... Not to forget shows like the "Sendung Mit Der Maus", or the "Sesame Street", or the "KINDERHITPARADE"!!! I loved the latter :D. It *was* amazing, and no, I didn*t watch them all in one year ... It has developed over the years of course, and there are still more. ;)
* The radio show!
I already mentioned it. My greatgrandmother* had a cassette tape deck and it also featured an integrated microphone. We*d find some tapes and record ourselves on them. With lots and lots of useless things and comments, and then, we finally developed something like a radio show (Which only we could hear of course. Luckily, it wasn*t broadcasted ;D!). It was fun. Sometimes we had star guests like angry people who wanted us to be quiet now for once. Haha. :D
* Writing!
As soon as I learned to read and was able to spell out single words, I sat down and wrote stories. Some were more like fanfictions, because I thought it was sad I didn*t know more adventures of this or that TV show (Esp. "Neues Vom Süderhof" ...). I also remember I searched for some books for quite some time, didn*t find anything resembling that idea, and wrote my own then. It was fun. At some point, I once asked a teacher of mine to read a story I wrote, but she ... was very hesitant and ignorant and didn*t want to ... It somehow led to me not wanting to write much anymore, for some reason. I am getting the urge to write more whatsoever, although it is mostly poetry. I do have some ideas for novels as well as non-fiction books whatsoever, so stay tuned!! :)
&, last, but not least :
* Companions!
I didn*t have many friends, but those that I had were really precious to me. I think this also led to me enjoying life as a child and teenager more, and also sharing moments with them, at celebrations, in school, whatever. Most kids at school didn*t like me much, but I certainly had friends still, even though not in the nearest circle of people around me. It was okay, whatsoever. They taught me a lot, about themselves, about myself, about this world, and I am grateful for this!! :)
Okay, these were just some thoughts. I now am looking for ideas to make lanterns for St. Martin*s Day :). Also, my sister* & I also want to carve pumpkins this year for Halloween. Do you have any tips for absolute beginners like us?
(I forgot to mention how important listening music was to me as a child! I always linked certain songs to certain memories and/or people, and I was a huge David Bowie fan ^^!!) God, I still love David Bowie. :)
** Have a wonderful day today & thanks for reading!!
