Recalling Pineapples

Question 13/424:  What was a turning point in your life? How does a person only choose one turning point to embellish?  Since I’m trying to make these posts at least one word document length I’ll probably touch on a few regardless. If I were to go chronologically, then the first turning point would be when my sister (technically half-sister but she was always just my sister to me) came to live with us.  My sister was the product of my father’s first marriage and when they divorced my sister’s mom was pregnant without my dad knowing it.  So my sister grew up in California with her mom’s family until she was 9, at which point circumstances offered my dad the opportunity to take her in.  So with me being 3 and my brother being 8, my parents decided to have our sister who was 9 come to live with us.  It drastically changed the dynamic of our family.  I think going from 2 to 3 kids always has a drastic impact, but especially when the new kid you’re brin...

Question 11/424:  What could you talk about for hours? Anyone who has known me even for a short time probably knows that the real answer to this question is – almost anything.  I am a true-blue extrovert in every sense of the term.  I derive energy from being in social situations and being able to talk and express myself freely.  It’s not hard to find a topic I’m comfortable expanding on or willing to at least try to discuss.  I’m open to general small talk as well as deep introspective conversations.  I may not always be considered the most empathetic – if you tell me a sad story I’ll of course express sympathy but then I tend to try and move the conversation elsewhere – but I am a pretty good listener and I want to be in those conversations with people (unless I’m at work, but that’s a whole other situation.   However, if I were to forced to pick a few areas of interest and potentially have to speak publicly (what would I give a TED talk on) the ...