Life is Sticky. Life is Sweet.

Life is Sticky. Life is Sweet.

Friday, April 16, 2010

My Newest Obsession

Over the years, I've had more than a few obsessions:
New Kids on the Block

Titanic--more specifically, Kate and Leo

British sitcoms (this is the cast of the classic As Time Goes By)

And more than a few have hung around:
New Kids on the Block

Titanic--more specifically, Kate and Leo

British sitcoms (this is the cast of the hysterical Gavin and Stacey)

But now a new obsession has surfaced that is krunking all over my past obsessions. Well, maybe except the Brit coms. Still love them.
NBC has a new show called Who Do You Think You Are? on at 8 pm on Friday nights. If you've seen me expound on it on Facebook, I won't bore you with all the details again. It's really just a big commercial for Ancestry.com and I fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

Since the show's been on, I started to construct a family tree and I've pestered my poor maternal grandmother for so many details about our family history, I think her head is spinning:
"What was your mother's maiden name?"
"When did she die?"
"Where did she die?"
"Where was your father born?"
"When did he die?"
"Where did he die?"
I doubt these are questions that are easy for her to answer. Her father died when he was only 63. My maternal grandfather is the first in his Irish immigrant family born in the US. His family history is even more sketchy and a very sensitive subject. The IRA and English authorities are involved, according to family lore.
So, I have this tree sitting on Ancestry.com and I've been adding to it little by little, gleaning information from my grandmother and my great aunt. The last names on my grandmother's side are so similar (Brogan and Bagan) that it's impossible to keep who's who straight. I made the mistake of giving my whole family cart blanche to move names and dates around on the family tree willy-nilly and I panic every time I get an email saying, "Oh, So-and-so isn't there. He's there, so I moved him." I also put the wrong birth date down for my sister, so I got a scathing email from her about that. I've been getting her birthday wrong since Day 1 (January 21st? January 22nd? Oh, I don't know), so I don't know why that was such a big surprise to her.
I've also entered NBC's Ancestry.com sweepstakes. The Grand Prize winner gets $20,000 in travel money (Send me to Ireland! Please!!), an 8 hour consultation with an expert genealogist, 5 experts in fields relevant to {my} personal family history to help {me} learn even more and an Annual World Deluxe subscription for {me} and 5 family members. Let me tell you: that Annual World Deluxe subscription is nothing to sneeze at. For a year, the price (billed all at once, not in monthly increments) is $300. Considering my family are from both Ireland and Prince Edward Island, Canada (eh? you hoser), that subscription would be a lifesaver! Of course, the idea of flying to Ireland on Ancestry.com's and NBC's $20,000 tab to drink Guinness and Irish step dance with pasty, redheaded leprechauns in pubs--I mean, research my family--sounds like a sweet deal.
PS:
In the middle of this post, I panicked again and clicked over to Ancestry.com to delete certain peoples' ability to alter the family tree. Now it's like Christmas: "Here's the tree. Isn't it pretty? Now DON'T TOUCH IT."

4 comments:

  1. LOVE it! I click on here every time I check my email to see if anything has been added. As far as letting people mess with the tree, I think it would be better if it was just YOU.
    Keep writing-
    Mom

    ReplyDelete
  2. IRA, English authorities, Canadian/Irish? I'm beginning to think that we are related some where along the line. If some one was an illegal immigrant in the US at some point we may be on to something.
    I promise not to touch the tree. I have my own to mess up.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ohmygosh. It seems we have no obsessions in common. How is that even possible? You must have left a few out... coffee? chocolate? Mr Darcy from the Pride and Prejudice movie (K. Knightley version)?

    ReplyDelete
  4. LOL Cara, I'm talking about obsessions that have followed me since childhood (NKOTB) or my early 20s (the other two).
    Other Amy Obsessions:
    1. Ben & Jerry's ice cream (pretty much any flavour)
    2. Coffee: Tim Horton's, Starbucks, Caribou Coffee, Wegman's dark French roast.
    3. Chocolate--in any form! Liquid or solid (look, I learned things in science!)
    4. Broody characters from literature: Mr. Darcy, Mr. Rochester, Frederick Bhaer, Sirius Black.
    Don't worry, Cara. We have more in common than you think. ;)

    ReplyDelete

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