Monday, April 28, 2008

About Me Meme...and School Uniforms

I copied this meme from Anvilcloud's blog and noticed that Ginger featured it recently as well. I have selected two pictures from my youth to go along with the lists. The first picture is of my Standard One class (equivalent to Grade 3) at Sherwood School in Durban, South Africa, circa 1962. The girls wore green checked jumpers and we had brown hats in a Robin Hood type of colour theme. We also had brown blazers with a school crest.

The second picture is of the physiotherapists I graduated with in 1975. The women wore medium blue polyester dresses. The polyester dresses are likely still fully intact in some landfill site. Thankfully, standard work uniforms were ditched a few years after I started working.

Ruth, third from the left in the first row

FIVE PLACES I HAVE LIVED
  1. Pretoria, South Africa (birthplace)
  2. Durban, South Africa (early school years)
  3. Aurora, Ontario
  4. Toronto, Ontario
  5. Kitchener, Ontario

WHAT I WAS DOING 10 YEARS AGO


Working full time in the community as a Home Care physiotherapist in the best job I ever had. The positions were eliminated in 2000 thanks to an ongoing effort to privatize government jobs. My other best job at the same time was raising three daughters.

FIVE SNACKS I ENJOY
  1. Peanut Butter (all natural please)
  2. Dark Chocolate (Dove, Ritter, Lindt)
  3. Crisp apples and other fruit
  4. Hovis biscuits (with tea of course)
  5. Trail mix ( almonds, cashews, dried fruit, sunflower seeds)

THINGS I WOULD DO IF I WERE A BILLIONAIRE

I would set up a number of trust funds for family and my favourite charities. I would buy a modest dwelling near a large body of water and get my husband a good fishing boat. I really am not ready to retire because I love what I do, but would look for a position that gave me ample opportunity to travel.

Ruth, third from the left in the back row

FIVE JOBS THAT I HAVE HAD
  1. Babysitter
  2. Candy Striper (teen volunteer at North York General Hospital)
  3. Librarian's Assistant in the University Medical Library
  4. Physiotherapist for the past 30 plus years now
  5. Mom

THREE OF MY BAD HABITS (according to my daughter)

  1. Procrastination (just certain things, never things I enjoy doing). I filed my income tax last night though, three whole days early and a day earlier than last year.
  2. I have an "evil mom" look that is supposedly scary, especially to small, misbehaving children. I inherited this look from my father.
  3. I lose track of time. I don't wear a watch and if I start wandering around a trail on a nice day, I may not come back for hours. I guess this is related to bad habit one, but I am not habitually late for work or appointments.

16 comments:

  1. Loved the pics - and I guess which young lady you were!

    That evil eye is a mom necessity at times.

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  2. What a fun post! I especially love the photo of your Standard One class. Can't imagine doing physiotherapy in those short little dresses!

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  3. Love the photos Ruth! Interesting factoids about you too. :c)

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  4. I thought the pictures were great ... you were one cute little gal! Enjoyed reading the "facts".

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  5. Ruth,

    Enjoyed your post today. The photos are incredible. I remember those polyester clothes. They were really awful, but the hit of the day. And I suspect you're right about them still being fully intact in the landfill.

    Take care, my friend. I am hoping to get out to Apps Mills one of these days and getting some photos.

    Blessings,
    Mary

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  6. what a fun meme and the pictures are wonderful--I don't think people look so orderly these days.

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  7. I enjoyed reading that post and the photos too. I don't think I'd have the nerve to do a post about myself like that. Very interesting.

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  8. I think yo are the only other adult I've met who doesn't wear a watch.

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  9. Another fun meme to read--revealing glimpses of its author.
    Oh yes, the school uniform portrait. I think your uniforms much more attractive than anything I wore. My school colors were brown and cream, if I remember correctly.

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  10. You chose great photos! Love peeking back in time...
    Also, good choice with the dark chocolate--my favorite too.

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  11. Ruth,

    This is great. I enjoy getting to know you better this way - getting to know the person behind the blog is fun.

    Those school pictures (esp. the first one) were great!

    Mary

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  12. Thanks for your comments in this personal post. Ginger asked about those short dresses. When I graduated, physiotherapists spent most of their time putting machines on patients like ultrasound, shortwave, and electrical muscle stimulation. We used a lot of ice packs and hot packs. Practice has changed and we do less electrotherapy and a lot more physical exercise and functional activities that would be impossible to do in those ridiculous uniforms!

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  13. I was a librarian's assistant at a university medical library too in Toronto...It would be funny if we worked at the same one...

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  14. Melissa- I worked at the McMaster University Medical Centre...a Hamilton grad I am...

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  15. I was at Sunnybrook in Toronto...but perhaps we shared the same joy of filing those manual index cards (pre- computer days) with incredibly long names. It was dizzying at times!

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  16. Perhaps I should get you a watch for Mother's Day (regarding bad habit #3). :P

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