Community Chat

[EastCoastGal]

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@spumoni99 wrote:

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@EastCoastGal wrote:

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@spumoni99wrote

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I just retired this past December, I worked with mainframe computers, those languages were kind of specialized to that.  My mom was a secretary and she did stenography and short hand, I remember she went to night school to learn short hand.  I think its very possible to have a good job without college, I worked for the government and a degree was a requirement for advancing so I went back to school while working.  We tried to have kids for 9 years to have kids so I had the time.

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@spumoni99 ... Yes. Your line of work was very different than mine. No wonder I never heard of those programmings! I think because I really wanted to be a secretary and took all the courses in high school, my secretarial jobs came very easy to me. I remember in shorthand we started out with a large class but only 19 of us lasted! Very Strict teacher. When we had a brief forms test we either got 100% or zero! 

Mine was a state job... New York state tier one. I was really lucky to be on that tier. I received the best benefits. 

How many years did your Mom work as a secretary?

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My mom worked for the state of CA and so did I.  I think she must have worked for at least 25 to 30 years, she retired a bit early because she had really bad arthritis her entire life, she would walk on crutches to the bus stop to ride a bus downtown.  I really appreciate that now, didn't so much when I was young.  She passed away in 2019 at 71.  I retired after 37 years with the state.  My mom had rheumatic fever as a child and had rheumatoid arthritis, my dad helped out a lot with the harder physical things around the house, I started cooking dinner in sixth grade.  She never asked me I just enjoyed cooking and wanted to help out.

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Oh my goodness. Your Mom had it tough...walking to the bus stop on crutches?? Oh my! You lost her early too. I'm sorry to hear that. You and your Dad helped out a lot. You were a good daughter to your Mom. I bet she was very proud of the job you had...and how you helped her out a lot. ❤️ 

[SandySparkles]

I took French. I actually enjoyed it, and spoke it rather well. Now I can muddle through je m'apelle bleh, bleh, bleh..😁

~~~All we need is LOVE💖 

[sunshine45]

very fun and interesting thread @Pezzie .

it brought back a lot of memories.....good and not so good! 

[EastCoastGal]

Well everyone... Believe it or not I have been on here for HOURS!! I didn't even have my supper! I really enjoyed talking to everyone though. A fun thread @Pezzie !! Good night ladies. Talk to you all again. 😊

[SportyShorty07]

@EastCoastGal  Thank you! I bet you're the queen of your macarena and square dancing too !  I love to stay fit and strong with my aerobics and weightlifting 80's VHS collection- its a hobby of mine and I have dozens of rare and classic 80's VHS exercise tapes.  I love the hair and full on makeup, colorful spandex outfits and super fun music in the exercise VHS tapes of that decade.  Square dancing was a ton of fun- I remember that it was fast paced and my teacher would blow a hwistle for us to switch to new partners.  I remember my teacher doing the macarena in his GAP khakis, hushpuppies and dress shirt.  Oooh the 90's! 

[Toppers3]

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@LdyBugz wrote:

P.S., Also have never needed to flop around on a pummel horse or climb a rope all the way up to the gym room ceiling, thank goodness!  

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Lucky you!

Some of the things listed here in this thread, I've done or had to do as part of my school education.

We had a gymnastics unit when I was in grade school for rope climbing and then as a sophomore in highschool for the pummel and then for the celing rings, so I had to at least attempt to do the above.

In highschool, if we couldn't do the rings while in class, we had to come after class so that we could work on doing them.

They were one of the hardest things that I had to do.

If you're not familiar with the rings, you had to jump up to reach them--which was an effort itself--and then put one leg into each ring, and then hang upside down from them from your knees. Then, you had to pull yourself upright again, and then get back out of them. 

I never knew that I would be training for the circus while in highschool! 

I'm editing my post to add that some of your responses are really fun!

Elementary school math that is basic--fine.

I remember many years ago, one of my teachers telling us that this would be the kind of math that we would use in our daily lives as we got older.

Basically she was telling us to pay attention in class.

She was absolutely correct. Think about how many times a day we're adding things up or dividing or thinking of percentages, etc.

Where I'm not very good is higher math, either. I've always needed help to get through College Algebra when I took it in college. 

I was also not good in Chemistry and Geometry in highschool, either.

I would meet in a study group for any classes where I was having difficulty in college. For College Algebra class, some other classmates and I would meet in a group and help each other out with questions, etc.

I would end up laughing back then because my graphs would never look like theirs...

My formulas would be wrong, so my angles and parabolas would be upside down! LOL! 

[KathyM23]

@EastCoastGal   My mother called the school.  We had a meeting with the Principal, the Biology teacher, my mother and dad and me.  I was a good student and an honor student so that was taken into consideration I think.  I did not have to complete the biology class and was assigned to a general science lower level class which suited me fine as I had no interest in biology and was definitely not going to cut up a creature.

Even when I was that young I was one to stand up for what I thought and felt.

[Elodie2]

@SandySparkles  I took 2 years of high school French and have forgotten much of it.  We had a great teacher  who said mon Dieu a lot.  She made it fun.

A la bibliotheque has always stuck with me for some reason.

[KathyM23]

@RedTop    PE was one of my favorite things about school.  Loved all of it especially the gymnastics and the tramboline.  Our gym teacher got too close to the edge and broke her nose - that part was not so good.

Didn't like the rope tho.  

We also learned dancing which I loved.  Square dancing, the cha cha and several other dances.  So much fun.  

I am short but I was still a forward during basketball.  

[sugar plum]

@beach-mom

I loved my 10th grade Biology teacher because he made it fun! We called him the "Mad Scientist" and he looked like one too! His hat was made of snakeskin.  LOL

He had a huge terrarium next door with many stange animals and reptiles. He would bring out his 14' Boa, Nancy which we would pet. His iguana, Chuck would roam the classroom and jump onto our desks for some chin scratching which he loved and would stick his tongue out at you in appreciation.

Every week we had a double-period so we'd head out to the HS swamp to collect insects for our bug collection. No squishing just a coffee can with some nail polish remover so we could pin them to a board, then name them in Latin and English.

On a funny note, I captured this HUGE bumblebee from my mother's blue roses. After grading each student's boards he came up to me after class. He asked politely if he could have my bumblebee. I asked him what and why. He said my bee was the largest he'd ever seen and wanted it for his collection. Yeah, I know, right? He then proceeded to open his drawer with hundreds of insects pinned to boards inside where he placed my bee. I felt honored. 😄

Sorry to ramble on but such vivid and precious memories which I'll never forget.

College Biology on the other hand was so boring.