Exciting life stories...
Discussion
As some have said, details are a little tricky to add.
Slightly different angle from me in so much as I am pretty normal, great job, house, car and family. What makes it surprising +/or interesting is that the above follows these family issues in my childhood:
Prison
Drugs
Divorce
Child abuse
Drugs
Social services/homes
Splitting siblings up
Oh, did I mention drugs
My wife cannot understand why I am normal!
Slightly different angle from me in so much as I am pretty normal, great job, house, car and family. What makes it surprising +/or interesting is that the above follows these family issues in my childhood:
Prison
Drugs
Divorce
Child abuse
Drugs
Social services/homes
Splitting siblings up
Oh, did I mention drugs
My wife cannot understand why I am normal!
luckyal said:
As some have said, details are a little tricky to add.
Slightly different angle from me in so much as I am pretty normal, great job, house, car and family. What makes it surprising +/or interesting is that the above follows these family issues in my childhood:
Prison
Drugs
Divorce
Child abuse
Drugs
Social services/homes
Splitting siblings up
Oh, did I mention drugs
My wife cannot understand why I am normal!
That IS normal life nowadays though. Slightly different angle from me in so much as I am pretty normal, great job, house, car and family. What makes it surprising +/or interesting is that the above follows these family issues in my childhood:
Prison
Drugs
Divorce
Child abuse
Drugs
Social services/homes
Splitting siblings up
Oh, did I mention drugs
My wife cannot understand why I am normal!
BayTheMoon said:
I don't know if my life qualifies as exciting, but, is there anybody out there that would be prepared to read and review my autobiography in exchange for a free copy? It's about how (amongst other things) bipolar disorder keeps causing me to move home, hence the title, UNSETTLING. It's published by a UK charitable foundation called Chipmunka. It's not a miserable book, not at all. I've had a few good reviews from people who have read the free extracts that I've posted online, but not the whole book. If you are up for it, a link to my email address is on my website. www.baythemoon.com. Or post a message here.
I'd be happy to read it through.
BayTheMoon said:
I don't know if my life qualifies as exciting, but, is there anybody out there that would be prepared to read and review my autobiography in exchange for a free copy? It's about how (amongst other things) bipolar disorder keeps causing me to move home, hence the title, UNSETTLING. It's published by a UK charitable foundation called Chipmunka. It's not a miserable book, not at all. I've had a few good reviews from people who have read the free extracts that I've posted online, but not the whole book.
I'd be very keen to review it as someone struggling to do exactly what you just have, as someone with BP2 myself or "Diet Crazy" as I'm referred to by the rest of the nuts in the family, one sibling with BP1 and the other we suspect is undiagnosed borderline with a BP1 father and various other mood and personality disordered relatives through the generations. 
luckyal said:
Slightly different angle from me in so much as I am pretty normal, great job, house, car and family. What makes it surprising +/or interesting is that the above follows these family issues in my childhood:
Prison
Drugs
Divorce
Child abuse
Drugs
Social services/homes
Splitting siblings up
Oh, did I mention drugs
Ditto here with a couple of other nasties. What's "normal" anyway? Tragic as it is, we're all still here and it has been "character-building" shall we say. I'd share it and have, but not on PH. Too many people happy to go digging into people's personal lives for internet jollies and the very real mayhem that could cause in the real lives of people I love as well as my own isn't worth it. Thank the keyboard warriors and custard merchants for this lack of openess. Prison
Drugs
Divorce
Child abuse
Drugs
Social services/homes
Splitting siblings up
Oh, did I mention drugs
Edited by 4988cc on Wednesday 29th December 14:34
I'd be very keen to review it as someone struggling to do exactly what you just have, as someone with BP2 myself or "Diet Crazy" as I'm referred to by the rest of the nuts in the family, one sibling with BP1 and the other we suspect is undiagnosed borderline with a BP1 father and various other mood and personality disordered relatives through the generations.
4988cc
Let me know where to send it. Post a paperback or email a PDF? Or, if you prefer, get the first 75 pages using the links above then see if you want the rest.
Also, if you do write your own, Chipmunka will almost certainly publish it. That's their ethos, never deny a voice to people with mental health issues.
4988cc
Let me know where to send it. Post a paperback or email a PDF? Or, if you prefer, get the first 75 pages using the links above then see if you want the rest.
Also, if you do write your own, Chipmunka will almost certainly publish it. That's their ethos, never deny a voice to people with mental health issues.
Edited by BayTheMoon on Thursday 30th December 11:55
BayTheMoon said:
4988cc
Let me know where to send it. Post a paperback or email a PDF? Or, if you prefer, get the first 75 pages using the links above then see if you want the rest.
Also, if you do write your own, Chipmunka will almost certainly publish it. That's their ethos, never deny a voice to people with mental health issues.
Interesting, thank you. There may be other reasons why it might not be published though, owing to some of the subject matter and childhood and places like Amazon won't sell it. So it seems futile writing it in that form. Instead I've found therapeutic value in posting it in snippets on a disorder-specific forum that has been immensely supportive and helpful. Let me know where to send it. Post a paperback or email a PDF? Or, if you prefer, get the first 75 pages using the links above then see if you want the rest.
Also, if you do write your own, Chipmunka will almost certainly publish it. That's their ethos, never deny a voice to people with mental health issues.
The trouble is getting it into a coherent form, as the very act of thinking deeply about the subject matter has the tendency to send one to vary degrees away from balanced. So that's why the snippet form posted when I'm as balanced as I get works well enough. Sitting down for a protracted length of time to tell it all in some form of narrative flow doesn't fill me with joy at the prospect.
I'm old-fashioned and can't get my head around reading books as PDFs, I've a couple of as-yet unpublished works that remain unread for that reason alone. Will PM you details if you'd be so kind. Quite happy to send a few £ for postage etc
BayTheMoon said:
Link to 3 sets of 25 pages each extracted from my autobiography. Free of course.
http://www.baythemoon.com/unsettling_pp1-25.pdf
http://www.baythemoon.com/unsettling_pp26-49.pdf
http://www.baythemoon.com/unsettling_pp50-76.pdf
David Thomas
just sat and read it all, i shoul be playing with the kids!!! very good and easy to readhttp://www.baythemoon.com/unsettling_pp1-25.pdf
http://www.baythemoon.com/unsettling_pp26-49.pdf
http://www.baythemoon.com/unsettling_pp50-76.pdf
David Thomas
Well, up until just over a year ago my life was pretty boring and normal. Now it's a little more interesting and quite exciting at times. I've documented the last year in photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/indo_pilot/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/indo_pilot/
Not me but my parents.
They're both Vietnamese and lived through the Vietnam War. Having been born and raised in the south of the Country, they were anti-Communist and supported the American and South Vietnamese forces throughout the war. My Grandfather was quite wealthy before the war as he owned a rice mill however, once the Americans pulled out, the Communists took the South and the rice mill was taken into state ownership with no recompense. What followed once the Americans pulled out was a period of tremendous hard ship with little food under Communist rule.
In 1979, four years after the Americans pulled out, my Grandad paid for part of my family to escape the country. He had managed to hide some gold to prevent it being taken by the Communists and had to pay 1oz of gold per person to get them onto a small fishing boat to escape Vietnam. He didn't have enough gold to ensure that all his family could escape, but thankfully for me, he did have enough to ensure that his daughter (my mum) and my dad could get on the boat.
Throughout this boat journey, my mum was pregnant with me. The first attempt to escape wasn't that successful as the fishing boat was captured bu a Russian ship and was towed back to the coast of Vietnam. Fortunately, during the night, the tow rope was cut and they set sail once again. The conditions on the boat were terrible. There was illness, little food and little drinking water. My mum had to exchange her wedding ring for food.
The boat was then picked up by a British cargo ship and everyone was taken aboard. My parents were taken to a refugee camp in Swinderby, Lincoln. This was when I was born. The captain of the British ship who picked my parents up stayed in contact and named me. This is the reason why I have an English name rather than a Vietnamese name.
I'm not sure how long my parents were in the refugee camp for but they talk about that time fondly. Possibly due to the sheer relief that they made a harrowing journey successfully. After a while, my parents were placed in a council house in Stockport. Neither of them could speak English but my dad managed to get a job working in a factory making foam for car seats. My mum took informal English lessons from volunteers who visited the house. Their past is documented in old school books that they kept. Reading through my mum's English notes and records of their finances was quite eye opening for me as I realised how difficult things were for them in the early days.
They arrived to the UK in 1979 and in 1990 they managed to open their own off licence in Manchester. They have three kids who have all gone through university and have careers as a solicitor, teacher and psychologist.
I'm glad that my parents arrived in the country when they did as I fear that if they arrived now, te reception they would have received would have been totally different. Sadly, probably due to what they have been through, my parents can be mis trusting of people and are quite difficult to get close to emotionally. It seems to have affected my younger sister more than myself but we all seem to have grown up to be quite well balanced young adults.
Sorry about the rambling length of my post. Most people seem genuinely interested in the story but a lot of the time, I can't be arsed telling the whole thing. It is however a great story to tell girls when on the pull. Sometimes, I embellish it somewhat and tell them I'm a Vietnamese orphan and my mum was a Vietnamese showgirl and my dad was an American GI who got killed in the war...
They're both Vietnamese and lived through the Vietnam War. Having been born and raised in the south of the Country, they were anti-Communist and supported the American and South Vietnamese forces throughout the war. My Grandfather was quite wealthy before the war as he owned a rice mill however, once the Americans pulled out, the Communists took the South and the rice mill was taken into state ownership with no recompense. What followed once the Americans pulled out was a period of tremendous hard ship with little food under Communist rule.
In 1979, four years after the Americans pulled out, my Grandad paid for part of my family to escape the country. He had managed to hide some gold to prevent it being taken by the Communists and had to pay 1oz of gold per person to get them onto a small fishing boat to escape Vietnam. He didn't have enough gold to ensure that all his family could escape, but thankfully for me, he did have enough to ensure that his daughter (my mum) and my dad could get on the boat.
Throughout this boat journey, my mum was pregnant with me. The first attempt to escape wasn't that successful as the fishing boat was captured bu a Russian ship and was towed back to the coast of Vietnam. Fortunately, during the night, the tow rope was cut and they set sail once again. The conditions on the boat were terrible. There was illness, little food and little drinking water. My mum had to exchange her wedding ring for food.
The boat was then picked up by a British cargo ship and everyone was taken aboard. My parents were taken to a refugee camp in Swinderby, Lincoln. This was when I was born. The captain of the British ship who picked my parents up stayed in contact and named me. This is the reason why I have an English name rather than a Vietnamese name.
I'm not sure how long my parents were in the refugee camp for but they talk about that time fondly. Possibly due to the sheer relief that they made a harrowing journey successfully. After a while, my parents were placed in a council house in Stockport. Neither of them could speak English but my dad managed to get a job working in a factory making foam for car seats. My mum took informal English lessons from volunteers who visited the house. Their past is documented in old school books that they kept. Reading through my mum's English notes and records of their finances was quite eye opening for me as I realised how difficult things were for them in the early days.
They arrived to the UK in 1979 and in 1990 they managed to open their own off licence in Manchester. They have three kids who have all gone through university and have careers as a solicitor, teacher and psychologist.
I'm glad that my parents arrived in the country when they did as I fear that if they arrived now, te reception they would have received would have been totally different. Sadly, probably due to what they have been through, my parents can be mis trusting of people and are quite difficult to get close to emotionally. It seems to have affected my younger sister more than myself but we all seem to have grown up to be quite well balanced young adults.
Sorry about the rambling length of my post. Most people seem genuinely interested in the story but a lot of the time, I can't be arsed telling the whole thing. It is however a great story to tell girls when on the pull. Sometimes, I embellish it somewhat and tell them I'm a Vietnamese orphan and my mum was a Vietnamese showgirl and my dad was an American GI who got killed in the war...
I think I can offer something here.
Born in rural Somerset, moved around all over Southern England for the first 14 years of my life. Never lived in any one place for more than about 18 months, various places in Somerset, Wiltshire and Berkshire. Then sent out to apartheid era South Africa when I was 14 (in 1982) to a very traditional colonial boarding school, which was essentially a training school for the South African Defence Force. Spent all day being taught how to shoot, kill things and march around in circles. Rebelled very badly at this school and as a result was the subject of intense bullying, from fellow pupils and teachers. Walked out of the school when I was 17 with no qualifications and went off and started working for a newspaper funded by the ANC while it was still banned. Girlfriend and her young brother shot dead in a drugs bust that went wrong when I was 18. Thrown out of South Africa when I was 20 after refusing to do two years national service and being caught having a relationship with an Indian woman.
Went to Australia on a whim, stayed for almost a year working in an advertising agency and getting drunk a lot. Got thrown out of the advertising agency for being drunk a lot. Came back to England the day before my 21st birthday. Didn’t know anybody. Spent my 21st birthday wandering alone around Bath. Got badly beaten up by a pair of black bouncers at a nightclub I tried to get into for being a white South African!
Started freelance work as a journalist in and around Bath and ended up being made Group Editor of a chain of weekly newspapers in Wiltshire before I was 22. Newspapers went bust in the early 90s recession, so got a job in PR in London, more by luck than judgement. Got engaged to long-term girlfriend who then left me for another woman two months before our wedding.
Had a very nasty motorcycle accident when I was 24. Recovered from it and then got testicular cancer, which almost killed me. Not a good year. Had a relationship with a glamorous Australian jazz singer who later turned out to be a high class escort and striptease artist on the quiet. Then had a relationship with the only daughter of a Japanese multi-millionaire businessman. Went off to Yokohama with her for a few months but this ended badly when she stabbed me in the back with a pair of scissors when I told her I didn’t want to marry her and spend the rest of my life in Japan.
Back to London for a while, career went well and I got posted to the Middle East as a senior consultant with the world’s biggest PR company. Spent three years in Bahrain, UAE and Saudi Arabia. Got engaged to an air hostess who I then discovered was shagging a member of the Bahraini royal family in return for expensive gifts on the quiet. Had a relationship with a Kenyan girl who worked for one of my clients and ended up spending a fair bit of time in Kenya.
Came back to the UK in 2000 and joined the world’s second largest PR company, in central London. Started having a relationship with a girl I worked with but she was killed in a car crash. Started having a relationship with another girl I worked with but she killed herself accidentally with a drug overdose. Walked away from the company to set up my own business, specialising in aviation PR. Spent lots of money on offices and staff in Notting Hill and began trading with some excellent aviation clients. Six weeks later September 11th happened and I lost all my business and all my money. Couldn’t get a job because I was over-qualified, over-experienced and I’d walked out of my last job with half the clients. Started again with nothing from my living room in High Wycombe.
Moved back to Bath in September 2003 with a girlfriend 14 years younger than me, looking for a complete lifestyle change, wanting to be closer to my family. No contacts, very little work, very tough. Girlfriend developed serious mental illness and was permanently sectioned. Completely destroyed my right ankle in a freak accident and had to have a series of ops that have left me significantly disabled. Mother died. Met amazing woman three years ago who lifted me up from the lowest depths of my life. Highly intelligent Doctor who loves all the things I love, is mentally stable, doesn’t take drugs or show any signs of wanting to have sex with other people. Got married last summer.
Now 42. Strong sense that I’m due some great rewards for my years of toil. Struggling to re-establish business again, with no money at all but lucky to have a loving wife, a lovely house in a nice part of the world, a sense of belonging and some stability for the first time in my life, although waiting to hear date for fifth ankle operation which may result in me losing my right foot. Cautiously optimistic for the year ahead!
Born in rural Somerset, moved around all over Southern England for the first 14 years of my life. Never lived in any one place for more than about 18 months, various places in Somerset, Wiltshire and Berkshire. Then sent out to apartheid era South Africa when I was 14 (in 1982) to a very traditional colonial boarding school, which was essentially a training school for the South African Defence Force. Spent all day being taught how to shoot, kill things and march around in circles. Rebelled very badly at this school and as a result was the subject of intense bullying, from fellow pupils and teachers. Walked out of the school when I was 17 with no qualifications and went off and started working for a newspaper funded by the ANC while it was still banned. Girlfriend and her young brother shot dead in a drugs bust that went wrong when I was 18. Thrown out of South Africa when I was 20 after refusing to do two years national service and being caught having a relationship with an Indian woman.
Went to Australia on a whim, stayed for almost a year working in an advertising agency and getting drunk a lot. Got thrown out of the advertising agency for being drunk a lot. Came back to England the day before my 21st birthday. Didn’t know anybody. Spent my 21st birthday wandering alone around Bath. Got badly beaten up by a pair of black bouncers at a nightclub I tried to get into for being a white South African!
Started freelance work as a journalist in and around Bath and ended up being made Group Editor of a chain of weekly newspapers in Wiltshire before I was 22. Newspapers went bust in the early 90s recession, so got a job in PR in London, more by luck than judgement. Got engaged to long-term girlfriend who then left me for another woman two months before our wedding.
Had a very nasty motorcycle accident when I was 24. Recovered from it and then got testicular cancer, which almost killed me. Not a good year. Had a relationship with a glamorous Australian jazz singer who later turned out to be a high class escort and striptease artist on the quiet. Then had a relationship with the only daughter of a Japanese multi-millionaire businessman. Went off to Yokohama with her for a few months but this ended badly when she stabbed me in the back with a pair of scissors when I told her I didn’t want to marry her and spend the rest of my life in Japan.
Back to London for a while, career went well and I got posted to the Middle East as a senior consultant with the world’s biggest PR company. Spent three years in Bahrain, UAE and Saudi Arabia. Got engaged to an air hostess who I then discovered was shagging a member of the Bahraini royal family in return for expensive gifts on the quiet. Had a relationship with a Kenyan girl who worked for one of my clients and ended up spending a fair bit of time in Kenya.
Came back to the UK in 2000 and joined the world’s second largest PR company, in central London. Started having a relationship with a girl I worked with but she was killed in a car crash. Started having a relationship with another girl I worked with but she killed herself accidentally with a drug overdose. Walked away from the company to set up my own business, specialising in aviation PR. Spent lots of money on offices and staff in Notting Hill and began trading with some excellent aviation clients. Six weeks later September 11th happened and I lost all my business and all my money. Couldn’t get a job because I was over-qualified, over-experienced and I’d walked out of my last job with half the clients. Started again with nothing from my living room in High Wycombe.
Moved back to Bath in September 2003 with a girlfriend 14 years younger than me, looking for a complete lifestyle change, wanting to be closer to my family. No contacts, very little work, very tough. Girlfriend developed serious mental illness and was permanently sectioned. Completely destroyed my right ankle in a freak accident and had to have a series of ops that have left me significantly disabled. Mother died. Met amazing woman three years ago who lifted me up from the lowest depths of my life. Highly intelligent Doctor who loves all the things I love, is mentally stable, doesn’t take drugs or show any signs of wanting to have sex with other people. Got married last summer.
Now 42. Strong sense that I’m due some great rewards for my years of toil. Struggling to re-establish business again, with no money at all but lucky to have a loving wife, a lovely house in a nice part of the world, a sense of belonging and some stability for the first time in my life, although waiting to hear date for fifth ankle operation which may result in me losing my right foot. Cautiously optimistic for the year ahead!
BayTheMoon said:
Link to 3 sets of 25 pages each extracted from my autobiography. Free of course.
http://www.baythemoon.com/unsettling_pp1-25.pdf
http://www.baythemoon.com/unsettling_pp26-49.pdf
http://www.baythemoon.com/unsettling_pp50-76.pdf
Davidhttp://www.baythemoon.com/unsettling_pp1-25.pdf
http://www.baythemoon.com/unsettling_pp26-49.pdf
http://www.baythemoon.com/unsettling_pp50-76.pdf
That's an intriguing account and, as has been said before, very readable indeed.
Think I need to buy a copy now so I can find out what happens after your start in the world of casinos.
Nick
944Nick said:
BayTheMoon said:
Link to 3 sets of 25 pages each extracted from my autobiography. Free of course.
http://www.baythemoon.com/unsettling_pp1-25.pdf
http://www.baythemoon.com/unsettling_pp26-49.pdf
http://www.baythemoon.com/unsettling_pp50-76.pdf
Davidhttp://www.baythemoon.com/unsettling_pp1-25.pdf
http://www.baythemoon.com/unsettling_pp26-49.pdf
http://www.baythemoon.com/unsettling_pp50-76.pdf
That's an intriguing account and, as has been said before, very readable indeed.
Think I need to buy a copy now so I can find out what happens after your start in the world of casinos.
Nick
ks! Enjoy the read.David
Most definitely a story I like to hear!
MadOne said:
Well, my story is not maybe what you would call exciting compared to other ones I have read on this thread but it is more one I am proud of for turning bad into good. Our family as we were growing up were the Clampitts of our town (for those of you who don't know what that means, it means we were the poorest in our street). All the families were well off and we were the skanks with the hand me down clothes etc. Because of this the idiots (that's me being polite) in school bullied us (myself and my brother) all through our school life. Nobody wanted to sit with us "in case I catch something" and so on and so on. We were told we would never amount to anything, never get a job, never get married, have children etc. In fact we were nothing. Because of all this going on and being a child you tend to believe what people say you are. So I wasn't interested in studying. I wanted to have frineds and become part of the crowd but that wasn't to be. So all through school I learned nothing and had no interest in studying. So when O'level time came around, you guessed it I failed them all. My brother managed to get a couple. I left school unable to get into uni or college and slowly I was turning into this person I was told I was going to become. I had never had a g/f either. When I was 18 after two years on the dole I got a job in Tesco. Big wow. I hated it but had no enthusiam in life, still believing I was meant to be a skank. However, one day I read a book called 'The Secret' which changed my whole life. Suddenly I had enthusiasm and decided I was going to be something. While working in Tesco I enrolled in night classes. To cut a long story short, by the time I was 23 I had 6 O'Grades and 6 Highers. Maths, History, English, German, Biology and Chemistry. I also studied and passed Psychology on a home learning course. After that I got into Glasgow Uni to study law. I am now 45 and have been a lawyer for ten years. I also have a lovely wife but unfortunately we couldn't have children. We travel all over the world as travel is our passion, having been to Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Switzerland, etc etc etc. Now when I bump into the skanks in my class they still do not speak to me as they still think I work in Tesco (they don't bother to ask). We have a great social life with loads of good friends and I think how easily my life could have turned out so differently, ie I could have turne to drink, drugs etc but I believe the one and only way of revenge in this life is success!!! Hope this is the kind of story you like to hear.
T84 said:
Does this thread make anyone else feel a bit boring?
Some amazing stories here
No, but it makes me feel with more security and expense to get around the world, terrorism and all that, visas, and troubles start things up in this modern world, I wouldn't even have a chance to experience some of the things people here have done. Some amazing stories here
Big respect to some of you guys and your family members.
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