Day 29 - We’re All Stories!

[Cathie19]

We’re All Stories.....

We all write our own stories...

Short Novella? Epic Trilogy? Journal? Biography? Romance? Thriller? Crime? Comedy? Science Fiction? Fantasy? Adventure? Art work? A narrative? A tragedy? A “how to” manual?

All of the above?

Are we the writer and illustrator?

So the list goes on...

Yes, I’m capable of going off on random thoughts, but I can remember the guidelines I’ve placed upon myself in this self imposed part of my book.

Each chapter might represent a different genre.

Each page may represent a glimpse of what and who we are.

But the authenticity should never change. Our covers and dust jackets may be shiny and like new, or torn and a bit tattered around the edges. Sure, they have also changed across the years.....

But we don’t need to write a masterpiece, or even live one!

What matters for our stories to be well read? Our content needs to be true, even in a fictional sense... and we also need to be the “holder” of the pen!

Inside our life books, we also have a memo or chapter, regarding our stints maybe as guests and also as hosts. Life hosts, as well as Airbnb hosts. Both complex, both demanding physically and emotionally and both time rich!

But if I step back from this blinkered and personal book of mine, I can see that everyone else belongs to a unique story, their own book.

I like to visualise that we are all blossoming as individuals and staying on our chosen paths.... because that would bring us all to a better conclusion. Mind you, our chosen path is not necessarily chosen by us.....That bit of satire, is one of life’s subplots! Nor can we cheat and look at the last page to see how it will end....

But no story is without pain or anxiety, nor the more negative and less desirable traits we mere mortals possess. But collectively, our fragility in this global book we are writing together, is palpable. Not just because we are the subjects... but because we care about the storyline.

So maybe if we cut through the refuse and clutter...  the sub plots of politics and religions, we can find standing room to see the view. Once we have a clear focus, and strive to stride along our chosen paths, then we breathe better... more deeply.

With 2020 just around the corner, let’s all celebrate that we have been able to write and live our stories for 2019.

Some here in the CC may have suffered, but we are still here - making us all success stories.

The Community Centre has brought us together in many a short paragraph, pun or problem. We skim through the pages and dislike or love what we read. We can fume and get incensed by something, or laugh till our belly aches....

We are also saddened by some stories, too powerful in how they move us! We may take turns from being the writer to the reader, from being deeply involved to voyeur viewing.

This book, or even the illustrated comic - is living, breathing, evolving. We come here, we head off elsewhere, on another story, we return! Hard to keep up with all the characters and the sub plots. But never dull.....

So, with 2020 on the horizon, have you considered your ongoing blog, or insightful next chapter? Don’t panic, not all great stories need to be planned or even storyboarded .....

As said by The Doctor, (Season 5, Episode 13) on the TV show, Dr Who:

“We’re all stories, in the end. Just make it a good one, eh!”

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Disclaimer and apology: I could not fit every CC member’s profile image into my photograph. You are not forgotten, just maybe you are on the previous, or next page....  🙌🏼😊

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[Cathie19]

I love the story behind your profile photo @Rachel0. You and Bob do look SO relaxed, and the image would instill confidence to all guests who book! 

[Laura2484]

With wit and originality @Cathie19 , thank you for sharing . 

Happy hosting 2020

Cheers🎉🎉🎉

[Cathie19]

Thank you @Laura2484 for being a newish and contributing member of the CC. Wishing you a great story in 2020! 

[Jennifer1421]

Wonderful thoughts, @Cathie19 ! Your post made me think of a line in a movie I watched this week, "You may be the hero of your own story, but for someone, somewhere, you're the villain in theirs".

May we all manage to keep our "villainy" at bay, and make 2020 a year in which we're a hero in every story we touch!

Happy New Year!

[Cathie19]

@Jennifer1421 , it sounds like a very good plan! Have a great non-villainy 2020! 👏🏼👏🏼

[Robin4]

Many here do not understand how much work goes into some of these posts!

@Cathie19  Cathie you must have spent weeks compiling all those photos and putting them into a workable layout. My God you have even included our dear founding CC friends, Dave and Deb from Edmonton in Canada!

Looking through them I can really only see one notable contributor who contributes here on a regular basis that hasn't made the collage, but almost everything keeps to another day!

Thanks Cathie for your help and guidance. I loved the time you and Garry spent a few moments here with us, short as it was, we were able to swap a story or two face to face.

You and I, we are not just a part of a lovely community Cathie, we are the essence of humanity, we hold out our hands to strangers, no matter where they come from!

You're  a good egg mate!  

Cheers......Rob

[Cathie19]

Thanks @Robin4 for your kind words. I’m miffed now that I missed a regular; my brain must have been sleeping on the job. Well, that’s my rendition of the story..... 😁

It certainly took a couple of very late night’s with constant screenshots and editing the profile images. This was about the fifth version of the collage. Lol..

Can’t believe it is a year since we caught up with you and Ade across the Xmas period. This time last year, we drove from Balranald to Canberra in about 43° stinking degrees (Celsius) . The temps are no better this year!

[Giuliana142]

@Cathie19 Oh my goodness... I found myself in a sea of wonderful people! Wow! What a terrific idea. You just took this whole CC to another level. It brings so much warmth knowing that each and everyone of us plays an important role in our CC. To know that a perfect stranger would do such a beautiful thing of posting our “portraits” all joined together in a book is priceless. Thank you Cathie19 for creating this big ole’ family photo. (I’m still smiling). I AM GOING TO PRINT THIS and hang it on my wall next to Romeo and Juliet. I love it. Happy 2020!

[Cathie19]

Glad you liked it @Giuliana142 . I’m just making a revised one with a couple of early CC members that I left out. Although I can’t add everyone, they should be there. I have also added the CC symbol and word community. It will appear in the comments soon.

[Jody79]

@Cathie19 This is awesome!  I absolutely love it!  Here's to a great 2020!

[Cathie19]

Yes @Jody79 , to a great story in 2020. Remember that if the storyline isn’t going your way,  too far off course, then close the chapter and begin writing it again!

[Susan17]

Love the collage, and love your post, @Cathie19! Beautiful piece of writing. Delighted to be included, but it's kind of a bitter-sweet moment for me, as I'm almost at the very end of my final chapter both here on the CC, and in my hosting career. And ironically, a book is the one thing I will  be taking away with me, after all these years. 😉

Wishing you and yours a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. 🌹

[Cathie19]

Why thank you @Susan17, coming from you, that is high praise indeed! 

It would be sad to see you end the storyline completely. Maybe take a hiatus period from hosting, and deep breathe again....

As for the Community Centre, you would be deeply missed from here, as sincerely, you have so much to offer.  Contributors like myself cannot possibly “grow” the researched information that you have at your fingertips, to communicate to those in need. It is also, not my “thing”. You have a gift for it!

We all offer different skill sets here in the CC. You have the details that others don’t, so please reconsider and hold off from closing this book. Read and write others, but still visit this ol’ library, and “recommend”  to all of us as we stumble...... 💝📚🙌🏼📓🌷

[Mike-And-Helen0]

@Cathie19 such creativity and a Whovian too !

Think we'd be friends IRL.

The photo collage (which I didn't initially realise WAS a collage from my 'phone) is immense!

eta ooh and we are right there with @Branka-and-Silvia0 !

[Cathie19]

Yes you are there, @Mike-And-Helen0 , but your superhost badge has you hiding a bit! 

Alas, I liked Chris Eggleston’s Doctor, with the new technology and updated graphics.  Have always loved Peter Capaldi as an actor and Matt Smith grew on me. With the hype over Jodi Whittaker, she won me over in Broadchurch! I also loved Torchwood.

But David Tennant is my favourite of the moderns.... and also my son. When backpacking a number of years ago, he had Tennant’s DR coat made when travelling in Hoi An, Vietnam -  and carried it in his backpack till he got off the Trans Siberian railway in Russia, wearing it!

Plus, the Dr marrying a Drs daughter in real life...  (PS: I like his version of “Sunshine on Leith” Pretender’s  song, on “Children in Need” album. I also like his Hamlet!  (I know.....)

1. Loved the Day of the Dr with John Hurt.

2. Enjoyed Catherine Tate and her father, actor Bernard Cribbins

3. CANNOT look at angel statues without feeling spooked....... Do you and Helen blink? LOL...

4. My son wore Tardis cufflinks, hidden, for his wedding, which we had given him as a present the Xmas before.

5. I have a Tardis cookie jar full of miscellaneous junk in the kitchen. It freaked my first grandchild out when she was little, when I used it for cookies. LOL 😂 Hence, no longer fit for purpose! 

6. Once watched a final season episode in a really dingy, boutique, fire trap in Phnom Penh - which saved me whilst travelling, as I was “geoblocked” from the ABC on my devices!.

7. Annoyed I have to wait till January 2nd to see the New Year episode that you get to see January 1st AND, I’m half a day AHEAD!