Another Gather Birthday: Magi - Nicholas.

It’s Valentines Day and it is also I am Magi - Nicholas got ambushed by a bee while smelling the roses birthday as well.  Magi comes from Perth, Australia and she has been a member of gather since March 29, 2006.  Magi did such a good job on her birthday questions that I will let you read it exactly as she wrote it.

I am happily divorced and love my freedom too much to get romantically involved again with anyone. My three children - Fiona, Natalie and Michael - would thank God for that; As would my granddaughter, little Emily! We all live in various parts of Perth (the most isolated capital city on earth) in Western Australia.

I am on a disability pension and thus have to cope with an income well below the poverty line. But in my working life hey-day, I variously worked as a teacher of English in a number of high schools; as a professional writer and editor; and then as a Senior Policy Adviser on alternative energy - which included writing background briefing papers and speeches for various Ministers in the WA Government. As the Executive Officer of the Alternative Energy Board, I also had quite some influence in how alternative energy is utilized in schools across WA - and in what is taught about energy conservation.

An anthology of my poetry, Winds was published while I attended teachers' college - and it was the first such anthology of one student's work to be published by the college. For some 14 years I earned my living as a full-time, professional writer and editor with the Education Department of Western Australia. Some 230 plus works of mine were published. Then I wrote a how-to manual on energy conservation in schools (a direct spin-off from my Master of Arts dissertation), which was distributed to all schools in WA and to all universities, colleges of advanced education and technical education institutions throughout Australia.

Because of childhood deprivation (my father was a raging alcoholic), I lived in my imagination. Writing came naturally to me - I just went with the flow of opportunities that arose for me to become a professional writer.

I don't have any hobbies as such. Photography is a passion of mine, but my camera went to heaven and I haven't been able to afford the space shuttle fare to go and retrieve it. lol I also ride an Italian motorbike all year round as my only form of transportation - that, too, is a passion of mine. The closest thing to a hobby is painting ceramic figurines in my back garden studio. But since discovering Gather, I haven't painted another single thing - Gather consumes my spare time. Writing and interacting on Gather has also become a passion.

I like sharing a coffee with friends at cafes overlooking the Indian Ocean - and riding my black (1,000 CC) motorbike, which is a real brute of a thing that needs plenty of throttle to keep it rumbling contentedly.

My only peeve is the primitive (very limited) functionality of Gather, and that the site management only listens to those who pat them on the back and say that the Titanic is a lovely ship.

The social issue that concerns me the most is the huge inequalities in the distribution of the worlds resources and hence in the 'good life' that such can bring. I'd like to see the intrinsic equality of all people to be reflected in what happens, rather than in hollow rhetoric.

The more single important event that has occurred in my life is the discovery that God takes each one of us where we are, exactly as we are, and then - holding our hand - walks with us. His love is unconditional, and thus He does not condemn, despite the world teaching the contrary. This means accepting the teaching that: we are our hearts, and our hearts are innocent still - for what God creates is perfect and immutable.

There is nothing that I still want to do that I haven't done - I'm leaving that in God's Hands. He can write a far better script for my life than I can.

I don't have a favourite birthday memory - I had a very unhappy childhood and a marriage that was unfulfilled. Hopefully, February 14, 2007 will be the best one.

I don't have a birthday wish as such. People just saying, Hi! would be nice.

An article of mine that others might find interesting is The Child of Fire & Ice Who Once Was Me.

A favourite song of mine that would be nice for Janelle to provide is: One More Cup of Coffee by Bob Dylan - failing that, All Along the Watchtower would be nice.


And there, Carol, you have it. Please feel free to use as much or little as you like - and thank you very much for this.

Magi

Happy birthday Magi from all your friends at gather, we hope we have made your day a memorial one.

Note to the birthday club members.  If you have not yet submitted your birthday dates to me please to so.  I need to prepare well enough in advance. Furthemore, when I send you the questions to do your celebration I need to have them back, at least one day prior to your birthday.

Carol Roach: winterose.gather.com

The birthday Club:

http://thebirthdayclub.gather.com/