lotsofmagnets

interesting topic. i´ve always had an interest in my family history and for my brother´s b-day my mum compiled a basic family tree with everything she was able to get her hands on in a short space of time. basically it want back to my great great grandparents on my mum´s side and only my grandparents on my father´s side. when i came over to europe i decided i´d look further into it and to say i´ve had problems is an understatement. on my mum´s side both her parents came from the same vilage which *should* have made life easier but the historian for the area which includes my grandparents´ village (who just happened to drive me to school back when i lived there for 6 months in 1990) told me that it´s completely futile as almost everyone seems to share the same 3 surnames (he actually shared the same surname as my grandfather AND lives in the same village yet is NOT related to him - go figure) and he found when researching his own family tree that he found a time when there were 3 of the same guy and he had no way to find which one was the right one. add to that the region has been through a few too many wars and every time ownership of the area changed hands the records were burnt so the only evidence dated back to the mid 1800s anyway.

on my dad´s side one of his sisters inherited everything from their mother and she´s notorious for keeping it all hidden away and never talking about it and add to that she only speaks german and my german isn´t fantastic AND that i found all of this out AFTER i´d stayed with her for 3 weeks and i just had to put that part on hold. i did have a break with my dad´s dad´s side as my cousin said his dad seemed to remember a little about my grandfather and incredibly when asked he was happy to give us 6 generations off the top of his head, dates and all, and who they married and anything special about them (there is a street in maribor, slovenia named after my GGGG-grandfather called kosarjeva as he was the 1st bishop of maribor) mind you, he also told some things about my grandmother who he´s not even related to (my dad is the result of what appeared to be an extra-marrital affair) also my cousin told me that the records from that area are all still intact and next time i´m in the country we´ll have to wander down to where they´re kept and see what we can uncover. to be continued....
-----Added 20/9/2008 at 01 : 14 : 26-----
ps why do old ladies dye their hair blue/purple? this is one of life´s great mysteries to me.

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mother nature made the aeroplane, and the submarine sandwich, with the steady hands and dead eye of a remarkable sculptor.
she shed her mountain turning training wheels, for the convenience of the moving sidewalk, that delivers the magnetic monkey children through the mouth of impossible calendar clock, into the devil's manhole cauldron.
physics of a bicycle, isn't it remarkable?