Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Tell Your Life Story in Two (or Even Five) Minutes

Talk about ourselves?  No genealogist likes to do that.  We love to talk about our ancestors!  But that's what Randy Seaver wants us to do tonight for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun.

Here is your assignment, if you choose to play along (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music):

(1) Everyone has a life story, and mine is still ongoing.  Tell us your life story — start with today and go back to your birth.  Do it in 200 to 500 words, so you could tell it in two to five minutes.

(2) Tell us in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or on Facebook.  Be sure to leave a comment with a link to your blog post on this post.

And backward, no less!  Let's see how I do.

My name is Janice Marie Sellers, and I am 59 years old.  I live in Gresham, Oregon.  I am not married and never have been, but I have two "stepsons" from a former significant relationship.  Through the older of the two I also have five grandchildren (with very complicated interrelationships that would drive a genogram designer crazy), and I stay in touch with both of my former daughters-in-law, who live in Vancouver, Washington (15 miles away, with three of the grandchildren) and Lebanon, Oregon (95 miles away, with two of the grandchildren), respectively.

My daily activities are family history research, taking care of my two cats and three macaws, and (still!) trying to finish unpacking everything from when I moved to Oregon in 2017.  The latter was delayed because I came here with a torn rotator cuff in my right shoulder and then proceeded to tear the cuff in the left shoulder (I guess I wanted a matched set).  After surgery on the left shoulder in summer 2020, I am much more able to move things around again, although I have to be careful not to push it.  I try to get six hours of sleep each night, which I am getting better at accomplishing.

My last regular job was as a train operator at BART in the San Francisco area (that's the job that gave me the torn rotator cuff in the right shoulder).  I was an employee there for five years.  Recent employment before that was transcriptionist, "office manager" (really a door guard) at an upscale daycare in a poor neighborhood, and more than 35 years as an editor for various companies and print publications.  I also was able to travel for business as an editor, primarily in the United States but a few times internationally.

My formal education ended several years ago with courses in computer programming, music, and library science, none of which culiminated in a degree or certificate.  I earned a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities (emphasis in French), which functionally was a B.A. in French with minors in Spanish and Russian, from the University of Southern California in 1983.  I attended Niceville Senior High School in Niceville, Florida for my diploma.  I detailed my pre-high-school education for a Saturday Night Genealogy Fun post a few years ago; suffice it to say that I attended schools in many locations.

I was born in 1962 in East Los Angeles at the Los Angeles County hospital (prior to its association with USC), the first child of Bertram Lynn Sellers, Jr. and Myra Roslyn Meckler.  Both my parents were born on the East Coast, my father in New Jersey and my mother in Brooklyn, but they met and married in Miami and then drove to California to start their life together.  My family lived in multiple locations in east Los Angeles County until we moved to Australia in 1971, living there for two years before returning to the United States in 1973 and going to Florida.  In California, we saw my mother's parents often, as they lived relatively close by in Las Vegas.

The highlight of my life has been my grandchildren and their parents.  I did not have children of my own but always wanted a family, and I love being a bubbie (Yiddish for grandmother).  I wish I could spend more time with the kids and parents.

Did I go over my five-minute limit?

Motherly Career Advice

My mother on her
wedding day,
October 21, 1961

For Mother's Day I like to try to post stories about my mother, not only because I enjoy remembering them but also as part of that concept of recording our own lives while we do research on the rest of our families.  For some reason this year what popped into my head was different pieces of advice my mother gave me about work.

The earliest thing I remember is when she convinced me that I should take a touch typing class in high school.  I had been thinking about it but hadn't really decided whether it was going to be worthwhile.  She told me that it would prove beneficial to me later in life.  She didn't have computers in mind, because at the time they were still huge room-sized monstrosities used only by really big companies and the government.  I'm pretty sure what she was thinking of was being able to work as a secretary or something like that.  But it did prove to be excellent advice.  Not only did I make a lot of money in college typing papers, touch typing skills have proven to be extremely valuable now that we are in the age of computers.

Another good piece of advice was to keep all my receipts for taxes, just in case.  Mommy was a bookkeeper, and she was always annoyed when one of her clients didn't have receipts for some important expense.  So I got into the habit of keeping pretty much everything, and it has been helpful once I had a mortgage and was able to claim enough in deductions on my tax returns.  I don't know how effective that will be in the future, of course.

One thing she recommended that I didn't find useful for work purposes was joining Mensa.  She thought it would help me get jobs.  I've found over the 40 (!) years I've been a member that is not the case.  Oh, well, nobody's perfect.

One significant piece of advice she gave that I didn't follow at all was where I should work.  She really, really wanted me to work for the CIA or the United Nations.  She figured that with my language skills either one would be a great career choice.  Somehow, with my sarcastic nature, I just didn't think I would be a good fit for the CIA.  I actually did think about the UN, but what they really wanted at the time (and probably do still now) was interpreters, which is not my strength.  Interpeting requires that you be able to come up with the translation right away and keep up with the pace of a conversation.  I'm much better at translation, where I have time to think about the words.

My languages have proven useful in my genealogy work.  My mother passed away before I started doing genealogy for a living, but I think she would have appreciated what I've been able to discover about my family, on both sides.  She used to tell me I could do anything I set my mind to, so I guess that's another piece of advice I did take.

For Labor Day, a History of My Labors

Along with a list of every place he had lived during his life, my paternal grandfather created a list of all the jobs he had held.  Other than because he might have had some obsessive tendencies, I don't know why he made either list.  But his list of jobs inspired me to try to create a similar list for myself.  Labor Day seems to be the perfect time for it.  This is a list only of my paid positions; volunteer work will have to wait for another day,

babysitting, ~1973–1975:  Like many teenagers, I did some babysitting for neighbors.

general assistant, stamp and coin store, ~1977–1978:  The aforementioned grandfather had a store in Niceville where he sold postage stamps (as in philately), coins, and rubber stamps (for addresses, "PAID", etc.).  I did some sales and also made rubber stamps, which was with hot lead at the time.  Neither I nor my father was sure of the name of the store, but as usual my brother bailed me out:  It was Sellers Stamp Shop (very original, I know).

Overseas Studies Department, USC, 1979–1983:  The first "real" job I had was a work-study position when I started college.  I worked for Overseas Studies during all four of my undergraduate years.

dorm cafeteria, 1981–1983, USC:  During my junior year I added a job in the cafeteria, where I worked through the summer after I graduated.  Working on the Saturday breakfast shift is when I learned that Mountain Dew has caffeine in it.

fundraising department, USC, ~1983?:  For a very short time, I worked part time in a fundraising department at USC.  I didn't like it and it didn't like me, and we parted ways very quickly.

Urban Planning, USC, 1983:  The first full-time job I had was immediately after I graduated.  Urban Planning was not yet part of the School of Public Policy, which didn't exist.  This job is where I learned how to use the WordStar word processing program, with a flip-book self-paced tutorial.

Industrial and Systems Engineering, USC, 1984–~1986:  I didn't stay long in Urban Planning because a more attractive position became available in ISE.  This department had a great group of professors, including three from Turkey, a Persian, a Kiwi, and "Gerry Squared."  For a while we had a graduate student with a football scholarship in the department.  The first time I met a native Spanish speaker of Chinese ancestry was while working here.

French and Italian, USC, ~1986–1987:  Moving from department to department is not uncommon at big universities, and my next stop was French and Italian, where I had been an undergrad student.  The new department head, whose views could be rather parochial at times, thought it was my obligation to make coffee for his personal meetings — until he discovered how badly I could make coffee.

Classics, USC, 1987:  One thing I remember having to do in this department was get the computer working again (desktop computers were just coming into departments around this time), because the previous administrative assistant had actually reformatted her C drive, and everything was lost.

Marine Biology, USC, 1988–1989:  I believe this was my last position at USC.  I learned a lot about the scientists' trips to the Antarctic.

kosher cook, USC Hillel, 1988–1989:  While I was working on campus, I also had a part-time job during the academic year as a kosher cook at the USC Hillel.  Highlights of my time there included meeting Leonard Nimoy and making more than 500 latkes during the week of Chanukah.

sous chef, Trumps, 1989:  During the summer of 1989 I was a sous chef at Trumps, a very trendy California cuisine restaurant of the time.  One of the items on the menu was a quesadilla made with green grapes and Brie cheese (which most of us in the kitchen deplored).

housekeeper/nanny/cook, 1989–1990:  During the month of August 1989, all three of my housemates left (I had to kick out two of them, the first to force her to take care of her mental illness and the second because she assaulted the third housemate; the third left soon after being attacked), so I had to find a new place to live.  I moved to the San Francisco Bay area because I found an unpaid position as a housekeeper/nanny/cook.  At least I was being fed.

in-home aide, SSI, 1990:  Although I was being fed at my housekeeper position, I did need some income because I had student loan payments due.  I became an in-home aide for a woman with cystic fibrosis.  I did her shopping and errands and cooked very bland meals for her.

assistant production manager, Chessex, 1990–1994:  The income from 10 hours a week through SSI was not adequate, so I had to find a full-time job.  Lucky for me, someone referred me to Chessex Games, which was looking for an assistant production manager.  Here I learned how to place dice into plastic containers just so and how to roll game mats so they fit into plastic bags.  I also did all the editing and layout on our role-playing products.

editrix, convention schnook, assistant bookkeeper, Chaosium, 1994–1997:  I had been checking with a friend at Chaosium off and on, waiting for a position to open up.  When it did, I came right over.  I greatly enjoyed working as an editor on role-playing games and fiction books.  This is one of the few companies I know of that had a designated pot-smoking area.

sales, Lacis, 1994–1995:  While I was working at Chaosium, Lacis, a fantastic store that carries vintage clothing and textiles, advertised for a part-time position.  I worked there to be around all the cool items and for the benefit of the employee discount.

secretary, Girl Scouts, 1997–1998:  After some poor choices related to collectible card games, Chaosium had to lay off some staff, including me.  I worked for a few months at the administrative office of the Girl Scouts.  It was only a temp position, which gave me great incentive to look for a permanent job.

publications coordinator, junior Webmaster, Seismological Society of America, 1998–2006:  I had applied for this position once and didn't get it, but it was relisted a few months later.  I eventually discovered that the first person hired had been there but a very short time and abruptly left.  I learned a lot about seismology and earthquakes while copyediting one of the society's scientific journals, and met many interesting seismologists and geologists.

mystery guest, ~1999–2000?:  For about a year I was a mystery guest for a national company, as a paid employee.  I visited store locations and checked service and product standards.  Mystery shopping is interesting, but you need to be completely objective in your observations.

transcriptionist, Perfect Pages, 2006–2007:  After leaving the Seismological Society I worked for a year and a half typing transcriptions of audio and video.  About a third was from television programs, a third from advertising and marketing materials, and a third from oral histories recorded by Kaiser Permanente as it tried to capture memories of people who had worked there in its early years.

office manager, BlueSkies for Children, 2008–2010:  This is an upscale daycare in a poorer part of Oakland, for families with two professional parents who both have work they are dedicated to but they want to have children also.  The job title was "office manager", but it was really being a door guard, to make sure the correct people brought the children in and picked them up.

editor, indexer, translator, Sellers Editorial Services, 1990–~2011:  Mostly I'm an editor, but I also do indexing and translation.  Most of the work has been in the adventure gaming industry (think Dungeons & Dragons and games of that ilk).  I even won a few awards for editing.

genealogy teacher and coordinator, Alternatives in Action, 2012–2013:  For one semester I taught a genealogy class at a local high school.  The rest of the time I helped introduce youth in a juvenile detention program to family history.

genealogist, Ancestral Discoveries, 2005–present:  Now I'm obsessed with genealogy.  I do research, teach classes, write this blog, and spend an inordinate amount of time volunteering.  At least I enjoy what I do!

train operator, BART, 2012–2014 (kind of –present):  I began training to be a train operator in February 2012.  Unfortunately, I suffered two injuries while working and went out on worker compensation disability in June 2014, and I'm still out.  I really enjoyed working as a train operator.  I wish I could go back, but it isn't going to happen.

Genealogist vs. Geologist vs. Gynecologist

I was mentioned in a Career Builder article about confusing job titles posted on CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/01/14/cb.commonly.confused.job.titles/index.html

I talked with the reporter in November and just found out this morning I made it into the article when someone posted the link to a mail list I'm on.  Wow, I made it on CNN!