Writing an autobiographical timeline was a recent assignment in my Japanese class. I found it exceptionally difficult and for once it wasn’t the language that stymied me. I was stuck with four paltry lines: born, graduated, married, expatriated.
The problem is that a good timeline needs a common thread to tell a story, a progression of personal achievements. But my life is a long series of unconnected, one-off events. If I start to list my personal highlights, my timeline grows long and doesn’t lead anywhere.
So I decided to pick a theme and try to find things to fit it. I opted for “performance” because that seems to be what I am doing most of these days and I have been active in entertainments of various sorts for a long time. Here is what I ended up with (in English).
1966 Born Kristen Kemptgen Hill in Pennsylvania, USA
1978 Writes & directs school Christmas play
1980 Organises children’s circus with neighbors
1981 Joins local community chorus
1983 Acts in first Nuremberg Community Theater production
1985 Learns technical theater crafts with Red Masquers theatre club
1988 Graduates from Duquesne University
1989 Marries Tod Nathan McQuillin
1990 Quits job because it interferes with semi-professional theatre avocation
1993 Quits semi-professional theater because it interferes with everything else
1994 Wins first prize in FiberFest talent show for rendition of drunken sister
1998 Expatriates to Tokyo, Japan with husband
2000 Launches freelance video editing services
2003 Premieres Hello Tokyo short film at Design Festa
2005 Begins reading audiobooks for Librivox
2007 Screens Yanagisawa’s Robot Nation animation at Design Festa
2009 Debuts as hoop dance performer
That is is a better story of “me” than a dull four lines. What would you put in your personal timeline?
Posted by kuri at March 04, 2009 05:32 PM