A Funny Combination

My Life Story -3



I'm a funny combination. I'm half Turkish and half Greek. It's pretty amazing how I have two great cultures in my family. My mother's side is from Crete Island, which is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.



They were my mom's grandma and grandpa from Crete. My great grandma was such an important person for me. When I was growing up, she was the person telling me about Crete Island and great stories about Knossos Palace with a broken Turkish. After settling in Turkey, they kept their Cretan Greek just at home, and tried to speak Turkish. I remember while I was growing up, the woman family members of my family used to speak Greek, while they were gossiping. My grandpa was so strict about using one language at home and it was Turkish.

In this picture you can see my mom's parents.

So now lets look at my father's side, they were from Uzbekistan. They settled in istanbul after they moved to Turkey almost a century ago. My father was only 7 years old when his father passed a way.


After my grandpa passed a way, my grandma lived with my aunt and sent my father to a boarding school. He never received the love from his mother and he searched for it his entire life. He tried to keep his loving relationship with his mom, even when I was growing up.
So after this photo summary let me explain how this start effected my life. My mothers side was from Crete and they always had and still have a close relationship; a big family, lots of food and lots of love. My fathers side was always cool, distant, and didn't have many family connections. So as you can imagine it was the biggest conflict in my family. A huge conflict...
But that's it for today. See you tomorrow!

A Letter To God

I was thinking to start form the beginning, but as of very early this morning I changed my mind. You know why, let me tell you the story. It was Hidrellez last night, it's a Turkish spring festival, which is celebrated throughout the country. But more than that, there is a tradition that you write your wishes, go out and find a rose tree and plant them. Because whatever you wish for on Hıdrellez, will come true :) So as I've been told and did this so many years, I've keep this as a tradition from my homeland. Last night my older daughter, who is in college sent a beautiful message and I printed it out. My 13 year old came along and told me that she also wrote a letter. I didn't read it, she folded it and I planted it out at midnight. As of early this morning, I took it out and before putting them aside, I want to read it. So here we go:

"Please, my family has gone through a lot this year, bad days, tears and more. I love my family, they are the strongest people I know. If something bad happens we stick together and hold our heads up high. They sacrifice everything for us, love us, and do anything just to see a smile upon our faces. They are my family, my friends and my guardian angels. We all look out for each other through thick and thin. I ask that this year and all the years to come are full of happiness, love and success. Please help my whole family and to have wonderful years coming up. My family is more important than anything else in the entire world and they deserve so much and more. I'm still thankful for everything I have. My family are very fortunate to be where we are. I just ask for your help. I know you will guide us and lead us. -The love of a family is life's greatest blessing"

I wish all your prayers come true, see you all tomorrow :)

My Life Story

I have a pretty funny background. I'm almost 46 years old, just one life story, but when I look back it was like so many lives that I've lived. I'm pretty new at blogging. So every time when I decide to write something, it's challenging. Just to be honest with you guys, when I listen to others and almost have common stories, it always makes me comfortable that I'm not alone. So if you are reading this post now, you're probably thinking that you have the same moments. I believe sharing is everything, and thats why we are here. Thats why we are networking, not only to sell our products but to make friends and share stories. I decided to write my story, maybe there are only one or two people that want to be friendly and will say hi. Maybe they will read my story, and wont feel lonely anymore.
So please stop by and say hi, introduce yourself. If you are my Twitter follower or we are friends on Facebook, it will allow us to get to know each other better.
I want to thank my dear friend David Steel, who encouraged me to share my story. I hope he's right, so you'll enjoy being with me in my journey. Hope to see you all tomorrow as I will start from the beginning...

Don't be too serious, life is short

Are you having fun? Do you get a thrill from your work? Do you enjoy waking up each morning?

Myths about work can hurt your progress. "Work is not supposed to be fun." "You must buckle down and get serious."

Perhaps the biggest myth of all: "People will think I’m important if I act seriously." Yet getting serious creates problems: stress, worry, anxiety, emotional pain, drudgery and failure.

Resolving problems by getting more serious is like fixing a computer with a hammer. The harder you try, the worse the problem becomes.

"When life becomes serious, a man becomes less cause and greater effect. If life gets really serious, his value drops to practically zero. Driving a car can become such serious business that one can wreck the car. Running a business can become so serious as to make it fail. There is a direct connection between insanity and seriousness." "It is only when an individual progresses in life to a point where much seriousness is attached to things that he begins to have a hard time. The ancient Italian really knew what he was about when he considered that the only psychotherapy was laughter." — L. Ron Hubbard

12 Ways to Lighten Up

Approaching your life with a non-serious attitude gives you a clearheaded view of difficulties and the energy to deal with them. Problems are easier to solve, people are more cooperative and you feel more relaxed. You probably live longer and more successfully, as well.

Try these ideas until you find one that lightens you up.

1. Deliberately turn a molehill into a mountain. Make a big deal out of a little problem. "I would feel much better if these papers were stacked exactly like this! Not like that! Like this! Not this! This!"

2. Ask yourself, "Is getting serious about this situation really going to improve it?"

3. Focusing on the positives. "What is right about this situation?" "What else is right?" "What else?"

4. Consider a complete, major change. For example, go back to school, move to the ocean, start a new career.

5. Ask yourself, "When I’m on my deathbed, will I be glad I was so serious about _______?"

6. A challenging game is much better than no game at all. So consider losing all aspects of the problem. Examples: You feel serious about family problems. You ask yourself, "Well, what if I had no family at all?" You feel serious about your investments. You ask yourself, "What if I had no money to invest?"

7. The size of your problem may match the size of your game. So get a bigger game. For example, if you get uptight about paper clips being in the wrong drawer, your game size is tiny. Double your amount of responsibility. Set some huge goals. Succeed by thinking much, much bigger.

8. Stop trying to solve the problem that is making you so serious. Certain types of problems solve themselves if you leave them alone. Your problem may be one of those.

9. Compare what you are doing to other careers. Imagine being a septic tank drainer or a tax collector.

10. Make everyone around you lighten up.

11. Look at bizarre solutions. What is the craziest way you could solve your problem? What solution, if it worked, would make you laugh out loud?

12. Act stupid for a minute. Let down your hair. Stop being so darn important for a while. Be a goof!




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A Hero Will Live Forever In Our Hearts

It was last Saturday, early in the morning. I heard the news. One of my friends son got killed in Afghanistan. Cpl. Michael D. Jankiewicz was killed at the age of 23 along with three others, when a U.S. Air Force Osprey crashed in Zabul Afghanistan. Michael was serving his fourth deployment in support of the War on Terror. He was currently serving as an Army Ranger, a member of the military's elite rapid-strike force that specializes in covert missions.

Could you guess where I first heard about the story from? I didn't hear it from my friend. I've came a across this tragedy in a Facebook fan page of our town Ramsey, where we all gather and be one great community. This great guy, so called Ramsey dude, leading a great page for our town. He's always on top of the news, he gathers us around our sorrows, problems, happiness, celebrations... I want to congratulate him for what he's been doing.
We gathered in Main Street this past Thursday to "Welcome Our Hero", nearly everyone along the route held tight to an American flag. “It’s extremely important for the family to know that, people loved their son and support what he has done” said Tom Egan, a Vietnam Veteran from VFW Post 850 in Glen Rock in an article last Thursday at "northjersey.com". It was so true, Michael's mother Serena told me that, she clearly remembers every person on the way. That made her so proud. That was at least we can do for the family.
As I was posting some updates on my Twitter account, I received so many responds from so many people all over the world. They cried for him, they prayed for him and the family. A heartfelt "Thank You", whoever joined our sorrow and became one with the family and showed a beautiful display of love and respect.

How to get ready for the week ahead?

Getting ready for the week :)
One of the best things that has helped me to keep focused on maintaining a better lifestyle is planning. On Sundays, like today, I like prepare a few things ahead of time for the week to come. For example, I revised all the work I need to accomplish during the week.

Anyone who is on a few social networking sites knows that it can sometimes be a little overwhelming. It can take up a lot of your time, and so you are thinking of ways to continue being on top of your social media life without forsaking all the other things that are important to you. So you should be prepared a head of time.

If you’re too tired keeping up with the real time options of tweeting, and you still want to “keep your timeline alive” throughout the day, there are so many really neat twitter schedulers lined up for you. Some of them ... HootSuite, Twuffer, Twaitter, SocialOomph.


I feel that preparing several things ahead on one day helps me make better choices throughout the rest of the week, and keeps me on track.

Go with the flow

I feel life is not treating me well lately, and it's only my fault. I always have trust in people. I always think that they're good and the love I gave; I'll get in return. It's not the reality. May be because of the economic problems we have lately. May be its my ignorance. People are using your love, your honesty, your friendship. They seem friendly, close until they got what they want. When I write this, it seems and sound harsh; but its true. So may be I have to take my guard and not to trust people in the first hand. May be I have to keep the distance. But I know for sure it'll effect my personality. Cause I need to trust my friends, I need to have faith in people. May be I have to go with the flow; what do you think?