Annette Margaret

Hey 1999 Annette,

I guess I’m supposed to give you some kind of advice as a memoir, because, er, well I can’t help but see the advice is pretty pointless. Perhaps it’s something I can take through the next decade also?

Well, on with the show. Good afternoon, 9 year old Annette! Right now I’m pretty sure you clock in at a whopping 4′3″ (IF that), and from what I remember, you count the minutes until your math homeschool work is finally over so you can work on that next comic book page. After that, you’ll probably watch your favorite cartoon (Rugrats) or listen to some techno music. Great, you are a little bundle of imaginative, creative energy that enjoys a good story. Keep it up! That’s the only thing that will keep you ahead in the coming years.

Just about everything interests you. (Except maybe sports.) That’s not going to change. You’re just going to be interested in a lot more. Right now you’re in some kind of like, sci-fi/anime/science phase. Which is good and all but because of your beloved asthma, you’ll give up the “becoming an astronaut” dream in about five years.

In fact you’re going to explore quite a few different careers in the next ten years, some of them being:

Astronaut (As mentioned)
Politician
Writer (This one’s a keeper!)
Singer (This too!)
Secret Service Agent
Comic Book Writer
Musician (Pianist, more specifically. Keep up with this one.)
Guitarist (Don’t try, you have dainty pianist fingertips.)
Violinist (Again, the dainty pianist fingertips.)
Trumpet player (Well this time it’s your dainty lungs that will hinder you from this one!)
Graphic Designer
Photographer (This will help you later!)
Webpage geek (Don’t know what else to call this. This definitely will help you. You’ll discover website designing in about a year.)

I think there is more to add there. You were crazy, pretty much. ADHD, yes? (Thank God they weren’t medicating every crazy kid yet at your age!)

Oh yeah, about the musician thing… You took guitar lessons a year ago but it wasn’t quite a sure fit. You just didn’t connect the guitar too much, huh? It’s fine. The piano is more of your perfect fit. If I’m not mistaken, you started piano lessons either last year or this year. Keep up with it. It’s a pain, I know. Note reading doesn’t make any sense yet. Remember, for the treble it’s “Every Good Boy Does Fine”… And uh…. Well, you see, you’ll get to a point someday where you’ll even forget those reminders for the bass cleft. (I just did.) But you’ll still know the notes! PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!!! And try to get over that whole stage fright thing. No one cares if you hit a wrong note or two.

You’re on the computer a lot. And now you’re just discovering the internet. In fact, you’ve been using computers since you were four years old. GOOD. Computers are just starting to catch on, before you know it, everyones going to be using them for just about everything. Anyone who is familiar with a computer right now while it’s primitive will have the upper hand!

And God makes sense to you. Jesus makes sense to you. He’ll always make sense to you (Even when He doesnt). So don’t ever doubt (You never will, as far as I know). Just don’t try to be perfect. You’re going to drive yourself nuts about being perfect. You’re not supposed to be… Just really close to it, that’s all. Learn to embrace your perfectionist self8 here and there.

Enjoy your time with Grandma Peggy and Pappy. They will provide wonderful memories for you, and give great advice. How lucky you have been to have all four of your grandparents for most of your life! Friends will come and go, also, but you’ll find a lot of valuable ones out of unusual circumstances. Just don’t hope for any luck in the whole dating thing when you get older. (It’s just as well, you have a lot to accomplish right now!)

Gee. I mean, sometimes I feel like I didn’t do so much as my 9-year-old self, just living in my own little dream world half the time… But you know what, you were a cool kid. Spunky, but shy. Competitive, but a great loser. Mostly unflappable and determined. Cool. I know you think about your 2009 self a lot, like, how it’s going to be so cool to be an adult and all.

Being an adult… It’s interesting to say the least.

I really feel like after the New Year begins tonight, that I should write a blog entry giving advice to myself for the next decade! Because, quite frankly, this seems rather pointless. These ten years are gone. But they were wonderfully developing for me. (Go figure, they were those crazy pre-teen and teenage years!) Thankfully, God got me through mostly unscathed… Or wait, scathed, in the best ways possible.

I actually have some old journals from 1999. I’m going to have to dig that thing up and see just how different I am.

I’m excited to see what the next ten years have to offer! Until then… See you in 2010!

In the Mid Atlantic states, we always get a special treat every year around the end of October. It’s autumn foliage. It is the silver lining on the cloud of that big snow storm that comes billowing in as soon as October ends. I love warm colors, so it gets me very excited to see the lovely colors against the blue sky. Reds, oranges, yellows… So pleasing to the eye!

When my family and I went to Orlando this past August, we noticed how the trees are different, of course. The trees there don’t change, or lose their leaves. We thought that had to be great for you Floridians everywhere! You don’t see the trees look lifeless and barren. But my mom had made the comment, “The thing about our trees in Pennsylvania is that they’re more hardy!”

That’s true, it may not be pretty to see our dormant looking trees in winter… When everything looks so lifeless and dull, but when spring comes around, sure enough the trees come back to life… Maybe, looking even better than before. And when trees change colors in autumn, it becomes one of the most beautiful processes in nature.

God reminded me that the same is true for people. It would be nice (And probably comfortable) to be a vibrant palm tree in Florida, in the same sense it would be nice to have a life without hurtful changes… Always looking alive, beautiful and have everything under control. But the fact is, we wouldn’t be as strong. As humans, our lives should reflect more of the trees in the north. We should always be changing, growing, and shedding our old ways. As you can see, God makes it an even more beautiful process for His children than for trees. Just as those autumn leaves show their true colors through the process of moving into the hard winter times, humans show their true strength when faced with hardship and total dependence on God.

So, you summer lovers (I being one of them), remember the beautiful process of change, and dependence on God. It all brings its beautiful rewards!

Now this is slightly off topic but very on topic, I must share Nat King Cole singing “Autumn Leaves”. I’ve worked on this song before… I must dig it back out in honor of autumn. The lyrics to Autumn Leaves were originally written in French by Jacques Préver.

It’s come time that I finally get down to business… Quite literally. Business. Show business! That feels so cool to say, you know… Show biz… I imagine some Italian mobster from the 1950s with a cigar in his mouth, waving his hand around authoritatively from the directors chair when I say that. Which is a fond memory for me, considering I have a huge Italian (Actually… Sicilian) family on my moms’ side!

That was a bunny trail, but a fun illustration nonetheless. I’ve prayed about it, and thought about what I like to do, and what God has equipped me to do… And I feel He’s leading me into the arts. Of course, I’ve always been into it, but now it seems He’s specifically leading me into playing piano and acting. Oh, and writing. Because I always have something to say!

I really didn’t care much for playing piano when I first started taking lessons. It was such a chore, because I didn’t see the use for it! But somehow I was able to keep going and feel inspired by people like Rachmaninov, Chopin, Michael W. Smith and other nice pianists in their respective genres. But now it’s getting exciting! I did those competitions for the past two years, and now I have a job playing at a church. It’s been such a joy! Is it a lot of work? Yes, but that makes me appreciate the skills I build even more.

And acting? Oh, it’s just effortless, fun and never dull.

The tough part with choosing acting is, there are not a lot of opportunities to do it in the area I am at. But somehow God will make a way! I’ve played tons of different roles, and they’re always so different and fun. I’ve played Josephine March from Little Women, various characters from the book The Phantom Tollbooth, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz… The list goes on a bit. When you’re an actress, it’s like you have multiple personality disorder, but enjoy it. A lot! (You can quote me on that.)

And I don’t need to explain my love of writing! I love to tell stories, I love to write stories, I love to hear stories. Truth, fiction, in a book, in a magazine… It doesn’t matter. As long as it requires a good imagination, I’m there! I wrote my first story at the age of 4 and never came back from that place called “Creativity” ever since. Maybe I’ll share my first dabbling in writing with you someday.

And this all sounds fine and dandy, having an imagination the size of jupiter and a sixth sense for adventure… But oh, can it be done? Can it be successful? Can you do it without starving in a bad economy that’s already taxing its artists? People have told me “Oh, that’s nice, Annette… Playing piano, acting, writing… But you do realize you’d be broke! You need a back up job.”

Let me tell you something about crazy artists. They can’t have a backup job. You can’t separate a wild imagination and a passion for the arts from every day life. You can’t turn off ideas and ambition when you get up and go to work at the office all day staring at a fabricated gray cubicle and a computer screen. You can’t just ignore those ideas for the next big story, concerto or performance… Or that groundbreaking idea that can change your life could be gone forever and forgotten!

And so, there you go… Again I ask, can it be done? Good question. You and I are both going to find out in the years to come.

Oh, and a side note. I updated my About page a little bit.

The time is now. There is no better time. This is the moment. Take a deep breath, there’s no going back now.

Everything has a beginning, and I know I’m finding mine each and every day. On this particular day, I’m beginning my blog. It’s nothing too fancy, yet. This is where I’ll chronicle my life in a form that you’ll be interested in. I’ll share my opinions, my projects and whatever else I think you may find interesting.

My name is Annette Margaret Nagle. This is where my blog begins. The time is now. Yesterday has been taken away, and tomorrow is yet to be given. What God has given me is this moment. This exact moment effects every moment hereafter… And I hope I live in each one as I should.