—- onecrystalj was recently updated and is currently undergoing more updating —-
onecrystalj is a multifaceted blog that shares the many thoughts of a writer and musician.
from theology to travel and from a dreamlog to music criticism and reviews, it is all an illustration of what drives me personally and intellectually.
Hey!
I’ve entered a new remix for an illustration here entitled “Gardening”.
Click the heart!
—Also check out my hitRECorderly Cool Summer Vynl!
Many of my dreams really stick with me. One of those is a dream that I had a few years ago where I was in my grandmother’s house, the lights dim. There was a bed in the living room and a television displaying static picture sat where the usual upright piano sat.
I got up from the bed and went…
Hey!
For the past year I’ve been a contributing writer for hitRECord. Check out my new tiny story for hitRECord, “Anonymous” here (for the Tiny Stories Volume 2):
http://www.hitrecord.org/users/crystal.
Better than that, if you are collaborator / fellow contributor with hitRECord, please amp the heart rate for “Anonymous”!
crystal.
READY FOR LIFT-OFF
First, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) seems really excited for those new body scanners. I am sure that a less revealing and criminalizing way can be used to check the common person. It is the type of machine that should be used on people who do not pass initial screening. Furthermore, it actually takes a few seconds longer than the previous process, as you do aerobics in the machine, then wait as one or two TSA personnel block your path while waiting to view your body (scan). I had heard a little while back that there would be such body scanners being placed in airports around the world, but I thought that it was a joke. I just laughed at how odd this was and couldn’t wait to get on the plane for my fourth or fifth flight ever— and the longest at more than an hour and a half.
My hopes were set high for a very interesting ride.
SHADOW WING: THE RIDE
And so it was…What can I say…?
snow-capped mountains…deep valleys…crop circles…canyons…desert wilderness…and forests.
Aside from the lower altitude over Yosemite, we were obviously very high at other points during the plane ride, so seeing the mountains so closely, as if they were just a few feet away, called to mind the earlier lift-off as the buildings and cars (as well as the people they contained) became tinier than the flecks of frost on the window.
To who or what do we owe the credit for such amazing natural architecture? I wittingly asked myself this question during periodic naps.
And how can we place prices and taxes on things that are already priceless, and simply to be enjoyed and maintained by us? Just sporadic dream-thoughts of utopia. I understand: trust is earned. Hint.
Above the clouds I cannot help but have such questions, as well as to call into question every issue, contention, and warfare when there is something much more substantial and valuable.
Maybe it was the lack of sleep the previous night while packing…
-crystal
©onecrystalj.
the past couple of weeks have been frustrating.
there is some information that I have yet to see. however, I will never give up on this search, as this problem would urge me to do. i was recently thinking, I do not recall ever giving up on anything. ever quitting anything. I’ve wanted to a couple of times! but, I’ve always continued.
I have a good plan of action which I will not disclose. you will just see the results soon in another update. I will say that what I know so far has already been interesting and will be just enough to remain in this search.
crystal.
FAMILY SEARCH #2:
The actual news is that I have finally found information on my grandfather’s family! My mother’s father’s family was a mystery, mostly due to their last name.
There were several last names. I knew the family name as Monuel, yet grew up hearing that there were other last names, due “simply” to misspellings and mispronunciations. Two that I were aware of was the name Mongun and Mongen, pronounced both as they appear and as mun-geon. While searching for Monuel, I received brick wall after brick wall, only finding a couple of recent records on my granddad (grandfather, granddad…I’ll use these interchangeably). The recent records did not help at all in finding his parents and siblings. What I discovered is that Monuel is not the original name, or rather, original spelling of his last name! It was a very close spelling to what his real last name is— Manuel.
Let me back up a bit. This finding did not turn up in the search results as a related or close spelling. After falling asleep thinking about what my next step should be, the thought came to me to go ahead and search for the last name Mongun as well. The next day, I still did not have much extra information to go on other than my grandfather’s first name (which I was prepared at this point in my general search to expect different spellings or nicknames there as well). I remembered meeting one of his brothers at a funeral who looked just like him! Excitement blocked out the memory of his name.
I contacted my dad for more information, which helped out a lot! He was able to give me the name of the brother we met and that he had a sister!
I searched only for the last name Mongun (no first name) once more clicking on every result that remotely resembled my grandfather and/or his brothers. I was on about the second or third page, edging up to the computer screen my concentration was fixed on a record which bore a slightly different first-name spelling of my grandfather’s next to the last name Mangan. Yes, you read correctly.
There I recognized the names not only of him, but of his brothers. There were also more siblings on the list aside from the one sister. Mangan. That was new to me.
Other spellings of Monuel I met along the way aside from Mangan were Mungen, Mumgon, again Manuel, and finally Mannell. By this point I had pulled up records of my great great grandfather (his grandfather on his dad’s side). It was he who bore the name Manuel.
By this discovery, I realized why he changed his last name to Monuel— it was to at the very least resemble his father’s real name, (And perhaps with the numerous differences one letter did not matter?) Others retained the various other spellings, including Manuel. To my present knowledge, he was the only one with the last name Monuel.
In addition, I was able to travel back a couple of generations in his mother’s family as well due to linked records. Her maiden name was Monroe. Both of his parents also have roots in Georgia and South Carolina. The journey continues.
This branch of my search has been very rewarding because I do not remember meeting my grandfather (this grandfather, to be exact—although very young, I remember meeting my father’s father) who passed two years after I was born (my other grandfather just a year later). I have heard stories about him as a faithful church Deacon, a hard worker on the railroad for his family, who lived a life of class, and desired the best of everything for he and his family. As always, I wanted to know more still.
-crystal
©onecrystalj.
