All her dreams are made of strawberry lemonade . . .

Autobiography.

I had to type this out for one of my classes.. and hey, what the hell, I thought I might as well post it up on my blog too. Now you can read all the nitty gritty about me. Cheers!! :))))


P.S. Don't forget to go VOTE today!!!!


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Autobiography for Giuseppina

Born: Friday, September 15th, 1978

Sun sign: Virgo

Birth City: Toronto, CANADA




Giuseppina was born the third out of four girls from lovely parents Gaetano and Teresa. Both parents were born and raised in a very small town in Sicily, which is in the south of Italy. They came to Canada 30 years ago with their first daughter Carolina, who was already nearly 3 years old. Upon arrival to Canada, they didn’t waste much time and shortly after had Francesca, Giuseppina and Luisa. She is very close with her sisters and all four of them are not only siblings but are also very close friends.

Giuseppina was a quiet little girl growing up. Usually keeping to herself and creating her own stories and scenarios with her dolls and making up plays and musicals with her friend for her family to see. She attended Catholic school until she graduated high school in 1996. She then went to a public school to get credits in courses that were prerequisites for college but were not offered at her school. Along with those much needed computer courses, she also took many personal interest courses such as fashion arts, digital photography and Spanish.

After she finished high school, she thought she would take some time off before continuing her education and started working full time as a medical secretary. After some time, she started taking part time courses in college towards her computer programming diploma. In 2000, she started working as a clinical research assistant for Women’s College Hospital affiliated with University of Toronto. She worked there for nearly 6 years, taking on many projects in hopes to advance. When it became apparent to her that they had no intentions of letting her advance to her desired position, Giuseppina had a choice to make. She could either stay and accept that, find another job, or quit her job and go back to school full time. She decided to quit her job and go back to school, a hard decision as her parents were not supportive of this. Having given up on the computers route she had taken a few years back, she decided to go to university and remain in the health studies field as it is where she has mainly worked for the most part. It is also the area that most interests her and what she would like to seek a career in.

School was going fine for Giuseppina and she was quite content to be attending lectures and doing assignments, regardless of the age gap between herself and her classmates. For the most part, many of her school friends had no idea she was a “mature” student and thought she was the same age as them so, she had no problems fitting in. Everything was grand until last year.

In September of 2007, Giuseppina became very ill. She was off school for nearly three months and was in and out of hospitals as they tried to diagnose her condition. They tested her for Meningitis, Rheumatic Fever, Limes Disease, West Nile Virus and a whole slew of other things. The virus was so debilitating that she was forced to stay in bed for the most part because her limbs were in so much pain and she had little or no use of them. Pain was so severe that medication did not help and sleep would not come at all. Eventually, the virus seemed to have disappeared on its own. Due to the lengthy time off school, she had to drop out for that school year, a decision that was very upsetting for her but she felt she had no other choice. Later on, some of the underlying symptoms persisted on and off. Through continuous testing with her doctor and researching on her own, an answer was finally found. Early this summer, Giuseppina was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. There was very little known on this condition to herself and surprisingly, to her doctor. She began to research it extensively and looked into ways that can help her cope with it.

In the fall, Giuseppina once again began another new school year at York University. This time around, it is a more difficult feet. With symptoms of the condition persisting, it is difficult to keep up with her courses.. The main symptoms that make school and everyday life difficult for her are the extreme fatigue and low energy levels, the low concentration and poor memory retention – also known as fibro fog, as well as the other moments known as “fibro-flares” when you go through periods of time, some lengthier than others, where the pain persists and becomes burdensome. Thankfully, it is not all the time. However, she refuses to be discouraged and will continue to forge on ahead and complete her studies and receive her degree.

Giuseppina is a very warm individual who cares deeply for her family and her friends and treats them with utmost respect. Her love for animals runs deep and she has recently become a vegetarian after witnessing how horribly animals were being treated. She is barely ever serious with friends and loves to have fun, laugh and make jokes. Moments are to be enjoyed and socializing with friends and family should always be important in everyone’s life. Being honest and true are of utmost importance to her and she would go to the ends of the earth to help out a friend in need. Her kindness and generosity are recognized by her true friends and her need for maintaining a peaceful environment seems to be a never-ending quest.

She really hopes to change the world, or at least add something brilliant to it. There is far too much good energy inside of her and she will not stop until she has made a difference to any, if not all, persons that she comes across in her lifetime.


The following URL is a brief slideshow put together with photos of various important and fun times in her life:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM8UUn1RVto

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