…time to remind myself of where i came from
…born the third child of four …southern california, orange county …i have very few memories of that particular house as we moved away when i was three …actually i have only one that i can think of right now …the house is settled on top of a hill, above a freeway, last house on a cul-de-sac …my brother (9 years older), my cousin (12 years older?), and i (must have been 3 years old, just before we moved), outside at the edge of the hill, my cousin prodding a spider (which seemed to me to be huge, and verified last year with my cousin to be some sort of tarantula) with a stick …that’s it …not much huh? …my mother told me a story about while living there i had received my first tricycle, and how i subsequently scared the shit out of her by riding it right into the deep end of the pool …i still laugh each time i think of that story, it seems to portend the course that my life will take …jumping in to the deep end
…at three years of age, my family moved to texas, just outside dallas …this is where my younger sister is born, the only one of all four to not be “native” californians …i believe we were in texas for about three years also …(the easiest way to explain all the moving around is that my father was in sales, in a way a traveling salesman {he was gone quite a bit}, kept on changing jobs and moving us around) …not too many memories there either, or i am just blocking them out, or losing them …my first pair of “zips” sneakers, lost in a pile of sand somewhere …the family dog, fluffy, an old english sheep dog who would move around the country with us …now is where my time line starts to become fuzzy
…the next location we moved to would be chicago, illinois …my memories start to be come more clear here, though time seems to be lost …the house was built for my family …i remember not long after we moved in walking in the back yard bare foot, there was a scrap of two by four with a nail sticking out of it …did not exactly step on it as stub my big toe on the nail, it seemed to follow the toe’s bone up into my foot, though it couldn’t have been that deep …there was an intercom system throughout the house, my brother use to terrorize me through it by using a menacing laugh over it and scaring the crap out of me …the band rush, my brother listened to them all the time …snowmobiles …star wars …fire works …fishing with my brother for bullhead fish in the lake across the street …i really do not remember how long we lived there
…six months in connecticut next, or there about, not much to for me to remember …well, a little …living in a small community …the house we were living in was rented because the house my parents were having built wasn’t completed …hardwood floors in the rented house …my first experience with video games on my birthday, mostly was pinball, but i think i played pac-man …my father out of town, watching a family movie (heh, i think it was disney’s “mary poppins”, my younger sister loved that movie) with my sisters and mother, somehow i upset my mother (bad habit of mine), she grabbed for my wrist to scold me or something, but her nail gouged my wrist, i still have the scar, a constant reminder of what a little shit i can be …six months
…next stint was six years just outside of cleveland, ohio …remember the movie “a christmas story” with little ralphie and his red rider bb gun? …that elementary school where the kid stuck his tongue to the flag pole? …that would be identical to the elementary school that i attended from second grade through sixth then to junior high to start seventh …ok so there are a lot of memories from here …a crush on a girl …my first “girlfriend”, i will never forget the first time i kissed her, a year older than me and the older sister of a friend of mine …a birthday party where jimmy drank too much orange soda and vomited all over my parents leather couch …watching nightmare on elm street, going outside while my older sister and her friends watch it, sneaking up to window closest to them and pounding on it scaring the living daylights out of all of them …my brother having parties and starting my drinking off way to early …my sisters boyfriends contributing to my drinking with two liter bottles of sun country wine coolers …six years …i was twelve years old, towards the end of first semester of seventh grade, the first snow of the year falling, my older brother shows up, tells me that i need to take all the stuff out of my locker and turn all my books in to the school office, that we leave for california that afternoon …i knew that our house was on the market to be sold, i knew that we would be moving, no one ever told me when
…now, i’m going to go a bit slower, give a little more detail as here is where “i” begin
…back to california …just north outside of los angeles …memories galore …this is where i start to …to …to become who i am …start the foundation …i hate my parents for how they moved me away from everything i knew at the time, the first girlfriend, the good friends …now i am the “new” kid again …starting from square one …my first day at school …i am taller than just about everyone, including most of the teachers …other kids looking at me like …well …like i was sent back from high school, only i am just twelve years old …i am feeling lost …i am feeling rejected …i am not sure i like it here …i meet a couple people, make a few friends, a couple who are still around today (that fucking Gnome) …get in my first fist fight (the teacher that broke it up, one of the few taller than me, a big bear of a man, great teacher and coach, died of cancer two years later, i had forgot about him till i wrote this) …my first california crush …one of several, but what young boy does not have a lot of crushes? …i was a good student up until the move back to california …but, feeling like i did, i did not try hard …i started to have troubles with teachers …summer school …i do not think i had a real summer until between my freshman and sophomore years in high school …so, junior high goes by, and i’m now a freshman at high school
…freshmeat …i try to get a little more involved with school, so i decide to play football …i turn out to be pretty good, playing both offense and defense …well, half way through the season, at a home game, one of the few that my father actually attended, playing on the offense, a’m blocking this guy, and he kicks the out side of my knee …if you ever had a joint bend in a way it’s not supposed to, you understand what happened …torn cartilage (medial meniscus for you medical types) out for the rest of the season …never played again …to rehabilitate my knee, i started cycling …in those costal mountains it was quite fun …it became an obsession, see how long i could ride for, how far, how fast …i was still the build of a football lineman just cycling …well, i never really studied, i passed most of my classes, took summer school for the ones i did not …had a couple girlfriends, but thought i fell in love with one girl in particular …until our senior year, it was just me trying to get her attention …but i eventually did …did i really love her? …i thought i did …we’d talked of getting married
…so, not being the stellar student and thinking that no college would accept a caucasian slacker, i joined the military …thought that would be the best way for me to get an education and to provide a life for me and my girlfriend …after boot camp while home on leave, i bought a ring and proposed …she did say yes, but we said that it would be a year or two before we actually got married …cloud nine, right? …just wait …i go back to the base in orlando, florida where i’m going to school for my position training and start making headway on my studies, now, i still slacked, just not as much as in high school …half way through my second school, about six months after i proposed to my girlfriend, i am failing a class (not a good thing at this school), i find out that my grand father has just died, my father is in the hospital for quadruple bypass surgery, and my “fiance” is cheating on me …nice huh? …and being that it’s the military and i am in school, i am not permitted to go home on emergency leave …i call and break it off with my “fiance”, telling her to do what she wants with the ring …my father pulls through the surgery without any complications and has to quit smoking, though through all the stress, this is when i started smoking …i get my grades up and pass …not feeling like committing to anyone, i start to sleep around …i remember a four month period of time where i went home with just about any woman who would have me …i finish my second school and move on to idaho falls, idaho, new base, another school, and a new attitude …i work my ass off and did quite well …i get stationed basically where i wanted to …the pacific northwest …i don’t work as hard when i get to my station, but, i do not feel i slacked either …one of my close friends, Bozo the rockstar, moves up from california …we end up going to a bar in seattle to see a band play (No Doubt) …this is where i meet PunkyD, it wasn’t love at first sight, but we started seeing each other …jumping into the deep end again …five months later we were married …april 17, 1996
…going to stop there for now
…getting bored yet?
…too much information?
…this is me
…my story
