Now out of school, and no intention of going back to school anytime soon, I decided to face the world. I was young, knew it all, and was ready to share all this wealth of knowledge without reservation to anyone who would listen. You could imagine my surprise when I found others who knew it all as well, but were much older and opinionated.
I stepped out into the workplace to become free of the clutches of my mom. So I started working at L.A.X. as a fueler for Northwest Orient, Southwest and several other airlines that Mercury Air Group serviced. That job lasted about a year before I fell asleep on the satellite and woke up to the call for fuel. I quickly started my Hydro-Cart and without getting my bearing, I pulled out with a sharp turn that ended up disastrous. Puncturing my sump tank, (the place where overflow fuel is stored) on the trailer that I parked next to, I now had a hazmat issue on one of the largest airports in the USA.
That didn't get me fired, but it put me on the hotlist and any infraction of policy waould now be punishable by termination. And so it was that I had started hanging out with a co-worker who liked to party. We would go out to the bars and play pool. We had great fun drinking and being stupid all night long with work only a few hours away. Until one morning, I just didn't wake up to the alarm. However, the phone was nice and loud and got a rise out of me in profund ways. Knowing I had totally screwed up, I decided not to pick up the phone and let it go to the answering machine where I listened to my now ex-employer tell me when my termination check would be available for pick-up.
I would then work for Guitar Center selling accessories and guitars in Redondo Beach and only be there for 6 months before I left for my ultimate challenge... The Marine Corps. Yes, I too would follow in my fathers footsteps and defend my country from enemies, ummm foreign and domestic? I must say that I was apprehensive about the causes my government took on around the world. As if I should wear a UN patch and police the world. Of coarse I would refuse to wear that or any other patch from any other nation or organization. I declared that I wouldn't fight for NATO or the UN and that, like my forefathers, I would fight for my homeland and defend her everyday in everyway necessary. The question was, is there anything necessary if it requires us to overthrow other nations and set up puppet dictators for our benefit? I couldn't bring myself to that conclusion.
Reviving my Christian walk, I left the Marine Corps with a Seperation on my DD-214 and at least I didn't get a dishonorable discharge. I'm most definately not afraid of standing up for what I believe to be right and even to this day, I still will. However, being 40 gives me a little more experience than I had back then. I have leared to be concise with my intelligence before starting a debate or standing up for what I believe. I realize that, if I am to be right, I must learn to listen and defend the true issues rather than the drivel people will sling during an arguement.
With all that behind me now, I found myself getting back into the church and even playing music for my church. I made great headway in that I was soon asked to lead the musical portion of the service on special occasions and eventually offered a position in the ministry. I fought long and hard with my Christianity and it definately had it's ups and downs. The oh so many times I have stumbled and returned, the hurt I have caused and pain I have suffered. It was never worth it to give up when the chips were down. I knew that I was being tried by God and I fell. But thankfully, He never gave up on me. He never quit and He never will. All I need to do is press on and keep fighting this fight.
Well life pressed on and I with it. Having been jailed in Mexico for having a surf-board, or being white, no-one really is sure what happened there; married to a model who was published in 16 magazine several years prior, divorced, and remarried. I had now faced a huge chunk of life that I had never anticipated. I was in love and kicked to the curb. Not just once, but twice. I didn't want a third time, but I am a man who gets lonely and needs that companionship.
In November 2001, I would sell everything I had, other than what I could carry, and move to Colorado. Not that I had intended to move there, but in stopping there to visit a friend, I fell in love with the place. I got a great job, a really great apartment, new church and friends to boot. I believed I was set. It felt like I had come home.
to be continued...
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Part One - Introduction
I named him after my father, it was all I could do to show him that I knew he did all he knew how. Charles Joseph was his name and he was my pride and joy. Born in December 2002 without breath and a stopped heart, but still they revived him with no ill effects to his nervous system. I beleived it was due to all the drugs they gave her prior to his birth, but I'm not a doctor and have no way of proving that point. But let's go back in time a bit. Where did my problems start really?
Psychologists might say that due to the fact that at 9 years old my parents divorced, I would be doomed to this life that I now lead. I doubt it. Or you might even say that, since I had no real role model, I had to learn morals from peers and school mates. Now, I do believe that environment is a great influence on a persons upbringing and in turn has a great impact on their character. So, there I was in High School, hanging out with the stoners, partyers and the wretched portion of the earth.
By the time I was 16, I had run away from home twice, had sexual relations, been involved in Marijuana, Mushrooms, uppers, and downers, not to mention all that stinking alcohol and tobacco. I was doing poorly in school and almost doomed to utter destruction. My grades could have set me back a year when I was coming into my Junior year, but somehow I skated by. And then I found Jesus, or in all reality, He found me. A new fire and family was developing in my life and all that I was, now suddenly changed. I quit smoking, drinking, getting high and staying out till all hours of the night. I had a Bible with me wherever I went and no-one would stop me from knowing all that was in it.
On one occasion, I was in class and a teacher saw me reading my Bible rather than paying attention to what they were teaching. She approached me with great resolve and demanded that I should put my Bible away or she would take it from me and not return it til the end of the year. In response, I muster up all my determination and respond, "if you lay one hand on this Bible, God will strike you down." That teacher never again bothered me and I continued to study.
In fact, I somehow got all C's and D's passing into the 12th grade. I really think that my teacher just didn't want to see me another year and passed me to get rid of me. Which is all fine with me. My history teacher would assign maps to color and stupid things like that anyway, so what I have learned about history came from library books anyway.
You could say, I am self-educated, at least to a great degree. My teachers have been authors who studied intently to write these wonderful books. People like Shelby Foote or Charles C. Savage. I am somewhat a history nut and am always on the look for more.
After my junior year was completed, mom was transferred to Torrance, Ca as the company she worked for was closing offices in our area. And so it was that my senior year was spent with total strangers. I felt like a freshman all over again, coming into a school where I knew no-one and no-one knew me. But I stood strong, and I pressed on making friends in the Christian community and eventually becoming the President of the New Life Club on the Torrance High campus.
Torrance High was a good opportunity for me. I had been studying the Bible now for just under a year, feeling a bit enlightened and so I took Public Speaking, Drama, and Psychology classes where I would get the chance to express my beliefs to a captive audience. And that I did. My performances drew loads of attention to me, much of which I didn't like, but some that I did.like. And for my entire Senior year, I applied myself to my classes, I studied the Bible, became an accomplished drummer and started playing guitar. But graduation left me in a world I didn't know, nor was I prepared to face it.
to be continued....
Psychologists might say that due to the fact that at 9 years old my parents divorced, I would be doomed to this life that I now lead. I doubt it. Or you might even say that, since I had no real role model, I had to learn morals from peers and school mates. Now, I do believe that environment is a great influence on a persons upbringing and in turn has a great impact on their character. So, there I was in High School, hanging out with the stoners, partyers and the wretched portion of the earth.
By the time I was 16, I had run away from home twice, had sexual relations, been involved in Marijuana, Mushrooms, uppers, and downers, not to mention all that stinking alcohol and tobacco. I was doing poorly in school and almost doomed to utter destruction. My grades could have set me back a year when I was coming into my Junior year, but somehow I skated by. And then I found Jesus, or in all reality, He found me. A new fire and family was developing in my life and all that I was, now suddenly changed. I quit smoking, drinking, getting high and staying out till all hours of the night. I had a Bible with me wherever I went and no-one would stop me from knowing all that was in it.
On one occasion, I was in class and a teacher saw me reading my Bible rather than paying attention to what they were teaching. She approached me with great resolve and demanded that I should put my Bible away or she would take it from me and not return it til the end of the year. In response, I muster up all my determination and respond, "if you lay one hand on this Bible, God will strike you down." That teacher never again bothered me and I continued to study.
In fact, I somehow got all C's and D's passing into the 12th grade. I really think that my teacher just didn't want to see me another year and passed me to get rid of me. Which is all fine with me. My history teacher would assign maps to color and stupid things like that anyway, so what I have learned about history came from library books anyway.
You could say, I am self-educated, at least to a great degree. My teachers have been authors who studied intently to write these wonderful books. People like Shelby Foote or Charles C. Savage. I am somewhat a history nut and am always on the look for more.
After my junior year was completed, mom was transferred to Torrance, Ca as the company she worked for was closing offices in our area. And so it was that my senior year was spent with total strangers. I felt like a freshman all over again, coming into a school where I knew no-one and no-one knew me. But I stood strong, and I pressed on making friends in the Christian community and eventually becoming the President of the New Life Club on the Torrance High campus.
Torrance High was a good opportunity for me. I had been studying the Bible now for just under a year, feeling a bit enlightened and so I took Public Speaking, Drama, and Psychology classes where I would get the chance to express my beliefs to a captive audience. And that I did. My performances drew loads of attention to me, much of which I didn't like, but some that I did.like. And for my entire Senior year, I applied myself to my classes, I studied the Bible, became an accomplished drummer and started playing guitar. But graduation left me in a world I didn't know, nor was I prepared to face it.
to be continued....
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