Originally Posted by
Josh
I am not a writer. So this is going to jump all over the place. Sorry in advance.
I was born in Bethesda Naval Hospital on December 11th 1978. The song playing on the radio when my parents took me home was "Dust in the Wind".
Home at the time was Bowie Maryland. I was an extremely bright, and happy child. My first memory was sitting on the floor of the kitchen, and tossing a pot lid across the room. My first words were "arf arf" at four months. I tought myself to read before my second birthday. I remember something about home schooling, I think my mom and some of her friends tried to start up a school of sorts (my mom was a teacher) I kind of remember having "visitors" to the "school" and things not going well. I entered Pointer Ridge Elementary for first grade. This is when things went downhill.
I didn't enjoy school, and began to dread going there. My parents decided I needed me some Jesus, or something, so they sent me to Holy Trinity Episcipal Day School at the start of second grade.
Bad move.
I was in nothing but trouble until I was expelled in third grade. This was around the time that I started playing Ice Hockey. I had played Baseball, and Soccer before this. Wrestled for a while too. Once I found hockey, that was it.
Back in Pointer Ridge. I was enrolled in Talented and Gifted classes because everyone thought I was some kind of child prodigy. I was there until we moved to Crofton Maryland 1991 at the start of middle school.
Middle school was worse than elementary school. I made friends pretty quickly (two of which I am still friends with to this day) but hated every second of being there. I got in verbal altercations with my teachers, was suspended a lot, and I stopped doing homework. I got in a fight with my friend Ryan (the drummer) and dropped him with the doom punch. :)
Eight grade was the year that I stoppped dreaming. The insomnia would come later.
The summer between eighth and ninth grade I went to Russia for three weeks. Not much happened there that I remember, but I met a really nice girl named Aleisha while on the trip. Turns out she was from Crofton too, to make a long story short we dated for a few years, I knocked her up, and her parents moved her to Wisconsin. I never saw her, or heard from her again.
I started my first band in tenth grade, think we were called "Fungus Amungus" or "Bubblehead" I forget. We had trash cans, and a shower stool for drums, and I had a bass that I ran through a stereo. We rocked. This was around the time that I first started getting into punk rock. This is also around the time that I really started getting into drugs.
School was still hell, but nothing too special was going on. In either 10th or 11th grade I found myself in a pop punk band called "Lemon Joy" yes... like the soap. We played a fair amount of shows, and recorded two albums which did pretty well. At the end of 12th grade the band broke up.
All throughout high school I had lots of stupid jobs. I think I worked at every fast food place imaginable. Walked out of every single one. I think I have quit one job correctly in my entire life. That was at the Sports Authority.
The summer between 10th and 11th grade I went to the beach at least four times a week with my friends Judy, Megan and Jay. I had some of the best times of my life, and I miss those three kids more than anything.
December 7th 1996 I stopped doing drugs. I was tired of it. I had taken hundreds of hits of acid, and probably smoked acres of pot, along with every other kind of drug imaginable. It was time to stop.
After graduating High School (with a 1.973 the cut off was 1.97 so I was pretty much at the bottom of my class) I enrolled in Frostburg State University. I got in based on my SAT scores, and my skill in photography. Hated every second of it. Ended up dropping almost all of my classes, and skipping the classes I had left. I was kicked out after two semesters.
Then I came home, met Liz, and we moved to Philly so I could go to the Art Institute up there. It was alright for a bit. Then I realized I was dirt poor, living in a converted washroom, and in a city that I hated. I dropped out after two semesters and came back to MD.
I borrowed some money from my parents and bought a house, back in Crofton. Went to a few schools. Graduated from Omega Studios as a Pro Recording Engineer, and a Pro MIDI Engineer. Got my MCSE and A+ certifications (useless!) from Johns Hopkins. Started taking classes at Community College, and dropped out. Bounced around from weird job to weirder job. (Selling vaccume cleaners door to door... ouch) until I got a "temporary seasonal position" at Funcoland. A few months later I was promoted to assistant manager at Babbages. A few months later I was a Store Manager. A few months later I was unemployed. But we've been over this Babbages crap before... its still on the boards somewhere, in case you missed it.
After this I got a job with Korly making smoothies for the people. I think I worked at an arcade around this time too. Eventually I moved out of my house to go to Baltimore and have a 3 month weekend with some friends. I came back and about one year later my girl moved out and here I am. Back on the drugs, back on the drink, and in a large empty house by myself.
Today I am 25. I am unemployed. I hate my life, and I drink too much.
P.S. I'm pretty sure I'm missing a year or two in here somewhere, and I know I've left out a lot of things. Most of those things, like the bands, and the Texas rockstar thing are still on the boards if you're interested.
