A quick first post to introduce myself to the Steemit Community!
A new year and a new venture are beginning for me here. Though I joined the community around Christmas I've been very sick with pneumonia and haven't managed to introduce myself yet. Well, I'm finally feeling a bit bitter, so here goes...
The short list goes something like this:
- 3 of my 4 grandparents and my father were military officers.
- Two of my best friends had fathers that worked for the FBI.
- I am a gay, Christian, republican. (An oxymoron by today's standards, to be sure.)
- Was a runaway who was on the streets and in runaway shelters.
- When I came out to my father at 16 I was committed for 3 months.
- I was in a cult for 10 years, lived with the Amish and taught school in a log cabin school house teaching 27 students, first through twelfth grade. (Yes, it had a wood-burning stove and outhouses.)
- I play guitar and drums and write songs, poetry, and prose.
- I currently live on a ranchette (12 acres in Texas) where I am learning to garden and live the homestead-ish lifestyle with my partner of 14 years.
- We have 2 grown sons who are more than a disappointment to us both.
- My mother is bi-polar. My sister is words-unspeakable.
- My father is finally in the picture.
- I love photography, music and writing, and hope to share that with the Steemit community.
- I have been involved in printing for more than 30 years, graphic design, web design and marketing.
- I'm a bit of a geek and pretty cerebral, to say the least, but with a burning passion brewing under the surface that sometimes erupts without much warning.
- I love books on psychology and self improvement and bits and scatterings of a good many things.
- I've been described as a geek with a personality...
- I am a Pisces, Year of the Goat, element Fire and a Tuesday's Child
When I was on the street at 16 my girlfriend got pregnant and we desperately needed a place to stay and a way to get our lives together. The kids at school would pass us around when parents were out of town so we could come and take showers and sleep indoors. One kid let our "network" know his mother would be out of town and we went to spend the night.
Unbeknownst to us his mother had changed her plans at the last minute and was home when we got there. He came clean and told her the whole story. She (thankfully) let us spend the night and long story short she let us stay until the baby was born, provided we got jobs and paid $30 a month to stay there.
The year was 1983, the year of the foodcourt! We both got jobs the next day in the food court.
I was hired at a potato place called Tater Junction. All we served were baked potatoes, potato skins, salads and dessert. I got two raises after my first day of work! And within 3 months I was the manager - at 17. Something I've always been very proud of.
I handled everything: ordering produce, hiring, firing, training, banking. It was a lot of power for a 17 year old.
When I was 19 I became a Christian. It was 1986 and computers were really starting to take off, in the business world that is.
I got a new job working for the Texas Water Utilities Association as a database clerk. DBase was the data format I used at the time on our PC at work. We also used a Trash 80 for typesetting.
We hosted all the Continuing Education Classes for the Water Workers for the State of Texas. That's how I got into print.
At the time a computer couldn't render an image, only graphed astericks. (Anyone remember those?) I used an old Trash 80 computer to typeset and then waxed and pasted our copy on sheets of paper for layout.
Man things have come a long way in this industry since the days of hand cutting color separations and half tone images! In fact, this is a dying industry due to desktop publishing and pdfs. But, what are you going to do?
I've worked in many applications of the art from political consultants to newspapers, yellow pages, magazines, books and now web design.
I've always had a bit of an entrepreneurial mindset and so dabble with making a living online.
I've taught myself all of these skills, including SEO, CSS, HTML and the like. I enjoy the work, but would love to do something more fulfilling. At this time I have not yet decided what that might be.
But, having turned 50 this last year, I guess it's time to get myself in gear and finally decide what I want to be when I grow up. I think I would like to get into public speaking. We'll see.
Loved reading this :) You have a wonderful relaxed style of writing. Caught you via your whistling anecdote and wanted to know more. You've had an eventful life for sure, and at 50 still my very much younger sister, so plenty room to grow and shine even brighter.
I think something in your writing reminds me of Anne Tyler, whose books I used to devour one after the other at the library. They say we all have a book in us and I would love to read yours.
You have a new follower and I will watch your progress with great interest. I haven't got round to introducing myself yet - still trying to get my head around how this platform works! A pleasure to meet you x
Such nice comments. Thank you. I will look up Anne Tyler and see what she has to say! I am also just learning this platform. If you enjoyed the Whistling anecdote I will be writing more on the subject soon. Nice to meet you too!
My favourite of hers was based in a restaurant - maybe Joshuas Restaurant or something like that! I look forward to your follow up x