Let's start at the beginning

I like to start with school. Why? It is the most significant part of my childhood. Let me start with a brief summary of things and I'll go through some school stories. A summary... Hmm... Let's see... Ok, for those who like to read traditional stories, you probably don't want to read my blog. I'm more of stream of consciousness writer. I have many ideas that pop in and then they lead to tangents and I go down that path. This is a great example of that. I was thinking of a summary.

When I think of a summary, my mind went to what is a summary... do I start geographically, or school sequentially, or random experiences. So let's go through a few of these... Geographically, I've been all over the U.S. but I like to say home is New Orleans, but I have lived in Florida, Washington, Georgia, New York, with some brief stints in Texas, Oklahoma, and California. I have realized the my life is really broken into 3 distinct sections so far. Childhood, Dancing/Acting -> Elementary -> Middle School. Then High School -> Military -> College/Early Career, And then Getting Sober -> Marriage -> Now. That's quite a breakdown right?

So how do I organize this collection of events, experiences, and excursions. I like alliteration when I can do it. :-) See, that is a tangent. Do I talk about getting started in Russian Character dancing at 7 and then doing Ballet.. and then some hip-hop years later... Or what about auditioning for Winthrop in Music Man with a natural lisp and having speech therapy classes once a week and Winthrop rehearsals at night... Or doing a Ford commercial, a cancer hospital commercial, or meeting my future wife at the age of 9. :-)

Then doing Tae-Kwon-Do as a child for a few years, being a competitive swimmer MUCH against my will initially, then enjoying it later on... Then doing Jujitsu (traditional, not Brazilian) for years, and then later switching to Brazilian and I loved it all. I'm not an athlete, if you watched me try to do a Go Ruck course, you'll know what I mean. However, I do enjoy exercising at times.

Let's see, then all my military stories... Basic Training at Ft. Sill... Desert Storm in Ft. Hood, and becoming a veteran for no apparent reason, but grateful for that.

Then my college experiences, having a great first semester, then becoming an RA and learning about drinking in college. Ah, New Orleans. And then becoming student body president. Graduating and beginning a drinking career, oh and a real job.

Then moving away from New Orleans to Atlanta and getting a job as a bartender and joining a pool league. I also had a SQL Developer job too, but the bartending one was way more interesting...

Or should I start when I got hired by Microsoft, as a contractor, and then a full-time employee for over 6 years. Going through startups, starting a consulting company for years, and then going back to corporate, moving to Atlanta, rising up to management, and landing my dream job in NYC.

What about my drinking stories, drinking a bottle of 151 or 27 rolling rocks in a night. Starting in Germany and waking up in France. Going out to lunch on a Wed and not going back until the next day. Oh, the stories. Sleeping under my car because I was too worried to drink and drive. Yay for me. LOL.

And then I could go on and on about my relationships... well, I guess I can't I didn't date for years and by the Grace of God, this one woman listened to me and helped me understand what love actually is, and married me. Even today, she is still the most amazing woman I have ever met.

Well, there is a lot of material for the blog, but then I'm starting to realize that I think I would rather give ideas and insight, and simply use these stories as they are relevant to the advice. I love helping others learn from my mistakes, experiences, etc...

Ok, more and more tangents. I'm going to keep trying to organize things... but why... let's be honest, I just like to babble.

Here we go... are you ready for this ride?