I created this so I could post on a blog for my good friend and co-worker, KC Haywood, but I might as well use it I suppose.
Here goes. No bullshit.
I've been laying around the house for my two days off with a bum knee. It's swollen to about the size of a baseball, and standing on it all day at work DEFINITELY hasn't been helping any. I'm a bike mechanic, a bicycle polo player, WoW junkie, internet junkie, etc. I live with my girlfriend in a housing co-operative on the West Side (technically) of Chicago. I have a pretty damn decent life really. I have a job that I love, a girlfriend I love, more bikes than I REALLY need, a semi-functional computer, and a pretty damn nice place to live. I tend to be somewhat selfish with my time, doing what I want rather than what might be most important, but I'm working more towards the other end of the spectrum a lot more lately (past two days not included, but I'm gimpy, so I have.... fuckit, no bullshit).
A little over four years ago (May 1st, 2004) I cut about 3/8 of an inch off the end of my right index finger in a bike chain. I had been working nights at Office Max (again) and my life was pretty much terrible. I didn't make much money, I didn't get to see my friends much at all, my relationship was not that good, my housing situation was.... interesting, it was just not such a good time in my life. So, here's me, you see, having a kinda shitty life, destined for a whole lot of nothing, kinda like my dad, and one day, something terrible happens. Kinda.
So, after I get back from the hospital the second time, (they had to cut the bone down to close my finger, it was gnarly) I had to call Office Max and tell them I needed to take some medical leave, which they understood. My girlfriend, Sarah, spent a LOT of time with me, helping me with my finger (I didn't want to look at it, think about it, etc) and as time went on, we got more serious. I moved in with her. I had LOTS of spare time, since I wasn't working, but no money, so I couldn't waste my time at the movies or whatever, so instead I started to volunteer all the time at the Working Bikes Co-operative. They hired me on as one of the first three employees. A short while later, I was hired by Rapid Transit Cycleshop making shit money doing crappy work and learning SO MUCH. In the past four years Sarah and I have gotten more and more serious, my mechanical skills have gotten TONS better, and I've grown up a LOT, in large part due to my job, and I have my finger shortening to thank for it. I'm now damn good at my job, I have respect that I've earned, and I have plans for the future for basically the first time ever. Somewhere in there I misplaced my faith in God(where DID I put that?) and became agnostic, which also managed to spread to my views on politics, although I feel more strongly about politics than I do religion (I HATE politics).
So. Here we are. MY blog. That's who I am, or at least the bits that are easy to sum up.
