Welcome to my blog. I am not sure how you came to be here, but welcome. Let me introduce myself, my real self. We often change slightly depending on who we are with, what we are doing, or what perspective we want people to have of us. Even if not intentional people often see only one or two sides of us. They see us at work, or at home, or with friends, or at school, etc… yet we all are very multifaceted. I believe it is difficult to really know another unless one is with them extensively and had many deep discussions with them. My hope in this blog is I can show everyone the different sides of me. I am not with anyone, I am not anywhere. Here I can be myself. Welcome to me. Me is awesome, me is depressing, me is lonely, me is doing alright.

First of all I am a living oxymoron, a paradox of personality: a country boy in the big city, a city-slicker in the country, an antisocial socialite, a pragmatic romantic with a masochistic heart, a wise child in a man’s body, a doubting Thomas who is in constant wonder of God’s creations.

Background:

I was born big. I was 10 lbs and 12 ounces. It was a natural birth and the birthing process squeezed my head giving me a deflated cone shape head for a while. For this reason I have no pictures of me at all when I was a baby. I was born with an over-sized jaw (which I had operated on when I was a late teen, and a slightly long tongue. Maybe for this reason, or for that fact my auditory and verbal areas of my brain seem to be underdeveloped, I did not start speaking really till I was five. I spent two years in kindergarten, another seven in speech classes, and had my parents informed I was mentally challenged. (Though three years later I was reclassified as gifted).

My childhood was good. My family was dirt poor, but as a kid it really didn’t matter. We lived way out in the forest, and I either played outside or on a game console. We had horses, dogs, cats, birds, etc etc etc…. There was always something to do, and overall it was fun so not having many clothes, or sharing a small room with three other people didnt matter much. I learned a lot growing up, and while I did well in school (even took the SATs in 7th grade) it was the lessons at home that really made a difference in my life.

I got a scholarship to Clemson University where I decided to go. It was a big jump from living in the middle of nowhere, but looking back now even Clemson had a small town feel to it. Here I did well, worked two to three jobs as well as taking a full course load with a major in history/geography education with a minor in religion. This is when I first starting challenging myself. Trying to meet new people, (I am an extreme introvert with social anxiety issues). I made lifelong friends there.

After working for a short time in SC, I decided to go after a new challenge which led me to Phoenix. Here I worked at a great small charter school with inner city Hispanic students. I am not sure if I could ever beat my time working at that school. It really helped me to grow into myself. However nearly ten years I looked to challenge myself again, which has led me to teach in China. Here’s to the newest chapter in my life.