Past, Present and Future

Past, Present and Future

           

Summing up my past in one paragraph is like trying to put together the different colors of a Rubik’s Cube toy in less than five minutes, nearly impossible but worth trying. So I begin with growing up in Southern California, mostly on the beaches of Huntington Beach, sounds absolutely amazing right! However, unfortunately when things seem too good to be true they usually are. I grew up in a separated family, my father an aerospace engineer, being super strong minded and not willing to settle, he divorced my birth mother and took full custody of his two boys. Leaving myself 4 years old and my younger brother 1 year old, to start fresh with a step mother he soon remarried in less than a year. This relationship again was a nightmare to say the least, resulting in a divorce when we were 14 years and 11 years old. Between this time many  fiancés came and went, before eventually my father finally met the best woman ever, whom I consider my only actual real mother and to this date he’s still married to; actually they just celebrated their 15 year anniversary thank god!

Sports were definitely the main focus of our lives; we all dabbled into everything from baseball, tennis, volleyball, surfing and skateboarding, but mostly particularly baseball. I played 10 years as a catcher and my brother was a prodigy pitcher to say the least, until injuries took both of us out of what we loved most. I suffered knee problems and my brother suffered a major surfing accident which left him with a broken neck and partial paralysis to this day. He is truly my idol and mentor, proving not to ever give up in life even when things don’t go your way. He turned his life around living in Colorado working as a computer aided drafter. He has now been married for 15 years and has three intelligent, amazing and unbelievably talented children!

My past working situations began young at 16 with fast food, clothing retail and even a family owned pet store management job which was like a vacation rather than a job. Through these younger years I experimented with drugs and alcohol so much resulting in an unbelievable epiphany, if I didn’t stop immediately I would die quickly. Ironically a coma of two weeks at 21 years old is what it took for me to get clean of everything, a blessing in disguise the doctors said and I truly believe. As of April 21^st 2012, no alcohol, smoking or drugs for last 15 years now! After this breakthrough of new life, I was offered by my father his help to keep me on track. I entered the automotive sales industry with Lexus, Toyota and Saturn; staying there for 7 years making $65,000-$80,000 a year without a college degree! However, then 911 took place, which changed everything forever, you couldn’t give a car away. I immediately joined the Navy for a career change and to contribute to the fight on terror. My first 3 years I served in the Navy as a Weapons Ordinance man aboard an Aircraft Carrier and then I changed rates to become a construction builder and combat trainer with the Seabee Construction Force for last 7 years here in Port Hueneme.  

            My present situation has been very bitter for me to say the least! I was recently told by the Military that my rating or job is overmanned and they have to let people go from full time active service. However, even though I had a perfect career and did nothing wrong throughout my service, they said they could not discriminate and have to get rid of both the good and the bad? Fortunately, I was offered the Selective Reserves, which I took, to keep my medical insurance and full retirement going, but this blow to my job security and my future was mind-blowing and extremely hard to grasp. I would have never thought the Military was in the same situation as the civilian workforce, wow was I ever blindsided. This projected me to suck up my fate and use my GI Bill, which I’m choosing to earn a degree in Business Management. Since, all I know is the automotive industry and the construction field for the last 17 years, unfortunately everyone knows how both those job fields are in turmoil; thus this is why I need to do something different career wise.

Currently, I am just trying to stay focused on getting and keeping my great grades up during all this chaos, which my GPA is at a 3.5 with 52 units. Another major knockout blow to this whole present situation is my relationship of 7 years with my wife just came to a screeching halt. We both had agreed on a mutual divorce as of 6 months ago and now it is completely finalized. It seems I am following my father’s footsteps ironically! Furthermore, thank God I’m not putting any children of my own through this drama right? I currently live with a chill ex-marine / musician in a 2 bedroom 2 bath condo here in Port Hueneme. Things are going as smooth as they can while being single and I am looking forward to the future! My passion is golf now and my hobbies include; mountain biking, poker, getting massages, going out to eat and doing homework yes homework! All these activities definitely fill the days and nights quite well.

            As for the plans in my future what I see is something gratifying and worthwhile. My goals are to get into the golf industry with my Business Management degree and do something in marketing, tournament directing, teaching or even company industry sales. What I do know I want to do is, “something” in the golf field and I will be happy I think doing so since it is my passion. In the mean time, my immediate future plans are to just stay positive, healthy, relaxed and keep telling myself somehow things will work out………..