Member Biography/Profile thread

[Crunch]

Can I also just add that you'll never get such a long post from me again. EVER.

 

[Airframes]

Nice one Crunch!
Takes a bit of guts to tell it how it is. Maybe I'll get around to posting my bit someday.
Terry.

 

[Matt308]

Well done Crunch.

 

[Njaco]

Good job!

 

[Clave]

Here's mine:

Nothing much happened, then I ended up here...

 

[Matt308]

Better than...

I had everything. And then I ended up here.

So quitcher bitchin.

 

[lesofprimus]

Crunch, interesting Bio man... I feel for u and what happened with ur daughter early on... Being in the Navy as I was, being overseas and spreading goodwill across the European and African continents, I missed out on alot of my son's early years, years that I would have liked to cherish...

But u can make those up... My son is now 21 and works with me everyday...

Thanks for posting and opening urself up...

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Sorry to hear about the hell you had to go through with the ex and your daughter.

 

[seesul]

That's pretty much what I've learned over the years. It can be rough, I miss out on stuff, but I have great friends and family, and many more here now.

And in regards to your somebody's always worse off statement: That's also very true. I can walk, I can talk, I can think. My mind is unaffected, and I can still do a lot despite my issues.

You got my respect, Catch!

 

[seesul]

Can I also just add that you'll never get such a long post from me again. EVER.

Hey Crunch, pretty long, interesting and bit sad story from a guy born 10 years earlier than me...you got my full respect for opening your heart... I´m starting to realize how lucky I´m...so far...
Head up my friend and I keep my fingers crossed...I´m sure you´ll find a right girl one day, I´m sure...

 

[Screaming Eagle]

catch and crunch:

 

[109ROAMING]

Man reading these really does make me think about how lucky I am

Quick one for me, well that's the plan

Born in 1992 have one older brother , plane fanatic , future pilot ,currently getting rather good at photography of planes(mostly)

3 younger sisters one age 14 one 3 and one just turned 5months so yeah abit of a gap

Dad was a pilot ,not miltary just did it for fun until one day he flew down to timaru with mum(before I was born) on the return leg he was caught in fog and ended up in a lagoon.The crash crushed 2 of my mothers vertabras(did I spell the right?) and took out my Dad's ankle(literally)

My dad was extremely lucky to live on to have me
Been to various airshows round NZ which sorta sucks now knowing that the best part of my life is over , which was in Wanaka 2006 when me my Dad and my brother were at the end of the run way and the Corsair buzzed us at about 20odd feet or so ,can't be to sure all I know was it was bloody low!and bloody cool!

and yeah currently in year 12 NCEA level 2 which sucks alot ,Has to be by far the my worse year of school both for fun and academicly ,Gona have to study a sh*t load to pass which believe it or not is actually looking possbile

last year of school ,hopefully end up as an aircraft engineer

hobbies are music,movies(war).modelling,skiing,travelling,driving everywhere and WW11 aviation

hope it wasn't to boring

Here's a pic of me in Wellington a couple of months ago

 

[109ROAMING]

Originally posted by Les'Bride
cry..to feel better

Very true saying

your life sounds like it has been very interesting

All the best
-Daniel

 

[Becca]

I'm sorry, Daniel...I was in the middle of posting hell!

Awesome, stick with it!! I wish I had. Keep your eye on what you truly want and hopefullly that will keep you fueled to go all the way. Best of luck!!

From pictures of NZ sent from my older brother and younger sister(they are both Kiwi, now) is a wonderful place..I know they both adore it.

 

[seesul]

Lets see..I was born in May of 1970, in Victoria, Texas. My father was a Operator at a refinery(Dupont) and mom was a housewife, older brother Patrick that seemingly was happy being an only child till I showed up(mom caught him in my baby bed with a jar over his head about to slam it into mine....good times...) Dad always had another buisness on the side, we went from tire sales, to car lot, to liquor store and back to cars, then to customized vans. I have to say that I owe the fact that I can clean a vehicle till it shines like a diamond in a goats as* to him. Before 1977, I don't remember them having problems, much. I was daddy's little girl. 1st runner-up Little Miss Cuero in 1976, ballet, tap..all the normal little girl stuff.
In 1977, they divorced and mom, Pat and I (begrudgeonly) moved back to SE Texas(where they grew up)Dad stayed in Victoria, of course..and met a woman in San Antonio named Georgie. She seemed great, at first...we loved her. Unfortunately, after the marriage, I happily got to move back with my daddy, and she turned. I don't know if it was resentment that dad wasn't the obvious cash-cow she'd thought or what..seemingly she decided that it was easier to take out her anger and rage on a 7 yr old than deal with dad...who had always drank(even had a bottle of Aqua Velva in College..true story) His drinking had gotten ALOT worse. Only saw him long enough to help him to bed at night, morning, whenever he stumbled in after a shift and the drinking his sorrow away. He never saw what was happening to me. Georgie did her best to beat the life out of me on a daily basis. I don't think there is much I havent been hit with. Kept me in the closet for a bit. Etc..I really can't get into all of it. Shes a sick woman. Ina nut-shell. In the interim she had gotten pregnant(oh Joy!) and had my little sister Cheryl. Pretty much came home and gave her to me. I had been enrolled in Catholic School in town and was either at school or taking care of my baby sister. The beating and torture continued till I was 12 y.o. and my older brother, who had been down to visit while I had gone to moms to visit suffered the brunt of an argument between dad and she and she decided to kick Pat in the nuts and call him a SOB instead of fighting with dad. (shes a class act, I tell ya! lol) Pat spilled his guts. I had made him swear NEVER to tell what was going on, she always told me that if anyone ever found out that she would killl dad and mom and Pat. Hell, I believed her! Well, dad (thank God) divorced her and went on to his next victim. Lady with 3 sons, WHOLE different story, all still on the F'ed up side. Don't want to go on about it all.
Dad was married 6 times. I'll leave it at that.
Momma had remarried to a great guy, that Pat and I adored they had my little brother and sister..he was and still is an EXCELLENT, dad. A bit smothering if you ask my little bro and sis. NOT so good in the hubby department. When it all came down at dads with the step-monster, I was then shipped to live with them...against my will, I was afraid for daddy...I felt that he needed me, there with him to help. It broke my heart. Kinda hard to explain that I really didn't mind the pain as long as he was going to be ok. Really sick. lol. Well, I was moved back and forth, between families(dad changing wives, etc) During 1984 I had decided that everyone would be alot better off if I wasn't in the picture. It seemed to me that I wasn't good enough..my grades were bad, I was tall and chubby and was getting all sorts attention because my female bits were coming in like gangbusters, even though I hated myself. So, I ate alot of pills. Just made myself extremely sick and tried to hide it from my dad and his wife, got up and went to school and threw-up on myself all day. BAD IDEA. It was a riotous, drunken, sick time...there are really too many stories to tell...I'll skip ahead. When my older brother Pat told mom what I had done she then took it upon herself to have me hospitalized, suprisingly. I was locked in the Radar Institute for eating disorders and diagnosed with Bulemia.(SUPRISE!!!!) I stayed there 6 wks and when I was released, mom, after coming to all the meetings, etc..realized that she was also bulemic. (Game the WHOLE family can play!! sorry.) I then went to go stay with my step-dad and help with my little brother and sister. Mom came home and continued her meetings even branched out to al-anon to help process the marriage to dad. I stayed int he 12-step program, even became an alateen sponsor, etc. UNFORTUNATELY being young and going to NA meetings(during treatment, they really don't seem to care WHAT 12 step meeting you go to, as long as you go) I met some really intresting folks. Started hanging out with them, going to high school, yadda, yadda..played Flute, then trumpet then tuba(quit giggling), marching band, etc. Got really good at photography in 7 and 8th grade and was kinda drafted into the school photographer job. Loved it, got burnt out my senior year, sadly. The beginning of my senior year I was locked up again, this time the diagnosis was Manic-depressant disorder..I was in the 'Womens institute" for 6 weeks. It was a great place, really they taught me alot about myself..helped me deal with the sh*t from childhood, etc. how do deal with the sickness through meditation and learning how to re-establish my chemical balance, i.e. forcing myself to bottom-out, cry..to feel better. Sound strange, but it works. *rambling...moving on*
I quit high-school 3 months before graduation..to help mom, it seemed, she was in the process of divorcing my step-dad and had fallen into a really bad place. It seemed like a good idea at the time. They decided to try it again, for my younger bro and sis, bought a huge house with pool, jacuzzi and began to set up a 'perfect' life for themselves. I wasn't figuring into the equation anymore. I was kicked out that June, moved to Beaumont with some drag-queens I'd met through a friend and the REAL adventure started. I got my GED that month. THEN proceeded to party REALLY hard. I don't think there was a drug I didn't do..was dealing LSD in mind-numbing quanities before I turned 21. WHOLE lot of stories there, of course. The friends that I had made into my family and I hit our own 'bottom' in a seedy motel room in Houston. My older brother, Pat, had taken it uopn himself to call all of our parents and let them know what was going on...I was THEN sent back to my dad's "I'll straighten that b*tch-up" reform camp. I pretty much strightened up and moved back to Houston, got an actual job as a receptionist for a jewelry designer. I quickly pointedout the inefficency in their operation pretaining to the buying of supplies and developed a "buyers" position. Decided to move with a friend of mine and try out San Francisco..built a repertory theatre company(out of nessessity for a friend) and began producing/assistant directing, decided after 2 years that I couldn't stand actors. Turned it over. My grandfather died, I moved back to Texas..momma needed me.

OMG, gotta say it again...I really didn´t know how lucky I am with my family and all the frieds around...
My respect to you Becca!!!

 

[Becca]

Thank you, Roman..it has been a LONG, strange trip..to quote the Grateful Dead. Hopefully i'll finish this..if I haven't bored you guys enough.

NOW, you know why I was so late in posting on this thread..its a friggin novel!! EVEN leaving alot OUT!! lol

 

[109ROAMING]

Originally posted by Les'Bride
I'm sorry, Daniel...I was in the middle of posting hell!

Awesome, stick with it!! I wish I had. Keep your eye on what you truly want and hopefullly that will keep you fueled to go all the way. Best of luck!!

From pictures of NZ sent from my older brother and younger sister(they are both Kiwi, now) is a wonderful place..I know they both adore it.

Your sorry? I'm the one who's sorry I didn't mean to post in between your posts

Best of luck with the rest of your story-I wasn't bored

 

[Crunch]

It's not hard to keep going and going about something you know inside out hey?

Great read, I find it fascinating hearing about other people's lives. Not in a stalker, sticky-beak way, but it's captivating.

Everyone has a story, it's just unfortunate that everyone can't find time to listen in this day and age.

 

[RabidAlien]

So, you're telling me, that wasn't you I caught peering through my window, Crunch?

My story's pretty basic, boring....typical ErrFarce brat, grew up on AirForce bases around Texas, in Guam, and finally down in Georgia. Never really stayed in one place long enough to make those life-long friends that come to be so helpful later on in life, and when we finally settled down (sorta) at Moody AFB in Georgia, I was already in the 6th grade, when all of those friendships have already been made/sealed. So, I was the outsider until I graduated HS. Had some friends, but never very many that I would associate with outside of one activity or other (church, school, BoyScouts, etc). Decided, in my own village-idiot sort of way, that I'd had enough of the Air Force (to this day, AF blue uniforms just look....bland.), so I paid attention to the Navy recruiter. Probably shouldn't have paid THAT much attention, because I found myself going to school for a year and a half to study nuclear engineering. Me...the kid who hated (and nearly flunked) every Math, Science, Chemistry, and Physics class I had to take. Through the liberal use of prayer, aspirin, and Mt. Dew, I managed to pass all of the courses, 3.2 average (which still surprises me), then had another Village Idiot moment when I listened to the stories our instructors would tell, and volunteered for submarine duty. 4.5 years of hell later, my enlistment was up, my blood-pressure was up, and I was fed-up with Bill Clinton, so I opted not to re-enlist. I was engaged at that point, moved to Washington State (was last stationed in Hawaii, but "cabin fever" had set in and I needed a change of locale), got a part time job with Office Depot and with a local camera shop. Loved the camera store, but my ex was still stationed in Hawaii, so I went full-time with OD and moved back to Hawaii. A year later, I'm finding out she's running around with another guy from her P-3 Orion squadron, and all of a sudden I'm a "WestPac Widow(er)". She wasn't interested in trying to work on the marriage, and even I can tell that a brick wall isn't going to move after beating my head against it for a month or two, so I moved back home to a little town outside of Austin, Texas, where my folks had moved right after I joined the Navy. Got an apartment, and just sorta drifted. Still slaving away for OD, taking lots of pictures, watching movies, and escaping online for two or three years. In one of my forays online, I managed to meet a young lady who was also taking photography courses (I was taking the New York Institute of Photography's distance-learning course that the time....managed to finish it, too!), who was living outside of Dallas. We eventually met....took a bunch of photos....and started dating. You can sure put some miles on a car when your girlfriend lives 3 hours away!!! Surprisingly enough, she said yes when I asked to marry her, and we tied the knot on Dec 6th, 2003. Heh. She was actually worried that I wouldn't be able to remember the date, since guys stereotypically can't remember anniversaries, until I pointed out that the very next day was Pearl Harbor Day....not a date I'm liable to forget. She doesn't understand my fascination with old planes, and why I insist on keeping every book I buy (and why I prefer to buy them instead of checking them out of the library), but she puts up with me. We lost her Mom to cancer about a year after we were married, which REALLY tested our marriage, we lost her Dad a week from this past Saturday (13th) to a heart attack (we're doin....better than expected, based on last time), and gained a nephew that same afternoon. We're expecting our first, a little girl, in the first week of January, but hoping for the last week of December (insurance deductable is paid already, and there's a tax thing, too....). Life rattles on! But I've bored y'all enough.

Next!!!

 

[Njaco]

Great stuff, Rabid. Sorry for the losses and joyed for the additions.

And trying to explain the love of aircraft is not possible to the fairer sex. Its just not tangible to them. My pre-wife understands I love them just not why. Its all good.