Today I’ll touch on some of my history, and why I’m starting a website and blog. Maybe it’ll make sense when I’m done. Maybe it won’t. Roll the dice and see, won’t you?
My dad introduced me to the juvenile Robert Heinlein novels when I was but a wee lad, maybe ten or so. These adventures perfectly captured the young me’s imagination and ignited a lifelong passion for reading. Heinlein’s protagonists learned over the course of the story that they were capable of more than they ever imagined. Whether they overcame something with only their wits to survive or had a wizened mentor to show them the ropes, learning and bettering oneself were an undercurrent of every story. Over the next couple years I worked through the catalog, started reading his grown-folk books, and it was only a matter of time before I came to the following:
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”
Impactful, to say the least. Some parts I’ve taken more seriously than others. Example: because I haven’t been near an ocean since 1990 or a large body of water at all since 2015, I haven’t yet learned to conn a ship. The rest I’m pretty solid on, at least in theory. Haven’t been in charge of any construction projects or invasions, but the day is young.
You’d think that this next part of the story would be a montage of cracking books, swinging hammers, standing over a blueprint with a bunch of plaid-and-suit-wearing guys, maybe riding a horse or standing on a mountain or something, but you’d be wrong. I squandered my youth goofing off with my friends, avoiding getting in trouble with same friends, working shit jobs for low pay, partying too hard, and generally being rather useless, but still reading books. Always reading books.
After I met my lady (who I’ve not cleared to be discussed openly around here so we’ll can it for now) I decided that I needed to step up and be more of the person I knew I could be. It was a choice for me, not for her, by the way. I was amazed that she was into me at all due to my terrible self image and feeling of worthlessness, and I’m not saying she had nothing to do with it, but I think at that point that I’d had enough of the old me and was ready to be better. That began a long road of mental and physical discipline (I was about 50 or so pounds overweight and now I’m not), learning and practicing new skills, and working on changing how I dealt with the world as well as how I spoke to and of myself.
Fast forward a few years and I actually like myself most of the time and feel like I have something to offer the world. I’m still dealing with my two biggest problems; being afraid to take risks, and procrastinating once I do. I am attempting to be accountable by working on two or three blog posts a week from now on, growing my social network and start making money at my drone business, and get my other side hustles off the ground. On those fronts, check back on this page from time to time and see what I’m up to.
My goals now are to make money, travel, fly the most beautiful scenery in the world, and give away time and money to people and in ways that make me happy. It’s been a little weird to embrace a new reality, but for the rest of my life I just want to have vast sums of wealth in order to give away a lot of it. I don’t just want to piss it away, though. I want to perform acts of extreme kindness like giving away houses and cars to people that need them, and donating capital to people that have great business ideas but no access to the cash they need to make them reality. That’s a long way off but it’s a goal. I was going to say I hope that you’ll join me, but I’m getting tired of that word. Hope. It is vital to have, but insane to rely on.
I plan on making my life into one you can’t help but be fascinated and inspired by. Now, how does any of this tie into the Heinlein quote above, you may ask?
Tangentially.
I want to be a jack of all trades so that I can be as self-sufficient as possible. As I become more self-sufficient, I gather skills that I can build on to learn more skills, and the more I do that the more I can pass on to others. At heart, I want to not only help fund peoples’ dreams with money, but also put in the the sweat it requires to make dreams into realities. You can get so much more from people if you’re working with them, and at heart I just want to meet people and get in adventures! I’d never just want to throw money at a problem and walk away, unless it involves something slimy; I don’t do well with slimy things for some reason.
I’ll be letting you know how that goes. Please join my journey!
