Well, my name is Sean. I am 37 years old
I was born in Duluth, Minnesota, but from the age of three until the age of eleven, I lived in Omaha, Nebraska. When I was eleven, my family relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and except for a six month period when me and the rest of the world were not on the best of terms, I lived there until I graduated from high school.
My childhood was, looking back, a mostly happy one. My mother always managed to keep a roof over our heads, food on the table, and shoes on our feet. We may not have had much in the way of luxuries, but I guess that was to the good.
At an early age, I was discovered to be a gifted child. That was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it compensated for being a sickly child. A curse because when you're different, it's not always easy. For the most part, I was a lone wolf who didn't run with the rest of the pack. I found escape through books, especially science-fiction, adventure, and comic books.
In my senior year, I broke out of my shell. I joined the ROTC-by then, I knew that I wanted to be a soldier. I learned a lot in ROTC-about duty, honor, country. And I owe my instructors a debt I can never fully repay.
In June of 1990, after graduating from high school, I enlisted in the United States Army as a private E-2, and reported to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, for my basic and advanced training. I'll be honest, at the time, I thought the place sucked. I was young, away from home for the first time, used to being independent. Being thrust into a lock-step, dress right dress environment did take some getting used to. I graduated basic training on August 2nd, 1990, my advanced individual training as a heavy construction equipment repairer that October, and after two weeks on leave in Albuquerque, reported to my first duty assignment in the Federal Republic of Germany.
Two weeks later, we were on alert to deploy to Saudi Arabia in suport of Operation Desert Shield, and right before Christmas of 1990. we arrived in Dhaharan, and promptly moved out to a staging area.
On January 16th, 1991, the shield became a storm.
In April of 1991, after we had driven the Iraqis from Kuwait, my unit redeployed to Germany, and between then and September 1991, when I was reassigned to a Stateside duty assignment, I didn't do too much...when not helping deactivate my unit in the post Cold War drawdown, I was haunting the clubs in downtown Bamberg and Nuernberg, living it up and chasing the frauleins.
I reported to Fort McClellan, Alabama, in October, 1991, after a long leave en route...just missing being deployed to Fort Irwin and the National Training Center for desert maneuvers. I was assigned to Charlie Company, 46th Engineer Battalion, and spent the rest of my enlistment there. I had some good times and rotten times, and it was there I came into my own as a soldier.
Upon my discharge in May of 1994, right before O.J. got infamous, I relocated to the Tampa Bay area of Florida. My family had already relocated here, and I didn't have anyplace else to go. I worked briefly as a telemarketer for two weeks, and after being fired from there, I was gainfully unemployed for four months.During this time, I spent much time reading, haunting the nudie bars, and generally relaxing, learning how to be a civilian again.
In October of 1994, I was hired by the Home Shopping Network as a network sales representative-one of the folks who takes orderson the phone. I did that for a year and a half, then went into customer service, did that for six years, then went back to being a sales rep in February 2002. I left HSN in August 2002, and am currently employed as a customer service/sales representative for a major company in the Tampa Bay area.
During that first year and a half, I was also active in the Army Reserve, assigned to the 231st Transportation Company(Medium Boat). I left the Reserves in 1997. I am unmarried. Have come close, but it didn't work out.
Likes: Reading, writing creatively, watching movies, surfing the Internet, bicycling, cats, cooking.
Dislikes: Stupid people, politicians, Barney the Dinosaur, scumbags.
Favorite TV Shows: "JAG," "Smallville," "X-Men:Evolution," "Sliders," "V," "Quantum Leap," amongst others.
Favorite Music: Most anything-though I loathe Marilyn Manson, and think he has his place-it just hasn't been dug yet. Prefer 80s rock and pop, movie soundtracks.
Favorite Books: Too many to list, but love to read Dean Koontz, Jon Land, David Morrell, Ian Fleming, H.P. Lovecraft, Leonard B. Scott, Harry Turtledove, among others.
Favorite Movies: I'll try to keep this short...the Superman movies with Christopher Reeve, the Indiana Jones movies, "Somewhere in Time," the Star Wars trilogy, "Stargate," "The Terminator" series, "Night Shift," "'Salem's Lot"-the original, "Dracula(the 1979 version), "Bram Stoker's Dracula," "Love at First Bite." Loads of others.