asked by Jim, my college roommate. some random biographical answers to an email.
I live in Eureka, California now. I'm a computer student at Humboldt State University. After Chico State in '73 and '74, I went back to my Mom and Dad and got a job at an art store. Married the clerk in the shop next door. Went to West Valley Junior College and learned to be an electronics draftsman. She graduated from college and we went to WASHINGTON DC. She worked for the National Security Agency as a Russian Transcriber and I worked in a small computer company. We got divorced. I stayed in DC for 12 years. I played music synthesizer with a bunch of computer nerds on the weekends. For years we had a random jam session with people in my friends basement. You never knew who would show up. This was a big part of my life. We often played all night long and would come out of the music room in the light of dawn. I also played guitar with lots of echo echo echo and effects. After years in the electronics industry I dropped out because of executive stress and worked for Domino's Pizza as a driver. It was a good life. Stoned on marijuana all day every day... free pizza... Eventually I had a customer move into my condo and she and I and her 6 year old daughter lived together in domestic bliss. After that romance ended I came back to San Jose and spent 6 years working for Radio Shack and living in rented houses with a bunch of other men. Not a gay thing, Just bachelors sharing rent. Mostly computer nerds. Some times women and children in group homes. Then I got fired from radio shack for stealing money and drinking on the job. I had figured out how to embezzle money from the company and did that for 5 years. I moved to CHICO and took a ONE YEAR VACATION. I joined the Alcoholics Anonymous group there and got healthy. As a matter of fact, the embezzling allowed me to keep a lot of money and that paid all my bills for a year. I spent a lot of time playing music in public with a random assortment of college kids and other AA members. We would stand on the streetcorner and play for spare change. I met my current wife at CHICO AA. I got a job at a plastic factory as a machine operator. After a year of that work I figured out how to get student loans and moved to Eureka.
Dear Jim: How did you find me? I can see from your email that you have visited one of my websites. Actually, that Radio shack photo (of me) does not show the extremely long hair that I wore at that time. My ponytail is hidden in that picture. I heard that TOM LAMPKIN (my roommate at 6th and Ivy) became the chemistry teacher an Chico High School. I heard that from one of the kids that I played music with in the park. Another important thing in my life is that I learned to play acoustic guitar and sing classic rock/folk songs. I have collected the chord changes and lyrics to 200 songs. They are kept in 4 spiral notebooks that live in my guitar case. Beatles, Doors, Grateful Dead, Eagles, Woodie Guthrie, Jimmie Buffet... I go to peoples homes, public parks, streets, and pull out my songbooks and lead group sing alongs. I'm sure you can relate. One high point in my life was when I was living in Washington DC and I had just gotten fired from a high paying electronics job. I took EIGHT (8) months off from work and went into my home recording studio. I had many synthesizers, guitars, a four track tape recorder and a drum machine. There was a tremendous amount of Afghanistan Hashish. [The Russians were fighting the Afghans and we financially supported the "Freedom Fighters" by purchasing their Hashish.] My friends and I recorded a demo tape and tried to sell it in New York City. We wanted to make background music for corporate video. There is a market for techno-pop soundtracks and we had an agent but never made a sale. AT LEAST I GAVE IT MY BEST SHOT!!! Some lyrics I wrote are online at angelfire homepage the words are down at the bottom of the page... Recently I've gotten into photography because I can put pictures on the internet. Some pictures are at geocities homepage for gregvan [now vanished as Yahoo closed Geocities]
THAT HETCH HETCHY TRIP WAS A MAJOR EVENT IN MY LIFE. (a camping trip with Jim French, Jimmie Dewhurst and Mike Bilinski in 1974.) Since I almost died when I slipped into the river, it has given me great emotional questions about the meaning of LIFE. The fact that I DID NOT DIE at age 19 has made me grateful for every moment since. Maybe there is some reason for my existence, some big task that needed to be accomplished. FOR SOME UNKNOWN REASON I WAS GIVEN THE GIFT OF LIFE. I feel that the reason is that I should DO SOMETHING USEFUL to make the world a better place to live. I made a difference when I was working at Radio Shack. I helped thousands of people solve their electronic problems. For example: I sold thousands of hearing aid batteries to people in Czechoslovakia. Many people could hear because of me. At the plastic factory I made wheels for wheelchairs. Thousands of people are rolling around right now because of me. It is not much, but at least I did SOMETHING. That experience at Hetch Hetchy was truly unique. I was stoned on LSD and PEYOTE and met death FACE TO FACE underwater. I also had the blessing of attending 37 grateful dead concerts and two rainbow gatherings. What a lucky fellow I am. Hundreds of Acid trips... The last one was at an anti-war protest march in Washington DC when George Bush SENIOR was fighting the GULF WAR. I was interviewed on television. My next door neighbor said I made a jackass of myself on the evening news. I am very proud of that. She was a conservative republican and I know that if I pissed her off I must have been doing the right thing...We spent a lot of time playing the drums in Lafayette park across the street from the White House. The idea was to make a lot of noise and disturb George Bush's sleep. A guy from Kodiak Alaska loaned me a MARCHING BAND BASS DRUM and for hours I lead 30 people in a drum circle. HEY, maybe we shortened the gulf war by reminding George Bush that some drummers thought he was an idiot... AT LEAST I DID SOMETHING...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~@~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.com
Something my Mom taught me...
Mom said that there is a concept called "self fufilling prophesy". Her example: If you get a TATOO that says "BORN TO LOSE" you will. Be careful what you believe. Your beliefs can influence your future... If you find that your beliefs are wrong, change them... THINK FOR YOURSELF !
I was thinking about this because I was at an AA meeting and one of the other people was talking about the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS OF BUDHISM. The person talking actually got the "TRUTHS" totally wrong but it did make me think...
A concept that always seemed idiotic is: PREMARITAL SEX IS A SIN. Someone in a Christian Church expressed this ABSURD philosophy to me. They seemed to feel that people should not do things that are a "SIN". INSANE! I have TESTED their belief and found out that they are INCORRECT. IT IS BIG FUN! Avoid believing Religions that teach concepts that are OBVIOUSLY FALSE. THINK FOR YOURSELF... I wonder if this is REALLY in the Bible or did some preacher JUST MADE IT UP?
There are some aspects of Christianity that make NO sense. For example: Forgiveness of sin. They say that if you commit a sin and then ask for forgiveness, then you can go to heaven. RIDICULOUS! No wonder it is the preferred religion of the MAFIA! Check out how this works... On Monday, a person sells heroin to elementary school kids. On Tuesday, a person goes to church and says: "Forgive me father for I have sinned"... PRESTO=CHANGO all is forgiven and that person can go to heaven. On Wednesday, that person commits murder. On Thursday, he goes to church and say: "aw shucks, I sinned again... forgive me daddy"... a MIRACLE HAPPENS AND THE MURDERER IS FORGIVEN AND CAN SING WITH THE ANGELS FOR ALL ETERNITY... On Friday, the person HAS SEX with an adult that he is not married to... They have BIG FUN... On Saturday, they Have SEX again, because they really like to. On Sunday, they both go to Church and say: "forgive us father, for we had FUN". THE PRIEST (a known pedophile) says all is forgiven and they all go to Heaven. On Monday, The MAFIA guy sells heroin to elementary school kids, the Priest *&*##$@*** the kids and the weekly cycle continues... WHAT AN ABSURD SYSTEM...It seems to me that we ought to PUNISH murderers... NOT FORGIVE THEM !
AVOID BELIEF SYSTEMS THAT ARE OBVIOUSLY FALSE.
A better system would be to take people that DO BAD THINGS and reincarnate them as a flea. Then they would have to live a thousand lifetimes as a flea before they got promoted to human. KARMA. "My Karma ran over your Dogma"...
T
H
I
N
K
*
F
O
R
*
Y
O
U
R
S
E
L
F
I like the practice of communion... You eat a sacred wafer and meet GOD. I've done that. It works! At MY CHURCH, we eat a wafer that is laced with LSD-25...
Yes, its true, I have met GOD personally. MY CHURCH WORKS... If you have not met GOD, discard your obsolete religion and get one that ACTUALLY WORKS... DUH!
The Four Noble Truths Of Budhism
The First Noble Truth - THE EXISTENCE OF IMPERMANENCE - "Dukkha"
Nothing lasts forever. Understand this and be not attached to what you are experiencing, otherwise you will experience suffering. When you experience happiness know that it is a reaction to circumstance and it is not a permanent state. Conversely, when you are suffering know that it shall not be eternal.
The Second Noble Truth - THE ARISING OF SUFFERING BECAUSE OF CRAVING - "Samudaya"
Craving sensory stimulation, craving existence, and craving non-existence give rise to the continuity of being, and with it its attendant suffering. Attaining a state of non-craving should be part of your daily effort.
The Third Noble Truth - THE CESSATION OF SUFFERING - "Nirodha"
One can end eternal suffering by ending the craving that leads to the continuation of suffering.
The Fourth Noble Truth - THE MIDDLE WAY, or THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH -"Magga"
I live in Eureka, California now. I'm a computer student at Humboldt State University. After Chico State in '73 and '74, I went back to my Mom and Dad and got a job at an art store. Married the clerk in the shop next door. Went to West Valley Junior College and learned to be an electronics draftsman. She graduated from college and we went to WASHINGTON DC. She worked for the National Security Agency as a Russian Transcriber and I worked in a small computer company. We got divorced. I stayed in DC for 12 years. I played music synthesizer with a bunch of computer nerds on the weekends. For years we had a random jam session with people in my friends basement. You never knew who would show up. This was a big part of my life. We often played all night long and would come out of the music room in the light of dawn. I also played guitar with lots of echo echo echo and effects. After years in the electronics industry I dropped out because of executive stress and worked for Domino's Pizza as a driver. It was a good life. Stoned on marijuana all day every day... free pizza... Eventually I had a customer move into my condo and she and I and her 6 year old daughter lived together in domestic bliss. After that romance ended I came back to San Jose and spent 6 years working for Radio Shack and living in rented houses with a bunch of other men. Not a gay thing, Just bachelors sharing rent. Mostly computer nerds. Some times women and children in group homes. Then I got fired from radio shack for stealing money and drinking on the job. I had figured out how to embezzle money from the company and did that for 5 years. I moved to CHICO and took a ONE YEAR VACATION. I joined the Alcoholics Anonymous group there and got healthy. As a matter of fact, the embezzling allowed me to keep a lot of money and that paid all my bills for a year. I spent a lot of time playing music in public with a random assortment of college kids and other AA members. We would stand on the streetcorner and play for spare change. I met my current wife at CHICO AA. I got a job at a plastic factory as a machine operator. After a year of that work I figured out how to get student loans and moved to Eureka.
Dear Jim: How did you find me? I can see from your email that you have visited one of my websites. Actually, that Radio shack photo (of me) does not show the extremely long hair that I wore at that time. My ponytail is hidden in that picture. I heard that TOM LAMPKIN (my roommate at 6th and Ivy) became the chemistry teacher an Chico High School. I heard that from one of the kids that I played music with in the park. Another important thing in my life is that I learned to play acoustic guitar and sing classic rock/folk songs. I have collected the chord changes and lyrics to 200 songs. They are kept in 4 spiral notebooks that live in my guitar case. Beatles, Doors, Grateful Dead, Eagles, Woodie Guthrie, Jimmie Buffet... I go to peoples homes, public parks, streets, and pull out my songbooks and lead group sing alongs. I'm sure you can relate. One high point in my life was when I was living in Washington DC and I had just gotten fired from a high paying electronics job. I took EIGHT (8) months off from work and went into my home recording studio. I had many synthesizers, guitars, a four track tape recorder and a drum machine. There was a tremendous amount of Afghanistan Hashish. [The Russians were fighting the Afghans and we financially supported the "Freedom Fighters" by purchasing their Hashish.] My friends and I recorded a demo tape and tried to sell it in New York City. We wanted to make background music for corporate video. There is a market for techno-pop soundtracks and we had an agent but never made a sale. AT LEAST I GAVE IT MY BEST SHOT!!! Some lyrics I wrote are online at angelfire homepage the words are down at the bottom of the page... Recently I've gotten into photography because I can put pictures on the internet. Some pictures are at geocities homepage for gregvan [now vanished as Yahoo closed Geocities]
THAT HETCH HETCHY TRIP WAS A MAJOR EVENT IN MY LIFE. (a camping trip with Jim French, Jimmie Dewhurst and Mike Bilinski in 1974.) Since I almost died when I slipped into the river, it has given me great emotional questions about the meaning of LIFE. The fact that I DID NOT DIE at age 19 has made me grateful for every moment since. Maybe there is some reason for my existence, some big task that needed to be accomplished. FOR SOME UNKNOWN REASON I WAS GIVEN THE GIFT OF LIFE. I feel that the reason is that I should DO SOMETHING USEFUL to make the world a better place to live. I made a difference when I was working at Radio Shack. I helped thousands of people solve their electronic problems. For example: I sold thousands of hearing aid batteries to people in Czechoslovakia. Many people could hear because of me. At the plastic factory I made wheels for wheelchairs. Thousands of people are rolling around right now because of me. It is not much, but at least I did SOMETHING. That experience at Hetch Hetchy was truly unique. I was stoned on LSD and PEYOTE and met death FACE TO FACE underwater. I also had the blessing of attending 37 grateful dead concerts and two rainbow gatherings. What a lucky fellow I am. Hundreds of Acid trips... The last one was at an anti-war protest march in Washington DC when George Bush SENIOR was fighting the GULF WAR. I was interviewed on television. My next door neighbor said I made a jackass of myself on the evening news. I am very proud of that. She was a conservative republican and I know that if I pissed her off I must have been doing the right thing...We spent a lot of time playing the drums in Lafayette park across the street from the White House. The idea was to make a lot of noise and disturb George Bush's sleep. A guy from Kodiak Alaska loaned me a MARCHING BAND BASS DRUM and for hours I lead 30 people in a drum circle. HEY, maybe we shortened the gulf war by reminding George Bush that some drummers thought he was an idiot... AT LEAST I DID SOMETHING...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~@~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.com
Something my Mom taught me...
Mom said that there is a concept called "self fufilling prophesy". Her example: If you get a TATOO that says "BORN TO LOSE" you will. Be careful what you believe. Your beliefs can influence your future... If you find that your beliefs are wrong, change them... THINK FOR YOURSELF !
I was thinking about this because I was at an AA meeting and one of the other people was talking about the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS OF BUDHISM. The person talking actually got the "TRUTHS" totally wrong but it did make me think...
A concept that always seemed idiotic is: PREMARITAL SEX IS A SIN. Someone in a Christian Church expressed this ABSURD philosophy to me. They seemed to feel that people should not do things that are a "SIN". INSANE! I have TESTED their belief and found out that they are INCORRECT. IT IS BIG FUN! Avoid believing Religions that teach concepts that are OBVIOUSLY FALSE. THINK FOR YOURSELF... I wonder if this is REALLY in the Bible or did some preacher JUST MADE IT UP?
There are some aspects of Christianity that make NO sense. For example: Forgiveness of sin. They say that if you commit a sin and then ask for forgiveness, then you can go to heaven. RIDICULOUS! No wonder it is the preferred religion of the MAFIA! Check out how this works... On Monday, a person sells heroin to elementary school kids. On Tuesday, a person goes to church and says: "Forgive me father for I have sinned"... PRESTO=CHANGO all is forgiven and that person can go to heaven. On Wednesday, that person commits murder. On Thursday, he goes to church and say: "aw shucks, I sinned again... forgive me daddy"... a MIRACLE HAPPENS AND THE MURDERER IS FORGIVEN AND CAN SING WITH THE ANGELS FOR ALL ETERNITY... On Friday, the person HAS SEX with an adult that he is not married to... They have BIG FUN... On Saturday, they Have SEX again, because they really like to. On Sunday, they both go to Church and say: "forgive us father, for we had FUN". THE PRIEST (a known pedophile) says all is forgiven and they all go to Heaven. On Monday, The MAFIA guy sells heroin to elementary school kids, the Priest *&*##$@*** the kids and the weekly cycle continues... WHAT AN ABSURD SYSTEM...It seems to me that we ought to PUNISH murderers... NOT FORGIVE THEM !
AVOID BELIEF SYSTEMS THAT ARE OBVIOUSLY FALSE.
A better system would be to take people that DO BAD THINGS and reincarnate them as a flea. Then they would have to live a thousand lifetimes as a flea before they got promoted to human. KARMA. "My Karma ran over your Dogma"...
T
H
I
N
K
*
F
O
R
*
Y
O
U
R
S
E
L
F
I like the practice of communion... You eat a sacred wafer and meet GOD. I've done that. It works! At MY CHURCH, we eat a wafer that is laced with LSD-25...
Yes, its true, I have met GOD personally. MY CHURCH WORKS... If you have not met GOD, discard your obsolete religion and get one that ACTUALLY WORKS... DUH!
The Four Noble Truths Of Budhism
The First Noble Truth - THE EXISTENCE OF IMPERMANENCE - "Dukkha"
Nothing lasts forever. Understand this and be not attached to what you are experiencing, otherwise you will experience suffering. When you experience happiness know that it is a reaction to circumstance and it is not a permanent state. Conversely, when you are suffering know that it shall not be eternal.
The Second Noble Truth - THE ARISING OF SUFFERING BECAUSE OF CRAVING - "Samudaya"
Craving sensory stimulation, craving existence, and craving non-existence give rise to the continuity of being, and with it its attendant suffering. Attaining a state of non-craving should be part of your daily effort.
The Third Noble Truth - THE CESSATION OF SUFFERING - "Nirodha"
One can end eternal suffering by ending the craving that leads to the continuation of suffering.
The Fourth Noble Truth - THE MIDDLE WAY, or THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH -"Magga"
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.jpg "Who WAS Ram Dass? In the Sixties, He was a Psychedelics Researcher and Promoter at Harvard with Dr. Timothy Leary. (LSD, Magic Mushrooms and Peyote)")
.jpg "Peace Sign Pie Chart")
.jpg "Military Death Chart USA")