Who Am I?
One year after graduating from Angelo State University in 2012, I moved to South Korea to teach English. (Jindo Island: 2013-2014; Gangjin: Summer 2014; Daegu: 2014-2018.) It was the best decision ever. And everyone should have the opportunity to volunteer at a chicken and beer festival in a foreign country at least once in their lives. (See picture.) I was even photographed for the festival's calendar. One year before leaving, I decided to volunteer at either a hip-hop concert or Daegu’s famous Chimac Festival. Chimac (치맥) means chicken and beer (치킨+맥주). The Chimac Festival came at a perfect time because it was a week-long event, and I was in between jobs, so time was not an issue. Daegu summers are brutal, though. Even though I left South Korea in 2018, I still enjoy studying Korean and watching 무엇이든 물어보살 on YouTube. Getting a Korean-language certification has been on my back burner for years, but at this point, I should probably get one so I can attract more Korean clients.
Reading has been my favorite hobby forever—the kid me read stuff he probably shouldn’t have been reading before he could even drive. Somehow, my interest in horror movies and cryptozoology turned me to true crime, noir crime fiction, and Goosebumps. R.L. Stine and James Ellroy, especially, were my favorite writers for the longest, and I have a vivid memory of buying Robert Bloch’s Psycho from Hastings (those who know, know) around Y2K. Nowadays, my morning routine includes reading for 45 minutes. If you trapped me on an island with only one book to read, I would choose Lost City of Z by David Grann.
Over the years, I’ve had many jobs, odd and not so odd: translator, forklift trainer, parking lot maintenance, social media content creator for South Korea tourism, food (and toy) delivery driver. Just lots of randomness. Currently, I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, studying Psychology at Tulsa Community College. In my free-time I research grants, watch webinars about publishing and writing, learn stenography (for a future in psychiatric transcription and court reporting), and probe the best ways to make my website look better. Sometimes I’ll just think of something random and then update it.
Fun facts about me:
- My favorite song is It Keeps You Running by The Doobie Brothers.
- I once rode a bus through the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) in the dead middle of winter.
- I recently got braces at 38 years old.