Hello Steemit... Creative, Talented Writer, and Trade Analyst entering the community

Who am I? That really depends on who you ask? And why you are asking ;)

If I am to be labeled by my accomplishments and struggles survived, then I would be a former United States Marine Corps Explosive Ordinance Technician, business owner, crytotrader, writer, smart ass, creature of intellect, south paw, INTJ, call it as it is individual and thus far cancer survivor.

In regards to military service I was an Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician.

* I'm on the right

As an EOD technician, I was stationed in Japan at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni. From there I deployed to Australia, Guam, Korea, Thailand, Phillipines, Russia, Brunei Darussalam and places you don’t want to be. I was also fortunate in that I found myself assigned to the Secret Service as EOD asset for the protection of Secretary of State Colin Powell. During this assignment I travelled all over the world as a part the Secretary of State’s Secret Service detail checking and clearing areas expected to be used by him of potentially explosive or suspicious devices. I also was assigned a position working with the Department of State to assist in the training of working dogs for explosives detection.

Traditional Education:
• Wheeler high School, 1990-1994, High School Diploma
• University of Maryland University College Asia 1996-2002, Associate of Arts degree (AA) - General Studies with Business and Management Curriculum

So you want to join EOD?

Well if you like digging live mortars out of the ground

Then Welcome aboard!!!

After departing the Marine Corps I found myself in Florida working in the family General Contracting business. Which in 2004 was booming after Hurricane Charlie leveled the area. Yet I always felt as though I was destined for more. So I abandoned the business and embarked upon my own endeavors.

* yeah I know I smile too much.

Having little in the amount of savings at the time, but a good head on my shoulders I figured Real Estate sounded cool. So I took the test, got a realtors license and worked for a broker selling houses. This lasted all of 2 months before I realized that I should be the one buying and selling the homes as an investor and the Broker can work for me. So that’s what I did. I started buying fixer uppers and flipping them. I also began to expand my tentacles and channel my drive into the world of stock trading. Like most of the uninitiated to the predatory market that is trading I played on emotion and got burned; well not burned but singed around the edges. At this point I chose to dedicate myself to learning all that I could about wealth building, trading, investing and the like. I read all the books, Robert Kiyosaki; William O'Neil, Warren buffet, and many others; gaining a bit more knowledge with each one. Eventually my trading turned around as I acquired the discipline to remain devoid of emotion and adhere to certain strategies.

Over the following couple of years I parlayed my drive and strategies into a decent nest egg which I used to enter the Luxury Pet Resort business. I nurtured and grew this business till the point that I was comfortable with its value and sold it. Well that’s not totally true there was more involved in the decision to sell; my health playing a larger factor (more on that later). Although I sold the brick and mortar business I still offer consulting services for those interested in that market. Trust me if you want to get into that industry and start doing your research you will find me.

In regards to the health thing, it is a bit of a mind fuck and will challenge your view on God, free will and belief in others. That said I was lucky, well not really, but I was at least unique in that I had an exceptionally rare cancer of the adrenal gland (stage 2). While this does not sound particularly interesting it had a most profound effect on my life. I was first notified of the tumor in 2010 at which time it was the size of a pea. The doctors told me it was probably benign, lots of people get these things, don’t worry about it and we will just follow up in two years. Taking this information at face value I put it out of my mind, carried on with my life, and failed to get the recommended follow up. Sometime in 2015 I was required to get a physical and the previous notation in regards to the tumor came up. As a result I was scheduled for another scan. Well 48 hours later my phone starts blowing up with calls from my primary care, oncologists, endocrinologists, end of life care specialists etc. I was like WTF.

Not bad for a guy that was dying..

So fast forward through all the testing and other non interesting BS and it is determined that I have some rare hormone producing tumor. Essentially I have too much adrenaline, too much testosterone (dang) and now a tumor the size of a baseball slowing eating me from the inside. So fast forward a bit more and they remove the tumor, no need for chemo and six month Pet Scan follow ups. According to the odds I have a 50 percent chance of making it five years. Not my favorite odds, but fuck it. Not much I can do about it.

Now for the interesting part, we are for the most part indoctrinated into the belief that everything we do is a choice, we have free will and that God is good; that everything is his will and serves a greater purpose that may just be beyond our understanding. I challenge that thinking. In my particular case and in a most insidious manner, my tumor was producing hormones that slowly and insidiously had detrimental effects on my mental well being; as well as physical “blood pressure, heart enlargement, etc.”

Placing the physical aside I began to notice over the course of a few years that I became consistently more irritable, violent, aggressive, prone to rage, hypersexual etc. I began to suffer crippling bouts of depression that with my personality type only served to make me angrier and bitterer. Little things would send me into a rage. It was bizarre, it was primal and it was uncontrollable. I knew something was wrong, but had no idea what. I felt as though I was losing my mind. I abused every person in my life, got into bar fights, drank to excess to drown the depression etc. No matter how successful I was, I felt miserable, unhappy and mad, just fucking mad at the world. I spent the better part of two years waking up every day wanting to twist the heads off of kittens. I felt as though there was a monster inside of me beyond my control. I began to blame my wife for my unhappiness and my marriage soon crumbled.

It happened slowly but deliberately as the tumor grew and consequently produced more and more hormones, in turn skewing my personality further and further toward the dark side.

I’m not totally unique and others have had similar experiences with this type of illness.

http://www2.pedsanesthesia.org/meetings/2013winter/syllabus/submissions/stracts/nonmod/NM-221.pdf
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/magazine/15wwln-diagnosis-t.html

In truth the illness killed my faith and led me to the conclusion that we are nothing more than an accumulation of matter; that we are nothing more than the sum of numerous biological processes and chemical reactions. When one of those processes goes off the rails and begins to act in a manner contrary to its design then the entire system that depends on it will likewise fail. As a result the information your mind is being provided to make choices becomes flawed leading to flawed choices.

I have since entered a new relationship with a wonderful woman 12 years my junior and now have my first child; a daughter.

New younger hot chic

Moving on, I have always been a writer, having won poetry and writing contests from a young age; though at this age I don’t proofread nearly as much as I should. Topic dependent, my writing style can be exceptionally analytical or straight from the hip; all the while mindful to maintain a conversational storybook style of writing.

I trade and study cryptocurrencies / regular commodities on a daily basis.

If you like reading the unfiltered meanderings of an experienced trader and abrasive former Marine that writes bluntly while refusing to placate the the overly politically correct, safe space embracing current society we now live in; then upvote me and follow. If not then retreat to your safe space and cover your ears while assuming the fetal position.