BORN 08/17/1966...
They found they found out I was a Diabetic at the age of 22 months,
when I went into a coma...

My mom split then, so I lived with my Dad, we moved around a lot...
He was fresh back from the 'Nam and if you know anything about what those guys went through over there,
you know how hard it would have been for him to get settled.

WENT DEAF AT AGE 7, BUT REGAINED ENOUGH HEARING TO
GET BY with...sorta.
Being deaf is worse than the shots, I gotta admit.
And since I couldn't hear or understand half of what was said in school,
I began reading and reading and reading....so a lot of my education is FROM books...any kind of book.
I had read a complete encyclopedia set by the age of 11.
Homers 'Iliad'
Grimms Fairy tales
Richard Adams' 'Watership Down'
I was into Chemistry and Biology by then as well.

Kind of funny...I could dissect almost anything and knew the basic internal structure of an animal.
In the 8th grade I'd moved into a new school about mid-way thru the year.
I walked in and they are dissecting pig fetuses.
Group of girls were all squeamish and didn't know what to do so I went over, checked the page to see where the cuts and labels were to go then gave them an 'A' in just a few minutes.   Biology is sooooo simple!  }:-]

School was like that.   Math was my worst subject and I constantly failed P.E., frankly, I didn't give a crap about it.
My exercise was from running in the woods, climbing cliffs, fossil hunting. [Which I still do to this day!]
My folks were  always pissed about my grades,
telling me I had the intelligence, why couldn't I do better?
Well, the fact was, I learned more than I let on and knew more than I let on.  I didn't like school, I didn't like the teachers.
Usually, I had only a couple of friends.  It's hard to be a 'nice', friendly person when you are a runt, deaf, and diabetic.
You get messed with, you either learn to fight and fight mean
or you become a punching bag.   I wasn't going to be a punching bag.

I'm still a bit stand-offish.   Some of my friends say I am constantly 'testing' and that I am ready to drop someone before they get too close.
Perhaps.   But I still look at people today thru the same eyes as of 20 years ago.
Yes, people change...
but I still see the same people doing the same crap they did as kids.
They walk on others, hate, bigotry, selfishness...
Same thing, different world.
I have existed in many different classes and dealt with many different peoples over the years.   Like a chameleon I can change in an instant to suit the needs of the moment.   That's why I can blend in to any crowd and see and hear what people are saying.
I can read most people like a book.
So I know what I am saying.
Adults are the same as they were as kids...they just try to hide it.
Kids, at least, are honest.

I started going blind at age 21
Was running a veterinary clinic in Austin Texas,
['WAVES' HI GREG! Man, we had some times, miss you my friend.]
Had to stop working because of the lasers and eye surgeries...
That sucked because I LIKED that job!
Ran a horse ranch for a year or  so afterwards.
I liked that job too...No one around but myself and the horses...
and the occasional girlfreind..~weg~
I miss my buddies from the ranch too....
Mordecai, Houstonian, Calypso, PC,...

But the ranch went broke so I went to Florida.

Made a side trip to the Michigan Upper-Penninsula..
That's where I got into photography.

Went to college,
Got engaged,
Dropped out to work and build a family
But then I discovered that a Diabetic,
Who is visually impaired and deaf,
has a fucking HARD getting and keeping a job...Don't let the idea of EOE foll you...it's bullshit.
I finally applied for disability after 5 years of THAT shit,
But, it's like so many other things.  Life isn't fair.
A fat, lazy, baby-machine or a druggie can get everything including the kitchen sink given to them.
A guy who is blind can piss off and die.
My girl and I finally broke up.
She married and had a kid by the next year.
I saw her and her daughter in a parking lot last year...even more beautiful than ever.

So here it is 8 years after I applied, according to their doctors I'm legally blind. According to MY doctors I'm legally blind. BUT according to Disability, I'm not blind enough! So what I want to know is....
'WHADDAFUCK?!?!?!'
I was homeless from '94 to '96
You learn a lot from that kind of experience.
Whether you are made of iron and can be tempered,
or made of stone to be shattered.

Well, there it is- You get the idea and, of course, there is a lot more,
Perhaps one day I'll write A BOOK.

SO HERE I am today...
Doing photography and writing poetry.
working on a couple or three books.
ride a motorcycle, when the eyes are stable enough to do it safely.
and teaching myself computer grafx and such...
could be MUCH worse!

I've mellowed out some over time.
But I still see this world thru a different set of eyes,
Jaded perhaps, but real, very real.

Well, I hope this has been fun for you...
I  I know it's certainly been interesting for ME...
LATERS... 'S'

SATANTA...

And, oh yeah...'SATANTA' is a native name meaning 'WHITEBEAR'
Got the name from a freind who is a chief of a Northern tribe in Canada CANADA.
AND LIKE THE BEAR I'M TEMPERAMENTAL... STAY OUT OF MY BERRY PATCH AND DON'T PISS IN MY BEER!
Hmmm... One last thing.  Got some peeps who wanna' know what I look like and asking about a pic of me...Well, I'm kinda ugly but I'll put the only recent pic I have of myself, waaaay down at the bottom of this page..below the forward and back buttons...'s'  It's the only pic that is less than about 8 years old from what I know....

Okaaaayyyyy...here's me!! ~G~ 0