We lived in Indiana until I was around four years old I THINK, then we moved to my Mothers husbands Grandmother's home in Blairsville, Illinois. My family didn't live in Blairsville that long. We soon moved from Blairsville to McLeansboro, Illinois. McLeansboro is located near Blairsville, in Hamilton County Illinois. Hamilton County Illinois is located in central Southern Illinois.
My family moved from there to a little one bedroom home on Sycamore Street near the Junior High School. My two half brothers and my Mothers husband lived there until my Mother died in 1993. The house no longer stands on the site.
After my mother died, my two half brothers were moved out of the house by that time, and me and my Mothers husband moved back into his Grandmothers home in Blairsville for a little while. One of my step brothers may have been with us then still, I really don't remember. We stayed there until we got a place in Dahlgren, Illinois. Dahlgren is also located in Hamilton County. Even though we lived in Dahlgren, I still attended school in McLeansboro. I would ride the school bus to and from school. I believe this was around the time I was in the 5th grade.
We lived in Dahlgren for a while, but then we finally moved back to McLeansboro. We moved into a VERY small two bedroom home near the West Side Grade School. I remember that I was in the 6th grade at this time. I didn't live in that home very long. My Mothers husband was not equipped to handle taking care of a pre-teenager. He was too worried about extra-carricular events such as partying every night, and not coming home for several days at a time, or making sure there was food left in the house.
Soon after moving into that home, me and my freind started attending church. Some of the people in the church soom found out about my living conditions and I started staying there. It was eventually decided that I would live there, and it wouldn't be contested. At that time, I cut all ties with him. And to this day I have no contact with him whatsoever. I have no use in my life for drug addicted losers that will only drag me down. He's an embarassment to the human race.
I moved into their home out near Dale, Illinois. I lived in that home until I was 20 years old, and a Freshman at Rend Lake College.
After I moved out of that home, I immediatley moved to Benton, Illinois in neighboring Franklin County, Illinois. I have lived in Benton since. I have had three different homes since moving to Benton. I am most happy with my current living situations. I live by myself in West City. It's the first time that I have had my own place, and not had to live near neighbor, either in a duplex or an apartment building or with a roomate. I am currently single and I am not really looking for anything special right now. I'm just having fun being single.
Looking back on my life I have a lot of regrets, but I also have a lot of cherished memories. There are certainly things that I would change. I would love to have had my Mother live longer so I could have got to know her better. I know my Mother can see me from somewhere today, right now. And I know for sure that she is smiling seeing how well I have turned out compared to my two worthless half brothers. I'm sure, wherever she is, that she is very proud of me. And I am sure she's watching my Sister too smiling at how she has turned out.
I definetly regret some of the things that I did in High School. I wasn't as likeable as I am now back then. I was a stuck up jerk. I did a lot of things to a lot of people that I wish I could make up for. But I have changed a lot since those days, and if some of the people that I have wronged throughout those years knew me now,they would definetly know that I have changed from the way I used to be. I think moving away from Hamilton County was the best thing for me. I know I only moved a whopping 22 miles, but living in Benton is like living in a different world compared to living in Hamilton County. If I still lived in Hamilton County I would probably still be the same person that I was before. I am a better person living here.
There is one particular event that I caused by taking someone that I loved very much for granted, that I would do anything in the world to, not necesarilly change, but make right. But I can't, and I'll probably never get a chance to make up for all the bad things that I did to her. Maybe someday that will happen. I hope so.
Throughout my life there have been many ups and downs. But I haven't been through anything more than anyone else. Everyone has hardships. It's just a matter of what you do when you are faced with them. How you react to them is what makes you the person that you are. I think that through thick and thin, that in the long run that everything will turn out great for me. I look forward to the future, and finding the girl of my dreams, and living a long full, happy life, that anyone would be proud of.
Allright, where to begin? Here are some of my interests. I am a BIG sports fan. I love the St. Louis Cardinals, the St. Louis Rams, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and the New York Yankees. My two favorite sports are Baseball and NASCAR. I'm a Cardinals fan first and a Yankees fan second, and if they ever face off in the World Series I would want the Yankees to win. Believe me, I take so much crap around here for being a Yankees fan, as well as a Cardinals fan.
My two favorite television shows are Smallville and One Tree Hill. I'm a big Superman fan, and have been watching Smallville since it's inception. It's a great show. I started watching One Tree Hill because it was on the WB the same night as Smallville and I really enjoyed it. The other television show I like is Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. I would have to say that it's THE BEST show in TV right now. I have never seen a bad episode of that show.
My favorite movie is Garden State. It's hard to explain why I like this movie, because it's really hard to explain the movie itself. The movie made me look at everything differently, and to evaluate where I am at in my life, and where I want to be in the future. Another movie that I really love is Almost Famous. That movie just kicks so much ass. The movies great, and the soundtrack is just as good.
I collect many different, stupid little things. One being baseball cards. I think I have a very nice collection of autographed and relic cards, and sports memorabilia. It's hard for me to pick one particular card or item that I consider my favorite, as I have several that allthough they may not be worth much monetary wise, they are very sentimental to me and I wouldn't get rid of them for the world.
My favorite color is blue.
Other things I collect are Superman merchandise, and Dukes of Hazzard merchandise. I also collect KISS memorabilia. I have had some of the KISS stuff since before I was born. It was my older brothers. I have hundreds of items of KISS memorabilia. But I haven't bought anything new in a few years.
My favorte food is Itallian food. Man, I could eat at the Pasta House or the Olive Garden every day and never get sick of it. I also like an awesomely cooked steak. Medium is perfect for me. I love White Castle too. I also love Chinese food, and some seafood, allthough I am not a big fan of fish unless it is grilled.
My favorite Chinese food restaurant is the Full Moon House in Benton. They have the best egg rolls around.
I enjoy going to Cardinal games as often as I can. Old Busch was probably my most favorite place on Earth, and I am sad that it is gone. I will never forget, and always miss the smell of that place. I am so glad that I was able to attend the Final Regular Season Game at Old Busch Stadium. I do love the new Busch Stadium though, and I look forward to attending games there as often as possible for years to come!
I enjoy getting together with my freinds and being retarted. We'll get together, play beer pong, or pitch washers, or play some drinking games, and have a blast.
My favorite smell in the world is fresh rain.
I have an older sister named Melissa. I wish I could see her more often, and knew her better. She lives in Indiana.
I like cats better than dogs. Cats can pretty much take care of themselves, all you have to do is manage the litter box. With dogs, you have to take them out all the time, or they use the bathroom in the house, and I hate that. And cats don't bark either.
I hate it when people put the toilet paper on the roll where it rolls out from the back! That drives me insane!
When I go to the movies I don't like making out the entire time. If I spend like $20.00 to watch a movie, then I am going to watch the movie and not make out the whole time!
I'm not a real big fan of holding hands or making out majorly in public.
I am a clean FREAK! It is totally because of my O.D.C. Yes, I am Obsessive Compulsive about many things. Everything has to be perfect in my house. The dishes always have to he washed. The place has to be clean all of the time. And if anybody moves ANYTHING I notice it, and have to correct it immediatly. I know, I'm a freak when it comes to stuff like that, but I seriously cannot help it.
My favorite season of the year is Fall. I love it because of the change in the weather. It is totally the nicest time of the year. It's perfect. Warm in the daytime, and cool at night. If it could be that way year round I would be a very happy person. I have severe seasonal allergies. Fall may be my favorite time of the year, but around Fall harvest time, I am miserable for a couple of weeks. I have terribly severe seasonal allergies. It was really bad when I lived out in the country, but now that I live in town they haven't been that bad the past few years.
I played football and ran track in High School. I was very good at both. I wore the number 2 all four years when I played football. In track I did virtually every event except for the long distance races. I was mainly a sprinter, and triple jumper. In football, I was a cornerback and running back.
I have a bad habit of constantly yelling at the television while watching NASCAR races, St. Louis Cardinals games, St. Louis Rams games, and New York Yankees games. I'll find myself screaming about stupid litte insignifigant stuff that most people wouldn't even notice, but I am a sports nut, so I notice those things.
My favorite fast food is Arby's Marketfresh Menu. I love the turkey and swiss sandwich. It's the best fast food out there. I'll always get that with curly fries.
I'm actually kind of affraid of heights. Not so much going up, but I hate coming down. I hate coming down on ladders. If I ever climbed a water tower, I'd be stuck up there forever, because I'd never take that first step to get on the ladder to come down. I hate that, but roller coasters don't bother me at all. Weird.
Sometimes I will find myself reading magazines from the back to the front. I have no idea why I do it, and never even really notice that I do until I am almost finsished.
I have a bad habit of picking the beer pong cups up off of the table while a game is in session and start drinking it. Two times in one night I realized that I had a cup in my had and was drinking it, and never even remembered picking it up, and nobody ever said a word about me picking it up.
Well, there's some stuff about me. I guess I am pretty weird.
It's pretty simple what I want out of my life though.
All I want is to find a girl that will love me for who I am unconditionally, and who I will love the same. It doesn't matter if she's the prettiest girl in the world or anything like that either. I do have two major pre-requisits though when it comes to the woman I would marry or date: she can't smoke, or have any kids. I do want a family, but I want my own family, not somebody elses. I just want to find that certain someone, settle down, and have at least two kids. In a perfect world, I would have a boy first, and then about a year later have a girl. I'd want to have the boy first, so that he can kind of watch over her when they get older. I would want them born near each other because I always wished that I had a sibling close to my age to grow up with, instead of being years younger than my half brothers.
That's all I want. I don't have to have the most money in the world, or the fanciest cars or the nicest house. All that matters to me is that I have a nice and loving family. That's it. I want to be the father to my children that I never had when I was growing up, and I know that I can be.
I look at life like this:
No matter how hard your life may seem, or how difficult things may be, always remember that there are people in this world that are going through things in life that you could never even imagine. So be happy with what you have, and always try your best to do whatever it takes for you to be happy and successful.
-Sam
