Support System

I am very lucky that I have a great support system in my life. Some people I know don’t have that. I have a very supportive family. My parents have always been great in letting me find my own way and in helping me whenever I need it. My sister is probably my biggest supporter. She is always coming to shows, bringing friends, telling people about me, and letting me know the truth about what she sees. She is not afraid to tell me if something I am in is not as good as it could be. That is a rare thing to have in a person’s life. I also have a terrific group of friends that are always interested in what I am up to and supporting me in any way that they can.

Just when I am feeling down about my life, I got a great phone call from my friend I will call Taiwan. I call him that because he lives there. He and I became friends in high school. We went to different colleges, but we kept the friendship up. We also lived together in Chicago for a year. He is the friend I have known the longest, and he also knows me pretty well.

He moved to L.A. for about 3 years until about 2000, when he moved to Taiwan. He called me to give me a little pep talk. He made me really feel good about my talent and myself. He told me not to give up. Never give up. He knows that right now things are not going the way that I want them too, but I have to do what I have to do to survive. At least I am pursuing a noble goal. Something other people do not do. He made me feel a lot better about what I am doing out here. He is also one of the most interesting people that I know. When I have more time I will write some more stories about him. But here is a quick one.

The summer between my junior and senior year, I would go over to Taiwan’s house just about every day. We would play Nintendo, and then we would go to the high school to practice wrestling because we were both on the team. At his house, we would usually eat lunch or snacks. One day I was searching in the pantry for something to eat and I came upon a bag of popcorn. I asked him if I could eat it. He told me to give it to him and he checked the bag. He then told me that I could eat it. I put a handful in my mouth and started chewing. It tasted really gross. I started coughing and spitting out the popcorn. Taiwan yelled at me to not spit the popcorn out, that there was nothing wrong with it. I checked the expiration date on the bag and it had expired 5 years ago. I told Taiwan that and he started laughing and saying, “I know I know”. Then I got pissed at him for letting me eat it if he knew that it was expired. He just laughed and kept saying “I can’t believe you ate it, I can’t believe you ate it”.