Popping The Cherry.

Ok guys, I’m new to this whole blog thing… kinda. I’ve been an avid reader of a few popular (and not-so-popular) blogs for a number of years now, but I'd like to think I’m interesting, intellectual, and insightful enough to run my own dog-and-pony show now… hopefully you will too.

I sat around thinking about how I would construct this INAUGURAL post:  the typical “this-is-where-I-am-right-now-in-my-life-and-this-is-why-I-feel-the-need-to-pour-my-life-out-into-the-deep-abyss-of-the-world-wide-web” spiel just didn’t seem all that attractive to me. Frankly, I don’t see the point and I doubt you’d care all that much. Nor do I feel like leaving you guys with a novel excerpt to read today.

But I did want to sort of give you guys a quick rundown of who I am as an individual, and thus this list of 17.5 (yes, 17.5… the significance of the number “7.5” will come later) random and not-so-random things about MOI was birthed. Stick around long enough and you’ll learn more than your fair share about me (some things you probably had no desire to know, and some things I probably had no desire to reveal to you).

  

 My 17.5 Fact Rundown:

1. I will be 22 years old this year, and I embody all the expected traits of a true Leo.
2. I am a gay black male, with the occasional appreciatively-bisexual tendency…
3. I was once a straight male, engaged to be married (yes, engaged at the ripe old age of 18), and was almost a teenage father.
4. I attend Morehouse College, as an Accounting major. I’m a mere 12 credits away from obtaining this degree. And obtain it I SHALL.
5. I am a Georgia Boy, born and raised in the great & magical city of Atlanta (STR8 OUTTA DA DEC.... EASTSIDE, STAND UP!!! )
6. I am an only child… in my mind. I have two sisters, one adopted & the same age as me, and one older “step-sister” of sorts from one of my mother’s previous relationships. I also have a half-brother (who I love to DEATH)… unfortunately, we share the same father.
7. I love my mother more than anyone in this whole entire world. She is without question one of the most amazing, compassionate, understanding, patient, practical, supportive, sacrificing, wise, virtuous, witty, insane people to ever walk this earth. She has single-handedly led the efforts I like to deem responsible for shaping and molding me into who I am today.
8. I have an incredibly terrible relationship with my father. But most homosexual black men do, correct??
9. I have a very interesting (and by interesting I mean TUMULTUOUS and DYSFUNCTIONAL) relationship with both my maternal and paternal sides of the family… I’m often regarded as the stand-offish one, because to be quite frank, I don’t really care to fuck with ANY of them. I am, however, VERY close to my maternal grandfather, a select few aunts & uncles, and a handful of cousins on my mother’s side.
10. My lineage is that of French & Spanish Creole (on my mother’s side… if you’ve ever seen her, now you know why she’s two shades lighter than Kate Moss) and Black / Native American on my father’s side. Cliché, I know. But true.
11. I’ve been through A LOT more in my life, in general and ESPECIALLY relationship-wise, than most 21-year-olds. My story would FLOOR you, I’m sure. It would also require you to take a few days off, because a short one it is NOT.
12. Music and dance are two of my FIRST loves in life. Been dancing since the age of 4 and singing since the age of 6. I was actually a member of the GRAMMY AWARD WINNING Atlanta Boy Choir for seven years… yes, ya boy is somewhat cultured and well-traveled.
13. I currently serve as coordinator and co-choreographer for DRC Dance Company, founded in 2005 by a group of talented, driven, and hardworking individuals. We’re currently 58 members strong, and preparing to do big things… touring Canada, Japan, and Africa in 2010.
14. I was molested as a child by family MEMBERS (plural in form, guys and gals), from the age of 4 to the age of 8. See how I kinda tried to sneak that one in there??
15. I once aspired to be a journalist. But I decided, per the urgings of my family filled with corporate slaves, to go the business route. Still kick myself about once a week for that one.
16. I don’t have a lot of experience “’being single”. Very sad, especially for me now since I’m in-between relationships (......)
17. My whole outlook on love and relationships at this point in my life is quite jaded and cynical, but still much more realistic than most (I’d like to think, anyway). You can only go through so many things and take so many shots to the face before you’re forced to step back and realize it’s time to re-evaluate and redefine the requirements, restrictions, and expectations.

17.5.  I'm learning to love myself more and more each day. Probably the sappiest shit you've read today, but I'm serious.

And there you have it. I present you: Me, in a poorly constructed list of casual ramblings and revelatory truth. Hope I haven’t scared too many of you off already.