What
really tells you about a person – where they’ve been, or where they’re going?
Today, let’s try to cover where I’ve been.
My
pat(ented) biography (what I put on my books and in the cover letters for my story
submissions) lists me as a “karaoke junkie, former theater student, and
recovered wargamer”, but that isn’t all that I’ve been. So - where (& what)
have I been? Let’s ramble together…
I
spent most of my childhood in Massachusetts. First came Quincy, where I was too
small to be allowed to wander, and there was a girl in the neighborhood who
was… of questionable safety, so I was secured in the yard on a harness (or was I
staked out like a Judas Goat – A-Ha! My first Job. Next was Franklin, where I
remember a haunted barn (not ours) and being chased around the yard by a bull
(not ours, either.) Third was Wilmington, with a backyard that looked like
woods when my parents bought the place in winter, but turned out to be swamp
when the thaw came – a lot of blueberry picking and my first musical instrument
(trumpet.)
Last
was Tewksbury, where I wandered in the woods a lot, my instrument list expanded
– French Horn (because we were ranked based on grade so I could be 2nd
chair on that instead of 3rd trumpet), E-Flat horn (because my band
teacher saw me dis- and reassemble my French horn during a Christmas concert),
Alto Horn, Trombone (was in a garage band for a couple of months and got paid
$5 for a “sweet 16” birthday party, so I’m a Pro!).
Started
my acting “career” there by cutting my lip during 6th grade recess
so I was sitting in class when the girl from the Senior Class Play said they
needed someone to play Unbearable Scragg in L’il Abner.) Played Captain von
Trapp, Ito, and Snoopy among other roles
Moved
to Texas in ’73 (during the oil embargo and the Watergate hearings), and even
though I’ve lived in several towns since, it’s all been on the Dallas side of
DFW. My last 2 years in High School I picked up guitar, wrote a dozen songs
(that I still have), wrote some other things besides (that I don’t.) Went to
school for theatre (Dionysus, Theseus, The Player King, Travis Macefield,
Fontaineux, etc.) but stopped when I decided I wasn’t going for a degree. My
last foray into theatre was The Reindeer in The Snow Queen with Theatre Onstage,
for which a couple of months of work netted $25 (I’m a PRO again!) and a
promotional appearance on Mr. Peppermint (where I watched Jerry Haynes beat
Muffin with his cane during a break in filming; don’t worry – Muffin was a
puppet (a raccoon?).) And thus ended my acting career (although I might argue
I’ve been acting ever since – we are all a formed and evolving composite of the
many experiences we have had.)
I
worked a lot of warehouse and manufacturing jobs, I got married, was soon laid
off and decided I needed to go back to school for… COMPUTERS (I had dabbled
with BASIC programming, so why not?) And FIVE-AND-A-HALF YEARS of school and
work later I picked up the TWO-AND-A-HALF YEARS of school I needed to get my
Bachelor’s degree JUST IN TIME for my son to be born. (It would have been SO
MUCH EASIER to do this straight out of high school, but then again, computers
weren’t even on my radar – my first exposure was as a student assistant in my
theatre days, running registration cards from the gym to the computer center
(yes, I was paid to be a SNEAKER MODEM) where the geeks there gave me printouts
to take back.)
It
took another couple of years to actually get a job that used that degree (being
a Machine Shop Supervisor paid better than any of the entry level IT work I
could find), but eventually I made the transition, and I’ve been in IT ever
since – although I’m a Project manager now, and my coding days are WELL behind
me.
What
have I left out… GAMING. I’ve played games all my life (yes, I know we all have
as we grew up, but I went further.) Playing army in the woods, chess in the
library (I NEVER tip my king), Canasta with my grandparents, Monopoly (won
25-cents off our Priest for that and mortified my mother in the process, but
there I am – a PRO again), elaborate plastic soldier battles across my yard
that escalated into an arms race with more advanced models and weapons, including aircraft (hey - we didn't have computers yet), lots of boardgames,
wargames, French Napoleonic miniature battles, Dungeons & Dragons
role-playing (when it was just a little box with three little booklets), an era of fantasy miniature battles with my Dwarven Hoard, and backgammon, Scrabble, UNO and such with my wife, and here lately Texas Hold’em.
I’m
overly analytical (and competitive), and it really comes out when I play. At
the height of my gaming days I was known as “The Threat”; other players would
often gang up on me to knock me out of whatever multi-player game we were competing in. One
friend told me it (the nickname AND the ganging up) was because I always seemed
to be winning, and so they had to take me out first, but another said that it
was because I always acted like I knew something the rest didn’t (theatre
again? Or arrogance?) and I never gave up (I told you, I don’t EVER tip my
king) so I needed to be taken out of the game just because of how annoying I
was. (actually, there’s truth to both.)
Then
there’s the karaoke. I love to sing – no matter where I am, but up in front of
people feeding off their energy (like when I used to be on stage) and being
immersed in the backing music (much more fulfilling than a Capella in a grocery
store), and having to keep up (competitive, sort of, but I also like
structure.) And especially having the words right there in front of me so I
don’t have to worry about remembering them means that I can sing just about
anything; I have a talent for picking out melodies on most songs even if I
haven’t heard them. Of course, there’s a lot of new stuff lately that just doesn’t
seem to come as naturally to me – doesn’t fall into the traditional patterns.
Each
of us is a unique, growing, unfolding pattern, but a pattern none the less, and
we only change so far. The more history you have behind you, the better able
you should be to predict where you’re going (and where you’ll wind up.) And
yet, how many of us really can?
(Next
week we’ll talk about where I want to go…)
Times
change, and we do, too, but only to a point. Everything we’ve been and seen and
done informs how and who we are now. I can look at all the things I’ve listed
above and see how they are reflected in my life today – even in how I approach
my job. So don’t ever think that you are JUST a programmer, or a musician, or a
construction worker, or a wife, or a husband, a doctor, or a writer, or
….whatever label you find yourself applying TO yourself. You are all of those
things and more. Be sure to use it all.
Just
saying…
<<<>>>
Our featured work this week is “Flee Markets” (that is NOT a
misspelling – it actually MEANS something in the story. You can always find
something unexpected at those – well, maybe not THAT unexpected. ) Here’s the
link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/402085?ref=NoTimeToThink
Use coupon code UC78A to save
67% off the list price at check out on smashwords (that makes it only 99 cents
– such a deal!) The coupon is good through July 27th. Enjoy!
<<<>>>
Prepping
another story for ePublication on July 31st – more details next week…
<<<>>>
William Mangieri’s writing can be found in
many places, including:
- His Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B008O8CBDY
- Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/william-mangieri?store=book&keyword=william+mangieri
- Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/NoTimeToThink
- Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/pub/simplesitesearch.search.do?sitesearch_query=william+mangieri&sitesearch_type=STORE
To connect with him, go to
“William Mangieri’s Writing Page” on Facebook (and LIKE and
FOLLOW), at: http://www.facebook.com/NoTimeToThink
Or
his Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6893616.William_Mangieri
Or
on twitter: @WilliaMangieri
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