All right, fine. I'll introduce myself. But don't say I
didn't warn you. You're about to discover one of the most negative things about
me: long posts.
Cue the Alfred Hitchcock theme music.
I have held the nightwing
identity, in one form or another, for over 20 years.
I was nightwing on the now defunct
DELPHI online service and the also now defunct
GEnie online service.
On Bulletin Boards, online forums, blogs,
etc., I have held the ID of nightwing, nightwng, nightwing2000, and nightwng2000.
Offline, my name is Andrew Rhodes. I am the 38 year old
parent of one 10 year old son, Zachary (whose last name isn't the same as mine,
for the record). Zachary's girlfriend's name is Gina and she will turn 11 in
May of 2006.
I have considered writing a book about myself, as I'm sure
many individuals have. But then, I've also considered writing several science
fiction books as well. And though I think I may have some moderate talent, I
don't have the endurance to go beyond even the first page of such endeavors. Which probably explains why many of my posts are so long. So much built up inside that needs to come out.
I was born in Durham, NC and attended, for 10 of my 12 years of elementary
school life, the Governor Morehead School
for the Blind in Raleigh, NC. The other 2 years, of the junior high
level, were spent at 2 other public schools. Because of my life experiences,
events did not work out there at those public schools because of me. I
eventually graduated from GMS in 1986 as salutatorian (which is nothing to brag
about considering I was 2nd in a mere class of 15 students graduating).
I started college in a 2 year degree program at Wake Technical
Community College in
Business Computer Programming. It was because of my prior life experiences that
I felt no real desire to go to a 4 year college, such NC State in Raleigh where someone
from GMS had tried to make arrangements for me to attend, at no cost to myself.
It was also those prior life experiences that cause emotional difficulties
which led to me dropping out half way through my 2 year degree program and
nearly commiting suicide on the night before moving
back to Durham.
While in Durham, I slowly recovered some of my
wits and completed my 2 year degree at Durham Technical
Community College in the Spring of 1989.
Not finding a job in computer programming, however, I began
a Data Entry job at a medical billing company, where I stayed for 5 years. In
the Spring of 1994, I won $5,000 from a local radio
station. Which, in a sense, could be described as a bad
thing. Though I'll skip the exact details here, since the full explanation
would require backtracking to my school years, let's just say that prize money
led me to make a decision that took me from a fairly decent job and led me to
move to Wilmington, NC, where I've been since.
During the last nearly 12 years, I've had jobs at:
(1) The home office of a jewelry company (including
positions of data entry in the credit department, collections (not a job for
the weak willed), skip tracing, and the bankruptcy division). After 7 years,
the accounts receivable department (credit, collections, etc) was sold off to a
thrid party and we were laid off.
(2) A year and four months living on first unemployment then
Social Security Disability (legally blind). The Social Security is definitely
not a think I recommend you get involved with. For the most part, the SS
Administration is not honorable. There is a great deal of hassle to deal with,
you don't receive much funds, and it can be a trap because getting off of it
can seem like a trap considering what they put you through.
(3) After searching for jobs I was capable of doing
(education and experience weren't the only considerations. My vision limits me
in many ways, even in travel capability), a Temp Agency FINALLY found something
I could do in town. The ability to get to work was difficult (it's improved
since, but still isn't perfect) but I wanted a job, badly. I was assigned to
work data entry for a clinical research company. I proved myself, and was kept
on as a Temp for a whole year. After the year, I had proved myself worthy of
hiring. I've been with them since. As a permanent employee, I've been there for
a year and four months. I have no desire to quit. And only the failing of my
vision or the closing of the company will end my career with them.
I warned you this was going to be long.
My son:
Zachary is 10 years old. He suffers from ADHD. He is
currently on Adderall and doing well in school where
he is currently in the 5th grade, expected to pass to the 5th next year. If it
hadn't been for a single C in one class two grading periods ago, he would be on
the A-B Honor Roll for the year most likely. He has one girlfriend, Gina. They
love to play the Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh
card games, though Zachary hates to loose. They play Pokemon
on their Nintendo GBAs linked. Zachary, because of
the ADHD medicine is required to see a counselor on a regular basis and has
been since he was 4 or 5 years old. And because he has being seeing her,
certain very negative events in his life were handled far better because he
already was prepared to speak out more freely to myself and others regarding
it. Or so I strongly believe.
As to personal computers and video games in the last 25 or
so years:
I was using the VIC 20 and the Commodore 64 when they were
new. I had also had many of the IBM PC clones, from the XT level all the way up
to using my current computer, an AMD Athlon XP 2100+.
I've had an Atari 2600, Colecovision,
Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Nintendo Gamecube,
Dreamcast, Playstation, Playstation
2, and probably a number of other consoles that I have long since forgotten.
