A Brief History of Myers

A BRIEF HISTORY OF MYERS

Born: 19 November, 1963
Where: St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Height: The average, for a white guy in America
Weight: 14 Stones (More or less.)
Hair: Yes, I still have all of it. Thanks for asking.
Eyes: The usual number for a biped from Earth

HERE IS A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF MYERS
(Brief, being a rather subjective word.)

Being born in the middle of the Midwestern United States, on "an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet" in "the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral Arm of the Galaxy" where the "ape descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea..." the sort of life I've had was sort of, middle, average, boring. Well, not too boring. I have managed to keep myself amused with a variety of careers, hobbies, drugs, lovers and fun vacations.

I started things out, way back in the late 1970's with the wrong-headed idea that I wanted to be a Chef. Not that there is anything wrong with being a Chef, mind you, but, shortly after starting out, I discovered that the job SUCKS. It's hot, sweaty, sticky, dirty work. Not the kind of thing you want to do if you're main objective is to get girls! The smell of stale fryer grease and rotting vegetables is a real turn-off to the ladies. So I did the next best thing, while trying to make it through school, Waiter/Bartender. It's easy and the money's in cash and it's quick. Go into work broke, walk out with fifty or a hundred bucks. Woo Woo! That however turned out to be hard, sweaty, albeit, not quiet as smelly work too. So, I moved onto the next best thing; Radio Disc Jockey. Twelve years doing everything from news too classical too rock and roll. Mostly rock and roll. Now there was a career. Early twenty's, single, HIV negative and lots and lots of girls who, "just love to listen to you!" Of course, like all good things, that too, came an end. The industry went to hell in a hack with the Telecommunications Act or 1996 and Clear Channel Communications (Known as Cheap Channel to those that know and hate them) took over the industry. Then, I got married. The latest career is Computer Network Tech. Not a bad gig really but, many fewer groupies and positively no free concert tickets. Ces't la vie. Here I am.

When not sitting on my behind, staring blankly at a computer monitor, I tend to read a lot. And, by a lot, I mean like, a book a week. Sometimes more. I'm not sure where I find the time since I am, as I've said, married and that takes up a great deal of time. I do still enjoy cooking and have a rather large house and yard that eat my time like a man with a tapeworm at the All You Can Eat Buffet at Lum's. Yard work, wood work, building and refinishing furniture are among my hobbies.

The drugs, well, other than several varieties of liquor and the occasional cigar, those are merely part of my sordid past. As are the lovers.

The fun vacations, I still do a lot of those. As a matter of fact, I'd spend the rest of my life on a fun vacation if it weren't for that whole, "need money to survive" thing. Scenes from England, France, Hawaii, Canada, Mexico and all over the United States are in my vacation photo albums. I'm about to get my third passport and am looking very much forward to filling that one with the stamps of foreign lands too.

My wife! How I got so lucky as to land her, I don't even ask. I'm afraid I'll jinx it. She loves to travel, is smart and is a little hotty. And after over seven years of marriage, I'm happy to say, I'm still in awe of her.


MY LONG-TIME LOVE OF NEARLY EVERYTHING DNA


I can remember back in the fall of 1979, somebody gave me a copy of this book they said had them laughing out loud. It was a rather thin,
"science-fiction" book called, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. I remember starting to read it that night and finishing it the next. Laughing almost the whole way through it. For some reason, shortly thereafter, except for required reading, I really didn't read much else for about the next eight years. I don't know why that happened. I had been reading since I was five years of age and always enjoyed it. Somehow though, during my freshman year of high school, reading fell by the wayside and I really didn't pick-up reading for pleasure until sometime in the late 1980's.

A friend lent me a really great book called The Vampire Lestat, by; Anne Rice. I was amazed. The images that this book created in my mind revived my long slumbering imagination. It had been so long since I'd read anything other that which was "required reading", either for school or work that I'd forgotten that a book could be much more "visual" than either television or the movies. It was a wonderful (re)discovery.

Shortly there after, while wondering through my favorite bookstore (Left Bank Books, on Euclid Avenue in St. Louis'Central West End) I came across, The Complete Hitchhikers Guide. Remembering how much I'd enjoyed the original and having heard the radio series on NPR several times and having seen the TV version on PBS, I bought it. I burned through all 3 books and "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe" as if they were a barrel of whiskey and I was a man on the way to his own wedding. I couldn't believe how great they were or how it was that I hadn't kept up with this incredibly talented author. The day following the day that I finished reading through The Complete Hitchhikers Guide, for the second time, I went back to Left Bank to look for more from Douglas Adams. What I found, was Dirk Gently! I've been hooked ever since and have found that I don't go much more than a year without rereading Hitchhiker and the Dirk Gently books.

To a very large extent, I feel that I owe Douglas Adams a great debt. Because of the enjoyment I got from reading his books, I got into the habit of reading veraciously. And because of his subject matter, because of the science and the sort of the "quarter step left of center" way that DNA tends to look at the world, I have been inspired to think. To continue to learn about the world and the way it works. The unexpected death of Douglas, a little over a year ago, hit me like Sputnik falling back to earth. I was flattened. I sat at my desk, staring, open mouthed, in utter disbelief and despair at the computer monitor as I read of the heart attack suffered by a man that I'd never met but whom had affected my life in so many ways.

I'd become a member of H2G2 shortly before and since, I have tried many times to fill this space. For many reasons (some of them stated in the hobby section above) I have never gotten around to it. Mostly, I've had trouble till now, putting my thoughts in order as I tried to come to terms with the fact that I will never hear from Douglas Adams again. Standing in front of the Latest Release section of the book store in frustration that the newest Douglas Adams book was not out yet, had become somewhat of a ritual with me. A frustrating ritual but, one that I rather enjoyed. Knowing that it is now a wholly futile effort, well, makes me very sad.

The world as a whole is just so much less without Douglas in it. Thankfully, we have this. This wonderful brainchild of Douglas' fertile, imaginative and forward thinking mind. I am glad to be a part of it.

Once again, Thank you Douglas, you've added so much to my live.


Myers



Myers' quick guide to some pages with-in H2G2:
Ultimate Drink Guide A71614

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