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Howdy.
I'm still relatively young, and there's a lot of things that I have
planned to do. This website was one of them. I wanted a place where I
could vent my joys and frustrations, and also a place where I could
post my writings and art and whatever else I saw fit. Thanks to the
kindness of Diva (www.nochicktrix.com) and the webdeveloping prowess of
Bane (www.talkloud.net), here I am. My name is Jake. I'm originally
from a rather microscopic town in East Texas, and I'm in the process of
graduating high school and stepping out into the wild blue yonder.
Hell, by the time this about page is posted, I'm sure that I'll already
have graduated. Having freed myself from Canton High School, I now plan
on going to college and getting a degree in...something. As for what,
exactly, I'm not entirely sure. Idealistically, I want to teach. I'd
like to teach Spanish (I'm bilingual...no, not THAT, you fucking
degenerate) or Literature. Both of these subjects interest me greatly,
and there's nothing that I would enjoy more than to pass my knowledge
down to a whole new generation of ungrateful, careless bastard kids.
And that's a serious comment.
I was raised in the country, born from a family who had originally
escaped the trappings of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, sacrificing
the frantic insanity of city life for more laid-back and manageable
environs. I endured the long, sweltering days of summer, coated in
mosquitoes while building a tree fort with my grandfather. We all
hibernated during the chilly winters where it rarely snowed, but it was
always cold enough to freeze and guarantee that you would slip and bust
your ass at one point or another. Being born in the fall, I was always
partial to the weather in East Texas, regardless of the extremes (or
lack thereof). The scenery? It's great. We were always surrounded by
lush pastures, tall, green trees, creeks, lakes, and the occasional
marshland/bayou. Of course, this small town's laughable excuse of what
the larger cities term "urban sprawl" has taken place, and there are
several housing developments being constructed around our land. There
has been a noticeable influx of new neighbors?some good, some bad, some
indifferent.
My family was comprised of me, my mother, and my grandparents. My
grandmother majored in art and interior design, and I learned a lot
about the fine arts from her. She had traveled all around Europe, and I
was amazed to hear the stories she had to tell. My grandfather was a
military man, who served in the Marines, became a Lieutenant Colonel,
and then retired to become a farmer. My mother and he scrounged some
capital together and started the Kickapoo Creek Herb Farm. It started
off simple, as a retail and wholesale plant farm, and thanks to the
efforts of my mother and grandmother, they branched out into a more
epicurean venture before finally shutting down due to illnesses in the
family. The money from the herb farm, along with the contributions of
my grandparents and my mother, allowed me to attend a private school in
Tyler, which is a city nearby. All Saints Episcopal School became my
first true sociological institution. I learned many things there that I
still haven?t forgotten to this day. Extreme religious focus aside, it
was a great place filled with many competent educators and many bright
students. However, being a middle-class peon amongst Tyler's elite, you
can bet your ass that I was looked down upon by my fellow alumni. No
sweat, right? I bit my tongue and moved on. Nothing a little bit of
misanthropy couldn?t cure.
In my seventh grade year, I broke down. The rigorous math courses were
killing my grades, and I was never mathematically inclined to start
with. So, I made the choice to get out of All Saints and head to public
school in good ol' Canton. It was a much more accepting environment,
and I was among people that I could get along with. I fit in great,
with a brief stint on the laughably horrible football team, and focused
on my studies. I always had a predisposition for language and
literature, having passed spelling and grammar classes with flying
colors, and having been blessed with inspiration and a competent
imagination, I began to write. During this time, I joined a few
technology courses and became more adept with computers. Being
accustomed to the country folk around here, I was surprised to see that
there was a whole new world out there on the digital frontier. I became
enamored with the Internet, as it allowed me to get away from this
postage stamp-sized place and encounter people from other cities, other
states...hell, even other countries. It wasn't long before I weaned
myself off of the tit of AOL (go ahead and laugh, I'll wait) and
started posting on forums. I then was approached by Alexander King
(www.akpcep.com), who showed interest in my writing skills and gave me
a spot as a staff member on his site. I began writing more often, with
various pieces eliciting various responses from my peers. Positive
feedback, negative feedback, whatever. I didn?t care, as long as my
stuff was out there. I was warmly accepted and found my niche there.
After a few awkward months, I was a regular, and still am to this day.
I began tinkering with the idea of my own site, and after some
disgusting attempts at HTML pages, gave up on it for a while. I joined
other forums, but gained an affinity for another one, NoChickTrix. I
started posting on there and eventually got to know Diva, who proved to
be very kind and incredibly generous. Once, I mentioned the idea of
having a personal site, and she immediately enlisted the help of Bane,
who is a bright guy, and very proficient with webdesign. After kicking
around ideas for a name and finally settling on one, I informed him of
my general intentions with the site. He got to work making a design and
coding the features. Now, here it is. RagingTexan.com. For me, for you,
and for whoever else cares.
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