AMA #32 SKIPPYPBM

"I was born a poor black child"...No not really -but I do love movie quotes!

Actually I was born on Okinawa as a USAF brat-6th of 7 kids(and mom had 5 miscarriages so it could have been a dozen or more). My dad said when folks asked him how they could bring so many kids into the world as it is today- his reply "well SOMEONE has to raise the average IQ of the planet.!" And largely they did. Moved a lot living on three continents by age 4 before settling in VA after my dad retired from Langley AFB in 1973. While in Newport News , my oldest brother suffered a broken neck in a diving accident at age 16 and became a quadriplegic. It was touch and go whether he would survive the summer- but he did and was transferred to the Woodrow Wilson rehab center in Fishersville. We moved to Richmond to be closer to there.

School came easy to me- never really had to work at it at all and was usually in classes with older kids. Thankfully my parents did NOT allow them to skip two grades as the school wanted. Never a large kid, I would have hated to be in college at age 16! Given my SAT scores and class rank, I'm pretty sure I could've gotten in to any school I wanted. I was not (and really still am not) sure what I want to do when I grow up. I applied to four schools:

Duke (my dad's alma mater),
William and Mary,
VT (I had two older sisters there already),
and the USAF Academy(got the appointment and passed the flight physical and fitness test). Ultimately 18 year old me wasn't ready to commit to nine years (4 of college, yr of flight school, and 4 yr service obligation) so
I passed on that-though I do often wonder on the "road not taken".

While at VT (1983-88), I started at the hardest major I could think of(figuring if I didn't like it , I could always "drop down", so I picked Engineering. Did fine but after two years decided it wasn't for me, so I transferred into Business-choosing the hardest focus again which was accounting. One quarter of that(which I aced) was enough to tell myself BORING had me changing majors again. This time it was "what degree can I get with the LEAST additional classes, which is why my BS is in management!

Still unsure of what I wanted to do in life, I stayed in restaurant work for awhile, got married, had kids (lost my job a month before my daughter was born, six months on temp work and unemployment before starting at the bank I currently still work for ---but at HALF the salary I had made in restaurant management. Eventually, after a very rough 5 years, I got better positions and made (and still make) a decent salary. But those lean years taught me (as did growing up in a family where we may have been fairly materially poor -though we kids didn't realize it-but rich in what counted) that money is not what life is all about. Divorced after thirteen years and been single since then.

Music-wise- I like classic rock ('50s-'80s) ,classical, Irish and Russian folk music (not fond of hip-hop/rap though admitting it can be decent to dance to).
Movies- I like romcoms (love all the John Cusack movies -"I want my two dollars!"),military related historical movies (love the Duke's war movies and westerns-heck all his movies), and late '70s/80s movies (Holy Grail, Blues Brothers, Stripes, Meatballs, Caddyshack. Airplane (the original not the sequel), and most of the comedies from that period (Real Genius, Princess Bride).

Sports-VT of course and college football in general (I'm not COMPLETELY jaded yet) and BPL soccer.

Yes I do indeed LIVE on Skippy Creamy peanut butter(only by itself, on Premium brand saltines, or onwhite bread/white toast) - breakfast, lunch, and dinner. No- I never get tired of it. For other foods it would be easier to list what I DO eat than what I don't but I won't list that unless y'all want to know.

Hobbies are playing pool in APA league and tournaments; going to the beach or Busch Gardens; and reading voraciously.

I'll finish with a bit of a twist - my name is (not legally yet but socially) "Cynthia" ....
but it's pronounced "Kevin"....NO not really pronounced that way lol but that was my birth name. I am one of those known as "trans" and have been on HRT for two years and socially transitioned (MaxandCheese from here has seen me in Lot 18- where a friend and I have a parking spot for football- season ticketholders for 10 years plus) and am still deciding exactly how much farther my journey will take me. I have written extensively on a support site I 've been on and been a mod/ambassador on for 9 years as of August 24th-and will gladly answer any questions about this that the mods allow(and if anyone wants to ask privately I will as well)-but as I have always told anyone who asks, Being trans is a PART of who I am -NOT the WHOLE of who I am. I do not demand "acceptance" (of ME or even the concept of being transgender) - all I ask is to be treated with the same common courtesy and respect as any human being deserves.

And with THAT bomb thrown out there, fire away and AMA!