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View Full Version : Me, myself and I. On my own yet never alone..



z0ne0ne
09-28-2014, 11:37 PM
Ok, so let's start with my username "z0ne0ne"..
It stands for "Zone One" or "z One-One" like the Z repping the end score in a game or even just the numbers "zer0-zer0" score aka Love-Love like in tennis. Sometimes the greatest love that I can show you is to neutralize you.. For you not know what you do, and innocent people are in immediate danger.. I never take JOY in watching the enemies explode, but I get SATISFACTION for my justified rage.. Better to get the aggression out here, than going vigilante looking for evil manipulators only to satisfy my own anger.. Regardless of how justified, no one can act as Judge, Jury and Executioner, and when people take matters into thier own hands they only de-legitimize the true efforts.. So I say, leave it to the professionals. That being said, when I see ignorant assholes creating a safety concern in my own homeland, right in front of me, I feel a moral responsibility to stand up for what is right and I'm going to do SOMETHING!!
Now let's be real, some of it is kinda hilarious.. The dog biting the terrorist's leg video shows that even a stray mutt can tell the difference between the good guys and the evil fuckerz.. Sort of like the bees and wasps.. If you don't swat at them or threaten them, they will low-pass fly-by on thier merry way. When I was a little kid I was sailing my tiny wooden boat in a small creek and I stepped into a mud wasp nest.. I fell down and rolled into 3 or 4 other nests, my little brother thought I was playing a game and rolled down the hill only to get stung up too.. Those wasps had thier home smashed/crushed and reacted as one would expect.. My grandfather (WW2 Navy Vet) scooped us both up and brought us back home to safety. He was and will always, in ALL ways, be a true hero. 200+ stings later, the last wasp was removed from INSIDE my sock.. I survived. This was the beginning of building my pain tolerance. I started snowboarding/skateboarding way way back (with a one directional, pointed- tip board with a rope attached).. Got whiplash trying to do a backflip off of a one foot jump in Grade 5 or 6, was paralyzed for a good 10-15 min.. Thank heavens my Gramps was a Physio, gave me free treatment!! I never had medical insurance (dental isn't covered up here in Canada) so I've had to live for years (back when I lived a super modest life=no money) with cracked teeth, root canal worthy cavities and it all helped my pain tolerance grow stronger.. My next severe extreme sports injury was in High School, again snowboarding, of course.. (by then we had dual-direction boards).. I bombed the hill staying tight on my edges and went as fast as possible to hit the 10-15 foot tall jump (of which I had landed a bunch of times earlier in the day). Went FLYING, and my ATML (Approach, Take-off, Maneuver, Landing) got thrown off because during the "M" I looked down below me to see my buddy had crashed who went before me.. I cleared him easy, landed way past him, but looking down instead of paying attention to my "L" threw me off balance and I hit the flatground HARD. Whiteflash mini KO.. I got up, knew I was hurt, but still boarded down the rest of the slope.. At the bottom of the run, I met back up with my friends, they helped me take off my glove and low and behold, my hand was 4 inches to the outside of where it was supposed to be, both forearm bones broken in half.. The girls freaked out and started crying, I had to calm them down, it was just an injury.. I was already a certified Lifeguard by that point, I'm not afraid of the sight of blood, no bones were sticking out, and it really didn't hurt THAT bad. Not enough to CRY!! It's just pain.. Last time I cried from pain was when I fell from climbing a tree and cut my knee, for the first time seeing my own blood, moreso the shock of it, I mean, I was little.. Anyways, when I went in to get my cast removed a couple months later, the X-Ray showed it wasn't healed properly.. So, they cut off the cast.. One Doctor pulled on my arm, the other re-broke and re-set it.. No local anesthetic, not even an Advil.. I might have flinched, but by then I had fallen and smashed myself up soooo many times that my pain tolerance was at least above average by then, thanks to extreme sports, biking crashes, getting knocked the fuck out too many times during training, etc. Now, I've only ever broke those two bones, so far..
Drunken skateboarding, full KO, had me wake up with it raining on me, I get up, dust myself off and notice my body print outline (rain angel??) on the concrete because it wasn't raining when I crashed. LOLZ!! I've got sucker head butted and sucker punched for two broken noses by wack ass fronting gangsters trying to rob me.. They all apologized eventually.. Some immediately. I've had enough guns and knives pulled on me, yet I've somehow never been shot or stabbed. Lucky?? No, I'm fortunate. Quick thinking and never afraid. One kid came with a knife, my skateboard went immediately to his neck, then he put the blade away, then walked away.. Another guy came with a 2X4, we're like "DO IT!! Hit me and see what happens.." Skateboards are hella effective deterrants to deviants. There was a sort of a turf war over the skatepark between the skaters and the gangsters way back then, but nothing too serious, crab apple fights etc. In my life, so far, four separate occasions of people pulling guns one me.. One time when I instinctively jumped in front of my friend to get in between the fronting dude, he respected my bravery, clearly impressed with my lack of fear and he walked away.. I would take a bullet any day for any innocent person. I'd like to think I would jump onto the grenade to save my team if I ever found myself in that situation. Girls who have seen me move have wanted to bang me, but not a chance in hell though, I've been with the best, none of the rest could ever compare.. Anyone who has shot at me, missed. I had a rough teenage life.. I was a thin lanky white boy living in bad areas.. Being robbed by 9 huge gangsters for my last 5 bucks, then one by one they lifted thier hands and each said to me, "I had nothing to do with this" then they walked away, until only 2 were left, who then gave my money back. I never showed fear. Fear is a useless emotion, focus your adrenaline, keep calm and move on.. EVERY street fight that I've ever been in has been AFTER I walked away first, never threw the first punch. Never been put down. After I show them that they can't even hit me beyond a sucker surprise punch, and that they are clearly out classed, I was able to stop the fights and show mercy. Never stomped anyone, never joined a rush. We stopped a couple rushes from escalating.. 5 on 1 is never cool, "You throw one punch, one bottle, and I'm going knock whoever does the fuck out, walk away. NOW!!" My best friend said. Another time the hood kids caused ruckus when the cops showed up.. One of them swung at the cop, I threatened that fake ass gangster in front of the cops, I said fiercely, "If I ever see you again, you're fucking DONE, you hear me??!!" Years later I saw them again, turned to my best friend to say, "Yo, look who's there!!" Turned back and they vanished around a corner, never seen them since.. I have never been forced into a situation where I had to take somebody's life. I was fortunate enough to have a training partner with multiple black belts, in many disciplines. I won Silver at the Canadian Open cross discipline MMA sparring tournament, as a white belt yellow stripe in Tae-Kwon-Do, at 12 years old. My best friend later once said, "Try to hit me, you won't come within 8 inches of hitting me".. I threw a couple strikes, no gloves.. He goes, "No, seriously. Try to hit me." I couldn't. His smile was priceless, "Muay Thai, baby." Our first sparring match we both knocked each other out (not a double KO, this happened during separate rounds, with sparring gloves and helmets, too). Since then, I took some Jeet Kune Do principles, got smashed a shitload of times then used my strengths to make myself into an effective deterrent, but it was the discipline aspect of Martial Arts that had the most lasting affect on me. Self-control. Respect. Honour.
I've never had to carry a gun, if they haven't shot you in the first few seconds, they probably won't.. It helped that I stayed calm and offered my would be robbers a swig of my liquor, they left me alone. Never show fear. So, I would ask, "Do you want to have to look over your shoulder for the rest of your life??" or like the first gun pulled on me, I laughed, "Haha what are you gonna do?? Shoot me??"
I never fuck around. So, IF I was ever murdered, everyone who knows me would know that I didn't start it. I hold myself to a higher standard, the bar set so high that I, myself, I could never hope to reach it. This assures me to be the best that I can be at all times and usually places me above average.
My best friend (an American) and I had made a pact that if we hadn't made anything of ourselves by the age of 23 we were going to join the Navy Seals. At 23, even as a high school drop-out, (know that I later graduated with distance education) I was BALLIN!! More commisions $$ and plaques for recognition than I could have ever hoped for.. Sales came naturally to me, just be honest and genuine and never sell to someone who won't benefit from the product. Ethics have always played a huge role in my decision making. I have effective persuasive conversation techniques, but I would NEVER manipulate another person.. I've been manipulated before, it doesn't feel good. I was a Sales Supervisor for a reputable company and I had people with University Degrees working under my advice.. Since then, I've been sidelined by the doctors for unrelated issues, I am now a professional Web/Graphic Designer, working part-time from home.. My dream job as a graffiti based artist..
So..back to the Frogmen.. I would have failed BUDS for sure. Probably due to poor conditioning, but I would have kept trying and trying until I was successful.. Until you fail, you can never learn and it's not in my nature to EVER give up. I have always been super proficient in the water.. In elementary school, they called me "Dolphin Boy".. Two lengths (25m) underwater, any day.. I can still chain smoke a cigarette then hold my breath for 2+ minutes, haven't tried lately.. But at nearly six and a half feet tall, my lungs are huge, plus I have a secret underwater rebreathing technique that gives me an extra few seconds, nothing special.. Lifeguarding gave me the opportunity to save lives, also to learn effective de-escalation techniques without the benefit of being able to use force/threats.. Some adults could never take a warning from a kid.. They got warned, "DO NOT EVEN TRY A FLIP INTO THE SHALLOW END" I go off duty, as I'm getting changed I hear the YMCA emergency alarm.. I rush back out to see if my team mates they need any help, and flip-buddy leaves on a stretcher in an ambulance..
I've gotten sick of saying, "I told you so".. Too many times people just can't see what's right in front of them.. They say, "Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.. If you hear me say, "Watch out!!" It's probably best to heed that warning.
I have taken it upon myself to acquire the most amount of knowledge, that I can and I am a life long self-educating learner. Feel free to correct me if I am ever mistaken!! I never take it personally. Personal attacks lead me to ask myself, "What could have possibly happened today to cause them to lash out in anger at another person??" I feel sorry for them..* I've been online since the late 80's when my pops ran an independant ISP.. I was the kid having fun at the tradeshows educating people about technology like about how easy it was to surf the net, "even an 8 year old can do it!!" Wow, has the internet changed since then.. The early 90's internet never had "Safe Search".. Coming from a sheltered childhood, my entrance to the "real world" caused me to question EVERYTHING!! I thought racism was a thing of the past, in Canada we celebrate diversity!! Too see racist bullshit still prolific on the other side of the world, angered me with immeasurable justified rage. We are all the same, all humans, all flawed and we all bleed red.
I'm determined to continue to evolve my mind and skills until I am gone. I'm 30 and I've already lived a fulfilling and full life.. Full of love and heartbreak, adventure and mistakes. I learn from my mistakes and move on. You can never change the past, only the future. "Free your mind, and the rest will follow".. A little hip-hop influence there.. I have been making EDM since I was 12, see: http://www.soundcloud.com/n01z/
Moral of the story, "Loose lips sink ships, loose minds plant mines. Tight minds right lines, tight minds write lines"<- My own adaptation to the old addage..
I hope to see a world without war, one day.. Just takes time, persistence, education and hard/smart work. Thanks for listening. Any questions, I will answer to the best of my ability. Even if the answer is, "I do not know.. Let me see if I can find out from someone more educated than myself". This is why I am here on AC. A quest for the truth and nothing but the truth. I have a background in film making, can spot a phony/manipulated bias from a mile away.. I have lived an adventurous life and hope to share more stories of survival with you survivors. Last summer I was on a mountain bike, I got hit and run by a car, ninja'd onto the hood, survived. Any day, I can backflip off of a swingset.. Too many NDE tales, not enough nights nor bonfires to share all of my experiences.. As a civilian (mostly) innocent kind hearted person, who just wouldn't take the BS and would always stand up for what's right, to defend those who cannot defend themselves. No military training, my grandpa advised me never to sign up.. He said, "War is a horrible, horrible thing". Now that I've seen so many documentaries, I understand what he must have meant. He knew I was too kind, always seeing the potential and the good in people.. It took thousands of people lying to me (door to door sales switching phone companies.. It was good excercise, good learning experience to handle rejection and I never let OTHER PEOPLE'S OPINIONS influence my own. Not until careful deliberation to verify the truth). I feel bad when I squash a mosquito, I could have only ever been a medic. Let alone be on a two-man sniper team, which was our 23yr Success or Seals pact plan. I'm a good shot, can come out clean in paintball.. After a few rounds last time we went, unpainted, I decided to challenge the whole arena, all my friends against myself, alone. I never got hit until I ran out of ammo and had to run , then got shotted up in my back!! lolz kinda hard to zigzag your way out of that scenario once I moved out of cover with them ALL after me ahaha.. Good times, good times..
Sorry for the essay, thank you for your time.

z0ne0ne
09-29-2014, 06:25 PM
Oh, and this wasn't written to try and be bad ass.. You all are the heroes!!
Looking back on my life experiences, I would actually understand if you called bullshit on what you just read..
I haven't even begun to share my pain with you all.. I'm OK. I'm fine, really. All of my challenges/illness have made me stronger, smarter, faster, more resilient.. I have an "outside of the box" methodology, I am lucky/fortunate to be alive..
I was never in it for the money, never for fame.. I stood up for what was right. I got fucked up for it.. People have always tried to take advantage of my kindness and generousity, seeing it as weakness.. I give EVERYONE the benefit of the doubt, until they prove me wrong.. There will always be more good people than bad apples, this is the truth, regardless of how cynical your perspective is..

Not all of us are heroes, but we are all SURVIVORS, until that fateful day.. Be strong, never give up, survive.