| Born January 22, 1983 in Freehold, NJ jerseyjoe83 was raised in Manalapan, NJ. He spent his childhood hating school (due in no small part to it's lack of challenging curriculum, and abundance of generalizing the abilities of children) playing outside, reading, and rarely watching television that wasn't Mr. Wizard, 123 contact, or news. His mother was a teacher, his father an instrumentation technician in an oil refinery- both of which still hold his utmost respect. He went to college in a private high school in South Amboy, NJ. While in school he played the part of the quintessential class clown, entertaining others, yet still maintaining a positive learning environment for others.
He followed the belief that learning should be fun, and if half the class was sleeping, not only were they not having fun- they certainly weren't learning. This he believed could be changed with his addition of humorous anecdotes and sometimes almost "roasting" the teacher, combined with an enthusiasm to answer fielded questions to help motivate and perpetuate class participation. He had exceptional testing scores throughout school although he never brought a book bag home to study or complete homework. This led to somewhat low grades in all subjects even though standardized testing had consistently rated him in the 99th percentile consistently- the final example of this being the equivalent to a 1340 on the SAT's. Low overall grades combined with his attitude towards disciplinary conduct caused him to be expelled from high school 3 days before his Senior year.
He then attended night school to receive a diploma (Not a G.E.D.), while working as an auto mechanic full time and also part time for a local NASCAR team. He graduated with honors, however did not attend the graduation ceremony as he believed that attending an English class twice a week to receive a high school diploma was not exactly an earth shattering achievement. He spent 2 years total as an auto mechanic, before attempting to attend college at the age of 19, however due to the relative immaturity of fellow students, general boredom, and a more pronounced desire to hang out at his volunteer fire company he had at the end of the first semester dropped all classes except for algebra which was only attended due to his appreciation of the professors zest for math. Following this he worked on tugboats and oil tankers as a deckhand on the Atlantic Ocean for some time, but failed to find the thing that he felt was missing from his life, so he returned to shore side life and took a job as a gauger on the docks and terminal of the same oil refinery his father worked in. This didn't last long as he was soon the victim of layoffs, and found himself suddenly unemployed.
He had a few odd jobs, the last of which was working in building construction with a longtime friend, until since being a volunteer firefighter from the age of 16 he decided to take up an offer from the department to attend EMT school. Following class, he worked for a medical transport company before gaining a position providing 911 care. He then moved to New Brunswick, NJ, and started working for Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital as he awaited the results of civil service testing to become a police officer in that city, as well as the test for firefighter, and became a Firefighter/EMT for Station 27 in Franklin Township just outside the city.
Following the death of a close friend from his Engine Company at a fatal house fire, he resigned as a firefighter, and following the cutting of the city budget, and consequent hiring freeze on police and firefighters, he moved to the beach in Long Branch, NJ where he is currently residing until his upcoming move to Connecticut in the near future. He can normally be found waist deep in the surf with a beer in one hand, and fishing pole in the other cursing about "The ridiculous hit I just got!" and vehemently defending his decision to use nothing but raw clams as bait, his interpretation of Gunter Grass as being wordy in every work except "My Century" which he loves, or more simply how hot the chick at Wawa was. He's happy about his life experiences and what he's done and still maintains a love of learning through oneself, and making others enjoy life, laughing, and learning...
He is constantly accused of "wasting one's potential." even to this day. |