It’s Time

It’s Time

by KIMSNo Comments
For six months I allowed a toxic relationship to derail moving forward with my goals. I was ticking off all the things I hoped to accomplish with very little down time and this situation nearly dragged everything to a grinding halt. The only thing keeping me sane is a Top 40 Disc Jockey job at a local radio station working night shift. At least I was doing something in the entertainment field...sort of.  I was in my early twenties and feeling stupid. I'm a military veteran feeling I've accomplished nothing. I'd moved back to Georgia because I ruined my circumstances in California. That's how I felt, at the time, anyway. I dragged the toxic relationship all the way back to Georgia with me. By summer of 1989, I'd, finally, had enough. Kirk was going to be in Macon, Georgia to promote his debut album. Yep. He did have a record deal lined up. This was my opportunity to reconnect and change...
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A Friend’s Offer

A Friend’s Offer

by KIMSNo Comments
Some time has passed and both Kirk and I have finished our military service. It's around early 1986. Kirk found a place to stay in Fremont, California and since he became married to a wonderful person, Stephanie. More on her, later. I was unceremoniously fired from my first Cali job and landed a second as a cashier at a local health food store. I liked that job much better and the owners grew to trust me. During this time, I hung out with Kirk and Stephanie often poaching meals as often as they'd have me (which was unusually often). I was a pest. I had no other family in Cali. Kirk and Stephanie were it. He took me under his wing. He promised to look out for me after I finished my obligation with the Navy. He was true to his word. He must've let Stephanie know, because, she didn't seem to mind my regular appearances at their home...especially for...
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Roomies

Roomies

by KIMSNo Comments
After landing in Okinawa, Japan, it was time to receive our assignment for a roomy. Looking through my lens of autism, all of this adjusting was purely matter-of-fact, for me. My father taught me (and my siblings) to become expert situational adapters. Sometimes there's no choice but to make due with the situation you've been given. There was, certainly, nothing I could do about the circumstance of deployment, so, adapt. I made the best of it and remember: I'm just 18 years old. As for my roomy, he introduced himself as Stanley K. Burrell. He said the "K" was for Kirk. I'm a big Star Trek fan, so, his name being Kirk (like Captain Kirk) and the fact we were in the Navy was, ironically, perfect. From that moment forward, I knew him as Kirk Burrell. Always curious and ready to take a new experience head on, my first purchase was a 10 speed bicycle. This was my transportation to...
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The Beginning…

The Beginning…

by KIMSNo Comments
Well... This has been a long time coming. I'm going to tell, from my personal experience, how the whole MC Hammer phenomenon began. With the world heavy in the throws of the aggressively contagious COVID-19 disease, a manufactured recession, forced U.S. unemployment and worldwide protests demanding equal autonomy and restitution for the descendants of enslaved African diaspora, it's been a crazy beginning to 2020. I'm telling this story, not to discount the importance of all that's currently happening, but, to share something unexpectedly positive and selfless. I feel the world needs to hear this, right now. MC Hammer is an incredibly kind, compassionate and humble person toward me. He didn't know me. He just 'had a feeling' about me. That's it. That's all it took. The rest is written in the history books. So, how did we meet? It was early 1984 and my assigned Naval Air Reconnaissance Squadron (VP-47) was preparing for deployment to Okinawa, Japan. I hadn't quite met all of...
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