Brief history of my adventures on our planet earth so far. (for those who might be interested) _______ Born on Nov 7, 1948 in the still rubble of Wurzburg Germany. I asked my beloved Omma once as a child. "Omma, was hatten hier los gehapt"? "Grandma what happened here"? (referring to much of the rubble and partial structures from the bombing of March 16, 1945). My Omma responded only "Das war der Krieg" (that was the war). Arrived at the age of 10 (1958) in the land called America. Lived in Tobyhanna PA., by the Tobyhanna Army Depot for one year (brrrrr) In 1960 left Pa. for Ethiopia, Africa for three years. Had a lot of adventures in the Boy scouts for a year or so and many times came down the mountain from Asmara to Massawa in a 2.5 ton army truck loaded
with fellow Boy scouts singing "A 100 bottles of beer on the wall" over and over ( a request by our buck Sgt. scoutmaster who always had a loaded 45 strapped to his side on these trips ) to keep the shiftas at bay I suppose. The Eritrean Liberation rebels were also active in these mountains at the time) In 1963, Left Ethiopia for Gy. (my place of birth and a very happy exciting day in my life). 63- 66 Lived in Gy. as an American teen-age "military brat".(a culture all it's own) My JHS was a reconverted German army barracks with the gun racks still on the walls, which we used to hang up our winter coats. Secret corridors were in between walls, the entrance being behind the teachers desk. My best friend, the coronel's son once went inside with a flashlight he happened to have handy in his back pocket, while I kept watch for the teacher. He said it was pretty dark down there (lol). Left Germany in 1966 to spend my last year of High school at Killeen Texas High (outside Ft. Hood). In 1967 returned to Kentucky (my stepfathers place of birth) for 3 months, Joined the Army, got out of going to Viet-nam, went to Inchon Korea instead where I slept in one those tents, you see on the TV program "MASH", for 9 months. Got re-assigned "out of the blue" for Okinawa (they needed truck mechanics to repair all the damaged vehicles from Viet-nam land mines I suppose. Met the Gohonzon there (best, best day of my life of course). Went to see the Dai-Gohonzon app. 2 weeks after joining the Soka-Gakkai, on a re-converted fishing vessel that the Gakkai owned and used for Tozan purposes. (from Okinawa to mainland Japan) Had an experience there (where the Dai-Gohonzon was housed at the time) that convinced me 100% that this is truly the true religion for all man-kind.
Chanted to get re-assigned to Germany (still had that longing to return to Germany). After a letter to my congressman and lots of daimoku, off I go to Germany for my last year in the military. Practiced Buddhism there together with Peter Kuhn and other pioneer members in GY. Left Gy. in 1970 for Costa Mesa Ca. Where I have been practicing Buddhism since then to the present. Almost 40 years in Ca. makes me not a native Californian but pretty close I'm thinking.
Long live California (where I always long to return to now) Although the traffic is getting kinda severe. ___hmmm Back to Germany maybe? nah I'm an American now. Colorado maybe hmm. Maybe my future Gakkai (crazy bout shakubuku wife), wherever she is, will take me away (lol) to Colorado!! _____ For my trade I have two Ca. State contractors licenses. Electrician and HVAC Tech. (small-fry) I have done repair work in perhaps 30,000 O.C homes. Fine Folks here in O.C. "Fine Folks" indeed________ Sidenote: I will always be gratefull and bow to the women of Ethiopia/Eritrea. Zegoini our house helper (1960-63) I believe extended the life of this Bodhisattva (me) When I wanted to climb down the side of a building with rotten rope, normally calm Zegoini (whom my brother and I liked very much, and she liked us very much) got unglued and would not let me proceed. Long live the beutifull women of Ethiopia/Eritrea. My beloved mother lives in Kentucky with her husband, my dear stepfather. For 30 years now my mother and I sign off on the phone once or twice a week with Nam-myo-ho-renge-kyo. First I invoke the mystic law and mother repeats in the exact intonantions (llove it). I have two Brothers . My brother Don is a Tech at the Kennedy space center, and sometimes Nasa/Boeing flies him to Edwards in Ca. to greet the shuttle( if the weather is bad for landing in Fla.). My other brother is a school teacher in Frankfort Ky. In 1970-71 at the age of 9 or 10 my sister Brenda would always join her be-loved brother (me) in chanting NMRK. for extended periods . Unfortunately sister Brenda left the planet pre-maturely at the age of 32, but not without daimoku under her belt (Yeah that's what I'm talking about) Long live all the SGI members of the world. HIP HIP HURRAY, Long Live our Mentor Daisaku Ikeda and his beloved wife Kaneko HIP HIP HURRAY SENSEII. ( Hey that rhymes) Got singled out by Senseii for a beutifull handshake and thank-you in 73. I suspect it was a response from Sensei's concern for my well-being.

The day before he must have seen me drop of the stage the L.A. brass band were performing on, (straight down 3 feet) with a sousaphone around my neck . Being 24 and strong and healthy it was no big deal for me, I just hopped back on the small stage and hardly missed a note (lol) (Tubas are always in the back row) "often at the edge of the stage" yikes Tuba players live on the edge (lol)