My first blog post:

Hello and thank you for visiting my blog "Delta Juliet Papa"!

For whatever reason, I like to talk about myself.  Well, that's not entirely true. More accurately, I enjoy compiling, analyzing and editing my story.  This is not to say my perception of this story is accurate.  I'm not sure it's possible to be objective in regard to ones own story.  All I can do is offer it as best I can, hope I accomplish something worth noting and, if I do, let history be the judge.

As I don't believe the "about me" section offers enough room for me to adequately elaborate on who I am, I thought I'd use my first blog to finish the job.  Because everybody is the "hero" of their own story, I suspect I will do my share of self aggrandizing.  Also, I tend toward loquaciousness (I'm a big fan of the thesaurus ;-), so prepare yourself; this is going to be a long one. I won't blame you if you don't get all the way through it...

I grew up in a small city with a population of approximately 154,620 (as of 2008. I'm unsure of what it was as I was growing up). My mom was a single mother and a high school teacher. My dad was a railroad engineer.

I come from Scots, Irish, English, Welsh, Dutch, German and Austrian/Hungarian heritage. My fraternal grandmother says that her mother also claimed to be part Native American, but we have no way to verify it.

Politically, I'm a registered Democrat, and fairly liberal at that.  Despite this, I am very pro Second Amendment and have been known to display occasional bouts of irrational hawkish patriotism. 

Religiously/spiritually I consider myself to be an agnostic humanist with an interest in the transcendental/mystical experience, having had a couple myself that I can't explain in rational and logical terms.  Because of my background in martial arts and my interest in natural history, "primitive" technologies and bushcraft, I am also drawn to Taoism because of its focus on the intense observation of the patterns in nature.  Yeah, I know.  I'm just a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. ;-)

As I view it, there are two things that most influenced the nature of my primary interests. The first is being bullied a lot while growing up. The second is being kicked out of the house a lot--or at least being unsure of the status of my living situation--while I was growing up and later spending time homeless.

The first caused me to be interested in and pursue martial arts while the second caused me to be interested in being prepared for the unknown, i.e., "prepping".

That being said, in both cases, I believe that both being bullied and being kicked out of the house were caused by--or at least exacerbate by--having a number of undiagnosed learning disabilities.  Finally, at the age of thirty, I was diagnosed with ADHD (Inattentive Type), Sluggish Cognitive Tempo, Dyslexia/Dyscalcula and, although it's not a learning disability, Dysthymia. These diagnoses immediately put my life in perspective.  It also explained my poor performance in, well...just about everything I had ever pursued.  Thankfully, with the help and support of my family and good therapists, I am on my way towards a bright and productive future!

As I mentioned, I am a longtime private security professional.  I've spent about seventeen years--off and on--in the industry and have had quite a wide range of experiences in various fields. Although I've spent my fair share of time as an archetypal uniform guard/officer, I have also spent ten years--again, off and on--as a bouncer and about seven years straight as a retail loss prevention agent.

In the uniform officer category, I've performed site, armored car, patrol (foot, bike and vehicle), strike, event, hospital and campus public safety duties.

Although I suppose nightclub security would technically be considered "uniform" security, those who do it--or at least those who do it well--usually consider themselves to be in a category by themselves and, I believe, rightly so.

Similarly to being a bouncer, retail loss prevention is in a category by itself as far as private security is concerned.  As far as I'm aware, LP professionals make more citizens arrests than just about any other security category.  I was once told by a deputy sheriff who responded to one of my arrests that he suspected that the average LP officer makes more arrests than the average cop.  I have no way of verifying whether or not this could be true, but it sounded cool to me.

Between being a bouncer and being a LP officer, I've been in hundreds of fights, or what I like to term "interpersonal physical conflict".  Admittedly, the people I've fought were not generally interested in fighting me specifically, i.e., they weren't trying to go "toe to toe" with me, but rather they were trying to kick someone else's ass (in the case of being a bouncer) or trying to fight to get away from me (in the case of loss prevention). Although this is the case, it doesn't make the encounters any less dangerous.  I’ve been in foot chases, had people attempt to run me over with their car, been dragged by people’s cars, had to tackle people in the middle of traffic and then pull them back to (relative) safety, had people pull weapons on me, had suspects friends try to come to their “rescue”, etc., etc., etc.

Although I started my martial arts career years before I started doing security, my practice and training has served me well and the two have come to intimately inform each other.

I started martial arts in Aikido and have practiced Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido ("Ki Society" Aikido), Tenshin Aikido (Steven Seagal's style), Yoshinkan Aikido, Seikikai Aikido, Aikikai Aikido and California Aikido Association Aikido (formerly the Aikido Association of Northern California) through my local university.

After starting to work as a bouncer I began to have the feeling that I would not be able to make Aikido work in "real life".  Because of this I eventually left it in search of a style that I felt was geared toward the threats I felt I may encounter in contemporary American society. 

After going through a number of styles I happened upon Kung Fu San Soo as taught by Master Greg Jones.  Once I had participated in my first class I thought I had discovered the mecca of martial arts.  This was because I was taught how to pinch, bite, eye gouge and break a neck, all in the first week of class! Although I now know that this is not a reliable indicator of quality martial arts instruction, it really impressed the heck out of me at the time.  Thankfully it turned out that it was quality instruction.

Unfortunately this only lasted for about two years.  My instructors decided (as I understand it) that they were going to focus on teaching law enforcement and their current black belts only--neither of which I was--so I was "left out in the cold".

After some time I discovered Jeet Kune Do concepts as interpreted/taught by Dan Inosanto and Paul Vunak.  I practiced this for about five years and loved every minute of it.  Although I think much (but definitely not all) of it focuses a little too much on the type of fight one might find themselves in while defending their ego, rather than their life, it offered a new way of looking at martial arts training methodologies as well as some phenomenal weapons training.  I wouldn't trade my time in JKD for anything.

About a year ago I got back into working as a bouncer and, with a lot of experience under my belt and some new perspectives, I decided to reevaluate my martial arts training.  Although JKD was great for learning how to go "toe to toe" with people, I rarely find myself doing so.  Instead, I usually find myself breaking up fights and arresting people. With this in mind I began to research martial arts that would best lend themselves to these scenarios.  Although it, like most--and probably all--martial arts, doesn't offer all the answers, I eventually decided upon old fashioned Kodokan Judo.  Although I've only practiced this for a short period of time, I am very happy with my choice.  Unfortunately it isn't available in my area but, if it were, I would also be interested in Small Circle Jujitsu for the same purposes (just in case you're looking for an art to practice for the same reasons).

Because very few, if any, martial arts teach everything you would need to know for every scenario you may encounter, I have learned to look outside individual styles for supplemental information.  So far the best sources I have found have been Marc "Animal" MacYoung, Rory Miller, Payton Quinn and Loren Christensen.  There are few others I can recommend, but this post is getting pretty long as it is. ;-)

In terms of my other interests, I consider myself an amateur "prepper" (as compared to a "survivalist"). I consider myself an "amateur" because I'm not really that hardcore about it.  I also have become very interested in "primitive" technologies and bushcraft, and learn about and practice them as much as possible.  My biggest influences in regard to this is Tom Brown Jr. (Tracker School), Keven Reeve (On Point Tactical) and Ray Mears.  Although he's geared more toward practical and expedited survival and rescue, rather than bushcraft, I am also a fan of Doug Ritter.

To move on, I love to travel.  I have been many places both inside and outside the U.S.  To me, to travel is to learn, discover and have adventures.  As part of the traveling experience, I believe it is critically important to learn about history, geography, architecture, art, sociology, etc.; basically everything that can help inform your experience of where you are are, what you do and who you meet there.

Much of my travel has been with family.  When I have done this it usually takes the form of the archetypal "family vacation", i.e., traveling by car or plane, staying in hotels, eating in restaurants and visiting tourist traps and traditional "points of interest".  

Although I am by no means opposed to this and am grateful for the opportunity to have done it, because I am not wealthy (or really have any disposable income for that matter) I have found that I have become very interested in traveling by more, um...unconventional...methods, e.g., freight hopping, hitch hiking, etc.

Fundamentally, I suppose, I believe travel should be an adventure!

Because I believe that one should give back to the community from which one comes, I have performed a great deal of volunteer work though the years.  This has ranged from working in the local animal shelter, homeless/at risk youth services, low income medical facility and juvenile corrections center.  I also was the longest serving member on the board of the areas only stand alone (i.e., not associated with a martial arts school) woman's self-defense program.

Presently I volunteer with my local CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) program and a local "warming center", a space available for homeless, and others in the community, without adequate shelter once the temperature reaches 28 degrees Fahrenheit or less. 

Well, if you're not bored with me going on and on about myself yet, I'm duly impressed.  Thank you for getting this far and I hope you enjoy any other posts I may make to this blog.  If you have any questions about me, please feel free to ask. As you may have noticed, there's not much I mind sharing about myself...;-)