My name is Benjamin. My last name is the same as yours. I live in Cincinnati, OH, though I am not a native. I have traveled the US to a degree that I feel might be more than the average person, but not to an impressive point. I was born and resided for the first 18 years of my life in the Phoenix, Az region. Sometimes I miss the desert. Sometimes I loath the thought of it. Since then I have resided in Curryville, Mo, Ft. Benning/ Columbus, GA, Pittsburgh, PA, and now here in Cincinnati, OH.
My time in Missouri was both a blessing and a curse, as I learned the country ways in a very rural area. I learned how to shoot, fish, camp and even a bit of coon hunting, and fell in love with the outdoors as any city boy could. I got married to my 8th grade sweet heart, and had two kids. A daughter, and a son. From there I joined up with the US Army, went to train at Fort Jackson in South Carolina, then moved on to Ft Benning in Georgia. From there I was deployed to Iraq for 12 months, which is when the wife dumped my kids off at my parents house and took off. Later we found out she was gay and with some other woman in St. Louis, Missouri. She still lives there with her partner of 6 years now I think. Anyways in the end she got the kids back and actually does a decent job raising them. Most days I consider her sane though she still loses it and can be called the crazy ex. After the Army was done with me after about 8 years, I found myself staying with a military buddy and his girl in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania until a job took me here to Cincinnati, Ohio. And here I have been ever since.
Through that job, I met my current girlfriend of 4 years, give or take a bit. We live together, mostly out of necessity, rather than choice. But it still works out okay for the time being. For various reasons I am unable to find a job, which caused me to reach out to other possibilities for income, thus, this blog, my Etsy business and Ebay page.
So that was my life story in a very quick and neat little nut shell. I wish that was the whole story, but as we all know, life is way more messy in reality. Drama follows and is near impossible to shake no matter how hard you try. But I have been there, and done that, and now have become a local expert on minimizing that drama to a very manageable level. If only my finances were in the same boat!
So now we move on to who I am, and not where I have been or who I have been with. I am an animal lover. I love the ocean and nature. I love having peaceful moments to myself, like watching the sun set on a snowy horizon while sipping mint tea by candle light and listening to Loreena Mckennett. I love photography and art. I love the nude model in their purist form, while cast in light and shadow. I enjoy gardening when I have the space. I enjoy rendering photographs of people or pictures that catch my interest, with nothing more than a set of graphite pencils. But unfortunately I also love rock, video games, Magic The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, movies, The Big Bang Theory and Star Trek. I say unfortunately, only because though I am passionate about all of these things, some are viewed as dorky, nerdy, geeky, etc. And that they take time away from other things that I care about. I could spend 4 hours in a day playing Minecraft or watching Sci-Fi when I should be dedicating it to bettering myself, or higher learning. Perfecting my technique with my artwork even. I feel so passionate about so many things, I find it hard to concentrate on one thing, and give it my all. Truly dedicate myself to something and master it. I am a jack of all trades, master of none. And that is my downfall. And I love to cook also, provided that I do not have to do the dishes.
My girlfriend and I also have three cats, Loki, Chloe, Flower, and a new kitten, Skylar. Technically some would say that is four cats, but when you have that many in a 450Sq Ft apt, who's counting? And then we have Matilda, or Matty for short. She is my toy poodle, white. Each one of course, as pet lovers and owners know, have their own distinct personality. It just so happens, that ours' all fit together like a T.V. show cast.
Loki, is solid black with beautiful gold eyes, and we suspect he may be a bombay mix of some sort. He has a very dominating attitude, though he doesn't try to enforce it on the others in any way. He has a strut that implies he might believe he is a descendant of Egyptian royalty. He has a very smooth demeanor about him and usually shows his affection for his "mama". He always sleeps on Yolena, my girlfriend, at night. It's a good thing she and I sleep in separate beds! That, by the way, was a mutual decision. No really, it was!
Then we have flower. Where do I even begin with this troubled one? She is simply black and white, medium haired. Her demeanor is very affectionate, though still unwilling to give us her full trust. Though she doesn't fully trust us, she loves it when I cradle her like an infant in my arms and rock her while circling the apartment. Her story is that last summer we were actually homeless, yes homeless. We lived out of our Ford Escape, which actually died on us shortly after we acquired an apartment, God bless her soul. Anyways, we were at a park in Cincinnati, utilizing one of their grills and power outlets to charge some of our belongings while cooking our food. Hey, I said homeless, not jobless. Anyways, I found Flower in the bushes, literally trying to fight ants off of a small piece of bread. She was so starved and dehydrated, I think she would have actually died in another day or two. I slowly worked her trust up enough to grab her and put her into the Escape, fed her and watered her. She was so incredibly skinny I really didn't know how she was still alive at all. But now she is a healthy and happy cat, though unable to fully trust humans. But for now she knows she is safe with us.
The last of the felines is our new kitten Skylar. He is suspected of being a full member of the Nebelung breed, which is a fairly rare domestic breed. We found him under a car while it was raining, soaked in mud. Yolena lured him out with food, snatched him up like a striking python, literally, then handed him to me. I brought him into our humble dwelling, bathed him, fed him, and gave him a warm home. He is still getting used to his new surroundings, and seems to prefer sharing the bed with me at night. I actually enjoy this, because none of the cats actually sleep in the bed with me, while Yolena has a dedicated Loki keeping her company each night. It is nice to have my own Loki now.
And this now leaves the dog. Matilda. She was a gift from an old employer of mine, who bought two of the dogs for $100 each, then gave her to me. She is very loyal to me and has no need of a leash. She does enjoy the privilege of spending the nights in bed with me under the covers, but only if she behaves, which is sometimes a rare commodity. She cannot resist the garbage can sometimes, and ends up spending the night in her kennel. Don't worry, she is not alone. She has her plush toys for company.
I think this is enough for tonight. I can get into more details later on as I post whatever random blogs I deem fit at the time.
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