What's my story?

Hey, thanks for asking. I built this website because UCLA gives students some server space to do so. I figured, why not? So, I'm learning HaTeMaiL at a comfortable clip. It beats being bored.

I'm 33 years old and a senior at UCLA School of Dentistry. Before dental school, I was at various times a mechanic, child prodigy, nihilistic misanthrope, graphic artist, angry punk, molecular biologist, skirt-chasing drunk, fiberglass fabricator, pontificating jackass, all kinds of stuff. I took a long winding road to dental school, and I have few regrets. From the Buddhist perspective, I must still be a teeny bit of each of those things.

I enjoy dentistry because it is art. Everything I do in a patient's mouth is a handmade prototype- dentists don't install 'off-the-shelf' parts, because there are none. Each restoration is a one-off piece of work- it bears testament of my skill (or lack thereof) to everyone who sees it.

Because of my previous lab experience I applied for a clinical research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health. So, I've taken a year off from UCLA, and come to NIH to learn about clinical research. I'm digging it, but I also want to go home and finish earning my degree.

I was born to live until I die. To paraphrase Thoreau, it would suck to be dying and to realize that you hadn't lived. That's not going to happen to me. So far, I have:

Lived in downtown L.A. during the Rodney King riots

Taken cabs and subways in New York City

Been married (and subsequently divorced)

Chased lots of women (even caught a few)

Met 3 Nobel Laureates and a Pulitzer recipient

Seen the Doors play live (well, the surviving three)

Driven 140 mph in the Nevada desert

Driven drunk

Totaled a car (not related to either of the above)

Built a car from the ground up

Made better beer than I can buy

Drank more beer than I could make

Survived the Northridge earthquake

Carried a concealed weapon

Started my own business

Fixed some teeth

Pulled some teeth

Beaten someone up

Been beaten up

Been shot at

Held a human heart in my hands

Been arrested for stealing my own car (really)

Been thrown out of better places than this

Made an ass of myself...

again...

and again...

and again.

Served as Student Body President at UCLA

Sawed open a human skull, and removed the brain

Had things placed in my permanent record

Loved a woman who loves me (I've got that right now)

Broken four bones

Published research in peer-reviewed journals

Gotten about forty stitches

Broken my nose slam dancing

Seen some great tattoos

Offended thousands (they deserved it)

Been written about in the L.A. Times

Been a college radio DJ

Had about a million lusty crushes on women

Made a few priceless friendships

Pissed on a guy's shoes at a party (they were on)

Worn a shirt to Graceland that said 'Elvis Blew Me'

Gotten drunk with total strangers in a foreign country

I didn't make that list to brag- a lot of those things aren't exactly bragging material. My point is this: life is too short not to be living it. I will die with no regrets, even if it's today. Thanks, and please sign the guestbook.

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