Alan

Half Samoan, Half White. I am a happily married to a gorgeous brunette. I am a proud father of 4 children, one who is severely autistic. In my short years on this Earth, I have worn many hats and have done many things. From touring Europe as a member of a boyschoir to serving in the Marines. I don't fit any profiles or in any boxes. Life is too short to be serious, so craziness suits me just fine. Being a father of a severly autistic child, I have a healthy, and sometimes sick sense of humor. But I figure if you can't laugh your way through life, then you're dead anyway. Like my father, I have a huge love for the world around me and a sense of contentment that some people don't understand. Life is too short to dwell on the things that you can't change. So I have a very simple philosophy: Happiness isn't having what you want. It's wanting what you have. /Now the nitty gritty. /I stop the microwave before it reaches zero and beeps. /I hate to run. I ran enough for a lifetime when I was a Marine. I will walk to exercise but that's it. /I seem to have "Please talk to me and tell me your life story" tatooed on my forehead. No matter where I go in the world, strangers have a compulsion to start talking to me. I don't know them and yet in a manner of minutes they are sharing their deepest and darkest secrets. /I clean like a madman when I am angry. It must be some sort of therapy for me. /I love riding my motorcycle so much that I am now finding it difficult to drive anything with four wheels. /I hate glasses but I can't wear contacts due to an old eye injury. Sometimes I just don't wear them. /I love meeting new people. /I love making new friends. /I wish I had more lifetimes to share with more people. /I feel that every once in a while you have to take a risk and do something out of the ordinary. You have to break out of your comfort zone and try something new. That or scare yourself nearly to death. Times like this help us grow as human beings and keeps us from being stagnant. /I can't stand it when people whisper between themselves when they see my son like he is just misbehaving. One time when we were walking in a mall, a couple in front of us was doing that and looking back alot. Finally out of frustration and anger, my wife said to them, "He's severely autistic. What's your problem?" /I miss my best friend (pictured with me on my page). He passed away in 2002 at 32 yrs of age. /I miss my father. He passed away 365 days later in 2003 at 62 years of age. /I have learned the hard way that life is too short. We may go at any time. I used to wait and save for someday. I learned that someday may never come so the things that I dreamed of doing I am doing. No one can ever afford anything, especially children. You just do it. I chuckle when people tell me they will have children when they are ready. YOU ARE NEVER READY. No matter how much you plan, you can never anticipate all the ins and outs of parenting until it hits you full force. The moment the child arrives, your life as you know it has ended. For the rest of your existence on this planet, you will be responsible for that life (if you take parenting seriously). You can never run off with your buddies on a whim. You can never do anything without the consideration of that life you are responsible for. What IS the upside? I'll tell you. Waking up on a Saturday morning with a bed full of kids hopping up and down on you excited that you are there and don't have to go to work. The sound of children's laughter (the cure to anything). The moments when you see yourself in their eyes and realize that through them, your past and future will live forever. The undescribable moments when they seek you out just for a hug or to be held. Life as you know it has ended, but the life or the lives you gain are more than anything else in this world. Immortality is achieved through generations of family. Tradition is passed down. Stories retold. People remembered. Family above all else.