User: Ari

This section is all about me (Ari Sabouni). (If you want more about why, you can read the About section). So this might seem a little self-serving, but heck, what is life if it isn't sharing our experiences and perceptions, in the hopes that others can chuckle or learn from them? Plus, I learned long ago, that once I write something down, the process of writing and organizing is cathartic. And once written, I can completely, "let it go". After I leave this mortal coil, at least there was a small part of me, that will live on -- whether in words, or lessons that others learned.

• Favorites
• Medical
• Experiences
• All Me

👤 Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, these are a few of my favorite things. Or at least favorite things that have happened to me. Some good, some bad. But if you grow/learn from the bad, then they make you who you are... and thus are my favorite things as well.

Favorites : 14 items

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  Cars
  Cars sort of matter to me: they were freedom and the ability to go where I wanted. For a while, they were sort of an extension of my personality, or at least reflected it a little -- though as I got older, I got more utilitarian and they're more a transportation device. These are pictures of cars that I've owned: or like make/model/color substitutes if I can't find pictures of my actual car.

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  Computer Experiences
  They say experience is what you get, when you didn't get what you wanted. I'm not completely sure about that, and I often got exactly what I wanted (and then some) from my early experiences in Computers. This is the Computer stuff that's often too brutally honest to be in any Résumé, some glory, some shame. But just stories about me, computers and usually in the 1980's.

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  Electric Bike

  I have an electric bike that I ride. It's a 55lbs beast, but I like it. One of the things that people who don't ride them think is, "that's cheating". The truth is the opposite. Since the bikes boost your pedaling, and we like to get places faster, I tend to pedal MORE, like continuously, when I'm on the e-bike (no coasting). Now the pedaling isn't as hard for the same speed, and you get there faster (so you don't ride it as long as otherwise), because it helps you. But because you get there faster, I tend to ride it more often, and further than I would ride the regular bike. It's fun, so you think, "I'll just take the e-Bike"... and thus you ride it more and more often, and pedal more when you're on it. So I don't understand how any of that is "Cheating". It's certainly much better than driving, which would be the alternative more often, if I didn't have the e-Bike.

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  Favorite Books
  Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens... these are a few of my favorite things. Just a few books that were worth the time to read. Or at least impacted me in my youth.

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  Favorite Videos
  Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens... these are a few of my favorite things. Just a few videos that are worth the time to watch... some by me, some are by others. From motivational speakers, to life experiences, toastmasters speeches, and a little politics and comedy to break things up. I think each of these is worth the time invested.

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  Homes
  Places we've lived, owned, or had as rental properties. Where you're from and what experiences you had, sort of define us -- or at least leave marks. Plus re-visiting them in pictures brings back memories.

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  Life Experiences
  Life experiences make us who we are (or influence it). Here's a few stories from my past that made me who I am, or at least influenced it or reflected it.

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  Medical

  I think everyone has had at least some "pleasant" experiences at the Doctors offices. If you haven't, it is probably just a matter of time until you will. I sometimes am left to wonder if the AMA is conspiring with Gerbels, Mengela, and other leftover National Socialists to think of new procedure to either torment, humiliate, or outright torture the common man. It is like, "we could do a MRI, blood test or cat-scan and figure this out; but an endoscopy would be much more fun... for us".

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  Memes-Mine
  Really just a collection of things I drew, illustrated or borrowed and altered (real artists steal).

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  Pets
  Pet's that I've owned, borrowed or lost. Some of them were just animals I cared for, many had strong personalities and I bonded with and thus missed when they passed, got lost, or eaten. Plus re-visiting them in pictures brings back memories.

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  Refrigerator Magnet Poetry
  Someone dumped a large bunch of these refrigerator magnets on a white-board wall we had at work (in front of my office). For a week or two, people would put up a sentence or quip, daily. It was an amusing distraction. Then one day, I had an incredible mind moment, and wrote out a poem with the words available. It sort of spoiled it: as no one ever touched the magnet words after that.

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  Story of us
  Story of 25 years together, my wife and I. Photos, trips and stories. (This is about how long we've been together, not just married).

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  Timeline
  I was just imagining, what would a Life Experience Resume look like, if you weren't applying for a job, and just sharing some of the things you'd accomplished: work, personal life, experiences. Plus I wanted to organize some pictures, diplomas, and accolades I'd collected. (Not counting things I'd thrown away, like Martial Arts Tournament Trophies).

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  Work Experiences

  They say experience is what you get, when you didn't get what you wanted. I'm not completely sure about that... but work experiences make us who we are (or influence it). This is too brutally honest to be in any Résumé, it's more a Dilbert-esque look at the working world, not to malign the companies I worked at (which were far from the worst places), but more to remind others or myself of what experiences and lessons I got, when I didn't always get what I wanted.

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I think everyone has had at least some "pleasant" experiences at the Doctors offices. If you haven't, it is probably just a matter of time until you will. I sometimes am left to wonder if the AMA is conspiring with Gerbels, Mengela, and other leftover National Socialists to think of new procedure to either torment, humiliate, or outright torture the common man. It is like, "we could do a MRI, blood test or cat-scan and figure this out; but an endoscopy would be much more fun... for us".

These are just a few of my stories:

1980 Black Widow Being bitten by a black widow spider was not fun. I'd gone frogging, and then later had these muscle spasms, puking, and writhing in pain. My Mom said, "Food poisoning, next time don't eat frogs", and left me for a party. I spent the evening curled up in cramping pain, until I passed out. Later while retelling the story to a Marine/Friend, he laughed and explained that's what a black widow does, as he'd gotten envenomated as well. That explains why it was like no food poisoning I've had before or since: avoid it, if possible. You probably won't die, but it's no fun at all. 1982 ⚕️Nose Job My Nose Job (rhinoplasty) was because as a kid I tried to climb a cinderblock-wall, with a loose block at the top, that flattened my nose, and guaranteed I was a mouth breather. I eventually got that fixed, which involved discount plastic surgery, drugs, sexual harassment, and no real regrets 1995 ⚕️Heart Surgery My wife has a broken heart; and no I don't mean that I stepped on it, left her, or hurt her feelings; though I'm sure I've hurt her feelings a few times. No, literally her heart isn't quite right, or even close to right -- and it effects all of us. 2003 Jared Jared, Dena and somber Holidays. Another Holiday season is upon us. And if you're at all like me, you're looking forward with both dread and anticipation at visiting family. The soon to be bitter-sweet memories of both sharing time, remembering past and present experiences, and having that past crammed down your throat with old issues and buttons that our relatives know only too well how to push, and seem to enjoy pushing them. I'm looking forward to visiting relatives a little more than some of the past; despite having further to travel than normal. Broken Arms Many people have never broken a limb. I'm not one of them. My left arm seems to like to snap like a twig. I've broken it five times. No, it isn't weak, and I don't have osteoporosis or brittle bone disease - I actually just do dumb things or get unlucky, and sometimes both. These are my stories. Cars greatest hits Deathrace 2000: Some people tell their kids, "watch out for cars" -- for me that was always an understatement. I was one of those lucky kids that got hit by a car, over and over and over again. My final score was; Cars:4 Me:0 -- and that was just as a pedestrian, as a driver I had a few more accidents. Colonoscopy Lights, Camera, Action: the joy of endoscopies.Sometimes you've got to wonder who thought up the idea of making a prehensiled marital aid, and probing people's orifices with it; or what their true motivation was. I had the pleasure of taking it from both ends; not at the same time, thank goodness. These are my stories; the names have been kept the same to incriminate the guilty. Phobias and Anxiety Phobias and Anxiety: That which does not destroy us makes us stronger... but given the choice, I might opt for a little more weakness. I learned a lot about phobias and anxiety the hard way. I was a precocious kid and early adult, and then something snapped. It helped me learn first hand what these things are, and are not. These are just my views, based on those experiences. I am not a psychologist but because of my experiences I've read quite a bit on the subject. I am hope that explaining some of these experiences will help others with "phobias" recognize what they are, or help those who know people with "phobias" to understand them a little better. Poison Oak Brazen Shamelessness This is a video by me, on how I earned my superpower, with the help of poison oak and public humiliation in Junior High School https://youtu.be/iGP9KKvmd84

👤 Here's a list of experiences that I've had. Just little anecdotes on life, and what I've seen. Some have sort of a lesson, some just are what they are.

Experiences : 17 items 1986 Just a burger I don't know why I am sharing this, but I invited a friend to go for a burger, then had to clarify it meant "just a burger". He was OK with that, but a little perplexed at the added clarification. What else would it mean? So I told my story... 1987 Skydiving Yes, I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane. Twice. To me, it was no big deal. I just wanted to experience freefall, and enjoyed flying. I didn't think of it as very dare-devilish, though some others do. I had statistics on my side, but gravity and physics was working for the opposition. Then I met a Hustler Honey, and wanted to jump again. The Towers Fell On 9/11/2001, I went into work like normal. I worked at a Newspaper, improving their Internet presence. My office was in the Press building. When a friend came in and said, "A plane has hit the Twin Towers". And I thought, "another silly pilot flew into it while in fog or something, like happened to the Empire State Building in 1945."... but I went down to the Newsroom to see the hubbub and read/watch what was coming across the wire. This is what happened to me that day. 9/11 On 9/11/2001, I went into work like normal. I worked at a Newspaper, improving their Internet presence. My office was in the Press building. When a friend came in and said, "A plane has hit the Twin Towers". And I thought, "another silly pilot flew into it while in fog or something, like happened to the Empire State Building in 1945."... but I went down to the Newsroom to see the hubbub and read/watch what was coming across the wire. This is about my experiences, how the FakeNews has distorted history, and used a tragedy to divide and polarize us. Air Rifles There's this common myth that Air Rifles ("BB Guns" or "Pellet Guns") are toys, however, while they don't have quite the velocity of our top of the line modern rifles, they easily exceed black powder rifles that brought down buffalo and won the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. People hunt Buffalo and Elk with them, and they have no problem going through humans. Fortunately, since the gun-ignorant don't understand their threat, they aren't highly regulated (one last bastion of liberty, for now), and mass shootings and crimes are usually committed with gunpowder-based weapons. Which makes them especially popular in countries/place with hoplophobia. Airline Attendant My wife, the airline attendant, and some stories of what it's like: from training, to a crazy cat person, to getting groped by TSA. Getting my CCW The other day, I went and got my CCW (License To Carry a Concealed Weapon). Well, technically, I took the class to get my CCW, and have filled out my forms (it'll be a couple months before I get them back). And since I'm in the People's Republic of California, I only took the classes for the other ≈40 or so states (in Free America) that respect the Constitution and 2nd Amendment (called shall issue states): those silly rules don't apply in California, unless we get national reciprocity, then they'll secede. Still, it was an experience that I figured I'd share. Housing and Urban Development HUD (Housing and urban development) has various programs that are meant to help low income and first time buyers into their own homes. Sounds great, right? Too many people can’t afford a house, so a little wealth redistribution ought to help them out? Yet, in many cases the opposite has happened. Here's my story about some of the negative and unintended consequences of HUD. How I spent Christmas Vacation (1997) Family, Fun, and driving circa 1997. What an atypically typical Christmas vacation looks like for us. We visit my family on Christmas Eve, and visit my wife's family on Christmas Day. There can be no two more different families on the face of the planet. Jury Duty 1998 A jury is made up of 12 people too dumb to lie? I had not been called for Jury Duty, ever before… then my luck ran out; I received "the summons". I must admit my curiosity at doing my civic duty, was tempered with the thrill of driving to downtown San Diego (in rush hour), dealing with my fellow man (which I don't always think too highly of), and sitting through a torturously long bureaucratic process -- all for $5/day (when parking cost me $7). Lets just say my cynical nature was not disappointed. Jury Duty 2013 Jury Duty: after 4 days of picking Jurors, they finally asked me questions and decided I wasn't one of the droid they were looking for, and they let me go. Primarily, it got to questions about why I taught Martial Arts, and saying, "because I really don't like bullies" was all it took for the preemptory challenges to let me go free, with a fist bump from another juror. Pulling a gun These are the stories of my experiences pulling a gun to stop crimes, and how it differs from the stereotypes. In my life, I have personally used a gun to end an altercation three times. A rape, an armed car robbery, and a drug dealer or pederast trying to pedal something on a not so helpless young lad. Speed Traps 2002 Sadly, I became another victim of a government scam. The oldest racket in the book. The mafia calls it the "protection" racket - where you are extorted to pay them for protection, while you are forced to ignore that they are only protecting you from themselves. Suicide is Painless Suicide is painless, it brings on many changes... at least according to the song. Obviously, I didn't commit suicide, or that would make this article a lot more interesting. These are just a few stories I tell are about me finding bodies, or seeing it happen. I don't know if I'm just "lucky", but things happen around me. Thinking outside the box People will tell you to "think outside the Box". I learned early on, they don't mean it. Or more often they mean "not too much outside the box". Tired of suppressing my whiteness Salon ran a stupid race-baiting article by Priscilla Ward, but I know, I repeat myself: it was Salon. Still, her racist polarizing diatribe, made me want to retaliate in kind, re-living a mostly true tales of woe and racism in my past, in a parody of her article. Just to point out there's a whole lot of backstory in others lives that we may not know. What’s shooting like? This is a story of what shooting is like for me, and how it differs from the stereotypes. Now the plural of anecdote is not data -- but lies of omission, are lies. The media loves to bombard us with selective anecdotes about how guns ruined lives, but almost never about the many, many millions of times a year more, where they are just used for hobby or sport. This is just some of those.

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Here's a list of all articles that are tagged as having anything to do with me. Which is a bit of misnomer, since my entire website has some relationship to me. But this is more about me, instead of just by me.

1 1974 My Bias 1974 🌿 Marijuana 1976 Ridgeline Country Club 1977 Soccer Camp 1977 Watts 1978 Backpacking goes bad 1978 Cinedome Theaters 1978 🔫 Those Hollywood Hills 1978 🚘 Objects in the sideview mirror 1979 Mr. Volcano Head 1979 🚘 You never see it coming 1979 🚘🌿 Driving while stoned 1979-1982 Compusound 1980 Black Widow 1980 Brunswick Defense 1980 Cray Time 1980 🔫 Rape is not OK 1981 Ford Aerospace 1981 🚘 Paved Paradise and ran me over in a parking lot 1982 Ideal Computers 1982 ⚕️Nose Job 1983 MITS / Pertec Computer Corporation 1983-1986, 1994 Rockwell • North American Aviation (NAAO) 1986 Just a burger 1986-1988 Rockwell • Collins 1987 Skydiving 1988-1991 Baxter 1991 Relsys (Alcon/Spectramed) / Oracle 1992 Workstation Technologies / Nortel / UMAX / SuperMAC 1992-1994 American Zettler 1994 Third Point Systems Jumper 1994 🔫 Grand Theft Auto 1995 ⚕️Heart Surgery 1997 What is it about my mom? 2 2001.09.11 The Towers Fell 2003 Jared 2006-Present Adobe 2010 Tea Party 2017 23andMe 9 9/11 A Agnostic B Baby Pics Bidet Broken Arm: 1971 Broken Arms Bug Out Bag C Cars Cars greatest hits Cleveland, Ohio Collins: Dave Quigley Collins: Hacking Collins: Mihn & Klaus Collins: Permission Collins: Roger Parks Collins: Space Shuttle Challenger Collins: Sushi Collins: Time to go Colonoscopy Computer Experiences Cozumel, Mexico D Dads Dark Kid Dating at work Dave Bajaj DoodleBook E Electric Bike Experiences F Favorite Books Favorite Videos Favorites G Getting my CCW H Homes Housing and Urban Development Humble brag J Jury Duty 1998 Jury Duty 2013 K Karate Breaks: 1987 & 1988 L Life Experiences Loading a gun with a broken arm M Medical My Education N NAAO: Eccentricity and Aerospace NAAO: Exit, stage left NAAO: Keep it in the family NAAO: Security Clearance NAAO: Thirsty Isle O Optavia Overcoming Anxiety P Pets Phobias and Anxiety Photoshop Poison Oak Pulling a gun R Racism, Sexism, Homophobia Road to Recovery S Sex Smoking on a plane Snakes Speed Traps 2002 Stairway Break: 2015 Story of us Suicide is Painless Swimming T The Vandals Thinking outside the box W What’s shooting like? Work Experiences Z Zen the Cat