Matt's Bio

Well, it appears that many of you have been anxiously waiting for a word or two from me.  I realize I have been under construction for an excessively long period of time, but hey that is part of who I am.  I am always learning, and ever evolving, therefore I can not help but be in a state of perpetual construction.  Enough with the profundities, let's move on to who I am today, so that you will at least believe that I do exist, and that I am not some figment of Phil's imagination, which some of you seem to believe.

I am no different from the majority of people.  I am an average looking guy as you can see from my pictures.  I am no god with looks to die for, but then I am not the worst looking guy on the planet either.  I am just your average guy.  Ok, so I love Bette Davis movies, and a good drag show (i.e. Kinsey Sicks, http://members.aol.com/ksicks/index2.html, who most recently discovered the lights and glamour of New York City). So, OK, maybe that makes me slightly different from the average guy.

 BASIC PHYSICAL STATS:

I am a forty-one year old Caucasian male, standing at 6'1", and weighing in at 153 lbs. (however, currently working at getting back to 190 lbs., where I was before the Wasting episodes began, and I might add; I look and feel my best.)  I have a 32" waist and 42" chest, which I am working on expanding.  However, it is not growing as rapidly as I would like.  Again, BLAMING IT ON WASTING!  I have brown hair, which I keep cropped short, military cut, but not "H-n-T" (for those unfamiliar with military jargon that is "high and tight".)  I have blue/green (hazel) eyes, which lean more toward a blue saturation.  At present I sport a tightly cropped goatee.

 I was born in 1960, in Pennsylvania.  Both of my father's parents came from Slovenia in the early years of the 20th century.  My mother's ancestors came from England, Scotland, and Germany, with some of them fighting in the Revolutionary War, Civil War, and all of the wars in between and since.  I have one sister and one brother, both older than I am.  Yes, go ahead and say it, everyone else does, "You're the baby."  Hey, being "the baby" has its advantages!  Of course, it also means all of the good genes were already taken, so don't think life has been all rosy, and a stroll around the block for me.  Have I got stories I could tell you! 

When I was growing up I was quite often seriously ill from allergies and infections.  If it existed, I was acutely allergic to it.  Yes, I was even allergic to dust.  I used to think that I had a terrible childhood, and that my parents were the meanest and strictest parents in the entire universe, and often they were (in my mind, anyway.)  However, when I got out into the "REAL WORLD", and began to meet other people who actually came from severely dysfunctional families (e.g. abandonment, abuse, alcoholism, etc.) I realized that God had blessed me with really remarkable parents.  We always had food on the table; homemade food I might add.  My mother baked homemade bread, rolls, cakes, and pies nearly everyday, or at least several times per week, depending on how much extra time she had after chasing after us kids all day.  We always had nice clothes to wear.  They may not always have been brand new, but they were clean, and in decent shape.  We had a warm house to live and play in, and a great back yard, with fruit trees, berry bushes, grape arbors, and a huge vegetable garden.  The only thing we were missing was the picket fence, and maybe the swimming pool, cause my Dad was afraid he would end up being the one to maintain it every year, and he was probably right.  Thanks Mom and Dad for all your devotion and dedication to our safety and general well being.  I love you both very much. 

I graduated High School, and went directly to Bob Jones University.  What a mess that was!  I may relate that horrendous experience in another section, but not here, and not now.

 I have a Bachelor in Science Degree in Accounting, a Bachelor in Arts Degree in Political Science, and an Associate in Science Degree in Paralegal Studies.  I am currently pursuing the acquisition of a Juris Doctor Degree.  I have been accepted into Law School, and soon hope to be attending classes, but first I need to make sure my health status will sustain such an endeavor, and that I can withstand the financial abyss.

I currently have my own paralegal consulting business.  I volunteer at the Pittsburgh area's largest AIDS Service Organization.  I also sit on several committees of the state structured AIDS planning organization for the Southwestern Pennsylvania region.  And, I am a Board member, and the Chairman of the Publicity Committee of an organization representing Persons Living With HIV And AIDS. 

I was diagnosed with HIV in 1987, and was informed that I had AIDS in 1992.  I don't look for anyone's sympathy, or pity for having gone through this WAR.  We all have our terrible moments in this brief life.  We have all struggled with death and grief.  Not only our own mortality, but the death of so many friends has called into question all that we once believed in, or held as truth.  There have been so many deaths from this plague that the numbers are staggering.  At times one death blurred and meshed into another, causing us to lose the ability to properly grieve for our friends and acquaintances, simply as a coping mechanism.  This is what I call the GRIME REAPER SYNDROME!  However, even though, at times we may have mentally had to distance ourselves from the great losses they never left our hearts.  In 1994 I stopped counting the number of loved ones who no longer sit in the passenger seat of my car, or go shopping, or out to dinner, or party with me, when the number reached 42.  There have been many more since then.  That is just the year that my own health took a serious decline and I figured why continue to keep score, as I would soon be a statistic too!  Thank God that has not happened yet!

Still, life moves on, and it moves on rather quickly.  Fortunately the death toll has decreased, but it is far from stopping.

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Updated: 11.01.2003