I went to Catholic School for thirteen years. K-12. Grade school was pretty typical stuff. Except I was the class weirdo. Everybody pretty much liked me, but they didn't get too close :)

Well, I shouldn't say everybody liked me.... I was the guy who always got picked on by the jocks and popular people.

High school was pretty much the same except for my teachers. I went to an all boys Jesuit school called Gonzaga. All of my teachers were pretty cool. They were the ones who taught me to think for myself and not accept things just 'cause someone in authority tells me to. I think that was the initial seeds of my rebellion. I also discovered martial arts in high school but didn't get serious about it until years later.

So... skip to college... I discover Punk Rock. Whooohooo... a new "me" was born. I was such a Posuer at first. After a while, I guess I got angry enough for it to be the real thing. Especially after getting my ass kicked by a bunch of Skinheads at a show. There was really no seperate group of Goths at that time. There were the Punks who were really into stuff like darkness and undead and the like and there were the Punks who were just angry. It wasn't until "Punk" started deteriorating that there was an actual "Goth" movement. I always walked a fine line between the two. I was in love with the night, and the darkness in myself, but I had too much raw anger to be just "goth". 10 years or so later, my anger has cooled a bit, it's still there but it's much more refined and focused now. I'm still love with the night, and my own darkness, but like before... I walk that fine line between Light and Dark, trying to find some balance between them. So, am I a Goth? Sure why not. Am I a Punk? Sure why not. Am I business suited corporate slave? Unfortunately, yes.

I was in and out of college for years... can you tell by my fantastic spelling and grammar? Anyhow, finally I discovered computers. A new career was under way... if I could find anyone to give me a fucking break.

After a few years of soul-killing servitude to various companies (including Unca Sam), I decided that I had had enough. I chucked everything and moved to Richmond. I ended up working for Circut City's tech support line

Hi, thanks for calling Answer City, this is Pat Sullivan, how can I help you?

Yah, I brought this packard hell computer from you guys

I'm sorry

*Stunned Silence* ... ummm and it's not working

Ok, I know exactly what the problem is and how to fix it. Drop out to DOS. Now type in F D I S K and press enter

I also rediscovered martial arts while I was there and finally got serious about it. Things started getting unpleasant while I was there and I eventually got burned out of my house by the crackheads next door. I lived in area of Richmond called Jackson Ward. It was Civil war era row houses. There were four guys who lived next door.

Neighbor 1 - Fairly decent guy just trying to get along

Neighbor 2 - Fairly decent guy just trying to get somewhere else

Neighbor 3 - 40 year old crackhead who couldn't keep a job. The type of person that people look at and shake their heads. Nice enough and wouldn't hurt anybody, just had no life to speak of.

Neighbor 4 - Scum of the Earth

These guys were involved in a dispute with their slumlord who was trying to get them to move out. He ended up hiring Neighbor 4 to burn the place down. I was off work that day and sleeping late. Neighbor 3 comes home to see Neighbor 4 jumping out of the upstairs window followed by a burst of flames. Neighbor 3 comes and knocks on my door screaming and hollering for us to get out. He succeeded in waking me up accomplishing his goal. Now, people can say whatever they want about Neighbor 3, that he was a waste of oxygen, no good crackhead, etc.... but that no good crackhead saved my life. God Bless you, Will. I hope you're still walking the face of this Earth.

So... shortly after that, I find myself back in Northern VA in my parents house. Not too bad considering. I'm healthy, I've got a roof over my head, clothes on my back, and food on my table. I now work for an Association, doing web stuff and tech support. I worked for a certain popular Internet Provider for a while, but am now free from the Evil Empire. The martial arts thing has been going pretty well, too. I've finally gotten to the point where I'm starting to meet some of the major players like Guro Dan Inosanto and Marc "Crafty Dog" Denny. Crafty Dog has even taken me on as a "long distance" student. Very cool.

a martial arts oriented training group has begun gathering my backyard. We're doing all sorts of stuff, everything from empty hand, Filipino Martial Arts, to classical rapier stuff. It's a lot of fun :)

I spent a long time being unemployed after I first met Sunny. She remembers it as being a mixed but happy time. She happy that I was free to spend time with her, but also concerned about our future. I finally got employed by Harvery Gertzman Associates... doing manual labor in Home Depot. HGA repesent various product lines and set up displays and so forth. They also helped set up new stores.
I was working at the Hybla Valley Home Depot... working along with a small team from HGA to set up the store before opening. Hybla Valley is on Rt. 1 in Alexandria VA.
This one morning, I'm setting up some steel racks and I get a call from my Mom, telling me that a plane had crashed into one of the Twin Towers. A kind of hush decended over the store and everyone tuned in to the radios. We heard the report that the other tower has also been hit. Then there was a noise... a rumble in the ground...
it was a warehouse, people drop things.. big heavy things... there are thumps and thuds all the time. No one seemed to notice this one but me... I knew something happened.
I ran outside and saw the smoke over the trees. I knew the Pentagon had been hit.

There are other people who were much closer than me... many people close enough to loose their lives. But I felt the ground shake, and it shook me to my soul.
At that moment, I knew... I knew that everything I had worked for in the past, the work I was doing then... didn't mean shit.

I've always had this thing about "Justice". It's why I loved comic books. Why I watch "Cops".
What was the equivilant of iron ore inside me, was forged by that day into steel. I knew I had to change my life.
I floundered for bit, haunted by nightmares. I dreamed I was one of the people at the airport who had let them through. I dreamed I was a firefighter who couldn't get to the trapped victims. I dreamed that I desperately tried to save lives... and failed.

Sometimes, to chase ghosts away, you have to face them. In May of 2002, I started working for Globe Aviation Services. Argenbright had previously held the contract at Dulles for airport security and passenger screening.. but they lost the contract for a myriad of reasons. Globe was called in to clean up the mess. I started as a screener with Globe at Dulles International Airport at the end of May.
I became what I had nightmares about... and I chased the ghosts away. I made supervisor in 2 months and held that post until the TSA took over in October.
The TSA was my next kick in the nuts... they had this assesment process for current screeners to come on board.
Let me give you a time scale here... Globe was to stop working at the checkpoint on Oct. 8th, 2002. I was to be assessed on Oct. 10th, 2002. And then get married Oct. 12th.

The Assessment consisted of several tests, reading x-rays, medical physical, and bag checking. If you fail any portion, you are stopped at the point and told to go home.
I made it through all three sections. A guy tells me, "Congradulations, you passed, someone will be right with you". Then about 10 minutes later, this guy comes in and hands me a letter saying I did not pass. When I pointed out the conflict, they refused to comment or give me any information.

So... I had to go into a new marriage, with no job or prospect for the future.
Done, Done and I'm on to the next one,
Done, Done and I'm on to the next
My wife told me not to worry, just enjoy our honeymoon and something would turn up. Well, she was right. We had a wonderful honeymoon, Florida, Bahamas... couldn't ask for a nicer vacation. Sailing over the ocean soothed my spirit and gave me resolve. I had a good run at the airport. I stopped a lot of baaad stuff from getting through... stopped some baaad people too. I did my job well, I didn't fail like my dreams. I saved lives.

When I returned home I found another job with a security company. We protect a DOD facility. Now, even more than ever, I feel like I'm doing something good, something Important.

2004/2005 has been very challenging. My Mother was diagnosed with Colon Cancer in June 2004 and my Father was diagnosed with Lung Cancer in Nov. 2004.
John P. Sullivan - March 10, 2005 R.I.P.
Patricia A. Sullivan - August 10, 2005 R.I.P.

All the Sullivan children have moved back into my parents house to care for their estate. It really sucks that their gone, but they made sure to leave us in good shape.

I'm still working security although my job is bit more high tech than just standing on post now. I'm elected, electric spy... I'm protected electric eye.
I didn't really mind standing post though. My ancestors were Fiannia. That is, mercenary clans that were employed by the High King of Ireland to protect it from invasion. I work for a private company that offers protective services to those who will pay... not unlike the Fiannia. The organization that pays us, just so happens to be the United States Government...again, not unlike the Fiannia. I sometimes like to think that I had an ancestor, probably named Paddraig, who stood guard at Tara castle and was just as uncomfortable in his body armor as I am in mine. But he did his job, just as I do mine.

I'm still very happily married. What can I say about my wife? She's the most wonderful person in the world and has helped so much, especially in the past year.