introduce yourself!!

[Boogus Epirus Aurelius]

My name is Boognish.

The name boognish is derived from the french root "Boug" which means "of high stature". This is ironic in a number of ways as my parents were the opposite of French (German) and they were born peasants a few miles from Gladivostik, a formerly Russian occupied outpost which had been used to make hand grenades during the war.

After finishing tilling the field and returning the pigs to their pen one day, my father stood on our little hill overlooking Gladivositk and a leaflet blew between his legs. This was a rare occurrence as paper was something of a rarity in our parts.

The front of the leaflet showed a beautiful blue house surrounded by a freshly painted white wooden fence with pruned and obedient greenery climbing the occasional picket. There was a man on the considerable porch in a rocking chair sipping from tall glass with a pipe on the armrest. A woman stood next to him, her right hand resting gently on his shoulder, smiling, wrapped in a plaid sundress.

The leaflet was titled, "A day in the life of an honest american"

Maybe it was the sludge in the water he had consumed minutes before, or the angle of the sun over the ridge, through the smog of Gladivostik or maybe it really was just that picture, but my father wept and threw down his hoe.

Within the week, we were trekking across the country in search of America.

Every mile further away from Gladivostik  was a mile further into "civilized" life. Pig farms turned into office parks. Industrial hell holes merged into mirrored, modern and clean skyscrapers. People walked erect and fast, darting instead of plodding. We were born plodders.

We arrived in Berlin nearly two years after we set out from Gladivostik. It was there, in Berlin, that we discovered that America was across a massive span of water called an ocean. There were airplanes that could carry us over, they told us.

We worked in the airport for several months, trying to afford a ticket. I juggled near the entrance while my parents worked the occasional janitorial position. We were happy during this time. We had something we were striving for. A future was ahead of us, and the prospects were golden.

We finally got our ticket to New York City. We bought a loaf of bread and ate the whole thing to celebrate.

The flight was terrifying. My father compared us to corn kernels in a tin can, waiting to be shaken just a bit.

We arrived in New York. We left the terminal. We walked down the street.

There wasn't a blue house with a manicured lawn. They told us those were out west.

So, we hitched a bus named after a dog out towards the west, towards California. They told us we'd find what we wanted there.

We ran out of money and they dropped us in Wisconsin. We tried to move on, but we just couldn't My mother was disheartened and my father was broken with disappointment. He began work for a local pig farmer and we moved into a dank shed on the edge of his property.

One evening, after tilling the field and returning the pigs to their pen, my father stood on the hill overlooking his bosses property and took out that old leaflet again. He had never dared open it lest it fall apart in his hands.

He slowly and carefully pried open the second page. The middle page depicted a jungle village, but something was wrong. There were men in strange uniforms holding lighters up to the straw roofs of the huts as women appeared to be screaming to get out. Other men held large guns, pointing them into the blank faces of men and children lined up against a wall.

The caption inside read "The Real American Dream: Leave Vietnam"

My father, confused and heartbroken as that perfect blue house burned up in his mind, alongside those straw capped huts and women, set off towards our shack.

The paths we choose.

[snoorkel]

dank shed

[me003]

hi im methree and i delivered pizzas for 2 years.

[PLEASEHELP1991]

helo hi

[[hedy]Zidone]

I... uh... hi... I'm Zidone...

[Nyerp]

hi i'm daisy

[Samus Aran]

Hello. My name is Ryan Wells. I live at my mom's apartment. I'm twenty-three years of age and failed every class last semester at school. I am currently unemployed.

[ME##]

i've failed every class ever

[PLEASEHELP1991]

Hello. My name is Ryan Flanagan. I live with my folks and frequently play IRL Façade.

[??????]

hi i'm clucky i'm narcissistic and very self-absorbed and coincidentally make others fall in love with me (because i need money and a nice hot meal)

[ikanaide]

hi i am american

[ME##]

hi american

[me003]

Hi im ludwig von koopa, and i assure you im the real ludwig von koopa.