I can't believe that some guy actually tried to play this off as a personal e-mail on match.com. Are you kidding me? I can’t believe I just typed an email this long to you! So I guess all I can say is that I’m the type of person that if I’m genuinely interested in someone; and the fact that I’m a firm believer that “actions speak louder than words,” I thought I would take the opportunity to share with you a bit more that isn’t revealed in my profile about who I am, where I come from and where I’m headed. First, about me, I am a very straight-forward, no bullshit, blunt and very honest person, so fasten your seat belt and I’m gonna take you on a journey thru my life. I was born in September, the last day, 09/30, in 1972. That makes me 32 if the math is right! I'm just an All American guy from Dallas, Texas, (born and raised). My dad was a commercial airline pilot and my mom was a flight attendant, that is how they met, (sort of romantic, huh?) The airline they worked for was headquartered in Dallas, so that’s why I get to call Big D my hometown. I have my brother, he is a year older than me and he was named after my dad. I was named after my dad’s brother. Both my dad and his brother, guess I could be saying my uncle, were Marine fighter pilots; and my uncle died in a plane crash when his fighter plane crashed into the ground during a training exercise with the Blue Angels. I was named after him, so I like my name. So I’m a II. My dad died when I was 2 (no sorry needed, im ok) and my mom was 26, widowed with a two and three year old at home; with a job that required her to travel extensively. We did ok, we struggled at times as a family but were nevertheless very happy and felt complete. My mom was and still is an awesome lady and is a very important part of my life. There is no one alive on my dad’s side of the family and only my grandmother on my mom’s. So I think it is fair to say, my family is extremely small; and I really only consider it to be my mom, my brother and me. My mom does have a sister and brother, but we never really stayed in touch. My mom’s side of the family was also military and they died in service of their country, plane crashes and submarine sinking, etc. I did have a very close relationship with my grandfather, who passed away my sr. year in high school and it was the biggest loss to me so far. It was so painful that I guess I felt lucky to have such a small family so I wouldn’t have to go thru that that too many times again. My mom still lives in Dallas, in the same home I grew up in, and my brother lived in Atlanta for many years and recently moved to Moscow, Russia to pursue international corporate service accounts with his own company. He works throughout Europe. I just went to see him a few weeks ago and it was a pretty wild trip. I started off in Moscow and saw the Kremlin and the Bolshoi Theatre, and then flew to St. Petersburg and saw the Hermitage Museum (it is sort of like the Louve in Paris, it’s a former residence of the former monarchs of the country, in this case Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, etc. I want to be Robert the Great! lol. You could check out these gold chariots that were used during the coronation period and a lot of artwork from all the well-knowns, such as Monet, Rembrandt, Picasso, etc. When I was there, it was the beginning of “white nights”, you are so far north, near the artic, that the sun doesn’t set, it sits right above the horizon and it is bright for three months out of the year. I then flew to Kiev, Ukraine on Aeroflot (don’t ever fly a Russian airliner, it is the scariest thing you will ever do) but we did and spent some time in Kiev, which is a former soviet state. Took a train down to Crimea, which is on the Black Sea and toured the winery’s and visited a Russian Naval base, which until recently was the most secret nuclear submarine base in the world. It was tunneled into the side of a mountain and access was blocked by these cliffs to where they believed it was sheltered from a US nuclear strike. We paid some money and went on a live nuclear submarine and saw nuclear missiles and torpedoes, etc. Amazing what you can buy now in Russia. The Black sea is actually very gorgeous, it resembles the Med. I did some scuba diving and relaxed on the beach. Then we took a ferry across the sea to Turkey and visited Istanbul, toured the markets, then flew to Bucharest, Romania and took a bus up into the mountains and visited Prince Dracula’s castles, actually spent the night in one, it was so much fun but very scary. No electricity, humongous castle with hundreds of rooms, paintings that you swear the eyes are following you, and only candles lit for light. Noises everywhere. Pretty scary but fun. Too bad you weren’t there, I would of much rather jumped in bed with you then my brother! LOL Then we went to Budapest, Hungary, which is really 2 cities, Buda and Pest separated by a river. Very westernized city and clean, reminds me or Vienna or Zurich, but not as expensive. Then it was back to Moscow for my return flight to London then to LA. All in 3 weeks time. Ok back to my story of growing up. . . . . I jump around a bit . . . .Thank God, both her kids were athletic, my brother received a football scholarship to SMU in Dallas, and I received one to The University of Texas in Austin. After Austin, I moved to Miami, FL and went to grad school at Univ of Miami, (just picked a place I thought would be fun and went) I didn’t think I would live in Miami, but after school I got a job and just ended up living on South Beach; absolutely gorgeous and had a blast, but it was like living Spring Break 24/7 365 days a year and it just wasn’t somewhere I knew I wanted to settle down; it was somewhere I wanted to have fun. I got married very young to a beautiful model that turned out to not last very long. I learned that you cannot have a relationship based on sex, intimacy, and looks alone; you must have substance and the fact was, we were not really friends, we didn’t have much in common, and even thou we dated for 18 months prior, and were married almost 3 years, it never felt right. I was more sad about being labeled divorced, because I didn’t really believe in it, then I was about the failure of our marriage. I wanted a family, I wanted a girl that I could spend time with, not someone that was always gone, and I wanted someone with similar interests, and mine did not include shopping. I did learn a lot thou and I know I will be a better husband and much more in tune with what works and what doesn’t given the opportunity again in the future. I have always worked hard, some years better than others, many things out of my control, but was always content. About a year ago, I decided I just really expected a lot more out of myself, content wasn't good enough, and I wanted more. I have been divorced now about 4 ½ years, I was and still am rebuilding my life and I had nothing to hold me back, no kids, was single and could really do whatever I wanted. I guess this desire to be a provider or desire to want to be able to do or give that special person in my life whatever she wanted, was so strong, and to find that special someone that I could share my life with, so I decided I needed to make changes now. I planned my escape for about a year and decided to pursue a new life with new energy and tenacity and since I left, it’s been an adventure everyday. I've only been in CA for a few weeks now. I didn't know if I would go to SF, LA, or OC, but decided on OC, just cause I'm a Republican from Texas, and figured this is probably the only county in the entire State of CA I would probably get along with anybody! LOL, (actually I get along with everybody anyways) I’m not sure I will stay in Orange County, I just had to start somewhere and get out here first and then I could tweak my plan. I think I would like to head more towards LA are a suburb area (the smarter choice would be to go where the area is growing) It’s hard, cause I only know the Newport, Huntington Beach, Irvine, and Laguna area of Orange County, so if I venture too far out, I’m really gonna feel alone! As for what I do and what I hope to accomplish now that I'm here' I represent corporate users to the market for their real estate needs, ("office brokerage") (renewals, acquisitions, dispositions, etc - all tenant rep stuff, with a specialty on office brokerage) I worked for a national firm in South Florida for 9 years and just got burned out, I figured that had to be a better way to leverage myself. My brother does the same thing I do, but went on his own 3 years ago. He struggled a lot his first year, matched his 2nd best year ever his 2nd year, and made over $1 mil this past year. He now lives in Europe and focuses on Int'l requirements. I decided to take the same leap of faith, but maybe with a little more risk than him, because I headed towards an entirely new market and I didn't have a net to catch me if I fell. The dynamics and principals of what I do are the same anywhere, it’s just that networking and meeting people and building a pipeline of business that is going to be the challenging part! I'm committed to trying and doing it, failure is not an option. So I planned a little ahead, I came out to LA several times over the past year and got my RE license, then came back and got my brokers license, then incorporated, and activated my corporate license with the Dept of Real Estate and decided I was going to go for it. I've got a limited amount of staying power, I have to be extremely careful right now, (dating probably shouldn’t be a priority to me, but I can’t help but want someone to share my life with and build a life with) but If I can get a little luck to go my way, I really believe I will be on my way! My brother jokes and says I'm smarter and more personable then him, so if he can do it, I definitely can! At least that's one fan in my corner! I know that the thing that would make me the happiest is a special someone in my life, followed by a family, and I know that was just add to the motivation to exceed even further than what I think is possible! A few years from now, I know I will look back and realize the freedom (both time and financial) that I have made or begun to create will allow me to spoil the ones I love and have a family and be the Man I want to be. Until then, I guess I can "California Dream,” huh? You can reach me several ways, so if your interested in still learning more, I would love that. Robert.t
