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OfflineMarkostheGnostic
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Registered: 12/09/99
Posts: 14,279
Loc: South Florida Flag
Last seen: 3 years, 2 days
On the Partial Real-Life Identity of MarkostheGnostic * 2
    #18739672 - 08/21/13 08:43 PM (10 years, 5 months ago)

We all want to maintain varying degrees of anonymity on The Shroomery, but in my case, I had been employed by Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the 4th largest school system in the nation, as a crisis intervention and substance abuse specialist. I held a position called TRUST Specialist for 26 years, 10 months, in which I worked with junior high and middle school kids, since piloting this program with 12 other specialists in 1986. All of us  interviewed had some experience in substance abuse counseling, and we were asked if we had any "street" experience, which is to say, did we ever use drugs. It was the only job in my life where it was a plus to my would-be employer if I actually HAD used drugs. Of course, in 1986, they relied on our word when we said that we no longer used. There was no drug screening back then, only fingerprinting, which is standard if one is going to work in a public school system with children. I didn't like that, but it was necessary.

Every once in a while, I'd meet someone from Miami on these forums, and they had always been respectful towards my need for anonymity, figuring out from clues what I did for a living. If the conservative powers that be discovered that a psychedelic fifth columnist was the one who was conducting school-wide Red Ribbon Week activities in Miami schools, I might have been out of a job. All that changed yesterday, when I formally resigned from the M-DCPS system, and retired from the Florida Retirement System. Today is my first official day of retirement!  Woot! :congrats: The feeling of elation hasn't kicked in yet. My salary took an enormous dump, like 60%, but I am fortunate to have a pension, howsoever meager. Pensions are a thing of the past. Medical insurance for my wife and me, until ObamaCare kicks in, is obscenely high, but being 60, and having some medical problems, there is no way not to have insurance. I've been socking it away in my checkbook and reduced my tax shelter contribution to be more solvent for the past couple of years, feeling that I was getting too expensive and would soon be surplussed. I was right. For 20 years, federal monies paid for my program, and it was mandatory for school principals to have a TRUST Specialist. Over the last 6 years, federal monies dried up, and it came under the discretion of principals. My days became numbered, and at the whim of a single school administrator and his/her budget. Now, I'm into health, not wealth, but I'd like to urge all you young'uns out there to tax shelter, and/or invest as much as you possibly can for your future.  Things are only going to get more difficult for the average bread-winner in this country.
:money:
The trade off in my lifestyle was time instead of money. I worked 212 days out of 365.25, for almost 27 years, and loved the summer, winter, and spring breaks, not to mention the fall holidays. I believe I would have perished of a broken spirit if I received only 2 or even 3 weeks of vacation a year, so the Lord truly provided for my needs. For a complicated bunch of reasons, moving to Florida was a personal and professional nightmare. I was not able to practice my profession at the level I was trained at, AND I had to divorce the woman who brought me to Miami. But had I not been down here, I never would have met my wife of the last 17 years, or have been able to make lemonade out of the lemons that my karma dealt me. So, this chapter of my life has ended, and a new one has commenced, and like every thing in duality, the bitter and the sweet intermingle such that it is difficult to say which karma is blessing, and which is curse. It seems that "all is karma, all is grace," which is what I learned from a song in Ram Dass' Love, Serve, Remember album 40 years ago. :peace:


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γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself


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InvisibleIcelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery
Male


Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
Re: On the Partial Real-Life Identity of MarkostheGnostic [Re: MarkostheGnostic]
    #18739686 - 08/21/13 08:45 PM (10 years, 5 months ago)

Well lets see some naked pics then. :nicesmile:


--------------------
"Don't believe everything you think". -Anom.

" All that lives was born to die"-Anom.

With much wisdom comes much sorrow,
The more knowledge, the more grief.
Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC


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Offlinecrumblebum
The Guy Who's Really Bad At Sex


Registered: 04/24/07
Posts: 1,459
Last seen: 3 years, 2 months
Re: On the Partial Real-Life Identity of MarkostheGnostic [Re: Icelander]
    #18739844 - 08/21/13 09:15 PM (10 years, 5 months ago)

^this


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OfflineUniversaleyeni
Friend
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Registered: 04/18/13
Posts: 528
Loc: Fl
Last seen: 1 year, 10 months
Re: On the Partial Real-Life Identity of MarkostheGnostic [Re: MarkostheGnostic]
    #18740014 - 08/21/13 09:55 PM (10 years, 5 months ago)

All is karma, all is grace. Very true markosthegnostic. I hope this new phase on your timeline brings peace and harmony. Also, on the positive side youll have more free time to be here now.

One love markos


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Offlinecrumblebum
The Guy Who's Really Bad At Sex


Registered: 04/24/07
Posts: 1,459
Last seen: 3 years, 2 months
Re: On the Partial Real-Life Identity of MarkostheGnostic [Re: Universaleyeni]
    #18740037 - 08/21/13 09:58 PM (10 years, 5 months ago)

just dick pics would be fine if you're still not cool showing face.


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Offlinesonamdrukpa
Wayfarer


Registered: 10/18/11
Posts: 2,777
Last seen: 2 months, 8 days
Re: On the Partial Real-Life Identity of MarkostheGnostic [Re: Universaleyeni]
    #18740063 - 08/21/13 10:03 PM (10 years, 5 months ago)

:bender:


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OfflineMarkostheGnostic
Elder
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Registered: 12/09/99
Posts: 14,279
Loc: South Florida Flag
Last seen: 3 years, 2 days
Re: On the Partial Real-Life Identity of MarkostheGnostic [Re: Icelander]
    #18740287 - 08/21/13 11:14 PM (10 years, 5 months ago)

Quote:

Icelander said:
Well lets see some naked pics then. :nicesmile:






Animatednaked.


--------------------
γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself


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OfflineMarkostheGnostic
Elder
Male User Gallery


Registered: 12/09/99
Posts: 14,279
Loc: South Florida Flag
Last seen: 3 years, 2 days
Re: On the Partial Real-Life Identity of MarkostheGnostic [Re: Universaleyeni]
    #18740292 - 08/21/13 11:15 PM (10 years, 5 months ago)

Thanks, and :cheers:


--------------------
γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself


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InvisibleIcelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery
Male


Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
Re: On the Partial Real-Life Identity of MarkostheGnostic [Re: MarkostheGnostic]
    #18741011 - 08/22/13 06:14 AM (10 years, 5 months ago)

Quote:

MarkostheGnostic said:
Quote:

Icelander said:
Well lets see some naked pics then. :nicesmile:






Animatednaked.





I always suspected you were a woman.


--------------------
"Don't believe everything you think". -Anom.

" All that lives was born to die"-Anom.

With much wisdom comes much sorrow,
The more knowledge, the more grief.
Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC


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OfflineMarkostheGnostic
Elder
Male User Gallery


Registered: 12/09/99
Posts: 14,279
Loc: South Florida Flag
Last seen: 3 years, 2 days
Re: On the Partial Real-Life Identity of MarkostheGnostic [Re: Icelander]
    #18741804 - 08/22/13 10:56 AM (10 years, 5 months ago)

Quote:

Icelander said:
Quote:

MarkostheGnostic said:
Quote:

Icelander said:
Well lets see some naked pics then. :nicesmile:






Animatednaked.





I always suspected you were a woman.




Must be my alter-ego.


--------------------
γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself


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