I was not nominated for this one, but I decided Tuesday is a nice day for a personal post and I'm going for it anyway. Five little known facts about me...
1. I used to be a teacher (for a while)
I was looking for a job in my early twenties and one of the jobs I found was a part-time gig as an English teacher. It quickly became evident to both me and my boss that I didn't really enjoy teaching children, but I excelled at teaching adults. It seemed I had a natural knack for explaining and categorizing this type of stuff and with a number of students being vocally happy about it, my schedule started getting full pretty quickly. Before I knew it, a number of part-time gigs had organically morphed into something like a full-time job filled mainly with courses for adults and corporate trainings.
A bit over a year into this, one of my employers asked me to start teaching English at her private high school. Working with bratty teenagers turned out to be something I really enjoyed and despite the fact that the money I was making as a teacher was nothing to write home about, I was really having fun both with the high-schoolers and with the corporate people. After a few years, the Physics teacher got pregnant and I was asked by the principal if I felt I could do that job too (all the faculty knew I was really into science and stuff). It was a total gamble, but I did teach high school Physics alongside the English and had a blast.
Unfortunately for me, when the financial crisis struck, a lot of the companies I was teaching at decided to drop the free English classes for their employees which erased a significant portion of my income and I was forced to get a real 9-to-5 for a while. I still miss teaching as it was kind of my calling. It was fulfilling and I seemed to be pretty good at it. I'm considering making a return.
2. I'm a proper metalhead with long hair, exclusively black wardrobe and black nail polish
I'm really into metal and I guess you can classify me as a pretty typical-looking metalhead. I discovered this type of music in my teenage years and it quickly became part of my identity. Unlike many of my peers, I didn't ease into it and started from one of the most brutal bands available back then - Cannibal Corpse. I pretty much destroyed my Gallery Of Suicide cassette from constant playing, but it did feel like a bit of a phase of getting the aggression, rebellion, hormones and energy out. For the uninitiated in this stuff, this is one of those guttural singing bands with fast brutal riffs, double bass drumming and the gory horror movie equivalent of lyrics. Back then they sounded like the heaviest thing possible though they currently seem much tamer and more melodic to my seasoned ears.
Soon after that I discovered Children Of Bodom and their album Hatebreeder which really changed my life. It was like the perfect amalgamation of speed, energy, melody, heaviness and virtuosity with no clean vocals. Metal was clearly not a phase. I had found what I had been searching for and I was now a convert. With time I started discovering more bands like In Flames, Arch Enemy, Dimmu Borgir, Slipknot and Soilwork and I even started venturing into metal melodic enough to incorporate clean singing like Amorphis and later Katatonia. I've been on this journey of discovering more and more of this music ever since and the latest bands that have conquered my heart have been things like Tessaract, Architects and Bring Me The Horizon among others.
I think I'll always prefer metal to other genres as it's really interesting and diverse musically. While many people might hear only noise, I hear the most complex and expansive genre of music out there and only jazz and classical music can come close to the musicianship and intricacy metal has to offer.
I still go to concerts and festivals as much as I can and I still look the part. I don't plan on getting rid of my long hair unless I have to (for maleness related reasons) and I love owning only black clothing as everything matches everything.
3. I'm a musician and I play the keyboards
I started playing the piano as a kid before I discovered metal and I always had fun improvising and coming up with corny little self-composed numbers. When I first started listening to metal, I wanted to ditch the piano and move to bass so I can find a band to be brutal with. But when I heard the virtuoso performances of the keyboard player of Children Of Bodom, I realized playing the keyboards can be bad-ass too. I started devoting a lot of time to learning to play as fast as any guitar shredder and with time I started getting pretty good at it.
I've played in bands ranging from gothic or progressive metal, to melodic death metal and black metal. Oh and even hard rock. There was a time in my life when I was doing this pretty intensively and I've had the opportunity to play all around my home country of Bulgaria and I've also performed in the nearby Greece, Serbia, Macedonia and Ukraine. I've had the honor of sharing a stage with acts like Dimmu Borgir, Septicflesh, Suffocation, Destruction and more (as an opening act or at the same festival of course). I've even had the chance to play a few concerts with "recognizable names" I won't share here and I've also performed with symphonic orchestras a few times.
I have a pretty intense stage presence with a lot of handbagging and silly poses regardless of the crowds. I've played for both 5 and 5000 with the same passion and desire. Oh and I do screaming vocals pretty decently and have co-fronted a band with that for bit too.
I'm not sharing clips or band names, but if you are curious, drop me a line on steemit.chat or discord and I might confess privately.
4. I have an awesome dog
I really love my dog and I have a soft spot for animals in general. Our dog is of an unknown mixed breed and was adopted after being found on the street. When he got to us, he was full of fleas and lice and you could see his pink skin through his fur. It seemed that he was 1 or 2 years old back then and he has been with us for 6 years now. He felt at home with us quite quickly and started being loud and playful right away.
He has few distinctive characteristics. He is relatively small (under 10kg/20pounds), he has a long tubby body and short legs. He has a piercingly loud bark that is rare for a dog of his size. He is quite emotional and curious. He barks a lot at other dogs, especially if they are larger than him and the whole neighborhood is familiar with his loud voice. I take him out on a long leash at all times as he is not very obedient especially if he decides to try and intimidate a larger dog (which of course is unsafe).
He is still really playful, loves stuffed toys and turns them to shreds with great pleasure.
5. I managed to bring my girlfriend to the steem blockchain, too.
I finally managed to convince my significant other of over 7 years @naydenova to start posting her photography on here and I'm very happy that I did (and I think so is she).
I adore her and I can't believe she keeps bearing with me and I hope she continues to do so in the future. She really brings out the best in me and I'm really happy that we are together. I feel like she's helped me grow a lot and that includes the fact that she initiated us becoming vegetarian and us adopting our dog.
I really want to thank her for everything she has done and continues to do for me.
Bonus Fact:
(if you feel 2 and 3 were too similar)
I drive a soccer-mom minivan and I love it! :)
