I used to ride my bicycle all over town by myself. If you look at the map. I went all along the length of the 8 freeway south/east of it. All the way, way up to the mountains by myself. That's probably why I'm such an independent person, in addition to being an only child. I was used to being on my own from about 2nd grade.

I was maybe 12-13. I had a flat on my scooter(EXAMPLE)(the old kind with real tires like bikes). I took the tire off and I had to bicycle it 2-4 miles to the bike shop to fix it. I got a few miles from my house when this gang of kids started following me. I didn't even do anything to taunt them or anything. Just riding my bike down the street. They started following me. I have no idea how old they even were. Maybe they were way older. I was a non violent bible kid back then. I remembered that what you should do is go to a public place. So as they chased me I went to like a farmer's market and parked my bike outside and went inside. They chased me inside and then one of them came over to me and pushed me down. They kicked my bike over but didn't steal it or anything. After that, they left me alone. I was real worried about getting home. I continued to the bike shop and then I think I went another direction to get home.

It's things like that which totally influence who you are and how you turn out. I certainly lost a lot of trust in the world after that. Maybe today when I am suspicious about people or what they are doing, it's because of things like that happening to me.

Remember Streets of Rage, Double Dragon, Final Fight? I got to see that live in front of my house. It's hard to remember exactly the events because it was like 1983-1985. There was this guy going along and these guys all showed up and surrounded him. It was like he owed them money or something and they were coming to collect. So the guy started fighting them. Then he ran all the way into our garage and said "give me a wrench, give me a bat or something." My dad goes NO! So the guy grabs one of our brooms and goes back and tries to hit the guys with it. Only the broom was weak and broke. HAHAHHA. Then me and my friend were so scared we were hiding inside and just peaking out just over the front window behind the curtains. I don't know what happened after that. I think they all left or moved down the street. I wish there was some epic conclusion. But I'll always remember Streets of Rage live. I don't think we even called the police. In today's age you'd just call the police.