This is Mikel’s public story.
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Mikel Pernisco’s Story
13 places in 16 entries • 2 family & friends
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Bodfish, CA 93205, USA
Where did you grow up?
11 months ago
Bodfish, CA 93205, USA
My family moved around a lot when I was young, so it's really hard to pick exactly where I "grew up." We lived in Ventura, Port Hueneme, Orlando, Bodfish, Lake Isabella, Kissimmee, Manassas...The list goes on and on. Actually, come to think of it, no it doesn't. That's it. LOL
But when really contemplating it and trying to find which one had the largest impact on sculpting me I would have to say Lake Isabella.
Mainly because it was the place I went to High School. It sounds corny to let high school be the defining point of my life, but it truly was. Probably because of the age I was. In high school I began to think for myself. I started questioning myself, and asking myself who I was as a person, what my interests were, where I wanted my life to go, etc.
I hated Lake Isabella with every once of my soul. I wanted to leave. On several occasions I actually attempted too. I would come to my Mom's house here in Florida with the intents on staying. But all of that was short lived. The Valley (shortened name for Kern River Valley where Lake Isabella is located) always found a way to pull me back in.
Even now, having been out of the Valley at this time (17JUL12) for almost four years, I can still feel the Valley pulling me back. It's hard to admit this but there are so much wonders in that Valley. But when living there it's hard to appreciate them. The Valley isn't quite known for it's accepting residents or it's beautiful weather (remember my idea of beautiful weather is rainy, stormy weather). Still, nostalgia is very powerful tool.
Growing up in Lake Isabella was a task for me. Namely growing up with my Dad. I love my Dad, I really do, but his idea of after-school activities for me was to help him work on boats and seadoos. I've never had any interest in anything mechanical. In fact, I hate working on engines and is one of the few things I'm more than happy to shell out some money to have done for me. I remember a few times I would stay home sick from school, and his idea of a bowl of soup was for me to be outside helping with a Pontoon boat, or removing the bolts from-okay I'm not even going to try to remember the parts.. LOL
Aside from the greasy work, growing up with Dad was actually fun. From time to time he would pull away from work and just do something, anything, else. I remember him taking me camping, fishing, shooting, off-roading...you know, the usual backwoods stuff.
It's that stuff that I love and miss about growing up in Lake Isabella. I know I have a huge digital footprint meaning I spend a lot, and I mean A LOT of time on the internet, but believe-it-or-not I love being outdoors. In the Valley I took hold of every opportunity to go trekking through the woods, or go explore new terrain. It has impacted my personality so much that living in Florida and having very limited outdoors activities (that's freeroamed and not charged) I'm ready to move on and find another Lake Isabella. Find that perfect combination of outdoors and civilization.
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Epcot, 1200 Epcot Resorts Blvd, Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830-8429, USA
Describe the best date you've been on.
15 months ago
Epcot, 1200 Epcot Resorts Blvd, Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830-8429, USA
When we first got together I decided I would surprise him and take him to EPCOT. I remembered that he had told me that EPCOT was his favorite park at Disney World, so I had my Mom take me all the way to Orlando to pick him up.
He was still asleep when I got there. His Mom let me in the house and I walked back into his bedroom where he and his brother were passed out in their own beds. I shook him and told him to hurry up and get dressed. He did and we went to Disney.
It was just everything that happened, waking him up, the excitement of taking him to his favorite park, and the day itself that helped make that the best date ever.
Tagged in this entry: David Turner
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2101 Kilbreth Dr, Bodfish, CA 93205, USA
When was the first time you gave someone a key to your place?
15 months ago
June 21, 2005 • 2101 Kilbreth Dr, Bodfish, CA 93205, USA David and I got an apartment together and moved in together, so I don't really think that would count. If it does than the answer would be June of 2005 when I had a copy of the house key made for David.
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Los Angeles, CA, USA
I was born!
15 months ago
October 12, 1985 • Los Angeles, CA, USA I was born 10.5 pounds. I was a big baby. It wasn't fat though... I like to refer to it as vanity pounds.
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Orlando International Airport (MCO), 1 Airport Blvd, Orlando, FL 32827, USA
What's the fastest you've ever been caught speeding?
16 months ago
Orlando International Airport (MCO), 1 Airport Blvd, Orlando, FL 32827, USA I've only received one speeding ticket and that was for going 72 down a 45MPH road. It was a long straight road though...I don't get the speed limits in this state, I really don't.
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Lake Isabella, CA, USA
Who was your first kiss?
16 months ago
Lake Isabella, CA, USA My first kiss unfortunately wasn't David. He was pretty much my first...everything else, but my first kiss was with someone else. I don't really like to name names, because it's so easy to google our own names and I don't really want any familiarity brought here. I'll just say that my first kiss (and this is discerning girls...sorry, they don't count) was done in a dare. There weren't many gays in Kern Valley, so of course to meet another gay usually required some kind of underground connections. Like an underground rainbow railroad. LOL. Anyways, a friend of my step sister came out of the closet, and apparently she thought she'd be doing good by hooking us up. He came over, and they dared us to kiss. All I remember was not feeling prepared, but also feeling very excited. My first gay kiss! I'm pretty sure I kissed like a salmon gasping for air, but it was still fun...for me at least. LOL
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Lake Isabella, CA, USA
Where do you feel most at home?
16 months ago
Lake Isabella, CA, USA It's funny how life works out. If you can't learn to appreciate the bad things that you encounter, it's hard to appreciate the good things. When trying to think of where I've felt most at home, I can't help but to say when David and I were living in California. Granted, life was tough, we never had money, and we couldn't figure out how to appreciate all the bad as well as the good, but in retrospect we really had a home there. We had incredible neighbors, Jon and Susan that would always come over for game night. David had a job, and after work would teach at the dance studio. We would go out some nights and chill on the boat dock at the lake and watch the stars. We had our fun adventures to Bakersfield. David had his good friend Brandon, and we both had our friend Kat and our adventures ghost hunting. We would explore the caves, which there really wasn't anything to explore. It was more just walking to the back and relaxing. The apartment we lived in sucked. We could only take about three minutes worth of hot shower and then the water would be ice cold. We always had an infestation of earwigs under our bed, which was just a mattress on the floor. In the winter time due to lack of propane for our heater, and poor insulation on the apartment it would be about forty degrees in our apartment... try sitting on a toilet and having your testicles automatically ascend in your stomach. Talk about crypto orchid. But we always made the best of it. When we lived there we never looked at it like this was our home, but in retrospect it really was. In the short three years we lived there we established a life together. On a separate but relevant note, that just goes to show that maybe someday I'll look back on living here and consider this my home. Maybe someday I'll be able to appreciate the bad as well as the good about living here. Maybe...
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Ventura, CA, USA
Who was your first crush?
16 months ago
Ventura, CA, USA Okay, all jokes aside do not listen to my Mom on my first crush. She'll tell you it was Whoopi Goldberg. Not true... definitely not true. LOL. The first crush I can remember having was with a girl that I went to school with at Anacapa Middle school. I know better than to list her name because the power of the internet may end up giving me away on this. I will say her initials were AG. I asked her to a dance, like any one that young and stupid does; by writing the question on a piece of paper and asking her to circle yes or no. She circled no, and wrote sorry with a sad face next to it. I don't know why I crushed on her. Maybe I was just confused because I thought she was very cool, or maybe something else. Either way, things worked out for the best. I came out of the closet, so clearly things might not have worked out for us! ;)
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Bodfish, CA, USA
Describe the most beautiful place you have ever seen.
16 months ago
Bodfish, CA, USA There was an off path trail that me and my cousin Eric used to hike next to my Grandpa's house in Bodfish. You'd have to walk through someone's yard, up a slippery muddy hill infested with stinging nettle, and about a half mile further. There were these rocks that had a creek running through them and at one point the creek pooled up into what we used as a swimming hole. It was shaded by surrounding tree's and far far away from everyone. We'd hike up and swim. I would drink the water from the creek, or explore a broken down home that looked like it was from a time long long ago. I don't know, there was something about that entire trail that I just felt so at home in. It was so disconnected from everyone, and so naturally natural. I would have to say that has my vote as the most beautiful place.
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Bodfish, CA, USA
What is your favorite childhood memory of summer?
16 months ago
Bodfish, CA, USA After my parents divorced my Mom stayed in Florida, while my Dad and I moved back to California to a town we frequented in the summer and weekends: Lake Isabella. My favorite memories of the summer isn't living in Lake Isabella though. Actually my favorite childhood memories (even though I was a teen at this time) was flying to Florida to visit my Mom for the summer. One summer Eric (my cousin) and I got it in our heads that we were going to work at Disney, save up enough money (we thought) to buy a vehicle, a camera, and then drive back to California stopping a certain points along the way to film animals. We never even saved a dime. LOL. Still, it was the excitement of the dream that help fuel that memory to my favorite summer.
Tagged in this entry: Eric Rupert
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Port Hueneme, CA, USA
Describe your childhood home.
16 months ago
Port Hueneme, CA, USA Ah man, I had so many homes as a child. I really think it's from my parents and the past where I get my nomadic personality. But when really trying to peg down which one would be my childhood home, I would have to say it would be one of the (apartments? condos?) homes we lived at in Port Hueneme, CA. The one that really sticks to mind was the townhouse we lived in. I still remember the address by heart too (756 Seawind Way). It was in the Surfside III complex which was right on the beach. I remember when we first got Sophia, our dog, we would take her for walks on the beach. It was the home we bought (as far as I can remember) our first personal computer, where we were in an Earthquake hiding under the kitchen table, where I was home schooled, and where I painted a cardboard castle with gold spray paint for a school project. Damn, really thinking about it makes me miss that house so much.
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6, Kissimmee, FL 34741, USA
What's your favorite photo of the city you live in?
16 months ago
January 2011 • 6, Kissimmee, FL 34741, USA This picture was taken when we were still living at Studio 6 in Kissimmee. I had my cellphone (Samsung Vibrant) on panorama mode, and took a shot of the gloomy sky and the rainbow. It's my favorite yet.
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Kissimmee, FL, USA
What was your most epic road trip?
16 months ago
September 2, 2008 • Kissimmee, FL, USA My most epic road trip was when we (David, Eric, and myself) drove from Bodfish, CA to Kissimmee, FL. We made the trip in under 48 hours driving nonstop except to stop and get food or gas. It was definitely hard saying goodbye to all our friends, but we were so happy to leave California.
Tagged in this entry: Eric Rupert , David Turner
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Lake Isabella, CA, USA
Washington, DC, USA
