Updated

11/12/2000

This is my Empire Of Fork...  My realm dedicated to showing you my life...  My struggle to be a straight edge vegan kid...  The fun I have with all my friends...  All the drama and chaos that I express through my scribbling...  And my love for those things in life that make you feel on top of the world...

My name is Daniel...  People call me the Fork...  Or Helmut...  Or one of the many screen names I have obtained...  Long story...  Don't ask...  I was born here in Virginia and have lived here all my life...  Not in the same house though...  For I have moved more times that I can count since I was five...  I have two brothers...  A great set of parents...  And lots of loving grandparents...  I couldn't  ask for a better family...

I attended Deep Creek High and graduated with honors...  Since then I have been attending Cedar Road University (also known as Tidewater Community College) off and on...  School is fun, and I see it as a way to broaden my horizons...  I know it sounds corny...  But it's my way of making it so that I can do what I want to do and make money off of it...  See I like to build computers...  And having that slip of paper just tells people that I know what I am doing...  That's how it works in this world...  You have to prove everything...  I actually have plans to attend Virginia Tech in the future...  And I will make it there...  That's just another one of my struggles...

Since my Junior year in high school...  I have had experience in a broad  area of careers...  Well not necessarily careers...  I started out working in a convenience store up the street from my school...  There I sold gas...  Cigarettes...  Alcohol...  Nasty fast food...  Fattening snack foods...  And lottery tickets...  That job sucked ass...  But it gave me spending cash and a reason to stay out of trouble...  After I graduated from high school...  I took a much deserved break and went up to Philly to spend a few weeks with my grandparents...  When I came back...  I took my brother's place as supervisor at the local office supply store...  My brother quit because he found his calling as a teacher...

Working as a supervisor I gained much respect from my family and friends...  Well not really...  But the change in jobs made me feel like I was doing something with my life other than selling the crap of life to society...  I enjoyed this job...  I made a lot of new friends and started making a little more money...  Then a lot more money...  Enough money that I could finally move out of my parents' house...  And into my first apartment with one of my best friends from high school...

A few months after I moved out...  I walked into my favorite computer store just to pick up some parts for a computer I was working on...  I had gotten to know the people there pretty good...  And because of that...  I was offered a job doing what I do best...  So a week later I started working for The Software Choice...  Building computers...  Repairing computers...  Selling computers...  I am still working there now...  In fact I do networking jobs on the side for spending cash...  I enjoy what I do...  And I get a lot of benefits from it too...

As far as how I spend my free time...  That's a story...  I am how you say...  A Straight Edge Hardcore Kid Vegan Warrior...  I don't like labels or titles...  But that's what I am and there's nothing I can or want to do to change that...  I have dedicated my life to keeping my body free from impurities...  Things such as animal products and drugs...  In hopes that others may be influenced into doing the same...  Basically I strive for a better world in where we can all survive on good music and veggie burgers...  Or something to that effect...  Most people see it as a fad or just something I do to see myself as cool...  Well let them think what they want...  I do it as personal choice...  A philosophy on life if you will...  I do it because I want to...  It's better than sitting around smoking pot...  Drinking alcohol until I start hitting people...  Eating animal products that just increase your odds of getting ill...  And watching my life slip away into the void known as human ego...  I have better things to do with my short life span...

I was introduced to the straight edge scene during my Senior year in high school...  After my Junior year...  Which was the year I indulged in drinking alcohol and smoking...  I decided that there was no reason for me to poison myself with such things...  I knew a few people who were already straight edge and it seemed like something I could do...  I became a vegetarian around the same time...  At first it was all something that I just wanted to try...  After a while it became something I wanted to do...  All my friends thought I was stupid at first...  But I now get mad props from everyone for my personal efforts to stay pure and true...  After I graduated I started dating this girl that vegetarian as well...  Although she never claimed straight edge...  She stayed away from the poisons of society as well...  I think I have to give credit to her for my choice to take on the challenge of going vegan...  I remember exactly when it was I went vegan...  It was right before Thanksgiving...  Which made the holiday season really hard to eat with other people...  Especially my family...  The following Thanksgiving I got really pissed at the fact that my family had no desire to cook something separate for me...  So I decided to join my vegetarian friend and her family at their house for my first animal friendly Thanksgiving dinner...  My family was very disappointed that I did not join them for dinner...  But sacrifices must be made to express my desire to be pure...  Over the course of time I have made my family realize what my decision is about and for the most part...  I am able to join them at the dinner table now...  I have to admit my lifestyle is not mainstream at all...  And I really don't care...  For I hope that one day it may become the way to live for everyone...

I have to give credit for a lot of my pictures to some of the cool people that roam the Yahoo Club section...  Also a lot of my pictures came from the people at PETA...  They may have some obtuse ways of conveying their message...  But their message is pure and true...  Their link is on my links page...  I hope that nobody is offended by some of the things that they made see or read on this page...  Or any of my pages for that matter...  If you are...  It only takes one click of the mouse to close the window...