How you doin'?! My Name is Richard. Here are the TOP 10 reasons that I'm here on Myspace.com:

10. Somethin' to do when I'm bored.
9. opps.
8. If I find someone whithout a smile I give 'em mine.
7. Post comments at cool peeps to try to seem smart or funny.
6. Videos / music / art / commedy / games / and other cool stuff.
5. Read cool blogs and comments.
4. Chat with friends and cool peeps to find out what's new.
3. Politics -- I can't believe people voted for that !?@$$r
2. Find myself a g/f that's fun and sexy and knows it.
1. Show off what a great dad I am to anyone who cares.

Do you really want to know more about me? I'm real simple... I just want everything! Thanks for caring and leave a comment somewhere if you hate me or if you like me... either way is fine.

The details of my life are quite inconsequential... I wanted to be born in the Galapagos Islands, but I felt that I should be near my mother at the time, so I was born in San Francisco instead. My sister Sunday was born in Frisco a year before me. I soon tired of the Bay Area and moved to Hawaii until my brother Diamond was born when I was 5. Then I moved to the Portland, Oregon Area, and then all over Northern California, and then Vancouver, Washington, and then Albuquerque, New Mexico, and then finally to the Long Beach Area of Southern California where I have remained since 1987. Whew!

I have worked for numerous companies including at least 3 of my own. Jobs I've had: The Daily Digest (my mom's newspaper in Willits, CA), Victor Co. (fixing electronic games), The Multiple Schlerosis Society (in NM), Barr Radio (my grandpa's company), McDonald's (the one on Woodruff and Del Amo -- some of my friends still work there 17 years later!), Carl's Jr. (only lasted 2 weeks there), A&V Pawn Shop (until the owner pissed me off), Quality Auto Body (paint fumes made me sick!), Drywall Specialists (my first company in 1988), UPS (known as the UPS Health Spa - I was a 'slammer'!), American Cable Systems (until I got screwed!), The Press Telegram (I wasn't gay enough to hang), Cardis Car Quest (until they went under), Gear Math Inc. (my VB6 software company), Undercar Parts Unlimited Inc. (too many years there!), Fast Undercar (for my buddies Habib & Chris), LA Home Builder. com (currently) and at least 5 others. Eventually I rose to the position of Chief Operations Officer and General Manager of a small corporation of 85 souls called Undercar Parts Unlimited, Inc. In 1999 I quit that job after about 8 years in the business and started working full time as a self employed general contractor and finally got my license in 2004.

I got married in 1995 and had my daughter Ashlay in 1996 and divorced in 2001. My ex-wife and I share custody with no disputes whatsoever and are still good friends. She re-married and has another child. I raised her first child Thomas for 10 years until 2004 when he turned 15. Thomas is home schooled and is doing very well.

I am proud to be the father of a beautiful 9 year old girl named Ashlay. She loves to paint canvases and draw and play with dolls and sing and play board games and read a lot of books. She loves to play disc golf with me and my cousin's and friends and also go on long bike rides. The furthest we ever rode was 20 miles. I have collected over 400 drawings and canvases from her over the years not including the hundreds that I threw away. I only save the best ones.

My hobbies include snowboarding, camping, hiking, collecting DVD's, working (I’m a general contractor specializing in residential remodeling in the mid-cities area. Check out LAHomeBuilder.com or OCHomeBuilder.com ), I love my job! I love to play chess but can rarely find anyone who wants to play. I only like to play on a real chess board! I also love to play several other games including: Aquire, basketball, Boggle Deluxe, Carcassonne, contract rummy, cribbage (my favorite card game), croquet, darts, disc golf, El Grande, Evo (one of my favorite board games), Friend’s Trivia, Go, Magic the Gathering, Mexica, Nautilus, Octi, poker, pool, psoy dose, Puerto Rico, racket ball, Robot Ralley, Rubic’s Game, rummy, Scrabble (YES!), Settler’s of Cattan (one of the best ever!!), soft ball, Tigris & Euphrates, voley ball, water polo, WCIII-FT, and Yatzee.

I am a social animal, so when I discovered myspace.com I soon became obsessed! I love to party! I love to dance! I love to wrestle with my friend Habib and anyone else that will dare. I’m part Navajo, German, French, Irish, and Jewish, and I’m proud to be an American! I like to go bicycling with my daughter and drive a few balls at the driving range as well. I love to program in VB6. Some day I would like to make a living writing software from my home office. I love to listen to music and I rarely watch TV. I have collected over 86,000 mp3’s and less than 10,000 of them are duplicates. I love the internet even now in it's infancy. Wow! Where will we be in 50 years? I want to be there to marvel in awe of what mankind has accomplished. I only hope that we have enough love to stop the hating.

I gotta say something about my heroes right here: Let's start with my mom Bonnie Barreras (half Navajo / half German). She is the person most responsible for the wonderful life that I am living. She is a powerful, charismatic, and beautiful person. She was kicked around a lot as a kid but eventually she was taken in by her foster parents, the Jimenez family. Mr. Jimenez was a Baptist minister. They taught her about love and life and gave her confidence and taught her to believe in her dreams despite the pain and suffering she had endured for so much of her childhood.

My mom has been to finishing school; attended the University of Honolulu; raised 3 kids without much help from their fathers; held a high level job in the world's largest corporation earning $120k (adjusted for inflation); put her kids in private schools (for a few years); been married 5 times; lives in the mountains on 125 acres of pristine wilderness with her husband Bill and her 3 dogs; depends on solar power and propane while at home; has her own radio show (soon to be syndicated we hope!!); is a law librarian; tutors children; was a truck driver; owned her own newspaper; as an investigative reporter she exposed criminals and child molesters and wrote articles about wonderful people she met in her county; she taught me chess so well that I eventually became a chess champion and got to play the California champ when I was just 11. She couldn't beat me any more but she womped him 3 games straight -- I think I lost to him because I was too nervous; she dated Mexicans for a few years while she was teaching English to grape pickers in Northern Cal and so she speaks Spanish fairly well; while working as a welding foreman in the ship yards near Vancouver, Washington, she learned to speak Russian. Many immigrant welders from the Glasnost program were assigned to her and they didn't speak much English if any; she raised 3 kids who are all now successful, happy, talented, wonderful people that love her to pieces. I love you mom!

My Grandpa Jack Perkins who died in 1999. He was the father of my step dad Kenneth Perkins. (My dad had a good influence on me while I was growing up but he doesn't qualify as a hero because he wasn't good to my mom or my sister.) Jack was a perfect person. He never lied or cursed or criticized anyone in his life. He worked in the foundries in Vernon for most of his life. He was in his 80's when he finally died of cancer a few years ago. His favorite co-workers were black men. He always said that they were the best people to work with because they worked so hard and never complained and were so grateful to have a good paying job and they took such good care of their families. He was a religious man but he never tried to push his beliefs on anyone because he didn't feel it was his place. He was married to my grandma for almost 60 years. She is still alive and well in her late 80's and has a new boyfriend that she goes dancing with and travels with regularly.

Grandpa used to help me fix my cars when they broke down. He'd say, "How's it goin'?" I'd say, "It's goin' ok but I think the head is blown on my engine gramps." He'd say, "Well let's pull that engine out and rebuild it." Then without any delay, we'd take the car apart and put it back together again and within a few days I'd have a good running car. We'd replace the clutch and the brakes too while we were at it. He never ran out of energy even during the 18 years that he fought cancer. He'd keep on going and going even while in terrible pain and he never let it show.

He had lots of cancer operations during the last 18 years of his life. He said he was exposed to lots of chemicals during his career in the foundries. One time he had a bunch of cancer removed through his bung. He became blind, deaf, mute, and he couldn't walk or move or anything. I came by to get my mail (I still get my mail there) and he was in his usual bed ridden position on his back, helpless. My Grandma was sitting next to him talking to him quietly when I walked in. I said, "How's he doin'?" She said, "Well, he can't do much except wiggle his finger and nod his head." I just thought, "Man that sucks... Grandpa is a goner." A few days later I saw him again and this time he was raising and lowering his arm just a few inches off the bed. I said, "What's he doing Grandma?" She said, "He's exercising." A few days later I came by and he was raising and lowering his leg and his arm and muttering. A few days later her was lifting both legs and arms and trying to sit up. Within a few weeks he was in the back yard digging a ditch in 90 degree heat! Jesus H! I couldn't believe it! I asked him, "What's up Gramps?" He said, "When I'm on my steroids I feel like I'm 35 years old again, but when I'm on my Chemo I feel like I can barely make it. He lived for 2 more years before the cancer finally got him. He fought it to his very last breath.

I was lucky to share many good conversations with him in my life, and he taught me much about philosophy and work. He once told me, "The best thing I ever did was to promise my wife the moon and then spend the rest of my life delivering it to her." To this day I have tried to live with his spirit. His spirit lives on in me and in many other people that he touched in his 80 plus years. I will never forget him, and I hope that if you read this that it has inspired you too even if just a little bit.

I have many other heroes, and somewhere I will make mention of them, but after the two above, the rest all pale in comparison to me so I'll leave it at that. Thanks again for reading.



Friends, Romans, countrymen lend me your eardrum it was a beautiful day off in the neighborhood. Yellows and greens and blues and browns and grays and hues that ooze beneath dilapidated wood...whatchuwanna know? I can cook 30 minute brownies in 20 minutes! I once saved an entire African village from a horde of angry killer fire ants with just a cup of water and a shoe. I participate in full contact origami. I believe a well behaved monkey is deserving of quality footwear. I’m semi-buoyant in water. Sometimes, the awesome responsibility of opposable thumbs overwhelms me. I can lift heavy objects above my head . . . like Poland. I enjoy hiding, track (but not field), liquids, bathing, and odorless situations. Squirrels dressed-up as little lumberjacks frighten me, nuff' said? I’m waiting for that woman who will take life seriously and is allowed to use sharp utensils with minimal supervision. I’m seeking someone who can appreciate the effort I put into making my own furniture; the common gal, but with the unique ability to deduce anything and everything about a person by simply licking their forehead (not their own . . . but now that I think about it . . . ) If you’re one who lives for music, DVD special features, waxed paper, creating elaborate yet sometimes dangerous balloon animals, redundancy, and . . . most important . . . odorless situations . . . well, you just may have struck gold! I am the real deal no doubt about it. If I don't like you, I'll tell you (eventually). Some people would consider me a bit blunt (or sometimes tactless), so don't ask me if you don't want the truth. I am some what of a comedian I guess, along with being tall, skinny & very sexy (not as photogenic as I would like to be but the real deal is mighty bangin').

The apple of my eye at 4 years old...