The title is harsh, probably because Master of Puppets by Metallica is playing right now. Maybe if I had some NBA Youngboy on aux, the mood would be different.

I come from a Bulgarian immigrant family, here is my first time over there. My mom has been a counselor at different colleges (she’s currently working on her doctorate’s) while my dad worked as a hog farm manager in Bladenboro, near Lumberton, in the swamps for a bit. Football (or soccer for y’all Americans) is the biggest pillar holding up my childhood, playing outside with the other kids while my dad refs their dads. Once I turned 14, I became certified as one, reffing weekend tournaments and staying in free hotel rooms across the region with my dad. Reffing became my main income (my only other jobs being in a coffee shop during COVID and Mt. Mitchell State Park) and I started to progress. When I turned 18, I started to ref high schoolers, the same adults my dad reffed, and even army dudes on Fort Bragg. I started reffing college before my 21st birthday. Something I hold over dissenting players, coaches, and parents is the fact that I’ve been on ESPN multiple times reffing. Have they? Haven’t met one so far.

Moving on from the history of my employment, the next subject is academia. I love reading and writing and hate math. Science is OK. Those are the facts. I liked primary school, then moved to the county west of Asheville. The move was rough and middle school, freshman, and sophomore year of high school reflected it. I moved back to the swamps junior year and it was a total day/night difference. I stayed at the local community college for freshman year, but didn’t complete my associate’s there because back home isn’t known for being exciting. I loved sophomore year living on campus here at App until, you know, COVID. I took a gap year because I felt that tuition was too expensive for Zoom meetings. I made my big comeback Fall 2021 and have been floating down the river since.

This last section contains info not related to the two biggest things revolving around my life right now. I love nature (dorky Eagle Scout) and always down for a hike, day or night. Speaking of day n’ night, I love some good rap, different versions of rock, and nice mellow tunes. Something I want to do as a teacher is play some music every morning/let them listen to their own music while they work. That’s what I’m doing right now, like the teacher I’m observing currently.

I look forward to continuing this great start to class!