I grew up in a suburb town of Baltimore, MD—a block from a main tributary to the Chesapeake Bay. Needless to say, the bay instilled a nautical component to my upbringing and way of life. Allusions to the Chesapeake and (other bodies of water) are inevitably present throughout almost everything I write.

At the time of writing this, it has become taboo to lead with any bit about growing up in a middle class (or lower middle class in my case) family, so I’ll gloss over that. What is important is that I was raised as the youngest of three siblings in a close-knit household. This isn’t to say that there wasn’t commotion, fighting, feuds, and every other dysfunctional component that every family presents, but we were all well cared for and supported to the best of my family’s ability.

I breezed through high school, academically, with little need to study. This included advanced and honors courses, along with being the captain of my basketball team. I balanced this with fishing and hunting in most of my spare time; in fact, my first job was on a fishing boat doing under-the-table work. To this day, I have a profound respect for watermen and the history of the Chesapeake Bay and those who helped write her contribution to human history.

Bringing up the lack of a need to study was, of course, deliberate. To assure you of the presence of my humility, these behaviors were a foundation for struggling when I attended the United States Coast Guard Academy. Not knowing how to study or prepare landed me on academic probation for a period of time, and it was reassuring to know that being such a good track and field athlete (I threw hammer) was a source of flexibility while I resolved my issues. In fact, most of my brighter moments at the academy involved my teammates, my accomplishments throwing hammer, and milestones achieved in the gym.

The summer assignments were a source of growth for me, as I saw parts of the North American continent I would not have otherwise seen—the Pacific Northwest, the Gulf Coast, multiple parts of the New England coast, as well as the southeast.

My career took me to the Great Lakes, primarily, where I drove a ship (a cutter, as we called them) for several years. The primary purpose of this unit was buoy tending and icebreaking; if it doesn’t sound exciting, I can guarantee that it was. The ship driving aspect was, at least. The admin? The admin probably put a lower ceiling on my career than it should have (my own doing).

After spending five years and change in the Coast Guard, I transitioned to the corporate world after achieving the rank of LT/O-3. For approximately eight years as I write this, I have been doing my thing in the corporate life while doing my best to balance that with a host of hobbies. My roles in work have gifted me with a formidable knowledge in incident management (a continuation of what I learned in the service), physical and cyber security, as well as a general ability to communicate (written and spoken).

Throughout my adult life, I have been an avid writer. In my desk drawers, I have mountains of notebooks full of journals, poetry (much of which probably sucks), short stories, some novella-length works, and general rants. It wasn’t until recent that I decided I’ve potentially done enough living to work much of what I write into works worth bringing to print. To that end, I am working on doing exactly that. Maybe one day, the mountain of writing I have generated will be useful in some kind of memoir; but then again, that is thinking more highly of myself than is probably necessary. :)

On a personal note, I am still an avid outdoorsman. I also love spending time lifting in the gym, running (I recently have gotten into long-distance events—marathons, half-marathons, 10k’s, etc.), cooking (I am of Polish descent and love connecting with my heritage via sharing food from the old country with others), language learning, and of course traveling. In fact, I have several international trips in the works and hope to act on them sooner than later. While I’m not currently a resident of the Chesapeake Bay region, my family still is and I get back often. As a continuation of my personal life, I am a practicing Catholic, a locally elected official, and a volunteer for good causes when the scenario seems right.

I live alongside my wife and son, both of whom are a huge source of inspiration for me to live life to the fullest and set an example that life is not worth wasting. MOST IMPORTANTLY: I hope that by keeping this page (and my social media) active, I will effectively connect with many amazing people. I truly believe we have more in common than we do otherwise; disagreements should be noted but not prioritized.

For everything else you want to know, you’ll have to piece it together through the books and blogs I post here. Thank you for visiting!

-Philip Karl Pajak