
I was born Raymond
Dorsie Nichols III, on December 28th, 1970 in Ruston, LA. My mothers
name is Suzanne (Stephens Nichols) Johnson and my fathers is Raymond
Dorsie Nichols. My parents already had one child, so after I was born
I had a big sister. Her name is Teresa Lynne Nichols.
I lived in Louisiana for only a year or so before moving to Texas and
then moving back to Louisiana after my mom and dad divorced. When my
mom got remarried, we moved to Lawrence, Kansas until just after my
little brother, Stephen was born. The only thing I remember about Lawrence,
Kansas is me pushing a girl into the pool outside of our apartment.
She was wearing a yellow flower bikini top with cut-off jean shorts
with shoulder length, blonde curly hair. We had a dog in Lawrence too.
Her name was Brandy and was a beautiful Irish Setter.
Not long
after that, we moved to Hays,
Kansas, bringing one of Brandy's puppies with us. We named her Sabrina.
I was only just a little kid of about 3 or 4. We lived in a trailer
park for my first couple of years in Hays, where my mom and stepfather,
Fred Johnson, had my baby brother Stephen. Just after that I we moved
to 1508 Haney Drive. Can you believe I moved right next door to one
of my best friends at the time, Greg Stremel. We are still friends of
course, but at that age you don't have a lot of friends. We were going
to Roosevelt
Elementary School for Kindergarten through 5th grade. I had my first
kiss out on the playground outside the school when I was in third grade.
She was a 1st grader and her name was Lori Blovins. She lived down the
block from me and was the prettiest girl I think I had ever seen. I
wonder what happened to her. I hung out with a few bad apples here and
there and got into some good old fashion trouble, but I made it through
all the trouble unscathed.
For middle
school I went on to Pete
Felton Middle School for 6th, 7th and 8th grade. I played football
for the school in 8th grade. I couldn't believe my mom let me play football
in 7th and 8th grade. In 7th grade I played right guard on offense and
linebacker on defense. In 8th grade I played right end on offense and
safety for defense. Skating and the skate rink was the bomb and we loved
it when they had all night skate when you could go skating at 7pm and
be picked up at 7 am in the morning. Blankets and pillows were a must.
It's a furniture store now. (More to come).
For my
high school years I went to Hays
High School. We were the Hays High Indians. I played football on
the freshman team and never went on to further my career as a football
player due to the head coach. Coach Cross was the name and he was horrible.
There was no way I was going to play football under him. I once saw
him through a friend of mine down the bleachers because he wouldn't
stand up during a pep assembly. The main thing we did in High school
was dragging Main Street. The route was from 13th Street to the Varsity
just across the street from the municipal pool. Every Friday and Saturday
night we would drag main in our friends’ hot rods. Which car was
the most fun to drive in you ask? Well, that would be Brian Kuhn's car.
He drove a black 1970 Chevy Chevelle with a 454 Chevy big block with
450hp stock and a 6-71 blower bolted to the top of it. Estimated at
750hp with the blower. It would rattle the windows when he pulled up
to the house and would leave a duel strip of rubber on the ground as
long as you kept your foot on the gas. Sure you could start out slow
and not spin the tires but how much fun can that really be? Have you
ever heard the whine of a blower as it goes barreling down the street
at 2 in the morning? Just ask my mom.
The party's
were great. If there was a party it was most likely out at Airport Park
or Swinging Bridge. I have discovered in my ventures back to Hays that
they have torn down the old swinging bridge to install a new solid frame
bridge. Have you ever seen Dazed and Confused? That is what we did and
just how we did it. We did party at our friends’ parents’
houses when they were out of town. We'd get as many kegs as we could
and drink more beer than you should ever drink at that age. Of course
I wasn't able to drink legally but did that stop me? Shit, I could go
to the liquor store at 16 or 17 and be able to get the store clerk to
help me carry all the alcohol to the counter. Thank you sir may I have
another. I graduated in 1989 with 198 other students that year. During
my years in High school we got two other dogs named Chuey
and Sukie. Although Sukie was my brother's
dog, my mother took care of her after all the kids moved out. I stayed
in Hays for a semester where I finished my vo-tech courses in auto mechanics.
A semester
out of high school, I moved to Bradenton, FL in January 21st, 1990.
I lived with my aunt and uncle and 3 cousins for about 2 months until
I found a job, an apartment and a car. It was a white 1966 Comet Caliente.
I lowered the car 2 inches in the front and put air shocks on the rear
of it. I bought a set of Cragers from my uncles for the car. It was
an awesome. I worked for a small mechanic shop in Sarasota, Florida
where I got to learn a lot about working on cars for practically nothing
for pay, a whopping $5 an hour.
I was in
Florida for about 10 1/2 months when I decided to call Bob Massey up
in Tennessee that I grew up with in Hays, Kansas. I asked him if he
was busy this coming Saturday, it was Wednesday when I called. He said
he wasn't and so I proceeded to talk him into driving down to Florida
with his truck and pick me up. I wanted to move and this was the best
thing I could come up with. So I loaded up his truck and I moved to
Tennessee. I lived with Bob and his roommate Jim for about 5 months
until I decided to move somewhere else to find work.
April of
1991 when, after 5 months of not being able to find work I called my
dad and he suggested moving to Delaware for a few months to make some
money and then I would go back to Tennessee. One week later I found
a job working at a small mechanic shop called SAC Tire. There I worked
my way up to Sunday Manager where I ran the whole shop by myself. After
working there for about 9 months I decided being a mechanic wasn't all
it was cut out for. You smelled of gas and grease and oil all the time
and I just didn't like being so dirty all the time. This, all before
I discovered Mechanix Gloves. So, what I did was to decide to go back
to school. My dad teaches at the University
of Delaware where I was living with he and my stepmother, Jill.
He suggested that I maybe quit my job and go back to school. I would
intern with him and his business while in college for extra money and
I would go to classes to learn to become an art director. I took Photo
I class that winter session, 1992, where I met some really nice people.
Rob Jennings was in that class with me. Once spring session started
I took the mandatory art courses drawing/design I/II. In the fall semester
of 1992, I started Visual
Communications (VC). Having made the cut from freshman year to sophomore
year VC was a great achievement. Not everyone makes it in. Even when
your dad is the professor. In these classes, is where you were taught
to think outside the box. After making the cut from sophomore to junior
year, I started narrowing my field down to the program I wanted to pursue.
Senior year I went into Advertising with my father as my professor and
a group of 6 other students. What a year that was. Staying up all hours
of the night. Going to Taco Bell at 4 am because you are starving from
not eating since lunch the day before. Good times Fred Schuster. The
Ski trips were KILLER!!! Snowboarding in CO is way cool though.
Once out
of school, I moved to New York City June 23rd, 1995 with my sister and
her boyfriend at the time. I found my own place and got my own job in
September of that year. I worked as an Art Director and Production Artist
at The Cox Group
for 3 1/2 years where I learned a lot of how the business was run. After
working for Bob I thought it was time to move on and gain some new experience.
Having freelanced for Deutsch
Inc. since the summer of 1995, it was easy to accept a job working
for them. I went to work as their in-house hi-end digital photo retoucher
where I worked in Photoshop all day. My first two years at Deutsch were
great. We got Adweek Agency of the Year two years in a row. I got to
take a few courses with Dan Margulis, a color correction specialist
and learned a lot of exciting things. Things were good and the people
were even better. I met some of my best friends there. To see pictures
of the going away parties I had with all of my friends, click the place.
January 4th was at the Q and Jan 7th was at the Hog Pit.
I was let
go on September 3rd of 2002 and have since moved to Colorado where I
am currently a freelance renaissance man looking to find my place in
work. I have done a number of web sites
and have been enjoying the sights and visiting the mountains. I recently
worked for Research Design Specialists on a project involving trucks
and it was great.
I'm looking
forward to snowboarding a lot this year. I have purchased my Colorado
Pass for 5 mountains nearby, Keystone, A basin and Breckinridge w/ 10
days at Vail and Beaver Creek. I have been Snowboarding twice so far
this season. I went Thanksgiving day and on December 26th with Wendy
Meller when she came to visit over Christmas. It was a great time. I
plan on going more often after February 1st. It only costs me about
$15 to pay for gas.
I sold
the corvette on November 27th and bought a 1985 Toyota 4Runner and it
is such a great vehicle. It has gotten me snowboarding and does great
in 4WD. All the things I needed in a car.
So here
I am, 1 Year later. It's December 13th, and I am updating my bio. A
lot has happened in the last year. I have worked at many different agencies
and I have done many moving jobs. I have meet a lot of nice people and
have been having a blast. I worked for The Integer Group in Denver,
CO in Early 2004 and since have been freelancing at Street Source, also
in Denver. It has been a lot of fun and I am having a blast working
there. Some things I have worked on include POS for Coors Light and
Rémy Martin.
I have
been up snowboarding once this year so far. It was early in the season,
only a couple of weeks ago, and the base was only 15 inches. Now, all
of the slopes are recording over 30" of base. It has been snowing
a lot and I look forward to getting up there for a day or two soon.
i will likely be going over christmas break.
Early October
was my HHS 15 year
high school reunion in Hays, KS. It will be an awesome time and
wish it could last a day or two longer. Everyone was great. I took a
lot of pictures at the reunion. You can see them here
or goto the reunion site at http://hhs1989reunion.org.
Friday night we all got together for the parade and then the Q that
night. It wa a blast, drank Jack and Cokes all night, had a wonderful
time, dispite the fact that I had locked my keys in my truck before
I went in. After a while Miki schmidt and I decided to head out to go
get some food over at the Taco Shop. A place we ate many of nights while
in high school. They were closed of all things so we drove over to Taco
Grande on Vine Street. We drove down the street and as we drove by a
house i recognized, Miki said that it was Buffy's old house. I had told
her how much that I was in love with her all through school. The childhood
crush comes out. :) I asked how Buffy was and asked her to say hi the
next time she talked to her.
I am still
currently working freelance for Street Source Marketing & Communications
in Denver, Colorado.