ILLUMINATION

Illuminating Mister Weirdo

Introducing myself to the community

Photo of the newspaper story in Gallop Independent about his travels, taken by the author.

Yes, I introduce myself as Mister Weirdo whenever the opportunity presents itself. I was Mister Weirdo, long before weird started trending toward the new normal.

I came up with the moniker when I received an invitation to speak to a network marketing organization in 1997, and they asked to send them an introduction.

I wrote: Our speaker today is a man with many unusual characteristics. Unusual may not be the right word; weird is more like it. Not only is he weird, but he takes pride in the fact that he is. Now, if that is weird, I don’t know what is. Please help me welcome, Rasheed Hooda.

The lady who introduced me kept apologizing for having to read it, as she did.

There is a background to how I came up with that, but that’s another story for another time. I have always been different, striving to stand out from the crowd.

These days, I live a Freedom Lifestyle. I am Happily Homeless and Joyfully Jobless (thank you, Barbara Winter, for the JJ phrase). I live in a small motorhome, big enough for one that I call my Mobile Domicile.