[brandonrr]

from age 5 to age 14 i was being a little pyro in one way or another. at 5, i would light pieces of paper and cardboard, etc on fire IN THE HOUSE, using candles, and putting them out in the sink at the last second. i'm pretty lucky to have not burned down my house or garage as a kid.

in my preteen years, i would ride my bike into the desert with my friends and we would build little fires out of the dried up/dead plants scattered around. toward the end, gasoline-filled water bottles and aerosol spray cans were getting involved, the fires were getting bigger, and we hid from the police once...ok twice, in an unusual, 3ft ditch. it was the weirdest place, because it was only 3ft deep and 5ft wide and it could be 100F outside, but only about 70F in this little ditch, where the ground at the bottom was always slightly damp and it was just weird. it seemed so out of place, considering it was in a bone dry patch of desert. it was almost impossible to find, even if you were standing 5 feet away from it, thanks to the desert shrubs surrounding both sides, but not in a way that you could tell that a little ditch was in there. it was the PERFECT hiding spot. the police combed the desert for the little "arsons" they spotted, but never found us.

literally 6 days after i decided to call it quits, because my friends were getting a little out of control, using more gas and making bigger fires, they ended up burning a 5 acre section of desert. the police, news helicopters, and firefighters were involved. they luckily escaped when they realized the fire was getting out of hand and avoided trouble with the law.