ContentsHornbrook → Zamboanga
Grateful to God for the life we’re building.
Zamboanga, Philippines · 6.92° N, 122.08° E
The Story · The archive Hornbrook, California → Zamboanga City, Philippines
There was no master plan.
This isn’t a résumé. It’s the stuff I kept. A football game. A uniform. A bunch of jobs that never lined up. My granddaddy’s truck. A move across the Pacific, and a family on the other side of the planet.
Some of it is documented. Some of it is loose notes. Some of it I’m still sorting through. No fluff. No fake shit.
Record 01Game record
I played nose guard in junior high. I was one of the smaller guys on the line, and Coach Rosetta put me across from the biggest ones anyway.
In the state championship, he sent me in with one job: sack the quarterback and get the ball back.
I’d been watching their center all game. Every snap, he came out lunging. So on this one I didn’t meet him. I jumped backward. He fell forward into nothing. I stepped past him, got to the quarterback and knocked the ball loose. We recovered it, and we won.
Game recordFiled under: S
Their center lunges after the snap. Don’t meet him. Scouting note · sideline
01The snap. Their center lunges, like every other snap.
02I jump backward. He falls into the space I left.
03Past him, to the quarterback. Ball out. We recover.
“Who needs Superman? We got effing Swinkman!”
Coach Rosetta, more or less. It stuck.
I still run some version of that play. Watch how the thing works. Notice where it breaks. Try something different.
Record 02Loose notes
I’m not going to pretend every part of growing up was leading somewhere. It wasn’t. Nobody was building a brand. These are the notes I actually kept.
Excerpt · Personal copy
Record 03Service record
I’m a U.S. Army veteran. The military shaped a lot of who I became early on.
I’m not going to hand you the recruiting-poster version. The part worth telling is what came after, when the structure goes away and you have to build your own.
After the uniform
Nobody came to save me. I rebuilt my life with my own two hands and my faith in God, and I’ve had to do it more than once.
Record 04Work, assorted
None of this was a strategy. I didn’t take one job to set up the next. Life happened, something else came along, and I went.
Somewhere in the mix, I noticed I kept doing the same thing everywhere: figuring out why stuff wasn’t working.
Some of those overlapped. The line on this map crosses itself on purpose. That’s closer to what it actually looked like.
Record 05Vehicle file
My granddaddy knew my dream truck: a 2005 Ford F-250. Before he died, he bought one. He knew it would come to me.
It had about 88,000 miles on it when I got the keys. I put it through Oregon, Colorado, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California. It was part of everyday life at my home in Hornbrook, with my animals.
Road log · Home base: Hornbrook, California
88,000
MilesOn the clock when the truck came to me.
$8,000
Dollars · 2023What it sold for. That money helped fund the move.
≈7,160
Miles, as the crow fliesFrom Hornbrook to Zamboanga City.
His gift helped me start a life thousands of miles from where I grew up. I wish he were here to meet my family.
Record 06Travel document
America falls behind you somewhere past the coast. After that it’s water, longitude lines and a day you never get back.
122.61° W
Hornbrook41.91° N · California
140° W
Open water.
160° W
Still water.
180°
The date line. Heading west, the calendar jumps ahead a day.
150° E
Nearly there.
122.08° E
Zamboanga City6.92° N · Philippines
Travel documentPassenger: Swink, Jeremy
Stub
One life
→ the next
Record 07Photographs
Meeting my wife, building a family and starting a life in the Philippines changed me again, in the best way.
I learned what real love and partnership look like. What real responsibility looks like. What it means to be a husband, a father, and a man other people depend on.
Maricel.Hannah.Tommy.George.
My wife and kids are the center of my world.
What it cost
Moving meant leaving a home and animals I loved. I still miss parts of my life in Hornbrook. Both things are true.
Record 08House notes
Some days it’s strange: an American on calls with American businesses at night, from the other side of the planet. Most days it’s just home.
ZamboangaHome · UTC+8
—
U.S. East CoastFor reference
—
When the East Coast workday starts, it’s evening here.
I’m grateful to God for where all of this has led.
Record 09One line
Record 10Current projects
The current chapter, unsorted. Some of this pays the bills, some of it is family, and some of it is just what I like. It all hangs on the same wall.
Record 11Unfinished
I’m still here.
Still building.
Still raising a family.
Still learning.
Still getting things wrong.
Still fixing things.
Still seeing what happens next
JeremyZamboanga City · 6.92° N, 122.08° E
