This page is not yet complete. More coming (relatively) soon.
The Early Years
I was born on a rainy July day. I don't know this for sure, I have to rely on other peoples' accounts. The first memories I have are of preschool. And then kindergarten. And then grade 1. No memories at all of grade 2. Now grade 3.....was boring. And grade 4? Let's skip over the rest of elementary school. I went to Burnaby North for high school. The first few years were pretty uneventful. I met a lot of my present day friends. It was probably grade 11 when things started happening. I got my first job, at the library shelving books. I started to get involved in a lot of volunteer work. I had a pretty eventful personal life. And then grade 12. That was pretty nuts too. Did all sorts of things. Even graduated once. And then university. So far that's been pretty uninteresting. And that's where I stand. Just waiting for something better to come along.
Influences
Two big influences obviously were my parents. They taught me a lot -- both about what to be like and what NOT to be like. I suppose that a lot of my moral code also came from them. Who else was there? Mrs. Johnson, my grade 4 teacher was a huge influence on me. She literally taught me how to think. Umm.....oh. Mrs. Hara, my grade 6 teacher introduced me to Star Trek, and through that, into science fiction. Mrs. Turner, a high school social studies teacher, who taught me how to question the world around me. Mr. Kozak who really introduced me into the world of history. Rich Hasty, who taught me so much about music and leadership. All my friends of course. Teck, who taught me how to exercise, and the importance of it. Zeke who shares so many of the same characteristics as me. And of course Allison, whose contribution to my life is pretty much the major one right now.
Music
I started playing piano at age 5 or so. I continued all the way up until about grade 10 or so. In grade 8 I started playing trumpet in the school band. By grade 12 I was lead trumpet in the jazz band and concert band in school, and loving the power! And the band trips....one to Banff, one to Victoria and one to Disneyland. Phenomenal. I must make tribute to my teachers, Rob McLeod in particularly. While only being the teacher for one year, he sparked an enthusiasm for band in me that probably sustained me right through to the end of high school. Lou Hilton, also, over the years I came to know and love. In grade 10 some friends of mine were trying to convince me to join choir. At that point, I quite literally did not know how to sing. After much resistance by me, I finally made a bet that if Kevin joined choir, so would I. To my great shock and chagrin, Kevin agreed. To my even greater shock, I found that I took naturally to it, and quite enjoyed it. By the next year I was forming quartets, and even taking some leadership within the choir. Again, I must give thanks to my teacher, this time, Glynis Dawson. I even somehow managed to join the vocal jazz group. I sang in quartets in some kind of teacher breakfast thing, and I also sang Stand By Me in a acappella quartet at my own graduation ceremony. I also sang God Save the Queen at that same ceremony. After high school, I joined a barbershop choir, the Gentlemen of Fortune. In short order, I learned about ten times as much about music as I had in the previous fifteen years. Mostly from the director, Rich Hasty. When they fired him, I quit in disgust. I relented and went on hiatus instead of quitting outright. But I don't know when I am coming back. Over my first three years of university, I've participated in numerous bands, quartets, and choirs. As you can see by the extensive coverage given, music has had a pretty special part in my life, and will likely continue to occupy a special part for a long time to come. I have been able to express myself through music, and learn a lot about life in general through music, and have a whole lot of fun to boot. The number of friends that I've gained through music in one way or another is also probably too many to count. My top musical experiences ever here.
Science Fiction
Science fiction is somewhat of an obsession with me. I have always been a pretty voracious reader. I used to read a lot of mysteries. Until I saw the light. My grade 6 teacher gave as an assignment; write a Star Trek story. I had never heard of Star Trek, so I had to do a little research. Nine years later, and here I am, still researching about science fiction! What happened was that I started watching Star Trek. The original series, TNG, DS9, Voyager, all the movies....everything. And I got totally sucked in. Then I started reading the books. And soon after that, I started reading other science fiction books. Favourites are Piers Anthony, Anne McCaffrey, Stephen Baxter, Ben Bova, Harry Turtledove, William Gibson, Harry Harrison, Kim Stanley Robinson, Kevin Anderson, Leo Frankowski, Orson Scott Card, Robert Heinlein.....many more actually. I just can't think of very many authors off the top of my head. Favourite book is probably Stranger in a Strange Land. Favourite series.....the Geodessey series by Anthony, the Mars series by Robinson. But I'm always looking for a new favourite!
Sports
I started playing tennis at about 8 or 9 years of age. If every person has a sport, then this is definitely mine. Through a combination of practice, lessons, and whatever else, I've attained a level of proficiency...well, not all that good actually. But it'll do. Other sports I do from time to time. But pretty much I suck at everything else. I run, on and off. But this is hampered by my gimped up left ankle, it hurts when I run. In fact, if I'm not careful (as often happens with me), I damage it, and end up limping for days afterwards. Eventually though, someday, I would like to run a marathon. I've also cycled a bit. But not much these days. My longest ride was just over 100 km. I need to get me a new bike.
As for spectator sports though, I like many many things. Hockey is far and away the favourite, me living in Vancouver, Canada. I live and die with the Vancouver Canucks. I also like to watch basketball, football, baseball, tennis, triathlons, and probably lots of other stuff.
Other skills I've accumulated over the years
I once took karate. Shoto-kan style. Only made it up to green belt though. So I learned some basic self defense skills. But it actually taught me much more than that. More than the physical part, was the mental part. We did some meditation techniques which I still find useful. They also mentioned something called zenshin? Don't know how to spell it. Basically the idea is that you have to be aware of your surroundings at all times, and notice if something is out of place. For example, if you walk home from the store every day, you should be able to instantly recognize if something is not right. Very useful philosophy in everyday life. My sensei was also always stressing the importance of spirit, and respect. Both principles which I always try to emphasize in my life, particularly spirit. If you don't do something with all your heart, then there is no point in doing it at all, that's what I learned. And respect, I incorporate that into my life as loyalty. I am a loyal person. End of story. There are other principles in fighting also, which are useful in everyday life. For example, if you are making an attack, commit yourself. I try to do the same in everything I do. Until about thirty seconds ago, when I wrote all this, I don't think I really realized how much of an effect that karate has had on my life.
I swing dance. It basically hasn't affected my life at all, but it's a hell of a lot of fun. I know East Coast, some lindyhop and a bit of balboa.
The Study of History
I've had three letter grades in university in the A category. All three have been in history. I'm a computer science major. What's going on here? What's going on is that I really love history. My devotion was first kindled by Mr. Kozak, my history teacher in the last year of high school. The subject was simply twentieth century history. I have no idea really why I liked it so much at the time. I just know I did. Since then I've never looked back. I particularly enjoyed American history with Michael Prokopow and Karen Ferguson. First to dispel some myths. History is NOT about learning names and dates and events. (Well, it was in high school sort of, which is why I only got a B i think). History is about causation. It's about figuring out what happened because some particular event. And the causes of some particular event. And themes that run throughout history. They're all over the place. Parallels that run across cultures. The big picture fascinates me. Something else that fascinates me is alternative history. You'll notice that I put Harry Turtledove as one of my favourite authors -- the master of alternative history. I suspect that real history scholars would frown at such things. And indeed, it is quite a waste of time. But fun as hell.
Friends
Friends are I think more important to me than they are to a lot of people. To me, friends are more than just people you hang out and have fun with. In fact, my informal loose definition of friend is somebody who's seen you at your worst -- and decided to stick around for more. Friends are people you can share your troubles with. Happiness you can share with anybody. Not so with the bad times. To me, there's not many things better than having a good conversation with a good friend. I constantly seek my friends' love, approval and attention. I care what they think. I think that I am very loyal to my friends. And I think friends are more important than many things. For example, school. In the long run, school, well, whatever, right? It sucks. But friends, well, in the long run, you'll remember the fun times with your friends. You won't remember attending class after tedious class all day long. Friends are more important. I would rather be dirt poor but have many good friends than filthy rich, but have no friends at all. Funny isn't it, dirt poor and filthy rich? We certainly do live in a middle class dominated society.
This is becoming an opinion thing more than a personal thing, which is bad because opinions are supposed to be relegated to a different part of the webpage. A few friends, Ron and Kevin have been around since the early early early days, like we're talking early elementary school. Amazingly, 15 years later, they're still good friends. There were a few others back then, but I've lost touch long ago. Into high school where I made friends who I hope will be life long friends. You know who you are. And university life has turned up a few close friends too. True wealth can be measured in quality and depth of friendship.
This page is still under construction. Not finished yet damnit!