Brief Autobiography...
Well, I was born in the year of the Rat many years ago. How that has determined how I've traveled through the maze of life is an open question. :) I've lived in Saskatoon almost my entire life.
My natural father, who is now dead, left when I was 5 years old. Thus, my mother was a single mother through my elementary school years. That wasn't a common status in those days, so there was a certain stigma in some quarters. School was challenging socially, as I was often a daydreamer and tended to keep to myself. I discovered the world of math and I became a stickler for logic and technicalities, while including creative and innovative ways to learn about numbers and equations. My inner world started to become as imaginative as my outer world was not. There was much to explore as play and struggle had just begun. I also found Sherlock Holmes and science fiction for the ideas rather exciting. I frustrated many with the observations that slipped out of my world, and was confused that people were not as simple and predictable as books made them out to be.
Before middle school, I was immersed in both Catholic and Pentecostal elements, with theology and the Bible becoming a specialty. It was there that I wondered how to guide my fellow classmates and others to a better place...or so I thought. When I went to a public school for grade 7 and 8, my desire for belonging and reputation rubbed some the wrong way. Also, my mother had been pursuing a serious relationship, inspired by my brother, which made more adjustments to make during puberty. (She remarried at Massey Place Community Church, where we were attending at the time.) I had found life had pushed me to the sidelines by this point, and I almost committed suicide. Friends were hard to maintain, I found, so I needed a way to communicate. However, I had found a girlfriend through the youth group I attended, so my focus was partly distracted going into high school.
High school started in a completely new environment. I had moved to Grandora, outside Saskatoon, with a new stepfather, a new stage of life and new friends. That was quite the shift. My awkward introduction to Grade 9 started with the sentence, "Can YOU do the Figure Four?", expressing my attempt to make a statement while staying relevant. :) I tried to join many clubs after overlooking them at first. I said and did many, many more statements to break conventional roles at Delisle Composite High School, and tried to make outcasts feel welcome, since I felt like one. I started to take pictures with a new 110 camera to capture moments during those years, including YouthQuake and camps during the summers. My girlfriend at the time, Jennifer Lynn Peters, had drifted away after my sophomore year without telling me. Being away from my original youth group contributed to that, as I went to two different churches and different traditions in high school. My personal faith grew, trying to accept all challenges when I could. In the end, I had considered going into Christian ministry of some sort after graduating high school.
The last year of high school seemed barren by comparison to the rest, as old alliances and routines would soon change yet again. It was the only year I took algebra and trigonometry with my classmates, as I had been a year ahead for the other three years. I tended to dream more than plan, which made my vocational goals, such as they were, a bit nebulous and impractical at first glance. It was nerve-wracking, as academic as well as other inputs started to really matter. By graduation I defiantly refused to submit a picture with other commentary in the yearbook, while going without an escort to the celebration of this milestone. Little did I know how much my apprehension about the future would effect the next decade, and it would move me in a totally different direction then expected.
After the summer, I moved to Moose Jaw for what was supposed to be the first year of possibly more for theological education and ministry opportunities. Now in a dorm and away from familiar, if frustrating, surroundings, things started well. To challenge myself, I did some fieldwork at Valleyview Centre, an institutional setting for severely disabled adults. I also "went for coffee" for the first time, and thoroughly tried to take full advantage of the chance to get beyond the stifling social constraints of my teenage years. A budding friendship with a female friend also started off as well. I also took a stab at poetry, considering I was curious about it. However, by the end of the school year, I was just a thread away from being expelled for disturbing others, my grades had deteriorated and my friendship had turned very sour. This was unexpected, and it took some time to recover. I *was* able to travel to the United States to a music festival in the interim, which was a wonderful memory. Because of pressure from my parents to move forward after a year of discouragement, I tried to complete my education at Central Pentecostal College (now Horizon College and Seminary). This did not succeed for long, although I still have friendships that started there to this day. My fieldwork with high school students was where I met Liz McTaggart of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, who still perplexes me up 'til now. (I believe my first thought was, "A redhead? Cool.")
Disillusioned by this point, the next few years became one abrupt transition after another. My student loan and career problems partly lead to being pushed out of my parent's place, so I struggled with roommates for a year or so. I ended up by myself, poor and unable to rise above the circumstances, partly due to my social skills and mind experiments. My desire to impact people rendered challenging was still intact as it became evident that my health was interfering with my life. Reaching out for help for myself became a major obstacle to overcome, but eventually my health and my circumstances became more stable some time later. I moved close to where I live now. It did flatten my ambitions, but writing poetry and spiritual explorations continued. There was a certain level of contentment even in the midst of adversity.
(to be continued...because brief requires two parts)
My natural father, who is now dead, left when I was 5 years old. Thus, my mother was a single mother through my elementary school years. That wasn't a common status in those days, so there was a certain stigma in some quarters. School was challenging socially, as I was often a daydreamer and tended to keep to myself. I discovered the world of math and I became a stickler for logic and technicalities, while including creative and innovative ways to learn about numbers and equations. My inner world started to become as imaginative as my outer world was not. There was much to explore as play and struggle had just begun. I also found Sherlock Holmes and science fiction for the ideas rather exciting. I frustrated many with the observations that slipped out of my world, and was confused that people were not as simple and predictable as books made them out to be.
Before middle school, I was immersed in both Catholic and Pentecostal elements, with theology and the Bible becoming a specialty. It was there that I wondered how to guide my fellow classmates and others to a better place...or so I thought. When I went to a public school for grade 7 and 8, my desire for belonging and reputation rubbed some the wrong way. Also, my mother had been pursuing a serious relationship, inspired by my brother, which made more adjustments to make during puberty. (She remarried at Massey Place Community Church, where we were attending at the time.) I had found life had pushed me to the sidelines by this point, and I almost committed suicide. Friends were hard to maintain, I found, so I needed a way to communicate. However, I had found a girlfriend through the youth group I attended, so my focus was partly distracted going into high school.
High school started in a completely new environment. I had moved to Grandora, outside Saskatoon, with a new stepfather, a new stage of life and new friends. That was quite the shift. My awkward introduction to Grade 9 started with the sentence, "Can YOU do the Figure Four?", expressing my attempt to make a statement while staying relevant. :) I tried to join many clubs after overlooking them at first. I said and did many, many more statements to break conventional roles at Delisle Composite High School, and tried to make outcasts feel welcome, since I felt like one. I started to take pictures with a new 110 camera to capture moments during those years, including YouthQuake and camps during the summers. My girlfriend at the time, Jennifer Lynn Peters, had drifted away after my sophomore year without telling me. Being away from my original youth group contributed to that, as I went to two different churches and different traditions in high school. My personal faith grew, trying to accept all challenges when I could. In the end, I had considered going into Christian ministry of some sort after graduating high school.
The last year of high school seemed barren by comparison to the rest, as old alliances and routines would soon change yet again. It was the only year I took algebra and trigonometry with my classmates, as I had been a year ahead for the other three years. I tended to dream more than plan, which made my vocational goals, such as they were, a bit nebulous and impractical at first glance. It was nerve-wracking, as academic as well as other inputs started to really matter. By graduation I defiantly refused to submit a picture with other commentary in the yearbook, while going without an escort to the celebration of this milestone. Little did I know how much my apprehension about the future would effect the next decade, and it would move me in a totally different direction then expected.
After the summer, I moved to Moose Jaw for what was supposed to be the first year of possibly more for theological education and ministry opportunities. Now in a dorm and away from familiar, if frustrating, surroundings, things started well. To challenge myself, I did some fieldwork at Valleyview Centre, an institutional setting for severely disabled adults. I also "went for coffee" for the first time, and thoroughly tried to take full advantage of the chance to get beyond the stifling social constraints of my teenage years. A budding friendship with a female friend also started off as well. I also took a stab at poetry, considering I was curious about it. However, by the end of the school year, I was just a thread away from being expelled for disturbing others, my grades had deteriorated and my friendship had turned very sour. This was unexpected, and it took some time to recover. I *was* able to travel to the United States to a music festival in the interim, which was a wonderful memory. Because of pressure from my parents to move forward after a year of discouragement, I tried to complete my education at Central Pentecostal College (now Horizon College and Seminary). This did not succeed for long, although I still have friendships that started there to this day. My fieldwork with high school students was where I met Liz McTaggart of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, who still perplexes me up 'til now. (I believe my first thought was, "A redhead? Cool.")
Disillusioned by this point, the next few years became one abrupt transition after another. My student loan and career problems partly lead to being pushed out of my parent's place, so I struggled with roommates for a year or so. I ended up by myself, poor and unable to rise above the circumstances, partly due to my social skills and mind experiments. My desire to impact people rendered challenging was still intact as it became evident that my health was interfering with my life. Reaching out for help for myself became a major obstacle to overcome, but eventually my health and my circumstances became more stable some time later. I moved close to where I live now. It did flatten my ambitions, but writing poetry and spiritual explorations continued. There was a certain level of contentment even in the midst of adversity.
(to be continued...because brief requires two parts)