10 Things About Me
- I’m a resident of Vancouver, born and raised here. I’ve been known to tell people that I was born in England and emigrated from there when I was two, mostly to see how people react to having an ‘immigrant’ in their midst. The last time I did this was five years ago as a social experiment with some of my friends (it’s been interesting), and it’s still on-going…..mind you, now that I’ve said that, the cat’s out of the bag.
- I’m married to my high school sweetheart. We’ve been together for 19 years now. Really, I don’t think I need to say anything more than that.
- We don’t have any kids. Didn’t ever really want kids. Having said that, I’m not anti-kid - I love my nieces and nephews to bits and we’re all very good friends. Having kids just wasn’t something that really appealed to both of us. The interesting thing is how justified some people think they are to cast judgement and aspirtions on you as a person because you’re different than they are. I’ve occasionally thought about putting the shoe on the other foot and becoming a rabid anti-breeder, but really, that’s just playing into their lovely stereotype, isn’t it? I just simply prefer to leave people like that out of my life. I’ve made my choice; have some respect.
- Instead, we have furkids - two of them. Little four-legged feline wonders, named Mulder and Cleo. I’m absolutely over the moon about them - they’re part of my stabilizing lifeline at home when the world outside gets too crazy. Nothing beats jazz on the Zen, hot mugs of tea, a good book, a nice fluffy blanket and a cat on the lap. Nothing.
- I’m a former semi-pro musician, meaning that I tried to make it a career path and become a rock star but then, as I put it once, grunge came along and we ceased to be relevant. I’ve thought about trying to reunite the band, but there was this small issue of our guitarist having an affair and taking off with our lead singer’s wife whilst leaving his own in the process that kind of put a damper on it. It’s hard to write together when there are overwhelming homicidal urges between bandmates. Instead, I’m moving on and developing my own ‘thing’. What that is, exactly, hasn’t been developed fully in my mind yet. Updates as things progress.
- I became a triathlete on August 4, 2007 when I completed the My First Tri at Harrison Mills. Needless to say, I was bitten by the tri-bug, and now intend to complete the three-race Subaru Sprint Series next summer in Victoria, Sooke, and Vancouver. It’s one of those interesting things where something crosses your path for an unknown reason and really resonates with you to the point where it changes your life completely. Previous to the start of my training, I was almost 250 lbs, had a majorly elevated heart rate, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and a litany of medical issues that were going to lead me into an early grave, probably before 50. After eight weeks of training, I dropped almost 25lbs., gained muscle mass, dropped my heart rate to a more comfortable mid-70s from the high-90s, lowered my blood pressure, changed my thoughts and attitudes towards food and nutrition completely and most importantly, changed my entire mental self-image. Now, I’m taking the next few steps - this blog is primarily going to track my continuting adventures in the world of triathlon.
- I’m a recent certificate grad of the interior design program at BCIT. Shortly after I finished school, I landed my dream job as a CAD technician and space planner with one of the biggest corporate, hospitality and healthcare furniture companies in Western Canada. I love my job, I love the people I work with, and it’s a great feeling to be able to tick off ‘find a great career’ from my life’s Things To Do list. Having said that, I will return to BCIT sometime soon to complete the full Interior Design diploma. I don’t like to leave things feeling unfinished.
- Although I appear quite charming, flamboyant, and extroverted to most people, I actually suffer from severe bouts of depression, anger and misanthropy most of the time. As my good friend Reade is so fond of quoting (from Fight Club) - “We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.” I personally spent five years in the mid to late 90s living a lie in a multi-level marketing organization, and when I finally was able to extricate myself from the brainwashing, I learned that everything I believed in, everyone I put my faith in, every moral and tenet that I based my life on for five years was a house built on sand. I retreated inside my condo, becoming more bitter and misanthropic as the days flew past; if I didn’t have Cin or my family, God knows how I would’ve ended up. Over the past year or so, things have started to get better - I still have challenges going to parties and social gatherings, but Cin helps me through it, and little by little I’m emerging from this self-imposed exile.
- I am a stickler for manners, politeness, being a man of character. I find myself eliminating people from my life regularly who disrespect my wife or I. Respect is one of the pillars of my life; I give it freely to people until they don’t deserve it, at which point I tend to flush them and walk away. Strangely enough, I tend to find that it’s the people who rail on and on about respect that are the worst transgressors against others; the first ones to insult, belittle or berate people around them.
- If I was only allowed three books for the rest of my life they would have to be Triathlon Training in Four Hours a Week by Eric Harr, The Simplicity Reader by Elaine St. James, and The Renaissance Soul by Margaret Lobenstine. All three of those books have changed my life immeasurably.
