My story
When I was still unable to comprehend the word around me my mother left Ottawa, the town I was born in and travelled across Canada. Why she did it, one could only say is because the wanderlust was within her. My father and her, while they cared deeply for each other had given up on living with each other before I was born. So it came to be for the first decade of my life I was my mother's charge.
When I was six and we were living in Victoria I found myself interested in sharks, I wish I could say it wasn't because of the movie Jaws but I'd be lying. I was still very young so my research into the world of sharks and other marine life was limited but I can honestly say that I developed very quickly as a reader because of the many science books I read at that age. For a long time I dreamt of becoming a marine biologist. My mother even drove me up Vancouver Island to visit the marine biology lab that was a pseudo satelite campus of either Uvic or UBC.
While my interests in marine biology developed at home, my scholastic developments were somewhat mediocre. Like any half-intelligent child I passed all the classes I took but found it difficult to socialize with children my own age. I had be raised for the most part by my mother and a kind man that she could never stand to marry and our little family unit was unique in its way. We cared about each other deeply and I was raised well but we were often travelling. We eventually stayed in Victoria where the first 3 years of my schooling were in a school called Rennaisance school. The school was not very structured, the young ones would learn by themselves but any students after grade 4 would often comingle, I infact took math classes with grade 4,5, and 6 students. The school was excellent for supporting most of the students and put on several musical theatre productions with the whole school. Our version of Wind in the Willows would be so well received that we entered one of the musical pieces from it in a province wide musical exhibition, I was the youngest of the singers. The school would eventually close down due to improperly filed forms. I was then forced to enter public school to complete Grade 3, in Renaisance the number of kids in my class could be counted on two hands, in public school I was one of hundreds.
I ended up completing grade 4 and 5 through homeschooling in the space of a year because I found it very difficult to connect with the children in public school, I felt like an outsider and was never accepted. There were very few children that I played with and even when I did play with them I would never consider any of them to be friends I would ever want to reconnect with now.
Before grade 6, I spent a summer with my father in Vancouver. I enjoyed the new found freedom I experienced with my father, who cared about me but would never be a true authority figure in my life. I told my mother I wanted to live with my father, which she grudgingly accepted, I would find out years later she was worried that going through puberty with her would have been difficult and that I needed a male influence. So I entered my third school. This time the school was a catholic shcool called St. Augustine's. Filled with mostly chinese and filipino children from rich families I was once again an outsider, I never felt comfortable in that school and was glad to be free of it by the end of grade 7.
By grade 8 I was beginning to look forward to joining a large school where I could disappear into a crowd. No longer an outsider, I was content to just be one of many. This was also the point when I began to realize that I did not have the academic dedication to become a marine biologist. Instead I became more and more fascinated with social situations, in particularly I began wondering where the origins of aspects of our culture came from.
I graduated from high school with below average marks due to the growing apathy I felt towards most academic studies. I felt no motivation to try and it showed. After several years of travel and study in technical programs I chose to get a BA, in what I didn't know. I started in Langara collge when I was 21, already I was about 2 years older than the average student and felt like I was redoing high school. The saving grace was that I found myself honestly interested in the courses I took.
I first looked to philosophy, as I had begun reading some of the great thinkers at my fathers request. I was hoping the class would give me a better understanding of some of these great minds and help me understand the underlying themes within the texts. Unfortunately there was little discussion but lots of note taking. I soon began to grow bored with philosophy as I found I could not muster the will to analyze these texts only to regurgitate it on a test. I wanted to discuss the texts, explore the deeper meanings. I took various classes in economics, english and sociology and found myself enjoying the sociology classes for their interest in analyzing aspects of the social world.
My interests have evolved over time and I have become less scientifically minded and more interpretive. I also know that one of my greatest weaknesses academically has always been the narrow focus of my interests. If I find a topic interesting I will persue it doggedly. If my interest wanes my focus falters and I can become apathetic and lazy. It is probably my greatest character flaw and one I have strived to overcome throughout my career. By completing my BA in sociology I will be proving something to myself, ever since I began studying sociology I did so not because I thought it would ensure me employment but that it would help me grow as a person due to the diligent intellectual training I received.
When I was six and we were living in Victoria I found myself interested in sharks, I wish I could say it wasn't because of the movie Jaws but I'd be lying. I was still very young so my research into the world of sharks and other marine life was limited but I can honestly say that I developed very quickly as a reader because of the many science books I read at that age. For a long time I dreamt of becoming a marine biologist. My mother even drove me up Vancouver Island to visit the marine biology lab that was a pseudo satelite campus of either Uvic or UBC.
While my interests in marine biology developed at home, my scholastic developments were somewhat mediocre. Like any half-intelligent child I passed all the classes I took but found it difficult to socialize with children my own age. I had be raised for the most part by my mother and a kind man that she could never stand to marry and our little family unit was unique in its way. We cared about each other deeply and I was raised well but we were often travelling. We eventually stayed in Victoria where the first 3 years of my schooling were in a school called Rennaisance school. The school was not very structured, the young ones would learn by themselves but any students after grade 4 would often comingle, I infact took math classes with grade 4,5, and 6 students. The school was excellent for supporting most of the students and put on several musical theatre productions with the whole school. Our version of Wind in the Willows would be so well received that we entered one of the musical pieces from it in a province wide musical exhibition, I was the youngest of the singers. The school would eventually close down due to improperly filed forms. I was then forced to enter public school to complete Grade 3, in Renaisance the number of kids in my class could be counted on two hands, in public school I was one of hundreds.
I ended up completing grade 4 and 5 through homeschooling in the space of a year because I found it very difficult to connect with the children in public school, I felt like an outsider and was never accepted. There were very few children that I played with and even when I did play with them I would never consider any of them to be friends I would ever want to reconnect with now.
Before grade 6, I spent a summer with my father in Vancouver. I enjoyed the new found freedom I experienced with my father, who cared about me but would never be a true authority figure in my life. I told my mother I wanted to live with my father, which she grudgingly accepted, I would find out years later she was worried that going through puberty with her would have been difficult and that I needed a male influence. So I entered my third school. This time the school was a catholic shcool called St. Augustine's. Filled with mostly chinese and filipino children from rich families I was once again an outsider, I never felt comfortable in that school and was glad to be free of it by the end of grade 7.
By grade 8 I was beginning to look forward to joining a large school where I could disappear into a crowd. No longer an outsider, I was content to just be one of many. This was also the point when I began to realize that I did not have the academic dedication to become a marine biologist. Instead I became more and more fascinated with social situations, in particularly I began wondering where the origins of aspects of our culture came from.
I graduated from high school with below average marks due to the growing apathy I felt towards most academic studies. I felt no motivation to try and it showed. After several years of travel and study in technical programs I chose to get a BA, in what I didn't know. I started in Langara collge when I was 21, already I was about 2 years older than the average student and felt like I was redoing high school. The saving grace was that I found myself honestly interested in the courses I took.
I first looked to philosophy, as I had begun reading some of the great thinkers at my fathers request. I was hoping the class would give me a better understanding of some of these great minds and help me understand the underlying themes within the texts. Unfortunately there was little discussion but lots of note taking. I soon began to grow bored with philosophy as I found I could not muster the will to analyze these texts only to regurgitate it on a test. I wanted to discuss the texts, explore the deeper meanings. I took various classes in economics, english and sociology and found myself enjoying the sociology classes for their interest in analyzing aspects of the social world.
My interests have evolved over time and I have become less scientifically minded and more interpretive. I also know that one of my greatest weaknesses academically has always been the narrow focus of my interests. If I find a topic interesting I will persue it doggedly. If my interest wanes my focus falters and I can become apathetic and lazy. It is probably my greatest character flaw and one I have strived to overcome throughout my career. By completing my BA in sociology I will be proving something to myself, ever since I began studying sociology I did so not because I thought it would ensure me employment but that it would help me grow as a person due to the diligent intellectual training I received.