[Me] About Me

Or I should say, More About Me Than You Could Ever Care To Know.

I was born in Washington State, but grew up moving up and down the west coast. I eventually attended a total of eleven (11) high schools, but never graduated. When I turned 21, they kicked me out (which was OK with me, since my friends had all graduated anyway). I bounced around from job to job and place to place. At one point, I was homeless in California, working at a video store. When the employees spotted me sleeping in my (borrowed) truck in the parking lot, the owner told me I could sleep in the employee rec room at night.

I had full access to the videos and a vcr and tv in the rec room. I would spend my nights watching movies, and my days at the nearby mall ... watching movies. Matinées were only $3.00 at the time. In the evening, I worked the closing shift at the video store.

That was probably my favorite job. ^_^ Of course, it wasn't all good. I was watching movies faster than they were being released. I had to eat fast-food all the time. Finding places to shower was more of a chore than I'd like. Eventually, my video store days ended I moved back to Washington.

A few years later I went to Eastern Washington University, originally planning to get four degrees in five years. I didn't take Summers off (and there are no grants for Summer quarter [I graduated with something like $50,000 in student loan debt, not to mention credit cards]). Plus, you have to remember, I'm completely insane. At one point, I was taking 15 credit hours at a community college (morning classes) and 12 credit hours at my main university (afternoon classes) for which I had to work (to waiver the tuition). So, 27 credit hours plus a job (I think I actually only got the 15 credits from community college that quarter, as the other courses ended up being "off the books" for tuition reasons). And some of the classes overlapped, so by the time Math Foundations ended at the community college, MFC Programming had already started at the university (and I still had the commute). Luckily a lot of these were two-hour classes, so if I missed 30 or 40 minutes, it didn't kill me. Bear in mind that a "full load" for tuition reasons was 6 credits (accelerated Summer courses are shorter duration but require more work; normally it's 12 credits during the regular school year). But this saved money (I always took the most credits I could before paying extra for more).

I lived on-campus (which was crazy expensive; I'd almost say live at home and commute if AT ALL POSSIBLE, but I don't know if you get the "full college experience" that way).

The really sad epilogue is that if my state hadn't changed the financial aid laws, I'd just be graduating this year. I originally had a quadruple major plan (BS in CS, BA in CS+Multimedia, BA in Math, BA in Physics), but they lowered the maximum credits you could have and still get financial aid. It was a bad, bad bill (it punished double majors, but rewarded freeloaders who took the MINIMUM credits per quarter. They pay out the same amount per term, no matter the credits you take. It should have changed the cap from credits to terms. Stupid stupid stupid people; how I despise them). I had to graduate a year early with only a BA in CS+Theory. But, that allowed me to come to Japan a year early and be with my girlfriend, so it's not all bad.

I entered the JET program. This is about the time I started my personal blog. Originally intended as an online electronic journal in which I could keep track of my adventures abroad, it has since become an infrequently updated chronicle of complaints and strange ideas. ^_^

And now you know.