last updated 17 Jul 2002
So Who Is This Guy, Anyway?
| Life is a journey, not a destination; this page is in a state of continuous evolution... |
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Click on the picture to see why I'm smiling!
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
—J.R.R. Tolkien, via Bilbo Baggins
I once had a lot of detailed personal information on this page — names, dates, email addresses, and the like. Then, after having a few experiences that I won't detail but which proved to me beyond a doubt the Internet isn't the friendly place it was when I first started working with it, I yanked this page off my site... and promptly discovered that some search engine caches last forever so anyone looking for this info would find it. However, something strange happened: I started to get friendly responses to things I said, notes from long-lost friends & acquaintances who'd found me through this page, and generally nice, polite discussion about some of my philosphy. Well, after yet another nice response to the ancient version of this page that's cached on some server somewhere "out there" on the 'net, I've decided that it is A Good Thing to have on my personal site (after a bit of tweakage to delete the most personal, and most abusable, info). So, without further ado, here's a quick glimpse into The History Of The Brian. <g>
Nationality: U.S. American
Hair: increasingly gray!
Current Employer: I'm self-employed; check me out at www.spiderloom.com
Hobbies & Interests: computers & the Internet; writing (mainly bad SF/fantasy!); languages; guitar; dinosaurs
How I Keep In Shape: To be honest, I've become somewhat more, um, spherical over the years... but I'm working out regularly (some free weights, circuit training, basic aerobics) and I'm trying to get good at in-line skating without breaking anything...
Political Affiliation: Registered Democrat, but I vote for individuals instead of party lines. I'm pro-family, pro-children, pro-life... AND pro-choice. And I always vote (even though the way the 2000 Presidential elections were carried out was a slap in the face of every American voter).
I vaguely remember some sort of kindergarten-like arrangement when I was little, mainly because there was one other kid named Brian (the only other Brian I met until high school!) My scholastic career really got started at the International School Nido de Aguilas in Chile. After getting lost and wandering into a 5th grade classroom on my first day, things went as well as could be expected for the next few years. I maintained my grades, pretty much stayed out of trouble, and discovered that math wasn't my favorite subject... It was during this time that I learned to play the guitar (outside of school), learned how to speak Spanish (a skill that is sadly decomposing despite my best attempts), and learned how to generally have a good time with my friends and then tell my parents what we were doing after we had done it... <g>
After returning Stateside, I started 7th grade at an older, somewhat run-down public school; the less said about that year, the better. I was transferred to a brand-new school (with air conditioning!) for 8th and 9th grades, just a short walk from home. While there I discovered that 1) even earning a letter for being on the soccer team didn't make me a jock, and 2) no matter how much it hurts, if you keep hitting back they'll leave you alone for the rest of the year. High school was a MUCH better experience, and I graduated in 1976 as part of the school's largest graduating class ever. Our 25th anniversary reunion was fun (am I REALLY that old!?!?), and I'm looking forward to the next one!
I began attending the University of Maryland at College Park in the fall of 1976, with no declared major and a general direction of pre-med. After running into a pair of academic buzz saws labelled "advanced mathematics" and "advanced chemistry", I took a year off from school to work full-time, revamped my plans, and went back to school to finish with a BS in Zoology. It was there, in my next-to-last semester, that my math professor assigned us computer work that accounted for nearly half our grade... and I was hooked (even if the program he gave us to use as practice did have an infinite loop in it...)!
With the family back overseas (this time in Belgium), I entered the Masters' program at Boston University-Brussels. This was an American-style graduate program given in conjunction with the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. After a fairly intense two-year program, (shared with a close-knit group of friends from many nations), I graduated with a Master ofScience in Management degree shortly before returning to the U.S. in 1984. Note: if you get the chance, apply to a program like this one! The schooling you get is as good as any school you'd care to name, but the overall educational experience is superior due to the mix of nationalities and viewpoints.
My Travels
I'm what some people call a "Foreign Service brat," a label I'm not particularly fond of. Your best bet is to refer to me as either a Global Nomad, or perhaps a TCK (Third-Culture Kid). This is because I've lived in New York, Chile, Maryland, andBelgium — with a "second-hand" stint in Holland (my folks lived there but I only visited).
My first home back in Queens is still there, and the Silver-Leaf Maple sapling I watched my father plant in the front yard to fill the hole left when the septic tank "went away" is now a magnificent tree taller than the house. My grandparents' house is still just a few blocks away, too.
I haven't been back to Santiago since we left in June of 1970, but one of these days I'll return to refresh that small but important part of my heart that I left behind when we moved back Stateside. Our house backed up to the driving range of a country club, so we were all quite good at the "duck and cover" maneuver by the time we left—more than a few golf balls made it over the fence! By the time we left the country, my list of friends ran the gamut from the American Ambassador's son to the kids of the guy who came around every other week selling bottled water from a horse- or ox-drawn cart. I remember walking up and down active volcanoes, watching Andean condors glide silently overhead, learning to speak Spanish como un roto, and seeing the peaks of the Andes poking through a solid cloud deck at dawn from a DC-8.
After returning to the DC suburbs and doing the unthinkable—remaining Stateside for roughly a decade—my father was sent to Belgium, where we rented a house just outside Brussels. It was there that I learned to love driving at speeds above 70mph, when not shoehorning my (seemingly) huge American car through streets that were laid out when a horse-drawn cart was considered an "oversize vehicle"; traveled with an ever-changing group of immediately-close friends with just a backpack as luggage; ate dangerously unhealthy (fat, cholesterol, calories, etc.) food by the kilo without gaining an ounce; and (once I got over a quick bout of homesickness), generally fell in love with the place. It's funny, but the last time I visited Brussels (summer '94), it still felt like "home"!
And now here I be, 'til the nomad bug bites again...
Are You A Nomad/TCK, Too?
Despite my official memberships in Global Nomads International and Global Nomads-Washington Area lapsing, I still involve myself in the nomad communities from time to time — this is a leopard who's not interested in trying to change his spots. Since so many fellow nomads/TCKs seem to find me through this page, I've added the following list of related websites. All the links work as of this writing, and I'll try to check back from time to time to make sure "link rot" hasn't set in. So happy surfing — and please let me know if I've missed any good URLs!
To borrow from an old friend: "That's all, folks!"
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