CAVEAT DVMPTRVCK

Timeline

Year-by-year summary of life since high school -- for the benefit of those who are "rediscovering" me after long, long absences.

• 1983. Graduate from Arcata High, Arcata California. Summer internship at a civil engineering office turns me off of the idea of pursuing engineering, careerwise. Start college at Macalester College, St Paul, Minnesota -- main reason for choice: very far away from home. Meet my best friend Bob on day one (he is still my best friend 25 years later).
• 1984. Change intended major from math to religious studies. Not out of any sense of religiosity, but because I'm looking for answers, and because math professor left my self-confidence in ruins. Work for Mondale Campaign that summer.
• 1985. Study art history in Paris in January term. By May, however, alcohol and drug issues have caused me to drop out of college. I live in my car, up and down the east coast (mostly Boston, New York City, with a week in New Orleans). By fall, I'm living a few blocks from Barack Obama (not that I know him) on Chicago's South Side, and working in a hardware store. My unabiding love for instant ramen is formed during this period.
• 1986. Travel to Mexico and end up with a job at Casa de los Amigos, a Quaker meetinghouse / leftist hostel in Mexico City. Travel to El Salvador for a few weeks in the fall, and get to see a civil war up close and personal.
• 1987. After a year working in Mexico City, I travel with a friend by horseback in the mountains of Michoacan (southwestern Mexico). I meet lots of interesting people, including many indians, hippies, a draft dodger or two, and a dangerous, angry man with a gun. Eventually, I return to Minnesota.
• 1988. I enroll at the University of Minnesota (having forfeited my scholarship at Macalester in 85). Declared major is computer science, but changes to linguistics. I dabble in languages: portuguese, medieval welsh, japanese, russian, ancient sumerian. I work hard at a book factory. I study hard. Bob and Mark are my housemates, among others.
• 1989. I graduate Phi Beta Kappa from U of MN, despite the "lost semester" from Spring of 85 at Macalaster on my transcript. Major, linguistics, minor, computer science. I return to Mexico, spend 2 months in Guatemala, and 2 weeks in Cuba.
• 1990. I end up in Eureka, somehow, broke and directionless. I deal with this by enlisting in the Army, as a truck mechanic. I complete training in South Carolina, and narrowly miss getting sent to Kuwait for the first gulf war. I end up in South Korea on December 28th.
• 1991. I am stationed at Camp Edwards, Geumcheon (about 7 km from my current home). I drive a giant camo green tow truck around northwest Gyeonggi province. I am a competent mechanic but an indifferent soldier. The Army is downsizing in the wake of the end of the cold war, and I grab honorable "early out."
• 1992. I live in Pasadena, taking art classes and arabic. I'm a bit aimless on the job front. I move back to Minnesota, and Bob and I become housemates again. I start working in a bookstore. I meet Michelle and Jeffrey (her son, who is 5 at this time).
• 1993. I do graduate-level coursework in Spanish lit. and lit-crit at the U of MN. Working in that bookstore.
• 1994. Michelle and I move in together. Then I spend 6 months studying the Mapuche Indian language in Valdivia, Chile, and see Buenos Aires, Tierra del Fuego, Patagonia, Uruguay, etc. Back in Minnesota with Michelle and Jeffrey for Christmas.
• 1995. I work nights for UPS to save up money (which means I can say I've been a card-carrying teamster), and formally apply to grad schools. Start at Univ. of Pennsylvania in August, in dept. of Romance Languages.
• 1996. Work very very hard at Penn., teaching Spanish and taking qualifying exams. Michelle and I get married in a pizza joint in Minneapolis over the summer. Michelle and Jeffrey join me in Philadelphia.
• 1997. I resign from the graduate program, very unhappy with departmental politics. I get to be a "soccer dad" with Jeffrey for several months, while Michelle puts in ungodly hours with Merck, Inc., in her new job as a chemical engineer. I start teaching high school Spanish and Social Studies that fall. Neither Michelle nor I particularly like living in Philadelphia.
• 1998. Things begin to break down with Michelle. I'm not doing very well with it. In August, we decide on a "trial seperation," but I'm not able to handle this well, and by September, I've run off to stay on my uncle's land in Alaska. I cut trees and brush with a chainsaw, and shovel gravel, and write. In November, I go to LA to stay with my father, recently divorced. This is a very bad period for me. Closing out the year, I attempt suicide and nearly succeed.
• 1999. I begin working at ARAMARK Corporation in Burbank, as a temp in the finance department. I prove sufficiently competent that they offer me a permanent position.
• 2000. Michelle commits suicide in June. "So there." I work hard at ARAMARK.
• 2001. I migrate from the finance department at ARAMARK into the IT department, working as a programmer.
• 2002. I rent a horrible apartment in North Hollywood. But work goes well.
• 2003. I migrate again, into the Sales and Marketing department. I develop the infamous National Accounts Data Analysis intranet site for my company, basically on my own, and it's a huge hit. I am promoted and recognized for this. Failure in life... success in business. I move into the tiny house next to my dad's on the hill in Highland Park. First trip to Australia to see my mother.
• 2004. I solve some amazing technical challenges for the Sales department, but create bad blood with my former colleagues in the IT department. Company politics get nasty. I resign in December. But, in 5 years, I'd managed to get promoted 4 times and quadruple my original salary.
• 2005. I spend 6 weeks in Europe, 2 of them with Bob who is there for an audition. I fall in love with Lisbon. I come back to LA and start with HealthSmart Pacific as a Database Administrator and Applications Designer. I move to Long Beach but I'm commuting part time to Orange County.
• 2006. I put in several months of ungodly 80 hour work weeks. I try to succeed as an independent database consultant, but my heart's not in it. Second trip to Australia. I move back to Minneapolis. Wonderful apartment near Lake Calhoun.
• 2007. Some interesting projects, but the computer gig is losing its lustre. I decide to return to teaching. Jeffrey has started college, and the trust fund I'd created for him will cover costs, so I'm free, financially. I apply to overseas jobs. I start teaching at Tomorrow School in Ilsan, Korea, in September.
• 2008. Tomorrow School gets taken over by LinguaForum gets taken over by L-Bridge. Spend a week in Australia with my mother in August. Brief visit to Hong Kong.
• 2009. Continuing at L-Bridge. I love teaching elementary-age kids. Am I happy? Not completely. But I'm happier than during most of the above. So, all things being relative...