I am an American white boy. A full 1/8 Dutch. Grew up between the poverty line, and median income levels. Median income was not, necessarily, from actual jobs held by my parental units.
I was born in the seventies of parents who were totally into the whole expanded conciousness thing. They decided they were Krishna, and I was tought the sorts of things that children are taught about God. Though, in her young life, my mother was Lutheran, so I also got lots of comparative lessons during these years. I clearly remember Krishna coloring books. I'm pretty sure they did the Krishna thing because of the George Harrison - All Things Must Pass album.
One day, when I was 9 - my mother was sitting at a restaurant (in Florida), and we were all there (the family, and extended family [more on them soon]), and my mother said, "that's it. This is stupid. I want a steak, and I'm going to have a steak." Krishna includes near Vegan tenets. My mother has not practiced any religion since.
My parents lived communally, but not in the peace-love way that they idealized. Instead it was a "two drug dealers live and work out of my house, and pay rent in goods." They would pay rent, financially - when they had a good month. Ahh, the '80s in South Florida. These drug dealers, were part of this communal living experience - but mostly because neither could get rent so cheaply anywhere else. There were two others (both users) that would move in and out in cycles as well.
There was a band... Several guitars, a piano, a drum set -- each owned by their respective band-members -- all set up in the extended back room. To keep me away from the "real" instruments, I had lots of intruments of my own to play with growing up, and didn't appreciate any of them.
Because of how "open" the drug thing was... I couldn't have friends over. I couldn't go do my own thing. I had to come straight home, and watch T.V. until my parents came home. There was a short time when I would go over to a friends house, every day after school. But the father said he didn't want his wife baby-sitting me anymore. That's not how I looked at it. So... back home.
In this way - my life was shaped by bad rock music, drugs and alcohol more than religion or friends. My big rebellion against all this was to become Catholic, and not do illicit drugs. I've since stopped being Catholic. I've never had more than 4 drinks in one night, and I've only done that 4 times. I typically take a drink once or twice a month - with dinner -- out of the house. I dislike the feeling of being tipsy. I've never been really drunk, and have never had to have to deal with a hangover. I've never smoked. (I must point out that I've done several drugs, and smoked several things - but all were administered by one of my parents.. these were not really "by choice", so I refuse to accept responsibility - or the shame - of having consumed these things).
Not being drunk or on drugs helped in school. The fucked up home life kept me out of the good grades, but sobriety (and distance) helped to keep me in school. This is important. Staying in school, and being able to keep away from the shit that made my parents lives so shitty, helped me become the person that I am today. I needed to hate my parents during this time. I look back now, and realize that this was the right thing to do, though it felt wrong only five years ago (well after I re-established a good adult relationship with my mother).
I am a Mechanical Draftsman, with minor studies in circuit electronics. I've forgotten almost everything about drafting standard and magnetic flux, but the basics are still there. I got into computers by sheer luck (worked my way up from data entry/transcription) and persistance. I was a computer operator, technician, C programmer, C++ programmer, UNIX Administrator, Specialized Software Support, IT Manager and IT Director.
That pretty much brings us to the present.
