This article is going to serve as an introduction to me. My name is Timothy John Edwards (in case you didn’t notice the web address for this blog). In the past few years I have undergone some extensive changes to my life such as relocating to Australia and even before that moving across Canada from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Edmonton, Alberta. Let’s start with some back history shall we?

When I was younger I was fascinated with math and the problems it presented. I also was a very imaginative little boy, always on an adventure in my head, fighting dragons, riding dinosaurs and exploring the woods. This fuelled my love for video games at a very young age thanks to my parents who already owned a Colecovision, an Atari and a Commodore 64 before I came along. But after awhile it was getting harder to find new games for those and I became obsessed with the Nintendo Entertainment System. Watching the commercial where they are shooting the ducks in Duck Hunt blew my young mind! Eventually my parents caved and I got one and yes, it was the greatest thing I had ever experienced! This easily helped fuel the fires of desire for more gaming. Even though Sonic looked really cool on the Sega, I had already seen Super Mario Bros 3 in a commercial or TV program so I didn’t bother asking for a Sega.

Elementary school was awesome for me, I excelled quite easily and I loved learning! I was an extremely short sponge of a kid, but in grade four we began learning french. That same teacher actually took an interest in those of us who excelled in math and formed a small advanced math group. We in the group bonded over that and began pushing ourselves and each other. That year we learned enough math to get us into year nine or so in studies. Five grades ahead wasn’t a bad start! However the next year our teacher was very clearly just cashing her teaching check and none of the advanced group pursued advanced math any further. Our last teacher pointed us in the right direction, and this teacher barely taught us anything. This is when I strongly began my delinquency phase, the one pretty much every child has.

My best friend in grade three had been the most popular kid in school, but when he moved away I was left pushed to the outskirts of the popular crowd. I didn’t really care too much, but I still had many people I was used to hanging out with. Eventually they peer pressured me into stealing for them. I essentially had to pay my dues for being popular. This sucked for a few years as they pushed for bigger and better items. Candy bars turned into small jewelery, small toys got bigger. I managed to get in trouble with my parents often as I stole money from them as well. Eventually I began to realize these people weren’t really my friends at all. It was shortly after I stopped stealing for them that many people dropped me as a friend.

Then enter grade six, the year before most Canadian children move on to Junior High. I had given up stealing and began gaining many new friends who were instrumental in my development. After awhile though I found myself running in with the wrong crowd again. One day they eventually peer pressured me into fighting another kid at the school over nothing, and I agreed to it. Over the course of the day I thought about it and all these jerks who kept pushing me to do things I had no interest in doing. That day I went to the fight and stood there with everyone watching me. I had been pressured long enough, and without a word I turned my back on the other kid. Now I don’t know what possessed him to do it, but he tackled me over and pinned me to the ground. That was when I realized all those people who I thought were my friends were nothing of the sort, as they were cheering him on.

I don’t look at that moment as a moment of weakness in my eyes, I look at it as the turning point of my own development. I grew that day into the start of a person I wanted to become, not who others wanted me to be. That point has stuck with me even through to today. I don’t mention names because this is my story, some people will know who they are and where they fit into the story. For the readers who don’t know any of these people, you’re not losing out on any details.

Tomorrow’s article will actually be my first attempt at writing episodic fiction and I will stagger it with these kind of autobiographical pieces. For now thanks for reading and take care!

PS- I’ve decided to add a link to the next part of this article if you wish to skip the fiction! Ahead to Part Two->