Skyrien Wiki - User contributions [en]

@skyrien

2024-05-17T03:39:35Z

Skyrien:

@skyrien is my online handle. I've used it in various online fora since at least 1997, and [https://www.google.com/search?q=skyrien continue to do so]. Having grown up with it, I consider it the [[internet]] representation of me.

= Name origins =
Skyrien isn’t something you’re going to find in a dictionary (yet), but most certainly, you’ll find a few instances on an internet search. I coined the name in the 1990s while growing up in Korea and took it as my internet handle. I wanted a name that I could use universally, and so far, I’ve succeeded. :)

= In real life =

I'm [[Alexander-Youngha Skyrien Joo|Alexander Joo]]. I have a better profile on my blog [http://blog.skyrien.com/about here] for now.

Age 0-1

2020-09-05T00:42:34Z

Skyrien:

I was born in Seoul, South Korea (성모병원) on a Thursday in May, 1985. I came into a world still in the midst of a superpower vs superpower Cold War, into a nation itself with major internal strife and external threats.

Fortunately, it's also a time of historic international mobility for those with the privilege of money, education, and a willingness to bet their lives on a country that wasn't their own. By the time I was born, my parents were already planning to move to the United States to pursue graduate education, the reasons for many Asian-American immigrants to the US in the 1980s. They did so in 1987, a bit before my 2nd birthday.

= Memories =

I can't remember any specific memory to tie to Korea, though there are some photos from then. Memories that are characteristic of me though include:
*On my 100 Day festival, out of a mountain of things, I chose strawberries. A bold choice, maybe because I was hungry, or maybe because they were particularly ripe. Strawberries remain my personal favorite fruit, so clearly, it's something that lies close to my heart.
*I seemed to like to wander off a lot, scaring my mom. If my memories from later childhood about getting lost mean anything, it could have been pretty traumatic for me too. As a child, I did pride myself for never getting scared or crying about being lost, so I suppose that's a sign that I'm naturally inclined to exploratory adventure.
*I had some of my belongings from then come with me to the US. Some of these are still with my mom today, but for the most part, I've lost track of most childhood items prior to [[Age 10]].
*Apparently I developed a rash after taking penicillin, so there were concerns of a possible allergy. So I still avoid it, but I'd love to see confirmation.
*I took my first steps on my own at around 15-months, in a family friends' yard in Seoul, Korea.

Beyond that, anything I know comes from what I've been told, so let's move on for now.

= Notables =
Other things I know from that year that (for whatever reason) I hold memorable:
*It was the last year that the Chicago Bears won the Superbowl.
*Ronald Reagan was President of the United States.

Age 0-1

2020-09-05T00:27:18Z

Skyrien:

I was born in Seoul, South Korea (성모병원) on a Thursday in May, 1985. I came into a world still in the midst of a superpower vs superpower Cold War, into a nation itself with major internal strife and external threats.

Fortunately, it's also a time of historic international mobility for those with the privilege of money, education, and a willingness to bet their lives on a country that wasn't their own. By the time I was born, my parents were already planning to move to the United States to pursue graduate education, the reasons for many Asian-American immigrants to the US in the 1980s. They did so in 1987, a bit before my 2nd birthday.

= Memories =

I can't remember any specific memory to tie to Korea, though there are some photos from then. Memories that are characteristic of me though include:
*On my 100 Day festival, out of a mountain of things, I chose strawberries. A bold choice, maybe because I was hungry, or maybe because they were particularly ripe. Strawberries remain my personal favorite fruit, so clearly, it's something that lies close to my heart.
*I seemed to like to wander off a lot, scaring my mom. If my memories from later childhood about getting lost mean anything, it could have been pretty traumatic for me too. As a child, I did pride myself for never getting scared or crying about being lost, so I suppose that's a sign that I'm naturally inclined to exploratory adventure.
*I had some of my belongings from then come with me to the US. Some of these are still with my mom today, but for the most part, I've lost track of most childhood items prior to [[Age 10]].
*Apparently I developed a rash after taking penicillin, so there were concerns of a possible allergy. So I still avoid it, but I'd love to see confirmation.

Beyond that, anything I know comes from what I've been told, so let's move on for now.

= Notables =
Other things I know from that year that (for whatever reason) I hold memorable:
*It was the last year that the Chicago Bears won the Superbowl.
*Ronald Reagan was President of the United States.

Age 0-1

2020-09-05T00:26:48Z

Skyrien:

I was born in Seoul, South Korea on a Thursday in May, 1985. I came into a world still in the midst of a superpower vs superpower Cold War, into a nation itself with major internal strife and external threats.

Fortunately, it's also a time of historic international mobility for those with the privilege of money, education, and a willingness to bet their lives on a country that wasn't their own. By the time I was born, my parents were already planning to move to the United States to pursue graduate education, the reasons for many Asian-American immigrants to the US in the 1980s. They did so in 1987, a bit before my 2nd birthday.

= Memories =

I can't remember any specific memory to tie to Korea, though there are some photos from then. Memories that are characteristic of me though include:
*On my 100 Day festival, out of a mountain of things, I chose strawberries. A bold choice, maybe because I was hungry, or maybe because they were particularly ripe. Strawberries remain my personal favorite fruit, so clearly, it's something that lies close to my heart.
*I seemed to like to wander off a lot, scaring my mom. If my memories from later childhood about getting lost mean anything, it could have been pretty traumatic for me too. As a child, I did pride myself for never getting scared or crying about being lost, so I suppose that's a sign that I'm naturally inclined to exploratory adventure.
*I had some of my belongings from then come with me to the US. Some of these are still with my mom today, but for the most part, I've lost track of most childhood items prior to [[Age 10]].
*Apparently I developed a rash after taking penicillin, so there were concerns of a possible allergy. So I still avoid it, but I'd love to see confirmation.

Beyond that, anything I know comes from what I've been told, so let's move on for now.

= Notables =
Other things I know from that year that (for whatever reason) I hold memorable:
*It was the last year that the Chicago Bears won the Superbowl.
*Ronald Reagan was President of the United States.

Age 13-14

2020-07-29T06:40:32Z

Skyrien: Created page with "=Age 13 (WIP) = =Age 14 (WIP) = Topics: - "Alexander" -- Name selection"

=Age 13 (WIP) =

=Age 14 (WIP) =

Topics:
- "Alexander" -- Name selection

Age 5-7

2020-07-29T06:27:49Z

Skyrien: /* Second Grade (Age 7) */

This covers time from 1990-1992, while I lived in Evanston, IL. During this time, I developed a more clear sense of self centered around fun, learning, and curiosity. We moved there in the year prior, and I had been attending preschool, but that's not like going to "school".

Up until that point in my life, regardless of some days spent at preschool, home was predominantly where "things" occurred. During this period, I believe it began to shift toward more 50-50, as the educational influences of teachers grew, and the social influences of friends increased.

These would also be the last years where I was an only child. Today, I have two younger brothers, born in 1992 and 1994. But at this point, it was all me. =).

= School Life =

== Kindergarten (Age 5) ==
In the fall of 1990, my mom dropped me off at school for the first time. I'll never forget the first time I went up the steps of [http://www.district65.net/willard Willard Elementary] and looked back at the massive yellow school buses still converging on the school's narrow circle drive; a whole line of cars with moms and dads saying bye to their kids, a number of them crying and obviously not wanting to leave; and the ugly green tiling that was set before me as it led into the school's slopping corridor. I was five, and off to a new school.

I ended up going to two different homerooms over the course of that year [[for reasons I may go into later]], but I will say that if you didn't think teacher-child at that age matter, I will attest to you that you are wrong. The two classes were worlds apart, at least for me. Overall, my memory of Kindergarten was that it was awesome time, fun, and carefree. It felt exceptionally long but perhaps it was because it was such a new experience.

=== Memories ===
*I remember there was a long paper across the ceiling that counted up 1,2,3... the teacher added one for each day of school, and I remember marveling at how long the year had been when we reached the end.
*For one segment of the year, one enriching exercise we had was raising ducklings from eggs. The segment started with an incubator and 13 eggs, which we would learn how to manage.
*We churned butter at one point, and learned that the yellow coloring was typically artificial. Ours used carrot peels for coloration.
*I remember that kids would get a "hot" or "cold" lunch based on what their parents decided for them. This honestly shouldn't be a big deal, but somehow it was made to be a major segregation point for kids. Personally, I didn't have a strong preference for hot or cold, unless it was Thursday, because I had a penchant for the pizzas and chunky apple sauce they served that day. I believe the hot lunches cost $1.10 each. Reasonable for 1990.
*At school, I had a mix of male and female friends at this point--somewhat atypical, but I found that it led to more interesting experiences, and better strategic alliances. My closest friends were probably my neighbors in our apartment that my family knew at the time, but I also enjoyed time to myself to read or do stuff.

== First Grade (Age 6) (WIP) ==

- Willard memories
-- Air-conditioning
-- Mrs. B
-- Halloween; skeleton, or was that second-grade?
-- Walk-a-thon
-- Scholastic books
-- Sim-Ant?
--

- Home memories
-- Inha born
-- May cat? Did I still have May?
-- Air-conditioning
-- Evanston biking

== Second Grade (Age 7) (WIP) ==

- Willard memories
-- Writing cursive
-- Ms. H
-- Drama teacher theme
--

- Home life
-- Ghostwriter
-- Carmen Sandiego

= Home Life =
This stage of my life, home was actually rather awesome, at least in my memory. We lived in a modest 2 bedroom apartment in on Michigan Ave, a few blocks from the beach. I had my own room, a twin sized bed, which I still remember my dad putting together from wood pieces.

We went on a trip to Korea that winter, the first time I ever that I remember being on a plane (the first few, I was too young). Oddly enough, I don't remember too much about this trip in terms of what we did. I *do* remember a lot about the people I met; the family that I connected with for the first time in a while.

On returning, I was severely jet lagged and missed a week of school. Fortunately, being kindergarten, I didn't have any homework to make up. =P

I started getting pets at this point in my life. The first were a set of 4 gold fish in a 10 gallon tank. It was here that I realized that having an aquarium is really cool, but the regular cleaning necessary to maintain one is a pain in the ass. I never got around to naming these fish; but I did learn to tell them apart. There were two gold ones, a white one, and a black one.

In the spring, coming back from a field trip where my mom was a chaperon, I was able to score a kitten from a litter they were giving away! I had never really interacted with cats before but I was fascinated by their playful hunter-like skills. We took one home, and named it May. Graceful, sneaky, fun-loving affectionate human companions, I've loved cats ever since.

[[File:1991-may.jpg]]

Later on, after meeting some behavioral goals (cleaning my room, brushing my teeth, doing chores, behaving in school, etc...), a pivotal life event happened: I got a Nintendo (NES)! I'm not sure what persuaded them to do so, since I don't recall asking for one or expressing interest in it. Though, looking back, I suspect it might be because I played a game while I was in Korea that I enjoyed (?) Regardless, I picked up the controller that day, and in a single 11 hour sitting, finished the first Super Mario Bros (I mean... you had to--there was no way to save!). A gamer was born that day, and he lives still =).

== Notables ==
*My parents getting niceties, like a worklamp for my dad's workstation, air-conditioning for the home, etc...
*Two of the four gold fish ended up dying, one from unknown causes--another, seemed to have jumped to its death on its own by leaping onto the living room floor. We got a glass top after that.
*I had a big map on the wall by my bed, which I would explore frequently, always being surprised at noticing something I had never seen before. I remember that it definitely had the "USSR" on there. Speaking of which...
*The News isn't something that I remember much from this part of my life, except one event that had my dad and grandmother transfixed on the TV--the news that the Soviet Union was being dissolved. This of course, was a major part of their, and my personal history, through the Korean War, and this news, as I'm sure it was across the US, was profoundly unexpected. To me as a child, I didn't know of it's significance, but I do remember going to that map that night and making note that something had changed.
*I had a few toys at that point; I remember most treasuring my Hotwheels and related cars that I had gotten from a previous Christmas.
*I started actively liking Disney movies. My favorite at the time was actually The Little Mermaid, largely due to my love of the ocean, and admiration of independent individuals that break their mold. The catchy music I enjoyed, too.
*I learned to ride a bike, and spent a lot of time in years since riding around Evanston alone, with friends, and with my dad.
*I loved water, any chance we got to go to a pool I'd want to go swimming. Seeing this interest, my parents enrolled me in swimming classes, which I helped greatly, even though they weren't as fun.
*I picked up violin at this point, though having been forced to enroll with this very strict teacher, I wasn't too thrilled at the time. It was very meaningful though, and even though I don't play now, I have an appreciation for what regular people are musically capable of when they work at mastery. I kind of wish I kept it up...
*My parents independently enrolled me in figure skating skating classes with a friend. Don't get me wrong, "girly" as it might have seemed, I LOVED the ice. In terms of maneuverability, it's hard to beat figure skates, though some fine hockey skates come close. I did speed skating later on in life, but going around in circles just isn't as fun as doing "whatever you want" on figure skates.
*I also ended up doing gymnastics for a short period of time. It was fun, though the classes weren't quite as appealing.
*There used to be a HUGE slide in the back of our apartment in a common playground. It was awesome, but scary. It has since been removed, and replaced with something safer. (Kids these days...)

Age 5-7

2020-07-29T06:25:58Z

Skyrien: /* First Grade (Age 6) */

This covers time from 1990-1992, while I lived in Evanston, IL. During this time, I developed a more clear sense of self centered around fun, learning, and curiosity. We moved there in the year prior, and I had been attending preschool, but that's not like going to "school".

Up until that point in my life, regardless of some days spent at preschool, home was predominantly where "things" occurred. During this period, I believe it began to shift toward more 50-50, as the educational influences of teachers grew, and the social influences of friends increased.

These would also be the last years where I was an only child. Today, I have two younger brothers, born in 1992 and 1994. But at this point, it was all me. =).

= School Life =

== Kindergarten (Age 5) ==
In the fall of 1990, my mom dropped me off at school for the first time. I'll never forget the first time I went up the steps of [http://www.district65.net/willard Willard Elementary] and looked back at the massive yellow school buses still converging on the school's narrow circle drive; a whole line of cars with moms and dads saying bye to their kids, a number of them crying and obviously not wanting to leave; and the ugly green tiling that was set before me as it led into the school's slopping corridor. I was five, and off to a new school.

I ended up going to two different homerooms over the course of that year [[for reasons I may go into later]], but I will say that if you didn't think teacher-child at that age matter, I will attest to you that you are wrong. The two classes were worlds apart, at least for me. Overall, my memory of Kindergarten was that it was awesome time, fun, and carefree. It felt exceptionally long but perhaps it was because it was such a new experience.

=== Memories ===
*I remember there was a long paper across the ceiling that counted up 1,2,3... the teacher added one for each day of school, and I remember marveling at how long the year had been when we reached the end.
*For one segment of the year, one enriching exercise we had was raising ducklings from eggs. The segment started with an incubator and 13 eggs, which we would learn how to manage.
*We churned butter at one point, and learned that the yellow coloring was typically artificial. Ours used carrot peels for coloration.
*I remember that kids would get a "hot" or "cold" lunch based on what their parents decided for them. This honestly shouldn't be a big deal, but somehow it was made to be a major segregation point for kids. Personally, I didn't have a strong preference for hot or cold, unless it was Thursday, because I had a penchant for the pizzas and chunky apple sauce they served that day. I believe the hot lunches cost $1.10 each. Reasonable for 1990.
*At school, I had a mix of male and female friends at this point--somewhat atypical, but I found that it led to more interesting experiences, and better strategic alliances. My closest friends were probably my neighbors in our apartment that my family knew at the time, but I also enjoyed time to myself to read or do stuff.

== First Grade (Age 6) (WIP) ==

- Willard memories
-- Air-conditioning
-- Mrs. B
-- Halloween; skeleton, or was that second-grade?
-- Walk-a-thon
-- Scholastic books
-- Sim-Ant?
--

- Home memories
-- Inha born
-- May cat? Did I still have May?
-- Air-conditioning
-- Evanston biking

== Second Grade (Age 7) ==

= Home Life =
This stage of my life, home was actually rather awesome, at least in my memory. We lived in a modest 2 bedroom apartment in on Michigan Ave, a few blocks from the beach. I had my own room, a twin sized bed, which I still remember my dad putting together from wood pieces.

We went on a trip to Korea that winter, the first time I ever that I remember being on a plane (the first few, I was too young). Oddly enough, I don't remember too much about this trip in terms of what we did. I *do* remember a lot about the people I met; the family that I connected with for the first time in a while.

On returning, I was severely jet lagged and missed a week of school. Fortunately, being kindergarten, I didn't have any homework to make up. =P

I started getting pets at this point in my life. The first were a set of 4 gold fish in a 10 gallon tank. It was here that I realized that having an aquarium is really cool, but the regular cleaning necessary to maintain one is a pain in the ass. I never got around to naming these fish; but I did learn to tell them apart. There were two gold ones, a white one, and a black one.

In the spring, coming back from a field trip where my mom was a chaperon, I was able to score a kitten from a litter they were giving away! I had never really interacted with cats before but I was fascinated by their playful hunter-like skills. We took one home, and named it May. Graceful, sneaky, fun-loving affectionate human companions, I've loved cats ever since.

[[File:1991-may.jpg]]

Later on, after meeting some behavioral goals (cleaning my room, brushing my teeth, doing chores, behaving in school, etc...), a pivotal life event happened: I got a Nintendo (NES)! I'm not sure what persuaded them to do so, since I don't recall asking for one or expressing interest in it. Though, looking back, I suspect it might be because I played a game while I was in Korea that I enjoyed (?) Regardless, I picked up the controller that day, and in a single 11 hour sitting, finished the first Super Mario Bros (I mean... you had to--there was no way to save!). A gamer was born that day, and he lives still =).

== Notables ==
*My parents getting niceties, like a worklamp for my dad's workstation, air-conditioning for the home, etc...
*Two of the four gold fish ended up dying, one from unknown causes--another, seemed to have jumped to its death on its own by leaping onto the living room floor. We got a glass top after that.
*I had a big map on the wall by my bed, which I would explore frequently, always being surprised at noticing something I had never seen before. I remember that it definitely had the "USSR" on there. Speaking of which...
*The News isn't something that I remember much from this part of my life, except one event that had my dad and grandmother transfixed on the TV--the news that the Soviet Union was being dissolved. This of course, was a major part of their, and my personal history, through the Korean War, and this news, as I'm sure it was across the US, was profoundly unexpected. To me as a child, I didn't know of it's significance, but I do remember going to that map that night and making note that something had changed.
*I had a few toys at that point; I remember most treasuring my Hotwheels and related cars that I had gotten from a previous Christmas.
*I started actively liking Disney movies. My favorite at the time was actually The Little Mermaid, largely due to my love of the ocean, and admiration of independent individuals that break their mold. The catchy music I enjoyed, too.
*I learned to ride a bike, and spent a lot of time in years since riding around Evanston alone, with friends, and with my dad.
*I loved water, any chance we got to go to a pool I'd want to go swimming. Seeing this interest, my parents enrolled me in swimming classes, which I helped greatly, even though they weren't as fun.
*I picked up violin at this point, though having been forced to enroll with this very strict teacher, I wasn't too thrilled at the time. It was very meaningful though, and even though I don't play now, I have an appreciation for what regular people are musically capable of when they work at mastery. I kind of wish I kept it up...
*My parents independently enrolled me in figure skating skating classes with a friend. Don't get me wrong, "girly" as it might have seemed, I LOVED the ice. In terms of maneuverability, it's hard to beat figure skates, though some fine hockey skates come close. I did speed skating later on in life, but going around in circles just isn't as fun as doing "whatever you want" on figure skates.
*I also ended up doing gymnastics for a short period of time. It was fun, though the classes weren't quite as appealing.
*There used to be a HUGE slide in the back of our apartment in a common playground. It was awesome, but scary. It has since been removed, and replaced with something safer. (Kids these days...)

Blog.skyrien.com

2019-05-18T05:13:34Z

Skyrien: /* History */

My current personal blog, maintained as a Wordpress instance since 2008 is at [http://blog.skyrien.com http://blog.skyrien.com], which is an aggregation of previous Xanga, LiveJournal, and hosted-Wordpress instances. The timeframe currently spans 2003-Present.

= History =
My first blog was a website I made in 2001 where I wrote journalistic-style articles about events around me. It was hosted at [http://angelex.netfirms.com http://angelex.netfirms.com], which tragically is now lost into the internet ether. It was very rudimentary HTML managed via [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_FrontPage Microsoft FrontPage 2000] (love/hate, really...).

At the time, I wanted to create a public footprint on the [[internet]], my own "Hello World" to the internet at the time, which was substantially different than now. This was before most social networks we have today emerged and the internet was quite different indeed.

Later efforts at blogging spanned a variety of service providers, including Xanga, [https://skyrien.livejournal.com/ LiveJournal], Blogger, Vox, WordPress, Medium, http://t.skyrien.com Tumblr], but I found WordPress to be, by far, the most versatile for web publishing and content management.

Xanga's slippery departure from the world was clear evidence that as the internet matures and the capabilities of individuals increases, self-hosted web infrastructure will become more attractive to the technically/politically aware, both to counter the monetization schemes of the ISPs or unnecessary snooping of your content from unknowns. Not that everyone has the means or ability to do so, but if we all became more aware and engage in sound practice with our data, it would dramatically improve the security of the system as a whole.

= Background =

I first started writing online purely as an expression of my creative self, in 1995 those now nostalgic early days of the internet.

My worldview

2016-06-19T04:11:01Z

Skyrien:

This page describes my perspective and values that I've been developing over the course of my life. By no means is it over and I always look forward to opportunities to expand my awareness of truth.

= Beginnings =

= Current =

American foreign policy

2016-04-02T19:09:36Z

Skyrien:

American foreign policy is the ongoing project of protecting and advancing American interests abroad, primarily to other nation states but also to non-state actors as well as supranational bodies such as the EU and the UN. It is primarily led by the POTUS and represented by the State Department within the Executive branch of the US Federal government.

Actual policy is heavily influenced by historical norms as well as international conditions and international law (in the form of treaties between nations and supranational bodies) that profoundly shape the resulting policy. Being managed by the administration within the executive branch, major changes are possible with the change of parties, and the result of policy often can shape the election (or reelection) prospects of the next administration.

It is essential that informed citizens are armed with their voice and vote to shape the correct policy, and becoming aware of the history and issues at the present, with a positive outlook toward the future. We have much work to do.

A great roundup of regional foreign policy concerns and forward-looking assessments can be found in a number of sources, and I've found [https://www.coursera.org/course/afp21stcentury this course] to be particularly useful and well referenced. There, a primary tool used was the "4 Ps Framework", discussed in [http://www.wwnorton.com/college/polisci/american-foreign-policy4/ch/01/review.aspx this text], as well as by other scholars in the field. The 4 Ps represent a means to facilitate discussion of the conditions, outcomes, and trade-offs resulting from possible foreign policy action or inaction and provide a means to break down the motivations of other actors in the international body to facilitate.

= The 4 Ps Framework (Power, Peace, Prosperity, Principles) =

The 4 Ps are:
*Power
*Peace
*Prosperity
*Principles

I found this a highly useful way to interpret and evaluate actions past, present, and future within the context of today's global landscape. An in-depth video overview of the 4Ps Framework is discussed by [https://class.coursera.org/afp21stcentury-001/lecture/7 Bruce Jentleson's lecture on the topic].

= World and Region Overview =

= Current issues =

Autobiographical content

2016-04-02T00:40:28Z

Skyrien: /* 2015: The Present */

I guess my autobiography has to start somewhere, right? And I bet it would be rather difficult to write it without taking notes on life as I went along. Here, I will write a narrated perspective of events in my life. I probably will not not write this in chronological order, but they will be put in the appropriate context. Over time, a more complete picture will emerge.

''A note on accuracy: This section is likely to be a perpetual draft, and much of it before the present is constructed from what I can recall, personal writings, interviews, and other sources and accounts. Beyond this, as I'm writing this to be a heavily written from the memory of my experience of these memories. Inaccuracies, alternate interpretations, and new conclusions based on uncovered information are wholly possible and over time, likely. And as is intended, as I expect our own interpretation of history, values, and our experience of them will likely evolve over time as well. Be that as it may, I will still strive for factual accuracy and when presenting a conflicting idea, I will identify the conflict and clarify salient differences in memory.''

= Chronological =
I've experienced that in life, there are long periods of seeming stasis, and then everything changes at once. I keep thinking of the term 'punctuated equilibrium' to analogize about this phenomenon. In any case, I've attempted to divide the sections into meaningful logical chunks, but it may shift over time.

== Prehistory: (--5/23/1985) ==
Tectonic shifts in geopolitics have occurred over the span of our parents' and grandparents' lifetimes. When I have the opportunity to meet distant or long disconnected extended family, I've used it to expand my knowledge of my family's story across the world. It's quite fascinating how much history has been lived by those closest to us.

Coming from Asia, much of their story are influenced by the tensions and conflicts of the region, particularly in and around Korea in the early 20th century due to imperial aspirations of Japan resulting in WWII, the partition of Korea, and the Korean War. Beyond this, how my parents' generation found their way to America is another chapter entirely, one that writes the personal story of one Asian-American immigrant family. I will write relevant findings here and in the [[family history]] page.

*[[Family history]]
*[[World history]]

== 0 to 10 (1985-1995) ==

This first period covers birth to the end of early-childhood at Age 10. It starts at the time I was born in Korea, and the entirety of my time in the US before my family moved back to Korea in 1995. This period was obviously a hugely formative period for the fostering of my core values, joys, and intrinsic curiosity.

=== Identity ===
Language and ethnic heritage are often one's first experience with their cultural identity after their birth. For me, there was always some amount of tension in my relationship with language. In my earliest years, my vocabulary and language was derived from what I learned at home, and became Korean-focused, given it was what I spoke at home. As a result, while I understood spoken English, I found it harder to express in public. Fortunately, my school had a good ESL program that I attended while in kindergarten. I didn't think much of it then, but it would be a key experience growing up an America. I didn't have any issues comprehending the written or spoken word; I was just averse to expressing it. Later on, I developed a huge fondness for reading, and quickly became very fluent (aided by media that encouraged me to learn more), which gave me more confidence to speak out more.

Speaking two (or more) languages natively (opposed to acquired fluency) is a common experience in American immigrant stories, and I think it's pretty cool to have access to the corpus of culture that language fluency presents, and I'd love to be able to teach my own kids what I know, and perhaps even the experience of another culture or place. Given how often my family moved, I learned to take the perpetual need to learn in stride and developed a skill and even an enjoyment of adapting to new people, things, and situations. Some of this would backfire and result in a search for identity in my second decade, but at this time, it helped me to see society as a system that I could come to understand, and adapt to, after some trial and error.

I can certainly note that the quality of education varied from place to place, from teacher to teacher. Going from 2nd grade in Evanston to 3rd grade in Capron felt like dropping two years of education. Where you go to school has a huge influence on your experiences and the sense of possibility afforded to you. I was fortunate enough to have parents that cared about the quality of education I received, and were able to intervene when it was in my interest, as well as having a strong intrinsic desire to explore what's out there.

It was in this time that I developed an obvious interest in how things work. My dad tells me that when I was in kindergarten, my teacher once told him that in school assembly that I paid more attention the projector showing the some boring film, rather than said boring film. In my defense, I'll note that this was in 1991, and the projector was an ancient film reel (yes! in 1991 a film projector in a school!) that spun a big spool of film from one wheel to another. How is that *not* awesome to look at? Today, it would be a retro fascination for it to be seen anywhere, let alone in regular use.

I actually do remember doing this, and specifically, what I was noticing (and learning as a 6 year old kid) was how the wheels spun at different rates, based how much film was in the reel, and the question that I had in my mind at the time was on how it kept the film at the same speed. Basically, I was being an early nerd, and of this, I am proud. :)

My parents euphemistically note that I liked to "deconstruct" things to see how they worked. Basically, I'd like to take things apart, particularly mechanical and electrical things (projectors, monitors, computers, motors, etc...) to examine their workings. I was also given access to my dad's PC pretty early, at around the age of 6, and quickly mastered DOS enough to basically be the tech guy at home.

That said, even my few years in rural Illinois was a highly unique experience that today (in 2015) I treasure, despite all the challenges at the time adjusting to a completely different life experience, even as a kid.

My feelings over my time in Korea that came after this period are a bit more complicated...

'''Memories'''
*Green used to be my favorite color, at least until kindergarten. Then around the age of 9-10, I started to love the ocean, water, and the color blue.
*In my room since I was 5, I used to have a big geopolitical map that covered the wall by my bed. I recommend every parent of a curious child to put a big map in their room. Seriously. It will expand their mind and their awareness. I also remember when the Gulf War started (when I was 5), that my dad pointed at Iraq on the map and said "these guys are bad." Lol.
*Star Trek came into my life pretty early, and I was a fan by age 7. It all started with me accidentally renting 'Star Trek VI', instead of 'Star Wars'. While it wasn't the sci-fi/fantasy/space opera that Star Wars was, I was sold on the future-oriented vision of peace, the cool effects, and the politics, which echoed some of the Cold War detente that my dad had tried to explain to me when the Soviet Union was dissolved. Levar Burton played my favorite character, chief engineer Geordi LaForge, on TNG and I carefully followed it till the series finale which aired on my birthday in 1994. One effect was on my vocabulary, where at school, I was using words and style of speech learnt while watching TNG in my speech and writing, which teachers thought highly. In one example, I got in trouble once in fourth grade for saying "hell", as in "What the hell?" clearly echoing Riker's flabbergast moment from the TNG episode the night before. I can't quite tell if things were just more language-strict in the 90s or if its just because I was younger.
*Once I came in contact with a PC, I never let go. By my late 0s, I was solidly a PC gamer; SimAnt was the first game I ever bought, and by the end of this period my favorite games were Doom, Simcity 2000, and underrated adventure game, Star Trek: A Final Unity. Not that I was opposed to consoles--the first game I ever played was on the NES, and had Sega Genesis and thoroughly enjoyed games like Sonic and Ecco, and had loved the original StarFox on SNES. Still, I loved the depth of control and richness that PC games afforded, also the fact that it appealed to a more educated, mature audience. I liked that, and that paid off hugely for me.
*By all standards, I read a lot, though a lot of it was fluff. I really enjoyed picking books from Scholastic catalogs, and in my early years, read stuff like the series like the Bernstein Bears, the Boxcar children, later reading books like Goosebumps and periodicals that my parents would read such as Time magazine and Popular Mechanics. Events like Walk-A-Thons for reading also encouraged a great deal of exploration in my language arts.
*I had an odd fondness for antique stores--there was on in Capron that I would frequent, and I'd find trinkets worth <$1.
*I got an allowance as a kid, for doing household chores. I feel it was an excellent way to reward constructive work ethic, while also developing a child's sense of money as capital.
*I got lost in a cornfield once for almost 2 hours when I was 9--rather terrifying at the time, but an epic adventure looking back. I eventually found my way back when I realized I could use the direction of the shadows to follow a path back to where I had started.
*I had my first PC during this time, a 386SX 16MHz / 4MB / 60 MB / 3.5" 1.44MB / 2400 baud modem. My dad told me when he bought it, it was a whopping $3,000, with the upgraded RAM, which he needed for school work. Insane to think of today, but that's the rig that I learned DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1.
*By the end of the decade, I was badly in need of a new PC, and I started plotting what kind of PC I could 'encourage' my family to get next...

===By Age===
*[[Age 0-1|0-1]] - Korea
*[[Age 2-4|2-4]] - Chicago, Evanston
*[[Age 5-7|5-7]] - Evanston
*[[Age 8-10|8-10]] - Capron

== 1995-2004: Late Childhood/Early Adolescence ==

This period covers late childhood to early adolescence. It includes the entirety of my time in [[Korea]] (1995-2000) and [[return to the United States]] from junior high to early college.

===By Age===
*[[Age 10-12|10-12]] - Korea (Elementary)
*[[Age 13-14|13-14]] - Korea (Middle)
*[[Age 15-19|15-19]] - US (Jr High-High-Early College)

== 2004-2015: Late Adolescence/Early Adulthood ==

This period covers the late adolescence of college and the start of independent adult life.

===By Age===
*[[Age 19-22|19-22]]
*[[Age 23-27|23-27]]
*[[Age 28-29|28-29]]

== 2016: The Present ==

The fourth decade is now getting started, so I guess I shouldn't use the phrase "when I grow up" anymore :). By and large, I'm still the me I was when I was younger, though much of the future is yet to be determined.

===By Age===
*[[Age 30|30]]

== Future (2016-2085) ==
These are ages yet to come. Detail will be added over time.

===By Age===
*[[Age 31|31]]
*[[Age 32|32]]
*[[Age 33|33]]
...

== The end? (2085-2101?) ==
I've taken a number life expectancy tests over the years, and kept tabs on my overall health. Generally, these simple non-scientific online tests have given me numbers between 92-100, so for mental convenience, I've just kept 100 in mind (though I'm really pushing for at least 115 :)); thus means I would live to around 2085. This means I'd get to see the bulk of the 21st century come to pass, and unless I screw up badly, will have left a dent to last longer than that.

===By Age===
*[[Age 100|100]]
*[[Age 115|115]]

Excellent - Bring Life On! :)

Skyrien.com

2016-03-07T05:15:44Z

Skyrien:

[[Skyrien.com]] has been my personal domain since 2008, and hosts a variety of personal website-like assets. It also serves as the root domain for services that I am staging through development. Its most public component is [[my blog]] at [http://blog.skyrien.com blog.skyrien.com], as well as [[SkyrienWiki]].

Main Page

2015-11-28T21:56:49Z

Skyrien:

Welcome to [[SkyrienWiki]]! I am [[@skyrien]] and this is my online knowledge base. Over the course of time, I hope to turn this into useful codex of knowledge, or at least, something uniquely interesting among the noise of the internet.

This wiki serves three functions:
# Online directory and reference for all public components of [[skyrien.com]].
# Presentation and discussion of [[my worldview]], [[knowledge base]], and [[experiences]].
# Flatter representation of and repository for [[my blog]].

Think of it as a cross between a personal website and a blog, with an angle towards informative presentation.

= Topics =
In the following sections, I'll explore and expound upon thoughts and issues that I write about in my blog and elsewhere.

'''Hall of Awesome''' (''[[Hall of Awesome|more]]'')
----
I proudly state that my most used word on Facebook is "awesome", according to a word analysis on my posts. As one who believes in living a directed purposeful existence for ourselves and the world, I seek that healthy sense of excitement and wonder provides fuel for both. Here will be a collection of topics, people, things that I believe are worthy of a term that's normally hyperbole.

'''Curiosities''' (''[[Curiosities|more]]'')
----
I love learning and I've learned to never be afraid of asking a question for the purpose of learning. So, rather than wait till I know everything, here, I'll describe questions that have been dwelling in my mind, and my efforts to bring answers to them over time. This is the internet, after all, so I expect some magic to happen. :)

'''Being Human: Technology, Culture, Progress''' (''[[Progress|more]]'')
----
In the 2014 movie Interstellar, one principle realized by the characters is that in thinking about the impact of our lives: "We must reach far beyond our own lifespans. We must think not as individuals but as a species." This speaks to the reality that is the project of human civilization. That our generation today lives on the edge of humanity's arc through time implies a great deal of responsibility and significance to our individual finite lives.

'''Projects: Past, Current, Future''' (''[[Projects|more]]'')
----
I have the luxury of being able to work on a number of fun and exciting projects of my personal choosing that encompass my time for hobbies and fun. I'm trying to develop a number of skills, for personal and professional use, and will often do so under the confines of a project. I'll try to list some here that I feel may be useful or interesting.

'''Joy: Fun, Play, Games''' (''[[Fun|more]]'')
----
Life is far too short to be spent not enjoying it. In that effort, I've considered a sense of fun essential to my life's key pillars.

===Beyond the above, a general index of topics can be accessed via the following pages (eventually)===

[[general reference]] | [[musings on existence]] | [[future-orientation]] |
[[civilization]] | [[culture]] | [[trends]] |
[[sustainable development]] | [[environmental policy]] | [[space science]] |
[[politics]] | [[international relations]] | [[democratic development]] | [[american foreign policy]] |
[[defense]] | [[robotics]] | [[space]] |
[[intelligence]] | [[neuroscience]] | [[ai]] |
[[autobiographical content]]

= Disclaimers =

Be advised, this is my first wiki and I'm still developing a sense for the ideal presentation of content. The wiki is not tailored for any specific audience, but I write from a perspective shaped by my life experiences.

As an extension of my blog, I expect this wiki's style to take on an opinionated, personal flavor, so please be aware that (most) of these views are solely my own, and not representative of their topic or any other formal affiliation. Though I strive for correctness, given that I am my own editor, the presence of errors is not impossible, and I make no guarantees of the accuracy of anything written here. For any business requiring anything more than my personal form of truthiness, I recommend conducting your own fact-checking. After all, this is the [[internet]]. :)

American foreign policy

2015-10-30T17:49:04Z

Skyrien:

American foreign policy is the ongoing project of protecting and advancing American interests abroad, primarily to other nation states but also to non-state actors as well as supranational bodies such as the EU and the UN. It is primarily led by the POTUS and represented by the State Department within the Executive branch of the US Federal government.

Actual policy is heavily influenced by historical norms as well as international conditions and de-facto international agreements that profoundly shape the resulting policy. Being managed by the administration within the executive branch, major changes are possible with the change of parties, and the result of policy often can shape the election (or reelection) prospects of the next administration.

It is essential that informed citizens are armed with their voice and vote to shape the correct policy, and becoming aware of the history and issues at the present, with a positive outlook toward the future. We have much work to do.

A great roundup of regional foreign policy concerns and forward-looking assessments can be found in a number of sources, and I've found [https://www.coursera.org/course/afp21stcentury this course] to be particularly useful and well referenced. There, a primary tool used was the "4 Ps Framework", discussed in [http://www.wwnorton.com/college/polisci/american-foreign-policy4/ch/01/review.aspx this text], as well as by other scholars in the field. The 4 Ps represent a means to facilitate discussion of the conditions, outcomes, and trade-offs resulting from possible foreign policy action or inaction and provide a means to break down the motivations of other actors in the international body to facilitate.

= The 4 Ps Framework (Power, Peace, Prosperity, Principles) =

The 4 Ps are:
*Power
*Peace
*Prosperity
*Principles

I found this a highly useful way to interpret and evaluate actions past, present, and future within the context of today's global landscape. An in-depth video overview of the 4Ps Framework is discussed by [https://class.coursera.org/afp21stcentury-001/lecture/7 Bruce Jentleson's lecture on the topic].

= World and Region Overview =

= Current issues =

American foreign policy

2015-10-30T17:47:50Z

Skyrien:

American foreign policy is the ongoing project of protecting and advancing American interests abroad, primarily to other nation states but also to non-state actors as well as supranational bodies such as the EU and the UN. It is primarily led by the POTUS and represented by the State Department within the Executive branch of the US Federal government.

Actual policy is heavily influenced by historical norms as well as international conditions and de-facto international agreements that profoundly shape the resulting policy. Being managed by the administration within the executive branch, major changes are possible with the change of parties, and the result of policy often can shape the election (or reelection) prospects of the next administration.

It is essential that informed citizens are armed with their voice and vote to shape the correct policy, and becoming aware of the history and issues at the present, with a positive outlook toward the future. We have much work to do.

A great roundup of regional foreign policy concerns and forward-looking assessments can be found in a number of sources, and I've found [https://www.coursera.org/course/afp21stcentury this course] to be particularly useful and well referenced. There, a primary tool used was the "4 Ps Framework", discussed in [http://www.wwnorton.com/college/polisci/american-foreign-policy4/ch/01/review.aspx this text], as well as by other scholars in the field. The 4 Ps represent a means to facilitate discussion of the conditions, outcomes, and trade-offs resulting from possible foreign policy action or inaction and provide a means to break down the motivations of other actors in the international body to facilitate.

= The 4 Ps Framework (Power, Peace, Prosperity, Principles) =

The 4 Ps are:
*Power
*Peace
*Prosperity
*Principles

I found this a highly useful way to interpret and evaluate actions past, present, and future within the context of today's global landscape. An in-depth video overview of the 4Ps Framework is discussed by [https://class.coursera.org/afp21stcentury-001/lecture/7 Bruce Jentleson's lecture on the topic].

American foreign policy

2015-10-30T17:45:58Z

Skyrien:

American foreign policy is the ongoing project of protecting and advancing American interests abroad, primarily to other nation states but also to non-state actors as well as supranational bodies such as the EU and the UN. It is primarily led by the POTUS and represented by the State Department within the Executive branch of the US Federal government.

Actual policy is heavily influenced by historical norms as well as international conditions and de-facto international agreements that profoundly shape the resulting policy. Being managed by the administration within the executive branch, major changes are possible with the change of parties, and the result of policy often can shape the election (or reelection) prospects of the next administration.

It is essential that informed citizens are armed with their voice and vote to shape the correct policy, and becoming aware of the history and issues at the present, with a positive outlook toward the future. We have much work to do.

A great roundup of regional foreign policy concerns and forward-looking assessments can be found in a number of sources, and I've found [https://www.coursera.org/course/afp21stcentury this course] to be particularly useful and well referenced. There, a primary tool used was the "4 Ps Framework", discussed in [http://www.wwnorton.com/college/polisci/american-foreign-policy4/ch/01/review.aspx this text], as well as by other scholars in the field. The 4 Ps represent a means to facilitate discussion of the conditions, outcomes, and trade-offs resulting from possible foreign policy action or inaction and provide a means to break down the motivations of other actors in the international body to facilitate.

The 4 Ps are:
*Power
*Peace
*Prosperity
*Principles

I found this a highly useful way to interpret and evaluate actions past, present, and future within the context of today's global landscape. An in-depth video overview of the 4Ps Framework is discussed by [https://class.coursera.org/afp21stcentury-001/lecture/7 Bruce Jentleson's lecture on the topic].

American foreign policy

2015-10-30T17:42:30Z

Skyrien:

American foreign policy is the ongoing project of protecting and advancing American interests abroad, primarily to other nation states but also to non-state actors as well as supranational bodies such as the EU and the UN. It is primarily led by the POTUS and represented by the State Department within the Executive branch of the US Federal government.

Actual policy is heavily influenced by historical norms as well as international conditions and de-facto international agreements that profoundly shape the resulting policy. Being managed by the administration within the executive branch, major changes are possible with the change of parties, and the result of policy often can shape the election (or reelection) prospects of the next administration.

It is essential that informed citizens are armed with their voice and vote to shape the correct policy, and becoming aware of the history and issues at the present, with a positive outlook toward the future. We have much work to do.

A great roundup of regional foreign policy concerns and forward-looking assessments can be found in a number of sources, and I've found [https://www.coursera.org/course/afp21stcentury this course] to be particularly useful and well referenced. There, a primary tool used was the "4 Ps Framework", discussed in [http://www.wwnorton.com/college/polisci/american-foreign-policy4/ch/01/review.aspx this text], as well as by other scholars in the field. The 4 Ps represent a means to facilitate discussion of the conditions, outcomes, and trade-offs resulting from possible foreign policy action or inaction and provide a means to break down the motivations of other actors in the international body to facilitate.

The 4 Ps are:
*Power
*Peace
*Prosperity
*Principles

I found this a highly useful way to interpret and evaluate actions past, present, and future within the context of today's global landscape.

American foreign policy

2015-10-30T17:36:18Z

Skyrien:

American foreign policy is the ongoing project of protecting and advancing American interests abroad, primarily to other nation states but also to non-state actors as well as supranational bodies such as the EU and the UN. It is primarily led by the POTUS and represented by the State Department within the Executive branch of the US Federal government.

Actual policy is heavily influenced by historical norms as well as international conditions and de-facto international agreements that profoundly shape the resulting policy. Being managed by the administration within the executive branch, major changes are possible with the change of parties, and the result of policy often can shape the election (or reelection) prospects of the next administration.

It is essential that informed citizens are armed with their voice and vote to shape the correct policy, and becoming aware of the history and issues at the present, with a positive outlook toward the future. We have much work to do.

A great roundup of regional foreign policy concerns and forward-looking assessments can be found in a number of sources, and I've found [https://www.coursera.org/course/afp21stcentury this course] to be particularly useful and well referenced. There, a primary tool used was the "4 Ps Framework", discussed in [http://books.wwnorton.com/books/webad.aspx?id=4294975953 this text], as well as by other scholars in the field. The 4 Ps represent a means to facilitate discussion of the conditions, outcomes, and trade-offs resulting from possible foreign policy action or inaction and provide a means to break down the motivations of other actors in the international body to facilitate.

The 4 Ps are:
*Power
*Peace
*Prosperity
*Principles

I found this a highly useful way to interpret and evaluate actions past, present, and future within the context of today's global landscape.

American foreign policy

2015-10-30T17:35:23Z

Skyrien:

American foreign policy is the highly complicated, ongoing project of protecting and advancing American interests abroad, primarily to other nation states but also to non-state actors as well as supranational bodies such as the EU and the UN. It is primarily led by the POTUS and represented by the State Department within the Executive branch of the US Federal government.

Actual policy is heavily influenced by historical norms as well as international conditions and de-facto international agreements that profoundly shape the resulting policy. Being managed by the administration within the executive branch, major changes are possible with the change of parties, and the result of policy often can shape the election (or reelection) prospects of the next administration.

It is essential that informed citizens are armed with their voice and vote to shape the correct policy, and becoming aware of the history and issues at the present, with a positive outlook toward the future. We have much work to do.

A great roundup of regional foreign policy concerns and forward-looking assessments can be found in a number of sources, and I've found [https://www.coursera.org/course/afp21stcentury this course] to be particularly useful and well referenced. There, a primary tool used was the "4 Ps Framework", discussed in [http://books.wwnorton.com/books/webad.aspx?id=4294975953 this text], as well as by other scholars in the field. The 4 Ps represent a means to facilitate discussion of the conditions, outcomes, and trade-offs resulting from possible foreign policy action or inaction and provide a means to break down the motivations of other actors in the international body to facilitate.

The 4 Ps are:
*Power
*Peace
*Prosperity
*Principles

I found this a highly useful way to interpret and evaluate actions past, present, and future within the context of today's global landscape.

Main Page

2015-10-30T17:23:42Z

Skyrien: /* Disclaimers */

Welcome to [[SkyrienWiki]]! I am [[@skyrien]] and this is my online knowledge base. Over the course of time, I hope to turn this into useful codex of knowledge, or at least, something uniquely interesting among the noise of the internet.

This wiki serves three functions:
# Online directory and reference for all public components of [[skyrien.com]]
# Presentation and discussion of [[my worldview]] and experiences
# Flatter representation of and repository for [[my blog]]

Think of it as a cross between a personal website and a blog, with an angle towards informative presentation.

= Topics =
In the following sections, I'll explore and expound upon thoughts and issues that I write about in my blog and elsewhere.

'''Hall of Awesome''' (''[[Hall of Awesome|more]]'')
----
I proudly state that my most used word on Facebook is "awesome", according to a word analysis on my posts. As one who believes in living a directed purposeful existence for ourselves and the world, I seek that healthy sense of excitement and wonder provides fuel for both. Here will be a collection of topics, people, things that I believe are worthy of a term that's normally hyperbole.

'''Curiosities''' (''[[Curiosities|more]]'')
----
I love learning and I've learned to never be afraid of asking a question for the purpose of learning. So, rather than wait till I know everything, here, I'll describe questions that have been dwelling in my mind, and my efforts to bring answers to them over time. This is the internet, after all, so I expect some magic to happen. :)

'''Being Human: Technology, Culture, Progress''' (''[[Progress|more]]'')
----
In the 2014 movie Interstellar, one principle realized by the characters is that in thinking about the impact of our lives: "We must reach far beyond our own lifespans. We must think not as individuals but as a species." This speaks to the reality that is the project of human civilization. That our generation today lives on the edge of humanity's arc through time implies a great deal of responsibility and significance to our individual finite lives.

'''Projects: Past, Current, Future''' (''[[Projects|more]]'')
----
I have the luxury of being able to work on a number of fun and exciting projects of my personal choosing that encompass my time for hobbies and fun. I'm trying to develop a number of skills, for personal and professional use, and will often do so under the confines of a project. I'll try to list some here that I feel may be useful or interesting.

'''Joy: Fun, Play, Games''' (''[[Fun|more]]'')
----
Life is far too short to be spent not enjoying it. In that effort, I've considered a sense of fun essential to my life's key pillars.

===Beyond the above, a general index of topics can be accessed via the following pages (eventually)===

[[general reference]] | [[musings on existence]] | [[future-orientation]] |
[[civilization]] | [[culture]] | [[trends]] |
[[sustainable development]] | [[environmental policy]] | [[space science]] |
[[politics]] | [[international relations]] | [[democratic development]] | [[american foreign policy]] |
[[defense]] | [[robotics]] | [[space]] |
[[intelligence]] | [[neuroscience]] | [[ai]] |
[[autobiographical content]]

= Disclaimers =

Be advised, this is my first wiki and I'm still developing a sense for the ideal presentation of content. The wiki is not tailored for any specific audience, but I write from a perspective shaped by my life experiences.

As an extension of my blog, I expect this wiki's style to take on an opinionated, personal flavor, so please be aware that (most) of these views are solely my own, and not representative of their topic or any other formal affiliation. Though I strive for correctness, given that I am my own editor, the presence of errors is not impossible, and I make no guarantees of the accuracy of anything written here. For any business requiring anything more than my personal form of truthiness, I recommend conducting your own fact-checking. After all, this is the [[internet]]. :)

Main Page

2015-10-30T17:22:16Z

Skyrien:

Welcome to [[SkyrienWiki]]! I am [[@skyrien]] and this is my online knowledge base. Over the course of time, I hope to turn this into useful codex of knowledge, or at least, something uniquely interesting among the noise of the internet.

This wiki serves three functions:
# Online directory and reference for all public components of [[skyrien.com]]
# Presentation and discussion of [[my worldview]] and experiences
# Flatter representation of and repository for [[my blog]]

Think of it as a cross between a personal website and a blog, with an angle towards informative presentation.

= Topics =
In the following sections, I'll explore and expound upon thoughts and issues that I write about in my blog and elsewhere.

'''Hall of Awesome''' (''[[Hall of Awesome|more]]'')
----
I proudly state that my most used word on Facebook is "awesome", according to a word analysis on my posts. As one who believes in living a directed purposeful existence for ourselves and the world, I seek that healthy sense of excitement and wonder provides fuel for both. Here will be a collection of topics, people, things that I believe are worthy of a term that's normally hyperbole.

'''Curiosities''' (''[[Curiosities|more]]'')
----
I love learning and I've learned to never be afraid of asking a question for the purpose of learning. So, rather than wait till I know everything, here, I'll describe questions that have been dwelling in my mind, and my efforts to bring answers to them over time. This is the internet, after all, so I expect some magic to happen. :)

'''Being Human: Technology, Culture, Progress''' (''[[Progress|more]]'')
----
In the 2014 movie Interstellar, one principle realized by the characters is that in thinking about the impact of our lives: "We must reach far beyond our own lifespans. We must think not as individuals but as a species." This speaks to the reality that is the project of human civilization. That our generation today lives on the edge of humanity's arc through time implies a great deal of responsibility and significance to our individual finite lives.

'''Projects: Past, Current, Future''' (''[[Projects|more]]'')
----
I have the luxury of being able to work on a number of fun and exciting projects of my personal choosing that encompass my time for hobbies and fun. I'm trying to develop a number of skills, for personal and professional use, and will often do so under the confines of a project. I'll try to list some here that I feel may be useful or interesting.

'''Joy: Fun, Play, Games''' (''[[Fun|more]]'')
----
Life is far too short to be spent not enjoying it. In that effort, I've considered a sense of fun essential to my life's key pillars.

===Beyond the above, a general index of topics can be accessed via the following pages (eventually)===

[[general reference]] | [[musings on existence]] | [[future-orientation]] |
[[civilization]] | [[culture]] | [[trends]] |
[[sustainable development]] | [[environmental policy]] | [[space science]] |
[[politics]] | [[international relations]] | [[democratic development]] | [[american foreign policy]] |
[[defense]] | [[robotics]] | [[space]] |
[[intelligence]] | [[neuroscience]] | [[ai]] |
[[autobiographical content]]

= Disclaimers =

Be advised, this is my first wiki. As such, I'm still developing a sense for the ideal presentation of content. The content is not tailored for any specific audience, but I write from a perspective shaped by my life experiences.

As an extension of my blog, I expect this wiki's style to take on an opinionated, personal flavor, so please be aware that (most) of these views are solely my own, and not representative of their topic or any other formal affiliation. Though I strive for correctness, given that I am my own editor, the presence of errors is not impossible, and I make no guarantees of the accuracy of anything written here. For any business requiring anything more than my personal form of truthiness, I recommend conducting your own fact-checking. After all, this is the [[internet]]. :)

SkyrienWiki

2015-10-10T01:38:49Z

Skyrien: /* Background */

SkyrienWiki is an experiment that I started in July 12th, 2015. The primary goal of this wiki is to provide a flat repository for my thoughts and writings. My secondary goal is to learn to manage MediaWiki and the infrastructure requirements that come with scale. This system is currently hosted in a shared instance LAMP server managed by [http://www.dreamhost.com DreamHost].

= Background =
Throughout life, I've accumulated a vast array of knowledge and information scattered in various locations (papers, apps, memories, textbooks, articles, internet tidbits, etc...), and found it often difficult to recall the exact item when I needed it. Thanks to the digital era, much of my mind has been "outsourced" to media such as [http://www.onenote.com OneNote], [http://www.evernote.com Evernote], [http://www.mindmeister.com MindMeister], and other tools, but ultimately, these were internal, transient representations of my thoughts, certainly helpful for my own needs, but I wanted to make it more useful and expansive.

We know now that immense good can come from the internet and open-source culture, so, with high hopes for "something interesting", on July 10th, 2015, I started Skyrien Wiki, as a personal epistemological experiment. I've never self-hosted a wiki before (Sharepoint, yes; self-hosted MediaWiki, no), so I figured it's time to. But alas, with so much great information in the world, what can I offer here? This being the internet, I think it's time to experiment.

This is not meant to compete with any general knowledge wiki, such as Wikipedia, which represents some of the best of what the internet can be, but rather, it's a personal wiki, a playground of ideas. I imagine, it will consist of content of my own ideas and writing.

Perhaps in the future, editing will be made public... when the internet proves ready...

= Logo =
[[File:Skyrien-Logo-Bold-Wiki.png|left|200px|thumb]]

This is internal version 3 of the SkyrienWiki logo. Roboto was chosen as the base font for its clean and elegant lines, being simple yet not boring and importantly, because it is supported by the open-source community and is royalty-free.

[https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Roboto Google's font description] states:

''"Roboto has a dual nature. It has a mechanical skeleton and the forms are largely geometric. At the same time, the font features friendly and open curves. While some grotesks distort their letter forms to force a rigid rhythm, Roboto doesn’t compromise, allowing letters to be settled into their natural width. This makes for a more natural reading rhythm more commonly found in humanist and serif types."''

The font is Roboto Black for the X, and Roboto standard for the S. The letters can be seen to represent several connotations. The most obvious and intentional one is that of "Xander Skyrien", but a number of different connotations are possible.

Design goals were to have a simple logo that was clearly visible in a variety of frame sizes (including the beloved favicon), and hint at depth and speed. The background can evoke the sense of a blank canvas, reinforced by the brush-stroke pattern outlining the rounded rectangle.

A neutral three-tone palette was chosen to complement the MediaWiki skin and allows for a variety of different thematic renditions in the future. The specific swatches are chosen to be highly visible and web-safe:
Blue - [http://www.colorcombos.com/colors/3FA9F5 #3FA9F5]
Black - [http://www.colorcombos.com/colors/333333 #333333]
Light Gray-white Fill - [http://www.colorcombos.com/colors/F2F2F2 #F2F2F2]

= Content =
I planned to start the wiki in a very top-down approach, creating categories based on what I plan to post and then posting articles. However, I've realized that a Wiki (and the internet as a whole) has a much more interesting hidden hierarchy based on inbound/outbound links, which creates a natural flow of ideas and content. So, I'm changing my strategy to make an attempt to start new pages off of old ones, traversing and expanding the graph as I do so, but in a much more bottom-up way. Ultimately, the richest atomic entity in a wiki is the "article", so this will allow a focus on complete articles.

= Style =
[[My blog]] has gone through much evolution over the <strike>years</strike> decades, and I expect it to continue to do so. I typically employ a first-person narrative, present/past-tense, descriptive prose with a good dose of [[internet culture]].

= Future Content =

I've been brainstorming various purposes for a personal wiki, but haven't yet decided on what content to start with. I want to start an open 3d printed content repository site, to counter the censorship imposed by existing entities today. Perhaps [http://mediawiki.org MediaWiki] would be a viable platform for that.

SkyrienWiki

2015-10-10T01:36:53Z

Skyrien:

SkyrienWiki is an experiment that I started in July 12th, 2015. The primary goal of this wiki is to provide a flat repository for my thoughts and writings. My secondary goal is to learn to manage MediaWiki and the infrastructure requirements that come with scale. This system is currently hosted in a shared instance LAMP server managed by [http://www.dreamhost.com DreamHost].

= Background =
A while back, I realized that I had accumulated a vast array of information throughout life, scattered in various locations (papers, apps, memories, textbooks, articles, internet tidbits, etc...), and found it often difficult to recall the exact piece of information when I wanted it. Thanks to the digital era, much of my mind has been "outsourced" to media such as [http://www.onenote.com OneNote], [http://www.evernote.com Evernote], [http://www.mindmeister.com MindMeister], and other tools, but ultimately, these were internal, transient representations of my thoughts. Good for me, but how can it be made more useful?

Well, we all know that good can come of the internet and open-source culture, so, with high hopes for "something interesting", on July 10th, 2015, I started Skyrien Wiki, as a personal epistemological experiment. I've never self-hosted a wiki before (Sharepoint, yes; self-hosted MediaWiki, no), so I figured it's time to. But alas, with so much great information in the world, what can I offer here? This being the internet, I think it's time to experiment.

This is not meant to compete with any general knowledge wiki, such as Wikipedia, which represents some of the best of what the internet can be, but rather, it's a personal wiki, a playground of ideas. I imagine, it will consist of content of my own ideas and writing.

Perhaps in the future, editing will be made public... when the internet proves ready...

= Logo =
[[File:Skyrien-Logo-Bold-Wiki.png|left|200px|thumb]]

This is internal version 3 of the SkyrienWiki logo. Roboto was chosen as the base font for its clean and elegant lines, being simple yet not boring and importantly, because it is supported by the open-source community and is royalty-free.

[https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Roboto Google's font description] states:

''"Roboto has a dual nature. It has a mechanical skeleton and the forms are largely geometric. At the same time, the font features friendly and open curves. While some grotesks distort their letter forms to force a rigid rhythm, Roboto doesn’t compromise, allowing letters to be settled into their natural width. This makes for a more natural reading rhythm more commonly found in humanist and serif types."''

The font is Roboto Black for the X, and Roboto standard for the S. The letters can be seen to represent several connotations. The most obvious and intentional one is that of "Xander Skyrien", but a number of different connotations are possible.

Design goals were to have a simple logo that was clearly visible in a variety of frame sizes (including the beloved favicon), and hint at depth and speed. The background can evoke the sense of a blank canvas, reinforced by the brush-stroke pattern outlining the rounded rectangle.

A neutral three-tone palette was chosen to complement the MediaWiki skin and allows for a variety of different thematic renditions in the future. The specific swatches are chosen to be highly visible and web-safe:
Blue - [http://www.colorcombos.com/colors/3FA9F5 #3FA9F5]
Black - [http://www.colorcombos.com/colors/333333 #333333]
Light Gray-white Fill - [http://www.colorcombos.com/colors/F2F2F2 #F2F2F2]

= Content =
I planned to start the wiki in a very top-down approach, creating categories based on what I plan to post and then posting articles. However, I've realized that a Wiki (and the internet as a whole) has a much more interesting hidden hierarchy based on inbound/outbound links, which creates a natural flow of ideas and content. So, I'm changing my strategy to make an attempt to start new pages off of old ones, traversing and expanding the graph as I do so, but in a much more bottom-up way. Ultimately, the richest atomic entity in a wiki is the "article", so this will allow a focus on complete articles.

= Style =
[[My blog]] has gone through much evolution over the <strike>years</strike> decades, and I expect it to continue to do so. I typically employ a first-person narrative, present/past-tense, descriptive prose with a good dose of [[internet culture]].

= Future Content =

I've been brainstorming various purposes for a personal wiki, but haven't yet decided on what content to start with. I want to start an open 3d printed content repository site, to counter the censorship imposed by existing entities today. Perhaps [http://mediawiki.org MediaWiki] would be a viable platform for that.

Blog.skyrien.com

2015-10-10T01:34:24Z

Skyrien:

My current personal blog, maintained as a Wordpress instance since 2008 is at [http://blog.skyrien.com http://blog.skyrien.com], which is an aggregation of previous Xanga, LiveJournal, and hosted-Wordpress instances. The timeframe currently spans 2003-Present.

= History =
My first blog was a website I made in 2001 where I wrote journalistic-style articles about events around me. It was hosted at [http://angelex.netfirms.com http://angelex.netfirms.com], which tragically is now lost into the internet ether. It was very rudimentary HTML managed via [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_FrontPage Microsoft FrontPage 2000] (love/hate, really...).

At the time, I wanted to create a public footprint on the [[internet]], my own "Hello World" to the internet at the time, which was substantially different than now. This was before most social networks we have today emerged and the internet was quite different indeed.

Later efforts at blogging spanned a variety of service providers, including Xanga, LiveJournal, Blogger, Vox, WordPress, Medium, Tumblr, but I found WordPress to be, by far, the most versatile for web publishing and content management.

Xanga's slippery departure from the world was clear evidence that as the internet matures and the capabilities of individuals increases, self-hosted web infrastructure will become more attractive to the technically/politically aware, both to counter the monetization schemes of the ISPs or unnecessary snooping of your content from unknowns. Not that everyone has the means or ability to do so, but if we all became more aware and engage in sound practice with our data, it would dramatically improve the security of the system as a whole.

= Background =

I first started writing online purely as an expression of my creative self, in 1995 those now nostalgic early days of the internet.

Blog.skyrien.com

2015-10-10T01:33:57Z

Skyrien:

My current personal blog, maintained as a Wordpress instance since 2008 is at [http://blog.skyrien.com|http://blog.skyrien.com], which is an aggregation of previous Xanga, LiveJournal, and hosted-Wordpress instances. The timeframe currently spans 2003-Present.

= History =
My first blog was a website I made in 2001 where I wrote journalistic-style articles about events around me. It was hosted at [http://angelex.netfirms.com http://angelex.netfirms.com], which tragically is now lost into the internet ether. It was very rudimentary HTML managed via [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_FrontPage Microsoft FrontPage 2000] (love/hate, really...).

At the time, I wanted to create a public footprint on the [[internet]], my own "Hello World" to the internet at the time, which was substantially different than now. This was before most social networks we have today emerged and the internet was quite different indeed.

Later efforts at blogging spanned a variety of service providers, including Xanga, LiveJournal, Blogger, Vox, WordPress, Medium, Tumblr, but I found WordPress to be, by far, the most versatile for web publishing and content management.

Xanga's slippery departure from the world was clear evidence that as the internet matures and the capabilities of individuals increases, self-hosted web infrastructure will become more attractive to the technically/politically aware, both to counter the monetization schemes of the ISPs or unnecessary snooping of your content from unknowns. Not that everyone has the means or ability to do so, but if we all became more aware and engage in sound practice with our data, it would dramatically improve the security of the system as a whole.

= Background =

I first started writing online purely as an expression of my creative self, in 1995 those now nostalgic early days of the internet.

Autobiographical content

2015-09-26T20:59:07Z

Skyrien: /* 1985-1995: Birth and Early Childhood */

I guess my autobiography has to start somewhere, right? And I bet it would be rather difficult to write it without taking notes on life as I went along. Here, I will write a narrated perspective of events in my life. I probably will not not write this in chronological order, but they will be put in the appropriate context. Over time, a more complete picture will emerge.

''A note on accuracy: This section is likely to be a perpetual draft, and much of it before the present is constructed from what I can recall, personal writings, interviews, and other sources and accounts. Beyond this, as I'm writing this to be a heavily written from the memory of my experience of these memories. Inaccuracies, alternate interpretations, and new conclusions based on uncovered information are wholly possible and over time, likely. And as is intended, as I expect our own interpretation of history, values, and our experience of them will likely evolve over time as well. Be that as it may, I will still strive for factual accuracy and when presenting a conflicting idea, I will identify the conflict and clarify salient differences in memory.''

= Chronological =
I've experienced that in life, there are long periods of seeming stasis, and then everything changes at once. I keep thinking of the term 'punctuated equilibrium' to analogize about this phenomenon. In any case, I've attempted to divide the sections into meaningful logical chunks, but it may shift over time.

== Prehistory: (--5/23/1985) ==
Tectonic shifts in geopolitics have occurred over the span of our parents' and grandparents' lifetimes. When I have the opportunity to meet distant or long disconnected extended family, I've used it to expand my knowledge of my family's story across the world. It's quite fascinating how much history has been lived by those closest to us.

Coming from Asia, much of their story are influenced by the tensions and conflicts of the region, particularly in and around Korea in the early 20th century due to imperial aspirations of Japan resulting in WWII, the partition of Korea, and the Korean War. Beyond this, how my parents' generation found their way to America is another chapter entirely, one that writes the personal story of one Asian-American immigrant family. I will write relevant findings here and in the [[family history]] page.

*[[Family history]]
*[[World history]]

== 0 to 10 (1985-1995) ==

This first period covers birth to the end of early-childhood at Age 10. It starts at the time I was born in Korea, and the entirety of my time in the US before my family moved back to Korea in 1995. This period was obviously a hugely formative period for the fostering of my core values, joys, and intrinsic curiosity.

=== Identity ===
Language and ethnic heritage are often one's first experience with their cultural identity after their birth. For me, there was always some amount of tension in my relationship with language. In my earliest years, my vocabulary and language was derived from what I learned at home, and became Korean-focused, given it was what I spoke at home. As a result, while I understood spoken English, I found it harder to express in public. Fortunately, my school had a good ESL program that I attended while in kindergarten. I didn't think much of it then, but it would be a key experience growing up an America. I didn't have any issues comprehending the written or spoken word; I was just averse to expressing it. Later on, I developed a huge fondness for reading, and quickly became very fluent (aided by media that encouraged me to learn more), which gave me more confidence to speak out more.

Speaking two (or more) languages natively (opposed to acquired fluency) is a common experience in American immigrant stories, and I think it's pretty cool to have access to the corpus of culture that language fluency presents, and I'd love to be able to teach my own kids what I know, and perhaps even the experience of another culture or place. Given how often my family moved, I learned to take the perpetual need to learn in stride and developed a skill and even an enjoyment of adapting to new people, things, and situations. Some of this would backfire and result in a search for identity in my second decade, but at this time, it helped me to see society as a system that I could come to understand, and adapt to, after some trial and error.

I can certainly note that the quality of education varied from place to place, from teacher to teacher. Going from 2nd grade in Evanston to 3rd grade in Capron felt like dropping two years of education. Where you go to school has a huge influence on your experiences and the sense of possibility afforded to you. I was fortunate enough to have parents that cared about the quality of education I received, and were able to intervene when it was in my interest, as well as having a strong intrinsic desire to explore what's out there.

It was in this time that I developed an obvious interest in how things work. My dad tells me that when I was in kindergarten, my teacher once told him that in school assembly that I paid more attention the projector showing the some boring film, rather than said boring film. In my defense, I'll note that this was in 1991, and the projector was an ancient film reel (yes! in 1991 a film projector in a school!) that spun a big spool of film from one wheel to another. How is that *not* awesome to look at? Today, it would be a retro fascination for it to be seen anywhere, let alone in regular use.

I actually do remember doing this, and specifically, what I was noticing (and learning as a 6 year old kid) was how the wheels spun at different rates, based how much film was in the reel, and the question that I had in my mind at the time was on how it kept the film at the same speed. Basically, I was being an early nerd, and of this, I am proud. :)

My parents euphemistically note that I liked to "deconstruct" things to see how they worked. Basically, I'd like to take things apart, particularly mechanical and electrical things (projectors, monitors, computers, motors, etc...) to examine their workings. I was also given access to my dad's PC pretty early, at around the age of 6, and quickly mastered DOS enough to basically be the tech guy at home.

That said, even my few years in rural Illinois was a highly unique experience that today (in 2015) I treasure, despite all the challenges at the time adjusting to a completely different life experience, even as a kid.

My feelings over my time in Korea that came after this period are a bit more complicated...

'''Memories'''
*Green used to be my favorite color, at least until kindergarten. Then around the age of 9-10, I started to love the ocean, water, and the color blue.
*In my room since I was 5, I used to have a big geopolitical map that covered the wall by my bed. I recommend every parent of a curious child to put a big map in their room. Seriously. It will expand their mind and their awareness. I also remember when the Gulf War started (when I was 5), that my dad pointed at Iraq on the map and said "these guys are bad." Lol.
*Star Trek came into my life pretty early, and I was a fan by age 7. It all started with me accidentally renting 'Star Trek VI', instead of 'Star Wars'. While it wasn't the sci-fi/fantasy/space opera that Star Wars was, I was sold on the future-oriented vision of peace, the cool effects, and the politics, which echoed some of the Cold War detente that my dad had tried to explain to me when the Soviet Union was dissolved. Levar Burton played my favorite character, chief engineer Geordi LaForge, on TNG and I carefully followed it till the series finale which aired on my birthday in 1994. One effect was on my vocabulary, where at school, I was using words and style of speech learnt while watching TNG in my speech and writing, which teachers thought highly. In one example, I got in trouble once in fourth grade for saying "hell", as in "What the hell?" clearly echoing Riker's flabbergast moment from the TNG episode the night before. I can't quite tell if things were just more language-strict in the 90s or if its just because I was younger.
*Once I came in contact with a PC, I never let go. By my late 0s, I was solidly a PC gamer; SimAnt was the first game I ever bought, and by the end of this period my favorite games were Doom, Simcity 2000, and underrated adventure game, Star Trek: A Final Unity. Not that I was opposed to consoles--the first game I ever played was on the NES, and had Sega Genesis and thoroughly enjoyed games like Sonic and Ecco, and had loved the original StarFox on SNES. Still, I loved the depth of control and richness that PC games afforded, also the fact that it appealed to a more educated, mature audience. I liked that, and that paid off hugely for me.
*By all standards, I read a lot, though a lot of it was fluff. I really enjoyed picking books from Scholastic catalogs, and in my early years, read stuff like the series like the Bernstein Bears, the Boxcar children, later reading books like Goosebumps and periodicals that my parents would read such as Time magazine and Popular Mechanics. Events like Walk-A-Thons for reading also encouraged a great deal of exploration in my language arts.
*I had an odd fondness for antique stores--there was on in Capron that I would frequent, and I'd find trinkets worth <$1.
*I got an allowance as a kid, for doing household chores. I feel it was an excellent way to reward constructive work ethic, while also developing a child's sense of money as capital.
*I got lost in a cornfield once for almost 2 hours when I was 9--rather terrifying at the time, but an epic adventure looking back. I eventually found my way back when I realized I could use the direction of the shadows to follow a path back to where I had started.
*I had my first PC during this time, a 386SX 16MHz / 4MB / 60 MB / 3.5" 1.44MB / 2400 baud modem. My dad told me when he bought it, it was a whopping $3,000, with the upgraded RAM, which he needed for school work. Insane to think of today, but that's the rig that I learned DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1.
*By the end of the decade, I was badly in need of a new PC, and I started plotting what kind of PC I could 'encourage' my family to get next...

===By Age===
*[[Age 0-1|0-1]] - Korea
*[[Age 2-4|2-4]] - Chicago, Evanston
*[[Age 5-7|5-7]] - Evanston
*[[Age 8-10|8-10]] - Capron

== 1995-2004: Late Childhood/Early Adolescence ==

This period covers late childhood to early adolescence. It includes the entirety of my time in [[Korea]] (1995-2000) and [[return to the United States]] from junior high to early college.

===By Age===
*[[Age 10-12|10-12]] - Korea (Elementary)
*[[Age 13-14|13-14]] - Korea (Middle)
*[[Age 15-19|15-19]] - US (Jr High-High-Early College)

== 2004-2015: Late Adolescence/Early Adulthood ==

This period covers the late adolescence of college and the start of independent adult life.

===By Age===
*[[Age 19-22|19-22]]
*[[Age 23-27|23-27]]
*[[Age 28-29|28-29]]

== 2015: The Present ==

The fourth decade is now getting started, so I guess I shouldn't use the phrase "when I grow up" anymore :). By and large, I'm still the me I was when I was younger, though much of the future is yet to be determined.

===By Age===
*[[Age 30|30]]

== Future (2016-2085) ==
These are ages yet to come. Detail will be added over time.

===By Age===
*[[Age 31|31]]
*[[Age 32|32]]
*[[Age 33|33]]
...

== The end? (2085-2101?) ==
I've taken a number life expectancy tests over the years, and kept tabs on my overall health. Generally, these simple non-scientific online tests have given me numbers between 92-100, so for mental convenience, I've just kept 100 in mind (though I'm really pushing for at least 115 :)); thus means I would live to around 2085. This means I'd get to see the bulk of the 21st century come to pass, and unless I screw up badly, will have left a dent to last longer than that.

===By Age===
*[[Age 100|100]]
*[[Age 115|115]]

Excellent - Bring Life On! :)

Civilization

2015-09-06T07:03:13Z

Skyrien: Created page with "=Definitions= Civilization. Humanity. I consider the two interchangeable in most settings, but there is a key distinction between them that matters greatly. While both represe..."

=Definitions=
Civilization. Humanity. I consider the two interchangeable in most settings, but there is a key distinction between them that matters greatly. While both represent the sum of all people and their output, "civilization" is a product, a creation of a species that has self-organized into a productive community. Bing search tells me that civilization is "The stage of human social development and organization that is considered most advanced." While this may be true in the context of humanity, we are too aware that the nature and identification of being "civilized" is not a universal trait among us, nor has it been uniform over the course of what we call history.

Civilization is of course, a hugely important aspect of our existence as humanity today, and where it goes from here, is a responsibility owned by the collective will of all individuals and emergent properties such as groups, societies, nations, and the international order.

=Progress Tracking=
How do we track the long term development of humanity? Over time, I hope to accumulate some key metrics for our work being done. These will take many forms over time.

==CIVILIZATION SCALE==
Total economic output:
Total human experiences:
Planetary redundancy: TBD, possibly by 2040, non self-sustaining.

==INDIVIDUAL SCALE==
Life Expectancy:
Happiness:
Purpose alignment

Main Page

2015-08-18T19:33:48Z

Skyrien: /* Topics */

Welcome to [[SkyrienWiki]]! I am [[@skyrien]], and this is my online knowledge base. Over the course of time, I hope to turn this into something useful, or at least, something uniquely interesting.

This wiki serves three main functions:
# Online directory and reference for all public components of [[skyrien.com]]
# Presentation and discussion of [[my worldview]] and experiences
# Flatter representation of and repository for [[my blog]]

Think of it as a cross between a personal website and a blog, with an angle towards informative presentation.

= Topics =
I [http://blog.skyrien.com/2014/12/31/life-blog-2015/ wrote] in doing a reboot of my blog that I would likely write about special topics, or "things that matter". I'd also like to consider it a key life goal to contribute my time and abilities to these causes.

In the following sections, I'll explore and expound upon thoughts and issues that I write about in my blog and elsewhere.

'''Hall of Awesome''' (''[[Hall of Awesome|more]]'')
----
I proudly state that my most used word on Facebook is "awesome", according to a word analysis on my posts. As one who believes in living a directed purposeful existence for ourselves and the world, I seek that healthy sense of excitement and wonder provides fuel for both. Here will be a collection of topics, people, things that I believe are worthy of a term that's normally hyperbole.

'''Curiosities''' (''[[Curiosities|more]]'')
----
I love learning and I've learned to never be afraid of asking a question for the purpose of learning. So, rather than wait till I know everything, here, I'll describe questions that have been dwelling in my mind, and my efforts to bring answers to them over time. This is the internet, after all, so I expect some magic to happen. :)

'''Being Human: Technology, Culture, Progress''' (''[[Progress|more]]'')
----
In the 2014 movie Interstellar, one principle realized by the characters is that in thinking about the impact of our lives: "We must reach far beyond our own lifespans. We must think not as individuals but as a species." This speaks to the reality that is the project of human civilization. That our generation today lives on the edge of humanity's arc through time implies a great deal of responsibility and significance to our individual finite lives.

'''Projects: Past, Current, Future''' (''[[Projects|more]]'')
----
I have the luxury of being able to work on a number of fun and exciting projects of my personal choosing that encompass my time for hobbies and fun. I'm trying to develop a number of skills, for personal and professional use, and will often do so under the confines of a project. I'll try to list some here that I feel may be useful or interesting.

'''Joy: Fun, Play, Games''' (''[[Fun|more]]'')
----
Life is far too short to be spent not enjoying it. In that effort, I've considered a sense of fun essential to my life's key pillars.

===Beyond the above, a general index of topics can be accessed via the following pages (eventually)===

[[general reference]] | [[musings on existence]] | [[future-orientation]] |
[[civilization]] | [[culture]] | [[trends]] |
[[sustainable development]] | [[environmental policy]] | [[space science]] |
[[politics]] | [[international relations]] | [[democratic development]] | [[american foreign policy]] |
[[defense]] | [[robotics]] | [[space]] |
[[intelligence]] | [[neuroscience]] | [[ai]] |
[[autobiographical content]]

= Disclaimers =

Be advised, this is my first wiki. As such, I'm still developing a sense for the ideal presentation of content. The content is not tailored for any specific audience, but I write from a perspective shaped by my life experiences.

As an extension of my blog, I expect this wiki's style to take on an opinionated, personal flavor, so please be aware that (most) of these views are solely my own, and not representative of their topic or any other formal affiliation. Though I strive for correctness, given that I am my own editor, the presence of errors is not impossible, and I make no guarantees of the accuracy of anything written here. For any business requiring anything more than my personal form of truthiness, I recommend conducting your own fact-checking. After all, this is the [[internet]]. :)

Main Page

2015-08-18T19:13:18Z

Skyrien: /* Topics */

Welcome to [[SkyrienWiki]]! I am [[@skyrien]], and this is my online knowledge base. Over the course of time, I hope to turn this into something useful, or at least, something uniquely interesting.

This wiki serves three main functions:
# Online directory and reference for all public components of [[skyrien.com]]
# Presentation and discussion of [[my worldview]] and experiences
# Flatter representation of and repository for [[my blog]]

Think of it as a cross between a personal website and a blog, with an angle towards informative presentation.

= Topics =
I [http://blog.skyrien.com/2014/12/31/life-blog-2015/ wrote] in doing a reboot of my blog that I would likely write about special topics, or "things that matter". I'd also like to consider it a key life goal to contribute my time and abilities to these causes.

In the following sections, I'll explore and expound upon thoughts and issues that I write about in my blog and elsewhere.

'''Hall of Awesome''' (''[[Hall of Awesome|more]]'')
----
I proudly state that my most used word on Facebook is "awesome", according to a word analysis on my posts. As one who believes in living a directed purposeful existence for ourselves and the world, I seek that healthy sense of excitement and wonder provides fuel for both. Here will be a collection of topics, people, things that I believe are worthy of a term that's normally hyperbole.

'''Curiosities''' (''[[Curiosities|more]]'')
----
I love learning, but a lot of topics require patient inquiry. I've learned to never be afraid of asking a question for the purpose of learning, so, rather than wait till I know everything, here, I'll describe questions that have been dwelling in my mind, and my efforts to bring answers to them over time. This is the internet, after all, so I expect some magic to happen. :)

'''Being Human: Technology, Culture, Progress''' (''[[Progress|more]]'')
----
In the 2014 movie Interstellar, one principle realized by the characters is that in thinking about the impact of our lives: "We must reach far beyond our own lifespans. We must think not as individuals but as a species." This speaks to the reality that is the project of human civilization. That our generation today lives on the edge of humanity's arc through time implies a great deal of responsibility and significance to our individual finite lives.

'''Projects: Past, Current, Future''' (''[[Projects|more]]'')
----
I have the luxury of being able to work on a number of fun and exciting projects of my personal choosing that encompass my time for hobbies and fun. I'm trying to develop a number of skills, for personal and professional use, and will often do so under the confines of a project. I'll try to list some here that I feel may be useful or interesting.

'''Joy: Fun, Play, Games''' (''[[Fun|more]]'')
----
Life is far too short to be spent not enjoying it. In that effort, I've considered a sense of fun essential to my life's key pillars.

===Beyond the above, a general index of topics can be accessed via the following pages (eventually)===

[[general reference]] | [[musings on existence]] | [[future-orientation]] |
[[civilization]] | [[culture]] | [[trends]] |
[[sustainable development]] | [[environmental policy]] | [[space science]] |
[[politics]] | [[international relations]] | [[democratic development]] | [[american foreign policy]] |
[[defense]] | [[robotics]] | [[space]] |
[[intelligence]] | [[neuroscience]] | [[ai]] |
[[autobiographical content]]

= Disclaimers =

Be advised, this is my first wiki. As such, I'm still developing a sense for the ideal presentation of content. The content is not tailored for any specific audience, but I write from a perspective shaped by my life experiences.

As an extension of my blog, I expect this wiki's style to take on an opinionated, personal flavor, so please be aware that (most) of these views are solely my own, and not representative of their topic or any other formal affiliation. Though I strive for correctness, given that I am my own editor, the presence of errors is not impossible, and I make no guarantees of the accuracy of anything written here. For any business requiring anything more than my personal form of truthiness, I recommend conducting your own fact-checking. After all, this is the [[internet]]. :)

Main Page

2015-08-18T19:10:56Z

Skyrien: /* Topics */

Welcome to [[SkyrienWiki]]! I am [[@skyrien]], and this is my online knowledge base. Over the course of time, I hope to turn this into something useful, or at least, something uniquely interesting.

This wiki serves three main functions:
# Online directory and reference for all public components of [[skyrien.com]]
# Presentation and discussion of [[my worldview]] and experiences
# Flatter representation of and repository for [[my blog]]

Think of it as a cross between a personal website and a blog, with an angle towards informative presentation.

= Topics =
I [http://blog.skyrien.com/2014/12/31/life-blog-2015/ wrote] in doing a reboot of my blog that I would likely write about special topics, or "things that matter". I'd also like to consider it a key life goal to contribute my time and abilities to these causes.

In the following sections, I'll explore and expound upon thoughts and issues that I write about in my blog and elsewhere.

'''Hall of Awesome''' (''[[Hall of Awesome|more]]'')
----
I proudly state that my most used word on Facebook is "awesome", according to a word analysis on my posts. As one who believes in living a directed purposeful existence for ourselves and the world, I seek that healthy sense of excitement and wonder provides fuel for both. Here will be a collection of topics, people, things that I believe are worthy of a term that's normally hyperbole.

'''Curiosities''' (''[[Curiosities|more]]'')
----
I love learning, but a lot of topics require patient inquiry. I've learned to never be afraid of asking a question for the purpose of learning. Rather than wait till I know everything, here, I'll describe questions that have been dwelling in my mind, and my efforts to bring answers to them over time.

'''Being Human: Technology, Culture, Progress''' (''[[Progress|more]]'')
----
In the 2014 movie Interstellar, one principle realized by the characters is that in thinking about the impact of our lives: "We must reach far beyond our own lifespans. We must think not as individuals but as a species." This speaks to the reality that is the project of human civilization. That our generation today lives on the edge of humanity's arc through time implies a great deal of responsibility and significance to our individual finite lives.

'''Projects: Past, Current, Future''' (''[[Projects|more]]'')
----
I have the luxury of being able to work on a number of fun and exciting projects of my personal choosing that encompass my time for hobbies and fun. I'm trying to develop a number of skills, for personal and professional use, and will often do so under the confines of a project. I'll try to list some here that I feel may be useful or interesting.

'''Joy: Fun, Play, Games''' (''[[Fun|more]]'')
----
Life is far too short to be spent not enjoying it. In that effort, I've considered a sense of fun essential to my life's key pillars.

===Beyond the above, a general index of topics can be accessed via the following pages (eventually)===

[[general reference]] | [[musings on existence]] | [[future-orientation]] |
[[civilization]] | [[culture]] | [[trends]] |
[[sustainable development]] | [[environmental policy]] | [[space science]] |
[[politics]] | [[international relations]] | [[democratic development]] | [[american foreign policy]] |
[[defense]] | [[robotics]] | [[space]] |
[[intelligence]] | [[neuroscience]] | [[ai]] |
[[autobiographical content]]

= Disclaimers =

Be advised, this is my first wiki. As such, I'm still developing a sense for the ideal presentation of content. The content is not tailored for any specific audience, but I write from a perspective shaped by my life experiences.

As an extension of my blog, I expect this wiki's style to take on an opinionated, personal flavor, so please be aware that (most) of these views are solely my own, and not representative of their topic or any other formal affiliation. Though I strive for correctness, given that I am my own editor, the presence of errors is not impossible, and I make no guarantees of the accuracy of anything written here. For any business requiring anything more than my personal form of truthiness, I recommend conducting your own fact-checking. After all, this is the [[internet]]. :)

Politics

2015-08-07T21:29:18Z

Skyrien: Created page with "<blockquote>One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. - Plato</blockquote> = In the United States = =..."

<blockquote>One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. - Plato</blockquote>

= In the United States =

== 2016 Elections ==

=== National ===

=== State ===

=== Local ===

= World and International =

SkyrienWiki

2015-07-31T17:21:22Z

Skyrien: /* Logo */

SkyrienWiki is an experiment that I started in July 12th, 2015. The primary goal of this wiki is to provide a flat repository for my thoughts and writings. My secondary goal is to learn to manage MediaWiki, and manage the infrastructure requirements that come with scale. This system is currently hosted in a shared instance LAMP server managed by [http://www.dreamhost.com DreamHost].

= Background =
A while back, I realized that I had accumulated a vast array of information throughout life, scattered in various locations (papers, apps, memories, textbooks, articles, internet tidbits, etc...), and found it often difficult to recall the exact piece of information when I wanted it. Thanks to the digital era, much of my mind has been "outsourced" to media such as [http://www.onenote.com OneNote], [http://www.evernote.com Evernote], [http://www.mindmeister.com MindMeister], and other tools, but ultimately, these were internal, transient representations of my thoughts. Good for me, but how can it be made more useful?

Well, we all know that good can come of the internet and open-source culture, so, with high hopes for "something interesting", on July 10th, 2015, I started Skyrien Wiki, as a personal epistemological experiment. I've never self-hosted a wiki before (Sharepoint, yes; self-hosted MediaWiki, no), so I figured it's time to. But alas, with so much great information in the world, what can I offer here? This being the internet, I think it's time to experiment.

This is not meant to compete with any general knowledge wiki, such as Wikipedia, which represents some of the best of what the internet can be, but rather, it's a personal wiki, a playground of ideas. I imagine, it will consist of content of my own ideas and writing.

Perhaps in the future, editing will be made public... when the internet proves ready...

= Logo =
[[File:Skyrien-Logo-Bold-Wiki.png|left|200px|thumb]]

This is internal version 3 of the SkyrienWiki logo. Roboto was chosen as the base font for its clean and elegant lines, being simple yet not boring and importantly, because it is supported by the open-source community and is royalty-free.

[https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Roboto Google's font description] states:

''"Roboto has a dual nature. It has a mechanical skeleton and the forms are largely geometric. At the same time, the font features friendly and open curves. While some grotesks distort their letter forms to force a rigid rhythm, Roboto doesn’t compromise, allowing letters to be settled into their natural width. This makes for a more natural reading rhythm more commonly found in humanist and serif types."''

The font is Roboto Black for the X, and Roboto standard for the S. The letters can be seen to represent several connotations. The most obvious and intentional one is that of "Xander Skyrien", but a number of different connotations are possible.

Design goals were to have a simple logo that was clearly visible in a variety of frame sizes (including the beloved favicon), and hint at depth and speed. The background can evoke the sense of a blank canvas, reinforced by the brush-stroke pattern outlining the rounded rectangle.

A neutral three-tone palette was chosen to complement the MediaWiki skin and allows for a variety of different thematic renditions in the future. The specific swatches are chosen to be highly visible and web-safe:
Blue - [http://www.colorcombos.com/colors/3FA9F5 #3FA9F5]
Black - [http://www.colorcombos.com/colors/333333 #333333]
Light Gray-white Fill - [http://www.colorcombos.com/colors/F2F2F2 #F2F2F2]

= Content =
I planned to start the wiki in a very top-down approach, creating categories based on what I plan to post and then posting articles. However, I've realized that a Wiki (and the internet as a whole) has a much more interesting hidden hierarchy based on inbound/outbound links, which creates a natural flow of ideas and content. So, I'm changing my strategy to make an attempt to start new pages off of old ones, traversing and expanding the graph as I do so, but in a much more bottom-up way. Ultimately, the richest atomic entity in a wiki is the "article", so this will allow a focus on complete articles.

= Style =
[[My blog]] has gone through much evolution over the <strike>years</strike> decades, and I expect it to continue to do so. I typically employ a first-person narrative, present/past-tense, descriptive prose with a good dose of [[internet culture]].

= Future Content =

I've been brainstorming various purposes for a personal wiki, but haven't yet decided on what content to start with. I want to start an open 3d printed content repository site, to counter the censorship imposed by existing entities today. Perhaps [http://mediawiki.org MediaWiki] would be a viable platform for that.

Autobiographical content

2015-07-29T21:29:11Z

Skyrien:

I guess my autobiography has to start somewhere, right? And I bet it would be rather difficult to write it without taking notes on life as I went along. Here, I will write a narrated perspective of events in my life. I probably will not not write this in chronological order, but they will be put in the appropriate context. Over time, a more complete picture will emerge.

''A note on accuracy: This section is likely to be a perpetual draft, and much of it before the present is constructed from what I can recall, personal writings, interviews, and other sources and accounts. Beyond this, as I'm writing this to be a heavily written from the memory of my experience of these memories. Inaccuracies, alternate interpretations, and new conclusions based on uncovered information are wholly possible and over time, likely. And as is intended, as I expect our own interpretation of history, values, and our experience of them will likely evolve over time as well. Be that as it may, I will still strive for factual accuracy and when presenting a conflicting idea, I will identify the conflict and clarify salient differences in memory.''

= Chronological =
I've experienced that in life, there are long periods of seeming stasis, and then everything changes at once. I keep thinking of the term 'punctuated equilibrium' to analogize about this phenomenon. In any case, I've attempted to divide the sections into meaningful logical chunks, but it may shift over time.

== Prehistory: (--5/23/1985) ==
Tectonic shifts in geopolitics have occurred over the span of our parents' and grandparents' lifetimes. When I have the opportunity to meet distant or long disconnected extended family, I've used it to expand my knowledge of my family's story across the world. It's quite fascinating how much history has been lived by those closest to us.

Coming from Asia, much of their story are influenced by the tensions and conflicts of the region, particularly in and around Korea in the early 20th century due to imperial aspirations of Japan resulting in WWII, the partition of Korea, and the Korean War. Beyond this, how my parents' generation found their way to America is another chapter entirely, one that writes the personal story of one Asian-American immigrant family. I will write relevant findings here and in the [[family history]] page.

*[[Family history]]
*[[World history]]

== 1985-1995: Birth and Early Childhood ==

This first period covers birth to the end of early-childhood at Age 10. It starts at the time I was born in Korea, and the entirety of my time in the US before my family moved back to Korea in 1995. This period was obviously a hugely formative period for the fostering of my core values, joys, and intrinsic curiosity.

=== Identity ===
Language and ethnic heritage are often one's first experience with their cultural identity after their birth. For me, there was always some amount of tension in my relationship with language. In my earliest years, my vocabulary and language was derived from what I learned at home, and became Korean-focused, given it was what I spoke at home. As a result, while I understood spoken English, I found it harder to express in public. Fortunately, my school had a good ESL program that I attended while in kindergarten. I didn't think much of it then, but it would be a key experience growing up an America. I didn't have any issues comprehending the written or spoken word; I was just averse to expressing it. Later on, I developed a huge fondness for reading, and quickly became very fluent (aided by media that encouraged me to learn more), which gave me more confidence to speak out more.

Speaking two (or more) languages natively (opposed to acquired fluency) is a common experience in American immigrant stories, and I think it's pretty cool to have access to the corpus of culture that language fluency presents, and I'd love to be able to teach my own kids what I know, and perhaps even the experience of another culture or place. Given how often my family moved, I learned to take the perpetual need to learn in stride and developed a skill and even an enjoyment of adapting to new people, things, and situations. Some of this would backfire and result in a search for identity in my second decade, but at this time, it helped me to see society as a system that I could come to understand, and adapt to, after some trial and error.

I can certainly note that the quality of education varied from place to place, from teacher to teacher. Going from 2nd grade in Evanston to 3rd grade in Capron felt like dropping two years of education. Where you go to school has a huge influence on your experiences and the sense of possibility afforded to you. I was fortunate enough to have parents that cared about the quality of education I received, and were able to intervene when it was in my interest, as well as having a strong intrinsic desire to explore what's out there.

It was in this time that I developed an obvious interest in how things work. My dad tells me that when I was in kindergarten, my teacher once told him that in school assembly that I paid more attention the projector showing the some boring film, rather than said boring film. In my defense, I'll note that this was in 1991, and the projector was an ancient film reel (yes! in 1991 a film projector in a school!) that spun a big spool of film from one wheel to another. How is that *not* awesome to look at? Today, it would be a retro fascination for it to be seen anywhere, let alone in regular use.

I actually do remember doing this, and specifically, what I was noticing (and learning as a 6 year old kid) was how the wheels spun at different rates, based how much film was in the reel, and the question that I had in my mind at the time was on how it kept the film at the same speed. Basically, I was being an early nerd, and of this, I am proud. :)

My parents euphemistically note that I liked to "deconstruct" things to see how they worked. Basically, I'd like to take things apart, particularly mechanical and electrical things (projectors, monitors, computers, motors, etc...) to examine their workings. I was also given access to my dad's PC pretty early, at around the age of 6, and quickly mastered DOS enough to basically be the tech guy at home.

That said, even my few years in rural Illinois was a highly unique experience that today (in 2015) I treasure, despite all the challenges at the time adjusting to a completely different life experience, even as a kid.

My feelings over my time in Korea that came after this period are a bit more complicated...

'''Memories'''
*Green used to be my favorite color, at least until kindergarten. Then around the age of 9-10, I started to love the ocean, water, and the color blue.
*In my room since I was 5, I used to have a big geopolitical map that covered the wall by my bed. I recommend every parent of a curious child to put a big map in their room. Seriously. It will expand their mind and their awareness. I also remember when the Gulf War started (when I was 5), that my dad pointed at Iraq on the map and said "these guys are bad." Lol.
*Star Trek came into my life pretty early, and I was a fan by age 7. It all started with me accidentally renting 'Star Trek VI', instead of 'Star Wars'. While it wasn't the sci-fi/fantasy/space opera that Star Wars was, I was sold on the future-oriented vision of peace, the cool effects, and the politics, which echoed some of the Cold War detente that my dad had tried to explain to me when the Soviet Union was dissolved. Levar Burton played my favorite character, chief engineer Geordi LaForge, on TNG and I carefully followed it till the series finale which aired on my birthday in 1994. One effect was on my vocabulary, where at school, I was using words and style of speech learnt while watching TNG in my speech and writing, which teachers thought highly. In one example, I got in trouble once in fourth grade for saying "hell", as in "What the hell?" clearly echoing Riker's flabbergast moment from the TNG episode the night before. I can't quite tell if things were just more language-strict in the 90s or if its just because I was younger.
*Once I came in contact with a PC, I never let go. By my late 0s, I was solidly a PC gamer; SimAnt was the first game I ever bought, and by the end of this period my favorite games were Doom, Simcity 2000, and underrated adventure game, Star Trek: A Final Unity. Not that I was opposed to consoles--the first game I ever played was on the NES, and had Sega Genesis and thoroughly enjoyed games like Sonic and Ecco, and had loved the original StarFox on SNES. Still, I loved the depth of control and richness that PC games afforded, also the fact that it appealed to a more educated, mature audience. I liked that, and that paid off hugely for me.
*By all standards, I read a lot, though a lot of it was fluff. I really enjoyed picking books from Scholastic catalogs, and in my early years, read stuff like the series like the Bernstein Bears, the Boxcar children, later reading books like Goosebumps and periodicals that my parents would read such as Time magazine and Popular Mechanics. Events like Walk-A-Thons for reading also encouraged a great deal of exploration in my language arts.
*I had an odd fondness for antique stores--there was on in Capron that I would frequent, and I'd find trinkets worth <$1.
*I got an allowance as a kid, for doing household chores. I feel it was an excellent way to reward constructive work ethic, while also developing a child's sense of money as capital.
*I got lost in a cornfield once for almost 2 hours when I was 9--rather terrifying at the time, but an epic adventure looking back. I eventually found my way back when I realized I could use the direction of the shadows to follow a path back to where I had started.
*I had my first PC during this time, a 386SX 16MHz / 4MB / 60 MB / 3.5" 1.44MB / 2400 baud modem. My dad told me when he bought it, it was a whopping $3,000, with the upgraded RAM, which he needed for school work. Insane to think of today, but that's the rig that I learned DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1.
*By the end of the decade, I was badly in need of a new PC, and I started plotting what kind of PC I could 'encourage' my family to get next...

===By Age===
*[[Age 0-1|0-1]] - Korea
*[[Age 2-4|2-4]] - Chicago, Evanston
*[[Age 5-7|5-7]] - Evanston
*[[Age 8-10|8-10]] - Capron

== 1995-2004: Late Childhood/Early Adolescence ==

This period covers late childhood to early adolescence. It includes the entirety of my time in [[Korea]] (1995-2000) and [[return to the United States]] from junior high to early college.

===By Age===
*[[Age 10-12|10-12]] - Korea (Elementary)
*[[Age 13-14|13-14]] - Korea (Middle)
*[[Age 15-19|15-19]] - US (Jr High-High-Early College)

== 2004-2015: Late Adolescence/Early Adulthood ==

This period covers the late adolescence of college and the start of independent adult life.

===By Age===
*[[Age 19-22|19-22]]
*[[Age 23-27|23-27]]
*[[Age 28-29|28-29]]

== 2015: The Present ==

The fourth decade is now getting started, so I guess I shouldn't use the phrase "when I grow up" anymore :). By and large, I'm still the me I was when I was younger, though much of the future is yet to be determined.

===By Age===
*[[Age 30|30]]

== Future (2016-2085) ==
These are ages yet to come. Detail will be added over time.

===By Age===
*[[Age 31|31]]
*[[Age 32|32]]
*[[Age 33|33]]
...

== The end? (2085-2101?) ==
I've taken a number life expectancy tests over the years, and kept tabs on my overall health. Generally, these simple non-scientific online tests have given me numbers between 92-100, so for mental convenience, I've just kept 100 in mind (though I'm really pushing for at least 115 :)); thus means I would live to around 2085. This means I'd get to see the bulk of the 21st century come to pass, and unless I screw up badly, will have left a dent to last longer than that.

===By Age===
*[[Age 100|100]]
*[[Age 115|115]]

Excellent - Bring Life On! :)

Age 5-7

2015-07-29T03:45:58Z

Skyrien: /* Home Life */

This covers time from 1990-1992, while I lived in Evanston, IL. During this time, I developed a more clear sense of self centered around fun, learning, and curiosity. We moved there in the year prior, and I had been attending preschool, but that's not like going to "school".

Up until that point in my life, regardless of some days spent at preschool, home was predominantly where "things" occurred. During this period, I believe it began to shift toward more 50-50, as the educational influences of teachers grew, and the social influences of friends increased.

These would also be the last years where I was an only child. Today, I have two younger brothers, born in 1992 and 1994. But at this point, it was all me. =).

= School Life =

== Kindergarten (Age 5) ==
In the fall of 1990, my mom dropped me off at school for the first time. I'll never forget the first time I went up the steps of [http://www.district65.net/willard Willard Elementary] and looked back at the massive yellow school buses still converging on the school's narrow circle drive; a whole line of cars with moms and dads saying bye to their kids, a number of them crying and obviously not wanting to leave; and the ugly green tiling that was set before me as it led into the school's slopping corridor. I was five, and off to a new school.

I ended up going to two different homerooms over the course of that year [[for reasons I may go into later]], but I will say that if you didn't think teacher-child at that age matter, I will attest to you that you are wrong. The two classes were worlds apart, at least for me. Overall, my memory of Kindergarten was that it was awesome time, fun, and carefree. It felt exceptionally long but perhaps it was because it was such a new experience.

=== Memories ===
*I remember there was a long paper across the ceiling that counted up 1,2,3... the teacher added one for each day of school, and I remember marveling at how long the year had been when we reached the end.
*For one segment of the year, one enriching exercise we had was raising ducklings from eggs. The segment started with an incubator and 13 eggs, which we would learn how to manage.
*We churned butter at one point, and learned that the yellow coloring was typically artificial. Ours used carrot peels for coloration.
*I remember that kids would get a "hot" or "cold" lunch based on what their parents decided for them. This honestly shouldn't be a big deal, but somehow it was made to be a major segregation point for kids. Personally, I didn't have a strong preference for hot or cold, unless it was Thursday, because I had a penchant for the pizzas and chunky apple sauce they served that day. I believe the hot lunches cost $1.10 each. Reasonable for 1990.
*At school, I had a mix of male and female friends at this point--somewhat atypical, but I found that it led to more interesting experiences, and better strategic alliances. My closest friends were probably my neighbors in our apartment that my family knew at the time, but I also enjoyed time to myself to read or do stuff.

== First Grade (Age 6) ==

== Second Grade (Age 7) ==

= Home Life =
This stage of my life, home was actually rather awesome, at least in my memory. We lived in a modest 2 bedroom apartment in on Michigan Ave, a few blocks from the beach. I had my own room, a twin sized bed, which I still remember my dad putting together from wood pieces.

We went on a trip to Korea that winter, the first time I ever that I remember being on a plane (the first few, I was too young). Oddly enough, I don't remember too much about this trip in terms of what we did. I *do* remember a lot about the people I met; the family that I connected with for the first time in a while.

On returning, I was severely jet lagged and missed a week of school. Fortunately, being kindergarten, I didn't have any homework to make up. =P

I started getting pets at this point in my life. The first were a set of 4 gold fish in a 10 gallon tank. It was here that I realized that having an aquarium is really cool, but the regular cleaning necessary to maintain one is a pain in the ass. I never got around to naming these fish; but I did learn to tell them apart. There were two gold ones, a white one, and a black one.

In the spring, coming back from a field trip where my mom was a chaperon, I was able to score a kitten from a litter they were giving away! I had never really interacted with cats before but I was fascinated by their playful hunter-like skills. We took one home, and named it May. Graceful, sneaky, fun-loving affectionate human companions, I've loved cats ever since.

[[File:1991-may.jpg]]

Later on, after meeting some behavioral goals (cleaning my room, brushing my teeth, doing chores, behaving in school, etc...), a pivotal life event happened: I got a Nintendo (NES)! I'm not sure what persuaded them to do so, since I don't recall asking for one or expressing interest in it. Though, looking back, I suspect it might be because I played a game while I was in Korea that I enjoyed (?) Regardless, I picked up the controller that day, and in a single 11 hour sitting, finished the first Super Mario Bros (I mean... you had to--there was no way to save!). A gamer was born that day, and he lives still =).

== Notables ==
*My parents getting niceties, like a worklamp for my dad's workstation, air-conditioning for the home, etc...
*Two of the four gold fish ended up dying, one from unknown causes--another, seemed to have jumped to its death on its own by leaping onto the living room floor. We got a glass top after that.
*I had a big map on the wall by my bed, which I would explore frequently, always being surprised at noticing something I had never seen before. I remember that it definitely had the "USSR" on there. Speaking of which...
*The News isn't something that I remember much from this part of my life, except one event that had my dad and grandmother transfixed on the TV--the news that the Soviet Union was being dissolved. This of course, was a major part of their, and my personal history, through the Korean War, and this news, as I'm sure it was across the US, was profoundly unexpected. To me as a child, I didn't know of it's significance, but I do remember going to that map that night and making note that something had changed.
*I had a few toys at that point; I remember most treasuring my Hotwheels and related cars that I had gotten from a previous Christmas.
*I started actively liking Disney movies. My favorite at the time was actually The Little Mermaid, largely due to my love of the ocean, and admiration of independent individuals that break their mold. The catchy music I enjoyed, too.
*I learned to ride a bike, and spent a lot of time in years since riding around Evanston alone, with friends, and with my dad.
*I loved water, any chance we got to go to a pool I'd want to go swimming. Seeing this interest, my parents enrolled me in swimming classes, which I helped greatly, even though they weren't as fun.
*I picked up violin at this point, though having been forced to enroll with this very strict teacher, I wasn't too thrilled at the time. It was very meaningful though, and even though I don't play now, I have an appreciation for what regular people are musically capable of when they work at mastery. I kind of wish I kept it up...
*My parents independently enrolled me in figure skating skating classes with a friend. Don't get me wrong, "girly" as it might have seemed, I LOVED the ice. In terms of maneuverability, it's hard to beat figure skates, though some fine hockey skates come close. I did speed skating later on in life, but going around in circles just isn't as fun as doing "whatever you want" on figure skates.
*I also ended up doing gymnastics for a short period of time. It was fun, though the classes weren't quite as appealing.
*There used to be a HUGE slide in the back of our apartment in a common playground. It was awesome, but scary. It has since been removed, and replaced with something safer. (Kids these days...)

Autobiographical content

2015-07-27T20:36:03Z

Skyrien: /* By Age */

I guess my autobiography has to start somewhere, right? And I bet it would be rather difficult to write it without taking notes on life as I went along. Here, I will write a narrated perspective of events in my life. I probably will not not write this in chronological order, but they will be put in the appropriate context. Over time, a more complete picture will emerge.

''A note on accuracy: This section is likely to be a perpetual draft, and much of it before the present is constructed from what I can recall, personal writings, interviews, and other sources and accounts. Beyond this, as I'm writing this to be a heavily written from the memory of my experience of these memories. Inaccuracies, alternate interpretations, and new conclusions based on uncovered information are wholly possible and over time, likely. And as is intended, as I expect our own interpretation of history, values, and our experience of them will likely evolve over time as well. Be that as it may, I will still strive for factual accuracy and when presenting a conflicting idea, I will identify the conflict and clarify salient differences in memory.''

= Chronological =
I've experienced that in life, there are long periods of seeming stasis, and then everything changes at once. I keep thinking of the term 'punctuated equilibrium' to analogize about this phenomenon. In any case, I've attempted to divide the sections into meaningful logical chunks, but it may shift over time.

== Before May 23rd 1985 ==
Tectonic shifts in geopolitics have occurred over the span of our parents' and grandparents' lifetimes. When I have the opportunity to meet distant or long disconnected extended family, I've used it to expand my knowledge of my family's story across the world. It's quite fascinating how much history has been lived by those closest to us.

Coming from Asia, much of their story are influenced by the tensions and conflicts of the region, particularly in and around Korea in the early 20th century due to imperial aspirations of Japan resulting in WWII, the partition of Korea, and the Korean War. Beyond this, how my parents' generation found their way to America is another chapter entirely, one that writes the personal story of one Asian-American immigrant family. I will write relevant findings here and in the [[family history]] page.

*[[Family history]]
*[[World history]]

== 1985-1995: Birth and Early Childhood ==

This first period covers birth to the end of early-childhood at Age 10. It starts at the time I was born in Korea, and the entirety of my time in the US before my family moved back to Korea in 1995. This period was obviously a hugely formative period for the fostering of my core values, joys, and intrinsic curiosity.

=== Identity ===
Language and ethnic heritage are often one's first experience with their cultural identity after their birth. For me, there was always some amount of tension in my relationship with language. In my earliest years, my vocabulary and language was derived from what I learned at home, and became Korean-focused, given it was what I spoke at home. As a result, while I understood spoken English, I found it harder to express in public. Fortunately, my school had a good ESL program that I attended while in kindergarten. I didn't think much of it then, but it would be a key experience growing up an America. I didn't have any issues comprehending the written or spoken word; I was just averse to expressing it. Later on, I developed a huge fondness for reading, and quickly became very fluent (aided by media that encouraged me to learn more), which gave me more confidence to speak out more.

Speaking two (or more) languages natively (opposed to acquired fluency) is a common experience in American immigrant stories, and I think it's pretty cool to have access to the corpus of culture that language fluency presents, and I'd love to be able to teach my own kids what I know, and perhaps even the experience of another culture or place. Given how often my family moved, I learned to take the perpetual need to learn in stride and developed a skill and even an enjoyment of adapting to new people, things, and situations. Some of this would backfire and result in a search for identity in my second decade, but at this time, it helped me to see society as a system that I could come to understand, and adapt to, after some trial and error.

I can certainly note that the quality of education varied from place to place, from teacher to teacher. Going from 2nd grade in Evanston to 3rd grade in Capron felt like dropping two years of education. Where you go to school has a huge influence on your experiences and the sense of possibility afforded to you. I was fortunate enough to have parents that cared about the quality of education I received, and were able to intervene when it was in my interest, as well as having a strong intrinsic desire to explore what's out there.

It was in this time that I developed an obvious interest in how things work. My dad tells me that when I was in kindergarten, my teacher once told him that in school assembly that I paid more attention the projector showing the some boring film, rather than said boring film. In my defense, I'll note that this was in 1991, and the projector was an ancient film reel (yes! in 1991 a film projector in a school!) that spun a big spool of film from one wheel to another. How is that *not* awesome to look at? Today, it would be a retro fascination for it to be seen anywhere, let alone in regular use.

I actually do remember doing this, and specifically, what I was noticing (and learning as a 6 year old kid) was how the wheels spun at different rates, based how much film was in the reel, and the question that I had in my mind at the time was on how it kept the film at the same speed. Basically, I was being an early nerd, and of this, I am proud. :)

My parents euphemistically note that I liked to "deconstruct" things to see how they worked. Basically, I'd like to take things apart, particularly mechanical and electrical things (projectors, monitors, computers, motors, etc...) to examine their workings. I was also given access to my dad's PC pretty early, at around the age of 6, and quickly mastered DOS enough to basically be the tech guy at home.

That said, even my few years in rural Illinois was a highly unique experience that today (in 2015) I treasure, despite all the challenges at the time adjusting to a completely different life experience, even as a kid.

My feelings over my time in Korea that came after this period are a bit more complicated...

'''Memories'''
*Green used to be my favorite color, at least until kindergarten. Then around the age of 9-10, I started to love the ocean, water, and the color blue.
*In my room since I was 5, I used to have a big geopolitical map that covered the wall by my bed. I recommend every parent of a curious child to put a big map in their room. Seriously. It will expand their mind and their awareness. I also remember when the Gulf War started (when I was 5), that my dad pointed at Iraq on the map and said "these guys are bad." Lol.
*Star Trek came into my life pretty early, and I was a fan by age 7. It all started with me accidentally renting 'Star Trek VI', instead of 'Star Wars'. While it wasn't the sci-fi/fantasy/space opera that Star Wars was, I was sold on the future-oriented vision of peace, the cool effects, and the politics, which echoed some of the Cold War detente that my dad had tried to explain to me when the Soviet Union was dissolved. Levar Burton played my favorite character, chief engineer Geordi LaForge, on TNG and I carefully followed it till the series finale which aired on my birthday in 1994. One effect was on my vocabulary, where at school, I was using words and style of speech learnt while watching TNG in my speech and writing, which teachers thought highly. In one example, I got in trouble once in fourth grade for saying "hell", as in "What the hell?" clearly echoing Riker's flabbergast moment from the TNG episode the night before. I can't quite tell if things were just more language-strict in the 90s or if its just because I was younger.
*Once I came in contact with a PC, I never let go. By my late 0s, I was solidly a PC gamer; SimAnt was the first game I ever bought, and by the end of this period my favorite games were Doom, Simcity 2000, and underrated adventure game, Star Trek: A Final Unity. Not that I was opposed to consoles--the first game I ever played was on the NES, and had Sega Genesis and thoroughly enjoyed games like Sonic and Ecco, and had loved the original StarFox on SNES. Still, I loved the depth of control and richness that PC games afforded, also the fact that it appealed to a more educated, mature audience. I liked that, and that paid off hugely for me.
*By all standards, I read a lot, though a lot of it was fluff. I really enjoyed picking books from Scholastic catalogs, and in my early years, read stuff like the series like the Bernstein Bears, the Boxcar children, later reading books like Goosebumps and periodicals that my parents would read such as Time magazine and Popular Mechanics. Events like Walk-A-Thons for reading also encouraged a great deal of exploration in my language arts.
*I had an odd fondness for antique stores--there was on in Capron that I would frequent, and I'd find trinkets worth <$1.
*I got an allowance as a kid, for doing household chores. I feel it was an excellent way to reward constructive work ethic, while also developing a child's sense of money as capital.
*I got lost in a cornfield once for almost 2 hours when I was 9--rather terrifying at the time, but an epic adventure looking back. I eventually found my way back when I realized I could use the direction of the shadows to follow a path back to where I had started.
*I had my first PC during this time, a 386SX 16MHz / 4MB / 60 MB / 3.5" 1.44MB / 2400 baud modem. My dad told me when he bought it, it was a whopping $3,000, with the upgraded RAM, which he needed for school work. Insane to think of today, but that's the rig that I learned DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1.
*By the end of the decade, I was badly in need of a new PC, and I started plotting what kind of PC I could 'encourage' my family to get next...

===By Age===
*[[Age 0-1|0-1]] - Korea
*[[Age 2-4|2-4]] - Chicago, Evanston
*[[Age 5-7|5-7]] - Evanston
*[[Age 8-10|8-10]] - Capron

== 1995-2004: Late Childhood/Early Adolescence ==

This period covers late childhood to early adolescence. It includes the entirety of my time in [[Korea]] (1995-2000) and [[return to the United States]] from junior high to early college.

===By Age===
*[[Age 10-12|10-12]] - Korea (Elementary)
*[[Age 13-14|13-14]] - Korea (Middle)
*[[Age 15-19|15-19]] - US (Jr High-High-Early College)

== 2004-2015: Late Adolescence/Early Adulthood ==

This period covers the late adolescence of college and the start of independent adult life.

===By Age===
*[[Age 19-22|19-22]]
*[[Age 23-27|23-27]]
*[[Age 28-29|28-29]]

== 2015: The Present ==

The fourth decade is now getting started, so I guess I shouldn't use the phrase "when I grow up" anymore :). By and large, I'm still the me I was when I was younger, though much of the future is yet to be determined.

===By Age===
*[[Age 30|30]]

== Future (2016-2085) ==
These are ages yet to come. Detail will be added over time.

===By Age===
*[[Age 31|31]]
*[[Age 32|32]]
*[[Age 33|33]]
...

== The end? (2085-2101?) ==
I've taken a number life expectancy tests over the years, and kept tabs on my overall health. Generally, these simple non-scientific online tests have given me numbers between 92-100, so for mental convenience, I've just kept 100 in mind (though I'm really pushing for at least 115 :)); thus means I would live to around 2085. This means I'd get to see the bulk of the 21st century come to pass, and unless I screw up badly, will have left a dent to last longer than that.

===By Age===
*[[Age 100|100]]
*[[Age 115|115]]

Excellent - Bring Life On! :)

Autobiographical content

2015-07-27T20:35:20Z

Skyrien: /* 2015: The Present */

I guess my autobiography has to start somewhere, right? And I bet it would be rather difficult to write it without taking notes on life as I went along. Here, I will write a narrated perspective of events in my life. I probably will not not write this in chronological order, but they will be put in the appropriate context. Over time, a more complete picture will emerge.

''A note on accuracy: This section is likely to be a perpetual draft, and much of it before the present is constructed from what I can recall, personal writings, interviews, and other sources and accounts. Beyond this, as I'm writing this to be a heavily written from the memory of my experience of these memories. Inaccuracies, alternate interpretations, and new conclusions based on uncovered information are wholly possible and over time, likely. And as is intended, as I expect our own interpretation of history, values, and our experience of them will likely evolve over time as well. Be that as it may, I will still strive for factual accuracy and when presenting a conflicting idea, I will identify the conflict and clarify salient differences in memory.''

= Chronological =
I've experienced that in life, there are long periods of seeming stasis, and then everything changes at once. I keep thinking of the term 'punctuated equilibrium' to analogize about this phenomenon. In any case, I've attempted to divide the sections into meaningful logical chunks, but it may shift over time.

== Before May 23rd 1985 ==
Tectonic shifts in geopolitics have occurred over the span of our parents' and grandparents' lifetimes. When I have the opportunity to meet distant or long disconnected extended family, I've used it to expand my knowledge of my family's story across the world. It's quite fascinating how much history has been lived by those closest to us.

Coming from Asia, much of their story are influenced by the tensions and conflicts of the region, particularly in and around Korea in the early 20th century due to imperial aspirations of Japan resulting in WWII, the partition of Korea, and the Korean War. Beyond this, how my parents' generation found their way to America is another chapter entirely, one that writes the personal story of one Asian-American immigrant family. I will write relevant findings here and in the [[family history]] page.

*[[Family history]]
*[[World history]]

== 1985-1995: Birth and Early Childhood ==

This first period covers birth to the end of early-childhood at Age 10. It starts at the time I was born in Korea, and the entirety of my time in the US before my family moved back to Korea in 1995. This period was obviously a hugely formative period for the fostering of my core values, joys, and intrinsic curiosity.

=== Identity ===
Language and ethnic heritage are often one's first experience with their cultural identity after their birth. For me, there was always some amount of tension in my relationship with language. In my earliest years, my vocabulary and language was derived from what I learned at home, and became Korean-focused, given it was what I spoke at home. As a result, while I understood spoken English, I found it harder to express in public. Fortunately, my school had a good ESL program that I attended while in kindergarten. I didn't think much of it then, but it would be a key experience growing up an America. I didn't have any issues comprehending the written or spoken word; I was just averse to expressing it. Later on, I developed a huge fondness for reading, and quickly became very fluent (aided by media that encouraged me to learn more), which gave me more confidence to speak out more.

Speaking two (or more) languages natively (opposed to acquired fluency) is a common experience in American immigrant stories, and I think it's pretty cool to have access to the corpus of culture that language fluency presents, and I'd love to be able to teach my own kids what I know, and perhaps even the experience of another culture or place. Given how often my family moved, I learned to take the perpetual need to learn in stride and developed a skill and even an enjoyment of adapting to new people, things, and situations. Some of this would backfire and result in a search for identity in my second decade, but at this time, it helped me to see society as a system that I could come to understand, and adapt to, after some trial and error.

I can certainly note that the quality of education varied from place to place, from teacher to teacher. Going from 2nd grade in Evanston to 3rd grade in Capron felt like dropping two years of education. Where you go to school has a huge influence on your experiences and the sense of possibility afforded to you. I was fortunate enough to have parents that cared about the quality of education I received, and were able to intervene when it was in my interest, as well as having a strong intrinsic desire to explore what's out there.

It was in this time that I developed an obvious interest in how things work. My dad tells me that when I was in kindergarten, my teacher once told him that in school assembly that I paid more attention the projector showing the some boring film, rather than said boring film. In my defense, I'll note that this was in 1991, and the projector was an ancient film reel (yes! in 1991 a film projector in a school!) that spun a big spool of film from one wheel to another. How is that *not* awesome to look at? Today, it would be a retro fascination for it to be seen anywhere, let alone in regular use.

I actually do remember doing this, and specifically, what I was noticing (and learning as a 6 year old kid) was how the wheels spun at different rates, based how much film was in the reel, and the question that I had in my mind at the time was on how it kept the film at the same speed. Basically, I was being an early nerd, and of this, I am proud. :)

My parents euphemistically note that I liked to "deconstruct" things to see how they worked. Basically, I'd like to take things apart, particularly mechanical and electrical things (projectors, monitors, computers, motors, etc...) to examine their workings. I was also given access to my dad's PC pretty early, at around the age of 6, and quickly mastered DOS enough to basically be the tech guy at home.

That said, even my few years in rural Illinois was a highly unique experience that today (in 2015) I treasure, despite all the challenges at the time adjusting to a completely different life experience, even as a kid.

My feelings over my time in Korea that came after this period are a bit more complicated...

'''Memories'''
*Green used to be my favorite color, at least until kindergarten. Then around the age of 9-10, I started to love the ocean, water, and the color blue.
*In my room since I was 5, I used to have a big geopolitical map that covered the wall by my bed. I recommend every parent of a curious child to put a big map in their room. Seriously. It will expand their mind and their awareness. I also remember when the Gulf War started (when I was 5), that my dad pointed at Iraq on the map and said "these guys are bad." Lol.
*Star Trek came into my life pretty early, and I was a fan by age 7. It all started with me accidentally renting 'Star Trek VI', instead of 'Star Wars'. While it wasn't the sci-fi/fantasy/space opera that Star Wars was, I was sold on the future-oriented vision of peace, the cool effects, and the politics, which echoed some of the Cold War detente that my dad had tried to explain to me when the Soviet Union was dissolved. Levar Burton played my favorite character, chief engineer Geordi LaForge, on TNG and I carefully followed it till the series finale which aired on my birthday in 1994. One effect was on my vocabulary, where at school, I was using words and style of speech learnt while watching TNG in my speech and writing, which teachers thought highly. In one example, I got in trouble once in fourth grade for saying "hell", as in "What the hell?" clearly echoing Riker's flabbergast moment from the TNG episode the night before. I can't quite tell if things were just more language-strict in the 90s or if its just because I was younger.
*Once I came in contact with a PC, I never let go. By my late 0s, I was solidly a PC gamer; SimAnt was the first game I ever bought, and by the end of this period my favorite games were Doom, Simcity 2000, and underrated adventure game, Star Trek: A Final Unity. Not that I was opposed to consoles--the first game I ever played was on the NES, and had Sega Genesis and thoroughly enjoyed games like Sonic and Ecco, and had loved the original StarFox on SNES. Still, I loved the depth of control and richness that PC games afforded, also the fact that it appealed to a more educated, mature audience. I liked that, and that paid off hugely for me.
*By all standards, I read a lot, though a lot of it was fluff. I really enjoyed picking books from Scholastic catalogs, and in my early years, read stuff like the series like the Bernstein Bears, the Boxcar children, later reading books like Goosebumps and periodicals that my parents would read such as Time magazine and Popular Mechanics. Events like Walk-A-Thons for reading also encouraged a great deal of exploration in my language arts.
*I had an odd fondness for antique stores--there was on in Capron that I would frequent, and I'd find trinkets worth <$1.
*I got an allowance as a kid, for doing household chores. I feel it was an excellent way to reward constructive work ethic, while also developing a child's sense of money as capital.
*I got lost in a cornfield once for almost 2 hours when I was 9--rather terrifying at the time, but an epic adventure looking back. I eventually found my way back when I realized I could use the direction of the shadows to follow a path back to where I had started.
*I had my first PC during this time, a 386SX 16MHz / 4MB / 60 MB / 3.5" 1.44MB / 2400 baud modem. My dad told me when he bought it, it was a whopping $3,000, with the upgraded RAM, which he needed for school work. Insane to think of today, but that's the rig that I learned DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1.
*By the end of the decade, I was badly in need of a new PC, and I started plotting what kind of PC I could 'encourage' my family to get next...

===By Age===
*[[Age 0-1|0-1]] - Korea
*[[Age 2-4|2-4]] - Chicago, Evanston
*[[Age 5-7|5-7]] - Evanston
*[[Age 8-10|8-10]] - Capron

== 1995-2004: Late Childhood/Early Adolescence ==

This period covers late childhood to early adolescence. It includes the entirety of my time in [[Korea]] (1995-2000) and [[return to the United States]] from junior high to early college.

===By Age===
*[[Age 10-12|10-12]] - Korea (Elementary)
*[[Age 13-14|13-14]] - Korea (Middle)
*[[Age 15-18|15-18]] - US (Jr High-High)

== 2004-2015: Late Adolescence/Early Adulthood ==

This period covers the late adolescence of college and the start of independent adult life.

===By Age===
*[[Age 19-22|19-22]]
*[[Age 23-27|23-27]]
*[[Age 28-29|28-29]]

== 2015: The Present ==

The fourth decade is now getting started, so I guess I shouldn't use the phrase "when I grow up" anymore :). By and large, I'm still the me I was when I was younger, though much of the future is yet to be determined.

===By Age===
*[[Age 30|30]]

== Future (2016-2085) ==
These are ages yet to come. Detail will be added over time.

===By Age===
*[[Age 31|31]]
*[[Age 32|32]]
*[[Age 33|33]]
...

== The end? (2085-2101?) ==
I've taken a number life expectancy tests over the years, and kept tabs on my overall health. Generally, these simple non-scientific online tests have given me numbers between 92-100, so for mental convenience, I've just kept 100 in mind (though I'm really pushing for at least 115 :)); thus means I would live to around 2085. This means I'd get to see the bulk of the 21st century come to pass, and unless I screw up badly, will have left a dent to last longer than that.

===By Age===
*[[Age 100|100]]
*[[Age 115|115]]

Excellent - Bring Life On! :)

Autobiographical content

2015-07-27T20:34:37Z

Skyrien: /* By Age */

I guess my autobiography has to start somewhere, right? And I bet it would be rather difficult to write it without taking notes on life as I went along. Here, I will write a narrated perspective of events in my life. I probably will not not write this in chronological order, but they will be put in the appropriate context. Over time, a more complete picture will emerge.

''A note on accuracy: This section is likely to be a perpetual draft, and much of it before the present is constructed from what I can recall, personal writings, interviews, and other sources and accounts. Beyond this, as I'm writing this to be a heavily written from the memory of my experience of these memories. Inaccuracies, alternate interpretations, and new conclusions based on uncovered information are wholly possible and over time, likely. And as is intended, as I expect our own interpretation of history, values, and our experience of them will likely evolve over time as well. Be that as it may, I will still strive for factual accuracy and when presenting a conflicting idea, I will identify the conflict and clarify salient differences in memory.''

= Chronological =
I've experienced that in life, there are long periods of seeming stasis, and then everything changes at once. I keep thinking of the term 'punctuated equilibrium' to analogize about this phenomenon. In any case, I've attempted to divide the sections into meaningful logical chunks, but it may shift over time.

== Before May 23rd 1985 ==
Tectonic shifts in geopolitics have occurred over the span of our parents' and grandparents' lifetimes. When I have the opportunity to meet distant or long disconnected extended family, I've used it to expand my knowledge of my family's story across the world. It's quite fascinating how much history has been lived by those closest to us.

Coming from Asia, much of their story are influenced by the tensions and conflicts of the region, particularly in and around Korea in the early 20th century due to imperial aspirations of Japan resulting in WWII, the partition of Korea, and the Korean War. Beyond this, how my parents' generation found their way to America is another chapter entirely, one that writes the personal story of one Asian-American immigrant family. I will write relevant findings here and in the [[family history]] page.

*[[Family history]]
*[[World history]]

== 1985-1995: Birth and Early Childhood ==

This first period covers birth to the end of early-childhood at Age 10. It starts at the time I was born in Korea, and the entirety of my time in the US before my family moved back to Korea in 1995. This period was obviously a hugely formative period for the fostering of my core values, joys, and intrinsic curiosity.

=== Identity ===
Language and ethnic heritage are often one's first experience with their cultural identity after their birth. For me, there was always some amount of tension in my relationship with language. In my earliest years, my vocabulary and language was derived from what I learned at home, and became Korean-focused, given it was what I spoke at home. As a result, while I understood spoken English, I found it harder to express in public. Fortunately, my school had a good ESL program that I attended while in kindergarten. I didn't think much of it then, but it would be a key experience growing up an America. I didn't have any issues comprehending the written or spoken word; I was just averse to expressing it. Later on, I developed a huge fondness for reading, and quickly became very fluent (aided by media that encouraged me to learn more), which gave me more confidence to speak out more.

Speaking two (or more) languages natively (opposed to acquired fluency) is a common experience in American immigrant stories, and I think it's pretty cool to have access to the corpus of culture that language fluency presents, and I'd love to be able to teach my own kids what I know, and perhaps even the experience of another culture or place. Given how often my family moved, I learned to take the perpetual need to learn in stride and developed a skill and even an enjoyment of adapting to new people, things, and situations. Some of this would backfire and result in a search for identity in my second decade, but at this time, it helped me to see society as a system that I could come to understand, and adapt to, after some trial and error.

I can certainly note that the quality of education varied from place to place, from teacher to teacher. Going from 2nd grade in Evanston to 3rd grade in Capron felt like dropping two years of education. Where you go to school has a huge influence on your experiences and the sense of possibility afforded to you. I was fortunate enough to have parents that cared about the quality of education I received, and were able to intervene when it was in my interest, as well as having a strong intrinsic desire to explore what's out there.

It was in this time that I developed an obvious interest in how things work. My dad tells me that when I was in kindergarten, my teacher once told him that in school assembly that I paid more attention the projector showing the some boring film, rather than said boring film. In my defense, I'll note that this was in 1991, and the projector was an ancient film reel (yes! in 1991 a film projector in a school!) that spun a big spool of film from one wheel to another. How is that *not* awesome to look at? Today, it would be a retro fascination for it to be seen anywhere, let alone in regular use.

I actually do remember doing this, and specifically, what I was noticing (and learning as a 6 year old kid) was how the wheels spun at different rates, based how much film was in the reel, and the question that I had in my mind at the time was on how it kept the film at the same speed. Basically, I was being an early nerd, and of this, I am proud. :)

My parents euphemistically note that I liked to "deconstruct" things to see how they worked. Basically, I'd like to take things apart, particularly mechanical and electrical things (projectors, monitors, computers, motors, etc...) to examine their workings. I was also given access to my dad's PC pretty early, at around the age of 6, and quickly mastered DOS enough to basically be the tech guy at home.

That said, even my few years in rural Illinois was a highly unique experience that today (in 2015) I treasure, despite all the challenges at the time adjusting to a completely different life experience, even as a kid.

My feelings over my time in Korea that came after this period are a bit more complicated...

'''Memories'''
*Green used to be my favorite color, at least until kindergarten. Then around the age of 9-10, I started to love the ocean, water, and the color blue.
*In my room since I was 5, I used to have a big geopolitical map that covered the wall by my bed. I recommend every parent of a curious child to put a big map in their room. Seriously. It will expand their mind and their awareness. I also remember when the Gulf War started (when I was 5), that my dad pointed at Iraq on the map and said "these guys are bad." Lol.
*Star Trek came into my life pretty early, and I was a fan by age 7. It all started with me accidentally renting 'Star Trek VI', instead of 'Star Wars'. While it wasn't the sci-fi/fantasy/space opera that Star Wars was, I was sold on the future-oriented vision of peace, the cool effects, and the politics, which echoed some of the Cold War detente that my dad had tried to explain to me when the Soviet Union was dissolved. Levar Burton played my favorite character, chief engineer Geordi LaForge, on TNG and I carefully followed it till the series finale which aired on my birthday in 1994. One effect was on my vocabulary, where at school, I was using words and style of speech learnt while watching TNG in my speech and writing, which teachers thought highly. In one example, I got in trouble once in fourth grade for saying "hell", as in "What the hell?" clearly echoing Riker's flabbergast moment from the TNG episode the night before. I can't quite tell if things were just more language-strict in the 90s or if its just because I was younger.
*Once I came in contact with a PC, I never let go. By my late 0s, I was solidly a PC gamer; SimAnt was the first game I ever bought, and by the end of this period my favorite games were Doom, Simcity 2000, and underrated adventure game, Star Trek: A Final Unity. Not that I was opposed to consoles--the first game I ever played was on the NES, and had Sega Genesis and thoroughly enjoyed games like Sonic and Ecco, and had loved the original StarFox on SNES. Still, I loved the depth of control and richness that PC games afforded, also the fact that it appealed to a more educated, mature audience. I liked that, and that paid off hugely for me.
*By all standards, I read a lot, though a lot of it was fluff. I really enjoyed picking books from Scholastic catalogs, and in my early years, read stuff like the series like the Bernstein Bears, the Boxcar children, later reading books like Goosebumps and periodicals that my parents would read such as Time magazine and Popular Mechanics. Events like Walk-A-Thons for reading also encouraged a great deal of exploration in my language arts.
*I had an odd fondness for antique stores--there was on in Capron that I would frequent, and I'd find trinkets worth <$1.
*I got an allowance as a kid, for doing household chores. I feel it was an excellent way to reward constructive work ethic, while also developing a child's sense of money as capital.
*I got lost in a cornfield once for almost 2 hours when I was 9--rather terrifying at the time, but an epic adventure looking back. I eventually found my way back when I realized I could use the direction of the shadows to follow a path back to where I had started.
*I had my first PC during this time, a 386SX 16MHz / 4MB / 60 MB / 3.5" 1.44MB / 2400 baud modem. My dad told me when he bought it, it was a whopping $3,000, with the upgraded RAM, which he needed for school work. Insane to think of today, but that's the rig that I learned DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1.
*By the end of the decade, I was badly in need of a new PC, and I started plotting what kind of PC I could 'encourage' my family to get next...

===By Age===
*[[Age 0-1|0-1]] - Korea
*[[Age 2-4|2-4]] - Chicago, Evanston
*[[Age 5-7|5-7]] - Evanston
*[[Age 8-10|8-10]] - Capron

== 1995-2004: Late Childhood/Early Adolescence ==

This period covers late childhood to early adolescence. It includes the entirety of my time in [[Korea]] (1995-2000) and [[return to the United States]] from junior high to early college.

===By Age===
*[[Age 10-12|10-12]] - Korea (Elementary)
*[[Age 13-14|13-14]] - Korea (Middle)
*[[Age 15-18|15-18]] - US (Jr High-High)

== 2004-2015: Late Adolescence/Early Adulthood ==

This period covers the late adolescence of college and the start of independent adult life.

===By Age===
*[[Age 19-22|19-22]]
*[[Age 23-27|23-27]]
*[[Age 28-29|28-29]]

== 2015: The Present ==

With the fourth decade, getting started as I've turned 30, I guess I shouldn't use the phrase "when I grow up" anymore :). By and large, I'm still the me I was when I was younger, though much of the future is yet to be determined.

===By Age===
*[[Age 30|30]]

== Future (2016-2085) ==
These are ages yet to come. Detail will be added over time.

===By Age===
*[[Age 31|31]]
*[[Age 32|32]]
*[[Age 33|33]]
...

== The end? (2085-2101?) ==
I've taken a number life expectancy tests over the years, and kept tabs on my overall health. Generally, these simple non-scientific online tests have given me numbers between 92-100, so for mental convenience, I've just kept 100 in mind (though I'm really pushing for at least 115 :)); thus means I would live to around 2085. This means I'd get to see the bulk of the 21st century come to pass, and unless I screw up badly, will have left a dent to last longer than that.

===By Age===
*[[Age 100|100]]
*[[Age 115|115]]

Excellent - Bring Life On! :)

Age 5-7

2015-07-27T20:29:31Z

Skyrien: /* Home Life */

This covers time from 1990-1992, while I lived in Evanston, IL. During this time, I developed a more clear sense of self centered around fun, learning, and curiosity. We moved there in the year prior, and I had been attending preschool, but that's not like going to "school".

Up until that point in my life, regardless of some days spent at preschool, home was predominantly where "things" occurred. During this period, I believe it began to shift toward more 50-50, as the educational influences of teachers grew, and the social influences of friends increased.

These would also be the last years where I was an only child. Today, I have two younger brothers, born in 1992 and 1994. But at this point, it was all me. =).

= School Life =

== Kindergarten (Age 5) ==
In the fall of 1990, my mom dropped me off at school for the first time. I'll never forget the first time I went up the steps of [http://www.district65.net/willard Willard Elementary] and looked back at the massive yellow school buses still converging on the school's narrow circle drive; a whole line of cars with moms and dads saying bye to their kids, a number of them crying and obviously not wanting to leave; and the ugly green tiling that was set before me as it led into the school's slopping corridor. I was five, and off to a new school.

I ended up going to two different homerooms over the course of that year [[for reasons I may go into later]], but I will say that if you didn't think teacher-child at that age matter, I will attest to you that you are wrong. The two classes were worlds apart, at least for me. Overall, my memory of Kindergarten was that it was awesome time, fun, and carefree. It felt exceptionally long but perhaps it was because it was such a new experience.

=== Memories ===
*I remember there was a long paper across the ceiling that counted up 1,2,3... the teacher added one for each day of school, and I remember marveling at how long the year had been when we reached the end.
*For one segment of the year, one enriching exercise we had was raising ducklings from eggs. The segment started with an incubator and 13 eggs, which we would learn how to manage.
*We churned butter at one point, and learned that the yellow coloring was typically artificial. Ours used carrot peels for coloration.
*I remember that kids would get a "hot" or "cold" lunch based on what their parents decided for them. This honestly shouldn't be a big deal, but somehow it was made to be a major segregation point for kids. Personally, I didn't have a strong preference for hot or cold, unless it was Thursday, because I had a penchant for the pizzas and chunky apple sauce they served that day. I believe the hot lunches cost $1.10 each. Reasonable for 1990.
*At school, I had a mix of male and female friends at this point--somewhat atypical, but I found that it led to more interesting experiences, and better strategic alliances. My closest friends were probably my neighbors in our apartment that my family knew at the time, but I also enjoyed time to myself to read or do stuff.

== First Grade (Age 6) ==

== Second Grade (Age 7) ==

= Home Life =
This stage of my life, home was actually rather awesome, at least in my memory. We lived in a modest 2 bedroom apartment in on Michigan Ave, a few blocks from the beach. I had my own room, a twin sized bed, which I still remember my dad putting together from wood pieces.

We went on a trip to Korea that winter year, the first time I ever that I remember being on a plane (the first few, I was too young). Oddly enough, I don't remember too much about this trip in terms of what we did. I *do* remember a lot about the people I met; the family that I connected with for the first time in a while.

On returning, I was severely jet lagged and missed a week of school. Fortunately, being kindergarten, I didn't have any homework to make up. =P

I started getting pets at this point in my life. The first were a set of 4 gold fish in a 10 gallon tank. It was here that I realized that having an aquarium is really cool, but the regular cleaning necessary to maintain one is a pain in the ass. I never got around to naming these fish; but I did learn to tell them apart. There were two gold ones, a white one, and a black one.

In the spring, coming back from a field trip where my mom was a chaperon, I was able to score a kitten from a litter they were giving away! I had never really interacted with cats before but I was fascinated by their playful hunter-like skills. We took one home, and named it May. Graceful, sneaky, fun-loving affectionate human companions, I've loved cats ever since.

[[File:1991-may.jpg]]

Later on, after meeting some behavioral goals (cleaning my room, brushing my teeth, doing chores, behaving in school, etc...), a pivotal life event happened: I got a Nintendo (NES)! I'm not sure what persuaded them to do so, since I don't recall asking for one or expressing interest in it. Though, looking back, I suspect it might be because I played a game while I was in Korea that I enjoyed (?) Regardless, I picked up the controller that day, and in a single 11 hour sitting, finished the first Super Mario Bros (I mean... you had to--there was no way to save!). A gamer was born that day, and he lives still =).

== Notables ==
*My parents getting niceties, like a worklamp for my dad's workstation, air-conditioning for the home, etc...
*Two of the four gold fish ended up dying, one from unknown causes--another, seemed to have jumped to its death on its own by leaping onto the living room floor. We got a glass top after that.
*I had a big map on the wall by my bed, which I would explore frequently, always being surprised at noticing something I had never seen before. I remember that it definitely had the "USSR" on there. Speaking of which...
*The News isn't something that I remember much from this part of my life, except one event that had my dad and grandmother transfixed on the TV--the news that the Soviet Union was being dissolved. This of course, was a major part of their, and my personal history, through the Korean War, and this news, as I'm sure it was across the US, was profoundly unexpected. To me as a child, I didn't know of it's significance, but I do remember going to that map that night and making note that something had changed.
*I had a few toys at that point; I remember most treasuring my Hotwheels and related cars that I had gotten from a previous Christmas.
*I started actively liking Disney movies. My favorite at the time was actually The Little Mermaid, largely due to my love of the ocean, and admiration of independent individuals that break their mold. The catchy music I enjoyed, too.
*I learned to ride a bike, and spent a lot of time in years since riding around Evanston alone, with friends, and with my dad.
*I loved water, any chance we got to go to a pool I'd want to go swimming. Seeing this interest, my parents enrolled me in swimming classes, which I helped greatly, even though they weren't as fun.
*I picked up violin at this point, though having been forced to enroll with this very strict teacher, I wasn't too thrilled at the time. It was very meaningful though, and even though I don't play now, I have an appreciation for what regular people are musically capable of when they work at mastery. I kind of wish I kept it up...
*My parents independently enrolled me in figure skating skating classes with a friend. Don't get me wrong, "girly" as it might have seemed, I LOVED the ice. In terms of maneuverability, it's hard to beat figure skates, though some fine hockey skates come close. I did speed skating later on in life, but going around in circles just isn't as fun as doing "whatever you want" on figure skates.
*I also ended up doing gymnastics for a short period of time. It was fun, though the classes weren't quite as appealing.
*There used to be a HUGE slide in the back of our apartment in a common playground. It was awesome, but scary. It has since been removed, and replaced with something safer. (Kids these days...)

Age 5-7

2015-07-27T20:28:03Z

Skyrien: /* Home Life */

This covers time from 1990-1992, while I lived in Evanston, IL. During this time, I developed a more clear sense of self centered around fun, learning, and curiosity. We moved there in the year prior, and I had been attending preschool, but that's not like going to "school".

Up until that point in my life, regardless of some days spent at preschool, home was predominantly where "things" occurred. During this period, I believe it began to shift toward more 50-50, as the educational influences of teachers grew, and the social influences of friends increased.

These would also be the last years where I was an only child. Today, I have two younger brothers, born in 1992 and 1994. But at this point, it was all me. =).

= School Life =

== Kindergarten (Age 5) ==
In the fall of 1990, my mom dropped me off at school for the first time. I'll never forget the first time I went up the steps of [http://www.district65.net/willard Willard Elementary] and looked back at the massive yellow school buses still converging on the school's narrow circle drive; a whole line of cars with moms and dads saying bye to their kids, a number of them crying and obviously not wanting to leave; and the ugly green tiling that was set before me as it led into the school's slopping corridor. I was five, and off to a new school.

I ended up going to two different homerooms over the course of that year [[for reasons I may go into later]], but I will say that if you didn't think teacher-child at that age matter, I will attest to you that you are wrong. The two classes were worlds apart, at least for me. Overall, my memory of Kindergarten was that it was awesome time, fun, and carefree. It felt exceptionally long but perhaps it was because it was such a new experience.

=== Memories ===
*I remember there was a long paper across the ceiling that counted up 1,2,3... the teacher added one for each day of school, and I remember marveling at how long the year had been when we reached the end.
*For one segment of the year, one enriching exercise we had was raising ducklings from eggs. The segment started with an incubator and 13 eggs, which we would learn how to manage.
*We churned butter at one point, and learned that the yellow coloring was typically artificial. Ours used carrot peels for coloration.
*I remember that kids would get a "hot" or "cold" lunch based on what their parents decided for them. This honestly shouldn't be a big deal, but somehow it was made to be a major segregation point for kids. Personally, I didn't have a strong preference for hot or cold, unless it was Thursday, because I had a penchant for the pizzas and chunky apple sauce they served that day. I believe the hot lunches cost $1.10 each. Reasonable for 1990.
*At school, I had a mix of male and female friends at this point--somewhat atypical, but I found that it led to more interesting experiences, and better strategic alliances. My closest friends were probably my neighbors in our apartment that my family knew at the time, but I also enjoyed time to myself to read or do stuff.

== First Grade (Age 6) ==

== Second Grade (Age 7) ==

= Home Life =
This stage of my life, home was actually rather awesome, at least in my memory. We lived in a modest 2 bedroom apartment in on Michigan Ave, a few blocks from the beach. I had my own room, a twin sized bed, which I still remember my dad putting together from wood pieces.

I remember most strongly that:

We went on a trip to Korea that winter year, the first time I ever that I remember being on a plane (the first few, I was too young). Oddly enough, I don't remember too much about this trip in terms of what we did. I *do* remember a lot about the people I met; the family that I connected with for the first time in a while.

On returning, I was severely jet lagged and missed a week of school. Fortunately, being kindergarten, I didn't have any homework to make up. =P

I started getting pets at this point in my life. The first were a set of 4 gold fish in a 10 gallon tank. It was here that I realized that having an aquarium is really cool, but the regular cleaning necessary to maintain one is a pain in the ass. I never got around to naming these fish; but I did learn to tell them apart. There were two gold ones, a white one, and a black one.

In the spring, coming back from a field trip where my mom was a chaperon, I was able to score a kitten from a litter they were giving away! I had never really interacted with cats before but I was fascinated by their playful hunter-like skills. We took one home, and named it May. Graceful, sneaky, fun-loving affectionate human companions, I've loved cats ever since.

[[File:1991-may.jpg]]

Later on, after meeting some behavioral goals (cleaning my room, brushing my teeth, doing chores, behaving in school, etc...), a pivotal life event happened: I got a Nintendo (NES)! I'm not sure what persuaded them to do so, since I don't recall asking for one or expressing interest in it. Though, looking back, I suspect it might be because I played a game while I was in Korea that I enjoyed (?) Regardless, I picked up the controller that day, and in a single 11 hour sitting, finished the first Super Mario Bros (I mean... you had to--there was no way to save!). A gamer was born that day, and he lives still =).

== Notables ==
*My parents getting niceties, like a worklamp for my dad's workstation, air-conditioning for the home, etc...
*Two of the four gold fish ended up dying, one from unknown causes--another, seemed to have jumped to its death on its own by leaping onto the living room floor. We got a glass top after that.
*I had a big map on the wall by my bed, which I would explore frequently, always being surprised at noticing something I had never seen before. I remember that it definitely had the "USSR" on there. Speaking of which...
*The News isn't something that I remember much from this part of my life, except one event that had my dad and grandmother transfixed on the TV--the news that the Soviet Union was being dissolved. This of course, was a major part of their, and my personal history, through the Korean War, and this news, as I'm sure it was across the US, was profoundly unexpected. To me as a child, I didn't know of it's significance, but I do remember going to that map that night and making note that something had changed.
*I had a few toys at that point; I remember most treasuring my Hotwheels and related cars that I had gotten from a previous Christmas.
*I started actively liking Disney movies. My favorite at the time was actually The Little Mermaid, largely due to my love of the ocean, and admiration of independent individuals that break their mold. The catchy music I enjoyed, too.
*I learned to ride a bike, and spent a lot of time in years since riding around Evanston alone, with friends, and with my dad.
*I loved water, any chance we got to go to a pool I'd want to go swimming. Seeing this interest, my parents enrolled me in swimming classes, which I helped greatly, even though they weren't as fun.
*I picked up violin at this point, though having been forced to enroll with this very strict teacher, I wasn't too thrilled at the time. It was very meaningful though, and even though I don't play now, I have an appreciation for what regular people are musically capable of when they work at mastery. I kind of wish I kept it up...
*My parents independently enrolled me in figure skating skating classes with a friend. Don't get me wrong, "girly" as it might have seemed, I LOVED the ice. In terms of maneuverability, it's hard to beat figure skates, though some fine hockey skates come close. I did speed skating later on in life, but going around in circles just isn't as fun as doing "whatever you want" on figure skates.
*I also ended up doing gymnastics for a short period of time. It was fun, though the classes weren't quite as appealing.
*There used to be a HUGE slide in the back of our apartment in a common playground. It was awesome, but scary. It has since been removed, and replaced with something safer. (Kids these days...)

Age 5-7

2015-07-27T20:25:49Z

Skyrien: /* Home Life */

This covers time from 1990-1992, while I lived in Evanston, IL. During this time, I developed a more clear sense of self centered around fun, learning, and curiosity. We moved there in the year prior, and I had been attending preschool, but that's not like going to "school".

Up until that point in my life, regardless of some days spent at preschool, home was predominantly where "things" occurred. During this period, I believe it began to shift toward more 50-50, as the educational influences of teachers grew, and the social influences of friends increased.

These would also be the last years where I was an only child. Today, I have two younger brothers, born in 1992 and 1994. But at this point, it was all me. =).

= School Life =

== Kindergarten (Age 5) ==
In the fall of 1990, my mom dropped me off at school for the first time. I'll never forget the first time I went up the steps of [http://www.district65.net/willard Willard Elementary] and looked back at the massive yellow school buses still converging on the school's narrow circle drive; a whole line of cars with moms and dads saying bye to their kids, a number of them crying and obviously not wanting to leave; and the ugly green tiling that was set before me as it led into the school's slopping corridor. I was five, and off to a new school.

I ended up going to two different homerooms over the course of that year [[for reasons I may go into later]], but I will say that if you didn't think teacher-child at that age matter, I will attest to you that you are wrong. The two classes were worlds apart, at least for me. Overall, my memory of Kindergarten was that it was awesome time, fun, and carefree. It felt exceptionally long but perhaps it was because it was such a new experience.

=== Memories ===
*I remember there was a long paper across the ceiling that counted up 1,2,3... the teacher added one for each day of school, and I remember marveling at how long the year had been when we reached the end.
*For one segment of the year, one enriching exercise we had was raising ducklings from eggs. The segment started with an incubator and 13 eggs, which we would learn how to manage.
*We churned butter at one point, and learned that the yellow coloring was typically artificial. Ours used carrot peels for coloration.
*I remember that kids would get a "hot" or "cold" lunch based on what their parents decided for them. This honestly shouldn't be a big deal, but somehow it was made to be a major segregation point for kids. Personally, I didn't have a strong preference for hot or cold, unless it was Thursday, because I had a penchant for the pizzas and chunky apple sauce they served that day. I believe the hot lunches cost $1.10 each. Reasonable for 1990.
*At school, I had a mix of male and female friends at this point--somewhat atypical, but I found that it led to more interesting experiences, and better strategic alliances. My closest friends were probably my neighbors in our apartment that my family knew at the time, but I also enjoyed time to myself to read or do stuff.

== First Grade (Age 6) ==

== Second Grade (Age 7) ==

= Home Life =
This stage of my life, home was actually rather awesome, at least in my memory. We lived in a modest 2 bedroom apartment in on Michigan Ave, a few blocks from the beach. I had my own room, a twin sized bed, which I still remember my dad putting together from wood pieces.

I remember most strongly that:
*I had a big map on the wall by my bed, which I would explore frequently, always being surprised at noticing something I had never seen before. I remember that it definitely had the "USSR" on there. Speaking of which...
*The News isn't something that I remember much from this part of my life, except one event that had my dad and grandmother transfixed on the TV--the news that the Soviet Union was being dissolved. This of course, was a major part of their, and my personal history, through the Korean War, and this news, as I'm sure it was across the US, was profoundly unexpected. To me as a child, I didn't know of it's significance, but I do remember going to that map that night and making note that something had changed.
*I had a few toys at that point; I remember most treasuring my Hotwheels and related cars that I had gotten from a previous Christmas.
*I started actively liking Disney movies. My favorite at the time was actually The Little Mermaid, largely due to my love of the ocean, and admiration of independent individuals that break their mold. The catchy music I enjoyed, too.
*I learned to ride a bike, and spent a lot of time in years since riding around Evanston alone, with friends, and with my dad.
*I loved water, any chance we got to go to a pool I'd want to go swimming. Seeing this interest, my parents enrolled me in swimming classes, which I helped greatly, even though they weren't as fun.
*I picked up violin at this point, though having been forced to enroll with this very strict teacher, I wasn't too thrilled at the time. It was very meaningful though, and even though I don't play now, I have an appreciation for what regular people are musically capable of when they work at mastery. I kind of wish I kept it up...
*My parents independently enrolled me in figure skating skating classes with a friend. Don't get me wrong, "girly" as it might have seemed, I LOVED the ice. In terms of maneuverability, it's hard to beat figure skates, though some fine hockey skates come close. I did speed skating later on in life, but going around in circles just isn't as fun as doing "whatever you want" on figure skates.
*I also ended up doing gymnastics for a short period of time. It was fun, though the classes weren't quite as appealing.
*There used to be a HUGE slide in the back of our apartment in a common playground. It was awesome, but scary. It has since been removed, and replaced with something safer. (Kids these days...)

We went on a trip to Korea that winter year, the first time I ever that I remember being on a plane (the first few, I was too young). Oddly enough, I don't remember too much about this trip in terms of what we did. I *do* remember a lot about the people I met; the family that I connected with for the first time in a while.

On returning, I was severely jet lagged and missed a week of school. Fortunately, being kindergarten, I didn't have any homework to make up. =P

I started getting pets at this point in my life. The first were a set of 4 gold fish in a 10 gallon tank. It was here that I realized that having an aquarium is really cool, but the regular cleaning necessary to maintain one is a pain in the ass. I never got around to naming these fish; but I did learn to tell them apart. There were two gold ones, a white one, and a black one.

In the spring, coming back from a field trip where my mom was a chaperon, I was able to score a kitten from a litter they were giving away! I had never really interacted with cats before but I was fascinated by their playful hunter-like skills. We took one home, and named it May. Graceful, sneaky, fun-loving affectionate human companions, I've loved cats ever since.

[[File:1991-may.jpg]]

Later on, after meeting some behavioral goals (cleaning my room, brushing my teeth, doing chores, behaving in school, etc...), a pivotal life event happened: I got a Nintendo (NES)! I'm not sure what persuaded them to do so, since I don't recall asking for one or expressing interest in it. Though, looking back, I suspect it might be because I played a game while I was in Korea that I enjoyed (?) Regardless, I picked up the controller that day, and in a single 11 hour sitting, finished the first Super Mario Bros (I mean... you had to--there was no way to save!). A gamer was born that day, and he lives still =).

== Notables ==
*My parents getting niceties, like a worklamp for my dad's workstation, air-conditioning for the home, etc...
*Fish died, we buried it
*Christmas tree burning

Age 5-7

2015-07-27T20:23:01Z

Skyrien: /* Home Life */

This covers time from 1990-1992, while I lived in Evanston, IL. During this time, I developed a more clear sense of self centered around fun, learning, and curiosity. We moved there in the year prior, and I had been attending preschool, but that's not like going to "school".

Up until that point in my life, regardless of some days spent at preschool, home was predominantly where "things" occurred. During this period, I believe it began to shift toward more 50-50, as the educational influences of teachers grew, and the social influences of friends increased.

These would also be the last years where I was an only child. Today, I have two younger brothers, born in 1992 and 1994. But at this point, it was all me. =).

= School Life =

== Kindergarten (Age 5) ==
In the fall of 1990, my mom dropped me off at school for the first time. I'll never forget the first time I went up the steps of [http://www.district65.net/willard Willard Elementary] and looked back at the massive yellow school buses still converging on the school's narrow circle drive; a whole line of cars with moms and dads saying bye to their kids, a number of them crying and obviously not wanting to leave; and the ugly green tiling that was set before me as it led into the school's slopping corridor. I was five, and off to a new school.

I ended up going to two different homerooms over the course of that year [[for reasons I may go into later]], but I will say that if you didn't think teacher-child at that age matter, I will attest to you that you are wrong. The two classes were worlds apart, at least for me. Overall, my memory of Kindergarten was that it was awesome time, fun, and carefree. It felt exceptionally long but perhaps it was because it was such a new experience.

=== Memories ===
*I remember there was a long paper across the ceiling that counted up 1,2,3... the teacher added one for each day of school, and I remember marveling at how long the year had been when we reached the end.
*For one segment of the year, one enriching exercise we had was raising ducklings from eggs. The segment started with an incubator and 13 eggs, which we would learn how to manage.
*We churned butter at one point, and learned that the yellow coloring was typically artificial. Ours used carrot peels for coloration.
*I remember that kids would get a "hot" or "cold" lunch based on what their parents decided for them. This honestly shouldn't be a big deal, but somehow it was made to be a major segregation point for kids. Personally, I didn't have a strong preference for hot or cold, unless it was Thursday, because I had a penchant for the pizzas and chunky apple sauce they served that day. I believe the hot lunches cost $1.10 each. Reasonable for 1990.
*At school, I had a mix of male and female friends at this point--somewhat atypical, but I found that it led to more interesting experiences, and better strategic alliances. My closest friends were probably my neighbors in our apartment that my family knew at the time, but I also enjoyed time to myself to read or do stuff.

== First Grade (Age 6) ==

== Second Grade (Age 7) ==

= Home Life =
This stage of my life, home was actually rather awesome, at least in my memory. We lived in a modest 2 bedroom apartment in on Michigan Ave, a few blocks from the beach. I had my own room, a twin sized bed, which I still remember my dad putting together from wood pieces.

I remember most strongly that:
*I had a big map on the wall by my bed, which I would explore frequently, always being surprised at noticing something I had never seen before. I remember that it definitely had the "USSR" on there.
*I had a few toys at that point; I remember most treasuring my Hotwheels and related cars that I had gotten from a previous Christmas.
*I started actively liking Disney movies. My favorite at the time was actually The Little Mermaid, largely due to my love of the ocean, and admiration of independent individuals that break their mold. The catchy music I enjoyed, too.
*I learned to ride a bike, and spent a lot of time in years since riding around Evanston alone, with friends, and with my dad.
*I loved water, any chance we got to go to a pool I'd want to go swimming. Seeing this interest, my parents enrolled me in swimming classes, which I helped greatly, even though they weren't as fun.
*I picked up violin at this point, though having been forced to enroll with this very strict teacher, I wasn't too thrilled at the time. It was very meaningful though, and even though I don't play now, I have an appreciation for what regular people are musically capable of when they work at mastery. I kind of wish I kept it up...
*My parents independently enrolled me in figure skating skating classes with a friend. Don't get me wrong, "girly" as it might have seemed, I LOVED the ice. In terms of maneuverability, it's hard to beat figure skates, though some fine hockey skates come close. I did speed skating later on in life, but going around in circles just isn't as fun as doing "whatever you want" on figure skates.
*I also ended up doing gymnastics for a short period of time. It was fun, though the classes weren't quite as appealing.
*There used to be a HUGE slide in the back of our apartment in a common playground. It was awesome, but scary. It has since been removed, and replaced with something safer. (Kids these days...)

We went on a trip to Korea that winter year, the first time I ever that I remember being on a plane (the first few, I was too young). Oddly enough, I don't remember too much about this trip in terms of what we did. I *do* remember a lot about the people I met; the family that I connected with for the first time in a while.

On returning, I was severely jet lagged and missed a week of school. Fortunately, being kindergarten, I didn't have any homework to make up. =P

I started getting pets at this point in my life. The first were a set of 4 gold fish in a 10 gallon tank. It was here that I realized that having an aquarium is really cool, but the regular cleaning necessary to maintain one is a pain in the ass. I never got around to naming these fish; but I did learn to tell them apart. There were two gold ones, a white one, and a black one.

In the spring, coming back from a field trip where my mom was a chaperon, I was able to score a kitten from a litter they were giving away! I had never really interacted with cats before but I was fascinated by their playful hunter-like skills. We took one home, and named it May. Graceful, sneaky, fun-loving affectionate human companions, I've loved cats ever since.

[[File:1991-may.jpg]]

Later on, after meeting some behavioral goals (cleaning my room, brushing my teeth, doing chores, behaving in school, etc...), a pivotal life event happened: I got a Nintendo (NES)! I'm not sure what persuaded them to do so, since I don't recall asking for one or expressing interest in it. Though, looking back, I suspect it might be because I played a game while I was in Korea that I enjoyed (?) Regardless, I picked up the controller that day, and in a single 11 hour sitting, finished the first Super Mario Bros (I mean... you had to--there was no way to save!). A gamer was born that day, and he lives still =).

== Notables ==
*My parents getting niceties, like a worklamp for my dad's workstation, air-conditioning for the home, etc...
*Fish died, we buried it
*Christmas tree burning

Age 5-7

2015-07-27T20:18:36Z

Skyrien:

This covers time from 1990-1992, while I lived in Evanston, IL. During this time, I developed a more clear sense of self centered around fun, learning, and curiosity. We moved there in the year prior, and I had been attending preschool, but that's not like going to "school".

Up until that point in my life, regardless of some days spent at preschool, home was predominantly where "things" occurred. During this period, I believe it began to shift toward more 50-50, as the educational influences of teachers grew, and the social influences of friends increased.

These would also be the last years where I was an only child. Today, I have two younger brothers, born in 1992 and 1994. But at this point, it was all me. =).

= School Life =

== Kindergarten (Age 5) ==
In the fall of 1990, my mom dropped me off at school for the first time. I'll never forget the first time I went up the steps of [http://www.district65.net/willard Willard Elementary] and looked back at the massive yellow school buses still converging on the school's narrow circle drive; a whole line of cars with moms and dads saying bye to their kids, a number of them crying and obviously not wanting to leave; and the ugly green tiling that was set before me as it led into the school's slopping corridor. I was five, and off to a new school.

I ended up going to two different homerooms over the course of that year [[for reasons I may go into later]], but I will say that if you didn't think teacher-child at that age matter, I will attest to you that you are wrong. The two classes were worlds apart, at least for me. Overall, my memory of Kindergarten was that it was awesome time, fun, and carefree. It felt exceptionally long but perhaps it was because it was such a new experience.

=== Memories ===
*I remember there was a long paper across the ceiling that counted up 1,2,3... the teacher added one for each day of school, and I remember marveling at how long the year had been when we reached the end.
*For one segment of the year, one enriching exercise we had was raising ducklings from eggs. The segment started with an incubator and 13 eggs, which we would learn how to manage.
*We churned butter at one point, and learned that the yellow coloring was typically artificial. Ours used carrot peels for coloration.
*I remember that kids would get a "hot" or "cold" lunch based on what their parents decided for them. This honestly shouldn't be a big deal, but somehow it was made to be a major segregation point for kids. Personally, I didn't have a strong preference for hot or cold, unless it was Thursday, because I had a penchant for the pizzas and chunky apple sauce they served that day. I believe the hot lunches cost $1.10 each. Reasonable for 1990.
*At school, I had a mix of male and female friends at this point--somewhat atypical, but I found that it led to more interesting experiences, and better strategic alliances. My closest friends were probably my neighbors in our apartment that my family knew at the time, but I also enjoyed time to myself to read or do stuff.

== First Grade (Age 6) ==

== Second Grade (Age 7) ==

= Home Life =
This stage of my life, home was actually rather awesome, at least in my memory. We lived in a modest 2 bedroom apartment in on Michigan Ave, a few blocks from the beach. I had my own room, a twin sized bed, which I still remember my dad putting together from wood pieces.

I remember most strongly that:
*I had a big map on the wall by my bed, which I would explore frequently, always being surprised at noticing something I had never seen before. I remember that it definitely had the "USSR" on there.
*I had a few toys at that point; I remember most treasuring my Hotwheels and related cars that I had gotten from a previous Christmas.
*I started actively liking Disney movies. My favorite at the time was actually The Little Mermaid, largely due to my love of the ocean, and admiration of independent individuals that break their mold. The catchy music I enjoyed, too.
*I learned to ride a bike, and spent a lot of time in years since riding around Evanston alone, with friends, and with my dad.
*I loved water, any chance we got to go to a pool I'd want to go swimming. Seeing this interest, my parents enrolled me in swimming classes, which I helped greatly, even though they weren't as fun.
*I picked up violin at this point, though having been forced to enroll with this very strict teacher, I wasn't too thrilled at the time. It was very meaningful though, and even though I don't play now, I have an appreciation for what regular people are musically capable of when they work at mastery. I kind of wish I kept it up...
*My parents independently enrolled me in figure skating skating classes with a friend. Don't get me wrong, "girly" as it might have seemed, I LOVED the ice. In terms of maneuverability, it's hard to beat figure skates, though some fine hockey skates come close. I did speed skating later on in life, but going around in circles just isn't as fun as doing "whatever you want" on figure skates.
*I also ended up doing gymnastics for a short period of time. It was fun, though the classes weren't quite as appealing.
*There used to be a HUGE slide in the back of our apartment in a common playground. It was awesome, but scary. It has since been removed, and replaced with something safer. (Kids these days...)

We went on a trip to Korea that winter year, the first time I ever that I remember being on a plane (the first few, I was too young). Oddly enough, I don't remember too much about this trip in terms of what we did. I *do* remember a lot about the people I met; the family that I connected with for the first time in a while.

On returning, I was severely jet lagged and missed a week of school. Fortunately, being kindergarten, I didn't have any homework to make up. =P

I started getting pets at this point in my life. The first were a set of 4 gold fish in a 10 gallon tank. It was here that I realized that having an aquarium is really cool, but the regular cleaning necessary to maintain one is a pain in the ass. I never got around to naming these fish; but I did learn to tell them apart. There were two gold ones, a white one, and a black one.

In the spring, coming back from a field trip where my mom was a chaperon, I was able to score a kitten from a litter they were giving away! I had never really interacted with cats before but I was fascinated by their playful hunter-like skills. We took one home, and named it May. Graceful, sneaky, fun-loving affectionate human companions, I've loved cats ever since.
[[File:1991-may.jpg]]

Later on, after meeting some behavioral goals (cleaning my room, brushing my teeth, doing chores, behaving in school, etc...), a pivotal life event happened: I got a Nintendo (NES)! I'm not sure what persuaded them to do so, since I don't recall asking for one or expressing interest in it. Though, looking back, I suspect it might be because I played a game while I was in Korea that I enjoyed (?) Regardless, I picked up the controller that day, and in a single 11 hour sitting, finished the first Super Mario Bros (I mean... you had to--there was no way to save!). A gamer was born that day, and he lives still =).

== Notables ==
*My parents getting niceties, like a worklamp for my dad's workstation, air-conditioning for the home, etc...
*Fish died, we buried it
*Christmas tree burning

File:1991-may.jpg

2015-07-27T19:31:38Z

Skyrien: Undated picture, probably from 1991 of my first cat, May. He came from a litter at a on a farm where my class was on a field trip.

Undated picture, probably from 1991 of my first cat, May. He came from a litter at a on a farm where my class was on a field trip.

Age 5-7

2015-07-27T19:30:06Z

Skyrien: Created page with "This covers time from 1990-1992, while I lived in Evanston, IL. During this time, I developed a more clear sense of self centered around fun, learning, and curiosity. We moved..."

Autobiographical content

2015-07-27T18:45:12Z

Skyrien: /* 1985-1995: Birth and Early Childhood */

I guess my autobiography has to start somewhere, right? And I bet it would be rather difficult to write it without taking notes on life as I went along. Here, I will write a narrated perspective of events in my life. I probably will not not write this in chronological order, but they will be put in the appropriate context. Over time, a more complete picture will emerge.

''A note on accuracy: This section is likely to be a perpetual draft, and much of it before the present is constructed from what I can recall, personal writings, interviews, and other sources and accounts. Beyond this, as I'm writing this to be a heavily written from the memory of my experience of these memories. Inaccuracies, alternate interpretations, and new conclusions based on uncovered information are wholly possible and over time, likely. And as is intended, as I expect our own interpretation of history, values, and our experience of them will likely evolve over time as well. Be that as it may, I will still strive for factual accuracy and when presenting a conflicting idea, I will identify the conflict and clarify salient differences in memory.''

= Chronological =
I've experienced that in life, there are long periods of seeming stasis, and then everything changes at once. I keep thinking of the term 'punctuated equilibrium' to analogize about this phenomenon. In any case, I've attempted to divide the sections into meaningful logical chunks, but it may shift over time.

== Before May 23rd 1985 ==
Tectonic shifts in geopolitics have occurred over the span of our parents' and grandparents' lifetimes. When I have the opportunity to meet distant or long disconnected extended family, I've used it to expand my knowledge of my family's story across the world. It's quite fascinating how much history has been lived by those closest to us.

Coming from Asia, much of their story are influenced by the tensions and conflicts of the region, particularly in and around Korea in the early 20th century due to imperial aspirations of Japan resulting in WWII, the partition of Korea, and the Korean War. Beyond this, how my parents' generation found their way to America is another chapter entirely, one that writes the personal story of one Asian-American immigrant family. I will write relevant findings here and in the [[family history]] page.

*[[Family history]]
*[[World history]]

== 1985-1995: Birth and Early Childhood ==

This first period covers birth to the end of early-childhood at Age 10. It starts at the time I was born in Korea, and the entirety of my time in the US before my family moved back to Korea in 1995. This period was obviously a hugely formative period for the fostering of my core values, joys, and intrinsic curiosity.

=== Identity ===
Language and ethnic heritage are often one's first experience with their cultural identity after their birth. For me, there was always some amount of tension in my relationship with language. In my earliest years, my vocabulary and language was derived from what I learned at home, and became Korean-focused, given it was what I spoke at home. As a result, while I understood spoken English, I found it harder to express in public. Fortunately, my school had a good ESL program that I attended while in kindergarten. I didn't think much of it then, but it would be a key experience growing up an America. I didn't have any issues comprehending the written or spoken word; I was just averse to expressing it. Later on, I developed a huge fondness for reading, and quickly became very fluent (aided by media that encouraged me to learn more), which gave me more confidence to speak out more.

Speaking two (or more) languages natively (opposed to acquired fluency) is a common experience in American immigrant stories, and I think it's pretty cool to have access to the corpus of culture that language fluency presents, and I'd love to be able to teach my own kids what I know, and perhaps even the experience of another culture or place. Given how often my family moved, I learned to take the perpetual need to learn in stride and developed a skill and even an enjoyment of adapting to new people, things, and situations. Some of this would backfire and result in a search for identity in my second decade, but at this time, it helped me to see society as a system that I could come to understand, and adapt to, after some trial and error.

I can certainly note that the quality of education varied from place to place, from teacher to teacher. Going from 2nd grade in Evanston to 3rd grade in Capron felt like dropping two years of education. Where you go to school has a huge influence on your experiences and the sense of possibility afforded to you. I was fortunate enough to have parents that cared about the quality of education I received, and were able to intervene when it was in my interest, as well as having a strong intrinsic desire to explore what's out there.

It was in this time that I developed an obvious interest in how things work. My dad tells me that when I was in kindergarten, my teacher once told him that in school assembly that I paid more attention the projector showing the some boring film, rather than said boring film. In my defense, I'll note that this was in 1991, and the projector was an ancient film reel (yes! in 1991 a film projector in a school!) that spun a big spool of film from one wheel to another. How is that *not* awesome to look at? Today, it would be a retro fascination for it to be seen anywhere, let alone in regular use.

I actually do remember doing this, and specifically, what I was noticing (and learning as a 6 year old kid) was how the wheels spun at different rates, based how much film was in the reel, and the question that I had in my mind at the time was on how it kept the film at the same speed. Basically, I was being an early nerd, and of this, I am proud. :)

My parents euphemistically note that I liked to "deconstruct" things to see how they worked. Basically, I'd like to take things apart, particularly mechanical and electrical things (projectors, monitors, computers, motors, etc...) to examine their workings. I was also given access to my dad's PC pretty early, at around the age of 6, and quickly mastered DOS enough to basically be the tech guy at home.

That said, even my few years in rural Illinois was a highly unique experience that today (in 2015) I treasure, despite all the challenges at the time adjusting to a completely different life experience, even as a kid.

My feelings over my time in Korea that came after this period are a bit more complicated...

'''Memories'''
*Green used to be my favorite color, at least until kindergarten. Then around the age of 9-10, I started to love the ocean, water, and the color blue.
*In my room since I was 5, I used to have a big geopolitical map that covered the wall by my bed. I recommend every parent of a curious child to put a big map in their room. Seriously. It will expand their mind and their awareness. I also remember when the Gulf War started (when I was 5), that my dad pointed at Iraq on the map and said "these guys are bad." Lol.
*Star Trek came into my life pretty early, and I was a fan by age 7. It all started with me accidentally renting 'Star Trek VI', instead of 'Star Wars'. While it wasn't the sci-fi/fantasy/space opera that Star Wars was, I was sold on the future-oriented vision of peace, the cool effects, and the politics, which echoed some of the Cold War detente that my dad had tried to explain to me when the Soviet Union was dissolved. Levar Burton played my favorite character, chief engineer Geordi LaForge, on TNG and I carefully followed it till the series finale which aired on my birthday in 1994. One effect was on my vocabulary, where at school, I was using words and style of speech learnt while watching TNG in my speech and writing, which teachers thought highly. In one example, I got in trouble once in fourth grade for saying "hell", as in "What the hell?" clearly echoing Riker's flabbergast moment from the TNG episode the night before. I can't quite tell if things were just more language-strict in the 90s or if its just because I was younger.
*Once I came in contact with a PC, I never let go. By my late 0s, I was solidly a PC gamer; SimAnt was the first game I ever bought, and by the end of this period my favorite games were Doom, Simcity 2000, and underrated adventure game, Star Trek: A Final Unity. Not that I was opposed to consoles--the first game I ever played was on the NES, and had Sega Genesis and thoroughly enjoyed games like Sonic and Ecco, and had loved the original StarFox on SNES. Still, I loved the depth of control and richness that PC games afforded, also the fact that it appealed to a more educated, mature audience. I liked that, and that paid off hugely for me.
*By all standards, I read a lot, though a lot of it was fluff. I really enjoyed picking books from Scholastic catalogs, and in my early years, read stuff like the series like the Bernstein Bears, the Boxcar children, later reading books like Goosebumps and periodicals that my parents would read such as Time magazine and Popular Mechanics. Events like Walk-A-Thons for reading also encouraged a great deal of exploration in my language arts.
*I had an odd fondness for antique stores--there was on in Capron that I would frequent, and I'd find trinkets worth <$1.
*I got an allowance as a kid, for doing household chores. I feel it was an excellent way to reward constructive work ethic, while also developing a child's sense of money as capital.
*I got lost in a cornfield once for almost 2 hours when I was 9--rather terrifying at the time, but an epic adventure looking back. I eventually found my way back when I realized I could use the direction of the shadows to follow a path back to where I had started.
*I had my first PC during this time, a 386SX 16MHz / 4MB / 60 MB / 3.5" 1.44MB / 2400 baud modem. My dad told me when he bought it, it was a whopping $3,000, with the upgraded RAM, which he needed for school work. Insane to think of today, but that's the rig that I learned DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1.
*By the end of the decade, I was badly in need of a new PC, and I started plotting what kind of PC I could 'encourage' my family to get next...

===By Age===
*[[Age 0-1|0-1]] - Korea
*[[Age 2-4|2-4]] - Chicago, Evanston
*[[Age 5-7|5-7]] - Evanston
*[[Age 8-10|8-10]] - Capron

== 1995-2004: Late Childhood/Early Adolescence ==

This period covers late childhood to early adolescence. It includes the entirety of my time in [[Korea]] (1995-2000) and [[return to the United States]] from junior high to early college.

===By Age===
*[[Age 10-12|10-12]] - Korea (Elementary)
*[[Age 13-14|13-14]] - Korea (Middle)
*[[Age 15-18|15-18]] - US (Jr High-High)

== 2004-2015: Late Adolescence/Early Adulthood ==

This period covers the late adolescence of college and the start of independent adult life.

===By Age===
*[[Age 19-23|19-23]]
*[[Age 24-27|24-27]]
*[[Age 28-29|28-29]]

== 2015: The Present ==

With the fourth decade, getting started as I've turned 30, I guess I shouldn't use the phrase "when I grow up" anymore :). By and large, I'm still the me I was when I was younger, though much of the future is yet to be determined.

===By Age===
*[[Age 30|30]]

== Future (2016-2085) ==
These are ages yet to come. Detail will be added over time.

===By Age===
*[[Age 31|31]]
*[[Age 32|32]]
*[[Age 33|33]]
...

== The end? (2085-2101?) ==
I've taken a number life expectancy tests over the years, and kept tabs on my overall health. Generally, these simple non-scientific online tests have given me numbers between 92-100, so for mental convenience, I've just kept 100 in mind (though I'm really pushing for at least 115 :)); thus means I would live to around 2085. This means I'd get to see the bulk of the 21st century come to pass, and unless I screw up badly, will have left a dent to last longer than that.

===By Age===
*[[Age 100|100]]
*[[Age 115|115]]

Excellent - Bring Life On! :)

Autobiographical content

2015-07-27T18:44:12Z

Skyrien: /* 1985-1995: Birth and Early Childhood */

I guess my autobiography has to start somewhere, right? And I bet it would be rather difficult to write it without taking notes on life as I went along. Here, I will write a narrated perspective of events in my life. I probably will not not write this in chronological order, but they will be put in the appropriate context. Over time, a more complete picture will emerge.

''A note on accuracy: This section is likely to be a perpetual draft, and much of it before the present is constructed from what I can recall, personal writings, interviews, and other sources and accounts. Beyond this, as I'm writing this to be a heavily written from the memory of my experience of these memories. Inaccuracies, alternate interpretations, and new conclusions based on uncovered information are wholly possible and over time, likely. And as is intended, as I expect our own interpretation of history, values, and our experience of them will likely evolve over time as well. Be that as it may, I will still strive for factual accuracy and when presenting a conflicting idea, I will identify the conflict and clarify salient differences in memory.''

= Chronological =
I've experienced that in life, there are long periods of seeming stasis, and then everything changes at once. I keep thinking of the term 'punctuated equilibrium' to analogize about this phenomenon. In any case, I've attempted to divide the sections into meaningful logical chunks, but it may shift over time.

== Before May 23rd 1985 ==
Tectonic shifts in geopolitics have occurred over the span of our parents' and grandparents' lifetimes. When I have the opportunity to meet distant or long disconnected extended family, I've used it to expand my knowledge of my family's story across the world. It's quite fascinating how much history has been lived by those closest to us.

Coming from Asia, much of their story are influenced by the tensions and conflicts of the region, particularly in and around Korea in the early 20th century due to imperial aspirations of Japan resulting in WWII, the partition of Korea, and the Korean War. Beyond this, how my parents' generation found their way to America is another chapter entirely, one that writes the personal story of one Asian-American immigrant family. I will write relevant findings here and in the [[family history]] page.

*[[Family history]]
*[[World history]]

== 1985-1995: Birth and Early Childhood ==

This first period covers birth to the end of early-childhood at Age 10. It starts at the time I was born in Korea, and the entirety of my time in the US before my family moved back to Korea in 1995. Looking back, I realize that this period was a hugely formative period for the fostering of my core values, joys, and intrinsic curiosity.

=== Identity ===
Language and ethnic heritage are often one's first experience with their cultural identity after their birth. For me, there was always some amount of tension in my relationship with language. In my earliest years, my vocabulary and language was derived from what I learned at home, and became Korean-focused, given it was what I spoke at home. As a result, while I understood spoken English, I found it harder to express in public. Fortunately, my school had a good ESL program that I attended while in kindergarten. I didn't think much of it then, but it would be a key experience growing up an America. I didn't have any issues comprehending the written or spoken word; I was just averse to expressing it. Later on, I developed a huge fondness for reading, and quickly became very fluent (aided by media that encouraged me to learn more), which gave me more confidence to speak out more.

Speaking two (or more) languages natively (opposed to acquired fluency) is a common experience in American immigrant stories, and I think it's pretty cool to have access to the corpus of culture that language fluency presents, and I'd love to be able to teach my own kids what I know, and perhaps even the experience of another culture or place. Given how often my family moved, I learned to take the perpetual need to learn in stride and developed a skill and even an enjoyment of adapting to new people, things, and situations. Some of this would backfire and result in a search for identity in my second decade, but at this time, it helped me to see society as a system that I could come to understand, and adapt to, after some trial and error.

I can certainly note that the quality of education varied from place to place, from teacher to teacher. Going from 2nd grade in Evanston to 3rd grade in Capron felt like dropping two years of education. Where you go to school has a huge influence on your experiences and the sense of possibility afforded to you. I was fortunate enough to have parents that cared about the quality of education I received, and were able to intervene when it was in my interest, as well as having a strong intrinsic desire to explore what's out there.

It was in this time that I developed an obvious interest in how things work. My dad tells me that when I was in kindergarten, my teacher once told him that in school assembly that I paid more attention the projector showing the some boring film, rather than said boring film. In my defense, I'll note that this was in 1991, and the projector was an ancient film reel (yes! in 1991 a film projector in a school!) that spun a big spool of film from one wheel to another. How is that *not* awesome to look at? Today, it would be a retro fascination for it to be seen anywhere, let alone in regular use.

I actually do remember doing this, and specifically, what I was noticing (and learning as a 6 year old kid) was how the wheels spun at different rates, based how much film was in the reel, and the question that I had in my mind at the time was on how it kept the film at the same speed. Basically, I was being an early nerd, and of this, I am proud. :)

My parents euphemistically note that I liked to "deconstruct" things to see how they worked. Basically, I'd like to take things apart, particularly mechanical and electrical things (projectors, monitors, computers, motors, etc...) to examine their workings. I was also given access to my dad's PC pretty early, at around the age of 6, and quickly mastered DOS enough to basically be the tech guy at home.

That said, even my few years in rural Illinois was a highly unique experience that today (in 2015) I treasure, despite all the challenges at the time adjusting to a completely different life experience, even as a kid.

My feelings over my time in Korea that came after this period are a bit more complicated...

'''Memories'''
*Green used to be my favorite color, at least until kindergarten. Then around the age of 9-10, I started to love the ocean, water, and the color blue.
*In my room since I was 5, I used to have a big geopolitical map that covered the wall by my bed. I recommend every parent of a curious child to put a big map in their room. Seriously. It will expand their mind and their awareness. I also remember when the Gulf War started (when I was 5), that my dad pointed at Iraq on the map and said "these guys are bad." Lol.
*Star Trek came into my life pretty early, and I was a fan by age 7. It all started with me accidentally renting 'Star Trek VI', instead of 'Star Wars'. While it wasn't the sci-fi/fantasy/space opera that Star Wars was, I was sold on the future-oriented vision of peace, the cool effects, and the politics, which echoed some of the Cold War detente that my dad had tried to explain to me when the Soviet Union was dissolved. Levar Burton played my favorite character, chief engineer Geordi LaForge, on TNG and I carefully followed it till the series finale which aired on my birthday in 1994. One effect was on my vocabulary, where at school, I was using words and style of speech learnt while watching TNG in my speech and writing, which teachers thought highly. In one example, I got in trouble once in fourth grade for saying "hell", as in "What the hell?" clearly echoing Riker's flabbergast moment from the TNG episode the night before. I can't quite tell if things were just more language-strict in the 90s or if its just because I was younger.
*Once I came in contact with a PC, I never let go. By my late 0s, I was solidly a PC gamer; SimAnt was the first game I ever bought, and by the end of this period my favorite games were Doom, Simcity 2000, and underrated adventure game, Star Trek: A Final Unity. Not that I was opposed to consoles--the first game I ever played was on the NES, and had Sega Genesis and thoroughly enjoyed games like Sonic and Ecco, and had loved the original StarFox on SNES. Still, I loved the depth of control and richness that PC games afforded, also the fact that it appealed to a more educated, mature audience. I liked that, and that paid off hugely for me.
*By all standards, I read a lot, though a lot of it was fluff. I really enjoyed picking books from Scholastic catalogs, and in my early years, read stuff like the series like the Bernstein Bears, the Boxcar children, later reading books like Goosebumps and periodicals that my parents would read such as Time magazine and Popular Mechanics. Events like Walk-A-Thons for reading also encouraged a great deal of exploration in my language arts.
*I had an odd fondness for antique stores--there was on in Capron that I would frequent, and I'd find trinkets worth <$1.
*I got an allowance as a kid, for doing household chores. I feel it was an excellent way to reward constructive work ethic, while also developing a child's sense of money as capital.
*I got lost in a cornfield once for almost 2 hours when I was 9--rather terrifying at the time, but an epic adventure looking back. I eventually found my way back when I realized I could use the direction of the shadows to follow a path back to where I had started.
*I had my first PC during this time, a 386SX 16MHz / 4MB / 60 MB / 3.5" 1.44MB / 2400 baud modem. My dad told me when he bought it, it was a whopping $3,000, with the upgraded RAM, which he needed for school work. Insane to think of today, but that's the rig that I learned DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1.
*By the end of the decade, I was badly in need of a new PC, and I started plotting what kind of PC I could 'encourage' my family to get next...

===By Age===
*[[Age 0-1|0-1]] - Korea
*[[Age 2-4|2-4]] - Chicago, Evanston
*[[Age 5-7|5-7]] - Evanston
*[[Age 8-10|8-10]] - Capron

== 1995-2004: Late Childhood/Early Adolescence ==

This period covers late childhood to early adolescence. It includes the entirety of my time in [[Korea]] (1995-2000) and [[return to the United States]] from junior high to early college.

===By Age===
*[[Age 10-12|10-12]] - Korea (Elementary)
*[[Age 13-14|13-14]] - Korea (Middle)
*[[Age 15-18|15-18]] - US (Jr High-High)

== 2004-2015: Late Adolescence/Early Adulthood ==

This period covers the late adolescence of college and the start of independent adult life.

===By Age===
*[[Age 19-23|19-23]]
*[[Age 24-27|24-27]]
*[[Age 28-29|28-29]]

== 2015: The Present ==

With the fourth decade, getting started as I've turned 30, I guess I shouldn't use the phrase "when I grow up" anymore :). By and large, I'm still the me I was when I was younger, though much of the future is yet to be determined.

===By Age===
*[[Age 30|30]]

== Future (2016-2085) ==
These are ages yet to come. Detail will be added over time.

===By Age===
*[[Age 31|31]]
*[[Age 32|32]]
*[[Age 33|33]]
...

== The end? (2085-2101?) ==
I've taken a number life expectancy tests over the years, and kept tabs on my overall health. Generally, these simple non-scientific online tests have given me numbers between 92-100, so for mental convenience, I've just kept 100 in mind (though I'm really pushing for at least 115 :)); thus means I would live to around 2085. This means I'd get to see the bulk of the 21st century come to pass, and unless I screw up badly, will have left a dent to last longer than that.

===By Age===
*[[Age 100|100]]
*[[Age 115|115]]

Excellent - Bring Life On! :)

Autobiographical content

2015-07-27T18:25:47Z

Skyrien:

I guess my autobiography has to start somewhere, right? And I bet it would be rather difficult to write it without taking notes on life as I went along. Here, I will write a narrated perspective of events in my life. I probably will not not write this in chronological order, but they will be put in the appropriate context. Over time, a more complete picture will emerge.

''A note on accuracy: This section is likely to be a perpetual draft, and much of it before the present is constructed from what I can recall, personal writings, interviews, and other sources and accounts. Beyond this, as I'm writing this to be a heavily written from the memory of my experience of these memories. Inaccuracies, alternate interpretations, and new conclusions based on uncovered information are wholly possible and over time, likely. And as is intended, as I expect our own interpretation of history, values, and our experience of them will likely evolve over time as well. Be that as it may, I will still strive for factual accuracy and when presenting a conflicting idea, I will identify the conflict and clarify salient differences in memory.''

= Chronological =
I've experienced that in life, there are long periods of seeming stasis, and then everything changes at once. I keep thinking of the term 'punctuated equilibrium' to analogize about this phenomenon. In any case, I've attempted to divide the sections into meaningful logical chunks, but it may shift over time.

== Before May 23rd 1985 ==
Tectonic shifts in geopolitics have occurred over the span of our parents' and grandparents' lifetimes. When I have the opportunity to meet distant or long disconnected extended family, I've used it to expand my knowledge of my family's story across the world. It's quite fascinating how much history has been lived by those closest to us.

Coming from Asia, much of their story are influenced by the tensions and conflicts of the region, particularly in and around Korea in the early 20th century due to imperial aspirations of Japan resulting in WWII, the partition of Korea, and the Korean War. Beyond this, how my parents' generation found their way to America is another chapter entirely, one that writes the personal story of one Asian-American immigrant family. I will write relevant findings here and in the [[family history]] page.

*[[Family history]]
*[[World history]]

== 1985-1995: Birth and Early Childhood ==

This first period covers birth to the end of early-childhood at Age 10. It starts at the time I was born in Korea, and the entirety of my time in the US before my family moved back to Korea in 1995. Looking back, I realize that this period was a hugely formative period for the fostering of my core values, joys, and intrinsic curiosity.

My parents euphemistically note that I liked to "deconstruct" things to see how they worked. Basically, I'd like to take things apart, particularly mechanical and electrical things (projectors, monitors, computers, motors, etc...) to examine their workings. I was also given access to my dad's PC pretty early, at around the age of 6, and quickly mastered DOS enough to basically be the tech guy at home.

There was always some amount of tension with my relationship with language. In my earliest years, my vocabulary and language was derived from what I learned at home, and became Korean-focused, given it was what I spoke at home. As a result, while I understood spoken English, I found it harder to express in public. Fortunately, my school had a good ESL program that I attended while in kindergarten. I didn't think much of it then, but it would be a key experience growing up an America. I didn't have any issues comprehending the written or spoken word; I was just averse to expressing it. Later on, I developed a huge fondness for reading, and quickly became very fluent (aided by media that encouraged me to learn more), which gave me more confidence to speak out more.

Given how often my family moved, I learned to take the perpetual need to learn in stride and developed a skill and even an enjoyment of adapting to new people, things, and situations. Some of this would backfire and result in a search for identity in my second decade, but at this time, it helped me to see society as a system that I could come to understand, and adapt to, after some trial and error.

I can certainly note that the quality of education varied from place to place, from teacher to teacher. Going from 2nd grade in Evanston to 3rd grade in Capron felt like dropping two years of education. I realize that where you go to school has a huge influence on your experiences and the sense of possibility afforded to you. I was fortunate enough to have parents that cared about the quality of education I received, and were able to intervene when it was in my interest.

That said, even my few years in rural Illinois was a highly unique experience that today (in 2015) I treasure, despite all the challenges at the time adjusting to a completely different life experience, even as a kid.

My feelings over my time in Korea that came after this period are a bit more complicated...

'''Memories'''
*Green used to be my favorite color, at least until kindergarten. Then around the age of 9-10, I started to love the ocean, water, and the color blue.
*In my room since I was 5, I used to have a big geopolitical map that covered the wall by my bed. I recommend every parent of a curious child to put a big map in their room. Seriously. It will expand their mind and their awareness. I also remember when the Gulf War started (when I was 5), that my dad pointed at Iraq on the map and said "these guys are bad." Lol.
*Star Trek came into my life pretty early, and I was a fan by age 7. It all started with me accidentally renting 'Star Trek VI', instead of 'Star Wars'. While it wasn't the sci-fi/fantasy/space opera that Star Wars was, I was sold on the future-oriented vision of peace, the cool effects, and the politics, which echoed some of the Cold War detente that my dad had tried to explain to me when the Soviet Union was dissolved. Levar Burton played my favorite character, chief engineer Geordi LaForge, on TNG and I carefully followed it till the series finale which aired on my birthday in 1994. One effect was on my vocabulary, where at school, I was using words and style of speech learnt while watching TNG in my speech and writing, which teachers thought highly. In one example, I got in trouble once in fourth grade for saying "hell", as in "What the hell?" clearly echoing Riker's flabbergast moment from the TNG episode the night before. I can't quite tell if things were just more language-strict in the 90s or if its just because I was younger.
*Once I came in contact with a PC, I never let go. By my late 0s, I was solidly a PC gamer; SimAnt was the first game I ever bought, and by the end of this period my favorite games were Doom, Simcity 2000, and underrated adventure game, Star Trek: A Final Unity. Not that I was opposed to consoles--the first game I ever played was on the NES, and had Sega Genesis and thoroughly enjoyed games like Sonic and Ecco, and had loved the original StarFox on SNES. Still, I loved the depth of control and richness that PC games afforded, also the fact that it appealed to a more educated, mature audience. I liked that, and that paid off hugely for me.
*By all standards, I read a lot, though a lot of it was fluff. I really enjoyed picking books from Scholastic catalogs, and in my early years, read stuff like the series like the Bernstein Bears, the Boxcar children, later reading books like Goosebumps and periodicals that my parents would read such as Time magazine and Popular Mechanics. Events like Walk-A-Thons for reading also encouraged a great deal of exploration in my language arts.
*I had an odd fondness for antique stores--there was on in Capron that I would frequent, and I'd find trinkets worth <$1.
*I got an allowance as a kid, for doing household chores. I feel it was an excellent way to reward constructive work ethic, while also developing a child's sense of money as capital.
*I got lost in a cornfield once for almost 2 hours when I was 9--rather terrifying at the time, but an epic adventure looking back. I eventually found my way back when I realized I could use the direction of the shadows to follow a path back to where I had started.
*I had my first PC during this time, a 386SX 16MHz / 4MB / 60 MB / 3.5" 1.44MB / 2400 baud modem. My dad told me when he bought it, it was a whopping $3,000, with the upgraded RAM, which he needed for school work. Insane to think of today, but that's the rig that I learned DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1.
*By the end of the decade, I was badly in need of a new PC, and I started plotting what kind of PC I could 'encourage' my family to get next...

===By Age===
*[[Age 0-1|0-1]] - Korea
*[[Age 2-4|2-4]] - Chicago, Evanston
*[[Age 5-7|5-7]] - Evanston
*[[Age 8-10|8-10]] - Capron

== 1995-2004: Late Childhood/Early Adolescence ==

This period covers late childhood to early adolescence. It includes the entirety of my time in [[Korea]] (1995-2000) and [[return to the United States]] from junior high to early college.

===By Age===
*[[Age 10-12|10-12]] - Korea (Elementary)
*[[Age 13-14|13-14]] - Korea (Middle)
*[[Age 15-18|15-18]] - US (Jr High-High)

== 2004-2015: Late Adolescence/Early Adulthood ==

This period covers the late adolescence of college and the start of independent adult life.

===By Age===
*[[Age 19-23|19-23]]
*[[Age 24-27|24-27]]
*[[Age 28-29|28-29]]

== 2015: The Present ==

With the fourth decade, getting started as I've turned 30, I guess I shouldn't use the phrase "when I grow up" anymore :). By and large, I'm still the me I was when I was younger, though much of the future is yet to be determined.

===By Age===
*[[Age 30|30]]

== Future (2016-2085) ==
These are ages yet to come. Detail will be added over time.

===By Age===
*[[Age 31|31]]
*[[Age 32|32]]
*[[Age 33|33]]
...

== The end? (2085-2101?) ==
I've taken a number life expectancy tests over the years, and kept tabs on my overall health. Generally, these simple non-scientific online tests have given me numbers between 92-100, so for mental convenience, I've just kept 100 in mind (though I'm really pushing for at least 115 :)); thus means I would live to around 2085. This means I'd get to see the bulk of the 21st century come to pass, and unless I screw up badly, will have left a dent to last longer than that.

===By Age===
*[[Age 100|100]]
*[[Age 115|115]]

Excellent - Bring Life On! :)

Age 2-4

2015-07-27T18:24:19Z

Skyrien: /* School */

I have no memory of the flight to the US in 1987, so despite this and this period being a hugely significant marker in my life, I rely almost entirely on the memories of others to construct this history. Even my memories in Chicago start out as mere wisps of thought, but gradually build into an image of identity at around age 3 as I developed a sense of agency and grasp of the workings of the world (as well as a 3 year old can).

Notables:
*In 1987, my family moved to Chicago, Illinois from Seoul, Korea.
*In 1990(?) my family moved to Evanston, Illnois.

= Home life =

In Chicago, we lived in the [https://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?encType=1&where1=901%20S%20Ashland%20Ave%2c%20Chicago%2c%20IL%2060607&cp=41.8704566955566~-87.6657333374023&qpvt=901+S.+ASHLAND+AVE.+CHICAGO%2c+IL+60607&FORM=MIRE|Campus Green (possibly; unconfirmed)] apartments somewhere close to the UIC campus. This would have been near-South Side, current Little Italy, but in the late 1980s, which was notorious for crime. This coincided with an rising epidemic of gun violence sweeping across America, and formed the beginnings of "no tolerance" policies of the 90s across schools in the United States. My family was fortunate enough to never have any incidents, and whatever sense of fear my parents may have felt, I was never exposed to it, but in later stories from my parents and grandmother who came to visit, I was told that the fear of crime was pervasive through this period, and was a factor in us moving to the northern Chicago suburb of Evanston in 1989.

Despite all the adult concerns going on, I remember this period of childhood as a fun time when I observed the world from above (the apartment window), experimented with my surroundings to learn how things worked, and enjoyed as adventures the outings with my parents and grandmother to places of work for my parents. I don't remember too much *talking* during this time, and it is something that I feel could have helped me, but I quickly developed a sense for language and I remember my mother teaching me Korean from colored flashcards. Not that it helped me in school where i was learning English, but my parents largely spoke Korean at home, and learning what I did from these flashcards it gave me some basic literacy, and a sense for how the languages were connected.

The move to Evanston, oddly enough, I have almost no memory of. I do recall periods from actually moving in, setting up furniture and such, but not so much the leaving. Which is totally fine, since I don't think I was leaving much, and the time ahead would prove to be far more critical. I believe Evanston was a far superior growing environment for someone like me. The later years stand out much strongly, but the beginnings were most reflected by my memories of the schools.

= School =
I went two preschools before kindergarten, one whose name I forget but I was in a class called "the Green Room", the next, after we moved was Chiaravalle, a Montessori school in Evanston. The former felt more like a daycare, while the latter was a far more deliberate attempt at early-childhood enrichment and education. The educational impact is enormous, and I went into kindergarten far better prepared than my peers.

== The Green Room (Age 4) ==
I call this place in my memory the Green Room because that’s what we called it back then. Officially, it was a preschool care service that my dad had access to as a grad student at UIC, and it's where I spent a good chunk of my weekday mornings, but every day started with a 20 minute commute in our family car. I was an only child at that point--a state which I need to remind myself, because my family was different then.

The school itself was rather spartan, and honestly, I don't recall learning much there. At best, it seemed like a slightly enriching daycare. Fortunately, I was a high energy, creative kid, and had fun in this situation. One particular set of memories--I remember at this time in my life, I was small enough to fit inside our pillowcases, and I would frequently jump around in them, rather than nap. The most fun I had was during nap time, when I would sneak around evading teachers. (side note: what kind of *kid* is able to nap on a time? I never understood that policy) It got me in trouble a few times, though being only 3, it wasn't a big deal. Looking back, I believe it stems from a bit of impatience at highly regimented time-based activities, and an itching desire to explore.

Other notables:
*There was some sort of grinding device in the bathrooms that I never understood. I thought it might be for soap, so a few times, I put a bar of soap in it to see what it would do. Alas, it never seemed appreciated.
*Rather than a name, we addressed the teachers literally as "Teacher!". I think this was also reinforced at home by my parents as an appropriate title. This would later be corrected at Chiaravalle, which saw that as too rude of a term, and went with first names instead.

== Chiaravalle (Age 5) ==
This school showed how much difference a enriching learning environment can provide. I was 4 when attending this school--I recall picking up math rather quickly, but also really enjoying spelling--which would help me later. One part that frequently left me flummoxed was "Show and share" (as opposed to "show and tell". I recall trying lots of stuff during class, but I can't seem to remember what I presented.

Oddly enough, I don't really remember much about the other kids in the class. I didn't have any issues with them, they were just unmemorable.

Other notables:
*I have memories of being somewhat unruly in class, and here I recall I worked with my teacher and parents on a gamification exercise, to incentivize good behavior. It (somewhat) worked.
*One of the best memories of this schools was that on Wednesdays, we would go to the beach in Evanston! There I would spent equal amounts of time building sand canals and waterways, as well as playing in the water.
*One of those Wednesdays, something rather disgusting was discovered in the Boys room--a glass jar filled with what looked like it could be urine. A rather odd discovery, I do not believe a culprit was ever found, but I suspect it was some sort of prank.

= Memories =
*As for my time in Korea (until 1987), my memories are practically zero. I do remember being shown photos of myself from when I was 2 at around the age of 4, but I distinctly remember questioning whether it was still me.
*Around the time I was 3, I remember an incident with a friend, where we ate a small restaurant condiment dipper sized amount of salt and sesame oil. I mean, it was tasty for some reason, and I must have not had enough sodium. It wasn't a whole lot, probably only a couple grams split between us, though, I guess I was only 3. When our parents found out, they were a mixture of concerned and terrified. My mom was relatively calm and told me to drink lots of water (which I did), but my friend's mom rushed him to the bathroom and ordered him to pee. Odd reaction, and even now, I don't get the rationale, though it's probably something to do with hydrostatic equilibrium.
*I remember grandma (dad's side) carrying me on her back and getting gummy bears. Remember what I said about the fear of crime? I seem to remember her being slightly hilariously racist when walking down the streets, but I can't fault her for that. This was, after all a foreign country, and was the early 90s near the South Side of Chicago. Rough place and time.
*I remember a paper plate with blue handprints in paint (presumably mine), dated from some time in 1989. I am uncertain on if it was while we lived in Evanston or Chicago.
*As for Chicago, I also seem to remember there being a pool, and going at least a couple times. This memory was reinforced by a photo I saw of a concrete pool. The architecture at UIC was certainly memorable. I later learned it was inspired by a wave of brutalism in the 50s-60s as the post-modern world tried to figure out what's cool. But by the late 80s, it's dual negative associations with the problems with public housing projects, and as a nature of an almost military like-look began to turn the once avant-garde into an eyesore. I knew none of this, and just thought the building my dad worked at was super-cool.

Autobiographical content

2015-07-27T18:17:53Z

Skyrien: /* 1985-1995: Birth and Early Childhood */

I guess my autobiography has to start somewhere, right? And I bet it would be rather difficult to write it without taking notes on life as I went along. Here, I will write a narrated perspective of events in my life. I probably will not not write this in chronological order, but they will be put in the appropriate context. Over time, a more complete picture will emerge.

''A note on accuracy: This section is likely to be a perpetual draft, and much of it before the present is constructed from what I can recall, personal writings, interviews, and other sources and accounts. Beyond this, as I'm writing this to be a heavily written from the memory of my experience of these memories. Inaccuracies, alternate interpretations, and new conclusions based on uncovered information are wholly possible and over time, likely. And as is intended, as I expect our own interpretation of history, values, and our experience of them will likely evolve over time as well. Be that as it may, I will still strive for factual accuracy whenever possible, and when presenting a conflicting idea, will identify the conflict and clarify salient differences.''

= Chronological =
I've experienced that in life, there are long periods of seeming stasis, and then everything changes at once. I keep thinking of the term 'punctuated equilibrium' to analogize about this phenomenon. In any case, I've attempted to divide the sections into meaningful logical chunks, but it may shift over time.

== Before May 23rd 1985 ==
Tectonic shifts in geopolitics have occurred over the span of our parents' and grandparents' lifetimes. When I have the opportunity to meet distant or long disconnected extended family, I've used it to expand my knowledge of my family's story across the world. It's quite fascinating how much history has been lived by those closest to us.

Coming from Asia, much of their story are influenced by the tensions and conflicts of the region, particularly in and around Korea in the early 20th century due to imperial aspirations of Japan resulting in WWII, the partition of Korea, and the Korean War. Beyond this, how my parents' generation found their way to America is another chapter entirely, one that writes the personal story of one Asian-American immigrant family. I will write relevant findings here and in the [[family history]] page.

*[[Family history]]
*[[World history]]

== 1985-1995: Birth and Early Childhood ==

This first period covers birth to the end of early-childhood at Age 10. It starts at the time I was born in Korea, and the entirety of my time in the US before my family moved back to Korea in 1995. Looking back, I realize that this period was a hugely formative period for the fostering of my core values, joys, and intrinsic curiosity.

My parents euphemistically note that I liked to "deconstruct" things to see how they worked. Basically, I'd like to take things apart, particularly mechanical and electrical things (projectors, monitors, computers, motors, etc...) to examine their workings. I was also given access to my dad's PC pretty early, at around the age of 6, and quickly mastered DOS enough to basically be the tech guy at home.

There was always some amount of tension with my relationship with language. In my earliest years, my vocabulary and language was derived from what I learned at home, and became Korean-focused, given it was what I spoke at home. As a result, while I understood spoken English, I found it harder to express in public. Fortunately, my school had a good ESL program that I attended while in kindergarten. I didn't think much of it then, but it would be a key experience growing up an America. I didn't have any issues comprehending the written or spoken word; I was just averse to expressing it. Later on, I developed a huge fondness for reading, and quickly became very fluent (aided by media that encouraged me to learn more), which gave me more confidence to speak out more.

Given how often my family moved, I learned to take the perpetual need to learn in stride and developed a skill and even an enjoyment of adapting to new people, things, and situations. Some of this would backfire and result in a search for identity in my second decade, but at this time, it helped me to see society as a system that I could come to understand, and adapt to, after some trial and error.

I can certainly note that the quality of education varied from place to place, from teacher to teacher. Going from 2nd grade in Evanston to 3rd grade in Capron felt like dropping two years of education. I realize that where you go to school has a huge influence on your experiences and the sense of possibility afforded to you. I was fortunate enough to have parents that cared about the quality of education I received, and were able to intervene when it was in my interest.

That said, even my few years in rural Illinois was a highly unique experience that today (in 2015) I treasure, despite all the challenges at the time adjusting to a completely different life experience, even as a kid.

My feelings over my time in Korea that came after this period are a bit more complicated...

'''Memories'''
*Green used to be my favorite color, at least until kindergarten. Then around the age of 9-10, I started to love the ocean, water, and the color blue.
*In my room since I was 5, I used to have a big geopolitical map that covered the wall by my bed. I recommend every parent of a curious child to put a big map in their room. Seriously. It will expand their mind and their awareness. I also remember when the Gulf War started (when I was 5), that my dad pointed at Iraq on the map and said "these guys are bad." Lol.
*Star Trek came into my life pretty early, and I was a fan by age 7. It all started with me accidentally renting 'Star Trek VI', instead of 'Star Wars'. While it wasn't the sci-fi/fantasy/space opera that Star Wars was, I was sold on the future-oriented vision of peace, the cool effects, and the politics, which echoed some of the Cold War detente that my dad had tried to explain to me when the Soviet Union was dissolved. Levar Burton played my favorite character, chief engineer Geordi LaForge, on TNG and I carefully followed it till the series finale which aired on my birthday in 1994. One effect was on my vocabulary, where at school, I was using words and style of speech learnt while watching TNG in my speech and writing, which teachers thought highly. In one example, I got in trouble once in fourth grade for saying "hell", as in "What the hell?" clearly echoing Riker's flabbergast moment from the TNG episode the night before. I can't quite tell if things were just more language-strict in the 90s or if its just because I was younger.
*Once I came in contact with a PC, I never let go. By my late 0s, I was solidly a PC gamer; SimAnt was the first game I ever bought, and by the end of this period my favorite games were Doom, Simcity 2000, and underrated adventure game, Star Trek: A Final Unity. Not that I was opposed to consoles--the first game I ever played was on the NES, and had Sega Genesis and thoroughly enjoyed games like Sonic and Ecco, and had loved the original StarFox on SNES. Still, I loved the depth of control and richness that PC games afforded, also the fact that it appealed to a more educated, mature audience. I liked that, and that paid off hugely for me.
*By all standards, I read a lot, though a lot of it was fluff. I really enjoyed picking books from Scholastic catalogs, and in my early years, read stuff like the series like the Bernstein Bears, the Boxcar children, later reading books like Goosebumps and periodicals that my parents would read such as Time magazine and Popular Mechanics. Events like Walk-A-Thons for reading also encouraged a great deal of exploration in my language arts.
*I had an odd fondness for antique stores--there was on in Capron that I would frequent, and I'd find trinkets worth <$1.
*I got an allowance as a kid, for doing household chores. I feel it was an excellent way to reward constructive work ethic, while also developing a child's sense of money as capital.
*I got lost in a cornfield once for almost 2 hours when I was 9--rather terrifying at the time, but an epic adventure looking back. I eventually found my way back when I realized I could use the direction of the shadows to follow a path back to where I had started.
*I had my first PC during this time, a 386SX 16MHz / 4MB / 60 MB / 3.5" 1.44MB / 2400 baud modem. My dad told me when he bought it, it was a whopping $3,000, with the upgraded RAM, which he needed for school work. Insane to think of today, but that's the rig that I learned DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1.
*By the end of the decade, I was badly in need of a new PC, and I started plotting what kind of PC I could 'encourage' my family to get next...

===By Age===
*[[Age 0-1|0-1]] - Korea
*[[Age 2-4|2-4]] - Chicago, Evanston
*[[Age 5-7|5-7]] - Evanston
*[[Age 8-10|8-10]] - Capron

== 1995-2004: Late Childhood/Early Adolescence ==

This period covers late childhood to early adolescence. It includes the entirety of my time in [[Korea]] (1995-2000) and [[return to the United States]] from junior high to early college.

===By Age===
*[[Age 10-12|10-12]] - Korea (Elementary)
*[[Age 13-14|13-14]] - Korea (Middle)
*[[Age 15-18|15-18]] - US (Jr High-High)

== 2004-2015: Late Adolescence/Early Adulthood ==

This period covers the late adolescence of college and the start of independent adult life.

===By Age===
*[[Age 19-23|19-23]]
*[[Age 24-27|24-27]]
*[[Age 28-29|28-29]]

== 2015: The Present ==

With the fourth decade, getting started as I've turned 30, I guess I shouldn't use the phrase "when I grow up" anymore :). By and large, I'm still the me I was when I was younger, though much of the future is yet to be determined.

===By Age===
*[[Age 30|30]]

== Future (2016-2085) ==
These are ages yet to come. Detail will be added over time.

===By Age===
*[[Age 31|31]]
*[[Age 32|32]]
*[[Age 33|33]]
...

== The end? (2085-2101?) ==
I've taken a number life expectancy tests over the years, and kept tabs on my overall health. Generally, these simple non-scientific online tests have given me numbers between 92-100, so for mental convenience, I've just kept 100 in mind (though I'm really pushing for at least 115 :)); thus means I would live to around 2085. This means I'd get to see the bulk of the 21st century come to pass, and unless I screw up badly, will have left a dent to last longer than that.

===By Age===
*[[Age 100|100]]
*[[Age 115|115]]

Excellent - Bring Life On! :)

TIWLA

2015-07-27T17:55:21Z

Skyrien:

Wondered/Learned/Applied is a hybrid section that covers ongoing curiosities, readings related to the subject, and applications of learnt knowledge.

New Questions

Questions in Progress

Answered Questions