This morning I was tagged by N.A. Turner to participate in a “10 things about me” challenge.
I accept Nick’s challenge and I’ll share my own! Also thanks for nominating me, that was a lot of fun!
Here goes:
#1: My first language is French
I think that one will be a surprise to most, but I’m French Canadian. I grew up in a small farm town in the suburbs of Montreal called Lavaltrie. Hardly anyone there speaks a word of English and it’s certainly not where I learned mine.
I became way more proficient when I went to Toronto for a coop term at a game development company.
#2: I started working when I was 8 years old
Being from a farm town, I starting working in strawberry fields at the age of 8, getting paid by productivity. I remember being so proud when I bought a 27 inch TV (that was big at the time), a surround sound system, a PS One, and a bunch of games at the age of 12. My other proud moment was when I bought my first car and paid cash when I was 16 years old. No other kids did that.
Not a photo of me, but I was about that tall when I started (left one)
#3: I’m a big-time metalhead
I almost exclusively listening to metal music. My top sub-genres are folk metal, epic metal, viking metal, and melodeath. But I do listen to most other genres as well. Check out Eluveitie, Equilibrium, Ensiferum, Amon Amarth, Dark Tranquility, and many many more. Ping me if you want to chat metal!
Eluveitie: one of my favourite metal band (Folk Metal)
#4: I’ve been with my wife for more than 14 years
I’m 31 years old. Turning 32 this month. To save you from doing the math, I was 17 years old when I met her. She was 15, turning 16! Some call us high school sweethearts, but they’re wrong. We actually met in the strawberry fields, working. By that point, I had 8 years of experience and was the king of the field. I also had a car that was pink/purple… (I can’t find a picture of it so just trust me on that).
I had spotted her a few days after she started. And then one day I was working next to her, so I had to make a move. When she switched her CD from her CD player (that’s right kids!), that was my cue. I will always remember the first sentence I said to her: “Do you always fill your baskets like that?”. The rest, as they say, is history!
#5: I got married on the Grand Canyon
We tried planning our wedding for about 3 years and it was too complicated and too expensive. When we were doing our first trip to San Francisco, we decided to also go to Las Vegas. Jokingly we said: “Let’s just get married in Vegas!”. We googled “Las Vegas Wedding” and stumbled upon a Grand Canyon wedding, leaving Las Vegas by helicopter. We booked it the next day and got married 2 months after.
#6: I’m an ectomorph, aka: all girls “hate” me and I “hate” them
An ectomorph is someone who has a hard time gaining weight. If I eat the recommended amount of calories to maintain my weight, I actually lose weight. Whenever I aim to gain mass, I have to eat 4,500 calories of healthy food + intense workouts. I have to do that frequently otherwise I keep losing weight.
Dwayne Johnson eats 5,000 calories per day
#7: I very much enjoy solitude
My worldwide friends may not see me that way, but I’m very much an introvert, requiring frequent time alone. Writing is, strangely enough, part of my solitude. Even though I strive to help people, ultimately I write what I want to read.
#8: I completed nearly all the RPGs starting on the NES until the PS2
These terms may mean nothing to some of you, so let me explain:
RPG = Role Playing Game
NES = Nintendo Entertainment System (released in the 80s)
PS2 = Playstation 2
What that truly means is that I’ve probably played the equivalent of a year or two of my life in gameplay hours… Good thing now that I’m building my own RPGs!
#9: I finished Final Fantasy I when I was 6 years old, not speaking a word of English
Again, that may not mean much to some of you. Final Fantasy was a really hard game released in 1986 where you certainly needed a good level of English and intellect. Surprisingly, I managed to finish it when I was only 6 years old, which in turn made me decide to carry on with a career in game development!
#10: I dropped out of university
I’m a software engineer by job title, but I actually dropped out of university two years in. I do have a computer programming college degree though. If you ask me if I have any regrets dropping out? I’d say not at all. I “saved” two years of my life! University is useful for some professions and for some people, but for a self-learner and entrepreneur, it just didn’t work for me. And it’s not that I was bad, I had an average of A in software engineering classes. And that’s kind of the point. I simply wasn’t learning at the right pace. Plus, I hated the other classes like Chemistry and Physics.
#11: Bonus: I wasn’t born with a beard
The picture on the left is the last known photo of me without a beard. That was 3 years ago now. Day 326 is at the end of our round-the-world trip. I had dramatically trimmed a beard a few days earlier.