I've been a regular at the RD forums for a while, although I spent most of the time lurking. When I did post stuff, it was mainly about the nature of self and the famous teletransporter thought experiment. I was also active in a lot of the threads relating to Jehovah's Witnesses. My username over there was br0k3nglass.
With the recent changes to their forums, I decided to come and check rationalia out. If you care to be caught up with a brief version of my life story, I was raised in a small town (350 people) to a strong family of Jehovah's Witnesses. My father was presiding overseer in my home congregation until he and my mother volunteered to help serve "where the need is greater". They are currently somewhere in Africa. My sister is a full time pioneer and often travels to foreign countries to go door to door for years at a time. All of my grandparents, aunts, and uncles are Jehovah's Witnesses. I was baptized at age 15, pioneered for a few years (almost became a ministerial servant at one point, but got in trouble for playing Max Payne 2), moved into "the big city" - Regina, Saskatchewan - on my own, and fell away from my faith and religion after reading numerous science books about evolution. The real killer was learning about all of the evidence for macroevolution, which I had not been exposed to in high school, at home, or during my bible studies. I would estimate that by about age 24, I could no longer see a good reason to propose the idea of god. Communication with my family and former JW friends is pretty much non-existent, although I do get emails from my parents sometimes, and occasionally write back. I managed to compose a short letter to them a while back, explaining my newfound skeptical outlook, and tried to express what this change in worldview felt like. They really couldn't relate to anything I wrote, and haven't bother to respond to any of it. I'm currently attempting to write them a more extensive letter, which might even turn into something nearly book-length, but I'm finding it difficult.
Some of my current interests include:
- watching foreign & obscure films: most recently watched Revanche, The Seventh Seal, Pierrot Le Fou, and Fanny & Alexander
collecting books: here's my LibraryThing profile, pix of my library can be found here
reading books: currently reading Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis & Bart Ehrman's New Testament textbook
computer gaming: mainly L4D2 and RPGs like Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age, etc. Used to be hardcore into World of Warcraft, but quit over a year ago
listening to and practicing music: I have my grade 8 piano with the Canadian Royal Conservatory and have played the guitar for about 10 years. I like all kinds of music (jazz, blues, rock, metal, trance/techno, folk, classical), although I detest most country and pop music. I love going to the opera, and have a seasons pass to the Metropolitan Opera Live in HD program (most recent show I've been to is Simon Boccanegra).
drinking warm Guinness
