Mike is a relatively young and new member at LSCO. He was born in Calgary in 1982 and resided there until 2008. He did his grades 1-6 within the Calgary public school system, getting bussed to school and having a social life. A teacher suggested that he might prefer a private school where the student-teacher ratio was much better than in the public system after elementary. Mike and his parents decided to take the plunge into the private system. Mike states that he had “quite a bit of freedom” as a child growing up in Calgary; his many years in Calgary have left him with many good memories.
Mike completed his Grades 7-12 at Delta West Academy with his High School diploma. As there was no gym, the students were out in the community trying many sports: e.g fencing, rock-climbing, skating, swimming, basketball, horseback riding, and luge at Canada Olympic Park. Mike’s most favourable high school memories involve trips to California and Greece. In California, he went to e.g. Disneyland, the San Diego Zoo, and the Museum of Tolerance (MOT) in Los Angeles. He liked the MOT the most; it featured various historical events of intolerance, like white supremacy, the holocaust, and genocide. For example, there were two hallways leading to two gas chambers and you took the hallway for “Men” or for “Women & Children”; apparently a rather foreboding darkness. Another was an opportunity to open a door labelled “Not Prejudiced” or one labelled “Prejudiced”; if you tried to open the ‘Not Prejudiced’ door, it remained locked, because, ‘we are all prejudiced about something at sometime in our lives’. Mike felt these were very strong and worthy messages.
Mike’s trip to Greece included 5 other students, two teachers, and a guide. He liked seeing the museums, ruins, and eating moussaka (an eggplant/potato & ground meat dish). Of his two trips, Mike would like to return to Greece someday.
In 2008, Mike’s parents retired and moved to Osoyoos, BC so Mike moved with them.
However, in 2012, Mike moved away to Penticton, BC and resided there for ten years to seek his independence. He decided to leave Penticton though because he felt that there was too much crime; thankfully he left before he became a victim of any particular crime e.g. you couldn’t leave your bike parked outside without fear of it immediately being stolen.
Mike’s work experience was at a bottle depot in Calgary a while ago, and at a Wal Mart in Penticton. He has a Web Design certificate from an online academic program. Mike then advanced his skills by creating a program using PHP and HTML which are tools used to build websites.
Mike re-joined his parents in Osoyoos in 2022. In 2023, the family decided to move to Lethbridge. As Mike has a paternal aunt which lives here, they were already quite familiar with Lethbridge. Mike was willing to move and says he has found the move turned out to be better than he expected. Overall, Mike says he is “pretty content” with his lifestyle for now.
Mike lives as independently as possible in his parents’ home. He has his own living quarters and cooks most of his own meals, which he learned to do in high school. His favorite dish is lasagna; he can make his own, but he is quite happy to let others make it for him, too. Mike does his own grocery shopping and can make a ‘mean’ shake-n-bake chicken’.
As far as sports, Mike enjoys watching F-1 (Formula 1 car racing) and NBA (basketball), especially the Toronto Raptors. He also likes Canucks and Flames hockey teams. Mike likes to walk outdoors and does weightlifting at LSCO. Mike used to play cribbage at LSCO, but is taking some time off to hone his skills and hope for better luck in the cards coming his way.
Mike likes country music, particularly the ex-rapper Jelly Roll and Chris Stapleton. That said, he’d probably be open to giving the symphony a try if the opportunity came along.
Mike likes TV’s Star Trek in all its incarnations. Mostly though, he is passionate about online gaming. He gave this writer an education into the world of how he “streams Twitch-TV” – a platform where people can watch others play video games Live. He has been playing World of Warcraft for an impressive 21 years! Mike indicates that he is very “tech-savy”.
Mike says his auto-biography should be titled: How to be Interesting More Than Once.
Mike’s mother and aunt are also LSCO members – his aunt enouraging him to give LSCO a try for some things to utilize his time. Mike has been a member for less than a year, but has already come on board as a kitchen dishwasher once per week for most of that time. Mike is proud of his volunteering experience at LSCO, and should be. The organization is very pleased to have his diligence and patience in this role.
This writer very much appreciated Mike’s openness with this writer in sharing his story. Thank-you, Mike!
