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Childhood:I was born in Everett, Snohomish County, Washington on May 2, 1962. My first home was in the small city of Snohomish but my parents moved from there while I was still basically an infant. The next home was the place I first remember being at, a small house deep in the country. I lived there until I was about 5 (minus a summer and fall at another place in the country). Then it was back to the city of Snohomish again only this time I remember it. We lived there for about a year before my mother and father ended their relationship. After my parents broke up my mother took us kids to California, then Wyoming, and a few other pit stops along the way. After about a year of traveling we came back to Washington State but never settled down in any one locating for very long. I have lived in deep country, rural communities, and cities, back and forth, and sometimes back again, all my younger life. There were times when I stayed with other family members in the Everett-Snohomish areas away from my mother and siblings but I always ended up back again. Although my mother and I did not get along all that well when I was growing up I did love her and missed her when I was away. I also missed my brother and sisters.
Vocational Training:The first time I was really away from my family, all of them, was in 1982 when I joined Job Corps to train as a carpenter. I chose the Angell Job Corps Center in Yachats, Oregon and I was there for almost two years… minus some time in Basic Training. I had joined the Oregon ARMY National Guard while still in Job Corps. Angell (not misspelled) Job Corps was good to me. I achieved a lot there. I received my GED, driver's license, Recreation Aid of the Month award, Corps Member of the Month award and I was a Student Carpentry Leader, Student Education Leader, and Dorm Leader, and then later, Dorm Captain. I was also a Corps Member Judicial Vice President, and then later, Judicial President; corps members who got in trouble had to see me and my judicial team. :) I also volunteered time with the Red Cross for blood drives and to help teach first aid (I had already taken courses in first aid and CPR). Job Corps is also where I met my ex-wife, but that story did not have a good ending.
Military:As mentioned above, I had joined the Oregon ARMY National Guard while still in Job Corps. I went to Basic Training at Fort Benning, Georgia early 1983. I trained as Infantry but not just as an ordinary grunt. My training was with the anti-tank TOW Missile as part of a four man team to blast tanks to smithereens. Rather ironic that when I transferred to the Washington ARMY National Guard, after I graduated from Job Corps, I was part of a tank team. I have to say though, driving a tank is more fun than driving a jeep (the military still used jeeps back then). I was invited twice, while in the Oregon ARMY National Guard, to take officer's training but I turned them down, I just wanted to do my time and get out. I was asked again to become and officer when I was in the Washington ARMY National Guard but I turned them down too. Looking back on it now, if my life had not been such a mess by that time, I think I should have taken their offer.
College:In 1987 I wanted to be a writer but I had a problem, I could not write. I was literate, and in fact, had an above average vocabulary because I loved to read and had been doing so avidly since I was a kid. But, my skills with the mechanics of writing were very rudimentary. My spelling and grammar are still not my strong points but I have come a long way since 1987 thanks to the English instructors at Everett Community College (EvCC). I began taking college classes the winter of 1987. Due to severe emotional problems I had developed after the loss of my children (see the Elegy pages for more information about my children), I was not able to stick with college for more than a quarter or two at a time. I tried several times over the next years with limited success to complete my education. It was not until 1998 that I was finally emotionally strong enough to go back to college and stick with it. Not only was I finally strong enough to stick with college but I was also able to take on campus jobs. I worked for several quarters in the Open Computer Labs as a Student Lab Tech. Basically, my job was to baby-sit (make sure they did not wander off) the computers and keep the printers stocked with paper. The unofficial job was also to help other students with their computer homework; this is where my computer skills came in handy. I was often in demand from students, instructors, and even other lab techs. Eventually, I became tired of the computer labs. It was not the students or instructors, or the computers, but the IT staff that, I felt, failed to utilize my skills in a meaningful way (why have me dump trash bens quarter after quarter when I can rebuild and configure computers?). My last two quarters at EvCC I worked in the College Writing Center as an English tutor and was respected by the staff and paid more. I am now a CRLA Certified Tutor, regular and advanced. I was liked by most of the students and often in demand as soon as I walked in the door. I also worked well with ESL (English as Second Language) students. Unfortunately, by the time I was emotionally ready and willing to stick with a degree plan, I had already wasted too many credits with incompletes and drop outs. I ran out of financial aid before I could complete a degree plan. It did not help that I was switching back and fourth between degree plans. In the end, I had accumulated 101 credits when most degree plans only require 90 credits here in Washington State. I just didn't have the right credits for any one degree. It would only take three or four quarters to build up the right credits to qualify for two or three small degrees though, I just do not have the funding to do so at this time.
Current Projects:In more recent times, I have focused my energies on my own projects, my art, my website, and my writing. I am also scanning huge numbers of family pictures and researching my family history. And, I am also writing two books, with my focus being on a creative non-fiction story about my life. The other book is a sci-fi which is on the back burner for now. Another project I have been working on is beefing up my arms and chest. I now pump iron on a fairly regular basis. More About Me:I have always found that people don't quite know how to take me as a person. I guess it has always been this way; I seem to be somewhat different than most people. I am as alien to my family as to everyone else. All I can say is take me as I am for I can be no other way, I have tried. I make no apologies for the way I am for I have learned to enjoy being this way. I have never been good at socially interacting with others although I can do well one to one with most people if they give me a chance. I may not be good at making friends but I am a good at being a tutor. Give me facts to deal with and I can function a lot easier than with unknown, and unknowable to me, social situations. There seem to be too many quantum fluctuations with the rules changing too fast for me to keep up with when dealing with more than one person at a time. Like a computer with too much information being entered at once, I sometimes freeze up. I think part of the problem may be that my mind races too fast, and tends to wander down too many pathways. What to me seems an eternity is for others, but a moment? I tend to get lost in learning new things all the time. I can get totally absorbed by what to others is trivial. I once stood staring as a slug worked its way over my left tennis shoe. I continued to watch even after it had completed its journey across my shoe. I noted with interest as it turned its head around, all the way to its back end, to the slime trail at its back. I was fascinated as it started to eat what, to me, had looked like tiny wads of rotting flora and soil stuck in the goo at its tail end. My mind raced as I took it all in. I was younger then, but similar thing can still happen to me.
Friendly feedback is welcome.
Michael A. Crane, Jr.
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