(Note: CFB stands for Canadian Forces Base. I was an Army brat!)
The beginning - my parents met at CFB Gagetown, New Brunswick. Mom was the new stenographer in Dad's office. She took one look at him and said, "I'll take him!" Or something like that. Anyways, Dad was agreeable, and they were married about eight months later.
One year, one month, one week, and one day after the wedding, I was born on March 14, 1966, in Vancouver, British Columbia. The three of us lived in Vancouver a few months, before moving on.
Vedder Crossing is the town next to CFB Chilliwack, British Columbia. It is also where my brother, Steve, was born. We lived there for five years before ...
Ottawa, Ontario! This is where I first saw real snow, as opposed to the wussy stuff we got once in B.C. I learned much more about snow later on! We stayed in Ottawa for one year.
In the summer of 1972, we hopped across the Atlantic Ocean for the first time, and spent two years living in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (which is now part of Serbia). I liked Belgrade. I wasn't old enough to understand Communism. We travelled to several different places in Europe - Switzerland, Italy, Turkey, and Greece, off the top of my head.
In 1974, it was back to Canada, and to Oromocto, which is the town next to CFB Gagetown, where it all began. We lived in Oromocto for a year and a half, before moving to what would become my parents' permament home, in Waterville, New Brunswick.
When we moved to Waterville, it was called Geary. It became Waterville in July 1996, because Canada Post said that's what it was. At least Waterville is better than Geary's other name, which was Haneytown.
Anyways, we lived in Geary/Haneytown/Waterville for a year and a half, before it was back to Europe, and ...
Moscow, USSR! (Now the Commonwealth of Independent States). Before you e-mail me saying, "Gee whiz, that must have been terrific!" - it wasn't. Moscow is a dirty polluted city, and it was definitely during Communism's heyday. We even had a soldier guarding our parking lot at all times, rifle in hand.
Many people have e-mailed me to say that Moscow has improved, or to protest my view of Moscow. I hope that Moscow has improved, but I stand by what I observed.
But there were lots of opportunities to travel, and I did. Scandinavia, England, parts of the USSR, including the Asian part. Only my parents would think of camping through the USSR, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and West Germany, and we did. Can't complain about West Germany! This all happened during 1977-79.
Our return to Canada landed us at CFB Shearwater, Nova Scotia. Lovely place, right on Halifax Harbour. We stayed there for three years, before ...
Geary/Haneytown/Waterville. My mother's family is from New Brunswick and she decreed that we would stop moving in New Brunswick. So, after tripping around the world, I graduated from Oromocto High School.
I started my post-secondary education at St. Thomas University, in Fredericton, New Brunswick. I studied there for three years before I ran out of motivation.
I switched to the New Brunswick Community College in Woodstock, New Brunswick, and earned a diploma in Graphic Arts. That is the field that I'm finding very difficult to break into, but I haven't given up hope yet.
As my university education was winding down, I discovered the English Language Programme at the University of New Brunswick. What began as a summer job turned into a full-time job for me for several years. I left for various reasons, mainly because I needed sleep, and a new focus.
My brother Steve graciously took the pressure off me by getting married first, and providing the first grandchild. Although I'm still expected to produce twins! Twins have occurred in every generation of my mother's family, except for the next two. Nobody is expecting my cousins' kids to produce twins yet, but since most of my cousins have already had their children, and I haven't started yet, and my mother was a twin so...*gulp*
On November 23, 1995, Nicholas Lawrence Boyko was born. He is my dear nephew, a really cool kid, and also my godson. We get along famously, sharing interests in the Sims and Sim City 4 and computer games.
So after spending a year and a half being broke and unemployed, I was hired as a customer service representative at Star Choice in 1998. I spent over two years on the floor, before joining the collections department.
And then it was announced that our department was being moved to Calgary, to the new call centre that Star Choice was opening. I had three choices: be relocated, on their dime; stay in the N.B. centre without a guarantee that I'd like the job they'd give me, or take a severance package and leave the company.
While I didn't like the idea of moving three time zones away from my family, I felt I was in a rut. And I knew it was probably the only time that I could move to Calgary for free. So I took a risk and moved. Since most of the department stayed in N.B., I was quickly given new responsibilities, and I got promoted a few times. Being a supervisor didn't come naturally to me, and when I saw an opportunity to switch to reporting and analysis, I spoke up and got the job.
Since moving to Calgary, I've seen my brother get married again, and he again took the pressure off of me, by knocking up his lovely wife Chrissie, who has given birth to Lauren Alyssa Boyko and James Russell Boyko.
2006 brought a lot of change into my life. I turned 40. I lost 40 pounds. I lost my father to a stroke. I lost my grandmother, on my mother's side, who understood and accepted me more than my own parents.
2007 has brought a change in jobs and companies. I'm happy.
So that's my story so far...click on the button below to read my personal FAQ if you want to know more!
