- i do not believe i have a high school diploma. i didn't attend graduation because i didn't want to have to hang out with the kids in my graduating class; if a diploma was mailed to me, i don't have it now, and i've never seen it. i have a transcript. the reason i don't think i have a diploma is that there was a specific requirement introduced by the mike harris government to participate in a certain amount of community service (that is, unpaid labour) in order to graduate, and i boycotted it out of protest. so, this was a conscious decision on my behalf...
- i have a diploma from carleton university in my closet, somewhere. this is a b. mathematics (honours), 2006. that's a four-year degree. i was initially admitted for software engineering, and bounced around through several programs before i graduated with the math degree.
- i completed the requirements of a mcse while undergoing training directly from microsoft in 2007, but i did not pay to receive the accreditation, as it would have been more than they paid me to go through training and, again, i wasn't interested in working for free. this was, iirc, three months of paid training directly from microsoft.
- i went back to school in 2008 on my father's insistence, and against my better judgement - i was happy at the time, and it was probably the biggest mistake i've ever made in my life. i should have continued on the path i was on. alas. i was supposed to do a qualifying year for grad school in math, which he offered to pay for and i really had no actual interest in doing. but, he had to pull out at the last minute (you'll recall there was a market crash in '08...) and once i found myself faced with the need to fund this myself, and without an option to pull out due to the economic facts that asserted themselves (and have yet to undo themselves), i switched directions and decided i'd be better off with a more marketable undergraduate degree in computer science than a more or less useless masters degree in mathematics. i also decided to look into the application of a computer science degree into the field of neuroscience, with an intent to explore tactics towards accomplishing immortality, and had this idea in the back of my mind as i was going forwards. however, i found myself taking graduate math courses as electives.
- so, from 2008-2010, what i was really doing was completing an undergraduate degree in computer science and a graduate degree in mathematics, at the same time. and, i actually got to within a half credit of the computer science degree, as i amassed not six but eight math credits at the graduate level.
- about 2010 or so, i realized that shapeshifting would require levels of computational complexity that would not be realistically developed in my lifetime, decided i was wasting my life, firmly concluded that i didn't want to work in the programming industry (i've never played computer games in my life and have no interest in them...) and shifted my focus towards law & political science, instead. if immortality was beyond my reach in this life, i decided i wanted to fight the fuckers within the futility of existence - to do something useful. i neither applied to graduate with a computer science degree, nor applied to graduate with a masters degree in mathematics, but i have completed the course load for the latter and am a half credit short for the former.
- i then had a mental breakdown that i maybe never fully recovered from and took a few years off.
- i got on odsp in 2012.
- without ever even transferring out of the comp sci program, i went back in the summer of 2012 and, over three heavy semesters, completed the requirements of a three year sociology of law program. while the requirements are complete, i never even applied for entry into the program - these courses were taken as a comp sci student (and, frankly, as alumni from the math degree).
- in the spring of 2013, i took a mushroom trip with some occupy activists near a creek and decided "fuck it, i'm wasting my life in school", and that i'd rather live on disability, instead - i'd rather just exist. i just got up and walked away and moved to windsor to find affordable rent, instead....
so,
- i completed all of the requirements for high school except the bullshit community service nonsense, and therefore don't have the diploma. i don't think.
- i completed the four year math degree and have the diploma.
- i completed and passed training as an mcse but didn't pay for certification.
- i completed the requirements for a masters degree in math, but don't have the diploma and don't really think the diploma is actually worth anything.
- i completed the (substantive) requirements for a 4 year comp sci degree, but don't have the diploma, and don't care. i have no aspirations in the field, whatsoever.
- i completed the requirements for a three year sociology of law degree, but decided the system is too skewed to bother fighting in - that that would be a waste of time, too.
over that time, i also picked up undeclared minors in physics, economics and music, and maybe a few other things i'm forgetting.
what i want to do is exist as an artist blogger/musician with a gai in a small apartment in the urban core of a major city and experience life from that perspective. and, things weren't too bad before they closed the border...
if this continues much longer, i may need to move to toronto. i hope the rents continue to fall - that will help.