Rei's Personal Life and Other Strange Things

For those of you interested in my background, opinions, beliefs, and such, this is the page for you! I'll probably be updating this page fairly regularly as circumstances change and stuff gets added, so hit refresh every once in a while; who knows what you'll turn up!

I was born in balmy Hawaii in 1975 (yes, that means that as of July 2007, I'm 32 years old; I've already heard it all about how young I look!). After 18 years in year-round 85 degree weather, and another 4 years of year-round 75 degree weather in Southern California, attending the University of Southern California, I went to Tallahassee, Florida, where I actually got my first experience with cold winters while at Florida State University. Now I'm in Renton, Washington making a living, and sometimes freezing my butt off!

Family

I would be remiss in not talking a bit about my family, considering all they've done for me. From left is my sister Mia (lawyer and mommy to my nephew A.J. - who will get his own page here sometime in the near future!), my father Akio (Amherst Fulbright scholar, former Hawaii radio personality, Japanese language teacher), and my mother Lani (lawyer who's spent the past few years in state government).

Friends

Of course, I have my share of good friends too, too many to really do justice to on this site (note to self: possibilities for expansion here). Anyway, here's a quick rundown of just a few of them, with more detail and perhaps pics to follow:

• Corey Benjamin: An old college buddy of mine. A cynical misanthrope (I seem to be friends with a lot of those) who works in Chicago, he's still an all-around good guy and fun to be around, if you can take a steady trickle of subtle and not-so-subtle insults in the spirit in which they are intended. Introduced me to a good many things I still enjoy, such as the 'Net itself.
• Patrick Gillespie: A fellow Seattlite and another old college pal. Despite being a quadraplegic for a good deal of his life, he's done more with himself, and has a better attitude, than a lot of people with all their physical abilities intact. He's with the FAA now, keeping an eye on Boeing. Now if only he could do something about that baldness thing...
• Darryl Aoki: A fellow Iolani grad. Into Russia before being into Russia was cool. Knowledgable about all things anime, trained me in a little swordfighting (really!), and introduced me to a great many wonderful fandom-type worlds I probably would never have thought of otherwise. Now working for the aforementioned Boeing.
• Perry Bigley: A friend in Arizona who lives through some of the hottest summers I've ever experienced, and I say that as someone from the tropics. A complete and utter geek (you should see his Transformers collection) who happens to be a bodybuilder, I still maintain that he stole my mind and personality at birth. I'm constantly surprised at how much we think alike. This is probably to make up for the obvious physical dissimilarities.

Education

My education has taken me from one end of the country to the other. Some of the places where I've lived and learned:

• Iolani School: One of the top private schools in Hawaii. Had my ups and downs there, as with everywhere, but I still have good memories overall there, especially of my drama club days and various other memories here and there. Went back recently; MAN, is it different! But I guess we're all different...
• University of Southern California: Yay Trojans! Here I made good friends, met up with some old ones, and discovered what seasons are actually like (although obviously I broke into it gently, which was probably fortunate). I wanted to major in either Drama or English, those being my two major artistic loves. Decided to go with the latter, to keep the widest range of options open.
• Florida State University: Yep, another football school - kinda odd, that. Anyway, I had my first teaching assistantship here, and even got to teach two future NFL pros. I also found out what humid summers are like, and, surprisingly enough, cold winters.
• University of Washington: Where I got my certification in Technical Communication. It was a great experience, and I hope it opens up many new doors for me!

More to come as I think of it, including sticky stuff like political opinions (maybe)!