Endless Curiosity
In grade 9, after one of my first music theory classes with my music teacher at Barrie Central Collegiate, I sat excitedly at my dad’s upright piano over the weekend to peck away at the “tone-tone-semitone” pattern of the major scale, starting at C Major. “If I just start one step higher, I can learn a new scale with the same pattern”, I thought. I would continue that weekend to learn a handful of scales without much more than knowing their name, and certainly without yet being yet being able to read them. My piano technique was atrocious, but my curiosity for music was born.
Fast forward: At age 22, having worked for Holland America Line as a drummer for only 6 months, I was offered my third contract with the company, on board the ms Volendam. Its first cruise embarked from Kobe, Japan. I was wide-eyed and excited to be travelling the world! While ashore in Hakodate, Japan, I distinctly remember ordering a Margarita Pizza for 500 yen. Unable to speak a single word of Japanese, I tentatively pointed at a picture of a pizza that looked acceptable, paid with a paper note just to be certain I was paying enough, and finished my exchange with a thank you in English to the kind staff, blissfully unaware of even the simplest of phrases: “Arigatou”. I was awe struck by Japan’s cleanliness, friendly nature, and beautiful mountainous scenery. This experience sparked my bumbling curiosity towards learning the basic Japanese writing system and beginner language theory for the rest of my contract on board.
These two experiences have largely shaped what has become my predominant passions in life to date. I am proud to say that I have pursued these passions deeply — making music my full- or part-time job for the last nine years and having the privilege to move to Japan to study Japanese full-time for over a year with my savings from my job on cruise ships.
But there’s one more thing.
Enter computer programming. Web development, specifically.
I’ve always had an interest in computers, but no sincere interest in coding until last summer, when the pandemic caused a sudden reduction of music lessons at my music schools. In my free time, I began to study basic algorithms and data structures for common coding languages, and simultaneously applied these methods towards my day job as a Letter Carrier at Canada Post. The more I began to think algorithmically about the sortation and delivery of mail at the post office, the more efficient I became on my route. Within a few weeks of reconfiguring my working patterns, I easily shaved an hour off of my daily deliveries. I was blown away! The more patterns I began to see everywhere, the more fascinated I became with this new found language of computer science. Before long, the organization patterns became second nature, causing the high stress of the post office to fade away.
Since last summer, I’ve been trying many new programming languages, such as Python, Java, and have ultimately honed my focus on the language of the modern web browser, such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript. This past month, I finally made the leap. I’ve moved on from teaching at Allegro Music and Elite Music Academy and taken a leave of absence from Canada Post. Currently, I’m a student at Juno College, studying Web Development full-time, and I’ve been loving the experience! I’m learning so much every day, and it’s simply a joy to be nurturing this passion to my fullest capacity.
Here’s to trying new things, to listening to your heart, to changing your path when it feels right.
Here’s to staying curious!
