Born:
Karol Szyszkowski ( Kha-rohl Shi-sh Kohv Ski )
Warsaw, Poland (in polish... Vahr-Shah-va / Pohl-Ska )
June 16th, 1976. 6pm.
12 Lbs 6 Oz.
Blond Hair
Blue Eyes.
Catholic Household (like the other 95% of the noobs)
Anglicized the Name of Karol (Carlos, Karl, etc..)
upon US Citizenship somewhere around my 8th year when I immigrated to the US, by way of Austria (political asylum or sumsuch...coming from Communist Poland, at the time (1984)).
Moved to Colorado.
Cities included Fort Morgan, Fort Collins, Longmont, Lafayette, and Thornton (Denver Suburb)
Was a student of Centaurus High School (Lafayette) , where I completed my last full year of schooling....I think!
Briefly entered 11th grade in some Denver High School.
I dropped out, as I was 16, and public school offered nothing of interest to me.
This inspite of my deep interest in the sciences and technics....Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Mathematics, Robotics, Lasers, Electronics, Computer Aided Design, etc....
It's funny how teachers expect that you should already know enough to understand what they are supposed to teach....apparently they think their jobs are supposed to be easy.
There's a laugh.
When you require someone to follow requisite studies before they enter the subject that is of greater interest to them, you are undermining that persons enthusiasm and interests, not helping them......at best HALF of the people can follow a straightforward linear learning approach.....A B C 1 2 3........no I won't be interested in physics in 18 months after taking these 3-5 requisite classes first....I am interested now, you nitwits.
That about sums up high school.
Departed Colorado for Washington State, December 1994, half-way through my 18th.
Charles Szyszkowski, until March 10th, 1998.
Changed name after prolonged consideration, decided not to associate myself with the people that bore me into the world, who I did not want honored, or remembered, ever.
Didn't like any of the alternatives that came to mind.
Chopped off the last name.
Kept it simple, just one Name.
Around my 20th birthday onward I was thinking about changing my name (( 'Malcolm X' was still fresh in my mind, as I had seen it before leaving Colorado, it is a movie about a compelling American civil rights figure who redefined himself from a shrewd but lowly gangster into a remarkable and captivating catalyst for broad and positive social change....at least by the end of his life).
In addition to the movie, a book on Native American cultures which I was reading encouraged my thinking on the matter.
At least several of the cultures which I was reading about, had this notion that a person should choose their own name in adulthood, one that suits his/her own sense of self.....this is what motivated me to change my name as I was living in Everett, Washington, in 1997.
The same book also described the complex social organizations and associations of various tribes, something I never imagined possible...as I had a very simple view of the "primitive people" of the land.
This enlightenening read is what I think set the foundation stone for SSF and the idea of a commonwealth, at least the first one.
Didn't end up having much in the way of problems, resulting from issues of documentation, most people took it well and thought it pleasantly novel.
I didn't have any problems till after new security restrictions began to affect financial institutions, in the wake of 9-11.
I am Charles.
~5' 11"
I don't Drink
I don't Smoke
I don't get High...I don't so much as use an aspirin...my body seems to reject mind/body altering substances, generally.
I call it my anti-drug gene, as it seems to be hard-wired into me.
And yes, I have "experimented", and been in the company of heavy users...a key reason for having cast aside all illusions, and romantic notions of it being glamorous, enlightening, or worthwhile.
Don't want any part of it or the people who inhabit that world. Drug fiends cannot be trusted, ever.
~Formerly with a nice spiky hairstyle, after years of a peach-fuzz head, and now back to the peach fuzz (the ravages of male-pattern baldness :)
....Which itself is disappearing gradually, soon leaving me a complete baldy, but I am used to it and quite comfortable with the look........also, the spiky hair I liked alot (yes I know, not a word...but it should be...oh look, I made it into one, ha!).
I never did understand why some people prefer the half-assed look of comb-overs, sprays, fake hair, and assorted surgical alterations.
I also hate it when people cosmetically alter themselves.
For example, seeing actors and actresses destroy the beauty that nature imbued them with, is one of the more disquieting experiences, as I age all-naturel.
It is all so senseless, they never-ever look better....their beauty is turned into freakishness, they look fucked-up, not beautiful.
Don't know whether its some moronic "image consultant" trying to justify their worthless existence, or some form of body dismorphic disorder, but it seems to be prevalent.
~My Language dexterity degraded over the years, and now unlike in my early childhood I only speak, read, and write in english, though at one time I could do so in polish and german as well.
Have from time to time threatened (and tried) to learn spanish and german (again), and I considered relearning polish.
And having postponed for yearssssssss taking up another language (french keeps popping up....I bought a french language software program in 1999 or so, installed it half a dozen times, turned it on to look at it for a bit, and that is about it....same with other programs, much as I recently did with the Iphone), but I always found some excuse for this, so though I love the beauty and variety in languages, at present I only recognize a smattering of the polish and german I once knew....and I almost never speak in either.
I have repeatedly aimed to learn an additional 9 languages, over the following 10 years or so, but it has always gone nowhere (it probably sounds ridiculously optimistic, and perhaps 20 or 30 years ago it may have been, but thanks to a generous plethora of language programs (both computer and audio), this is no longer improbable).
As long as I have a purpose for the languages I think I can finally begin that process, otherwise I will keep postponing.
The thing I needed most along the way were practical applications, things that would allow me to actually use what I learn, in a meaningful and compelling way.
And between meager resources and meager daily experiences, learning new languages was mostly a ego-booster, and not of any significant purpose to my life.
~Most years of my life, and still to this day, on the softer side of life, though I am aiming (eventually) for that idealic hardbody.
Floating around 180-205 Lbs.
I love junk food, and don't eat all that well, though having experimented with diets and the like (including a two burger per day (homemade) 1200 calorie regimen), I am well versed in what it takes to be in top form, just haven't had the proper environment or motivation to take it to the Nth degree.
I bloated two or three times, and never liked the experience, so even with a bit of a gut, I keep things in check, but I always wanted to have that hardbody look, if only for a short time, to see how differently people might treat me and perceive me, but like so many other possibilities, the motivating factor was missing, or inconsequential, most of the time.
I only ever tried a systematic exercise regimen (bodybuilding and calisthenics) for about 5 weeks at a stretch, otherwise it was mostly semi-routine cycling, and I never managed to link diet with the excercise I did, which would have helped (no extra protein = no extra muscle growth, so my physique was unchanged, I only felt a little stronger/powerful).
The only thing I probably did really well was getting in the habit of stretching, which I did 2 times per day or better for some 4-8 months consistently.
~Vegan (kinda)
When I was 19 I decided to quit meat, it wasn't out of any kind of peer pressure, or political sloganeering, or even out of a sense of sympathy for the animals that are ground up for food....though that did eventually arise.
What stood out most in my mind, at the time, was the contrast between stories about athletes (olympian and the like) who's primary diet consisted of high carbohydrate diets (pasta, bread, potatoes) and how I wish I was more like them....lean, svelte, and powerful...... as compared to the sluggish feeling I felt with all the meaty meals I ate.
I tried to emulate an ideal, my own way.
Among my favorite animal foods were blood sausage (polish), fried chicken (KFC), hamburgers / cheeseburger / double bacon cheeseburgers, certain kinds of lean steaks, loved loved lovedddddd scrambled eggs, "gowompkey" / "kroof-key" / "kog-yell mog-yell" / -polish tasties (phonetic), honey/butter sandwiches, homemade pudding, merangue, brownies, cookies, bacon sandwiches, fudge, a delicio beet sauce with milk/butter, hot dogs with either cheese or chilli inside, homemade pizza sandwiches dripping with mozzarella, polish keilbasa boiled - baked - fried - nuked - sizzled, meaty ravioli, BBQ ribs, lasagna, spaghetti and meatballs, boxed macaroni and cheese, halvah, cheesecake(especially the chocolate bottom/crust, also that german meat paste the name of which escapes me, almost any kind of fried fish which along with breaded shrimp sizzled in a skillet was among my most desirable and satisfying meals.....in other words, I was never inclined beforehand, towards a vegetable centered kind of lifestyle.
I gradually (over 6 months or so) started to cut out the animal foods, starting with no added oils/butter, then stripping skins and precisely cutting off fatty parts, and finally moving on to minimizing how much dairy/eggs I ate/drank.
From frying to baking/microwaving.
One of the last things I did on my way to cutting out all the animal-related stuff, was learning how to bake cookies, brownies, and other assorted sweets.
Good times....Good times....
Though technically I was "finishing" a couple of meaty leftovers, a day or two afterward, I officially started eating Vegan on my 20th.
The knowledge of what to do came very gradually through trial and error, and looking up ingredients (which you need to read on labels everytime (sometimes companies change them) amy's brand comes to mind, they HAD a great pizza.....they like so many other companies now SHARE their equipment with foods that use animal ingredients, which nullifies their vegan credentials.
A common and actually ludicrous preconception is that you can't get all your proteins, without meat, and secondly that you will shrink or stay "small" muscled/statured, if your diet is veggie-centric.
Nonsense.
It is a matter of quality of food and fitness that will determine your physical stature and health, not animal versus vegetable....animal proteins are merely more compacted, and therefore less volume is necessary to get the same or better nutrition.
You do need variety of vegetables and other plant-food to get a full dose of nutrition and perhaps that puts people off, but the variety improves the culinary experience even more that it contributes to good nutrition.
Some vitamins like B12 are very difficult to get from non-animal sources, but your body stores this stuff, so when you do, including prior to turning vegan, it's there for you.
You need to be mindful of essentials, and not rely on the supplements...as those are unreliable as sources.
Food for thought.......
I only realized it many years later, but if you think about it the most powerful, beautiful, and majestic animals in the animal kingdom are not the predators, who tend to be opportunists and scavengers, pouncing on some weaker and slower member out of a crowd.
The King of the landed animals is not a lion, it's the Elephant.
Leaf / Tree Eater.
The most powerful creature in the ocean is not a great white shark, but a Whale.
Plankton Eater.
When you think beautiful and majestic animals, they tend to be the foliage eating antelope or sum such, not some sabertooth razor-blade-pawed predatorial monstrosity, with bulging muscles and shaggy coats.
Anyway, I had few choices for snacking for a low-end budget (my whole life), and being a sweet-freak, and junk food junkie, I did sometimes think about all the tasties that I was giving up...which was one of the motivations to succeed in my project...so I could afford to have a permanent pro-Chef on staff, to make vegan equivalents of the candy bars, chips, and whathaveyou's any time I want.
And it also convinced me that this is a ripe market for C-Systems to get into...restaurants, grocers, etc..all vegan and low-glycemic food.
My only formal restaurant experience, since turning Vegan, was going to Arraya's in the U-District, sometime in 98' or 99'.
Mostly a nice meal.
I asked specifically for their COCONUT-milk infused tea, and after a couple of sips I realized their error, it was cows milk, I tried to enjoy the meal, finishing it after I asked for the proper tea, then decided that it was not good.
I went to a nearby alley and vomited up the whole meal, vowing never to go there again, and perhaps no restaurant at all (perhaps a bit melodramatic, no :).
One of the reasons I don't go and have no interest in going to restaurants is that I hate the idea of tips (no one deserves a tip just for doing their fucking job), and the expectation of one is just another tax, if not extortion.
This is one sentiment which encouraged me to think of replacing humans in restaurants with machines.
Another reason comes from my short-time employment at McDonalds, when I was a teen, cooking food, seeing food dropped occasionally (myself included), and seeing other poor preparation methods and doubtful cleanliness of cooking areas including waaaaaaay too much chemical use in the cleaning of the cooking surfaces....that image still sticks in my mind....globs of chemicals.
On top of all of that you have the occasional horror stories you hear about how people in the food industry get their vengance, for ill-treatment by, or distaste for, particular customers.
So none of these consideration inspire future restaurant outings.
Nevertheless, I did find a less formal place that I liked a lot, it was capitol hills Gravity Bar, and they had wonderful fried tofu's with a great hot peanut sauce, among other goodies I enjoyed.
Ate there a couple of times before they closed, and haven't visited a restaurant since.
I prefer a picnic-like approach to "eating out", buy stuff at a grociery store and go to the park...that I like....generally you won't find the cashier opening some food you bought, spitting in it, and handing it to you, after you fail to pay them a "tip".
January 7th 2004, I woke up, guzzled some caffeinated soda, and ate a couple handfulls of chips of some kind.
About half an hour later my body went into shock :
sweaty palms, racing heart, mental confusion, panic, etc..
What I would find out, through my own explorations in the next 2 months as I suffered through this kind of strange malady......was that I was predisposed to hypoglycemia...I needed to eat low-glycemic food to not go into shock, my blood-sugar had reached a tipping point...being heavily imballanced by the unending variety and velocity of high-glycemic foods dumped into my gullet.
[[ the process of understanding what happened to me was slow, no thanks to a useless doctor at the wallingford clinic, and even a more useless psychologists/psychiatrist (courtesy of geniuses at harborview) who didn't believe there was anything wrong with my body (I was guided to rooms with straps on gourneys which fixated my mind on the prospect of being forcibly pumped full of drugs and left for "counseling", which convinced me to play along with the shrink, bear some personal stuff, and to get the hell out of there ASAP (~$500 or $800), thank you medical science ]]
The internet saved me instead....cost $0.
I started slow, and built up a tight regimen of low-glycemic meals, with not much taste to look forward to (within that tight budget constraint).
I maintained this much more disciplined diet into October or so....now without all those junk food tasties I loved so much.
On top of the vegan aspect of my dietary restrictions, I was looking at a dim future in terms of my enjoyment of food.
In October or so of 2004, the subtle signs of sensitivity to future shocks having retreated, I decided I would do some trial test of some tasties...and after a week or so I decided that if the rest of my life (some more melodrama :) was going to be without them I would go back to the non-vegan candy bars and chips....just for a short time.
An important catalyzing factor was what I had learned in those first 2 months of exploring my malady...that SUGAR...almost all white sugar....is as such do to 'bleaching' which is done with animal bone ingredients.
Meaning all these years that I thought I was living a disciplined diet I was unknowingly ingesting something fundamentally contrary to my desires.....besides infuriating me, it gave me a reasonable excuse to go back, at least to eating dairy infused food....candy mostly!
I never expected it to last, I always thought I might get 3 months or so out of it, and my body would signal once again that I had to commit myself to this new unchangeable reality, and in 2005 my diet would be on a much stricter path than ever before, till death.
But it turns out I figured out how to ballance out these blood sugar highs (snacking) with maintanace dieting (low-glycemic meals) and it mostly worked with dependable results.
