Brief Overview of My Life (so far)

IMAGE In the closing days of 1963 a baby known as Richard (Tad) Gipson was born in Oakland, CA. In the next two years my mother would divorce, my sister would be born (in that order) and I would learn to use the toilet.

In 1969 my mother, my sister and I moved to Fairbanks, Alaska, where I was raised by wolves we lived until 1975. The first house we lived in was 12 miles outside of town, where we survived having a bear adopt our house, a car that rolled itself three times and horked it's transmission (I'll tell you all about that, sometime), and my mother coming down with a serious illness resulting in our lives being in the hands of a seven-year old boy (me). We then moved into town and things mellowed out a bit.

In 1975 we moved to Stockton, California. At this time my mother went back to her maiden name of "Ward" and I forever dropped the nickname "Tad" (And now the whole world knows! So there, Stephani!). Tad Gipson became Richard Ward. I discovered the joys of Cable TV and sweating profusely reading pornography under the swealtering blast of the California sun (you just don't move from Alaska to the central valley of California in August. It's just not done!)

In 1977 we moved to San Jose, California, where I attended a cesspool known as Rolling Hills Jr. High. This move has been widely regarded as a mistake by all parties.

IMAGEIn 1978 we moved back to Stockton where I attended Lincoln High School. Despite having some really good friends, I tired of High school and left in 1981, at the end of my Sophomore year.

In the summer of 1981 I worked at Camp Silver Lake run by the City of Stockton, CA. It was a fun summer filled with ribald episodes of wanton debauchery. I was usually asleep in my cabin when this was going on, but some of my co-workers swear they had a lot of fun.

I then attempted to go to college (well, Jr. College) and quickly tired of that and ran off with the circus to the California Conservation Corps, stationed at the San Gabriel Canyon Center (now closed) behind Azuza, CA (in Los Angeles), academy class 43. That was a lot of fun. Of all the jobs I've ever had, I liked this one the best. The motto of the CCC is "Hard Work, Low Pay, and Miserable Conditions". Well, the work was hard, the pay was pretty low, but after living in a homestead 12 miles outside of Fairbanks, Alaska, with no plumbing and a winter that hit -72°f, the conditions were far from miserable (well, maybe those cady-assed city kids thought they were miserable...)

IMAGE After this I went back to Stockton and kinda loafed around Jr College for a few more years than I'd care to admit, working as a student employee in the Locke Center computer lab for the Academic Computing Division (since absorbed into the Computer Sciences Dept). I also met my wife there, so things were not all bad. :)

I then moved to Sacramento, CA for five years, where I worked for a computer store (now closed (are we seeing a trend?)) and then for Sacramento City College. In 1993 I married Kathy and put an end to all that living in sin co-habitation nonsense. Also in 1993 my other great obsession, DOOM was released.

In 1994 Kathy and I moved to Juneau, Alaska, one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.

Well, that's it for the quick overview. There are some specific incidents, stories and outrageous lies in the Richard's Writings page (okay, there aren't any lies over there, omissions of facts, but no outright lies).

-RRW

Last Updated : , Richard R Ward.