JJ Olsen - The Story

WARNING! LONG POST

My Dad was born in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada in 1955. His mom, my grandma, moved from England to marry my grandpa who had been a missionary in England back in about 1950. My dad grew up modestly in Edmonton. His father was a school principal and his mother was a secretary.

My mother was born in 1957 in Ottawa, but grew up mostly on a farm in southern Alberta; then moving into the small town of Cardston when she was in high school. She was the third of 8 children, which is how things went in those days.

My parents got engaged and married in the spring/summer of 1976 and I was born 11 months later. I am told that we lived in a small apartment when I was an infant, but I have no memory of this, and am therefore suspicious.

My earliest memories are of living in 'the ghetto' as it was affectionately known. The ghetto was Pleasantview, a low-rent townhouse complex near Southgate Centre in Edmonton. We lived in a three-bedroom/three-story unit with a single bathroom and an unfinished basement. Whilst there our family expanded to include three children.

In about 1980/81, my dad graduated from the University of Alberta Law School, and so naturally we upgraded to a 3-bedroom/3-story townhouse with an unfinished basement and -get this -two bathrooms! Aside from that, in my memory, the house was very similar to the one we'd left. While we lived there I gained two more sisters and about 4 years.

In 1985 My dad got transferred to Calgary, so we moved into a 3 bedroom three story duplex with 3 bathrooms and a finished basement (with two additional bedrooms). I'm not sure why, but for at least part of that time there were 4 of us all sleeping in one bedroom. This house also had a garage, which was a first for me. I enjoyed riding my bike in there, around and around in circles, all winter long. Ha ha!

The second year we lived in Calgary, I was 9 years old and in 4th grade. That was the first year that I attended an entire year of school. My mom had home schooled me for all or part of every previous year. I credit this abnormal educational experience with making me into the imbalanced genius that I am. Also, my youngest sister was born during this time.

In 1987 we moved to Cardston, where my mom is from, because my grandfather was terminally ill with a brain tumor. At least that's why I think we moved down there. My dad still worked in Calgary so he was gone 3 days a week for the 1 year that we lived there. My grandpa died in June of 88, and we moved back to Calgary that August.

So for 6th grade I found myself attending my 6th school (including home school). It took me a while to adjust, but I soon found my place as the class clown. I remember at one point declaring part of the classroom to be under British rule. I put up a Union Jack near my desk and then took it so far as to play 'God Save the Queen' on my little electric keyboard during a school assembly. There are other stories from that year, but I'll save them for some other time.

From 1989 to 1992 I went to Junior High. I attended the same school for 3 years in a row, which was (and still is) a record. During that time I went through the awkward adolescent stage (which is almost over as of 2009). I often had trouble making friends and fitting in, but I got through. It was during this time that my parents' marriage began to become obviously unstable. They were separated for occasional periods of time, and I always tried to cover this up to my friends.

As a stress reliever, I often played the piano for hours at a time. I had started playing the piano in about 1981 or 82. My Mom's sister Gale lived with us for a year back in Edmonton and had taught me a few things. I took various piano lessons here and there, but never anything too formal for too long. When I was a teenager, Gale (again staying with us, but for a shorter time) introduced me to the concept of 'chording.' Maybe it's actually called something else. Anyway, once I figured out how to play songs just by listening to them a few times, the piano became my escape from the humdrum of everyday life.

For grades 10 and 11, I attended Henry Wise Wood High School in Calgary. I was not an exceptional student, and I was a bad student in some classes. I loved architectural drafting class, but I didn't care much for anything else. I had never been much of an athlete. As a kid I'd done brief forays into soccer, baseball, and basketball; but nothing ever stuck. While at Wise Wood, I joined both the track and cross-country teams. I got to really enjoy both short and long distance running. During every other gym class we had the option to run about 5, 7, or 8 kms. I ran the max distance every single class and was one of only 2 to do so. I also did the 100m and long jump. I was never great at it, but I enjoyed it. Unfortunately I pulled a muscle pretty bad during a practice once, and never really got back into it.

For my last year of high school I transferred to Lord Beaverbrook High School. I don't really remember why I switched. I think I was just generally unhappy with school and wanted a change. I started out strong. I was taking calculus, physics, chemistry, English, math, and I think art as my one optional class. Anyway, I ended up dropping art, calculus and physics. I failed Chemistry and just barely passed math. By the middle of the year I realized that I needed more credits to graduate, so I signed up for two music classes. I took Concert Choir and Jazz Choir. Luckilly for me, this was something that I was good at and that I enjoyed. I had long since abandoned all hope of being 'cool,' so that wasn't really a problem either. As an extension of the choir classes, I ended up forming an quartet. I was the second tenor. We had just a couple of minor gigs, but it was tons of fun. A highlight for me was performing at Pike's Place in Seattle during a school trip.

In the summer of 1995 I just barely graduated from high school. I had scored in the 99th percentile on my ACT test, so I figured I was smart enough for university; but I wasn't sure at all what the future would hold for me. Would I get into politics? Would I become a competitive skier? Would I become a lion tamer? Stay tuned to find out!