Not actually Japanese...
My name is Ryan Wicks, I am from Woodstock Ontario Canada born and raised. My family on my mothers side are mostly Welsh and Irish decent, and Newfoundlander on my Grandmothers end. I'm not sure about my Fathers side of the family. I have only recently (3 years ago) met and have become acquainted with them, my Father included. Not that any of that is of particular importance, my heritage has very little to do with my current state of being. Other than my slight eastern Canadian accent and a love of Cod Fish for dinner.
Early Years...
I grew up in a rural area known as Oxford County, mostly small towns and hamlet farming communities. Most of my days were spent playing outdoors in forests, swaps/bogs and meadows with my closest friends. Contests of stealth and cunning such as hide and seek, spying on our parents, sparring with each other and catching insects were our most favored activities. Also playing Nintendo, watching movies and anime which fueled/ tempered our youthful fascination and intrigue with stories of martial arts, ninjas and the covert art.
Then, I grew up... YUK!
At the age of 10 years old, the first two of my 5 younger siblings were born. Being an only child up to this point, it changed my reality profoundly. I had always been pretty self sufficient and independent, so it wasn't very hard to adjust or handle my new responsibilities as a big brother. In retrospect, I'm sure my behavior more resembled a mother hen of sorts. Around the age of 13 I began working and eventually dropped out of school to pursue multiple part time jobs, by the age of 15. Eventually distancing myself from the home front after my mother delivered 3 more baby brothers consecutively.
Just after my 19th birthday, I left Woodstock for good. Moved an hour away to an even more rural area with my Grandparents, to pursue a career as a chicken catcher. It is a horrible, cutthroat job that requires you to suffer and cause suffering to poor defenseless animals. Perhaps I will write a post about how horrible it was, but I am sure you can imagine. Although not morally justifiable in my present state of mind, I made a considerable income and lived quite lavishly for 7 years total. Even managed to attain the position of lead hand, through my reliability and willingness to suffer in any weather.
During my off time, I played Call of Duty and started a clan affectionately named "Programmed 2Kill"(P2K). Inspired by the MKUltra experiments and our theory that Call of Duty is a modern day, strong running, adaptation of those same experiments (Spooky). The co-founder and I discussed conspiracy theory at length and he became my first guru/ teacher/ window into Spirituality, Synchronicity and Sacred Geometry. This made me feel very uncomfortable, regarding the direction my life was headed. It became overwhelming and like an incurable itch, I became very anxious for change. So I left it all behind, packed a bag and moved to BC on a Greyhound bus to meet my father for the first time ever.
Past 3 years to present...
My existence in British Columbia, has been and still is a true test of and evolution of my being. My father turned out be a toxic influence. He is very self serving and destructive, yet believes he is helping people. I no longer associate with him, although he did introduce me to many great people that have helped me when I was down. I am sharing my life with a handful of them to date, of that aspect I am eternally grateful to him.
The first 2 years I spent here I was living outside, selling marijuana, begging and meeting more people than I had ever in my whole entire life. It was a very humbling experience for me, coming from a life of excess. I traveled around the province a bit, to the coast and back. British Columbia is a rare beauty, I had never experienced the enthralling, majesty of mountains. For the past year i have been living on one, pursuing my childhood dreams of being a ninja. I am not very disciplined and have been free of routine for 3 years now. I hope you will stay tuned and join me on my journey to mastery of discipline, stealth, fitness, gardening, cooking, weaponry, japanese language, folklore, mysticism and spiritual growth.
Thanks For Reading, Dewa Mata!