My Name:

I get a lot of questions about my name. Except for one region in the world, my name is pretty unique. I know of about two other Kalevs in the world (and one, if you can believe it, is about my age and gay too!). Anyway, my name is Estonian. Actually, it's the Anglicised truncation of the name of Estonia's national mythical folk hero, Kalevipoeg (or simply the name of his father), who is, I've been told, a cross between King Arthur and Robin Hood. (Now that I actually do a web search on the history of my name, it seems like I wasn't quite told *all* the story... I guess my parents didn't want to bamboozle me with details.) Anyway, my name is pronounced KAY-lehv; this is different, I've figured out, from the way it would be said in Estonia, where I would likely be dubbed KAH-lehf. Let's just say I'm glad my parents Anglicised it. *grin*

As you might have figured out, I'm pretty vain about my name, basically because it's relatively unique in North America. I truly pity all the Michaels and Johns of the world, and everyone else whose name has to be qualified to make sure people know who you're talking about (e.g. Jason Badhair, Jason 6+2, Tall Dan, Scary Dan, etc.).

Early Life:

I spent Kindergarten to Grade 7 at White Rock Elementary in the French Immersion program. There I became excellent at academics, learned to love reading, enjoyed several school musicals but sort of fell behind in the development of social skills. This didn't get rectified until Grade 12 when I finally developed a social life.

For a good deal of my elementary school years I wondered exactly why the other boys picked on me. Didn't figure that one out until the summer of 1994.

Until I got to high school, my only major competition was Jennifer Wong, a girl who had stolen my best friend Karen in Grade 3 (so I hold grudges). For a long while I hated Jennifer until I realised this was stupid and finally patched things up with her (hey, you wanted to know all about me).

At White Rock Elementary, I met my good friend Galen Guthrie and also Tyler Sampson, who, despite having been written off my list of friends, had a big enough impact in my life to merit mention here. I thought I was in love with Galen for 5 whole years (Grade 5 to 10) and boy was she surprised when I told her.

By the time high school was approaching, I was pretty settled in and happy with my life. The summer before Grade 8 we moved (shakeup) and then I got to high school (big shakeup). Which leads me to...

Middle Life:

Grade 8 was pure, simple hell. There was a trio of bullies who decided they had nothing better to do than make my life miserable. I still refer to Grade 8 as the worst year of my life.

In Grade 9, I switched to a private all-boys school, St. George's School, where I stayed until graduation. Compared to public school, it was heaven. I met several good friends that I still see regularly while at Saints. These include (but are not limited to): Weng-Keen Wong, Adam Pope, Baback Elmieh, Wei-Yuen Tan and Dennis Ng.

Saints was great because for the first time in my life, I was encouraged by my peers to do well in school. In fact, it was expected that I do well. Like several of my friends, I became obsessed with marks, an addiction which I have finally overcome after several years at university.

My most grevious error during my high school years was going to work for that wonderful institution named McDonald's. I don't recommend it, no matter how many people tell you the experience is "valuable."

As graduation approached, I slowly developed a social life which blossomed the summer after graduation. During my final year, I was a chorus member for the school production of The Mikado. This was an extremely memorable and fun time of my life.

Without further ado, I graduated with honours and headed off to university at the local provincial institution, the University of British Columbia.