• Home
• Ideas
• Aquavan
• Our World
• Words
• Wide World of Composting
• Caffeine confidential
• Toilet training
• Accounting for taste
• A hairy tale
• My melon calling, baby
• No butts, at least no big ones
• If the shoe fits . . .
• The way of the watermelon
• Ramen aid
• A piece of cake
• The 12 steps for cyber- imperialists anonyomous
• For whom the bell cricket tolls
• Pictures
• Look, Watson
• Atlas’s osteopath
• Dead dog walking
• Swoosh! . . .  episode 1
• Swoosh! . . .  episode 2
• Squid innards
• Snail
• Car
• Raymond’s blog
• About Raymond

About Raymond

My drive to explore undiscovered country began when I was little. My mother says that one day, I got up and tossed my pacifier in the garbage, never to use one again.

The formative years

Growing up in Toronto, my Dad had my three brothers and me work in his factory to keep us out of trouble. Buffing keychains motivated me to stay in school so that one day I might be able to do other things. At sixteen, I got a summer job as a bus boy. I told the manager, “I want to study people so I can become a better writer.”

I enrolled in a high school enrichment program, where I met kids who played Dungeons and Dragons and planned to attend university.

Inspired by a biology teacher who painted pictures of birds and ate bread mould, I studied zoology at the University of Toronto. In first year, I joined a Japanese-Canadian hockey team training to tour Japan. I decided to study Japanese, despite years of not paying attention at Japanese school on Saturday mornings as a kid. I drew editorial cartoons for one of the university newspapers. I worked summers and weekends as a Host at the Ontario Science Centre, doing science demonstrations with people who had the best parties.

Go east, young man!

Upon graduation, I decided to go to Japan so I would not forget my Japanese, the way I’d forgotten my French after high school. My Japanese mentor told me, “Study something you’re interested in and learn Japanese in the process.” I thought studying marine biology would be a noble pursuit, given that the Emperor did. But a colleague later told me, “People just think you have a lot of time on your hands.” I spent three years at a remote marine station in southern Japan, studying the ecology of barnacles, teaching English to elementary schools and exploring my Japanese heritage.

The almighty dollar

After receiving my M.Sc. in marine ecology, I returned to Toronto, tired of prolonged heat rash, being bitten by centipedes and not getting jokes in Japanese. To test the power of perseverence, I began a Ph.D. with a U of T professor whose primary criterion was that I have “a keen sense of the ridiculous.” I worked on the hydrodynamics of sand dollars after reading about them in the Marine Biology Coloring Book. My research gave me the excuse to visit the west coast—California, the San Juan Islands and British Columbia.

During one of these tours of duty, I visited the Vancouver Aquarium, where I was so impressed by their interpretation of killer whales, I decided to offer my services to them. Incredibly, they were looking for someone foolish enough to develop their new Aquavan outreach program and I got the job. I had a month to pack up my life in Toronto to move out to Vancouver. Introducing the wonders of marine ecology to students around the province was fun, fascinating and challenging. I later worked on other educational projects at the Aquarium, including Engaging Science, a joint venture between the Aquarium, the Space Centre and Science World.

Just as I was thinking about moving on from the Aquarium, a position as curator opened up at Science World. I was fortunate to have such an opportunity to learn new things and try out new ideas with fun people.

Even more fortunate was meeting and marrying Lenora, who inspired me to make the most of life. Through Raymond’s Brain, I am pushing my boundaries and savouring my time, seeing where my efforts and talents take me.

I look forward to exploring some undiscovered country with you.