38 years ago, I came bounding into a world of love and laughter. I was the first child, the fourth grandchild, the third nephew, and the primary focus of my family. My parents were young and energetic and had every good intention for their new baby boy. I grew up with opportunities for intellectual and spiritual growth, secure in the knowledge that I was loved.

In my neighbour hood everyone grows up playing soccer. It is not a question. You just do it. Although I played soccer, it was not the same for me. Dashing back and forth on a field, kicking a ball around and not being able to use my hands was not my idea of living.

Looking back to my formative years, at why I got into science, it was in some senses, a coincidence. I was a good student —I was always curious and always asking questions. Any answer given to me however was invariably followed by another “Why?” This would continue until I exhausted my mentor's ability to answer or her patience, whichever came first. And then I would get the “Why don’t you go look it up?” Eventually I learned to ask myself “Why?” and find the answers for myself — through experiments in the lab. I think this questioning, the curiosity is what led me to become a scientist.

It has taken me 38 years to become who I am today. I have been given the freedom to explore the world in order to satisfy my curiosity toward all the strange and wonderful things in the world around me. I have an insatiable hunger for knowledge. When young, I read the World Book Encyclopedia as other kids read comic books and the backs of cereal boxes. No matter how much I learned I sought to know more. I wanted to understand the way things work.

I've always liked music. I think I'll put the blame for my questionably varied taste in music, atleast for now... and I always have a feeling of aversion to people who talk alot about nothing. I wouldn't describe myself as normal though. I've always known that I was destined to be different.