A brief history of the life of Simon Gould (aka Mantis)
|
Growing Up
|
|
| |
I was born on the 24th of February, 1980 (at around 3am i think) in the semi-small town of Wanganui, New Zealand.
My parents, Keith and Carol, had lived here all their lives as had a lot of my relatives.
I also had a sister, Megan, who was born 2 years before me.
The first 8 or so years of my life were the usual you'd expect from a kid. I played sports like soccer and i ran around the countryside with my friends.
I also raced go-karts for a while, taking after dad's love of cars and racing (he was into all styles of racing and had built a Mini hillclimb/rally car)
This all changed at the end of 1988 when my parents, my sister and i moved to Australia.
|
|
Moving to Sydney, Australia
|
|
| |
My parents had recently been over to Brisbane, Australia for Expo and really liked the country and the work opportunities and felt it would give my sister and i a better future.
Most of mum's side of the family as well as her parents were living at the time in Sydney, Australia, so that is were we setup our new life.
We ended up renting a place at Epping West and i did Grade 4 there. It was an ok city and I got to know a lot more relatives but found it a little to city-ish.
|
|
Moving again up to Brisbane, Australia
|
|
| |
After a year in Sydney we decided to venture north to Queensland and see what that was like.
We rented a place in Slacks Creek (part of Logan) and I went to Chatswood State School for Grade 5.
I much perferred the more laid back feel of Brisbane compared to Sydney and so did the rest of the family.
I also played a few more sports like Softball, Basketball and Cricket but never got fully into them.
After about 6months we bought a house in Rochedale South and in 1991 I swapped schools to Springwood Road State School.
In Grade 6 I met my oldest friend (that i am still in touch with) and soon after we both got into computers and programming (QuickBASIC mainly).
This continued for Grade 7 and in 1993 I started highschool at Springwood State High School.
Over the next 5 years I made more friends and got further into computers and programming. I also did pretty well at school and got good marks.
As soon as i could, at age 16-17, i got my drivers licence and soon found a liking for driving and cars.
|
|
Universary and Working
|
|
| |
After finishing highschool at the end of 1997 i then started a Bachelor of Information Technology at QUT Universary in the city.
That continued for 2 years with me doing pretty good before I elected to do a year long project which involved me working fulltime at a job.
I ended up working for a company in the city called Atlas Travel Technologies who developed systems for travel and tourism.
Also around the time i started working fulltime, i go onto University of Queenslands IRC server and met a whole heap of new friends.
I stayed at Atlas for most of the year before returning to fulltime study. However, after working for a year, earning money and no study, I found it hard to go back to fulltime study.
At the start of 2002 I began working parttime (and parttime universary) at My Travel Network, a small startup company developing a system to help tour operators and tour drivers).
This was just a 3 month internship but after 3 months they asked me to stay on.
After 6 months I decided I was done with universary as i belived I would have more luck getting better jobs if i had work experience, not a degree. So near the end of my course I called it quits.
I ended up working at My Travel Networks until near the end of 2002 when they finished the project and there was no more work.
|
|
Moving house, more work and first car
|
|
| |
In September 2002, my parents sold our house and we moved to a new place about 3 streets away, still in Rochedale South.
I was planning to move out at that stage but was out of work at the time so put it off.
Unfortunately I was out of work for the next 9 months or so (during which i did some contract Web Development work).
In the middle of 2003 I got a job through a friend at The Disc Shop computer store, working on their website and other marketting and advertising work.
Towards the end of 2003 I bought my first car, a Nissan 300ZX (Twin Turbo version). This was an awesome car and i loved it heaps.
I also started 10 Pin Bowling in a weekly league around this time.
I finished up work at The Disc Shop in mid-2004 and a month later started work at Nuvo Group in the Valley doing website development.
Around August 2004 i finally moved out into a 3 level (2 bedroom) townhouse in Spring Hill (basically right in Brisbane City and 3 blocks from my work).
To help out with rent i got a highschool friend of mine to move in.
|
|
Latest job change
|
|
| |
In June 2005 I left Nuvo Group to start a job with Q2 Solutions in Milton. Working as a Intranet Website Developer I soon grew to really like the work and the people i worked with.
Though it was not just a 3 minute walk down the road, it was still close by and was a quick train ride away.
A few weeks after i started here I sold my 300ZX. This was mainly due to me rarely need a car, it being costly to maintain and me wanting the money for other things (like the ski trip myself and some mates had gone on each year since 2004).
A month or so later i bought my 1973 Clubman Mini as a cheap car to get around in when needed. My love of Mini's comes from dad owning several in his life (has 2 currently, sister has 1).
|
|
Recent Times
|
|
| |
Life continues and I was very happy. Work is good and I have good friends who would come over regularly to hangout.
Over the last few years i have done some various activities, some i still do. These include Bowling, Jujitsu and Poker.
For detailed information of my life as it currently stands, checkout the My Present page.
|
|
My Pets
|
|
| |
First we had a dog which i don't really remember called Prudence (or Puddles). We had him in New Zealand and he died before i really remember.
We also had a dark grey and white cat call Scooter that we brought over here and had for a few more years. She was a playful cat even in her old age and loved playing with a squash ball. We had her for a few more years after coming to Queensland before she was put down from old age.
When we moved to Minerva St a tomcat turned up and wouldn't leave. It was a mean cat that used to beat up dogs and do all sorts of weird things. But I loved it. We called him Bronson and I have fond memories of him sitting on your lap, prodding your stomach for 10 minutes and then drooling all over you. We had him for many years before he had to be put down due to cancer in his gums.
In Minerva St we also got a dog called Oscar. Was a cross between a Shetland Sheepdog, a Dashhound and a Silky Terrier (i think). I loved him so much and we had him for many years. He was always happy and always hungry and was the best dog. In 2004 he had to be put down due to old age and medical problems.
My parents now have a cat called Sushi and a dog called Asti. Mu sister has a cat called Meavy too.
I have had a few other small pets over the years like a Fighting Fish and a bird if i recall.
I would love to have a Husky dog and a Ferret.
|
|