About Me

My name is Francis G. King, and I am interested in sharing a few things about myself.

I am a thinker. I know that all people (or at least I hope all people) think. So this is going to be a webpage through which I am going to try to share some of my thoughts. You don't have to agree with me, but since I tend to be quite misanthropic I'm probably not going to care all that much. Sorry, but that's just how I am. The thoughts I will present here are some of my own personal musings over anything I happen to have an interest in. I've decided that thinking (while it does pass time) is not a very practical pursuit unless it is shared. While I may be an introverted, arrogant and somewhat inexperienced individual I think a lot. Occasionally I come upon a thought that may be worthwhile and that is the purpose of this blog.

This page will be on myself. No, this is not to indulge in flagrant self promotion. This page will be important to anyone reading any other section of this blog. I want my readers to have a better idea of what sort of biases that I might be holding, even though I may not be aware of them myself. As such I will attempt to inform you of my upbringing and my personality to the best of my ability.

First off I will begin with my personality. I find personality tests to be very interesting, and I actually made everyone in my family take one. According to the Myres-Briggs personality test that I took I am an INTP.
There are lots of resources on the internet for looking up what that means, but I will be kind and provide you with a quick summary along with a few links.

INTP stands for Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, and Perceiving.
For a quick read:
http://www.typelogic.com/intp.html
http://www.personalitypage.com/INTP.html

for expanded reading:
http://www.myersbriggs.org/
http://www.keirsey.com/4temps/architect.aspx
http://changingminds.org/explanations/preferences/preferences.htm

and if you want to learn your own personality type:
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp

Basically I'm an anti-social know-it-all. Well, more like I wish I was a know-it-all. I believe that truth is a very  important thing, and that it is impossible to entirely understand the whole of what truth is. The interactions between all things are part  of the truth, and all things that have happened affect what is happening now. Every moment that is forgotten is a piece of the whole truth that is lost to the unknown. It is still true, even if  no one can recall it anymore. I attempt to see what is rather that what I want to see. Regardless of what the truth may be I want to know it, because it is real. Ignoring what  is there does not change it. If the truth is horrible(and I have come to believe that a great deal of it is) I would rather look at that ugly reality and come to know it, than to live my life accustomed to my comfortable fiction. My hope is that somewhere amongst the horror will be a way to change it.

I also believe that I am an idealist at heart, with a cynic's rationality. What I mean by this is probably quite clear in what I have written above. I observe and analyze things in a rather cynical light. I am not optimistic about what I think I'm going to find. Yet, despite this I almost always come back to a positive, hopeful prognosis for what is eventually going to come about. I cannot rationalize why I do this. I think it may actually be a sort of defense mechanism. I have occasional bouts with depression, and whenever I do the only way I seem to be able to escape is to think positively. Its likely that this is why I tend to have this underlying shield of optimism; because if I didn't I would simply think my way into a self-perpetuating cycle of depression. Which certainly wouldn't be an enjoyable experience. I try to remain hopeful despite all the reasons I have to give up on hope.


Next I shall attempt to give a summary of  my life, as best as I am able.


I was born in Illinois in 1991. In a series of a few moves and stops along the way my family eventually came to live in Pennsylvania. In fact it was the very same town where my mother had grown up as a child. Many of my relatives on my mother's side had remained in the local area, so I was in contact with many of them periodically over the years. During the moving I was very young, and when we finally settled down I had a younger sister and brother. I had also already had an older brother, bringing my total number of siblings to a total of three. I also have a half-brother and sister from my father's previous marriage, who were already grown and moved on by the time I was born.

I don't really remember much of my childhood. There are a few strong memories which stand out above the others, which I will share with you, but for the most part I am not entirely certain. Mostly my childhood was very positive, and as such I find it strange that I eventually came to be so cynical later.

Before I begin sharing my memories I will begin by clarifying what sort of family I lived in. My mother was born and raised a Roman Catholic. My father was born and raised as a Christian Scientist. My father remained a Christian Scientist until the death of his mother, at which point he converted to Catholicism to marry my mother(since her family was opposed to him marrying her otherwise). So I grew up in a household with strong religious convictions. We went to church every week, and there were even periods of time when we would go in almost daily. Many of my moral views were initially shaped by this way of thinking and I am likely holding a few biases from the Catholic dogmas.

Both of my parents were well educated. My father has a Masters in Education(I think it may be a Masters in Biology and his bachelors was in education. I'm not really sure I remember, and so I shall ask him later), as does my mother. My mother specialized in young children while my father mainly dealt with troubled youths. For much of my younger years he taught in a school for emotionally disturbed teens. He would often come home with stories about how some of his students had attempted to throw chairs at him, or would try to light one another on fire during class. You know, disturbing stuff.

My father was also a more physically fit individual during this time. He worked the summers in his own business, doing landscaping work. He also did some training in Uechi Ryu of which I participated from a young age. I never advanced beyond a green belt, due to the fact that eventually my father stopped being able to teach.

My father eventually became injured at his work and was from then on disabled. As such the household income was significantly reduced. At around the same time my mother lost her job at the private school she had been teaching at. Since she had been a special education teacher her position was one of the first to be cut when the school lost funding. So it was that much of the luxuries to which I had become accustomed were suddenly gone.

I never experienced poverty to any extent. We had simply gone from having a fairly good middle class income, to a fairly low one. We did not lose our home, but we did not have much in excess. The only luxury that we did maintain was our ability to travel. My parents saw many benefits to being able to see different and diverse parts of the world, or at the very least, to be able to get away from the local area for a time. So it was that despite the difficulty of it, my parents managed to keep a timeshare working here or there so that we would be able to experience more of the world. These trips were usually around much of the east coast. I have only traveled outside the United States on a few occasions. That will be covered a little later though.

First I will try to recollect those memories from my childhood that may or may not be significant. I will add more to this collection as I recall more that is of any importance.