Ken Beck:  

School In late Jr HS and all through HS I was in a "nerd gang". We called ourselves "The Freaks" and we were anti-everything. Our heroes were Frank Zappa, Alice Cooper, Woody Allen and the Marx Brothers, because they were anti-"society", as we would say. Also the science authors Desmond Morris, R Buckminster Fuller, Isaac Asimov, and science fiction authors Arther C Clark and Isaac Asimov (again). The teachers probably didn't know quite what to do with us, since we were good students and misbehaving at the same time. I'd say that the "leaders" of our "Nerd Gang" were Dick Trezza and Craig Danielson (well, Craig was more of an "anti-leader"). There was also Dan Becker, Alick Dziabcencko (I think I spelled that right), James Dilley, Gerry Loy, Alick's cousin Gerry, Jim Hunt (who called himself "Mamulo" - I probably never knew why), Steve Diatz (he wasn't as weird as the rest of us) and maybe some more that I don't recall right now. We used to think we were oh so much smarter than everyone else. I can't help but laugh and shake my head, looking back at our smugness. I've changed a lot since then, but I've still retained a touch of eccentricity from that time. Then there was our garage band called "Fred". Dick Trezza, Dan Becker and I, plus Chris Jensen and Dan Arcotta. Craig was in it for a little while and I think some others may have came and gone. Whenever we opened a window, even just a crack, the police would come because we were too loud. I remember I couldn't even hear my drums no matter how hard I hit them because the amps were so loud. We had our one performance at school, the last of an afternoon of bands playing out by the music room. When we started, most people had already gone home. By the time we finished, we'd driven off the rest. I was in the NRA-sponsored Rifle Club, that had a small shooting range in the basement. I got a chest full of medals for every rank that they had. I'm proud that I made it all the way to the top, but a couple years later I gave up guns forever. I guess I could think of lots of bad things that guns could be used for, but I couldn't think of any worthwhile things that I was going to use them for. I evolved from NRA to anti-gun. I remember one time Craig said to me: "Beck, do you realize that when we get older, we're going to look back at this as the best years of our lives?". We both burst out laughing, because we didn't think those years were so good at the time. The memory of that moment helps to keep any sentimental nostalgia somewhat in check. College Took Philosophy class at Valley College while still in High School. Attended UC Santa Barbara after H.S. - Freshman year: Lived in Anacapa dorm. Did all the wrong things and learned some painful lessons. - Sophmore year: Lived in same room in Anacapa dorm. Stopped being an athiest. Started investigating religions and turning my life around. Eventually chose the Baha'i Faith. - Junior year: Lived in Francisco Torres off campus dorm. Became active in local Baha'i community and campus Baha'i club. Finally declared a major: Business Economics. Took accounting classes because I wanted something I could get a job in. Finally took a computer class and decided it's more fun to write a computer program than to do accounting, thought I could probably get a job with computers, too, so changed major to Computer Science. - Senior year: Lived off campus in Goleta and Isla Vista - then back to Francisco Torres. Studied a lot and remained active in Baha'i Faith. Didn't actually graduate until December because changed major in middle of Jr year and had lots of classes to take. Sent out lots of resume's and went to interviews because I really wanted to get a job and be totally independent. Workplace As I say, "I'm a software man - I don't know nuthin' about the hardware". Worked as ...Expand for more