User:Michael Kwan

Who is Michael Kwan?

In a Nutshell

Michael Kwan is a freelance writer whose work has been featured on a number of websites and publications. Most recently, he has been writing technology news, as well as academic pieces on the relationship between science and meditation. He also maintains a blog on his own site titled "Beyond the Rhetoric."

Hitting the Books: Educational Background

Growing up, Michael wasn't really sure where life's road would lead him. He considered becoming an architect, trying his hand at a couple of drafting courses in high school, including learning the basics behind AutoCAD (computer aided design). When it came time to select a career preparation program, he figured he'd give something practical a shot. He took the necessary accounting courses, and had some good experience as an accounts receivable clerk at national electronics retailer, as a customer service representative at a bank, and as a general office and accounting clerk at a retirement home.

When he started his post-secondary career the year after at the University of British Columbia, he was so sure that he was going to head down the road to get a CA certification, taking all the necessary first year courses -- mathematics, economics, and the like -- but he found the material a little too dry for his tastes. Interestingly, he took Psychology as an elective and found what he learned in those classes to be absolutely fascinating. In the end, he settled on becoming a Psychology major and and English Literature minor. It was the latter that gave Michael a creative outlet to "express himself", and what slowly directed him toward a career in writing.

His Co-op Program experiences -- beyond the co-op work terms themselves -- including helping with the mentorship program, organizing the pairs of junior and senior students, as well as planning kick-off events and meet-and-greets. But it was with the publishing team that he found his niche. He wrote a few articles for the official Arts Co-op newsletter before becoming the Co-Editor in his senior year.

Learning the Ropes: A Working History

Outside of writing, Michael has had quite a varied work experience from popping popcorn and selling tickets at a local movie theatre, to managing 26 workplace campaigns for United Way. Along the way, he's also performed research for a university dean's office, supervised a central poll site for a federal election, and was a management trainee at Enterprise Rent-A-Car. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. All that said...

A Scribe at Heart: Professional Writing

Michael's foremost interest these days is pursuing a career as a professional writer. Michael's writing has appeared on a number of websites in his short freelance writing career. Among these are the following:

• MobileMag

• Puti Meditation
• MartyBeckerman.com
• Arts@Work
• WritingUp
• The Commentary
• SpinTop Games
• Virtual Reality

Loving to Know

Michael joined LoveToKnow Video Games in January 2006 as a Contributing Writer, starting out with pieces on Street Fighter Characters and the forthcoming Nintendo Revolution (which became the Nintendo Wii). Just before the end of that month, he was promoted to Site Editor, and has since written on the old school Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), news on the PSP version of Tekken, and much more.

Michael Kwan has also written for LoveToKnow Buyer's Guide and LoveToKnow Tattoos in the past, in addition to his current post as Site Editor for LoveToKnow Cell Phones.

A Gaming History

Starting with a lowly Atari controller, spending countless hours on Defender and Missle Command, Michael soon graduated to full Nintendo fanboy status with the NES, and later the SNES, N64, GameCube, Game Boy, and Game Boy Advance SP. Michael has also spent countless hours in the arcade, trying to perfect his skills at Mortal Kombat and the X-Men arcade game, among countless others.

Drawn to...

Michael has a wide range of video game interests. On the portable side, he is drawn more toward simple, yet engaging puzzle games, such as Puzzle Fighter and Dr. Mario. In the arcade, you'll most likely find his hand glued to the steering wheel of such racing games as Initial D, that is, when he's not challenging opponents in Marvel vs. Capcom or some other fighting game. In his earlier years, side-scrolling multi-player button mashing madness was what emptied his pocket, drawn to Sunset Riders, Alien vs. Predator, and Final Fight.

Consoles owned

• Atari 2600
• Multiple PCs (Windows 3.1 to XP)
• NES
• SNES
• Game Boy (Original)
• Game Boy Advance SP
• Nintendo 64 (N64)
• GameCube
• DS Lite
• Sony PSP
• Nintendo Wii

Currently playing

• Wii Sports
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
• Tetris DS
• Rayman Raving Rabbids
• Tekken Dark Resurrection
• Contra (yes, the old school NES one)
• Initial D: Street Stage

All Time Favourites

• Street Fighter II
• Mortal Kombat II
• Tetris
• Mario Kart 64
• Goldeneye 007
• Mario Tennis 64

His Website

Check out more of Michael's work on his website: MichaelKwan.com

His Blog

Beyond the Rhetoric can be found at btr.michaelkwan.com. The RSS feed to "Beyond the Rhetoric" is http://btr.michaelkwan.com/rss2.aspx

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