I've been involved in Toronto area fandom since 1994. 

I went to my first convention at Toronto Trek 8 and was instantly hooked into volunteering.

Although since then I've accomplished many goals in different departments and duties at conventions, I guess I'm best known for the time I put into security at Toronto area conventions such as Toronto Trek and my hospitality and charity work at Ad Astra.

Forexample, at Toronto Trek 17 in 2003 I bought an extra security red-shirt and got it signed by the celebrity guests on the front, and my colleagues on the back - and turned it over to the children's charity auction on Sunday.

That shirt alone raised $215.

Of course I've been involved in other duties as well, but I keep them private due to the often confidential nature of them.

Something I thoroughly enjoy is making and displaying my costumes.

Ever since I was a young'in, I couldn't wait until Hallowe'en.  I would typically be struck by inspiration in the spring and have to wait until October to display.  In 1994, I recall raiding the 1st aid kit at school for some bandages and brought along and oversized plastic butcher knife.

I winced as I took a bow on stage while introduced as John Wayne Bobbit.  I took second prize in the school-wide contest, and that's where it started in earnest.

But you know what the phrase, "if you've got it, flaunt it" … I took up that opportunity to blend my physicality with my martial knowledge to develop my costumes.  Apparently I look good in uniform, so I took advantage of that by working well on military and martial arts based costumes from GIJoe, Babylon 5, Space:Above & Beyond, and others.

One year I went on stage as the Cobra ninja Storm Shadow, and there is a video of my performance available to see how well that went.  I love retro costumes since it's a great way to remember my youth and meet the many others out there with the same fondness for such things.

One of my most famous creations is that of Snake-Eyes, the Uber Ninja-Commando made famous by the G.I.Joe franchise.  More on him and my other costumes can be found in the photo gallery.

One of my favourite, and increasingly popular habits is to pose as a victim of a monster or costumed individual - as it's always fun to see the big guy taken down. 

This started in my time as a red-shirt for TTrek security.  For those that didn't know, their security team used to wear red shirts the dame colour as those worn by doomed, nameless away team members of the original Star Trek TV program. 

As an homage/parody/funny play on that, I began to pose as such - and it became rather popular as of late.

Toronto Trek 2005 was the first time I attended a convention and never worked, however I fulfilled requests out of the blue by people I don't associate with to play the victim of this or that creature.  I guess it's pretty easy to play the dead guy - and photos of these encounters can be found in my photo gallery as well

I believe that if you talk the talk, you must walk the walk.  The same goes towards my commitment and integrity in regards to Toronto fandom.  A man is only as good as his word and how he carries out his duties.  Yes, the work is unpaid, but collectively the work done together by volunteers often outshines those who do it for profit.  I take my responsibilities quite seriously and aim to uphold a level of excellence to set a standard to follow.

However, I know when to back off and allow others to take the reigns, so to speak.  In late 2003 I decided enough was enough and I needed to step away from concom and take a break -as well as clear up a few things, including some that I believed would be a conflict of interest between rival events if I remained as a senior member of the organizing committee(s).

I have a low tolerance for those that use fandom as a paycheque and sacrifice public safety in the process.  I'm proud to have done my part to make Toronto safer in the summer of 2004, even if I was retired from cons at the time.

I stand by what I've done and have no regrets.  I'm happy to know that a positive reputation has proceeded me - and I hope to continue to live up to such. 

Often at conventions people call out "SID!" and cheer me on, and I don't always recognize the people calling out, but I greatly value it every time. 

Thank you.