January 26: My family moves to Toronto, Ontario July: I attend Camp Claireville, a summer French Immersion daycamp, with

my brother Jon-Kristopher and go on my first overnight camping trip away from my parents August: I attend Sailing School for the first time with my brothers Personal Events Personal Events 1980 1985 World Events

I begin Primary School (kindergarten) My older brother Aaron moves to New Glasgow to live with his mother The Beatles' John Lennon dies in New York from gunshot wounds Nov 4: Republican Ronald Reagan becomes president of the United States April 7: The United States severs diplomatic ties with Iran World Events June 7: I receive a red BMX bicycle, a Smurf plush toy, the Smurf soundtrack for my birthday and Shel Silverstein's book Where the Sidewalk Ends for my birthday June 7: I accidentally run through a glass door during my birthday party. Miraculously, I am virtually unscathed and require only a few stitches in my inner, upper, right arm. June: My family moves to Edmonton, Alberta 1981 June: I was a flower girl at my aunt Susan's wedding The arcade game Pacman sweeps the country with Pacman-mania AIDS (Auto Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is identified July 2: My cousin Ashley Laura BrownDeathe is born Personal Events Trip to Okanagan Valley where my mother taught me how to swim, and where I swam underwater for the first time. I have a small speaking part as Olga in my school play "The Pied Piper" (presented June 6th and 7th)

March 11: Mikhail Gorbachev, 54, replaces Soviet leader Chernenko after he dies at age 73. Gorbachev initiates an extensive program of liberalization and reform British scientists report an enormous hole in the earth's ozone layer extending over Antarctica August 4: I have a serious, life-threatening accident and am rushed to Toronto's Sick Kids Hospital by ambulance with police escorts in front and behind. The Gardiner Expressway is closed off so that I am able to get to St.Michael's Hospital for an 8-unit blood transfusion before being transferred to Sick Kids for an 8.5 hour emergency surgery

Personal Events

September: I begin middle school at Hilltop Collegiate in Etobicoke April 26: Soviet Union's Chernobyl power station experiences a major nuclear accident that alarms the world and leads to catastrophic environmental and human damage The Oprah Winfrey Show debuts on U.S. television Nintendo introduces its first video game console in the U.S. Inspired by a music teacher, I develop a love of the Beatles, and buy my first album, The White Album. This in turn inspires an interest in guitar, which I will take up 5 years later July: I have surgery to remove scar tissue that had developed at the site of my injury from my accident the previous summer The FDA approves the drug AZT in the treatment of AIDS February 22: Andy Warhol dies at age 58 due to complications arising from a gallbladder surgery. His gall bladder was infected and found to be gangrenous when examined after surgery

World Events Personal Events 1986

World Events

Timeline: 1980s

1982

Jan 10: Fraggle Rock debutes on HBO, introducing the world to Fraggles, Doozers and Gorgs Michael Jackson releases the album Thriller, which becomes the biggest-selling album to date, selling upwards of 25 million copies World Events The first MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) machines are introduced in Britain Ingrid Bergman dies at age 67 after a lengthy battle with breast cancer Started piano lessons

Personal Events 1987

World Events Personal Events 1983 World Events 1988

Learned how to downhill ski through school (Favourite teacher, Mme Younk) "Crack" cocaine is produced in the Bahamas and soon makes its way to the United States June 18: Sally K. Ride becomes the first U.S. female astronaut in space as a crewmember aboard the space shuttle Challenger (she was 32 years old)

I join the cross country running team - no small feat after my 1986 accident I join Ravens, a junior learn to ski program at Blue Mountain in Ontario January 2: Canada and the United States reach a free trade agreement (January 2) December 21: A terrorist bomb explodes a Pan-Am 747. The plane crashes in Lockerbie, Scotland. All 259 people aboard the flight are killed, as well as 11 people on the ground. World Events

I enrol in swimming lessons, music lessons, brownies and skating lessons Personal Events My parents enrol me in Jazz dance lessons and our group presents a version of the musical Cats October 31: Indira Gandhi, Indian Prime Minister, is assassinated by two sikh bodyguards. 1,000 people are killed in antisikh riots and Gandhi's son Rajiv becomes her successor January 24: The first Apple Macintosh personal computer hits the market

September: I begin grade 9 at Richview Collegiate in Etobicoke I join the school cross-country running club, beginning of a decade long love of long distance running November 9: The Fall of the Berlin Wall, opening East Berlin to West Berlin for the first time since it was erected in 1961, and signifying the end of the communist system in the Soviet Union February 14: Salman Rushdie is sentenced to death by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini who proclaims that Rushdie's book The Satanic Verses is offensive

1984 Personal Events World Events 1989

World Events