About Me

I suppose to begin I should apologise for you having visited my website. I'm sorry to put you through this torture.

That said, you probably want to know more about me. At least, that is, if you didn't hit the back button, run out of the room screaming, or throw your computer out the window before reading this sentence.

So who is the tyrant upon whose website you have (deliberately or otherwise) encroached? When I am not being insulted and being chased out of town by a lynch-mob shouting various epithets, I go by the name of Ashley Clarkson. Where I live Ashley is still a name applied to males, although its usage as such is declining somewhat thanks to parents stealing a good masculine name for their darling little ballerina. I hail from Wellington, New Zealand. I have lived in Wellington since my birth in 1986.

Given that the custom in this age is to educate children rather than employ them in the coal mines, I have completed schooling through the state school system (at the local primary school, and then at Tawa College for my secondary schooling). I have also completed two degrees at Victoria University of Wellington; a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration (Accounting & Commercial Law) and a Bachelor of Arts (History & Political Science). Next up is BA(Hons) in history, before heading out into the workplace. I'm sufficiently qualified to practice as a Graduate Accountant (but currently unemployed as such, which I intend to fix in 2008), so the next step on my career path is to gain the necessary experience (and pass the practical competency exams) to become a member of the NZ Institute of Chartered Accountants. Spending a year studying for Honours in History is a bit of a “break”, in the same way that some of my fellow youth take a year off work to go travel around Europe. To be honest, I find the foreign country that is the past more immediately appealing than looking at old buildings in Europe (when not crawling from one seedy London pub to the next) – to each their own.

I have a variety of hobbies and interests that keep me occupied. I have always been interested in computers, and maintain a small colony of the things along with an extensive home network. One of my computers is set up as a server, hosting files needed to keep a Gentoo Linux installation running. I have built computers from scratch. I maintain websites for a hobby (such as this one). I am a leader in the Boys' Brigade, an international uniformed Christian youth organisation. I have an active interest in politics, and am a paid up member of the New Zealand National Party (a Centre-Right political party). I read a fair amount of history – I'm interested in a variety of topics, but that is a subject for another time. I also read a lot of theology – a few blogs are regularly graced by my lurking presence, but I also read books on a variety of theological subjects. I also go on the occasional “tramp” (or hike, for those who are no au fait with kiwi jargon).

As you might expect with an interest in theology, I am a Christian. In fact, the more observant of you will have noticed that on my home page I prefaced my nationality with my religion. I think that might give you an idea of the respective importance I place on each. I'm somewhat averse to the use of labels (because they are inherently divisive, and often play up the differences between groups rather than what binds them together), but you could consider me a conservative evangelical. You could also call me a fundamentalist (as a term of definition or as an insult), and strictly speaking you would be true (because I hold to the fundamental tenets of Christianity as it is traditionally bespoke); however I am more cautious in my use of that term than in my younger years because of the strongly negative connotations associated with it (that, and its association with a particular strand of Christianity). Unlike your standard “fundy”, I care not so much about the method used as the message – if the message being brought is right, then of what issue is the method? Similarly, I am not about to dissociate myself from someone because they cannot dot the “i's” and cross the “t's” on my statement of faith (though of course if the disagreement is over a matter of “essentials”, I am willing to take put a stake in the ground). I have no intention of spelling out all my beliefs in minutiae here, but you may consider me as a protestant Calvinist of Presbyterian origin with some Reformed Baptist and Open Brethren leanings (in terms of church governance).

I cannot claim to be a good person, for I am not. Nor can I claim to have anything profound and special to share, because nothing I have belongs to me (nor am I a man of whom notice should be taken). But I hope you enjoy some (if anything) of what I share on here.

To God Alone the Glory!

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