who is ben.atwood?
Ben Atwood (a.k.a. Atwood Child Unit 2.0) was born in 1984 in Sydney, Australia, and is somehow still kicking around that old town. His current residence is a charming three-bedroom construction in Toongabbie, Centre of the Universe Western Suburbs. He lives with his lovely wife, a collection of potted plants, a phrenology head, and a Sigmund Freud action figure. He aspires to be a missionary, interpreter/translator, and the best husband and father ever to walk the face of the earth.
a less-brief summary
I graduated from Macquarie University in 2005 with an honours degree in psychology. My interests in the psychology field lie primarily in personality, legal psychology, psychopathology, and the philosophical areas of the discipline (including ontology, persistence of being, and a somewhat-shameful interest in psychoanalysis). I did a thesis in implicit- and explicit-level self-reports of law-abidingness, which ended up being more of a study of self-deception and people thinking they're better than they really are.
I previously worked for the NSW Department of Community Services as a child protection caseworker in the western Sydney area. In 2008, I commenced a new job as an MTS trainee at my church; for the non-Sydney Anglican reader, MTS is a two-year Bible-based training program which gives trainees opportunities to grow in God's Word and engage in practical ministry, with the aim of trainees eventually engaging in formal theological education. Yeah.
I'm a Christian - if you don't know what that means, you can ask me, or I can refer you to this site. I attend Toongabbie Anglican Church, which might just have the best church website ever made.
some random statements
I like to write. I like the English language, especially the archaic words which we have forgotten to keep using. I can kinda-sorta speak a really basic version of Auslan and Bangla. Secretly, I enjoy the odd Bollywood film. I've been to two countries other than Australia (not counting stop-offs), being New Zealand and Bangladesh. I enjoy good coffee and, to a lesser extent, good tea. I like making movies, but I'm yet to make something that's any good (though Melina Marchetta, author of Looking for Alibrandi, liked my screenplay I wrote for the HSC...not sure if that's something to be proud of). My travel dream is to travel across the Indian subcontinent. I have three talented and awesome brothers - two of which have their own websites. You may not have met me in real life, but if you move in the same Sydney Anglican-ish circles as I do, you've probably met an Atwood somewhere along the line - perhaps my father is your dealer?
about this site
This is the sixth version of my website. It's powered by Textpattern, the world's greatest and free-est content management system. I'm using a modified version of the Softened Cells template, which was made TXP-friendly by some guy called Stuart.
More here when I've finished building.