Brennan Foo

Personal

Brennan, his wife, and their two kids smiling on a pebble beach by the water on a sunny day. The kids’ faces are covered with smiley emoji.

I live in the Toronto area (Oakville) 🍁 with my wife and two kids.

Random facts

  • I love video games, singing, and good food.
  • I enjoy contributing on Google Maps.
  • I like trying weird things (e.g. I once ate a slug in a mall in Malaysia with my cousins).
  • The skin on my elbow is very stretchy.
  • I’ve solved a Rubik’s cube with my feet. Twice: the first time alone, the second with family watching, because nobody believed me.

Childhood

I have a big brother named Jordan. Somehow he acquired the nickname “Big Fooker,” and of course that means that my nickname was, by default, “Lil’ Fooker.”

Old family photo of two young brothers at a kitchen table: Brennan, labelled “Lil’ Fooker,” sits in a high chair while Jordan, labelled “Big Fooker,” feeds him a spoonful.

I got in trouble a lot when I was a kid. Notes home from my teachers:

Handwritten note in a school agenda.
“While getting ready to come back from our field trip this morning, Brennan was sitting at the back of the bus and showing his middle finger to someone in the bus behind us. I talked to him about it.”
Dad: “Noted. We have also disciplined him.”
Handwritten note in a school agenda.
“Brennan has been saying swear words (asshole) during the lunch hour. This is not acceptable and we have talked about other ways to solve problems.”
Handwritten note in a school agenda.
“Today, Brennan was throwing rocks at school windows. He was sent to the office for this during lunchtime.”
Handwritten note in a school agenda.
“Brennan is starting to hit people when he doesn’t like what they’re doing. Also, he tends to run inside the school when he is going up the stairs.”

Why? Cause I was a Fookin’ badass.

Young Brennan in a blue rain jacket balancing on one leg on a rock, arms out and grinning, with misty mountains behind him.
Young Brennan in an orange life jacket grinning beside a swimming pool.
Young Brennan in a blue sun hat climbing over rocks, staring down the camera, with a man sitting on the rocks behind him.
Preteen Brennan in a red Chinooks soccer shirt holding a dumbbell up to his shoulder, looking seriously at the camera.
Teenage Brennan slouched across two school bus seats with his arms draped over the seat backs, wearing a backwards cap and a deadpan look.

Okay, maybe I wasn’t a badass. I found confidence in quirkiness, though.

Teenage Brennan dressed as Aladdin, in a red fez, purple vest, and white pants, barefoot at the front of a classroom beside a classmate in a yellow hoodie, presenting to seated students.

After I stopped throwing rocks at school windows and flipping people off from the back of the bus, I cleaned up my act. When I was 10, I won a math competition. That confidence boost carried me for like, a decade.

Plaque reading “Fibonacci Contest 2003, Provincial Champion, Brennan Foo, Alberta.”

I’ve always been really into sports. I played a lot of soccer and gymnastics growing up. In high school, I wrestled, and my nickname was “the Handbook” because I was always eager to help teach my teammates new moves.

Orange and blue letter jacket with a “Foo” patch reading “The Handbook,” the number 119, and a wrestling patch on the sleeve.

I was really into singing, too. (Nowadays, I do a killer rendition of Wheels on the Bus for toddlers.)

Plaque reading “Seven Lakes High School Choir, Most Outstanding Men’s Choir Member, 2009–2010, Brennan Foo.”

In university

I kept singing.

Brennan in a white T-shirt dancing mid-performance at the front of a stage, with other singers laughing and dancing behind him against a bright pink backdrop.

And my primary mode of transport was a unicycle.

Adulting

Now, as an adult, I’m chasing ikigai.

Ikigai diagram: four overlapping circles labelled What you love, What you are good at, What the world needs, and What you can be paid for. Their overlaps are Passion, Mission, Profession, and Vocation, with Ikigai at the centre where all four meet.
Image: Forbes