self biography

### Childhood and Early Years

I was born in Lindome on January 5, 1967, to my mother, Lisa Rautanen, and father, Lauri Rautanen. My mother was born in Finland in 1939. She often shared stories about her childhood; her father was quite strict, and her mother seldom had time to play. Sometimes, Mother would sneak into the forest to play with pine cones and pretend they were bones. She often helped take care of her siblings and worked in the fields, harvesting hay and tending to animals. During Christian festivals, she would receive candy from my father, who obtained it from German soldiers. I remember her doing her homework at the kitchen table, but I didn't hear much about her father.

My parents met through letters. My father was born in Viborg, which is now in Russia, in 1929 and passed away in 2001 in Spain. He had two tumors in his brain; they managed to remove one through surgery, but sadly, he died after the other was removed. When I received the call about his passing, I was given time off from work, and my employer even provided me with an advance so I could fly to Alicante, Spain. I saw my father in his coffin, with a large cross atop it. We told my mother it should be removed, but unfortunately, I couldn't stay for the funeral and had to return home to Sweden.

When I was young, I didn’t think to change my return flight ticket. My mother was so sad that I likely didn't consider it either.

In 1982, at the age of 15, I bought a moped for 500 SEK, which my father paid for. 

We moved from Lindome to another suburb of Gothenburg, called Bergsjön, though I’m not sure exactly when that was. The house was known as the "banana house." My mother told me that I would often go to school just to meet my older sister, Pia, and I would wait for her on a bench. We would walk home together.

In 1972, we moved to Mölndal, which is about 8.5 km from Gothenburg. Both of my parents found jobs there; we lived in a janitor's house with five rooms. My father worked as a janitor and also worked with electricity, including on boats at Eriksbergs Varvet. Unfortunately, he faced bullying at work and suffered from injuries related to the war, as well as grenade shrapnel in his brain, which later developed into cancer. He had a problem with alcohol, and over time, I came to understand that he was mentally ill.

I had a springer spaniel named Zita, who was a dominant dog, and we also had a few cats. My father taught me how to fix things, including my moped. He instilled in me the belief that I could do anything if I really wanted to. He taught me how to repair my bike when it got a flat tire, reminding me to be patient, even though I struggled at times.

My older brother Hans had a yellow boxcar and took part in road racing with a motorcycle at various tracks.

I started at Brotslätts School in Mölndal in 1974. Before that, when I was eight, there was an incident in my class where some classmates threw wet paper at the teacher, and they blamed me for it. I was transferred from 2A to 2B. At the time, my name was Ove-Mikael, but everyone called me Ove, which I disliked. I preferred to be called Mikael.

In sixth grade, the teasing continued, with classmates asking, "Are you a girl?" and throwing things out of my locker.

During high school, I rode my moped to school. One day, someone put snuff in the spark plug wire, causing it not to start, and I had to push the moped home for 2 km.

I was teased for knowing a lot about sewing because my mother was a seamstress before. I excelled in sewing and received the highest grade. My mother comforted me by pointing out that many great fashion designers are men. I also earned high grades in woodworking but struggled with English, receiving my lowest grade in that subject.

In 1982, I got my first computer, a Texas Instruments model with a black-and-white TV screen. It used a regular tape player for memory and a cassette tape. I didn’t have money to buy games, so I had to learn to program myself. The programming language I used was called BASIC. I would borrow books from the library, and since they were only available in English at that time, I had to use an English-Swedish dictionary.

There was no internet back then; we used bulletin board services (BBS) and connected through regular phone lines. Later, “America Online” (AOL) came along. I began to explore this technology more seriously, possibly around 1984.

Over time, I learned other programming languages, including COBOL, Windows 3.1, and Visual Basic. I’m also curious if there was a language called Futura or something similar.

Then, when I was 22 years old, I thought I had found love.