Saturday, August 20, 2005

A little more about me before we continue...

OK, why would you keep reading/listening? Believe me, I'm no real "expert," just a curious dude exploring the universe. Gentleman scientist, armchair director, and general commentator... Do I create?

Hell yes! Here's my story in a nutshell:

I had the great fortune to see a college university growing up, because they were both finishing up graduate degrees while I was young. Around my 6th birthday my parents had steady jobs working in the chemical industry. This was a pretty good town too, as the BIG company paid lotsa taxes, so we had an excellent public school system. I grew up with summer camps in the woods, Space Camp a couple of times (won the Right Stuff award once), debate, theater, science, foreign language, the whole nine yards. I took a correspondence school class in Electronic Music Technology, and pioneered the use of the computer for publishing our annual. Very techy, but I also liked to draw, play music, and have fun with my friends...

In college I kinda did the "tune in, turn on, drop out" thing, although I never dropped out of school. I went from computer engineering to journalism to english. Forgive my grammar. I went to a very large university, and was exposed to several lifetimes worth of experiences. I also travelled a bit, to Europe and South America, where I have relatives. Good times, great oldies. It was working in the music library where I discovered the creation of the World Wide Web. In fact, I began using Mosaic when it was only a month old! I had used the internet in middle school and high school, but the web was a bold new frontier (duh).

Continuing my stint as a Renaissance Man, I went to film school after getting my B.A. in English (creative writing). My freshman film was the most ambitious fx-based movie ever done at the time. It was also pretty silly (sort of Ed Wood meets the X-Files). By the time I'd gradutated from film school I had a passion for animation (3d and 2d), writing, cinematography, graphic design, and something more... I kept up with technology, but didn't stay ahead. The best thing was that I got started working with video on the web, which led me to my move back to my old college town (well, that an my future wife).

When I came back to my old stomping ground I realized pretty quickly that film production here is nill, and the video waters are just sorta mind-numbing. Don't get me wrong, I worked with some amazing people-- but they were drinking a different kool-aid. No one seemed to get the tech angle I was proposing. Some of the elbows I rubbed could have done what Mark Cuban did, they just lacked the "vision" thing. Oh well, that can wait.

So I tired of the video production scene, and moved on to new challenges. For a brief while I worked on everything from construction crews to websites to databases. Then I landed my "dream job" teaching. I make good money, have a decent environment, and great hours. It keeps me and my family sane and well-fed. Mission accomplished. I only wish I had this training when I went off to film school!

Now that I've hit that famous plataeu, I feel like it's time to move on to other challenges. Thus, I turn inward. Time to improve my little monkey brain! Thus, the Da Vinci Notebooks. And the other blogs... No, I don't make movies any more, and what I did do aren't worth revisiting (same with the TV shows). I'm most proud of my latest accomplishments: teaching, writing, and raising 2 amazing kids.

Enough about me. Let's get on with it!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Cool, thanks for sharing. Looking forward to hearing more.