In terms of knowing that I wanted to do "something" with computers, my uncle gave my family a Commadore 64 (in 93 or 94), and my fate was sealed. I still, to this day, love any sort of retrocomputing thing.
In terms of my love of giant robot shows, Will grabbed me one year at Anime Boston and said those five fateful words, "I'm making you watch GaoGaiGar." Then, that summer, Gurren-Lagann started.
In terms of my love of giant robot shows, Will grabbed me one year at Anime Boston and said those five fateful words, "I'm making you watch GaoGaiGar." Then, that summer, Gurren-Lagann started.
Well, it's good to know I've been something resembling a positive influence!
As for me, I think I'm finally starting to get an idea of what I want to do. Between doing panels at conventions and talking to people online via Skype and other such programs, I've had a lot of people tell me that I have a great speaking voice. I've always been doing weird voices since I was a kid, so I think that might have provided some kind of precedent for me to try to get into Voice Acting. I recently started a Tumblr on the subject and have been using it as practice, with the intent of eventually turning it into a portfolio(e-even though nobody really knows it exists at the moment). I'm sure I'd be better off with better equipment than a headset and Audacity, but that can wait until I have a steady income again. The hurdle I really need to overcome, however, is actually mustering the courage to break into the business itself.
I had more fun messing with sound than being an actual musician. Then I found out that a career in audio was not the easiest thing here, so I'm going for computer criminology, which combines my other passions pretty nicely.
I think I am still a blank flank, split between photography, physics and history.
Here's what you do: Make a book full of photos of reenactments of great moments in scientific history. For each picture, include a paragraph of what it's about and the ramifications of that moment in simplespeak. Market it to the scholastic book fair and bookstores. Profit.
I also have had the lucky part in helping at least a few of my friends discover their "marks". I take a little tiny bit of pride in some of their successes.
Well, at eight or so I decided to be an artist, then an animator. I wanted to be an animator for 14 years and started college with that major. Then I dropped out due to some stupid depression and just discovered that I really am just a fan instead of a person who could create animation. I then went for graphic design which I've been majoring in for a year and a half now. I chose it because it seemed like a more practical path. I really like to study comics and create those much to the chagrin of many professors. I also love fashion and want to study that. I love industrial design and furniture design as well and always look forward to expo photos from Stockholm and such. Whatever I want to do, I want it to be design related, but at 25 I don't have much time left to do something.
For me it was pretty easy. My dad was a software developer when I was growing up, so I was around computers all the time. As it turns out, I was pretty damn good at using them too, and I have an incredible knack for finding problems with things and fixing them. So this easily led to myself becoming a programmer, though I do also have a decent creative side. I just wish I had the time or desire to use that creativity for something.
I was taught how to juggle aged 11. I got into it more when I went to college to study performing arts. When I went to university to study music technology I got even more into juggling. After working for a few years, and after juggling for a total of 12 years by then, I was about good enough to give it a go as a job. After another 4 years I was good enough for it to be a profitable job, were I was comfortable.
Not sure what the concept behind a cutie mark might be, but mine might have turned up at the British Juggling Convention in 2000. I wrote a blog post about it last year:
During my last cruise someone asked me: "When did you know you wanted to be a professional juggler?"
I thought about it for a few seconds before replying: "Exactly ten years ago today."
Which, to be honest, is only half true. Ten years (and now ten days) ago I didn't know I wanted to be a professional juggler, but I knew I wanted to be a juggler.
Back in April of 2000 I'd only attended two conventions, both of them a Chocfest, a one day event in York. I'd had a lot of fun at both, but hadn't made any effort to go to any others.
In 1999, the British Juggling Convention visited Durham, just a few miles from where I lived. I drove down to Cornwall instead, to go surfing.
In 2000 I lived in Scarborough, attending university, and could go surfing more often. More to the point, I'd got far more interested in juggling by then too. I discovered the BJC would be in York. And Anthony Gatto was the big name guest.
How could I not go?
So I went. The weather was terrible, so I slept in my car. The parade was awful too. But those were my only two complaints. Apart from that, I had a really, really good time. I have lots of good memories, but two are relevant here. 1: I saw Anthony Gatto training in the gym. He had the whole gym to himself, and did about two hours of juggling for the hundreds of people watching. I had my camera, so stated filming.
He equaled or broke a number of juggling records right there in the gym, without even trying hard. The only reason these records became official world records was the fact that I videoed them and sent the footage to the JISCON. 9 balls and 7 clubs are the ones that stick out in my mind.
2: I saw my first big convention show. And I mean it was a big show, not just for a big convention. Even to this day it is one of the best juggling shows I've ever seen, and I don't say that just because it was my first.
Sure, Anthony Gatto headlined, but I'd seen him do more in the gym the day before, so while it was amazing, it wasn't the best part of the show for me. Other things acts that stand out: Ben Richter/Ben Smalls. He did two acts, one with balls and one with clubs. The Gandini Juggling Project. Due to having a large group from performing daily in the Millennium Dome, Sean put together a two 12 person acts. Jamie Fletcher, doing his classic 3 ball routine. Curious Eyebrow, doing a hilarious random-prop-based comedy routine. Feeding the Fish, with the first ever public performance of Aerotech's programmable glow clubs.
The audience went crazy for the show, just as they had for Gatto practicing in the gym. I thought "I want to get that reaction!" Not that I want to be the center of attention (though I sometimes do) but I wanted to get good enough at something to be able to get that reaction.
At the end of the convention I set myself two goals: 1. To break a juggling world record for myself. 2. To perform in the biggest juggling shows.
As for performing in the biggest shows, I did that too. In 2004 I performed in the BJC gala show. That year I also performed in the gala shows at the Nordic and Austrian conventions, headlined the Dutch convention gala show, was the final act in a huge EJC open stage show (though I'd also done that back in 2002), and won the Peoples' Choice Award for my various turns on stage at the IJA summer festival. I'm probably forgetting some other appearances in 2004, but it was that spring and summer when I made the transition from "juggler who also juggles on stage" to "performing juggler".
To me, these were the ends, but they became the means. Getting good enough to break a juggling world record made me a good enough juggler to become a professional. And when I had acts that were good enough to be booked for national and international juggling conventions, I was good enough to quit my job and take up juggling full time.
Well, being the eldest son of a stereotypical asia-to-US immigrant family, I was indoctrined all my life that my only two career options were doctor or lawyer if I didnt want to be disowned. So I went into college on a premed path taking a rigourous double major in chemistry and biology. I managed to maintain competitive grades at the cost of many many hours of painful studying. In my senior year I was getting ready to start applying for med schools. I had even taken the MCAT (standardized test for med school) and gotten a decent score.
I had already been listening to GN at that time. I remember one day I was listening to an episode. I forget which, but Scrym were talking about careers and their typical spiel of going to college and all. One particular statement struck me for some reason. I don't remember exactly, but it was something to the effect of "if all you want to do is work at a gamestop and play your 'veggie games' then you should." There was much more than that and I forget now, but after listening to it I came to an epiphany.
I realized that I did not enjoy practicing medicine at all. I did not enjoy the countless hours of studying I did. I realized that I only did it to live up to my parent's expectations. And thinking about the studying and work that I would have to do in the future I realized that I had to rethink my life. But at that time it was already too late. I had focused too much on the life sciences to make any drastic changes in career. I managed to make the best out of my situation by changing out of premed into research. I shifted from premed to chemistry, specifically analytical chemistry. Now I am working on my phd. Analytical chemistry deals with all the instrumentation used in research, rather than the actualy chemistry. I get to work on fun instruments like electron microscopes and mass spectrometers. My parents arent as happy but I stopped caring.
So yeah. If I hadn't listened to GN at that time I would probably be in med school hating my life and building up lots of debt.
My parents had a VHS camera that they always let me play with. Now I want to work in television and eventually jump into writing/directing my own feature films.
When I was little, I wanted to be a Disney animator, but when they closed their hand drawn animation studio and focused completely on CG, I felt very betrayed. I was very listless until the first time my family made the pilgrimage out to Disneyland and my mom bought me a book called The Haunted Mansion: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies and I finally had a calling in life again. That book made me want to be an Imagineer.
Also, I took an animation survey class and found out that I do not have the patience to animate anything.
Now I am working on my phd. Analytical chemistry deals with all the instrumentation used in research, rather than the actualy chemistry. I get to work on fun instruments like electron microscopes and mass spectrometers.
Honestly, I can't understand the draw of this field. I have a summer job working in a chem lab and I've having trouble dealing with the boredom. At first I was excited to be working with cool sounding machines and handling fancy chemicals, but my work has turned into
Push button to start cycle Wait for cycle to end Take out and rinse the sample Dry it Put it back in
Over and over. In my head I know that I am advancing science with the data I am collecting, but it is just so repetitive and mindless. Is there more to chemistry than that, or should I cross it off my list of potential fields to go into?
I'm studying CS because I like computers, but I haven't really decided whether I want to do it for a career or not - I really haven't found anything I care about enough to make a lifetime out of yet. Except playing video games.
Viga, you can have costumes if you can share. XD I don't mind collaborating!
To go back to the original topic, there are a lot of versions of my "I'm in costume design because of..." story. The first, original answer has to do with four year old me becoming fascinated with some crappy costume that won an elementary schooler costume contest in the mall where my dad took me trick-or-treating when I was little. The guy that won was dressed up as a TV made out of a cardboard box with sharpie designs all over it and I thought to myself, "I'm going to win a contest like that someday! I want to MAKE THINGS."
I wasn't into dress-up or fashion when I was younger, and I suppose part of the reason I started drawing out costume designs was because I used to write a lot of fantasy-type stories and I would draw my characters constantly. They would always wear crazy outfits that I thought "characterized" them and I made sure to be specific about details and color schemes. Most of my drive to characterize things based on costume came from that.
There's a lot of other elements that go into it, too. I wanted to be a music education major for awhile, so combined with my love for writing stories, I would love to design concepts and costumes for music videos. Costume Design is also a concentration within Theater Design and Production which builds on my love for making things and studying a lot of different things about storytelling, different cultures, historical influences, and characterization. I don't think I ever realized how much I love everything about the theater until I got into my major and realized I love all my major classes.
My family was big into card and board gaming, so I started at a young age learning all manner of card games and playing board games on a near nightly basis.
Video Games
Video games, particularly the Atari and Intellivision, were a huge part of my family long before I was even born. I was handed a controller before I was sentient.
Honestly, I can't understand the draw of this field. I have a summer job working in a chem lab and I've having trouble dealing with the boredom. At first I was excited to be working with cool sounding machines and handling fancy chemicals, but my work has turned into
Push button to start cycle Wait for cycle to end Take out and rinse the sample Dry it Put it back in
Over and over. In my head I know that I am advancing science with the data I am collecting, but it is just so repetitive and mindless. Is there more to chemistry than that, or should I cross it off my list of potential fields to go into?
I thought the same way during undergrad. Real research in chemistry/biology is much different. When you have your own project testing your own ideas it is much more interesting. It definitely isnt for everyone though. Also, understanding an instrument enough to be able to build, manage, and troubleshoot it yourself is much different than just using it for data. Most pre-graduate level science is just being a lab bench scrub where you do the most boring part of research. There is a degree of repetitiveness depending on what work you do but that can be said for most jobs. If you want to work with research instruments then analytical chemistry is the way to go.
The demand for analytical chemists is huge since every industry uses analytical instruments. There are exciting jobs like forensic crime scene analysts and every year the FBI sends people to recruit analytical chemists for studying and analyzing possible terrorist bomb plots. You can also be a technician for instruments. We had one machine in our lab that broke. The technician that we hired charged $6400 an hour...
I thought the same way during undergrad. Real research in chemistry/biology is much different.
So after feeling like you were just being a lab scrub during undergrad, what made you decide to keep going, all the way up to a PhD level?
Well, I was initially going to go to med school but decided not to. When you take a premed track in undergrad and don't do medschool, the only other realistic option that doesnt make everything you learned so far to be useless is research. If I was to do research I could either start right after undergrad as lab scrub or get a phd and get paid triple and not have to do the scrub work. Also, phd grad students do not need a masters and get paid so there was really no reason not to do it. Honestly, I didnt expect to like it because I hated my lab courses during undergrad but I'm enjoying it so far.
Honestly, I didnt expect to like it because I hated my lab courses during undergrad but I'm enjoying it so far.
This interests me a lot, but also worries me. I'm going to be starting as a freshman in college next year and am worried that I'll like an undergrad class and decided to work in that field but hate the jobs relating to it, or vice versa and avoid an awesome field that I would have loved because the undergrad class sucked.
Honestly, I didnt expect to like it because I hated my lab courses during undergrad but I'm enjoying it so far.
This interests me a lot, but also worries me. I'm going to be starting as a freshman in college next year and am worried that I'll like an undergrad class and decided to work in that field but hate the jobs relating to it, or vice versa and avoid an awesome field that I would have loved because the undergrad class sucked.
That is actually a huge problem. I dont feel like enough is being done to expose students to career decisions. My best advice is to evaluate a career decision based on the actual material and your interest, rather than the class itself. Also, shadow jobs and get internships as soon as you can so you get an idea on what work in a particular field is like. Classes are not representative of the actual work experience.
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In terms of my love of giant robot shows, Will grabbed me one year at Anime Boston and said those five fateful words, "I'm making you watch GaoGaiGar." Then, that summer, Gurren-Lagann started.
As for me, I think I'm finally starting to get an idea of what I want to do. Between doing panels at conventions and talking to people online via Skype and other such programs, I've had a lot of people tell me that I have a great speaking voice. I've always been doing weird voices since I was a kid, so I think that might have provided some kind of precedent for me to try to get into Voice Acting. I recently started a Tumblr on the subject and have been using it as practice, with the intent of eventually turning it into a portfolio(e-even though nobody really knows it exists at the moment). I'm sure I'd be better off with better equipment than a headset and Audacity, but that can wait until I have a steady income again. The hurdle I really need to overcome, however, is actually mustering the courage to break into the business itself.
Not sure what the concept behind a cutie mark might be, but mine might have turned up at the British Juggling Convention in 2000. I wrote a blog post about it last year:
During my last cruise someone asked me: "When did you know you wanted to be a professional juggler?"
I thought about it for a few seconds before replying: "Exactly ten years ago today."
Which, to be honest, is only half true. Ten years (and now ten days) ago I didn't know I wanted to be a professional juggler, but I knew I wanted to be a juggler.
Back in April of 2000 I'd only attended two conventions, both of them a Chocfest, a one day event in York. I'd had a lot of fun at both, but hadn't made any effort to go to any others.
In 1999, the British Juggling Convention visited Durham, just a few miles from where I lived. I drove down to Cornwall instead, to go surfing.
In 2000 I lived in Scarborough, attending university, and could go surfing more often. More to the point, I'd got far more interested in juggling by then too. I discovered the BJC would be in York. And Anthony Gatto was the big name guest.
How could I not go?
So I went. The weather was terrible, so I slept in my car. The parade was awful too. But those were my only two complaints. Apart from that, I had a really, really good time. I have lots of good memories, but two are relevant here.
1: I saw Anthony Gatto training in the gym. He had the whole gym to himself, and did about two hours of juggling for the hundreds of people watching. I had my camera, so stated filming.
He equaled or broke a number of juggling records right there in the gym, without even trying hard. The only reason these records became official world records was the fact that I videoed them and sent the footage to the JISCON. 9 balls and 7 clubs are the ones that stick out in my mind.
2: I saw my first big convention show. And I mean it was a big show, not just for a big convention. Even to this day it is one of the best juggling shows I've ever seen, and I don't say that just because it was my first.
Sure, Anthony Gatto headlined, but I'd seen him do more in the gym the day before, so while it was amazing, it wasn't the best part of the show for me. Other things acts that stand out:
Ben Richter/Ben Smalls. He did two acts, one with balls and one with clubs.
The Gandini Juggling Project. Due to having a large group from performing daily in the Millennium Dome, Sean put together a two 12 person acts.
Jamie Fletcher, doing his classic 3 ball routine.
Curious Eyebrow, doing a hilarious random-prop-based comedy routine.
Feeding the Fish, with the first ever public performance of Aerotech's programmable glow clubs.
The audience went crazy for the show, just as they had for Gatto practicing in the gym. I thought "I want to get that reaction!" Not that I want to be the center of attention (though I sometimes do) but I wanted to get good enough at something to be able to get that reaction.
At the end of the convention I set myself two goals:
1. To break a juggling world record for myself.
2. To perform in the biggest juggling shows.
And that's what I did. In 2003 I set a new world record with Ben Beever, and passed more objects between two people than anyone ever had before. The record of 18 balls stood until we ourselves broke it in 2008 by passing 19 balls.
As for performing in the biggest shows, I did that too. In 2004 I performed in the BJC gala show. That year I also performed in the gala shows at the Nordic and Austrian conventions, headlined the Dutch convention gala show, was the final act in a huge EJC open stage show (though I'd also done that back in 2002), and won the Peoples' Choice Award for my various turns on stage at the IJA summer festival. I'm probably forgetting some other appearances in 2004, but it was that spring and summer when I made the transition from "juggler who also juggles on stage" to "performing juggler".
To me, these were the ends, but they became the means. Getting good enough to break a juggling world record made me a good enough juggler to become a professional. And when I had acts that were good enough to be booked for national and international juggling conventions, I was good enough to quit my job and take up juggling full time.
It's been a good 10 years!
I had already been listening to GN at that time. I remember one day I was listening to an episode. I forget which, but Scrym were talking about careers and their typical spiel of going to college and all. One particular statement struck me for some reason. I don't remember exactly, but it was something to the effect of "if all you want to do is work at a gamestop and play your 'veggie games' then you should." There was much more than that and I forget now, but after listening to it I came to an epiphany.
I realized that I did not enjoy practicing medicine at all. I did not enjoy the countless hours of studying I did. I realized that I only did it to live up to my parent's expectations. And thinking about the studying and work that I would have to do in the future I realized that I had to rethink my life. But at that time it was already too late. I had focused too much on the life sciences to make any drastic changes in career. I managed to make the best out of my situation by changing out of premed into research. I shifted from premed to chemistry, specifically analytical chemistry. Now I am working on my phd. Analytical chemistry deals with all the instrumentation used in research, rather than the actualy chemistry. I get to work on fun instruments like electron microscopes and mass spectrometers. My parents arent as happy but I stopped caring.
So yeah. If I hadn't listened to GN at that time I would probably be in med school hating my life and building up lots of debt.
Push button to start cycle
Wait for cycle to end
Take out and rinse the sample
Dry it
Put it back in
Over and over. In my head I know that I am advancing science with the data I am collecting, but it is just so repetitive and mindless. Is there more to chemistry than that, or should I cross it off my list of potential fields to go into?
I call costumes and/or stylist.
To go back to the original topic, there are a lot of versions of my "I'm in costume design because of..." story. The first, original answer has to do with four year old me becoming fascinated with some crappy costume that won an elementary schooler costume contest in the mall where my dad took me trick-or-treating when I was little. The guy that won was dressed up as a TV made out of a cardboard box with sharpie designs all over it and I thought to myself, "I'm going to win a contest like that someday! I want to MAKE THINGS."
I wasn't into dress-up or fashion when I was younger, and I suppose part of the reason I started drawing out costume designs was because I used to write a lot of fantasy-type stories and I would draw my characters constantly. They would always wear crazy outfits that I thought "characterized" them and I made sure to be specific about details and color schemes. Most of my drive to characterize things based on costume came from that.
There's a lot of other elements that go into it, too. I wanted to be a music education major for awhile, so combined with my love for writing stories, I would love to design concepts and costumes for music videos. Costume Design is also a concentration within Theater Design and Production which builds on my love for making things and studying a lot of different things about storytelling, different cultures, historical influences, and characterization. I don't think I ever realized how much I love everything about the theater until I got into my major and realized I love all my major classes.
My family was big into card and board gaming, so I started at a young age learning all manner of card games and playing board games on a near nightly basis.
Video Games
Video games, particularly the Atari and Intellivision, were a huge part of my family long before I was even born. I was handed a controller before I was sentient.
The demand for analytical chemists is huge since every industry uses analytical instruments. There are exciting jobs like forensic crime scene analysts and every year the FBI sends people to recruit analytical chemists for studying and analyzing possible terrorist bomb plots. You can also be a technician for instruments. We had one machine in our lab that broke. The technician that we hired charged $6400 an hour...