I've been a gamer for nearly three decades. My folks brought home our first family computer (a VIC 20! less than 1K of RAM, baby!) when I was six or seven. It didn't take long for me to get hooked. A couple years later, we upgraded to a C-64, the VIC 20's burlier older brother, and that was pretty much it for me. The "family" computer soon found itself in my room and a lifetime of spending probably far too much time in front of a monitor was cemented.
At the time, this was well before the PC boom in the mid 90s, I never saw my affinity with computers as much more than a neat way to kill time, but if I could go back, I would probably tell myself to take it a bit more seriously and keep on top of it. Whenever I put my mind to it I can get a machine to do what I want it to, but it's not as easy as it would be if I'd seriously taken it up.
Then again, this entry is about hobbies, not careers, and it's definitely the former rather than the latter.
Around the time I really started getting into computers I was introduced to science fiction and fantasy by my folks, and coincidentally a friend found a copy of one of the D&D rulebooks in his older brother's closet. Thus my initiation into the ways of the nerd was complete, and a ongoing consumption of fantasy and sci-fi entertainment in all forms was initiated.
Unfortunately I tend to collect games rather than play games (a tendency that also manifests itself in another of my hobbies - music - which I'll get to later). Like that guy that falls in love with a different woman every week, I seem more enamoured of the idea of playing a new game than actually, you know, going out and finding someone to play it with.
Having said that, I've picked up and played every single Star Wars game I've come across. Ditto Star Trek (well, except that odd VHS Star Trek game we got for x-mas a few years ago), and the Lord of the Rings.
And last but definitely not least in the context of this blog, I've dabbled repeatedly in more creative pursuits over the last couple decades. I started writing a long time ago, and if all goes according to plan you'll get to experience more of that here.
In high school I picked up a guitar, and though it's amongst the things I "wish I'd taken more seriously when I was younger", I still practice and try to improve. I figure on that count, I was never gonna be a rock star, and I've got a really long time left to keep getting better. I've had demo studios in my house for the better part of a decade and a half now, but much like my collection of games, I seem to like the thought of owning the gear more than actually, you know, regularly using the gear. Still, I've managed to record some stuff, and one of these days I'll try to check off the "record a proper album" box on my lifetime to-do list.
I've also been known to create things in a more literal sense, as I love taking things apart, learning how they work, and building them. My latest construction project is a combination of this hobby with music, as I attempt to build a guitar more or less from scratch.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, concludes our ten minute tour of geekdom.
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