It's too early in the morning for me to be writing this; I mean, yes it's about 10:30 in the A.M., but I haven't even had my first cup of coffee yet. I suppose thats one of the first things someone should know about me - I am a caffeine fiend. I can usually drink anywhere from three to four cups of coffee in the morning, and usually a diet cola of some variety in the afternoon. That might seem expensive, but I buy the sodas from my work, Garlic Jim's Pizza, to which I am employed as a delivery driver. With the discount and the first sip of soda, work isn't so bad, but its still food service industry. I have worked too much in the food service industry. My very first job was working for the Oregon State Fair at one of those concession stands, preparing anything under the sun that could be deep-fried. While I didn't care much for the job, it did give me a taste of what work in the future would be like - greasy, hard on your body, and unfulfillig. Since then, I've worked at a Pizza Hut as a driver for a couple years, and now I'm at Garlic Jim's (same job, different name and place). It's not that I dislike my work, because I know there are alot worse things out there that I could be doing. It's just that I am 20 years old now, about to enter my junior year at the University of Oregon, and I'm still working a food industry job that I had back when I was 16-17. This website is testimoney to that belief. I think I've just spent alot of time slacking around, doing nothing when I could have been doing something - anything! I've learned how to create webpages back in high school, but I didn't actually bother with it until now - "I could always do that stuff later". This turned out to be a very dangerous attitude, because it gave me a reason to never commit myself to a project, or stick to a goal and work at something that is probably above your head. I had forgotten that THAT is how people become succesful, by sticking to their goals and their work, by challenging THEMSELVES, and not just waiting around for something to happen. Since I realized this, I have gotten a better job for the school year, working at DDS (Designated Driver Shuttle - sort of like a delivery service, but instead of food, I deliver drunk freshmen). I tried applying for a Networking Services Assistant position, where I had to learn Perl and write a sample program to get in (I didn't make it, but I learned ALOT about what technology positions nowadays require.) I've motivated myself to finish my web page, and be proud of it. I've taken it upon myself to try and finish the CIS 410 - Intro to Game Design class all by myself this Summer, by learning the 'Object-Oriented Graphics Rendering Engine' (OGRE) SDK and writing code for it. And finally, I am also learning how to use 3d multimedia applications such as MilkShape 3D, PaintShop Pro X, and Source SDK (the Source SDK was a tool kit that the Valve programmers used to write Half-Life 2). Now I feel like I can't slow down. Whenever I'm not totally comitting myself to expanding my understanding of something, or trying my very best at learning something new, I feel lazy. Yea, yea, I know there are those completely sappy people who claim in a job interview that their only weakness is that they work too hard (hold them too that next time you see them yakking it up in the break room). I'd claim that mine is that I still can't work hard enough, because my ability can't keep up with my mind. I still have so many things left unfinished! I plan to use the Half-Life 2 Source SDK to try and design my own modification (called a 'mod', for short) and create and entirely new game. I want to go into web design further and create more pages - even if its just a small extension of one's resume and portfolio. I want to obtain a job at the UofO Microcomputing center; what I want to do there, I don't know, but it won't matter that much to me. Whatever position I could get, I would be learning something new and committing myself completely to the tasks before me. Phew! This is getting a little intense right now...maybe it's time to take a break. Lastly, I value the liesure time that I can afford myself. My friends describe me as a very relaxed person, one who is soft-spoken but clear and sharp of mind. I also hear that I have a great sense of humor, too (Katie claims that I am "hilarious"...thats my story and I'm sticking to it). My favorite hobby, and this one makes me very popular with my friends, is that I've learned to homebrew, i.e. make my own beer from my house. Yes, it IS legal, and yes, I actually make some very good beer. I've been doing it for about a year, and I employ one of the cheapest all-grain nanobreweries around (all-grain simply implies that I make beer the traditional way using only 100% of grain). I have even dedicated an entirely new page to it, so feel free to click 'The Brewery' link on the left to check it out further. My other favorite hobby that allows me to unwind is cooking. I actually like cooking, and sometime sI think I am the only college student in Eugene who claims that. I like Asian food, so alot of the stuff that I've learned to cook is of that style of cuisine. I've made dishes such as Orange Chicken, Phad Thai, curry...I even made sushi with Tessa a few times. Since Tessa has been to China many times (I believe four to be exact), she claims that Chinese food is supposed to be cooked really quick, and its supposed to be really greasy. I still think its better to use less grease and create more flavor; thats why my kitchen cabinet is full of a bunch of different bottles of sauces and seasonings that most people haven't heard of. It seems funny, now that I think of it, that one of my favorite hobbies that I enjoy is related to the profession I loathe. Delivering pizzas in my Jeep that falls apart more and more everyday, and making Fried rice with my roomates while drinking a barleywine thats been aged for 9 months are two completely different things. But I still can't stop the feeling that I haven't moved anywhere, like it's cyclical and I'm just destined to work in food services. I have lofty ambitions to work in Game Design or software in the future , but for right now, it seems that I have to keep learning and challenging myself.