meh

It’s weird to think I’ve not only been through this decade, but with my birthday coming up in February, two decades. Things that have happened:

• 2000 marked the Y2K bug scare. Nothing happened. It also gave us the election of George W. in the contested Florida count. I was only 10 (10?!?) and living in Portland at the time. I think I was starting to fiddle with graphics and websites at this point. Thus marked my slow descent.
• 2001 was a pretty major turning point for me. I moved to Texas over Thanksgiving that year. The whole 9/11 scare happened as well. That was a surreal day. I used to leave the radio on when I went to sleep, and woke up to something about the WTC towers being hit. I wandered out of the bedroom to find a TV showing the collapse of one.
• Moving to Texas kind of sucked at first. I was the new kid, for some draconian reason 6th grade still equaled elementary in Texas, and I was pretty much an outcast for a long while after.
• 02, 03, and 04 were pretty uneventful. I remember playing basketball more seriously, but I was at the same time going deeper down the rabbit hole that was computers and the internets.
• 05 marked the start of photo for me. I got a bridge camera from my grandpa, was in an intro photo course freshman year, and stopped playing basketball after the school year was out. Started a more advanced photo course, and finally started getting out of my shell. Probably a few years too late, unfortunately.
• 06 was when things got serious. Won my first contest, got my first DSLR (the D200, which hasn’t been touched in quite some time, the poor thing), and went on my first photo trip to the Grand Canyon.
• 2006 was also when I started to explore the world musically. Starting with Radiohead, of course.
• 07 was more or less the same as 06. Except for that summer I attended Rising Star, and pretty much settled on SCAD for college. I already knew where I was going before I had even finished my junior year, and most people I knew hadn’t even figured out where to apply yet. My only regret is not seeing where else I could have gotten into. A bit late at this point though.
• 2007 was also my first concert/show going experience, with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. I always felt like I was a little late with the whole music and show going thing, and I still feel like I’m about a year behind at this point. They were the only band at the time I both liked and who happened to be touring. A lot of other folks I had recently found were long gone tour wise. And most of the local bands were pop “punk” emocore suckiness. Oh well.
• Fall of 07 was when I got published in Nikon World. That was pretty big and exciting at the time.
• Both 06 and 07 kind of blended together. They were both good years for me, overall.
• 2008. Radiohead concert. In Rainbows. I wish I was in the pit instead of the lawn. Good times though. Good times…
• 2008 marked graduation. I pulled a senior prank end of year too. That almost ended in disaster for myself. Fortunately, I smoothed things out. Somehow.
• 2008 was also the start of SCAD. It was a wily first quarter, marked by lots of new relationships (for myself and my first ever roommates), and the start of an accumulation of complaints about life in Savannah.
• 2009. Sheesh. What a mixed bag of a year. I had plenty of good and all. I purchased a D700 (actually, purchased at the end of December, but either way), got some recognition at SCAD with some small exhibits and publication in the photo annual. Got to go to China, had an advert in Dallas Modern Luxury, spawning from a group exhibit at the W Hotel in Dallas. Even shot a fairly legitimate fashion-esque, editorial-esque commission for Amber Venz Jewelry. But all things considered, certain events have a way of turning you inside out and leading to a realization of what actually means most to you.

I’ll leave it at that. Happy New Year everyone.