Artist: Brenna Stones (my sister)
It's a fitting commissioned piece of work. She asked what I
should have drawn for me and I said draw all the things I
think about around the title and the "25 years still thinking"
line. She did a fantastic job.

And now as I look back upon the year I noticed one very clear
detail...

I've done a tremendous number of things from programming projects,
to science experiments, to coding robotics, to compiling programs, to writing scripts,
to drawing comics,to crafting poems, to making movies, to composing music, to studying ray tracers,
to revising my social life and enhancing my talents for painting with my
dreams such that one day I may walk amongst them.

I now drive with confidence. I've met with CEOs, braved Oakland's
traffic and taken finances into my own hands and enhanced the daily runnings
of life while improving life manage skills. I'm turning a fine eye towards
details of running an existence in today's world. And it's rewarding
to know I'm doing a better job now.

With Focus

I had written a poem. (Focus, Discipline, Motivation)It sits on my door. It illustrates what I knew I had to become
for me to succeed. I feel I am finally becoming that way.
I feel that I am gaining control and am freeing myself from distraction.
I feel I can return to center myself upon what I'm after.
I can make decisions with every minute to that effect.

On Creation and Learning

I've honed skills with a host of endeavors including but not limited to:
servo eyebrows, Robotic Subs, Screen knock software, inbox poem programs, custom designed multiplex circuitry, giant blinky lights
Compiled: VLC, Blender2.5 (to Xcode), pbrt, Lux Render, and Synergy.

I've learned new programing languages such as Ruby, Scheme and Lisp.
I've spoken with Nebulae
Made a movie that, ironically, did get me dates (The Reflex) Battled with bogus blender issues (aka GMX Plight). I started a writers group, joined an improv team, and learned ray tracer theory from a textbook.

I still never learn my lesson however. I tend to like to repeat old experiment from my younger days.(It hurts when I turn it on) I've also got Propellers that attack me.

For my job
I battled with glitches, wrote Google-Moodle integrations, xml web services, debugged nightmare
80 hour bugs designed whole Reg Plugin Systems and fixed issues for clients under short notice with grace under fire.

On Ambition
I've mulled over what my ambition means to me and what failure means to me. And very importantly why I don't feel my success should be determined by what other people think. Halt the Superficial was an epiphany to that effect.

On Social Interaction
I've tasted the crippling affects of loneliness at the darkest moments of
the year and learned what it means to walk your own path and draw power
from autonomy. I affixed my gaze on my objectives and the rest
of the issues of the heart melt away.
All the asking outs and shut downs.
All the tending to parties and meeting new people.
And seeing them leave my life or toss me aside if
I don't fit their bill.

It all pales in comparison to what I'm after.
And that direction, that shining light makes me feel
much better as I walk along the plaza. I smile broadly
and know exactly where I'm going with my life.

Blender Turns 2.5 I turn 25.
My fate is invariably linked with this software.
It's the playground for my mind and my work.
In the past week I've read and understood more of
it's source code than ever before.

Note the glasses: a new identifying feature.

But after all of this progress.
I still remember the beginning.