First Entry
Wow! I have to say it's rather wierd to be making a journal entry in here instead of reading one. Hell, it's just wierd to even make a post. I've been a "member" of gamedev.net for about 3 years, and i've only made two posts here. One was about the PS3 and the other was about Darwinia.

At work one day, I realized how much information and time I've spent at this website and suddenly decided to say, "Screw it, I'm going to become a GDNet+ member and stop lurking." And so I did. And here I am with my very own journal. Amazing :)

About me

So enough of the reason why I'm here, time to introduce myself. I'm a 6th year Computer Engineering senior at the University of Wisconsin Madison. I'm here for 5 years because I've switched my majors twice. At the start of my college career, I was a Computer Science/Japanese major. Then, the hard college level maths hit my GPA really hard, and I was unable to get into the Computer Science program. Thus, I made the switch from learning about the software, into the hardware. Sort of a step sideways, but I'll gladly take it.

The life story

I've aspired to be many things when I was little to where I am now. I first wanted to be a Astronaut, until I realized that space was a scary place and that no one can REALLY hear you scream. When I was 8 years old I wanted to be a teacher, but then that dream faded away quickly when my family got their first personal computer. Unforunately, that computer was a Packard Bell.

That computer was a piece of shit in general, but my mother (who was a programmer at the time) taught me a few commands in BASIC. I'm sure most of you remember your first program and how HORRID it was. Mine was full of gotos and prints, but I loved every minute of it. From that day when I wanted to be a computer programmer. And I spent all of middle school and high school taking computer courses and math courses (I did well in those back then) and then when I get to college I started sucking academically. What it really came down was that I couldn't perform very well on the math exams, no matter what I did.

It was a blow to my pride not getting into the Computer Science program. I suddenly couldn't be something that I've always said that I would be. Sure, I could've transfered into a different school. And I was very close to submitting my transfer papers when I then realized that I didn't really know what I wanted to do with my life just yet.

So I decided to go into computer engineering just to leave college with something. Although my heart isn't quite in engineering, I found out that it isn't too bad. Maybe someday in the future I'll make the targeting program for a GUNDAM.

And most important of all, I realized that I didn't need a piece of paper to say that I was a Computer Programmer. I am one inside, and always will be. It is what you do with that knowledge that matters.

So what else?

Apart from programming, I enjoy doing other things too. At some point, I wanted to be an artist. I still draw every now and then, though not very well. I also like to watch japanese animation (aka anime). I can't quite comprehend an entire episode in raw japanese yet, but I'm trying to get there :)

The kind of games that I love are strategy (Final Fantasy Tactics), action/adventure/rpgs (Devil May Cry, God of War), Fighting (Guilty Gear, Street Fighter, King of Fighters, or any other 2d fighter), and the action/exploration genre (Castlevania:Dawn of Sorrow, Metroid, those kind of games), and Dating Sims.

Yes. Dating Sims. Yes, I do have a girlfriend (surprisingly).

That's all I have to say for now. I'll probably post details about my project later on tonight. After all ... that's what this place is for, right?


(Jesus, that was long.)