The Journey So Far/Chapter 1: Year of Origins (1993-2009)

The best way I can think about staring this is to start at the beginning. I was born on September 29th, 1993 in Longmont, Colorado. I was fortunate to have a great childhood. I had great parents, a good family life, occasional fights with my older sister, as you do, and was raised in the Catholic church. Elementary and Middle school life was normal. I made lifelong friends.

As a child, my parents sheltered me from a lot of things. When it came to violent movies, music, or video games, there was no way my mother was going to let me see that kind of content. I still got to enjoy a lot of things though. I remember getting my first video game console: the Nintendo 64. I still have the same machine to this day. I became a nerdy/geeky kid at a very young age. Most of the media I consumed molded me into the person I am today. Let's just say, I was not the most popular kid during my school years.

In my Elementary years, I met some of my best friends who I still hang out with today. I attended Northridge Elementary School in Longmont, Colorado. Those years were honestly great. Yes, I was bullied for liking video games and comics and yes, back then those were not considered *"cool"* things like they are today. Regardless, I had my group of friends and I didn't need to be *"one of the cool kids"*. Most kids at this age just go by having fun and living it up. No way are they already thinking of what career they want when they get older. For me and my friends though, we already started to form what we wanted to do when we grew up. With video games being such a huge influence on my life, I knew right away what I wanted to do. I wanted to become a game designer. Almost all my friends wanted the same thing. We played in the schoolyard pretending to play out scenes from our own stories. This was my beginning into being a creative person.

My Elementary years passed by and I moved onto Middle School. Oh the awkward and weird stare of being a kid. Puberty begins and all aspects of life start to change. I cannot remember most of my Middle School years as I think my brain blacked most of it out. I am thankful for that. I was still an unpopular kid, but my true friends stayed with me. All of us still had the same dreams and goals. A new experience for me was entering the dating scene. I'll give you a second to laugh it out. Yes, during these times not only did I know what I wanted in terms of career, but also life. Having a companion was something I have always wanted. Of course, being Middle School, the *"boyfriend/girlfriend"* dynamic was more for show than anything real, as it should be. Can you imagine staying with someone you dated in Middle School? That would be a BIG NO for me.

One last big part of Middle School way my 8th grade year. I attended Longs Peak Middle School for 6th and 7th grade, but for 8th grade, I transferred to a charter school called Twin Peaks Charter Academy. I cannot for the life of me remember why I did transfer. The only thing I can remember is that maybe I was bullied too much and wanted to leave for another school. I left all my friends and fellow students who I knew K-7. Luckily, one of my best friends was at this charter school. Let's just say my 8th grade year was awful. I hated the teachers and students. The whole school was full of snobs. There was one teacher however, that was, in my opinion, the only good one. Without him and my friend, I would have never gotten through 8th grade. My life started to take shape when it was finally time to start High School.

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