There is something a bit surreal about making your first blog post. It reminds me a lot of making the first bits of HTML changes on my first Angelfire site way back in the 90’s. There is the excitement of learning all sorts of new technology, and the rush of knowing many others are out there doing the same thing. Blogging isn’t exactly a new concept, and I am likely to find myself drowned out in a sea of content creators, but notoriety isn’t my primary goal with this site. Instead, it will serve as an open journal to share my experiences with those who care to read them.

I’ve been meaning to document my thoughts for a long time now, as the writing process often helps me articulate them. If you are like me, you may struggle sometimes to effectively communicate with spoken words. For example, sometimes a statement made with good intentions is interpreted poorly because it was rushed. Other times I simply cannot find words to express myself, or struggle to be heard in a group of people. With a blog, there is no pressure of timeliness. No need to raise my voice and interrupt others for a chance to be heard. No inability to express my thoughts. It is quite cathartic.

Writing has been something I enjoy going as far back as grade school. I would often avoid math and science homework in favor of history or English. It was in those written accounts of past events and fiction books that I could immerse myself in the experiences of others. Having an overactive imagination myself, I had no shortage of my own experiences and ideas that I wanted to share.

Yet outlets for writing as a teenager in school back in my day were not plentiful. Some people kept diaries or journals, but that wasn’t my thing. We were on the cutting edge of new outlets, such as building personal websites and starting up a MySpace account, both of which I had tried. Even those did not suffice, and it was only in the occasional bit of school assignment homework that I found the opportunity to creatively write.

For the most part, I lived vicariously through the stories of others. This took on many forms, such as watching movies or TV shows, reading comics, playing games, or heaven forbid, browsing social media. We had a good streak of entertaining content during that period of my life, so I was happy to just sit and absorb, but the itch to write remained.

I suppose it follows then that I would eventually find myself enthralled by all manners of role playing games, like Dungeons & Dragons. It was love at first sight when I was first introduced to the game from a friend at work. A shared story telling experience? A vast open space for which to build upon and create new content? It only took one campaign as a player to realize that I wanted to become my own dungeon master and finally share some of my own ideas. I bought the books, ran a one shot for some friends, and that evolved into a three year long campaign. To this day, D&D has continued to be my primary outlet for both writing and other creative ventures, like designing. I like to think that very first adventure I wrote and set my friends upon played a big part in getting me to where I am today.

It was also around this time in my life, now graduated from college and employed full time, that I found a new kind of passion. The fantastic stories and historical events from media and games had been well and good, but I quickly realized there was a lot of value in professional experience as well. In my time as a software developer I’ve had the privilege to work through multiple unique challenges and face problems that I know others continue to struggle with. I myself have benefited greatly from the shared work experiences of others, and I wanted to give back in some way. Blogs seemed to be the common language for sharing in today’s data-driven and information connected world. I was hesitant to start at first due to a bout of imposter syndrome. I decided to start small and get my feet wet by writing a bit on Medium, even signing up to do more and more speaking engagements at work. These small steps helped boost my confidence and refine my technique as I continued to build up more experience to share. Around the end of 2019 I was just about ready to make a name for myself!…

…Then the pandemic hit. Life for everyone got turned upside down. The goals we once had for ourselves were tucked away and shelved as we all were trying to figure out how to live in this new environment. I am self admittedly a social recluse out of work. The last few years before the pandemic I had been working diligently to make myself more socially available for others, and I had been making great progress. Like a power blip on a game system, though, all that progress was wiped out. I had effectively returned back to square one, suddenly devoid of new experiences to share while being confined to my home.

Yet every journey has its ups and its downs, and while I did experience a social setback, I also found new ways to move forward. I vividly remember the early months of the pandemic and lamenting the lack of in-person experiences I previously had on the job. These days though it is a primary feature that I cherish. The ability to seamlessly switch from work activities to other tasks and time saved from not having to drive anywhere allowed me to make some important changes in my life.

I was able to buy my first home and relocate to the city of Saint Louis. This new environment provided me with many benefits, such as new challenges to tackle and a closer proximity to good friends. My once bleak outlook on life was replaced with a renewed focus on myself and my goals. In the last year I have been working to undo some of the physical and mental toll the pandemic has taken on me. I’ve dropped about 50 pounds, started eating healthier and exercising more, and also started investing more in managing my stress better and well-being better.

These changes and newfound appreciation for life helped to get me back on track for a goal that was long shelved and desperately in need of doing. I got off my butt and put together the pieces necessary to start this blog.

As for current goals with this site, I am definitely not here trying to farm a particular market, build a fan base, or sell a product. This is 100% a personal site dedicated to sharing and cataloging my experiences. I know that isn’t super helpful, so I’ll try to set a few boundaries for myself.

I’ll aim to keep most posts centered around various passions of mine. Expect a healthy amount of Software Engineering topics, table top role playing stories, hot takes on food like my obsession with St. Louis style pizza, and certainly my love of all things Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. I may even delve into stories from my past, such as the 2 or 3 years I spent traveling the US with my brother and some friends competing in Rock Band (the game 😅) tournaments. We’ll play it by ear for now.

What I can tell you is that my next post will center around another journey I’ve recently embarked on: Game development. There will be plenty of trials and tribulations for me to talk about in the coming weeks ahead as I continue to work through various tutorials and other reading material online. No pain no gain, right?

Anyways, if you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading my first post. Heck, thanks for finding this blog in the first place – color me flattered. I’ll do my best to put out some entertaining or thought provoking content on a regular cadence. Until next time!