Recently, I turned 26 in September and had come to grips on what I have finally wanted to do in my life. What I have always wanted to do was to have freedom in a creative aspect whether it be writing or drawing.
I have always been the type to let my imagination run wild, but the problem was applying it for meaningful gain. Originally, my plan was to use my degree in graphic communications to obtain a job as a graphic designer. After 3 years of finishing my bachelor’s degree, I was nowhere close to my original goal. I had felt entitled to my career that I had studied and cried for through my five years completing my higher learning. However, we all know that wanting and working for something does not necessarily get you towards the path that you want to walk. Having worked a number of customer service jobs from a child watch employee to a current insurance salesmen, I was all but tapped out on trying to reach my original goal.
Suddenly, on the eve of my 26th birthday, I was approached by my cousin who had asked me, “What do you see yourself doing that would make you happy? Because doing something that you don’t want to do leads to a miserable life.” And for the first time, that key advice had truly opened my eyes. Not to discredit my mother and other family members who had always disclosed this information to me or anything, but this had really changed everything. You see, my cousin is in the field that I was a part of my original goal. The freedom and skill that came as a graphic designer was extremely appealing to my creative nature. However, it was not until he asked me if I genuinely wanted to go down this path. After years and years of simply wanting a graphic design instead of practicing for it, would it make me happy to finally obtain such a thing?
In all honesty, I can say that being a designer would not have taken me down the road I wanted. I had started to view designing as another customer service job where you had to attend to other client’s needs. Following up with any changes or fitting a project to the customer’s vision was like my current job of selling insurance. What was also worth mentioning was my lack of understanding graphic design at its technical root. I was sure during those years in both college and post-college that I could conclude on what a designer was. However, it was all lost in translation because I could not apply fundamentals in my own work. Having realized that, I say that quitting before I truly began was a sound piece of advice from my cousin.
In the end, what truly makes me happy? Well, having thought back on what I did before I went to college, it was doing creative writing. A secret that I have always possessed was that I loved writing fan fiction. Fan fiction was a creative outlet for me to write about fictional series that I thoroughly enjoyed. This mostly included fighting game series like Street Fighter, Tekken and even Mortal Kombat. It was something that I had consistently did and thoroughly enjoyed doing for my own benefit. I even attempted to write my own series, but I think that is better for future posts. For now, I wanted to use my creative writing to talk about my interests in the world of fictional media. I hate to play the loner card but I rarely had friends growing up and tend to fawn over fictional settings versus current events.
And so, we are now back at the present with the overall reason on why this blog was created. This will be my way of creating through the lens of writing out my thoughts on various topics. I thank you for taking the time to read this background piece and look forward to writing about my hopefully interesting opinions.
Three Truths About Me
The Truth About College
I originally studied Computer Science to make video games, but coding gives me the biggest headache next to bad movies.
The Truth About Fear
The extent of my horror knowledge are a few slasher films and a collective amount of horror manga. I cannot stand the feeling of anxiety of something about to jump out in front of me. You are talking to a man who was (is, probably) scared of the animated special, “The Legend of Sleeping Hollow,” after all.
The Truth About Genres
I absolutely love reading or watching romance anime/manga. My favorite genre will always be action, but I still have my soft spots for Clannad and similar works.