Now that I’m Here
I can finally find a moment to talk about the dorm and the university!
Our dorms are a little spacier that typical freshman dorms. There are 4 people to a room, and there are two bedrooms with a living area in between the bedrooms. The bathroom is off to the side of the living room. Honestly, there’s plenty of space.
There
Of course, they matched me up with my roommates perfectly. We all listen to good music, play good games, and are into technology and computers at a fairly heavy level. All despite the fact that only two of us have declared technology intensive majors. One of us is going into Network Engineering, one into Nursing, one into (I think) Biology and English, and I have declared a Computer Engineering Technology major.
Plenty of storage space!
There’s a pilot program they are starting here next semester. I’ve had a very positive experience being a test subject in pilot programs, so when the Dean of the College of Technology here told us of this new program, my ears perked up.
The new program is Gaming, Animation, and Simulation. The core of the education is learning to do CG animation. They teach you by making you develop video games, with the ultimate goal being CG animated simulation, as I understand it. My ears perked when I heard animation. I love bringing things to life on the computer, and I would jump at the chance to get involved in a program like that.
Don’t confuse me with one of those high school kids who ‘wants to make games when he grows up.’ It’s different from that. I’m interested in the simulation aspect. And think what you can do with animation. Gaming, yea, sure, I used to be all for it. But I’ve always loved special effects. You can probably tell from some of the videos on my Vimeo page. My love of SFX goes all the way back to Back to the Future.
Every time I watch a movie, I keep my mouth shut and enjoy it. But the inside of my mind is always working to reverse engineer certain special effects. Iron Man is a great example of what you can do with CG animation skills.
Years from now, we could be looking at systems that project things into 3d space, maybe someday they will even provide force feedback. (Wow. Getting a virus sure would ruin your day. Imaging a digital entity with malicious intent with the capability to physically interact with the real world. That would be something else.)
I have some engineering background. I want the animation and simulation background to go with it. I want to be there when we discover that we can project three dimension images into three dimensional space at resolutions previously unthinkable. I am going to be a part of that.
You might call it a fantasy. Maybe it is. But think about it for moment. Tom Swift, From the Earth to the Moon, Star Wars. Look at those. All are science fiction fantasy. They were all far ahead of their time. Now look at the development of technology since they were released to the public. When mankind is inspired, they chase their dreams. And when the inspiration comes from seemingly impossible things like those found in a book, say, a spaceship that can travel to areas outside of our own atmosphere, the inventors and visionaries of the age chase those dreams.
To quote a very bad man.
“It is inevitable.“