i was born in 1968. with the r. kennedy assasination, man travelling to the moon, and vietnam, my birth clearly wasn't the most important event of 1968. it was, however, perhaps the most surprising event of 1968 for my parents.

of course, even with those events overshadowing my arrival, i can still be proud. within minutes of my arrival home from the hospital, i said hello to my big brother thom. as i see it, newborns can really only say hello by doing one of three things: throwing up on someone, peeing on them, and wailing at the top of their lungs. the first would have been terribly ordinary and the wailing wouldn't be fun to write about 32 years later. you can figure out the rest.

now i'm 19. good age. went to college in san luis obispo. in the first year in the dorms, i had four different roommates. i guess i didn't play well with others. built two floats, made a goodly handful of lasting friendships, and got a degree.

now i'm 23. las vegas baby. working as a structural engineer. great fun that was. the paul movie scale was created. theme parks were built on my foundations. golf was found to be a stressful.

26. my father dies. so does a part of me that i didn't know i had.

almost 27. having decided i wanted to stop building cow signs, i moved home to los angeles to play with computers instead. just in time too. a mcdonald's sign i engineered falls and kills a mustang gt convertible. not my fault, really. bad contractor. still, a good omen for my new career in computer.

27. find my first computer job at a little startup called calliope. as bit wrangler, i help produce 3 great cdrom titles before the company folds. there was a 4th title, but my memory of it is clouded by the impending death of the company.

31. iPaulo finds its identity and is informally launched after years of being a bookmark file and a picture of El Nino. the formal launch is coming soon. my siblings and i are also getting ready to launch a site.

going on 32. i wonder where i'll be in 7 months. another 212 days older and deeper in debt?

33. oops. skipped 32. not deeper in debt - good! finally back in my own apartment - good! work - good! swordfighting - good! unclehood - good! dating - good! yoga - good!

34 - looking good!