I grew up in rural Edgecombe County, North Carolina, on a street where most of my mother's sisters and my grandma all had houses. We were surrounded by swamp land and near a chicken farm operated by my grandpa. You used to have to drive nearly 30 minutes to get to much of anything other than a gas station, a corner store, a dump, some cotton fields, and a couple of public schools Needless to say internet wasn't great, but I never had much of a frame of reference as all of our schools had the same problem.

Growing up, I wasn't allowed to see any friends outside of school unless they were from the same religous group as my family until I was in my mid-teens. They were considered "worldly association" and I was encouraged to build friendships with members of my congregation, so I just talked to what few friends I had through the internet instead. My mother is a school teacher who's work ethic and commitment I have a lot of respect for. My father was a computer technician for Edgecombe County public schools who had previously worked as an electrician. At a young age, I was impressed by his handiness and spent a lot of time with him, during which he got me interested in computers.

Some years after my father passed, I slowly became tech support for my family. We didn't really have money for new computers very often, and when we did, they were usually nothing special. I often found myself working with underperforming or outdated hardware and used it to learn. I went and found old computers and parts at the dump on a couple of occasions. You might be suprised with some of the things people leave on thier drives. I also started collecting old game consoles and games back when they were cheap and not scalped to death, (most of what I have my collection now is stuff I kept from back then that wasn't stolen), and eventually got into soft-modding and some console refurbishment.

While attending Edecombe Early College High School, I was able to take specialized classes and formed a casual interest in philosophy, religous studies, psychology, and sociology. At some point, I realized I didn't feel cut out for social sciences and that studying philosophy or other humanities probably won't land me the type of pay I want, so I capitalized on my interest in computers. I started off wanting to study computer science and be a programmer. I took a couple of courses and legitimately enjoyed myself working with my classmates on code, but after hearing about the level of mathematics involved in the degree and the types of jobs others would share stories about with me, I got turned off.

I am now pursuing a bachelors degree in Information and Computer Technology with a double concentration in information technology and information security along with a second major in philosophy at East Carolina University. I was fortunate enough to land a job as a student computer lab technician for the university my first year. I currently stay in an off-campus housing apartment in Greenville and am trying to get my adult life together, sort of stumbling around all of this stuff as I go.

My goal in life is to do engaging work I'm proud of that provides for others. This work should also alow me to be able to provide for myself and persue my diverse intrest, all while still having time for forming and maintaing strong, healthy interpersonal bonds. This broad goal of mine manifest itself both in the paid workplace and outside of it as I work to be more self sustaining and lead a lifestyle which lends itself to contetment in the face of the invenitable compromise and change we all experince in life.