I’ve been thinking lately about what I used to love, and how despite appearances little has changed.
For example, lately I’ve been getting lost for hours in coding css. I’ve been designing using css for a couple years but mostly I’m taking other people’s code and changing the variables. This time I’m determined to really understand how it all works, and I make little steps each day. Now if I see how I want something to look in my head, I’m usually able to come up with the correct markup to make it happen. Very cool.
It’s reminding me of when I was in high school, and my dad brought home our first computer, an Apple IIc. (Yes, I’m old. You will be too someday.) I played some of the games but my favorite thing to do was “programming.” All I did was follow the directions given to make a cool pattern happen on screen, but there was something about typing in the code and getting a visually pleasing result that amazed me.
Of course, I’m not a coder and I don’t think like a coder. I don’t have the logical brain it takes, and I need that visual feedback constantly. That’s why I like using css, but wrapping my brain around php and javascript takes me longer.
Point is, what I’m enjoying now is very similar to what I enjoyed back then.
I had other passions, like writing, and video production, when I was younger that are starting to fight their way back to the surface. I see opportunities emerging in new media that remind me of roads not taken when I graduated college. Maybe this is a second chance to follow those passions that I’d set aside. I don’t have regrets, because I love the life I have, and I know the choices I’ve made were the right ones, but one steady step at a time I see a path forward emerging that’s incredibly similar to the one I didn’t take. The difference is now other desires aren’t calling me away from it.




One Comment
My eyes are crossing at the thought of all that coding! Still, I’m glad you’re finding new creative outlets so similar to old passions.
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