WHERE DID YOU GROW UP? WHAT WAS YOUR PATH TO CAL? Even though I grew up right nearby in Oakland, my path to Cal was long and tortuous. See, I wasn't such a good student in high school. I wasn't very happy, and I couldn't see the point. My teachers would have these conferences with each other, trying to figure out how to get me to try. I refused to go for most of my freshman year and then stopped going for good in my junior year. There was a monumental battle of wills over it with my parents, but they never stood a chance. After that I just floated around for a while; I got my CHSPE, worked at a theatre, moved to Seattle, worked at a hotel, went to community college for a bit, moved back to the bay area, worked as a projectionist (sweet!), worked as a game tester (suck!), and eventually got laid off and went back to community college. Then, at long last, I took my first class in programming. Even though the teacher was the worst that I have ever had in my entire life, I *loved* it. My biggest problem had always been that I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, and all of a sudden that was gone. I had a goal: come to Cal and study CS. With that resolved, it was all over but the crying, as they say. HOW MUCH PROGRAMMING HAVE YOU DONE (& WHAT LANGUAGES) Lots for fun, plus an internship at Double Fine Productions last summer. Languages in order of decreasing fluency: C++, C, Python, Unix, Java, Scheme, Verilog, fourth, html, MIPS, Perl, matlab, D, Haskell, TI-83 WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES Programming, wearing masks, and daydreaming. Sometimes all at the same time. I think that I'm happiest when I'm thinking of new ideas. WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR TALENTS & SKILLS I don't want to amaze you too much, but if you see me wearing a tee-shirt with a big circle on it, I MADE THAT SHIRT! HAVE YOU DONE ANYTHING REMARKABLE? HAS ANYTHING MEMORABLE HAPPENED TO YOU? One time I invented this glove-based controller for the NES. Don't worry, it wasn't anything like the power glove. You controlled games by touching your fingertips together, and it was made out of dishwashing gloves, copious amounts of solder, and aluminum plumbing tape. In retrospect I realize that I may have been ahead of my time... WHAT COMMITMENTS WILL BE CONSUMING YOUR CYCLES THIS SEMESTER? Along with trying to be the best CS 61C TA I can possibly be, I'm going to be taking CS 164 from the petrifying, puissant, and perspicacious Professor Paul N. Hilfinger, PhD. I love programming and programming languages, and 164 is a class that I've looked forward to for a long time.