Growing Up Geek OR Unleashing the Genie In The Gadget

I've always loved gadgets, especially ones that promise to unlock some inner creative spirit that seems perpetually trapped within me. I have this itch that needs to be scratched with the release of each new gadget that seems to call to my inner artist. I fixate on some new thing that will help me reach creative nirvana if only I possess it. Gadgets to me are like Genies in a bottle, with the promise that if only I possess it, it will free my creative spirit like no other gadget has done before.

This notion started with my very first gadget. It wasn't a gadget per se, it was a Commodore Amiga 500. By 1989 I was 26 years old and believed all the hype that computers were changing the lives or everyone who had one. The promise was that you could finally write that novel or paint that picture in millions of colors (or between 16 and 4096 depending on what mode you were using your Amiga) if only you had a this device or that piece of software.

Upon receiving my first credit card, I went to my local Amiga retailer and purchased an Amiga 500 with a copy of Deluxe Paint. I was finally ready to create all sorts of cool things I never could do before.

Or could I? Every new piece of software seemed to promise that I would be on the cutting edge of creativity. Inspiration would flood into my mind where no inspiration resided before like a Genie bestowing gifts to the person lucky enough to possess it. The reality was that even with my incredible new toy, my mind was still as inspirationally void as it was before I got my computer. Only now, I had $1200 on a credit card to pay off along with my student loan, rent, car insurance and groceries.

Still, I was a believer and an evangelist too. I couldn't wait to show my father, a very accomplished painter, how cool all this technology was. My father is a child of the depression and a self-admitted technophobe but he respectfully watched me demonstrate my computer and software. When I was finished, he paused for a bit and asked, "How much did this cost you?" "About $1200". After pausing for a few seconds more, he said, "For $1200, you could have bought yourself a lifetime supply of paints, brushes and canvas". He was not impressed.

He was both right and wrong. I've learned that certain kinds of creative expression need to remain simple. Nothing can really replace a sketch pad and a small pan of watercolors for capturing the soul of a particular place at a particular time. Nothing can replace sitting at a piano and playing from your heart. Nothing has to be turned on or plugged in. It's there and it's immediate.

However, I never regretted purchasing my Amiga. Over a period of time in front of my computer I was able to land my first few jobs in animation and graphic design. Eventually the Amiga faded and other gadgets replaced it. I graduated to working on far more capable computers using software that allow me to create as freely as I can with paper and paint.

To this day, I still have that Genie fantasy regarding technology. I had to have an Apple iPad because of all the cool music-making apps I could play with. When the Microsoft Surface came out, I had to have a Windows tablet with a Wacom digitizer because drawing with a mouse suddenly seemed so idiotic. Right now, I'm contemplating the purchase of a piece of animation software because I still feel there are veins of creativity I've yet to mine. I still believe in the fantasy that the Genie is still trapped in the bottle, waiting to get out and free me from my limitations in only I get just one more thing...