It’s been a while. Actually, “a while” is underselling it.
The last time I posted something here, my wife was six months pregnant with our first child. He’s now in third grade. Since then, we also welcomed boy/girl twins at the height of COVID. They’re in kindergarten now.
So, yes. It’s been a minute.
A lot can happen while a journal quietly collects dust.
Creatively, I’ve somehow managed to send a donut to space. I’ve watched a couple of strange little mobile puzzle games I created take on lives of their own, reaching people all over the world in ways I never could have predicted when I started making them.
I spent more than a decade at one company and somehow watched it change its name three different times in that span.
I worked on the Sprint account when a little game called Pokemon GO was still in its infancy, before anyone really knew what it would become. I had the surreal opportunity to be part of early conversations around game mechanics, partnerships, and promotional ideas that connected the real world with this emerging digital one. That game is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.
And back then, when most people heard the term “artificial intelligence,” they probably imagined HAL 9000, the logic controlling the enemies in a video game, or a chatbot (SmarterChild on AOL, anyone?).
A lot changes faster than you realize. Especially when your head is down working and balancing that with raising a family.
Technology changes. Industries change. Companies change. Careers change. Families grow. Things that once felt experimental or impossibly futuristic quietly become part of everyday life — for better or for worse.
And somewhere along the way, chapters of our lives begin and end without us even realizing it.
Which brings me to where I am today.
After more than a decade of working with some incredible people, brands, and creative teams, I’m ready to begin the next chapter of my professional career. I haven’t quite figured out what that looks like yet, but there’s something exciting about the possibilities. I’ve always been an optimist, and I genuinely believe that whatever unfolds next will be better and brighter.
What I do know is that I still want to make things.
I want to design. I want to build. I want to experiment. I want to make games, create identities, solve strange problems, chase ideas that probably sound ridiculous at first, and occasionally do something like casually send a donut into the stratosphere just to see if it can be done.
Nearly every meaningful creative experience I’ve had started with some version of: What if we tried this?
So that feels like a pretty good place to begin again.
Here’s to the next chapter.
And here’s to writing the next journal entry before my kids graduate from college.