"write on your journal a paragraph or two about what computing means to you at this point."

Computing, for me, is a means of realization. Pretty much every creative effort I've ever undertaken has been on a computer, or related to a computer:
>Robotics with Lego Mindstorms sets
>Music production - messing around with synths and sequencers in Ableton
>Video game design with Gamemaker as a young kid and with Unity as an older "adult"
>3D modeling with Blender
>Writing with any number of word processors
...just to name a few.

I feel strongly about mediums like AR and VR because they begin to bridge the gap between the virtual and the real. I grew up wishing I could explore the amazing fantasy worlds I saw on TV, in video games, and in my head. In fact, I spent more time in my head than I did in the real world - and since the virtual world isn't bound by the same laws the real world is, I naturally gravitated toward the former. I still do. I spend too much time in MMOs like FFXIV because I love inhabiting the worlds, and interacting with the characters, even if the interactions themselves are heavily scripted or superficial. It's undeniably more than a little escapist, but I think there's a beauty in that. We don't have to be here, all the time, and that's okay.

The creative applications of computing are literally unlimited - this is not a novel observation, but  when you're as bad at drawing and playing real instruments as I am, realizing the things you see and hear inside your head becomes that much more possible with computers.

On top of all that, I *really* love pushing buttons and making things blink.

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