I stumbled on your site a few days ago. Normally I don’t register or comment on sites such as this, largely because I’m a privacy refugee and do not feel comfortable hanging personal information in the public domain. However, so much of your bio seemed familiar to me that I felt compelled to at least make a few comments. By the way, isn’t it weird seeing Jason Lee on network TV?

Not unlike yourself, I too feel like I am the victim of a poor public education system. My high school was literally surround on 3 sides by a neighboring cornfield with a graduating class of less than 200 students. I remember getting close to graduation when the principle rounded up the senior class into the cafeteria to explain that “the world needs plumbers”. I’m still offended to this day by the implications of such comments.

I also spent an enormous amount of time playing video games. I so excited about Zelda II that I managed to tag along with a friend who went to Canada just to buy an advance copy a few days before it was released in the US. My all time (early) favorites were Golgo 13, Super Mario 2 and The Secret of Mana. For the later systems I was into Crono Trigger, Xenogears, FFVII, and FFX. I just bought a Nintendo DS in order to play New Super Mario Bros. You’d probably like it. I’m also pretty excited about Dirge of Cerberus due this August.

You mentioned that you were somewhat isolated in your environment but had a small group of close friends who shared similar interests such as drawing comics and making short films. I knew a few guys that were into that sort of thing in the later years of grade school but my first strong relationships with childhood friends developed around Transformers and later, skateboarding. I had most of the diecast generation 1 toys and remember repeatedly going to the theatre to see Transformers the Movie. All of my friends were just as into Transformers as I was. I even knew a guy who could flawlessly recite the entire 30-minute dialogue to S.O.S. Dinobots.

In a similar fashion, I’m always been into the music that the main stream seems to overlook. Before I had the avenues we have today to seek out different musical influences I used to place a cassette tape recorder in front of the TV/VCR and record the music included in the skateboarding videos. I eventually assembled a band after buying a guitar from a local metal head after he had crashed his car and needed money. The band was a big deal to me and I began to pour all of my resources into it towards the end of high school. I’ll never forget sitting around a small tape recorder playing back the first track we ever recorded. Everyone’s face wore the same expression of amazement.

The band seemed like it was going to take off and we were all excited when the lead singer secured a job at one of the larger clubs about an hour away in the nearest city. The tentative plan was that our singer was going to use his position to get our band some real exposure. He left for his first day of work and said, “I’ll see you Tuesday”. Probably like a lot of other lead singers, he flaked out and we didn’t hear from him for weeks. I might have seen him in casually in passing, but that was really the last time I ever saw him. The bass player and I hung on for a while since we lived together until I had to move out when his older brother returned home, which was the ultimate death nail for that band.

I had high hopes for the band and after it fell apart I was contemplating what I should do next. At this point I had finished high school and was working a local job selling my health to a physically laborious position. I saved up enough money to buy a car (with a heater) until I seriously injured myself at work. I was out of work for weeks on bed rest when I realized this sort of thing was going to happen again, and again, and again as long as I remained contracted trading my health for dollars. The closest guy to my age at work had just herniated a disk and the spinal x-ray detailed an enormous black area where a normal spine should have been. The combined events were a wake up call.

I continued to work but enrolled myself in a local community college taking art classes at night and full time during the winters when I was guaranteed to be unemployed. I had always drawn to entertain myself and my small group of friends (and to this day, don’t think there is anything funnier than a Sea Fox). However, after a few years I began to reject the commercialization of my artwork, which would ultimately follow had I continued down that path. I went down to the counseling center at the community college I was enrolled in and signed up for every interest/aptitude test they offered. After 8 hours of testing, and a few weeks processing the results, I was called down meet with a woman reminiscent of Stephen Hawking. I would come to realize later that this retired, and severely handicapped woman redirected my life. She said my math and science scores were exceedingly high despite exhibiting a deep interest in both art and music. She met with the Dean and created a special program for me combining the physical sciences with an open avenue to the arts. However, since as you mentioned, Hartland High School education was in actuality, a lack of education, I was going to have to relearn everything I never received at a personal time and financial expense. This took a number of years but I finished the program she designed for me with 80 credits and a 4.0 GPA. I had my first real degree.

I transferred to the University of Michigan’s department of Aerospace Engineering with junior class standing. The on-boarding counselor warned me on my first day that because I was a transfer student, I should expect to have trouble keeping up with the kids who were good enough to be accepted as freshmen. Her words reminded me of a particular principal saying I should be a plumber and I privately vowed to make her realize how inappropriate her snobbish attitude really was. She continued to say that a grade of an A+ was as infrequent as a comet passing and most students never even knew another student who had received a grade of A+. I made sure to return to her office after I received my second A+ in only my third semester. I went back to see her 2 years later after beating out 29,700 other kids academically receiving the James B Angel Scholar award exclusively given to the top 1% of the entire student body. I didn’t go see her the first time I got that award, I went after receiving it the second time. She apologized for her comments that she did not recall making on orientation and vowed never to treat a transfer student like that again. She and I were even.

I stayed on for graduate school and I was on track for a doctoral degree. Redoing high school had set me back timewise and I was looking to make up ground. Consequently, I doubled my graduate class load in order to finish the Masters program in half the time. This turned out to be a mistake. I lost a significant amount of body mass during this time and was incredibly fatigued when I completed the 2-year program a year later. As a result, I did not stay on to officially enroll in the doctoral program and left to join industry.

I move around the country a lot, having held a residence in 5 states in the last 6 years. I worked in the Silicon Valley during the end of the dot com boom, then took a job in the Northeastern portion of the country. I worked there for a few years conducting military turbine aerodynamic design work along with some combustion work. I was the technical lead on a sub-scale rig test program, which lasted 2 years and cost about 2 million dollars. During this time I had a small Vegas wedding with only a single friend from work and 2 of my close friends from college. My family members were unable to make the planned event.

I moved from the New England area to Southern California, taking a job with a small Air Force funded research firm. The total number of employees (including myself) numbered less than 15. I was the project lead on their pulse detonation engine to try and develop this technology for next generation propulsion systems. I also authored my first winning proposal while employed with this firm. The owner turned out to be a clinically insane and I quit after a little more than a year.

It was time to move again and this time I took a job with the remains of the “Skunk Works” (look it up if you’re unfamiliar). For the first time, my boss is technically astute and a decent guy. I presented at a conference in Minnesota a few months ago and I’ll be presenting at a conference in Miami in 2007. He also insisted on me acting as the principal investigator on our latest DARPA (look it up if you need to) program in order to get me comfortable securing and managing contracts. Along the same lines, I’m working nights and weekends on my fourth degree.

Although I like my boss, I don’t feel comfortable in this part of the country and can’t see myself here much longer. I have a few job offers open in other parts of the country so if something happens to my boss I’ll leave immediately, if not sooner. I’ve met some incredibly brilliant individuals here in industry and a few of them are like brothers to me. We’ve spoken casually about starting our own company and I will be making this a reality after finishing this last degree.

I don’t have any kids but working (combined with the invention of ebay) has allowed me a guitar collection beyond what I deserve. I still play video games a lot, watch a lot of anime, and occasionally even make it to the skate park once in a while (although I have trouble keeping up with the younger kids that pull off the most unbelievable s%#t). While living in Southern California I saw Tony Hawk land a 900 at the one of the X-Games. Also, my grandparents that you remember eating salami with have recently passed away.

It was weird reading about your step Dad giving you a hand with plumbing. Not only because of the way things used to be between the two of you, but also because he never seemed especially handy at home renovation considering the pace at which your old kitchen progressed. Also, please tell your Mom I said hello. I always felt like she wanted to do everything that she could to help me when I was struggling.

Makes sure to check out the Mini Bosses if you haven’t already. They are a Phoenix based band who conducts original NES cover tunes. They have a heavy remake version of Castlevania III that is extremely well done.
http://minibosses.com/

Like I said, I don’t like posting info in the public domain and won’t be doing so a second time. Email me at the disposable address I was forced to create in order to access this account. Otherwise, I’ll check back in another 15 years to see what you’ve been up to.

Regards, -J Bordner