what technology means to me

What technology means to me

If it wasn’t for technology I may well have been completely forgotten about. It is through technology I have come to have a real meaning in my life as I know I will always want to be able to write and continue to learn how to make cartoons I am still learning. I learn at a different pace from everyone else so with the right technology and support there is nothing I can’t do.

song writing

Song writing

I now have got a fascination with writing songs as I feel that I have got a lot to say but I don’t really know how to say it. The first time that I wrote a song was because of something I saw on TV that made me both upset and angry. My tutor’s boyfriend has put some of the words to music and I went down his home to record the sound. The technology he had there I found to be very impressive and I loved recording with him.  

I enjoy writing songs as it helps to think in a clearer way than what I have done It feels good to put down on paper what I have in my head. Sometimes I find it hard to say what is in my head so writing songs helps me express my thoughts.

If you are creative and can think in a different way you do not know what way your mind will go

My first games consoles

My first games console 

When I was about seven or eight the most popular consoles were the Sega Mega drive and Nintendo.  We had the Nintendo and one of my cousins had the Sega mega drive. I loved both especially the cartoons that came with them but I loved using the cheats to get to levels I was no where near ready for. I also liked playing football games and other games on the consoles. .Even when I was that young I found that  it was always something that I could really concentrate on.

The main selling character for the Sega mega drive was Sonic the Hedgehog with his friend tales and manic tries to save their mother. There have been many different cartoons based  around Sonic the Hedgehog and Sega always had Sega theme tune  as a logo at the start. Nintendo were selling an Italian plumber Mario and Luigi who were trying to fix peoples pipes. I also played Donkey Kong and others.

Sega and Nintendo’s games were an awkward shape and very big. Also the console was big.

Now I play with games like the Nintendo Wee and it makes you think how far games have come. As well as that there are things like the Game Boy Advanced which makes thing a lot easier as you can play games in a car.    Now when I travel  on long journeys like holidays I make sure to have my Gameboy Advanced. But as they are so small you can loose them very easily

blogger introduction

 Hi 

I am going to start a new blog today over this next week or so I will be talking about how technology has effected my life and what it means to me. I will also be talking about things that I have a passion for and also things that help me relax on a day to day basis. The way that I cope might help other people who are similar to me over the years I have found different coping mechanisms.  I love having my blog to do every day and I hope that others take something valuable from it.  It would make me very happy if others like me could get something out of it themselves.

getting creative with technology

Getting creative with technology

One day when I was bored I wrote a story about Fruit People. When the receptionist saw it she thought that it had potential and then with the help and encouragement from Mencap I sent it away to different places. This was my first real big idea and I really believed it was good.   My Mencap support worker put me in touch with the Disability Arts Council and we were able to get a grant to develop my idea further.  I was able to work with a young animator who would help me learn.  This was the beginning of an exciting time for me. One of the first things that teacher taught me was how to do claymation. This is where you take a background scene set it up then you take the character and move it centimeter by centimeter. I found this to be very slow and I did not enjoy doing it. Then he taught me about using computers and how that would help me to animate. I began to enjoy going to see him. After a time his apprentice came to my house and taught me how to use a package  called toonboom.  I loved working on this project and I knew this was something I wanted to do in my life.

When this project was finished I sent it off to different TV studios and I was invited over to Cartoon Network studios in London. This reinforced my love for cartoons and animation as I loved being in a place where they talked about cartoons and animation all day. My Fruit People was also shown on RTE “wee programme” on a Saturday morning.  I then was introduced to Toon Boom. I used this package to create a small short called As the ball bounces. I found this very difficult even with help from a home tutor. But I was determined to keep trying to learn it. Then I was introduced to Crazy Talk   which was a little simpler and I got another grant to help pay for another tutor who has helped me greatly. She still works with me. I also did an animation about my life called The Way See It.  The last one I worked on with her was called the Digital Switchover  which Mencap have used on the LiveNet site.

 I think that  everybody should be given a chance to see what they can do and  often people are left out because they do not have the opportunities and no one takes an interest in them.  I was lucky