It was in the year that we as a nation allegedly got attacked by 22 Saudi Arabian nationals, that I first learned MultiMedia.  Sept. 11, 2001 is a scar on the American psyche.  I mention this for historical context. 

I remember being very bored with Job Club at the Alameda County Voc Rehab place in Oakland, CA.  I had owned a Microsoft PC for a few years.  I went to Berkeley Adult School, where they were offering an Illustrator 8 class.  There were maybe 25 students on Day 1.  3 of us graduated with a Certificate in Illustrator 8.  My favorite part was in making stars with borders.  The stars could be various colors. 

I went on to take a Beginning Photoshop class at what was then named Vista Community College.  I remember scanning in the CD cover to U2’s “All That You Cant Leave Behind” CD.  The band, Bono, Adam, Larry, and The Edge, were standing in a large airport, silhouettes against a whitish background, with their luggage sitting at their feet.  This was in the days before iTunes and digital music downloads. 

Sometime after the 9-11 tragedy occurred, I remember signing up for more multi-media classes to basically learn the whole Adobe suite.  This included DreamWeaver, and an animation program.  I remember designing characters in Illustrator, and then importing then into Adobe Flash, or whatever the movie making program was called.  I remember creating soundtracks to make dialogue and music with the characters.  I remember creating background scenery for these animation short films, also.  I even wrote the script! 

In more recent times, I remember taking a few beginning computer code courses online.  This included Introduction to Java, which was my first computer language.  I did surprisingly well in that course, considering the fact I didn’t attain a perfect grasp of the fundamentals of Java right away.  For one thing, I wrote way too much computer code.  Next time, I will write functions with the right type of loops, as well as comments within the computer code itself to clarify! 

These days, we have Udemy, as well as Code Academy, and a few Test-It-Out websites to help give us a grasp of the basics.  There are also many computer code books on sale on Amazon dot com, not all of which are suited for the Absolute Beginner.  I am blessed with a genuine interest in early 21st Century technology, which I feel is a God-Given Assignment.  It seems the whole world is ruled by Tech!  So far, nobody has yet hired me to do computer code.  I hear there’s big money to be made in that.  My Dad is a retired Systems Analyst.  He’s the guy that big banks would call in the middle of the night, so he could drive to work and help fix broken computer code.  Systems Analysts get paid a lot of money to do that! 

I would say an aspiring Systems Analyst such as myself, should have a good grasp of the fundamentals of Java and Python, plus one other computer language of choice.  I also know some HTML5 and CSS3, which are indispensable to making really great websites. 

Why did I learn MultiMedia?  It seems the Internet and technology rule the world!  I am also a visual artist as well as a writer since childhood.  I have learned the power of art to illustrate children’s books as well as comics, magazines, posters, musical media covers, and houses of worship.  For me, it’s a potent form self-expression, as well as, in recent years, a money-maker.  I have made and sold over 100 handmade artist’s greeting cards, over the past 4 years as of this writing, on the streets and at the gatherings of my gorgeous little mountain town. 

In my home state, we also have virtually free community college, with a Board of Governors Enrollment Fee Waiver.  This afforded me some post-secondary education.  My Dad got me my first computer in the late 1990s, and this turned me on to the world wide web.  It was natural to progress to getting training in multimedia, which for me meant learning the basics of the Adobe Creative Suite, which included software for basic film editing, animation, photography, and graphic design, as well as creating, maintaining, and updating web-sites. 

I’d love to build an app.  I’d love to go back to Java and learn the latest and greatest of Java.  It seems Microsoft Azure is a great use of time and money—but you know, I have only one lifetime.  I must “divvy up” my time, money, energy and wisdom fairly.  Walking and running errands plus going to appointments and events without a car takes up a great deal of my time and energy.  But, I sure do save me some money!