My Summer Essay

            This summer was not unlike all the rest. It was uneventful and drab at best. Days of sleeping in past noon, no appointments, schedules, or deadlines to meet. Not a care in the world. However, I did pick up something that made those empty three months worthwhile. Something I’d always wanted to do and have slowly worked my way up to. From the most basic to the big leagues, I now find myself where I’d wanted to five years ago. This was something that I never thought possible. A dream, of course, is to what I am referring. I don’t have much faith in dreams or ambitions; a glass half-empty way of thinking. I have a philosophy on this, a philosophy by which I live. Though, it serves as more of a guideline than it does a rule; or a reminder, rather. I feel that having low expectations allows more room for failure. Striving for goals or anything really will always lead to some sort of failure for we are only human. Despite its seemingly negative nature, this philosophy does in fact work both ways. Having lower expectations also brings about even more excitement when something does go correctly. That’s what happened this summer. My low expectations brought about by the many less than joyous summers before it made this one good thing seem life-changing. In a way, it very well could be.

            By an amazing stroke of luck, a certain computer program fell into my possession these past few months. It is the Source Filmmaker (SFM). The SFM was given to a select group of people in a ‘first come, first serve’ fashion for its closed beta. It is a 3D animating program that is used by Valve, a gaming corporation. This is more than just a program though; it is an extremely powerful tool. The SFM turns your PC-based video games into a playground, you become a puppet-master and the games your puppets. You may do as you choose for anything imaginable and beyond that is possible with the SFM. However, this power comes at a price: work. Properly using the SFM is no small feat and requires extensive knowledge to do so. I, personally, have invested around ten hours of reading and watching tutorials in an attempt to learn how to wield this tool and its power. I have a good grasp on the basics and have the ability to work the intermediate controls. Scratching the surface is all I’ve done, though. There is so much more that can be achieved with the SFM that I am unable to comprehend at this point in time. If I were to someday fully understand the SFM then I could possibly pursue my dream career, animation and model design for virtual worlds. Not only video games but movies and TV shows alike. Working in this field for Valve would be a great achievement for it would allow me to do what I love for my favorite gaming corporation. Just stumbling upon the gateway to my future has made this summer worth having so that is why I chose the SFM for my essay. I hope I can write more about my experiences with it in the future and share with you all the joy it brings me for the SFM is part of who I want to be, in spite of my philosophy.