I figured something out about myself. I’m admittedly a nerd. I’ve been “into” computers ever since I was 5, and waited until my older brothers left for school, so I could mess around on their C64. I’ve had enough jobs that involved computers that I started delving into graphic design, then web design, and then video editing, all in the 90’s, and not only did I get “nerdy” about each of these fields, I realized that in all the fields, one particular aspect of each of those fields made it super-enjoyable for me, and I delved even deeper. This is what I call “specialized nerdity.” I love graphic design, but I’m super inspired by the typography aspect of it, and I’d spend all my time on just that if I could. I enjoy video editing, but I’ve discovered that my absolute favorite thing is the title sequence. I get more excited about the opening title sequence of a movie or TV show than I do about the plot. Fortunately, a huge part of my job at Shoreline Church is creating fresh title sequences (we call them message bumpers) for each new series. In fact, in all my areas of interest, I’ve found there’s a specific aspect that I really enjoy, study, and dedicate time to. In computing, it’s unix and shell scripting. In web design it’s PHP backend coding. In photography it’s time lapse. I know this is just a rambling of jumbled thoughts, but I’m finding the more I study a specific aspect of a subject, rather than the subject as a whole, the more I pay attention to detail, and the more enjoyment I get out of it. My tongue-in-cheek, official title at Shoreline is ‘Pastor of Tech, Media and Fonts’ and people laugh because of my “obsession” with fonts. But it’s what makes me good at what I do, and it’s what makes it enjoyable. I also enjoy being a part of a select “tribe” of fellow typophiles.
