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I have just resigned from my post as the Assistant Director of Asia Pacific College’s School of Multimedia Arts, effective at the end of the first term. My work in APC was just as exciting as the last (was a gameplay specialist at Level Up, Inc.); both environments had me doing the job of three people. It was fun, challenging and provided me enough room for growth. But, as with all the other fields I have been through, my journey as an academician must come to an end. It’s once again time to reinvent; the fish-snake in me is restless. This end, however, is not an end end. It’s the beginning of yet another thrilling adventure.

Many of my readers, who have followed me from the Fridge to Turbulence to Coolay to this site that you see now, may notice the blog’s transition into a predominantly multimedia arts blog.  The reason is rather simple: I went into the academe with the hopes of finding respite from the rat race of game development AND to train youngsters that I may eventually hire. We artists of the code are not rare; it’s just that the bulk of our population had been siphoned off by other countries. I made it my mission to replenish the loss by mentoring young artist-programmers. In the academe, I’ve encountered many diamonds in the rough and I’m still in touch with them to this day.

Focusing this blog on matters of multimedia arts (among other unrelated topics, some of them silly) is my way of paying tribute to those diamonds in the rough. So that — in whatever little way I could — I may be able to help them be recognized for the hardworking talents that they are.  Train them, then put the spotlight on them.

It is also for this reason that I decided to come out of my Hermitage and try to penetrate the local blogosphere this year.  This is a humbling endeavor, to say the least…so used was I to the millions of pageviews my international websites enjoyed. It was so much easier before; I was in the game long before 1/4th of the population even knew about the internet. I was already in a stable spot when the net population exploded. It was also so much easier to enjoy popularity while I hid behind a pseudonym. Alas, the rules are different locally! It seems that every blogger must have a face and a real name attached to the URL. The communities are also tougher. Crawling in means adjusting to the local cyber culture, something I never had to do when I headed an international community. But if I were to lend credibility to the diamonds I am to polish, I realize that my face, as well as my name must emerge — even though the real me isn’t half as popular as my pseudonym.

To the people I’ve met who were surprised at finding out who I am: Opo, Pilipino ako. Hindi po ako Hapon. Pero maraming salamat sa pagtangkilik sa akin kahit noong hindi niyo pa ako nakikita ng harapan. Sana po ay tangkilikin niyo pa rin ako ngayong alam niyo na ako’y naririto lamang sa Pilipinas.

I also fervently wish that you support our emerging multimedia artists, many of whom I’ve already posted about in this blog. I may no longer be “Mother Superior” to them, but this blog is the least I can leave as a legacy.