Just about a year ago I was sitting in this very spot, behind my computer, working about 20 hours per day to make the most important deadline of my life. I was working my ass off to create my demoreel. I worked 10 days straight. No breaks. Little sleep. No compromises. I set out to create something cool and I promised myself I wouldn’t settle for anything less. Towards the end of the project I was exhausted; close to the edge of throwing in the towel and giving up. I was lucky to have my girlfriend around that day because she was able to talk sense into me. She gave me that last little push so I’d finish what I’ve wanted to create for so long. And boy, it was worth it. She proved that I can do anything as long as I give everything. For that, I am grateful.

A few weeks later my dad called me to say he’s moving back to Luxemburg. Those of you who know me a bit better, know that I haven’t had a good relationship with my dad. So him moving away for good was actually good news. At the same time, it meant that he’d be selling the house I grew up in. That was quite hard for me, even though I haven’t been there much during the past 5 years.
A lot of strange things happened around that time. In the end I decided to take a step back from everything in order to get my life back in order.

A few weeks later we ( = Devine & NMCT students from the Howest University) went to San Francisco. Unlike many people, I turned out to experience San Francisco exactly as I always imagined it. I was always dreaming about moving to the States one day… You know: The kind of childhood dream that never let’s go. When I got back from San Francisco, I knew for sure: One day, I’ll move there. Visiting the USA was one of those things I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to do for a very long time. One dream checked off the list.

While we were in San Francisco, we had the privilege of visiting many companies and even present our own work at some of them. When we were visiting Momentum Design Lab, I took a shot and presented my – at that point unfinished – Preso-project. I showed the strengths of the project while carefully covering up the buggy and sometimes missing parts. After my improvised presentation, a man came up to me and give my his business card while he said “When you’re back home, get in touch with me. We’ll talk”. The card said David Thomson. I looked up to him and asked him, who exactly he is. “I’m the CEO”. A week later, back in Belgium, I sent him an email. And while nothing big came out of that email-conversation, that one moment – when he gave me his card – gave me some kind of new energy: “I can do way better than that… And this guy is sold… Just wait until you see what I can do when I really stretch my legs“. Sure, it wasn’t a big international company we all have heard a lot about. But it left a major impression.

Then, on June 1st, I got a phone call saying that one of my best friends, Sarah, had died in a car accident. I still remember that day vividly. I remember being confused. It felt like one big nightmare. To this day I still don’t really grasp how she can be gone. I remember going to a movie with her just a few days earlier. She had this beautiful smile that would make every day seem a little better than the last. Everybody loved her.
That very day, I realized how fragile life really is. I miss you, Sarah. Every single day.

A few weeks later, while my girlfriend was doing her internship at Saatchi & Saatchi Brussels, she was telling me about the problems they were having to get a few banners produced. Apparently they were moving big budgets, just to get a few banners out. I was blown away. I told her to suggest me to create future banners. I would deliver within a few days (instead of weeks) for half the budget. And I would get it right straight away. Only days later I got a call from Saatchi. And yes: The very next morning at 7AM I delivered my first set of banners. I hoped to get a lot more work from them soon. But I didn’t.

Summer started and I went to Westende, to the empty house where I once grew up. I stayed there for a month while doing a summer job. I started wondering if I’d really wanted to stay in the digital industry. By the end of the summer -back in Kortrijk – I was about to apply for a job at an Apple Store in Ghent. I really thought about working in a store, instead of studying and creating cool stuff. So my girlfriend stepped in: “I’m tired of you just waiting and being unhappy. I’m tired of you not doing your thing! Prove yourself, god damned. It’s what your good at. Do what makes you happy. I miss the old you“. So, I recovered. For the 2nd time. I took a good look at my life. I had to figure out what I wanted to do…

A few days later, one of my lecturers – the one I liked and hated most at the same time – pointed it out to me: “Being a student has made you lazy. You’re getting too comfortable around here“. He was right. I had received numerous job offers from pretty big companies during the past 5 years. The first time I turned a job down was because I might need a bachelor degree if I ever wanted to become a lecturer myself. However, I can’t remember why I turned all the others down. Yes, he was right. I had gotten too comfortable. And it didn’t make me happy. Not even a bit. A few weeks later I decided to quit Devine, the university and my life as a student altogether.

I decided to start off as a freelancer and just see where things would go from there. It was a scary time in my life as I didn’t know the road ahead. There was no turning back from here. A week later I found myself doing some work for Saatchi & Saatchi again. This time at a pretty steady rate. At some point I had to jump in for a ‘tiny project‘. I still remember the words “Do you know something about expandable banners and video?”
I turned out to be building an MSN homepage take-over using Google’s DoubleClick Studio for 14 countries.
I had only half a day to figure out how DoubleClick Studio works and learn to use the custom-made components by Google. And everything had to be done by monday. I was briefed the Friday before. A lot of responsibility was resting on my shoulders. By Friday night I was pretty sure I could do it… But I was pretty much freaking out. What kind of budget is going up in smoke if I miss this deadline!? 14 countries? Are you crazy!? I went out with friends to have a drink and get my mind off work for an hour. But what I actually did was realizing that this was what I actually loved doing: I make things move. I create stuff. And I will meet the deadline.
By saturday morning 10AM I was done with the master files and I could finally get some sleep. They would be translated by the next day. By monday everything would be ready.

Not too long after that, I went to the Saatchi offices in Brussels where I met with one of the creative directors. I was trying to promote myself in order to make sure they would hire me more often for even bigger projects. Instead I walked out there with a job offer as a full-time project manager. We all know how that ended.
Today is the end of my 5th week at Saatchi & Saatchi Brussels (Yes, I have a day off today).

They say that time flies. Yes, it does. And it flies very fast. This year went by so fast, I can’t believe that within less than 36 hours we’re in 2012 already…

What has 2011 thought me?

• No matter how tough you think you are: sometimes it’s not enough. Luckily you have friends who will pull you through it, kicking and screaming.
• Don’t get comfortable. It makes you lazy. If something scares you, it probably means you’re on the right track. Just keep going and hope for the best.
• Do what you believe will make you happy. Don’t let nobody talk you out of it. If they do, you’ll do the safe thing. Something that won’t make you entirely happy… And it will slowly kill your inner child.
• Never hold back to tell your friends and family how much you love them. You don’t know what might happen tonight…. Maybe tomorrow it might be too late. They deserve to know how amazing you think they are.

I was writing this blogpost and started over about 4 5 6 7 times. The hell with it.
I just wanted to get the following off my chest:

Life is simple (and most people won’t agree)(watch me totally not care): Go after what makes you happy. Nobody is there to stop you. You only live once. Make it count. For your own sake and for everybody who fought (and died) for our freedom and the privilege of making your own choices.
People will tell you not to do things at some point in your life because it’s wrong/childish/stupid. Forget about them. Go with your gut instinct. If shit hits the fan at some point, you won’t be sorry. You did what you believed in. And that’s what counts. (People telling you otherwise are just too scared to actually take a leap and try to fly)

Go out there, live life and do what, you believe, will make you happy. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes. It’s the only way to get better at whatever is you’re doing. Go out there and make a difference. Life is a one-time deal. It’s the only first kiss you’ll ever get. So you have every right to be excited about it.

And while I’m at it: It’s not wrong to remain a child all your life. Grown-ups don’t dream like children do… And they’re boring anyway.

Thanks for inspiring me. Whoever you are: You rock.

Now what is this Beautiful blogger award?
It’s something that’s been around for about the same amount of time as sunlight, so I can’t really tell who was the first to give it away, but he/she was the one to make the rules, so here goes:

• Thank the person that nominated you
• Put the award up on your blog
• Post a link to the person that nominated you
• Share 7 interesting facts about yourself
• Finally, nominate 7 other people you think deserve the award

Lyntje, being a good girl, did all of this… And that last bullet point is why I’m writing this blogpost: She nominated me, using the following words:

Ronny, because he’s very talented and should just realize that once time! (Yes, it’s true!) Absolutely one of my best friends!

Now, there’s no disagreeing that Lyntje is a close friend of mine, but I still think she’s exaggerating when it gets to the ‘talented’ part of the mention. But it pleases me to hear that anyway, so thank you for that

So: This is where I tell you 7 interesting things about myself…

1. I love challenges. In fact, I love challenges so much it kind of is one of my big weaknesses. If somebody tells me I won’t be able (or dare) to do something, I’ll make it my mission to prove him/her/them wrong! Even if it’s not that important. Even if it doesn’t change anything. Even if it is super time consuming. I believe in the fact that if I can think it, I can make it. And as far as I can remember it has always applied.
2. I’ve had a pretty rough youth. Lots of things went wrong and I did quite some stupid things. I thought they would make me happier… If I think back about it now, I can’t stop wondering what I was thinking… However, being here, right at this point in my life and having learned my lessons, I think that whatever happened back then made me a better person. I appreciate life more than ever. If at my age (23) there’s anything that I could teach you about life, it would be that you should never make compromises with yourself. You only live once: Make it count.
3. For more than 3 years now, I have been in love with my amazing girlfriend, Dorien. She’s really amazing and let me tell you why. First off: She’s beautiful, she’s funny, she likes lingerie (and so do I ), but most importantly: She’s so supportive! If you happen to be the boyfriend/girlfriend of an artist, you probably know what kind of insanity she’s facing every day. And at good last: She makes me feel like I could do anything. I love her.
4. When I was little I had all kinds of ideas of what I wanted to become when I’m a grown up. I wanted to be a dentist, a formula 1 pilot (in fact, I’d still like the job, so if you are somehow connected to Ferrari or Mercedes, do let me know if they’re looking for some crazy person), a rockstar, I wanted to become Micheal Jackson (yes it IS a profession!), a professional skater and the one thing I wanted to be that actually started to make sense: I wanted to help developing Linux and make lots of money doing that… At the age of 8 I didn’t know Linux was open-source, or what open-source means… However: Looking where I am now, that last one got pretty close to reality: I am a developer, I do work on open-source projects and I love it!
5. Most people say ‘in order to know where you’re going, you have to know where you came from‘ referring to knowing your family roots and (maybe) knowing a bit more about yourself. I tend to disagree: I have never known my real parents, therefor I don’t know what to expect from life at all. It’s out there, waiting for me… And I’m eager to go out there and discover all of it. What good is living for 70-80 years and missing all of the big surprises?
6. I can’t play a single instrument! But I’d love to be able to do so! However I think learning to play the piano, the saxophone or drums is  more time consuming and more difficult than I’d like, so I probably won’t master playing any of them, ever. Instead, when listening to music, you’ll often see me play some imaginary drums floating in the air and then jump up and down the very next second (if you tilt your head a bit, it might look like dancing). Yes, I am a very crazy person.
7. I’d like to see the world. This thing beneath our feet is the legacy of time. Whatever happened during the history of Life (mind the capital L) left us this: Our planet. Our world. And I want to see as much of it as I can.

So, with that done… No, wait. Let me tell you this before I go on: Having to tell 7 interesting things about yourself is exceptionally hard! You should try it… You’ll be surprised.

Back to business: Next up are the 7 nominees for the Beautifull Blogger Award!

1. Mark Knol: Mark is a creative web artist who currently is doing a lot of magic creating generative art using AS3. He’s definitely closing in on Erik Natzke. He posts his experiments and results on his blog and his Flickr stream. Make sure to check it out!
2. Peter Elst: Peter is an Adobe community expert. The cool thing is: He’s close enough to Adobe to really love the platform, but not close enough to have lost an honest opinion. That makes Peter a great blogger and a very passionate community member. He’s also a very interesting person to talk with. If you ever meet him at a community event, make sure to go over and talk to him (He’s on his way to India as we speak, so if you’re not over there right now, it might take some time before you see him again )
3. Keith Peters: Definitely one of the most inspiring Actionscript developers I’ve met. Do check out his blog and don’t forget to bookmark it!
4. Aral Balkan: Aral is probably the person that had the biggest impact on my life as an Actionscript developer. When I met him for the first time at Multi-Mania in 2007, he was presenting SWX and made jokes about me liking XML (in AS2). That enormously funny presentation was my first impression of Aral. It was a good one. In fact it was so good that I went to  see that same session 3 times! He blogs about whatever is on his mind at a given point and doesn’t mind a little discussion.
5. Kris Temmerman: Kris is an awesome Actionscript Designer (‘developer’ sounds too boring for what Kris actually does) who experiments and creates. Most of his experiments end up as blogposts featuring the sourcecode. So not only does he blow your mind with one blogpost at a time, he actually shows you how he does that ( = blowing your mind).
6. Lee Brimelow: Although he works for Adobe, I think his opinions are mostly his own. He writes about experiments, answers Adobe related questions, posts tutorials… And he basically is still a skater. How is that not cool?
7. Matt Brett: Matt is WordPress developer and designer. He’s a freelancer located in Canada. I’ve been reading his blog for 2 years and he never bores me. He writes about the things he encounters in life as a freelancer, a gamer, a webdesigner and a father.

So that’s it! A month worth of reading material! Seen as I just wrote a blogpost that turns out to be longer than the average book, I think it ‘s okay to just stop talking