Rj Schack. Computer programmer. Graphic artist. And ruler of the known universe. But who, exactly, is he? Let's find out... [All dates approximated. Heavily.] 1971: Born in some hospital in Manhattan. Not sure which, not sure when, I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention at the time. 1971-80: Odd. I don't remember much of this. Someone's wiped ten years of my memory away! Maybe I was a spy or something... 1981: My father buys my sister a laptop computer. He asks me if I am int- erested in computers. "Hate'em" comes my reply. Actually, I hated my sister. But since I wasn't supposed to think like that, I instead hate everything she likes. Weird, eh? Didn't think so at the time. 1982: I meet this kid (who will eventually become my best friend) who has this Commodore VIC-20 computer... and it's great! I stay over at his house (apartment... remember, this is NYC) and we stay up all night playing these great games like Radar Rat Race¹, The Crooked HorseRace game², and CoinToss³. I was enchanted with it. "Say, Dad... I guess I am interested in computers after all.. can I have one? One with lots of games? I mean, after all, it's educational, right?" Managed to keep a straight face, too. ¹ - Oh, stop groaning! Radar Rat Race IS a great game, when you're 12. ² - A BASIC game. A bug made horse #5 always win. We played it anyway! ³ - Not a computer game. His window was right above the bus stop, so we would grab a handful of pennies from his family's change jar, and wait until someone below would start counting out their pocket change... at the appropriate time, we'd let one fly. They'd hear it hit the ground and whirl around, recount their change, and look puzzled. We'd have a blast with this. Except for that one time we hit the guy on his head. (He, through some divine power, was able to ascertain that he didn't drop a coin on his head, so he started yelling at us. Luckily the bus soon came and took him away.) 1983: Santa Claus¹ leaves a bunch of computer-shaped boxes under our tree! Oh boy! And, on the fateful morning, I rip them open to find... a Commodore 64? I am deeply disappointed until I find out that it's better than the VIC- 20... and it has more games, too! Then, like a best friend should, I go over to my friend's house (apartment) and make fun of his VIC-20. After² finding out that a nearby store sells C= 64 software, we go in and buy my first game, Ultima III³. It was awesome. We spent about five days straight (vacation) playing this game. In all of my subsequent years of gaming, I've never come close to reattaining the high I was at during those days. Ahhhhh! ¹ - Santa's elves are just a bunch of subordinate Clauses! ² - Some shady parts (ahoy, mateys!) of my past omitted. ³ - First store-bought¹ game, that is. Ahem. I'm clean now! ¹ - Leigh's Computers, now located on 3rd between 83rd and 84th. 1983-84: I learn BASIC on my 64. I write this Ultima-like town that you can walk around in and everything... I thought it was the greatest program ever written¹! ¹ - Of course, I also thought Radar Rat Race was a great game! 1985: I sign up for a BASIC class in high school, taught on (snort!) IBM PCjrs. The instructor spent his days teaching us what he had read (and often misunderstood) the night before. Raised my GPA, if not my consciousness. Oh, and instilled within me a deep dislike of IBMs¹. ¹ - Foreshadowing! 1988: I hijack my father's Apple IIgs (he never learned how to use it, any- way), and, more importantly, get a modem for it. I enter into the world of telecommunications via GEnie. My C= 64 starts it's own dust farm. After ex- ploring GEnie and learning about different computers, I decide that the com- puter that I really want is an Amiga... but, me being a student, the fundage does not exist. I start learning Pascal. 1989: Learn Pascal, learn COBOL¹. Want to learn C, but it's too hard to learn from a book. Get a cheap IBM² clone as a gift. I would have preferred an Amiga, but don't look a gift horse... ¹ - And the knowledge of this language certainly makes my life easier¹... ² - I know, I know, "cheap IBM" is redundant. Good rhythm, though. ¹ - Sarcasm. 1990: It happens! Second quarter 1990, I get my Amiga. It's a barebones 2000, with a Supra 2400 modem. I spend a week trying to unArc a file. I'm gonna learn to use this thing if it kills me! Oh, and get kicked off of GEnie for... er, never you mind. Anyway, start exploring local (and not-so-local) BBS's. 1991: Latch on to a directed study in C. It meets five times a week for 2 hours a meet for a month. My brain almost explodes during the first week. But I get by... and I buy SAS/C for my Amiga. I spend 3 hours searching the manuals for a line-drawing function. A week later, I stumble onto something called an "Amiga ROM Kernel Reference Manual: Libraries & Devices" at the local¹ B. Dalton's². Man, do I feel stupid³. Oh, and stumble onto this BBS that links into something called FidoNet. Find an Amiga echo and jump right in. My first message? To Asha, about why Amigans are so defensive. ¹ - As local as a store can get, living in Manhattan. ² - 5th Avenue, between 52nd and 53rd. ³ - But I'm used to it. 1992: Learning some 680x0 assembly. Polishing up C skills. Know the Amiga OS pretty well. Working on a few things. Onward and upward! Current configuration: A Commodore Amiga B2000 (r6.2/1MB chip RAM), with an ICD AdSpeed, a SupraRAM (6MB), the SupraModem 2400, a Supra¹ WordSync with a 52MB Quantum LPS drive. An extra internal floppy (disabled 99% of the time). An HST Dual Standard. A Northgate OmniKey Ultra keyboard². A pair of small amplified Sony speakers. Amiga OS 2.04 (soon to be 2.1, hopefully). A 1084D monitor (soon to be a 1960 multisync with an A2320 flickerfixer, no hopefully about it, it should be here tomorrow). A Naksha mouse, a Kraft joystick. An Apple³ ImageWriter II printer. A deranged user. Oh, and I am about to get a 68040 board; just waiting until the April WOC, when GVP will (hopefully) release their G-Force 040/2000... and once it comes... well, in the immortal words of the great philosopher Calvin, "Ohboyohboyohboyohboyohboy!" ¹ - What can I say? I like Supra. Very reliable stuff. ² - I ripped out all of the IBM-specific keys. ³ - Ack! (Wonder where that came from...) Rj Schack. Computer programmer. Graphic artist. And ruler of the known universe. But who, exactly, is he? Nobody in particular.