Posts Tagged ‘graphics’

Over the next 25 posts, ending on my birthday, I will be covering an incredibly creative moment or idea from a year of my life AND one creative moment in either the marketing, advertising, technology or media world.

I often get the comment that I don’t act my age – that I carry myself with many more years – and most people are surprised when I tell them how old I am. I have been like this pretty much since the day I was born, but was never more apparent than in May of 1989. When I finished private kindergarten with the aforementioned Mrs. Gitlin, my parents thought I was ready to go to public school and start first grade. Unfortunately, state regulations required that I be 5 years old by mid September if I was to start first grade that year, and I wouldn’t be 5 until December. Rather than accept defeat and stick me in kindergarten for another year, my parents approached the principal of my school. The principal agreed to put my into one of the current kindergarten classes as they still had a couple more weeks of school before summer break. She would let the teacher gauge how I did and would determine it after that. Well, as I mentioned on Tuesday, I have always been precocious, and not afraid to be a little outspoken. The teacher quickly saw that I not only had a handle on my conversational and relationship skills, but I was already reading. It was a quick decision from that point to allow me to start first grade in the fall, despite the age thing. In 1989, this was just a little thing, but it was the first stepping stone in my maturity and ability to handle situations above my age. My one thought to anyone who has kids getting to school age? Don’t let the schools or regulations tell you what they are ready for…let it be determined by your child’s demeanor.

At the same time I was awaiting my fate of whether or not I would start first grade, Nintendo released the first Game Boy, making sure no child, teen or adult who had $179 to spend would ever go outside again (kidding)! But, in all seriousness, the release of the game boy permanently altered technology and media history – and the advances that came because of this product have changed the world as we know it. Think about where we are today with portable gaming, laptops and cell phones. I still remember my first cell phone. All it did was call and text. No pictures, no apps, no open source tools. And definitely no cool graphics. Now, I have my email, my football team and my life in the palm of my hand. Not to mention full color graphics and streaming video. All of this technology was developed out of the need to take a step above the competition and I can only imagine what the competition will come up with in the next 20 years.