I’m approaching 60. I’ve always been a “drummer” at heart. That, and a computer geek. I guess I still am. As a teenager in the 80s, I fell in love with the music of Rush. Initially it was the synthesizer of Tom Sawyer– that opening note just grabbed me! But then I started “feeling” the beat of the drums; any drums in any song… and I’ve been hooked ever since.
I took a band class. My homework for the first day of school was that I had to choose which instrument I was going to play before coming to class the next morning. My mother said “anything but drums; you already drive me crazy with that!” This is because I would tap two butter knives on the kitchen counter, drumming to some beat, while nuking a burrito. So, naturally I chose the saxophone … not drums. But the best thing about that one-year experiment was that I learned music theory and reading sheet music.

I became a Computer Science major in college, and now I’m a software engineer. I know, big shocker, right? As a single bachelor I got a decent job, my own home, and then my first drum set. Not just any drum set – an electric drum set. I could wear headphones and rock out – drumming (trying to) to any song, any time … and nobody heard me, even my wife sleeping upstairs after I got married. I upgraded my drums over time, ending with a pretty “massive” collection of electronic drum pads and cymbals. But I had more funds than I had drumming skills. I tried several of Neil’s songs, and other rock groups, but never got that good. But it was still a lot of fun.
Anyway, my point is that I always “feel” the beat of pretty much any song, anywhere. I love music, at least the specific kind of music that I like. Some of my favorites are probably a bit “unusual”. I often listen to music all day while I work – whether doing some outside chore or my “real job”. I love the immersive-ness of headphones blocking out the rest of the world. You see it with professionals walking through the crowd, wearing their brightly colored headphones, each in their own audio world. And now I can watch music videos on YouTube, adding video to the enjoyment; or even VR where everything and anything around you looks so real!
Frequently I groove to the music – visibly moving my body in some really geeky way. Jamming out to the music – even while in the office, with others around. I’ve been laughed at more than once, but I keep grooving. It’s fun and it helps me do whatever it is that I am doing.
And my mind wanders while listening/viewing to tunes – it helps my creativity. No matter what I’m involved with, including writing this blog, right now, watching and grooving to the music of Miss Monique. I guess these pages on my website are like my “memoirs”; expressing myself with whatever I choose to write. But let me get back to what I was saying.
I want to create the same in PlanetVRium. I want to immerse you in the most-awesome virtual world possible. Whatever that means. Heck, I wanna immerse myself in such an experience. I love the virtual world and programming it to do what I want it to do. Scientific calculations to correctly orient all of the user-controlled stars in the sky, regardless of whether it’s night or day. Drawing the lines of the constellations. Controlling the audio and visual around the user. And using these and other effects as basic tools to manipulate the universe around you and explain any topic I want. My Visual Experiences include a virtual visualization of gravity, a size-comparison of the Sun and all the planets, and several others. My ideal is to create something akin to watching a Carl Sagan video and learning more about the universe. But in VR. And I strive to be even 10% of something like that, doing the best that I can as the solo person working on this project.
I need to get back to work and release an updated version, but I’ve been so busy with everything else going on in my world. I will, soon.
