I grew up in the simple suburban town of Aloha, Oregon, full of seasons, rain, snow, and the sweet smell of soft cedar smoke in the air of the cold winters and orange autumns.

 

        My 3 brothers and I played a lot outdoors and explored many fields and forests in the area, but, still, the day our first PC came home for Christmas one year I was hooked.  Beginning from the age of 10, I started learning programming languages and creating my own little games either at home or on the computers at school.

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        But it wasn't all just outdoors and computers.  I had a great love for creating music, and found myself "in tune" with the piano.  I played many other instruments as well like the violin, trombone, tympani, oboe, cymbals, xylophone, bells, trumpet, tuba, and others.  By far my favorite and most gifted instrument is the piano, but I still play quite a bit of guitar and starting up violin again as an adult.

        I also played many sports, football, baseball, basketball, soccer, and tennis.  And later taught myself racquetball, which I love.  Once I got to college I made a strict routine to stay in shape and always be active.  I hiked often and hit the gym throughout the week, played sports with friends from time to time, and biked just about everywhere.  I took a little karate as a child, kickboxing in college, and some wing chun while I worked at SOE.

        Music is a great gateway for me to express emotion and wondering dreams and ideas.  Since I was in Junior High I've been composing digital music as a hobby as well.  I can't say I'm very good at it, but I definitely enjoy it.  Drawing is similar for me.  I've always doodled and drawn and colored since I was very young.  Created all my own comic characters and battled them against my brothers' drawings, even making RPG & story games with piles of papers all drawn per scene.

   

        I've also always enjoyed video editing and photoshopping as hobbies.  As well as a little robotics and electrical work.  I also can't help myself from learning just about everything online now, from car mechanics to gardening, carpentry, chemistry, biology, anatomy, neurology, physics, quantum physics, philosophy, theology, culture, world history, and how things work like the microwave oven and refrigerators.

        Some of my favorite things to remember are sky-diving, India, hiking a few different mountains in snow-shoes and almost blizzard like conditions, sailing, flying solo with my dad in an airplane, going to the movies as a kid and today, snowboarding, boogy boarding, white-water rafting, speed boating, traveling up and down Western America to many sites and adventures, and the smiles of my 2 kids every day.

    So when I'm not working... you know where to find me.  ;)
 

 

    -Ryan Favale