Zadi Diaz and Steve Garfield at Vloggercon 2006

Before I start blogging about issues related to online video content creation, a moment to reflect. Blogs are, if nothing else, a personal medium. I should do my part to spew forth some stream of consciousness musings about my insignificant little life.

2007 has just begun. I have owned the domain sleeplessnights.com since 1996. This is the 4th incarnation of the site.

Since 1995 I have worked on, in one form or another, 265 websites. No shit. I remember the fucking <blink> tag, ok?

I went to school for painting and got invited to join a gallery in Soho (the Chelsea of the 80's and 90's) when I was 20. I turned them down. Don't ask.

Graduated. Started designing websites to pay the bills. Went to work for a non-profit arts organization in NYC. Went to work for a Web 1.0 startup, then left before they went public. Don't ask.

Started freelancing so I could focus on my painting. Got involved in independent film, went to Hollywood and wrote a studio comedy, came back to New York and started developing television projects.

INSERT DOT BOMB HERE, INSERT PERSONAL CRISIS HERE, INSERT 9/11 HERE. Screeching halt.

Learned PHP/MySQL to survive (you could turn over a rock in New York and find a talented designed underneath at that time). Scrounged around for any work I could find. Lived off savings til they were gone, lived off credit cards after that. Joined second tech startup, this time with realistic personal goals.

Continued writing screenplays and traveling to the West Coast for meetings. Worked my way into Creative Director/Technical Director in the day job. Got engaged. Moved to California for a movie gig. Got fired. Screeching halt #2.

Bonny and Lan from Noodlescar, Zadi, Doug from Ask a Ninja, and me (Steve) at The Grove

Enter videoblogs. I no longer cared about movies or television. I could no longer fathom wasting my time in meetings with nice, intelligent, generally well-intentioned people who could not see that their industry was slipping out of their grasp while we sat there and drank caffe mochas.

JETSET begins (as Jet Set Show). Got married. Found my place in the world.

I wonder what will happen tomorrow...

There. Now that that's out of the way, we can get down to business.

technorati:
» chaos, life, random
comments
post

Clintus said:

Wow, great recap. Thanks for all great info.

post

Zadi said:

who knew that blink tag still worked. Was kinda funny when your whole post was blinking. Too bad most won't get to see that.

post

leslie said:

um... i added an "easter egg" in the form of the blink tag to one page on a client's site a couple of years ago after he royally insulted me. to this day, i don't think anyone's ever noticed. hmmm, i should have added that to the jetset confessional. welcome to blogging steve, where people go on tangets in your comments section.

post

mike said:

Ha - I didn't get the full effect of this post in my NetNewsWire... the blink thing is pretty funny. This is a great recap though - reads like an intro to a movie :)

post

Lan Bui said:

JETSET is a great time to have met you then.

"Steve Woolf the Movie" I would see it on the big screen.

post

angela sauceda said:

dear steve,

i really enjoyed this post...you are too awesome for words. well, except the word "awesome".

keep truck'in

post

ted said:

I know this doesn't make it a community, but I wanted to say hi anyway...didn't know you had this blog until you twittered about it.

Looking forward to your illuminations ~ ted