I suddenly feel like watching Aliens. Maybe it’s the fact that James Cameron’s name has been in recent Terminator news, maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been playing Doom and Metroid lately and those games were inspired by Aliens, or maybe it’s because movies with Bill Paxton have been on my mind. Either way, I feel like watching Aliens.

I also feel like playing some video games. Not just any video game, but something a little more retro. Maybe it’s because I haven’t played one in a while, maybe it’s the fact that I’ve watched quite a few Twitch streams of people playing retro games, or maybe it’s because I listened to some old 8-bit video game music just the other day. Either way, the temptation to play a retro game is there.

Does this sound like you? Or anyone you know? Why am I going into this? After all the things I’ve been feeling and going through lately, I figured it was about time I talk about this. This is a little talk about that thing we call motivation and where it comes from. Well, for me at least; but hey I’m sure someone out there can relate to the things that inspire me.

Everyone’s gotta have their own source of motivation. It comes from just about anything and that’s what’s fun about it. For one person, it can be from music. For another, it could be the result of watching someone do a thing that you suddenly want to do. And then another person might want to do a thing because it’s simply been a while since they did that thing.

That may be the most times I’ve ever used the word “thing” in a sentence, but let’s move ahead.

For me, it can be numerous things. Ever since I was a little kid, I’d find myself wanting to do something because another person makes it look fun. One of my brothers, for instance, wrote and illustrated a short story for school and I remember reading it & thinking to myself, “I can do this!” Thus, I wrote and illustrated my own books for quite a while. I wish I still had them, but alas, they got thrown out one day.

Another thing I’ve done is computer programming. This could be its own topic, but to give a short story version of this, I read Masters of Doom, got inspired, and was excited that I got into a programming class I had that year. I don’t program anymore at the moment, but it was fun and it planted the idea of learning about open source software that I use to this day.  One other thing that always reminds me of this programming phase is whenever I watch The Social Network, so the idea of returning to it is definitely present.

Then there’s filmmaking. I’m not a director at the moment, but I definitely want to get into the field after working my way through smaller productions. From the writing & pre-planning, to the acting and post-production process, every step of it seems fun to do and I can’t wait for that day when I can bring bigger ideas to life. My source of motivation for all this? Every single behind-the-scenes thing I ever saw as a kid. Whether it was short sneak-peek promos at the beginning of VHS tapes, TV specials, HBO First Looks, DVD/Blu-ray features, or Youtube videos, everything I’ve watched makes me want to jump into a project and bring it to life.

There’s definitely more things that have inspired me to do other cool stuff, but this post is already long enough so I’ll leave it here for now. It’ll be fun to revisit this topic after I’ve worked on other projects. 🙂

But now it’s your turn. What motivates you to do your hobbies and/or profession?  Whatever it is, feel free to share it.  So until next time, keep on keeping on ya’ll o/  See ya later!