All of we Island denizens are creatives, covering the range from hobbyist to amateur to semi-pro to professional.  On a regular basis, we take these creative activities that we love - writing, drawing, mixing, designing - and we ask ourselves, "Is there any way I could do this all the time, and support myself with it?  Can I find a way to get by in this world, doing these things I enjoy?  And if so, how?"  

Being an incredibly nerdy kid, I spent a lot of time in bookstores.  And being that I was a kid that lived way out in the sticks, the best the local mall had to offer at the time was a B. Dalton.  Do they still have those?  If I remember correctly, I was wandering amongst the shelves without any particular agenda, probably hunting around for anything by Piers Anthony or Madeleine L'Engle or maybe a guide on how to not get called a girl for wearing an oversized shirt in PE class.

This particular Dalton had a Software Etc. We had a Colecovision console at the house, but actual computer games were still a thing of mystery to me.  So I really didn't have much of an idea what to expect when I pulled a white and green box off of the shelf, with "The Learning Company" featured prominently on it, and a simple-looking premise involving an "Escape from Robotropolis."  It reminded me a little bit of Asimov, and it was dull and inoffensive-looking enough for my folks to cough up the cash for it. Once at home, boxy two-button joystick in hand, I loaded the 5 1/4" floppy into the disk drive and fired up the hardest game I would ever play, though I didn't realize it yet.

That game was Robot Odyssey.