"I... am... compelled... As a kid, I took every single thing apart so I could learn their secrets. Toys, appliances, old science equipment, and my parents’ nerves were daily sacrificed to sate the destructive force of a still overactive curiosity. But bit by bit, from the dystopian wasteland of disassembled parts that was my toy box, I learned to put things back together, learned to modify them, learned what (literally) made things tick, and learned how to pursue entirely new ideas. That yen has led me to science, to business, to art, and - somehow - reality TV.

What inspires me? Everything. Why do I make things? Because I cannot help myself- I’m forever lost in the neurotic bliss of endlessly destroying, learning, rebuilding, and repeating. I’ll stop when my robot army inevitably turns on me and not a moment before."

"ABBA said it best, ‘Take a chance, take a chance...’ So, you know, take more chances. Safely, bravely leave your comfort zone behind. Learn to sew, learn to paint, learn to hack. Learn something you are certain you’ll be bad at. What you’ll find is that you can and will apply lessons from every pursuit to every other - in unexpected ways. Making in its purest form is the McGuiver-esque process of realizing a vision with the resources on hand and a head full of tricks, so learn more tricks. Not sure if ABBA sang about that, but they should have."

"For me, collaborate more. Making (in this entendre) tends to be a solo sport - a music blaring, nose down, leave-me-alone-I’m-working affair. But I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be. There exists a vast community of artists, designers, makers, and whateverers battling the same challenge you have - trying to close that gap between the vision in their head and the realities of manifesting it. They know things you don’t, they’ve solved problems you’ve not seen, and, if you can get them to look up from their projects, they want to learn something from you. Preferably something interesting.

True that being coaxed out of the basement by Hollywood cannot be everyone’s path to finding their community, so make the extra effort to find yours. Resources abound and the Internet can guide you better than I can. But I really, truly encourage you to find your peeps."