George Mendoza

I knew I was special back in 1991 when I was still 11 years old. With only a piece of paper, I constructed an origami model of two buildings, one set on fire, the other with an airplane. It will be 10 years later when I would burn that origami model in fear, but in 1991 I only found amusement in what I created.

Early in high school I can play a guitar left-handed. I have already registered a score of 300 at a local bowling tournament. I can paint. I can breakdance. I am fluent in Spanish, Nihongo, French, Ilokano, Cha-cha-cha, Rumba and Salsa. Sometimes, I can guess what you’re holding by picking the first thought that comes to my mind.

With all these gifts, fame came early. I travelled the world. I loved and was loved. But there is always a price to pay for fame and fortune, and I would rather not talk about those years that came after, those events that occurred, those horrible things I did.

Suffice it to say I survived that dark chapter of my life. Now I am a successful programmer, the writer of an open source program that can generate your biography based on keywords you enter, such as origami, guitar, bowling, cha-cha-cha, and MILLIONS. The software has been downloaded by MILLIONS, and despite it being free, rich and poor alike have donated MILLIONS for their gratitude.

Granted, I will be the first to admit that these achievements are no match to those of Hugh Gallagher, a man who once defended an Amazon village from an army of ants using only a hoe and a glass of water.

But at least I graduated from college.