Sons of Anarchy (part 1)

Now you may be wondering why I've titled this entry after the gritty, bloody drama television series.
What could it possibly have to do with learning stenography?

Well, I'll tell you. It pretty much started everything.

Actually, let me back up a bit. Approximately 6 years back, actually.
The year was 2007 and I was in Los Angeles, working as a manga editor at TOKYOPOP.
Life was great--I loved my job, the weather was always sunny, and there was a lot to explore in LA.
One of the many fun events that LA offered was the annual Book Fair! They had calligraphy writers, who could write your name in beautiful calligraphy on a bookmark for $1, the author of Y THE LAST MAN epic comic book series, and I'm sure many other acclaimed persons from the literary world.

I don't really remember much about the event, except when it came to one of the Q&A panels with the authors. That was my first time setting eyes on a stenographer. To be more accurate, a CART reporter--as she was transcribing everything that was being spoken at the panel onto a large white screen.
I was so captivated, I was busier simply watching her fingers fly across the machine than the actual presentation.

As soon as the panel ended, I came over to her and just sorta awkwardly tried to make conversation. She seemed like a very busy woman, and very "in the zone." After fumbling my praises about her skill, I eventually got her business card.

Total Recall Realtime Captioning

At the point, you'd think "Aha! So that's where you journey to learning stenography started!"
Not even close!
After that fateful day, I didn't think much else about it. I'm pretty sure I even forgot that such an occupation existed.

But I still held onto that business card. I didn't even understand half of the words in that company title, but I did know Schwarzenegger films, and for some reason, whenever I was going through my wallet to empty out unused cards--this one never left.

It was years later in a regular weekend in December 2012 that fate reared its head again...this time, as an angsty motorcycle gang rebel.