The Fall

San Francisco's psychedelic summer of love may have ended in 1967, but the echoes of that free-spirited era lingered in the city's soul.

I was born at Kaiser Hospital in Hayward, California on June 23 1968, just 18 days after Robert Kennedy was assassinated. It was a tumultuous time in America's history marked by war, violence, and a developing counter culture which fought for change. My first memories of the Bay Area are incredible.

My family moved to San Francisco a few months after I was born. We settled into a wonderfully modest home in North Beach, the Italian district of the city. San Francisco was brimming with creativity nurtured by the vibrant counterculture. This creativity, love of the arts, and love of logic would propel me through my life. I pursued and graduated from U.C. Santa Cruz in 1997 with a B.A. in Music. In the early 2000s, I was hired by Apple to work as a Mac Genius in the Palo Alto store. Phrases like, "Apple is reinventing retail," and ""Surprise and delight," became part of my DNA. I felt lucky because I had found what I loved in my job at Apple. I learned an important lesson during my time at Apple.

Don't settle for anything other than what you love most in life.

That message still rings true for me today. A few years later, I would reach the pinnacle - working in the Systems department at Pixar Animation Studio. Pixar was born out of Industrial Lights and Magic, the studio responsible for making Star Wars, a film that impacted American culture deeply and changed cinema forever.

But amidst the glow of success, a darkness festered in me. The Fall chronicles that dark descent. It's a story of soaring creativity, the seductive power of addiction, and the brutal pain of rock bottom. Here's the truth - in the face of everything I had built, the dreams realized, the accomplishments that defied expectations, addiction exacted a price. I abandoned my morals, values, and, ultimately, myself. Sadly, some pay the ultimate price: death.