This is NOT your typical, “standard” biography. So, if you are one of those people who “skim”, this biography probably isn’t for you. The point of a biography should be to reveal some insights versus simply summarizing decades of life into one paragraph. Life experiences shape each of us, and consequently shape any art, whether this be drawing, music, painting or writing. So, let’s begin …

Gregory was born with the eye condition, “extreme myopia”, which in layman’s terms means extreme nearsightedness. A normal eye is shaped like a sphere, but the extreme myopic is shaped more like an ellipsoid or football, which places strain on the retina or image sensitive area of the eye. This makes the extreme myopic prone to later retinal detachments which can lead to full or partial blindness.

Gregory’s condition was not discovered until around age 2, which was when he was fitted with his first pair of very thick glasses. This was the first moment he was finally seeing most of the world around him, including his parents and other family. Prior to this, everything beyond a distance of perhaps a couple inches was nothing more than a great blur of colors and shapes.

He has consequently suffered eye problems most of his life, a situation which has a severe impact upon one’s minority self and their perceptions of the predominantly “go along with whatever” perspective of the majority normally sighted. He no longer recalls more than an approximate dozen eye surgeries he has undergone over the decades of his life in an effort to retain as much usable eyesight as possible, though two of these surgeries led to later complications of glaucoma and early cataracts, which ultimately led to a combined surgical procedure whose complications resulted in his now total blindness as of 2001.

Throughout his vision disadvantaged life, Gregory has generally tried to find solutions for his own problems rather than burdening others with them. If he couldn’t see something due to poor illumination, he tried to find ways to work around this. If some print was too small or difficult to read for some other reason, he again tried to find ways to work around this. Penlights, small keychain lights, small flashlights and small magnifiers generally aren’t that expensive or difficult to come by, and life went on, despite Gregory being shunned by many of his peers and others due to circumstances which were beyond his control.

After graduation from high school, and uncertain of a career path, Gregory took an aptitude or skills assessment test at local DCCC (Davidson County Community College, now Davidson Davie Community College). The advisor then recommended the Business Data Processing curriculum based on Gregory’s strong marks in math and science. It was during one of his first computer programming classes that Gregory discovered his apparent gift with computers. Concepts which seemed to be confusing a lot of the other students around him just seemed to make sense to him. Seeing another male student going around the room helping other students, naturally introverted Gregory began trying to do the same, and soon enough, he was being almost constantly approached by students from his own as well as other computer classes for help, which eventually turned into his first real paying job as a tutor.

Gregory made the dean’s list five out of seven quarters at DCCC and earned his A.A.S. (Associate of Applied Science) degree in Business Data Processing in 1984. Not feeling quite done with college yet, he looked around for options, ultimately settling on Catawba College, where he completed his B.A. (Bachelor of Arts) degree in Computer Information Systems in 1986.

He has been working both personally and professionally with computers since 1982 in the areas of software development, 4-years teaching at the beginning, intermediate and advanced levels at DCCC 1986-1988 and 1990-1992, further developing self-taught programming skills in the Modula-2 and Director 2 environment for the Commodore Amiga computer 1988-1990, publishing several technical articles in Amazing Computing magazine for the Commodore Amiga computer 1990-1992, and served nearly 7 years as Information Services Manager of VRB (Vista Regional Bank) 1993-2000.

Please note: This is not an exhaustive list of Gregory’s work experiences, but two of four remaining work experiences were emotionally difficult for Gregory since both were yet more examples of his good nature being taken advantage of by others. Nevertheless, these numerous bad work experiences severely scarred Gregory’s trust in most people. If his perspectives seem harsh, he perceives this as being caused by the cruel world around him. Gregory relates …

“As a child, I would hear the adage … Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I heard all the stories of Christian scripture from church, then observed as so many people presented one image for church and another image the rest of the week. Yes, this is their eternal soul they’re playing with, but they’re also touching other people’s lives with whatever wrong. Bottom line, many others never did unto me as I did unto them, shaping my perspective of this world as Godforsaken, though I mean by this … forsaken by God’s children, not by God.”

“To this, most people respond … Well, you just have to get out there and do what everyone else are doing. Right. Sell out my principles and values in favor of whatever principles and values a bunch of non-disadvantaged persons have decided from on high are the only way to go. However, this going along with some crowd was not the lesson I predominantly took away from religion or spirituality. Being a ‘team member’ is all fine, well and good so long as most or all the members of that team don’t later double-cross you when it suits them to do so, and my experiences with human nature tell me that’s what’s going to happen in far too many cases.”

“Far too many people are obsessed with money, things, and how superior their culture, gender, race or whatever else puts them head and shoulders above everyone else, and I simply do NOT subscribe to that perception! I will NOT just ‘go along with it’! It IS wrong! No matter what our origin, as human beings, we are ALL made of the SAME ‘stuff’. Anyone who doesn’t get that is the one with the problem! Their solution is to destroy anyone and everyone who disagrees with whatever wrong perspective they have. Yes, and then what are they going to do when there is no one else left to destroy? They have been destroying others for so long, and cannot help but continue doing so, even when there is really no one left to destroy, so they destroy anyone and everyone else purely because they can and want to.”

After going partially blind in 2000, Gregory taught himself the JAWS (Job Access With Speech) screen reader from Freedom Scientific in about 2 weeks time. Accustomed to self-teaching, he furthered his knowledge of computer networks to include wireless, then began learning how to use various Windows applications as a blind person.

Gregory further began researching and acquiring various assistive technology aids or techniques in order to function as independently as he felt psychologically able to do. As of this writing of January 2022, Gregory is not entirely independent in all aspects of his life, but he has armed himself with aids and/or techniques to manage many independent living tasks. He did not just sit around and wait for others to serve him or provide the solution, as most of his ongoing experiences with other visually impaired persons indicate as the most common response to visual impairment. This is not to imply there are no exceptions to this impression, only that this has been Gregory’s general experience.

The fictitious VRB (Vista Regional Bank) ceased operations under its real name in November 2007, but the real name is nevertheless obscured due to VRB’s egregious corporate political and immoral mishandling during Gregory’s transition from sighted to totally blind during 2000 and 2001. This was yet another emotionally painful experience for Gregory, who relates …

“I did my part, and then some. I never made myself a burden on VRB, but instead took care of my own limitations rather than expecting them to do so. I kept appropriate persons at VRB updated on my changing situation as my eyesight deteriorated. In fact, I had to make two phone calls because VRB were too lazy to even keep two departments updated off one report. Their later claim in October 2001 was that I left without informing them, or some such corporate bullshit PR spin on the truth, but there is a period during which anyone becoming disabled is simply not psychologically able to defend themselves, particularly against a corporate machine hell bent on destruction rather than trying to mend and build. God knows what I did, and God knows everything VRB did or didn’t do. So, when I later learned of VRB’s demise in 2007, I felt at least somewhat vindicated, in the apparently now obsolete meaning of the word.”

 

After relocating to his wife’s small rural southwestern Minnesota hometown in 2003, Gregory began teaching himself the Microsoft Visual Basic 6 programming environment, and helped further refine some JAWS scripts to make the environment easier for the visually impaired to use. He did attempt to launch a consulting operation under the banner of “Thinkzo.com”, but abandoned this path after becoming disillusioned with the demands of sighted users for printed output, which was extremely difficult for him to produce for them, as well as general feelings of not having accomplished much after a day spent coding and testing to his own high standards. Gregory relates …

“To further compound their egregious corporate mishandling of my VRB situation, not long after we moved to Minnesota, I took a call one day from the VRB representative who had informed me of my termination based on their idiotic reasoning, complaining that I hadn’t informed them of my move. Oh? You terminate me for no good sound reason, then expect me to be all happy about it and keep you updated on my whereabouts? I don’t think so! You saw fit to burn all the bridges, so my whereabouts are really no further damn business of yours! She knew I was pissed, and likely found my response quite shocking, but I really don’t care. You don’t shit all over me, then kick me while I’m down and expect me to be nice to you. Sorry, doesn’t work that way. I know human nature, and it doesn’t work that way for most people, so it certainly doesn’t work that way with me.”

“As yet another example of what seems to matter most in this world, the abandoned thinkzo.com domain is now offered for sale at the absurd price of USD 2,195. It never cost me anywhere near that, even with maintaining domain registration and hosting for years, nor does it really need to be sold for a cent more than a tenth of what’s being asked, if we’re all being as fair as we expect others to be with us. If our roles were reversed, you can bet whoever would be wanting that domain for far less than what they’re asking for it, but because it’s them selling it, they just expect others to do whatever they want. This is not good business, but rather juvenile arrogance.”

Gregory’s two most publicly presented projects are “NGTC”, or Next Generation Trivia Challenge, a freeware Star Trek trivia game he produced and released during his sighted days for the Commodore Amiga platform through the Fred Fish collection, and “WeatherGALE”, a freeware weather application which was fully accessible to the visually impaired community on Microsoft Windows, developed and released after he went totally blind.

Regrettably, Paramount directed Gregory to cease distribution of NGTC after its second season database release, though as of 2017, mentions of it on the Internet suggest it is still in some circulation, which is understandable when the public likes something and manages to obtain a copy of it. Gregory relates …

“This experience just goes to show how out of touch corporate entities are with the will of the people, or their potential customers. Paramount apparently released some 25th Anniversary game around the same time, and comments I read online strongly suggested Paramount’s game was a big flop. Paramount directing me to cease distribution and further development is yet another example of what happens when I try to do the right thing in a world ruled by capitalism, not conscientiousness.”

Microsoft deprecated the component being used in WeatherGALE for Internet connectivity, necessitating a complete re-write of the application, which frankly incensed Gregory, only further adding to his disillusionment with software development. Gregory relates …

“A later favorite adage of mine has become … Fix what ain’t broke ’til it is … which is this tendency individuals and corporations have to fix things which aren’t broken until they ARE broken. Progress is all fine, well and good. I don’t have some issue with progress. But progress without breaking things which are working fine. This is doable, but requires an attention to details which no longer seem relevant in our society and world. Again, capitalism rules over conscientiousness.”

“Related to this are two concepts I have labelled the crapenomics of business and the crapenomics of the assistive technology industry. These are most often represented by fluffy or shiny slick PR axioms which are intended to excuse arrogance, greed and other negative perspectives of business and assistive technology products and services. It is all language and attitudes which go against my grain and what I believe we as conscientious human beings should be striving for, and this is NOT profit or success at the expense of the already disadvantaged.”

“Anyone who disagrees with me on these principles has, in my opinion, sold out in favor of just going along with the world because this is easier than trying to resist it. These people generally tend to have greater resources than I do, but at what eternal costs? None of us know for certain. Some of us THINK we do, but really don’t.”

“I do NOT know what comes after this life, but I feel fairly safe in proposing it’s either nothing or something. Okay, some would argue that nothing is something because we can perceive it as nothing, therefore giving it existence as something. But from another perspective, nothing would be the opposite of something, so nothing is an unknowable entity. If that is true, and when we pass from this world there is nothing in that sense, then we will be unaware of that nothingness since nothing is just that … NOTHING.”

“Sorry if I lost some readers there. My old philosophy days at Catawba making themselves evident. On the other hand, if there is something after we pass from this world, then we will be aware of whatever that something is, though it may be something we cannot really perceive in the here and now. We can have a faith belief in what that something is, but none of us know for certain, and we cannot necessarily rely on the stories of others who claim this or that is after life, particularly given that they are raking in money off their story. I am of the mind that more important is whatever I believe, and that is where any debate should end.”

“These novels are works of fiction. They are a literary leapfrog of possibilities, many of which might never become real or be true. But this is also why one suspends some belief while reading fiction. This notion that all or most science fiction should eventually become science fact is absurd, and most likely born out of the arrogance of those benefitting from the recognition.”

“A good example of this is my presentation of angels throughout these novels. In my original first drafts of these novels, I depicted angels in the more typically presented image, with their humanoid form, wings and halos. But as I gave more thought to their presentation, I began entertaining another image of angels and decided to adopt it because it made presentation so much simpler. Some readers won’t like this simpler presentation, while still others hopefully will, but a point comes where a writer has to just run with something, so that’s all I did.”

Gregory’s “story” from the eyesight problems he suffered from birth and his various life experiences over the decades which followed, and how this North Carolina native came to live in southwestern Minnesota for 14 years, during which time “A-Ware” was born, are a lengthy but nevertheless applicable story for another time and place. For now, this is not “the end” but rather, “to be continued”. Gregory relates …

“Thank you for taking the time to read this brief summary of my background, but I mainly hope you enjoy the story of A-Ware as much as I enjoy/enjoyed writing it and sharing it with others. I hope the story touches everyone who reads it in mostly positive ways, whatever those may be, for the purpose was never to do harm to anyone. If I nevertheless did somehow harm anyone, know that this was never my intention, and that as others would advise me to just let past things go which no one can go back and change, that advice is just as relevant toward others concerning my work on these novels. Let the unchangeable past go and just move on to better, more positive things, and we will all be better for that.”