Game on, Twombly||Stuart Twombly

Chapter One

Google.

It's a funny word when you think about it. And yet, there's a certain simplicity to it that you would never imagine, and you find yourself wondering how you didn't come up with it for the name of one of the most successful search engines in all of internet history.

What's even better than the search engine named Google, is the place where everything all goes down. Where the real work happens. Every nerd's dream.

Google Headquarters.

Ever since the first time I touched a computer when I was seven, I've wanted to go into computer engineering. I was so fascinated at how computers worked and all the technological stuff that went along with it. I always wanted to know how they worked and how they were programmed.

So, that's why I went to college majoring in computer science with minor degrees in computer engineering and graphic design. I've always had an artistic side to me.

My parents never really supported my technological side. They always thought it was too boy-ish, insisting me to take classes in high school like choir and sewing. I refused almost immediately, saying that it just wasn't something I was into.

I think that's why my parents are so strict with me. If I'm going to do my own thing, they expect me to be perfect with it. If I get anything below an A- on any assignment ever, they'll literally blow up on me, saying that I should've stuck to the easier classes like choir and sewing.

That's why I couldn't wait to get out of the house and go to a college on the other side of the country from our suburban town in New York. I decided to go to Stanford.

Mom and Dad were furious when they found out I had applied to Stanford and got in full ride on my academic ability. They wanted me to go to a community college nearby so I could still live with them.

I laughed in their faces.

When I told them that I was going to Stanford and there was nothing that they could do about it, they all but threw me out of the house. They told me that the summer after senior year would be the last I would ever spend in that house. I was not allowed to come back if I ever stepped foot on the Stanford campus.

I was out of the house by the end of the week with a moving truck already on the way to Stanford, California, a plane ticket in my hand as I walked into the airport.

My grandmother, my mother's mother, lived just ten minutes away from campus, making me feel relieved. I really didn't want to share a room on campus, and I love my grandmother very much. She thought it was great that I went against what my parents wanted for me. She always was one for following your dreams.

So, I stayed with her. Still am, actually. I've just finished my junior year of college, excitedly anticipating my senior year. I've been looking for jobs around town or anywhere near town that involve some type of computer skills. I haven't been so lucky.

It's extremely hard to find a job coming out of college. You're up against all of these experienced people, wanting the same thing you do. And who do you think they're going to pick?

I was looking around just a month before the second semester ended, just messing around on Google, when I saw an ad that caught my eye.

Google Internship

My eyes widened as I clicked on the ad, wondering if it was just a hoax or if this was the real deal. It has always been my dream to work at Google. I've seen pictures of their headquarters. It's literally Heaven on Earth for nerds and computer geeks like myself. Sometimes, I would literally find myself drooling over the place.