The Autobiography of Charles Lawson
The Plan
I had a plan when I was a youth. I wanted to own a major league baseball team and I would use the earnings from the motion pictures I created to buy it. This desire took me to Johns Hopkins University where I was in the Writing Seminars program, with a Film and Video concentration.
One of the courses in this program was Writing for Television. This class had a visiting instructor who worked as an Executive Producer for Night Court. In his initial lecture, which was a seminal moment in my life, he explained the pros and cons of being a Hollywood writer and working in the Television and Film business.
Pros:
Cons:
To me, the cons outweighed the pros. So I knew that I would have to create a new plan.
Rapid Milestones
I graduated from Johns Hopkins in 1991. This was a time of economic recession; it was difficult to get a job without experience. Initially I took a job as a forklift operator. I did this for nearly a year, while trying to get an entry level position as a writer or videographer.
In 1992, I got a job with a company called Illustructions as a videographer. The company specialized in developing training documents and videos for Fortune 500 companies.
I soon started writing video scripts and training documents, as well as shooting and editing videos. Here I became an instructional designer, multimedia developer, project manager, and the production manager.
This job allowed me to buy my first car, a 1992 Mazda Miata. I sold that Miata in 2001 and bought a new Mazda Miata, which I still have.
In 1993, I married Rebecca Heisey, a woman who, unlike me, had lived all over the country. She had lived in Georgia, Pennsylvania, California, North Carolina, Virginia, Hawaii, Texas, South Carolina, and finally Maryland. I was born at Mercy Hospital in Baltimore and lived in Linthicum, Maryland until the day I got married.
My wife and I have lived in Lansdowne, Elkridge, and Marriottsville, Maryland. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education.
In 1994, my wife and I had our first daughter, Victoria Paige. Five years later we had our second daughter, Anna Diane. Two years after that we had our third and final daughter, Isabel Juliet.
In 1995, we bought our first home, a three bedroom townhome in Elkridge. We lived there for five years. I enjoyed the location, since it was close to major highways.
Recent History
I very much enjoyed developing computer-based and web-based training programs at Illustructions. I learned how steel, paper, pharmaceuticals, juice cocktail, cookies, farm equipment, and a variety of other things were manufactured. When the owner closed the business in 1999, he helped me get a job with a start-up e-learning company called LearnScape.
At LearnScape, I developed adult basic education and General Educational Development (GED) test preparation e-learning products. I also developed some custom programs for some of my former Illustructions customers: Ocean Spray, Merck, and Bethlehem Steel.
Eventually I was promoted to Vice President and then Chief Operating Officer at LearnScape. I enjoyed the fact that the products we developed at LearnScape helped people who were unemployed and under-employed get jobs or better jobs. Our biggest customer was the State of New Jersey -- I spent a lot of time going to various sites in New Jersey to install our software and to train instructors on how to use it.
In 2008, I left LearnScape to start an e-learning production business. We had a few customers initially, but with many companies cutting back due to the economy, our cash flow became precarious. We stopped earning a salary, and eventually I was offered a job with a government contractor, Pragmatics, which I took. I worked on projects for the Department of Defense and the Department of State.
A major project I worked on at Pragmatics was Tips of the Day . Every day many government workers receive these tips.
My next job, which began January 9, 2012, was at NTT Data Federal Systems, a company that specializes in software development and information technology services for the federal government. I performed a training needs analysis and job task analysis for a government agency.
I currently work again for Pragmatics, this time at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), as a technical business analyst.
Interests
As noted earlier, I had wanted to own my own baseball team. Well, I may not have a major league baseball team, but I do have a Sidd Finch Memorial Base-Ball League team called the Sidewinders.Most of the websites I go to regularly are sports related, such as ESPN.com, MASNSports.com, and MiLB.com.
I have been an Orioles season plan holder for more than 15 years and enjoy visiting other ballparks. I have been to the stadiums of the: Nationals, Mets, Braves, Cardinals, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Giants, Rockies, Athletics, Marlins, Rays, White Sox, Cubs, Indians, Padres, Diamondbacks, and Rangers.
I am also active in my church (I work on the video team and lead a small group), in my community (I am the Homeowners Association President), and in the world (I help with charities that assist the homeless and starving children).
I had a plan when I was a youth. I wanted to own a major league baseball team and I would use the earnings from the motion pictures I created to buy it. This desire took me to Johns Hopkins University where I was in the Writing Seminars program, with a Film and Video concentration.
One of the courses in this program was Writing for Television. This class had a visiting instructor who worked as an Executive Producer for Night Court. In his initial lecture, which was a seminal moment in my life, he explained the pros and cons of being a Hollywood writer and working in the Television and Film business.
Pros:
- you get to work with celebrities
- you make a lot of money
Cons:
- you work a lot, which meant most marriages ended in divorce and you had little time to spend with children, if you had any
- there isn't any time for outside activities as you are constantly working, unless you choose not to work during a hiatus
- those professing Christian beliefs struggle to get work
To me, the cons outweighed the pros. So I knew that I would have to create a new plan.
Rapid Milestones
I graduated from Johns Hopkins in 1991. This was a time of economic recession; it was difficult to get a job without experience. Initially I took a job as a forklift operator. I did this for nearly a year, while trying to get an entry level position as a writer or videographer.
In 1992, I got a job with a company called Illustructions as a videographer. The company specialized in developing training documents and videos for Fortune 500 companies.
I soon started writing video scripts and training documents, as well as shooting and editing videos. Here I became an instructional designer, multimedia developer, project manager, and the production manager.
This job allowed me to buy my first car, a 1992 Mazda Miata. I sold that Miata in 2001 and bought a new Mazda Miata, which I still have.
In 1993, I married Rebecca Heisey, a woman who, unlike me, had lived all over the country. She had lived in Georgia, Pennsylvania, California, North Carolina, Virginia, Hawaii, Texas, South Carolina, and finally Maryland. I was born at Mercy Hospital in Baltimore and lived in Linthicum, Maryland until the day I got married.
My wife and I have lived in Lansdowne, Elkridge, and Marriottsville, Maryland. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education.
In 1994, my wife and I had our first daughter, Victoria Paige. Five years later we had our second daughter, Anna Diane. Two years after that we had our third and final daughter, Isabel Juliet.
In 1995, we bought our first home, a three bedroom townhome in Elkridge. We lived there for five years. I enjoyed the location, since it was close to major highways.
Recent History
I very much enjoyed developing computer-based and web-based training programs at Illustructions. I learned how steel, paper, pharmaceuticals, juice cocktail, cookies, farm equipment, and a variety of other things were manufactured. When the owner closed the business in 1999, he helped me get a job with a start-up e-learning company called LearnScape.
At LearnScape, I developed adult basic education and General Educational Development (GED) test preparation e-learning products. I also developed some custom programs for some of my former Illustructions customers: Ocean Spray, Merck, and Bethlehem Steel.
Eventually I was promoted to Vice President and then Chief Operating Officer at LearnScape. I enjoyed the fact that the products we developed at LearnScape helped people who were unemployed and under-employed get jobs or better jobs. Our biggest customer was the State of New Jersey -- I spent a lot of time going to various sites in New Jersey to install our software and to train instructors on how to use it.
In 2008, I left LearnScape to start an e-learning production business. We had a few customers initially, but with many companies cutting back due to the economy, our cash flow became precarious. We stopped earning a salary, and eventually I was offered a job with a government contractor, Pragmatics, which I took. I worked on projects for the Department of Defense and the Department of State.
A major project I worked on at Pragmatics was Tips of the Day . Every day many government workers receive these tips.
My next job, which began January 9, 2012, was at NTT Data Federal Systems, a company that specializes in software development and information technology services for the federal government. I performed a training needs analysis and job task analysis for a government agency.
I currently work again for Pragmatics, this time at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), as a technical business analyst.
Interests
As noted earlier, I had wanted to own my own baseball team. Well, I may not have a major league baseball team, but I do have a Sidd Finch Memorial Base-Ball League team called the Sidewinders.Most of the websites I go to regularly are sports related, such as ESPN.com, MASNSports.com, and MiLB.com.
I have been an Orioles season plan holder for more than 15 years and enjoy visiting other ballparks. I have been to the stadiums of the: Nationals, Mets, Braves, Cardinals, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Giants, Rockies, Athletics, Marlins, Rays, White Sox, Cubs, Indians, Padres, Diamondbacks, and Rangers.
I am also active in my church (I work on the video team and lead a small group), in my community (I am the Homeowners Association President), and in the world (I help with charities that assist the homeless and starving children).