My name is Robert Cortez, and this site was originally established on July 4, 1999 as attack22.com, as a means of coming to grips with what was reported to be a heart attack.

In the years since, I've grown into a new person, living life with a newfound determination and confidence. Given my occasional tendency to dwell on the past, present and future (and become rather wordy in the process), I've made this a repository for my writing and journal-like activities, as well as artwork, web projects and other socially-bankrupt experiments.

I've put this material on display not for your amusement or interest, but for my own. If it amuses you, well, that's all the better.

But, in the hopes of you understanding exactly what's going on here, you might need to know a bit more about my world. You know, for context and such. I know you don't care about height, eye color, favorite food, all that crap. Instead, here's ten facts that will come in handy:

1. Even after a new investigation into the matter, it still appears that I may have had a heart attack at the age of 22. In the three years prior to March 21, 1998, I had gone to school full-time, worked two jobs simultaneously and had just jumped headlong into my career. I was pushing myself without abandon, and it was quite the wake-up call. But since I've learned so much from it all, I'm past the point of letting it bring me down. I'm now comfortable with my own mortality, and now I just try not to die of unnatural causes.


2. In 1999, in a rather unexpected fashion, I met, Carol, the love of my life and proceeded to woo her relentlessly. To my surprise, she actually found something to love about me. We were married less than a year later and now we're in full-swing of making our dreams come true.


3. On February 15, 2003, at 1:41pm, our son Robert was born. Yeah, I know, that's my name too. Cool, huh? He reinforces my confidence in humanity every single day, making me the happiest papa alive. Really. It's all like butterflies and unicorns and stuff...until I hit that morning traffic.


4. On April 26, 2005, at 1:41am, our daughter Isabel Sofia was born. That's right, two names, and darn good ones at that. A fitting name for such a beautiful baby girl. And yet, as wonderful as she is, and as much as I love her, I just keep remembering my father's words "she's gonna break your heart..."


5. After making my way through school, I worked as an art director for an small Houston ad agency, and then worked Newtype USA magazine. There I take care of editorial layouts, advertising and collateral design, photo retouching and correction, illustration and web design/development. I can, and often do, wear a lot of hats, and while it does get hectic sometimes, I still enjoy it.


6. I've been running this site in some form or another since 1999. A few years ago, I switched domain names, and I'm sure lost a lot of visitors in the process. That's OK, though. If you're reading this, then at least someone's paying attention.


7. I love movies. I have way too many DVDs for my own good and am constantly seeking out new ones. I've got a small collection of LaserDiscs that are for the taking, and now I'm starting a new collection of HD DVDs. Man, talk about being on the wrong side of the coin...


8. I've come to realize that my family, as normal as it may seem, is among the most disorganized, dysfunctional of them all. Both of my parents have been remarried twice, and over the years, I've gained a half-brother and half-sister, and even though my family tree now looks like the map of a sprawling metropolis, I love them all.


9. Early on, I had enormous aspirations to become a filmmaker. Starting with illustration, I instead made my way towards graphic design. That's been serving me fairly well and I find it extremely satisfying, but when I'm not doing that, I spend my time writing, drawing and taking pictures. Fun, fun, fun!


10. I used to be (and to some degree still am) rather anti-social, but after finally "realizing my own specialness" and shrugging off a ton of self-consciousness, I find that I'm much more comfortable around new people. I still have little patience with them, though. Thanks to my job--where I work with a bunch of goofballs--I'm getting better at that.

There. I hope that's enough to get you started. Maybe you won't even need to read any further. This pretty much says it all. An overview of sorts, if you will. On second thought, read on—you might actually find something interesting.

Enjoy!