Who is Neo Alabastro?
I’m a programmer and an artist.
I've worked in videography, music production, and software engineering. I've worked at Punahou School, the Bishop Museum, and Applied Systems.
I have a knack for making do. I like contributing what I've learned to help others do too.
I like figuring things out, so I've taught myself many different things. Because I have often found myself walking the learning paths alone, I like helping other people learn, develop, and grow. If you want or need to make something or need help figuring things out and making things happen, email me at hello@neoalabastro.com or my LinkedIn. We ought to have a conversation. You could even hire me!
I'm from Hawaiʻi. I attended Punahou School and then studied at NYU Shanghai. I majored in Interactive Media Arts (IMA).[1]
Questions of interest
Here are some answers to some questions you may be wondering. Go ahead and email me at hello@neoalabastro.com if these don't quite cut it.
Are you a professional?
I equate professional to "expert". Professional to me connotes a certain level of unparalleled mastery. By that logic, I am not a professional. So I don't consider myself a professional because I'm always learning something new.
But if you define "professional" as "someone who has been paid to do something", then yes. I have done video, audio, and software work professionally.
What are you most proud of?
Helping other people grow. Even though this website may exhibit things that I am materially proud of (products of my skills), the true goal of mine is to help others learn and grow themselves in whatever capacity I can. You can always reach out to me for advice or help.
What are your goals in life?
The eventual career goal is to become a math teacher at a community college. I've always struggled with math in school, which is unfortunate, because it is a beautiful discipline. I want to help others see its beauty and help that student I used to be.
This is actually a little strange too, because I chose the major in university that only required pre-calculus.
What is your style of learning?
Traditionally, learning styles are discussed through the distinctions of auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. However, effective learning is an ugly amalgamation of these categorical sensory experiences, and so these categorizations do not effectively express the way that I learn. I think it is better to describe learning through the process rather than as fortified external signal experiences. Input is one thing, processing is another.
With that being said, I am a most effective learner bottom-up rather than top-down. And in the traditional sense, I tend more toward visual and kinesthetic rather than auditory.
Learning is the personal practice of problem solving. I need to have tangible, grounded input that provides a means to attain knowing. Once I have knowledge, working through the effort of thinking about the problem in a reified context helps me to build an overall understanding of the problem. I need exposure, similar to learning a new language, and eventually, my brain puts it all together. I'm a slow learner.