About the designer
Intro
My name is Kris Crousore (if you couldn't tell already) I am a 23 year old father of 2 and a monkeys uncle. and I live in San Diego California. I am a web designer and graphic designer. I really enjoy learning more about web design. Its a challenge constantly learning new things like XHTML, CSS, php, and XML. I like designing with the W3C standards in mind because its a challenge, and when I finsih the project it makes me feel better knowing that it meets web standards. I also enjoy MMA (mixed martial arts) fighting sports and maybe one day ill try some of the training out. who knows. The following is an overview of my road to today. Its a little long so read at your own risk.
The Past
I was born in Ventura California in 1983, along with my twin brother kevin, to Jim and Rochelle Crousore. My dad got transferred to a frigate class ship stationed in San Diego California. We first started out living in Chula Vista in a small apartment. I don't remember much about the place except that the trolley scared the crap out of me. After a couple of years living in Chula Vista we got to move into some base housing in Coronado. I had a lot of fun in that neighborhood. I had lots of friends and some great memories.
When I was about in 5th or 6th grade my parents decided it would be best for them to get a divorced. They fought a lot and it was just a healthier decision to split up. My dad retired at the same time they divorced and he moved back home to North Carolina. My brother and I stayed with my mom, and due to the retirement we had to move out of Silver Strand and over to Imperial Beach. A little while later my brother got into some big trouble and my mom sent him to live with my dad while I stayed in San Diego. When I was 11 years old my mom met my now step dad and we all moved out to Phoenix Arizona.
Moving to Phoenix was tough, new school, new people, new environment...no beach. I was always lashing out like a little brat and getting into trouble at school. In 6th grade I got suspened almost every other day. For little stupid things that made me look pretty stupid, like yelling and fighting and cursing out teachers. Then I met two of my good friends, Mike and Daron. They helped me out and made me feel more comfortable in phoenix. The more we hung out the less I got into trouble. Until High School
High school was different. So many people. I had a lot of fun though. Surprisingly I didn't fight that much in High School. I met a lot of good people at Tolleson Union High School. I met some of my best friends like, Chris Kaiser, Jericho, Joe, bobby, mark, jimmy, jay kenny....the list goes on. In sophmore year my brother moved back in with us because he was driving my dad nuts. Around junior year of high school my step dad and I stopped getting along. We were always yelling at each other and fighting and driving my mom crazy. Well one night it got really intense and I sort of got kicked out of the house. So I moved in with my best friend chris. Im not proud that I got kicked out but it was one of the best things that happened. I loved living with chris and his family. The kaisers are a big family and I had tons of fun. I did miss my family though. Chris jericho and I all got jobs at the wal-mart by the neighborhood.
While working at wal-mart I met someone that changed my life. Her name was penny. We got along really good and spent a lot of time together. We even moved in together with another friend of mine named angel and his girlfriend rebecca. After a few months living there penny got into an argument with angel, moved out and decided to join the army. Whoa...huh? Then my friend chris joined the navy. Double whoa...So what did I do? Joined the navy so I could be close to penny and hopefully get on a ship with chris. Chris left in july. Penny left in October and I left in November to chicago IL. for boot camp.
Boot camp was fun. Not as tough as I thought it was going to be. Actually its pretty pansy like compared to the other branches. I missed penny and my family a lot. After training I went home for 2 weeks then went to my first duty station. The Paul F. Foster spruance class destroyer based in Everett Washington. Everett was always so gloomy, the landscape there is nice but man the weather sucks.I got there on a wednesday and penny was supposed to get to Ft. Lewis on Friday. That saturday morning after we got off duty, I took a 3 hour bus ride down to Ft. Lewis. I got there around 2pm I think but penny wasn't at the barracks. She went out with some friends to the mall to check things out. So of course I hung out. I hadn't seen her since october, which was about 4 months prior. But when penny arrived she explained that the seperation had been too much and she lost feelings for me. Which I guess is understandable. Well...that sucks. So there I was, alone in washington where I had hoped to be with someone I loved. For the first time I felt really confused and lost on what I was doing and where I should be. Then about a month later my ship got deployed.
Traveling the world
My first deployment was fun. We went all over. Bali, Singapore, Thailand, India, Hong Kong, Japan, China and of course, good ol Hawaii. I had tons of fun and learned a lot being in other countries. After the deployment I got to head back to chicago for Signalman training. A few weeks into my training I came along this pretty cute girl. Some fresh meat right out of boot camp (Booters were there names) So I decided to mess around with her and play some pretty silly boot camp jokes with her. So I told her "Hey your ribbon is upside down" which didn't matter either way it was. She didn't bite and shot back pretty much calling me an idiot. So, we flirted for a week or so and then went out on a date. Must have been a good date because now we're married. After school I got stationed in San Diego. Full cirlce right back to san diego. BUT! my ship was deployed. Back overseas I went to meet my ship in Bahrain. I got there just in time to see some missles fly. On the way back home from the gulf we got to go down under to Sydney Australia. Spent some time there with my wife who got lucky and got a duty station on a ship that was also based in San Diego, and in the same battle group as my ship. Cool. After sydney we headed up to Caines Australia and then over to hawaii, then home.
In 2004 the navy decided that they didn't need signalman because they discovered....the radio. Why send signals with meaningless hand signals and morse code when you can say it over the radio. So in 2004, I got out of the navy. A little over 1 year early. Hallelujah. A few months of relaxation was too much for my wife, she told me to either get a job or go to school. So, I saw Platt College, a school that teaches graphic design, web design and multimedia and said what the hell. I have always been good at drawing and wanted to do 3D for some reason.
The Present
I am currently still attending Platt college. I really like this school, its taught by the very best instructors that make the classes tons of fun. I have some really good friends here to like, Travis, Lester, Ayush, Rachel and Illona. But I changed my mind about the 3D thing because I took Fred Wintons class on HTML and well...I like web design better. I don't know, I like the challenge of trying to keep up with the ever changing industry of the web. Something to keep me on my toes. I just recently finished my last Term 5 web class and am heading over to do some video classes for the next 15 weeks. I currently am working 3 jobs to pay the bills. My first job is at Cal-Diego Paralyzed Veterans Association. I design their monthly newsletter and maintain their website. My other job is at Staples in the copy center. And my thrid job is sort of a freelance position with a non-profit organization. I have been tasked with creating a logo for them and will soon be building them a website.
Well that is about it. If you have any questions on anything, my history, web questions or would like to hire me for a job (which would be mighty kind of you) you can shoot me an email over in the contact section. Thanks again for stopping by and happy browsing
