Poll: Why did you get into animation?

It's silly story time...or at least time for a little nostalgia. I remember when I was in high school, Square-Enix (then SquareSoft) released Final Fantasy VII for the PSX. I hadn't had much exposure to video games before then; my family was a little parochial, and my mother thought video games were a tool of the devil that promoted idleness and laziness. (Well, she wasn't always wrong about the laziness...) It's probably not that surprising that watching the FMVs featured in the commercials mesmerized me and sparked off my teenage imagination; there was a certain awe-inspiring level of emotion there that made me want so much to discover the story, the characters...all of it. And yet instead of thinking "I want to play that"...

...my first thought was "I want to make that."

And thus began my interest in video game animation, although I'd already developed a strong interest in cartoon animation (as evidenced by the many pads of tracing paper that I nearly shredded as a child trying to make flip books). I think it was the memory of the feeling inspired by Final Fantasy VII that pushed me to go to animation school after I realized that I wasn't wholly satisfied studying advanced computer science and electrical engineering. I enrolled in the Art Institute of Houston, graduated with my degree a few years later, and everything else is history. So what's your story?

Why did you get into animation?

• I've always loved animations, and wanted to create them.
• I thought it would be a good career move.
• I was pushed into it by outside influences.
• I don't actually have a career in animation; I just watch/play them.
• I'm not into animation.
• Other/will explain in comments.

Feel free to provide more details on your story in the comments.

Current Results

Don't forget to go back and vote in the last poll: Do you use a graphics tablet to animate?