sent from: London, UK. destination: Pasadena, California, US

My first assignment on Star Wars Episode II was to look into ways to shatter giant rocks in the asteroid field in the chase between Boba Fett.. sorry, JANGO Fett and Obi-Wan through the asteroid field. I was completely out of my depth. I was surrounded by people who would drop casual references like “oh I wrote the fluid solver for Perfect Storm..”, back when water sims were nigh-on impossible. I had no idea how to tackle the problem, and it showed. I started messing around with some plugins that some smart developer had written, by the name of Masi Oka. We discussed it a few times, but it was clear I think that it wasn’t for me. Incidentally this is the same Masi Oka who went on to find acting fame on many things including tv’s “Heroes”. So, I was off the task. Oh no, I thought, this was it. “How do you feel about doing clothing simulation?” asked my manager. I knew even less about this than shattering rocks. “I’ll.. do my best.” I said.
I was introduced to the supervisor and the man who would go onto be my mentor, the Obi-Wan to my Luke, James Tooley. I was terrified. “So, what do you want me to work on? Where do I start?” 
James looked at me and said “Yoda. You seek Yoda.”