I was born Paul W Bilnoski(September 22, 1980) of James and Kathleen Bilnoski. My maternal grandmother was born and raised in Galveston, Texas and my maternal grandfather is from Indiana. These lines can be traced back to entry into the United States from England and Ireland in the 1400's. My paternal grandparents were more recent immigrants, being the second or third generation of their families coming from Italy, and Poland, from which I get my surname.

I was born in Houston, Texas, which was where my mother's father settled after World War II to stay near my grandmother's elderly father. My father's parents were residents of the Houston area, and my mother's wanted to stay near the center of Houston for fear of living so far away from anyone else in the city at that time. I have lived in the same house almost all my life, which has had more benefits to me than drawbacks. I have gotten to know my neighborhood and neighbors, and watch my friends and family grow as I did.

I have always been a courageous person, being very athletic, and willing to try almost anything once. I have played soccer since I was four years old, likely due to the amount of extra energy I had. My best childhood friend and I would always play together in grade and middle school, in the rain, in the trees, on bikes or off. When we would think of something new to do, just the two of us or with other people, I would usually be the first to try it out, whether it was jumping across a ditch, riding through something, or testing out a new swing high in the trees. I think this period is where I built up a high tolerance for pain and a love of adventure, both of which helped with another thing I enjoyed greatly: the Scouting Program.

I became a Boy Scout after earning my Arrow of Light through Cub Scouts, and although I don't remember much of Cub Scouting, the Boy Scouting program left me with some of the greatest and most vivid memories of my life. Some of these include local weekend campouts with the troop, campouts with my family, week-long summer camps that the troop went on every summer, and my ten-day trek at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. I learned a lot about following and leadership, first aid and being prepared at all times, how to do things when you don't have much to work with, and how to survive in the wilderness of the outdoors as well as the wilderness of life to come. I met many new people, adults and youth, have some long-lasting friendships with people in the program, and achieved the highest award of Eagle Scout. My Eagle Project entailed designing and building two large patio swings and two picnic tables with benches for a nursing home in our community. The tables were made to be very sturdy and wheelchair accessible, and the patio swings sturdy enough to be stable for the elderly residents. It was a humbling experience to see people so grateful for my effort, and to work with people that were once independent and have come to be so dependent on others for all their daily needs.

School was a whole other world to me through most of my early youth. Through school up until high school, I had never worried about grades or anything. I always did my best in what I did, and got whatever I earned, coming out of school with fair grades. I went to a Catholic school for kindergarten until eighth grade, and then to a Jesuit College Preparatory for high school. Both have been excellent at teaching me about life as well as knowledge, and things have a tendency to come easily to me, to the slight frustration of others around me. Some things, of course, don't come as well as others, and I've always been drawn more to sciences than humanities. I have always been a tactile person, getting my hands on the work I was doing, building, creating, forming rather than merely dreaming or writing. I am fairly creative nonetheless, enjoy drawing, writing, puzzle games, and many other things that help my work out my brain muscles as well as bodily muscles. I enjoy making things work perfectly, which is an aspect that makes it hard for me to ever finish something to my standards, although it is good enough by others' standards.

In school, as well as at home, I have been exposed to computers in many ways. Our first family computer was an Apple IIC, bought when I was four years old. I used Apple computers in middle school, and learned rudimentary programming in BASIC. It was there that I learned to craft something totally different with a programming language, and it has followed me into high school and into Pascal, Visual Basic, and C++ on the PC. My love of programming and interest in searching deeper into things has led me to want to do this for a good while longer, as a career. I have a part-time job at a small computer software programming company, and enjoy my work of testing, giving ideas, asking questions about the work and understanding some of the business, and overall adding to the general outcome of the product.

Encountering leadership in scouting and service projects has helped me be a follower when I need to and a leader when I should. Playing soccer, football, and running track in high school has helped me be a team player. I don't make the highest grades in my class, or the best drawings or papers, but I have had unique experiences in my life that nobody can take away from me. I have had a few happiest of times, and a few saddest, but they should all be in the great game of life to get the whole experience. Some things are just no fun if you always win, and some of my favorite games are the ones that have no end, you keep going and going until you run out of steam, and seeing the future doesn't really matter as long as the trip was worth it.

Now I'm in College, attending Texas A&M University in College Station, TX. I'm taking Computer Engineering, which is pretty fun so far. Learning Java, and taking some other of the usual classes. I joined the Singing Cadets, which has been a lot of fun. I haven't been in a choir before, so it's a new experience, but the tours and work are worth it. I've a lot of new friends in the group, and am getting closer to those buds. I also recently discovered a girlfriend in someone I've known for a year or more. We just sort of happened on each other, and one coincidence after another has made us so good for each other that it's eerie. She's great, she's like my duplicate, and I can't wait to spend more time with her. So there's my little tidbit to Michelle, to appease the goddess :). On to the rest of the story, my roommate is from Ft. Worth, and we get along well enough, it's cool. I want to learn what to do for the rest of my life here; learn how to be happy. That's all that really matters in life, if you have a good one - a moral one - and help out more people than just yourself while doing so.

--Paul Bilnoski    Last Updated: 10/1999


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