The Labyrinth To My Mind

Given Name:

Family Name: Ruíz

aka in SCA: Bryn ab Urien Ysgolhaig (Society for Creative Anacronism)

Date of Birth: 14-OCT-69

Place of Birth: Shands Hospital, Gainesville Florida

Father: Bruce Carlos Ruíz (Curundu, Panama Canal)

Mother: Maria "Maggie" Magdalena Ruíz (Aguadilla, Puerto Rico)

Younger Brothers: Gian Michael Ruíz and Jaime Daniel Ruíz (Gainesville, Florida)

Born and raised in Gainesville Florida, I now live in Orlando Florida where I work for Walt Disney World. I moved to Orlando to work for WDW in July/August of 1996.

Skip to stats...

My Life in 20 words or... well a lot more than 20 words!

I Grew up speaking Spanish as a first language at home and didn't learn English until I went to pre-school. My parents didn't think to teach me English as I grew up until one day they realized that I would be starting school soon in an English speaking town. As I grew up, I learned English better than Spanish because the only time I spoke Spanish was at home and when I visited my relatives. I never really had any formal Spanish schooling so my Spanish is limited. Since I only spoke Spanish around my family, I never learned all the slang or bad words or phrases. My family was of upper class decent and acted that way all my life. They still don't say anything profane or drastically rude. My grandmother is about the most prim and proper "Lady" I think I have met.

In the 70's, I hated the music, fashions, and a lot of the other stuff associated with the 70's. The only real thing of value to me in the seventies was the science fiction movie scene. The release of Star Wars was a major tuning point in my life as a child. I loved this movie more than anything I have ever seen and it helped shape my interest in science and science fiction. By the way, I have always hated bellbottoms and corduroy!

As I was a child, my parents loved to travel so I've been camping in about 38 states and Canada. I've also been to all of Central America, Most of the Carribean islands, England and Scotland. I feel I was too young to appreciate Europe to the fullest and I didn't have as much interest in medieval history as I do now. I hope to go back to Europe and travel extensively to visit historical sites but I don't foresee that anytime soon.

The early 80's where becoming cool but I still didn't like the fashion. I finally found a music style I liked, synth-pop/new wave, and punk rock. Bands like Depeche Mode, Devo, David Bowie, Men in Hats, and other such bands started my new wave style and bands like Suicidal Tenancies and Black Flag, helped define my punk rock state of mind. In the mid to late 80's, I also started to listen to new age, jazz, classical, musicals, alternative, and gothic music.

I started to help out my dad since the early 80's with simple slide projectors and 8mm home movie projectors. As I entered early high school, I started to get more involved in audio visual equipment. I have always had a knack for taking things apart and now I was learning to put them back together. I also had been playing with computers since the early 80's but never really studied them. I have always been able to take them apart, upgrade, and fix minor problems.

I went to a private school from seventh to tenth grade. This was a very small K-12 school. I think the most the school ever had was about 150 people including the staff. My first crush/love was on a girl in one of my classes there named Danielle. She moved to Louisiana and I only saw her once about a year later when she came to town to visit relatives and called me up. She gave me her address which I lost before I ever sent her any letters. I often wonder what she's up to and what would happen if we met again.

When I was 14, I joined the Alachua County Sheriffs Explorer program. The A.S.O. Explorer program is like the Boy Scouts or Junior ROTC of the Sheriffs Department. I think I have always liked the military and law enforcement in general. It's kinda strange that I liked punk and government at the same time but that's what my labyrinth is all about. I have lots of different moods, personalities, and attitudes.

I went back to public school at Buchholz High School for my junior and senior year. I joined the Air Force JROTC and fell in love with the idea of the military. I had wanted to join the Sheriffs Department when I graduated until I joined AFJROTC. I decided the military after school would be better because I could either fly or do law enforcement which I had always loved both. During High School, I had gotten more involved in audio visual and had started helping out a friend DJ the high school dances. I learned basic lighting and PA sound. During the summer break, I joined Lips Live, a live cast of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I started hanging around college students and a few of my high school friends from AFJROTC and hated almost anything that wasn't ROTC related in school. During my senior year I took the ASFAB which is the military version of the SATs to see what area they would put you in. My scores where perfect in the technical and mechanical section and just above average on the rest. The movie Top Gun had just come out and so many people joined the military that they didn't have anything available that I wanted so they told me that with my scores, they wanted me to go into mechanics. I knew that with my luck, I would be stuck in the dessert fixing jeeps. Both the Army and the Air Force told me the same thing so I decided not to join.

Having been an entrepreneur of sorts, I went to Santa Fe Community College to study business. I didn't start off well in college but I got a job at the University of Florida with the Events and Technical Services department. A Student work study job, I had to stay in college. In the spring of 1988, a friend from high school had met this band at a local pub in the mall and new they needed help with the sound so he called me to help. The band was so happy that I was able to help them out that I sort of became their tech. I helped them with the publicity photos and all their sound and lighting. I wound up going on the road with them for the summer of 88. After the band broke up, I went back to college. This time around I was going in to be a respiratory therapist (yet another failed career choice.)

I started volunteering at the Gainesville Community Playhouse and soon dropped out of school again. I stayed with the playhouse for several years and held several different minimum wage jobs. All I wanted was to work in the theater and I didn't care about money. At some point I joined the Civil Air Patrol, a civilian auxiliary of the Air Force. I finally got off my ass and started working at a somewhat real job. I worked for a bulk mailer and shipping company called G&K Enterprises for about 2 years.

In 1991, I met some people in the Hoggetowne Medieval Faire that where in a couple of groups. One of the groups was the Hoggetowne Medieval Players (an acting troupe) and the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. ("SCA" is a middle ages educational and re-enactment group). This would change my whole life.

For all my life I had always felt like I didn't quite fit in with everyone else. Considering the labyrinth in my mind leads to several different lifestyles and personalities, this was the first group of people that I really connected with in almost all levels. I have always liked the middle ages and had been to every Hoggetowne Medieval Faire Gainesville has had. This group has members all over the world and has people in every profession from lawyers to doctors, to professional students & slackers. This is where I met some of my best friends and where one of my younger brothers and I became a lot closer. Lord Inigo Guillermo de Guipuzcoa (mka Gian Ruíz) joined the SCA about the same time I did and we went to our first event together. I moved in with Ceridwen o Ynys Clynnog (mka Donna "InleRah" M. Snyder) and lived with her and a number of other transient roommates for about six years. Soon there after, came the birth of Homba Den (our SCA household).

I quit my job at G&K (they went out of business about four months later) and got a job at a local costume and magic supply shop called Centre Stage. I worked there for about eight months until they went out of business in November of 1992. By this time I had started working at the Florida Theatre of Gainesville. I only worked there part time so I also started working as a cab driver for Yellow Cab of Gainesville. I drove the cab off and on for several years as I started work on KIATIS. KIATIS was my own business of jewelry for the SCA, science fiction memorabilia at several cons throughout the state and into Georgia, club lighting and supply, and identification card services (back stage passes and work ID's). For a few weeks, I went on the road with the Impotent Sea Snakes and Mon Cheri's Club Fetish which was owned by the former owners of the Florida Theatre, the Masquerade of Atlanta and Tampa.

On my way to one of my conventions where I made most of my money, I got into a car accident, totaled my car, lost a good deal of my supply and equipment for my company, and had to buy a new car because I had minimum insurance. At the same time I also lost the contract for lighting supplies, and work from a few of the clubs I worked for, and had maxed out all my credit cards. Needles to say, I was BROKE! I had to shut down my business and was only able to keep a few things. I decided to move to Orlando and work for Walt Disney World where I started with. I figured I needed the stability and that if I took any entry level job, I could transfer into a technical position later with ease. Boy was I wrong. It turns out to be that if you work for other companies or join the union (technical) you have a better chance of getting a tech job offer than if you work for WDW for several years. I currently work fulltime as a Show Support Tech at the Studios but not until I was with Disney for 6 1/2 years. I had worked as an admissions trainer which is primarily Pleasure Island Ticket Sales and Turnstiles, but also cross utilized in Downtown Disney Guest Services, Jazz Company Barback/Door, Valet Dispatching/Running, and Parking and as an Entertainment Lighting Technitian. I also have had the opertunity to work overtime in other areas like the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, World of Disney, and my favorite, Cirque du Soleil. And lastly before my transfer to "Tech World", I was a character greeter and coordinator for one year. (see pics here)