2008-2009 were great years of change for me: I published my first book, retained an agent, my resume was even sent to Disney HR from the hands of one of the directors of Disney Imagineering: Mr. Bruce Vaughn. Unfortunately everything also coincided with the whirlwind effects of a full-blown global economic crisis. Freelance projects dried up, my book sales started to cripple, and I was forced to turn my real estate hobby into a whole new career.

Questions began to surface: who am I really, a journalist? A real estate agent? What am I doing, who do I want to be? Beyond writing, my end goal always seemed to be Imagineering, and the Disney HR freeze seemed to be yet another blow in an already depressing year.

Until I realized something phenomenal.

I didn’t need to get hired by Disney to be an Imagineer. I was already an “imagineer” by the sheer definition of the word: people who “imagine” anything from theme park rides, patented products, stories and yes, even entire neighborhoods.

Though I’m certain the word must be copyrighted by Disney, I set out in 2010 to give myself the title which I’d had unofficially all my career. The minute I did, things started to fall into place: January 2010 started with the sale of my first “imagineered” product to a local school, and the creation of a real estate web show, soon to premiere on Rexcheck.com - contracts are being spun and edited, as I write this.

Did God send a deadly blow to my journalism and writing career to get me going in the right direction? I’m beginning to think so. Because no matter what happens from now on, G.R. de los Reyes is officially…

An Imagineer.