The Ramblings of an Ornamental American

An update on Raymond's quest of life, liberty, and the pursuit of sandwiches.

Thursday, August 30, 2001

�Just desert� or �Hard rocking� Arizona was pretty interesting. We went to a wacky training facility called Covert Ops. The activities ranged from paintball assaults, riding ATVs, defensive driving (J-turns are cool), shooting guns at the firing range, practicing drive-by shooting, hooking lessons, sitting shotgun in a fast-action vehicle, car jacking, and one crazy-ass smuggling simulation. All that stuff was lots of fun, but the best part of the junket was hanging with different people. One of my college friends is a flak for the game company and it was rad to see him. This was also the most I�ve seen my roommate in the last month. Hanging with other writers is always a blast. It�s always cool furthering friendships and relationships, but there�s always someone(s) I wished I spent more time with. There was an overabundance of nature. In addition to numerous bugs, I saw a lizard, a snake, a vulture, several prairie dogs, dozens of frogs, and a bat. I guess my favorite part of the trip was the late-night swim. We just hung out in the pool, drank beers, played with frogs, and watched the beautiful desert night. It was truly, breathtaking. The moon was so bright that it illuminated the clouds. The stars were shining and there was a coruscating lightning storm in the distance. I�m usually not much on nature, but it was quite striking. There�s one person that I really wish I could�ve shared that evening with. On the way back from Tuscon, we had a two-hour layover in Las Vegas. A bunch of us went to the Hard Rock and gambled for 45 minutes. I left $125 up. Score! Read my sophomoric Willy Wonka references in my preview of Darkened Skye.

Sunday, August 26, 2001

�The idea of her� or �Reverse psychology� I went to another Fairways (see 7/14 and 7/29) concert. Jen looked quite beautiful. Again, I didn�t talk to her. I don�t want to talk about it anymore� �but I will. I�m beginning to think that my inability to talk to Jen isn�t pure cowardice. I like the idea I have of Jen. In my mind she�s this smart and quirky girl that plays bass and has an amazingly enchanting smile. She�s perfect like that. And I�m perfectly content going to her shows and being addicted to her smile. I�m not denying I have problems talking to the girls I�m attracted to, because that�s painfully obvious. It�s just--on the rare occasion--when I do talk to them, I lose interest and/or get bored. A few weeks ago I saw one of the girls I had big crush on and we talked a lot that day. All of the sudden I didn�t have a crush on her anymore. It wasn�t because she was any less interesting or intelligent or pretty. She lost her appeal because I knew I was comfortable talking to her. So in my idiotic mind I�ll remain attracted to a girl until I realize I�m comfortable around her. The reverse is also true. I�ll be perfectly fine around a girl until it hits me that I�m into her. When I first met Julie I was totally able to be myself around her. Then I realized that I thought she was sexy, and couldn�t speak to her the next few times I saw her (unless I was drunk). So the two points I�m trying to make are: 1) I don�t want to talk to Jen because it might ruin the wonderful idea I have of her. B) I�m a fucking moron. Ah whatever, my crushes are only devices I use to avoid important issues. Read my Civ III preview and keep clicking on it to give me lots of traffic.

Thursday, August 23, 2001

�Coincidence?� or �Probably� Just as I was yelling and screaming--to no one in particular--about moving, Steve drops me an email saying that he�s seriously considering moving to San Francisco. It would be BIG time if he moved out here and we got a place together. I can finally have a place that feels like home, and it would be with one my oldest and closest friends. It would be so rad if it worked. The only thing cooler would be if I could convince him that Las Vegas would be a much better place to live. Personally, I�d love the warmer weather and lack of state income tax. Work has been surprisingly and pleasantly busy. I knew I�d have a ton of stuff to write from all the press junkets, but even more work has been coming in. Already I�ve written two long previews for an enthusiast site, one short preview for a mainstream site, a mid-sized piece for an enthusiast magazine, and five short reviews for a mainstream mag. I have to finish one long feature, five short previews, and a DVD player review before I leave for Arizona. On Monday night I had the three most productive hours of writing I�ve ever had. Usually I can write really fast or really well. However, for three hours the speed and quality were both there. I kept standing up to congratulate myself every ten minutes. I cranked out around 4,000 words and I was pretty pleased with the results the next morning. Usually I hate everything I�ve written five minutes after it hits the screen. J-Fo said my amazing productivity was due to the fact that this is the most relaxed I�ve ever been in my life. Between the tanning, Sea-Doo riding, hot tubs, pools, and amazing hotels, I really couldn�t argue with him.

Monday, August 20, 2001

�Wanderlust� or �When I think of home� As expected, I�m having a difficult time adjusting to life without a hot tub. I�m actually itching to move again. At first I thought the warmer weather of SoCal got to me. Then I thought it might be that I�ve gotten bored again and want to try something new. In actuality, a move down the block would do me good. I�ve been living in this apartment for over a year and it still doesn�t feel like home to me. Most of the stuff in this place is Rob�s. The d�cor and cleanliness reflect Rob�s personality far more than it does mine. It�s a great place (at a great price!), but it�s not my place. It�s strange, but I feel like I�ve just been crashing at his apartment�for the last fifteen months. Maybe Seattle�s calling�or Portland�or Vegas! Or maybe a few blocks down. Good thing I�m going to Arizona, LA, and New York the next few weeks so I don�t take moving too seriously.

Friday, August 17, 2001

�Room service?� or �My kingdom for a hot tub� So I�m back after a week of press junkets in southern California. There was lots of fun, sun, and pool time. Plus I�ve got lots of great material to work with and plenty of articles to write. I�ve gotten so used to living in hotels that it feels weird to be back home. I wonder why food isn�t waiting for me when I�m hungry. I�m wondering who will clean up my room while I�m out. Most of all, I�m wondering why there isn�t a hot tub in my back yard for when I�m bored. I logged major hot tub hours in San Diego. Being able to soak in a hot tub at odd hours while trading musings with your friends totally rocks. The LA trip was lots of fun. There were lots of good friends around and not enough time to spend with each of them. I went to Universal Studios for the first time. Back to the Future and Terminator were probably my favorite attractions. There was a surprising moment the previous evening when Tammy yelled at me�in an oddly supportive way. Sounds weird, right? It just caught me off guard. It was touching but made me feel uncomfortable. On one hand I feel lucky to know her, on the other it�s scary how easily she sees through me. We haven�t spent a lot of time with each other, but she has a better understanding of me than people I�ve known for years. Then again, maybe I�m just uncomfortable around her because she�s really hot (gotcha). San Diego was very cool as well. I met this incredibly stunning college girl. Well, she�s going to start college this fall. She�s from Colorado and will be going to NYU. Her goal is to be the next Carson Daly (ech). As I mentioned earlier, I got to spend lots of time in the pool and hot tub, mostly with Peter, Paul, and Vincent (not the folk group). The hotel was pretty sweet. Older than the St. Regis that I stayed at last week, but more family friendly. I guess the Loews was elegant without making me feel out of place. Plus it had three pools, and I made a point to try each of them out. So life has been pretty hard. Tee-hee.

Monday, August 13, 2001

�Damned Yankees� or �Miss me blind� This past weekend was surprisingly fun. Even though Steve was coming in from New York and we were going to watch three Yankee games, I thought it would be a bit of letdown from lounging around in luxurious hotels and riding on Sea-Doos. In fact, this past weekend was actually far better. I got to spend time with one of my oldest and dearest friends, met a really interesting person, and furthered my friendships with people that I know here. Any time I get to know people better beats the superficial niceties of four-star hotels or funky vehicles. Like his previous visit, I got to reminisce with Steve about our college days, see how we�ve changed, and see how we�ll always be the same. It was cool spending time with Brandy and getting to know her a bit better. For a young person she really seems to have her stuff together and I admire how focused she appears to be--especially compared to my scatter-brained existence. Tony totally rocks and is one of the best people I�ve met in years. Brandy�s friend Debbie was visiting from Cleveland (some foreign land). She�s pretty fascinating. She can teach art to delinquents, make deformed cranes from place mats, and deftly operate many a power tool. My entire weekend revolved around these four and they made it wonderful--so much so that it more than made up for the Yankees being swept by the A�s. Raina�s been in China since the fifth. I knew I�d miss her, but I didn�t think I�d miss her so much. It�s weird. I don�t get to see her often since she�s a few hundred miles away, but it means a lot to know she�s there when I need her. For some reason I�m entirely comfortable being myself around her. There�s no need for my assortment of bluster, filters, and nonsense with Raina. It�s not like I share every detail of my life with her�but if I needed to, I think she�d be there to listen without judging me. I guess what I�m ultimately trying to say in an inefficient and roundabout way is that if anything wacky happens, I don�t like that I�m unable to share it with her since she�s away. So get back soon ya punk!

Saturday, August 11, 2001

�Much Sea-Doo about nothing� or �It�s a hard knock life� The Infogrames junket was fantastic. It was a great blend of productivity and leisure. I got to see a lot of games and have a bunch of articles to write (including lots of print! Yay!). The hotel was phenomenal. This was the nicest standard room I�ve ever stayed in. It had a huge tub, separate shower, terrace, love seat, Sony Wega television, DVD player, and one of the comfiest beds I�ve ever slept in. I�ll definitely make a point to stay there again. During demo day this flak from another company called and made a particularly annoying and disrespectful request because her co-flak used extremely poor judgement. There was no reason I should have been bothered. The whole matter was handled unprofessionally and I�m insulted it was ever brought up. Sometimes people�s lack of thought and resourcefulness can be irksome. This was pretty much the only downer of the trip. I visited my friend Tommy, checked out his extremely rad place, and went for a ride in his new Ferrari. Tommy totally rocks. The day after the game demos was spent riding jet skis. Having the wind and water blowing in your face as you�re zooming around at relatively fast speeds is a unique and enjoyable sensation. It�s funny�the way I rode was very much reflective of my personality. I never went all out--even though I knew I could--because I�d get scared after cranking it for a few seconds. Even though I wasn�t riding as fast as the other guys and was a victim of many a splashing, it was so much fun. I started out on a Yamaha XL700, which I thought was pretty cool. Later on I switched to a Sea-Doo Bombardier GS which was much cooler. The Sea-Doo was faster and more stable. Tal and I are going to start a Sea-Doo gang and patrol San Francisco Bay. There was a moment where a bunch of us stopped our Sea-Doos and reflected on the last two days. Between staying at a swanky hotel and riding on Sea-Doos for four hours we all thought, �Boy, our lives are hard.� The trip back was ridiculous. We were supposed to fly from Orange County to San Francisco. Our flight got cancelled so we went from OC to LA to SF. The first flight was fun. We took a prop plane from OC to LA, which is a 15-minute flight. Luckily I was travelling with Tal and Doug from IGN. These guys were great company and really made things more bearable--actually, they made it totally fun. I couldn�t have picked two better editors to be stuck with during a stupid SFO shuttle debacle. Next week should be cool. I�ll be staying at the Loews on Coronado Bay for the Midway trip. It just might be more luxurious than the St. Regis!

Monday, August 06, 2001

�Biz dev� or �Cheap plugs� Last Friday was interesting. The last site I had a full-time job with let go of its entire staff and is in the process of being sold. I got a whole bunch of calls from various news outlets asking for comment. It was nice--and a bit strange--to have my opinion mean something to news reporters again. Anyway, the demise of the site got me thinking and I developed a quick business pitch in an hour. The plan seemed pretty clever to me, but I haven�t worked in business development in years so I called up Bill to make sure I wasn�t crazy. He validated my plan and offered some suggestions. So I have something fairly ambitious brewing. If all the pieces come together, this could be the rebirth of something very cool. Those two years of international business development sure came in handy. Anyway, I have some previews up on GameSpy. Please, please, please click on them. It would be even cooler if you clicked on my name in the preview, so you can send a gloriously glowing email of praise to my editor. I usually don�t like my stuff after I write it--it�s all about the journey, not the destination. However, one of these pieces I don�t hate as much as my usual work. Guess which one. Ultimate Ride preview Cel Damage preview

Wednesday, August 01, 2001

�La decisione� or �Thanks Wild Bill� I�m having an informal interview in nine hours. This one pretty much came out of nowhere. On Monday, Bill told me this guy was looking for someone to do short game descriptions. I figured I�d check it out as a courtesy, but I wasn�t too interested in it. So I emailed the dude on Tuesday and we spoke on the phone a bit later. Turns out I was chatting with the CEO of Gigex and the job is actually pretty damn cool--mostly editorial, a little biz dev, and a possible syndicated column. The last part really appeals to me. Having my stuff run on web sites is cool. Seeing bylines in magazines is even cooler. Getting my work syndicated to multiple newspapers would kick ass. The gambling bug is really getting to me. Originally I planned to go on 8/17 with Steve and Mae, but I have two press junkets that week and would need time to write and recover. So I rescheduled for 8/25, but that�s when Jen�s next show is. So I�m debating on whether I should go to Vegas with my buds or catch Jen�s show (and hopefully talk to her this time). I figure Steve is coming to visit next week anyway, and I�ll catch Mae next month for my birthday. Plus I really prefer going to Vegas during weekdays--less idiots, more real gamblers. Plus (again) I have all these cheap weekday room offers from numerous hotels. Then again, I hate planning anything around some girl I don�t know...and I really need to gamble. There�s a bunch of cool press junkets coming up. Next week I get to go to Dana Point and stay at the Saint Regis. The hotel looks so rad. Plus the company throwing the event says they will rent Sea-Doos for us. The week after that I�m in Los Angeles for an event with my favorite flaks in the world. Then it�s off to San Diego for some more fun. Press junkets rock, especially for freelancers. They�re fun, relaxing trips that should lead to lots and lots of preview pieces. The only other thing I do that�s both lots of fun and quite profitable is card counting, but that doesn�t work out all the time.