Snap, Crackle, Pop! That was pretty much what happened to my knee on Monday night. When I went to bed it was a little sore, but then I woke up on Tuesday morning in a great deal of pain. I thought I did something major, but I went to the doctor, got some meds, and iced it. It's okay now--only a little bit sore. J-Fo says that I'm just getting older. Now there's a terrifying thought. He might be right though. It's okay now and I should be able to work out this weekend, which is good because I'll be seeing Justin, but I just need to be more careful. *sigh* Oh yeah, my blog turned two-years old the other day. It's hard to believe I've been writing my nonsense down for two years. I wonder how long I'll keep doing so. I hung out with X-Stina (hope you don't mind the nick, heeee!) a few times this week. It was pretty fun. She's the first non-GameSpy person I've spent time with in Irvine that wasn't visiting. Ten months and I finally spend time with someone from here--not too pathetic. The weekend should be rad. I'm going to WrestleMania with THQ. Justin and Kid should be there so I'll have close friends. It should be a nice weekend of fun activities, great friends, and plenty of whining about life. Let the good times roll.

Style I just discovered my favoritest stylist in the world. My buddy and I were walking around when she reminded me that I'll most likely be filming next week so I should get a haircut. We came across this nifty salon where I met Jourdan. He's kind of like an effiminate Tom Green with a far superior sense of style. It was fun watching his dramatic head tilting and arm flailing as he cut my hair. The best part is after he'd cut some hair off; he throw it to the side in a most flamboyant manner. I paid for the performance art as much as the haircut. I'm seriously thinking of coming back here before E3 just to get a Jourdan cut.

Domesticity I had a rather productive, though somewhat dull, weekend. I spent a great deal of it working, which kind of bothered me since I can't remember the last weekend I had to myself. Aside from that I did a bunch of house stuff. Steve, Jenny, and I hit up The Container Store, Home Depot, and Ikea. I got all sorts of goodies for the house. I also saw the most incredible trash recepticle ever conveived. It's $179, but I know I must have it one day. The Container Store is interesting. I really don't want to like it since it's so trendy, but there's lots of neat stuff there. Lastly, my brother and his girlfriend arrived in town. It's nice to have him over, though I wish I could skip work to hang. It should be cool though, since he wants to spend a lot of time surfing anyway. It's nice taking care of him though.

God Bless America I don't know about you, but I think Freedom Toast is a really empowering way to kick off a day.

Am I Strong Enough? So I've been talking to The Girl. It's been really difficult. I want to let go and be done with the whole thing, because she really hurt me. She feels bad, but she doesn't know what she did and I know if I let her in, she'll eventually do the same thing she always does. I cancelled my trip to San Francisco next week and I have two more trip in March, so if I get to see her, it won't be until April. I hope I have the resolve to not talk to her until then. I really want to let her know everything is going to be fine and that we'll take care of everything; that's my first instinct. But I know that neither of us is built in a way where this can work. We'll see.

Girl Sightings Okay, I'm a little drunk. It's taking me a long time to write this since I spent ten minutes correcting the first sentence. I saw The Girl today. I was good and didn't talk to her...but then I had a few drinks and called her. Damn this mobile-phone technology. I'm supposed to see her Friday evening for coffee of dinner or something. Maybe we can have that talk on why it's okay if we don't talk anymore. I'm leaving out a ton of backstory here. Maybe I'll get to that later. I don't know what to do....

Picture Time I snapped a few pictures with my cell phone at Farley's this evening. Check them out: Heidi and Tobie Heidi Tobie's butt Before I stopped by to see the girls, I was at an event in San Francisco. I'm in Oakland right now and won't get home until Saturday. I'm feeling a little displaced. On a positive note, I've made the decision to help my friend with an opportunity rather than to take it myself. I know I can be overly selfless sometimes (see numerous interactions with The Girl), but I think I'm doing the right thing. It would be a step up for him and only a lateral move for me. Maybe I'm being stupid, but it feels right and hopefully will net me some groovy karma.

Peer Pressure I got back from the D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas. It's such a cool event...just watching all these brilliant minds in game development riff off each other. It was fantastic for me in terms of networking and just learning more about the industry. I got to catch up with a lot of old friends, make new contacts, and strengthen old ones. I cranked out lots of work too and got drunk for the first time this year. As I get older I feel less and less confident in my ability to attend a trade event, write, network, and hang out for days at a time. I was surprised I did it for two days at D.I.C.E. I'm still not sure I'll make it through E3 this year...but I say that every year. One of my most pleasant surprises was catching up with Van and Seamus. I haven't seen Van in months. She's changed a lot. Motherhood will do that to you. It's beautiful to see how much she loves her baby. He's so incredibly cute. I might steal him to use as an accesory to pick up women. Just take a look at little Max. How adorable is he? I did get irritated at my fellow journos throughout the event. One of my favorite parts of D.I.C.E. seminars is watching high-profile developers ask each other questions. It irked me every time a journo asked a question. We have so many opportunities to interview developers and I don't think D.I.C.E. is our time to question them. It just seemed really inappropriate to me. A bunch of us had a roundtable with Shigeru Miyamoto. That was the right time and place to ask questions -- to really get his insights. Instead most of the questions were banal, product-related queries that he obviously can't address until E3. I asked him a question about his new dog in the context of how his gardening hobby influenced Pikmin I was wondering if his new dog has given him any game ideas. A few of my peers scoffed, but they're idiots. I mean, Miyamoto has taken his experience of playing in a cave in Kyoto and turning that into Zelda. Certainly he sees things in the relationship and interaction between a man and his dog that most people do not. Oh well, the one mainstream jounalist in attendance made a point to compliment me on my question. Okay, I'm done ranting.