Building Memories So yeah! D.I.C.E. 2005 was quite an event (download the video!). It's always great catching up with pals in the business. I got some interesting work done. I promoted the brand of me (see Fast Company, circa 1997). And it was just really fun! Here are some highlights. The Man -- I got to interview Stan Lee. It was, by far, the most terrifying assignment in my career. I've been reading comics since I was eight and Stan "The Man" is responsible for creating dozens and dozens of the characters I adventured with. I was so ridiculously nervous for this one. I didn't do anything stupid, but I was too nervous to interview well. Oh well, I got to meet him and chat with him. That's something I'll never forget. Awards -- I was a presenter at the A.I.A.S. awards. I made it on and off stage without tripping, which was my biggest concern. I hit all the lines I wrote and even made up two on the fly since the video clips were working and I had to take more time. The one thing I did wrong was not lowering the mic enough. I pulled it down a bit, but it didn't go as far as I wanted it to. I didn't want to fuss around with the mic more -- and potentially break it -- so I just went on. It was too high and I looked like I was at a spelling bee. Teddy -- For some reason, Kitten and I thought it would be really funny to sing a song we wrote for Ted Price. We were totally sober so I'm not sure what part of our brains told us it was a good idea. The song is to the tune of "Old McDonald Had a Farm." It went a little something like this. Keep in mind that Trip Hawkins just won the Half of Fame award at the show. Teddy Price had a club, A.I.A.I.S. And on that club he had a Trip, A.I.A.I.S. With a Hawkins here and a Hawkins there, Here a Trip, there a Trip, everywhere a Trip, Trip, Teddy Price had a club, A.I.A.I.S. Oh yeah, Jack Tretton was with Ted when we were singing this to him. Guy -- A bunch of us were at Ghost Bar on Wednesday night. Russo and I decided to go up to this gaggle on 50-year olds to hit on them. His opener was, "So, you girls are here for a bachelorette party, right?" Russo played Jack and I played Guillame -- two blackjack dealers from Binion's. Jack is a former tax attorney and Guy is a former journalist. Jack and Guy are absolute money with the 50-and-over crowd. Marriage -- Kitten and I met these two shoe designers at V Bar. She was wearing her "Ce Soir" shirt and one of them asked her what it meant. I popped in with, "Excuse me, are you reading her boobs?" He replied with, "I'm sure you do that every night." We kept going with it. We told them that we met in an AOL chat room and we were an Internet couple. I brought her to Vegas to surprise her with the news that I'm moving to Vancouver to be with her. The shoe designers thought we were charming and we obviously meant to be forever. "I can just tell by the way she looks at you," he said. Heeee!!! They wanted us to get married that night. One would have been the best man, while the other would have been the bridesmaid. Wine -- So I was allowed to get a little drunk as a test. Kitten handled it much better than I did. Since I stopped drinking, I've been on such an even keel. I wasn't sure where my maelstrom of emotions went. Apparently they're locked up in a little box that opens up after several glasses of cabernet. In some ways it felt good to let some of the emotions go. In other ways I feel really bad about it. One of the biggest complexes I have is feeling like a burden to my closest friends. Ever since Raina left my life (I was getting too ridiculous for her to deal with), I've been very conscious of what I let people see. Even those that I was already close with, I've pulled back a bit. Sometimes I get caught; I remember Tammy yelling at meet once because I imagined myself to be a burden to her and she wasn't going to hear any of it. Anyway, one night I just got emotional and irrational and insecure and annoying after lots of wine. I got a stern talking to by Kitten and I ended up crying on her in front of Fat Burger at 4:19 AM. It was really rather sad ... and a bit embarassing since Dr. Greg and Russo caught the whole show. I guess I just get self centered when I'm wine drunk. I really needed to be strong for one of the most important people in my life, and I just wasn't. Sure I was there, but that's not enough. She deserves more than that from me and I'm so disappointed with myself for letting her down. At least I'm aware of it though and can work on it in the future. Hopefully she won't write me off. Good Morning -- Kitten and I got a bunch of stares and giggles the last morning of D.I.C.E. People were all "Glad to see you made it!" and "Wow, I can't believe you guys are up early!" It was odd because I don't think we were crazy at all. One of the volunteers said, "Yeah, we had a really great talk last night!" The real kicker was when another volunteers said, "Hey I read GameSpy every day and I see your pictures and Zoe's photos. It's cool to see that you're just normal people that can go drinking and singing." I don't really recall spending much time with either of them. Ha! Lines -- No, not cocaine lines! It's funny how people can find that perfect retort to a line you've been practicing for weeks. Combined with perfect eye contact, words can just totally break you down. "You're more important to me than I could ever tell you." Ouch. What are you supposed to say to that? It totally hit me at the time, but as days pass I realize it's something she says to keep me around. I don't think she meant it in a malevolent way. She just likes how I treat her and doesn't want me to go. Bleh. My head is getting all bubbly. I better stop thinking about this.