Episode I: Attack of the Show The E3 episode of Reset is finally up! Watch it!!! I'm pretty happy with it considering it was a last-minute thing and Yahoo! was only able to send one guy. I'll give it 3/5. Please check it out and leave me some comments with your thoughts. I know we can do better. And yes, Kit already pointed out that I'm alarmingly floopy and ghey in the intro. And yes (again), I realize that the opening amination (tee-hee) didn't survive compression. So I decided not to go to LA this weekend. Actually, I kind of just didn't book airfare and hotel while waiting for the show to post. I wish I went out to celebrate, but I crashed out and fell asleep. Plus I didn't really have anyone to go out with. *sniff* Oh well, I really should organize my room and life a bit. Maybe I'll go shopping to reward myself for the episode and to make up for not going to LA. Hey, that's a good idea--I'll get a new pair of shoes to celebrate each episode!

Song of the Month It's a blast from the past...well, my past anyway. This month I'm all about Laura Watling's "My Fondest Wish." You can check out the .ra version here. The chorus has been playing in my mind lately. It goes something like: "Hold hands Because we can't hold on To everything. Even love fades in time. Hold tight And I will wish my fondest wish For you and me. We can try again." Sad girl popped back into my life earlier this week. Nothing happened, don't worry. She hasn't changed really. She has the same problems and she doesn't want to do anything about them. It's like dealing with a worse version of me. Hmmmm, I'm still deciding whether or not I should go to LA this weekend. It's kind of fun that I can wait until midnight to make a decision. There's nothing holding me here right now and I'm free as a bird. I would love to catch up with some friends, get some sun, and relax by the pool. On the other hand I just got back from there, I still haven't fully unpacked from E3, there's someone I'd like to see on Monday, and I probably shouldn't spend the money...especially if I go to Tokyo of San Diego next weekend. Ha!

Post-E3 Thoughts So yeah! E3 was much more fun for me this year. This not-writing thing makes the show much easier to get through. It wasn't without its challenges and I didn't get to play as many games as I would have liked, but I was so So SO happy not to be writing like a d*ckhead until 2AM every day. Here are some random thoughts. - It was a bit challenging to be "on" for six to seven hours a day. When I was writing, I could afford to be a bit sleepy during a demo or a meeting. You can't really do that when you're filming. I understand why so many television types are on yay now. Don't worry, I'm not thinking about going there. If I'm doing the same thing next year then I'll bring an ample supply of Diet Rockstar or Diet Redbull. - I went to my drunk, dark place a few times during the show. While it was cool that I actually got to go to parties, there were a couple of times -- one night in particular -- where I really regret my actions. I did something really wrong, really inappropriate, and really hurtful. It stems from love and care, but the end results were not good. It'll be on my mind for a long time. - I got to take advantage of an early screening of Episode III. It was fun and definitely way better than the first two. The love dialogue was still silly and the opening space scene is so overrated, but I really enjoyed the lightsaber duels and the Anakin/Obi-Wan relationship. In a strange way, I could empathize with going to the dark side out of care. Thankfully there aren't any young Jedi for me to slaughter...and I don't actually a lightsaber...or force powers for that matter. - Not once, but twice I got to hang out with "normal" people. I had a lovely dinner with Alison. We used to AIM a lot, but she's doing the med school thing now and she's incredibly busy. That woman is smart, charming, responsible, and hot. I also had dinner with Kimmie, my model/actress friend. It was wonderful catching up and making fun of each other. One recurring joke I can't share, but the other was fun to raz her with too. Whenever she'd get lost in thought or confused I'd yell, "Model brain!" - Believe the hype! Best Best thought I did a good job promoting the show. While that was definitely my intent, part of it stems from being genuinely excited about something I'm working on. It's been a few years since I've felt this way. I really liked talking about the show to PR people and trying to get them interested and involved. Lots of friends noticed how much happier, calmer, and excited I looked this E3. Those comments alone tell me that the risk was worth it. - The LA subway system is pretty good, but there's one thing that really bothers me: nobody checks your ticket! There are machines where you can buy them, but there aren't any ticket agents or turnstyles. You don't actually have to pay to ride the train. This really bothered me as a New Yorker. It just seems ludicrous that nobody checks to see if you actually paid. Give me a damn turnstyle! - I got to drink free g4 beer. I swear it was a month ago when I showed up at their offices to pilfer several cans of Guiness. Tagging along to their kegger/wrap party was cool. So many people there worked incredibly hard to put together some really great stuff. It was lovely to observe their sense of team. It was even better when I heard about Ted's name faux pas. I love when my jokes take a life of their own. So yeah, the show was just a fresh and fun experience. Approaching it from a different angle made it seem new again. I still get jittery about what I'm doing and the risk I'm taking, but my E3 experience tells me that I did and am doing the right thing. At the very least, I'm happy with myself for trying. A lot has happened since I've been back too, but I'll get to that tomorrow.

E3 Edited Pics I put 79 pictures up on my Yahoo! 360 page. There's a ton that I left out--mostly so I don't incriminate certain third parties (pun). Tee-hee. More post-E3 thoughts tomorrow!

Heeeeeee!!!

Piloting The pilot is finally finished. Six hours of footage has been condensed into 33 minutes -- which is still longer than originally intended, but whatev. It feels so good to finally be done with it. I need to give it more thought, but my initial feeling is that 2/3 of it is pretty good (by pilot standards). After three days of filming, five days of going to Sunnyvale for post, and countless hours obsessing over it, it's finally done. I wanted to cry and hug for the first hour after we finished. Dream girl was on my mind a lot -- it's something I really wanted to share with her. Instead of crying and hugging, I missed my train, grabbed some sushi, chatted with my daughter, talked to Bestbest for a bit, and caught a later train. Thankfully, some peeps were holding a drunken karaoke session. So I got to kick back for a bit and belt out some Hootie and the Blowfish. I skipped on the Journey since it felt weird without Bestbest. Oh yeah, if you heard the story about Mark cutting himself on broken glass at Buddha Bar, it wasn't me. He confirmed it last night. Apparently, one of my drunken friends broke some glass and tried to hide it by kicking it away. Mark tried to stop her, but instead stepped on the glass and sliced his foot real good. Someone has been circulating the story that I was responsible for the foot slicing, but it was my drunken friend. I am inn-o-cent. Now I have some old writing to take care of, lots of laundry to do, shoots to confirm, a father-daughter baseball game to attend on Friday, and a week to plan. I wish I had an extra few days before leaving on Sunday. *sigh*

A New Me Wow, today was pretty crazy. Lots of work, sending an email that I thought was a good idea but now horribly doubt, getting stuff in order for the big show, trying to organize my new biz, and trying to figure out what the hell went wrong with my laptop. I suppose a lot of it was trying to resolve issues with the old me and taking steps to become the new me. Speaking of which, here's the new me's E3 business card. Thanks to my secret friend that may or may not have made this for me -- either way, I owe you dinner. I dig my E3 card! Wucha think? Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Here's the new me's 360 page. Drop me a line if you want an invite to 360. The peeps at Yahoo! will be impressed if I have more 360 friends.

Chico is the Man I just caught the replay of the Diego "Chico" Corrales / Jose Luis Castillo fight. Wow. Wow wow wow! That was the best boxing match I've ever seen in my life. The guys were slugging it out skillfully for nine rounds, showing amazing fortitude, hand speed, will, and skill. The pace was amazing -- there were only 20 dull seconds over nine rounds. The intensity was ridiculous. It was as if they were brutally slugging it out in a phone booth. When the tenth started, Chico's left eye was pretty much swollen shut and Castillo had a bad cut over his left eye. Castillo knocked Chico down twice in the tenth and Corrales had an additional point deducted for spitting out his mouthpiece to buy more time. Amazingly, Corrales got up and blasted Castillo into a TKO. The fight was incredible to begin with, but the ending was unbelievable.

Heh I just got off the phone with my parents. I figured I should tell them that I left my job and am attempting a new venture. Naturally, I was quite terrified. I thought they'd think it was another one of my idiot ideas that will come crashing down to the ground. While that remains to be seen, I was surprised at how excited and supportive they were. It gave me a major bout of warm fuzzies. I'm used to being the crazy son that doesn't listen to his parents. My brother pretty much does everything they want them too -- he's the good, obedient one. Maybe they've seen that my crazy ideas sometimes amount to something. Maybe I'm not as stupid as I was 10, 15 years ago. Either way, it feels great that they're excited for me.

More Idiot Tax Last Sunday, I attempted to burn a DVD of clips for a broadband provider. I purchased DVD+Rs since that's what my old laptop had. When I got home and popped in a disc, nothing was going on. To be fair, I really didn't wait too long. I panicked and quickly came to the conclusion that I purchased the wrong media. I gave the DVD+Rs to Rannie. After me Seattle trip, I bought DVD-Rs. I went to burn my DVD and nothing happened. Finally, I want to the control panels and discovered that I do indeed have a DVD+R drive. Since I was in a rush, I burned three CD-Rs of clips, sent them to the broadband provider, and mailed them off. Thankfully, Best Buy let me exchange my DVD-Rs for DVD+Rs. Yes, I'm an idiot. In other idiotic news, I lost my TiVo (MeVo) controller. TiVo is absolutely useless without the remote. I scoured my room several times over the course of several days -- still not around. I ordered a new remote from TiVo. It arrived in a day and I now have this nifty blue TiVo remote...which means that my old remote will show up any minute now. I never got to post my goodbye column, so I put it on my 1up page. The kids in the forums are posting really nice things (so far). It makes me want to cry. "You like me! You really like me!"

Lists! My Seattle trip was fun. It was cool catching up with the boys (and girl), though I must admit that I'm a little thin skinned these days. Last week's tumult has left me a bit sensitive to the customary ribbing. I know most of them don't mean anything, but I'm still having micro-panic-attacks about leaving to do something new, exciting, and uncertain. So when the boys poke jabs at my work, I don't take it so well. I'm mostly internalizing it. I try to joke back and laugh, but inside I'm yelling, "At least I'm trying something different! You're still hacking away and writing the same garbage for the same crap site you've been working at for years!!!" Oh wait, this was a good trip. I got to play and shop at Nintendo. I saw these awesome flip-flops that I wanted to steal. They weren't for sale and were behind a glass display. I also had a late evening of super-secret chatting. I ended up getting a little less than four hours of sleep. It was totally worth it though. It's good to know things. So now I'm back home looking at the lists of things I must accomplish in the new week. I'm currently chipping away at my 24-hour list. I think I can cross of 1/4 of the items. Next is my three-day list, followed by my week list. Raymond has much to do! I'm not sure if being busy will keep me in a constant state of excited agitation or if it will add to my swirling moods. Between travelling, moving into a new place, leaving a job, and my usual nonsense, I haven't been the most stable person these last few months.