The Ramblings of an Ornamental American

2005-09-16T22:56:00.000-07:00

Moving!!! I have moved here.

2005-09-11T22:26:00.000-07:00

23 Hour Party People

So I was in Vegas for 23 hours over the weekend. It was pretty lovely actually. I covered an event with Best Best, got really drunk, and caught up lots. It's nice spending time with someone you're completely comfortable with--not feeling obligated to cover up your abundant personality flaws is quite liberating. She needed a break from her life too and I think I helped her get away for a bit. During the event, poker pro Daniel Negreanu said the sweetest thing. He mentioned that he only remembered two things from E3: all the noise and the interivew he did with Best Best/me. It was mostly her being her dorky/charming/spaz self, but it was really cool that he said that. Oh, I also saw Kevin from IGN, which was a surprise. I should have guessed though since he runs the Stacked site. It was nice seeing an old IGN/GameSpy pal and I have great interview with him in his Bill Fillmaff character.

Now back to my normally scheduled life...which is pretty much work. I've come to the realization that I've been neglecting my social life for most of the summer. Getting drunk at press events doesn't count (see the above comment about personality flaws). I really have no life right now. I hang out with (maybe) three people and they're all going to be in Japan this week...which terrifies me because I'm ahead of schedule with work and will have time to hang out...except there's nobody to hang out with. (Daughter, come rescue me from myself some time this week). Also, summer's over. It totally didn't feel like summer. I didn't get to do anything summery. Bleh. I've so focused on starting/adjusting to a new kind of work and worrying about getting signed for another batch of episodes that I haven't really enjoyed the summer. I've had fun for sure and I totally appreciate all I've learned, but I wish I did something summery. Perhaps I'll go to Hawaii to compensate. Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!

2005-09-08T15:10:00.000-07:00

Gah!!! But first, watch episode V. My cold open totally sucks, but the episode has bikinis!!! In addition to studio throws, we filmed some promotional stuff yesterday. There's this one line totally stuck in my head. "Opportunities such as dedicated segments on gaming hardware, in-store promotional tie-ins, sweepstakes, and more are just a small part of what we can accomplish together." We had to shoot that like five times because it felt so unnatural...mainly because I'd never say anything like that in real life. Oh well, it should be fantastic for the show. Things are looking up!!!

2005-09-06T21:38:00.000-07:00

The Waffle House Rules It's like The Cider House Rules, but different. So I spent the weekend in Kentucky for Justin/Kate's wedding. It was a lovely ceremony with dorky/cute vows (particularly Justin's). I'm so thrilled for them. In addition to witnessing two wonderful people pledge their lives to each other, I discovered my love of Waffle House. That place rocks and it's so cheap. During the reception, I spent most of my time (not including hanging with Kit, Rannie, and Peter) with Justin's friends and family. A few of Justin's wrestling pals were there, including Dan (Austin Aries) and Shawn (Daivari). I've met them both before and it was cool to see them. I sat next to Eric (Big Daddy Hoofer), who was super cool. We had some interesting dinner conversation, including this one part in the buffet line when some lady decided it was cool to share her leg shaving experiences with him because he's a wrestler. I spent lots of time with Justin's biological dad, Waiko. He's truly one of the most fascinating people I've met in years. He's a logger (lumberjack for you newbs, tee-hee) from Ironwood, Michigan. First off, I think I went to Ironwood in a D&D campaign in fifth grade or something. Secondly, he just has such a different perspective from most people I meet. Yeah, I've never met a logger before so it was cool to hear his thoughts on things. Plus he gave me my new favorite expression: "Holy Balls!" After the wedding, we hung out with a bunch of Kate's friends. They were all really nice people. We went out for a bunch of drinks and talk. I was proud of myself for enjoying the reception without a drink, but was alarmed at how much better I felt around strangers after I had one (or five). Clinton was really nice and I hope he gives me a ring when he's in SF next year. It was really cool meeting Danesh, since Kate has always spoken so wonderfully about him. It was even cooler meeting Danesh's ridiculously gorgeous sister. I was so disarmed by her multifaceted beauty (cute voice, amazing eyes, really smart, all-around hotness) that I was looking for flaws in her. If I didn't find any, I wouldn't be able to sleep knowing a woman like that exists. Thankfully I found one--her hands aren't that cute. Oh yeah, I almost forgot--Justin's mom is so hot. Wow.

2005-09-01T18:56:00.000-07:00

KY Countdown Bleh. I had a perfectly efficient day planned. I was going to write my OPM story, finish playing Spartan, pick up dry cleaning, do some laundry, and pack for my 11:22PM flight to Kentucky. Unfortunately, I got a call at 11:30PM last night while I was Buddha Bar. Turns out one of the tapes we shot was not so good and I had to come in for some emergency edits that couldn't wait until next week. I made a mature decision to stop drinking at 12:30AM and go home. So I caught the 9:04AM train and went down to Yahoo!, rushed my OPM story (I really wish I had time to make it better), and asked Kit to pick up my dry cleaning. I'm now doing laundry. Packing shouldn't take too long, but I'll have to bring my Xbox so I can play Spartan while I'm in Kentucky. Oh the downside, I'm pretty frazzled. I hate, Hate, HATE when I make perfect plans in my head and they don't work out the way I want them to. I won't get to relax as much as I would have liked in Kentucky. And episode VI won't be as good as IV and V. On a positive note, last night's Activision interviews turned out pretty well. I also got to spend a lot of time with Ruby (don't forget to check the bikini pics at the bottom. wow.) -- my future cohost and Ms. Latina USA 2003, tee-hee -- while I was editing. She took care of my Nintendogs and even found a Luigi hat! We have a pretty fun vibe. We really enjoy making fun of each other in a playfully sarcastic way. It's quite big brother/little sister and I can't wait to see how we work together on camera. Ted and I also came up with the brilliant idea of having Ruby fight Jade from EP in the "Battle of the Lustrous Ladies." Bleh. Four hours until my flight. Hopefully I can relax and stop thinking me so I can celebrate Justin and Kate's wedding. I'm so truly happy for them. I just wish there was alcohol. That way I have an excuse when I chairshot Daivari.

2005-08-31T12:39:00.000-07:00

To Japan or Not to Japan Well that's certainly the frickin' question, hey? I really, Really, REALLY want to go. So many fun people are going to be there and it would rule to cause so much trouble in another country with my pals. The only problem is my main outlet isn't providing any travel so it's going to be tres expensive. I can afford it, but there are so many things I want to buy (DSR11, PD170, a TV with HDMI) that I'll need for current/future projects. I'm not sure what kind of work I can get out of TGS yet either. *sigh* In other news, my Nintendog (Shane Bettenhausen, female sheltie) is now wearing a Mario hat! Yay!

2005-08-30T14:49:00.000-07:00

Monday Night Raw Before I get to that, here's the scariest thing I've seen in the last 38 days. So last night reminded me of that part in Anchorman where Ron says something like, "Wow. That got out of hand quickly. I mean, it really escalated there." I innocently went to a Codemasters event (to support my pal Laura, not to play the game). After several free pints of Newcastle, I got way too honest, ratted out Shane, and totally invited someone to his party this weekend. It mostly stems from the fact that I'm missing out on an excellent drunken time while I'll be sober in Kentucky. Yeah, I got totally bratty. I fully own up to it. I was acting out and threw a tantrum of sorts. Anyway, things moved on to Buddha Bar. There was lots of dice, more beer, and more silliness. One of the guys was a short developer from Codies. He was short and British (I suppose he still is) so I kept calling him Davy Jones and kept singing "Daydream Believer" to him. The name totally stuck. The whole evening was a little crazy and out of hand, which was a stark contrast to my original plan of stopping by the event and going home to capture footage for the show. Oops.

2005-08-29T01:37:00.000-07:00

IV So episode IV is up. There's a lot I don't like about it, but I'm really hyped about the Midway package. It was really fun and random and cool. Let's to a binary list for this episode. Bad: The studio stuff was filmed before we started editing. I hate doing that since you only have a rough idea of what you're introducing, but schedules required that it had to be done this way. I'll hate the throws in the next episode too, since we filmed them the same day. Bad: The Atari is a bit dull. I really wanted to have editors talk about the games too, but the event schedule was tighter than a frog's ass (see Gung Ho). Good: Both Kyle and Dave really salvaged the Atari piece. It would have been much more boring if I included bits of the other three interviews (two guys having a dull day and one Japanese guy being translated). Yay for dynamic personalities. Good: I think the Midway package is the best thing that's ever been on Reset. It could have been better, for sure, but it was a totally random idea that turned out pretty frickin' cool. Bad: My video blog was such a pain to edit and it's not really funny unless you know at least 25 percent of the people in the segment. Good: There's a good idea there, but I really don't want to do it again (unless they pay me more).

2005-08-26T21:12:00.000-07:00

Shifting Yay! My first interview on 1up is...uh...up. Check it out (download please) and lemme know wucha think. It was a totally random thing. I wanted to see what it would be like working with their new cameraman and get used to working together. I wasn't really prepared so I'm not expecting much, but hopefully it looks good. I better watch it, right?

2005-08-24T13:34:00.000-07:00

Breathe Yay, I finally got to take a break! After a week of shooting on the road and a week of local shooting plus editing, I got to kick back for a bit. Ted came up for a weekend + visit. That's always dangerous. We hung out, visited local friends, had lunch with Aletheia's dad, and finished up Episode IV. Speaking of which, that sonovabitch turned out nothing like I thought it would. One of the packages is probably the best thing I've ever done for the show, one of them is pretty standard, and one of them was such, Such, SUCH a nightmare to edit. Oh well, I guess I'll see how it goes when it's up on Friday. The important lesson I've learned: I shouldn't do three shoots in a row. I simply don't have the personality for it. Too bad I did five in a row. Kindly excuse the next two episodes. Tee-hee. The 40-Year Old Virgin is the funniest thing I've seen all year. The new Google Desktop absolutely owns me. Some of the plug-ins totally rock. Google Talk might be interesting in the near future. Hmmmm, it's funny that I love Google so much but get the bulk of my pay from Yahoo!

2005-08-17T23:50:00.000-07:00

Vegas:Play So yeah, my Vegas trip. It was nice to get some gambling and relaxation in before giga-work started again this week. Here are some random thoughts on the fun stuff. - Steve Wynn's new hotel is really cool. You can see the same design elements he used in The Mirage and the Bellagio. What really gets me is the tech. Every room has HDTV, cable television via CAT (not coax), VOIP phones, and more. Your hotel card doubles are your player's club card. And each chip over $25 has a chip in it to help them avoid fakes. - The steak house at Wynn is phenomenal. Brian treated me to a lovely ribeye. It's not the best I've had, but it's up there. There's a cool water show that plays every half hour for your entertainment too. - La Bete, a club at Wynn, is really impressive. The crowd is typical Vegas, but the setting is amazing. The terraces face a facade build to look like a Sierra Nevada forrest. There are tons of trees, a couple of waterfalls, and lots of bushes. It's the most green (the natural kind) that I've ever seen in Vegas. - The Stuff Magazine Casino Weekend was also typical Vegas. There were some celebs around (Shannon Elizabeth and Robert Horry were right by me) and Bone Thugs performed to Kimora Simmons' fashion show. I really didn't enjoy the glitz and the glam. I had way more fun hanging out in Austin with friends. - I suck at blackjack now. I still know basic strategy pretty well, but I can't count cards to save my life. I lost $300 in half an hour. - My video-poker skills are still there. I made some mistakes early on and my speed wasn't what it used to be, but by the end of the trip I was playing pretty close to perfect and at a really nice clip. I ended up winning $250 and earned a ton of comps at the Westin. All that training on Bob Dancer's program has paid off. - Oh yeah, the Westin Casuarina is pretty interesting. It's almost perfect for me. I get Starwood points, the beds are lovely, it's SO not crowded, and there's lots of great video poker (9/6 JOB is my game of choice). The pool is small, but nice. I just wish the spa were better. There's no jacuzzi in the spa and the steam room was too hot for me, so it was sauna city while I rested my eyes for the next video-poker session. The Westin is slightly off the strip, which cuts down on the traffic, but it's a short walk away from Ellis Island, which has the most inredible $5-steak meal you'll find in the country.

2005-08-15T06:56:00.000-07:00

Picture This! Austin, part II. Chicago, part I. Vegas, part XXXVI. So Vegas was pretty interesting. Work was cool. Play was cool. I think I need to make seperate work and play entries for this Vegas trip. Yeah. I'll do that later. Can't believe it's time to go home! That was a hell of a trip. It was fantastic for the most part, but I really tuckered out at the end. Oh well. Lesson learned.

2005-08-12T19:48:00.000-07:00

Vegas!!! I'm in Vegas now. I'm starting to wonder if I'm too old to do three junkets in a row. I am tiiiiiiiired. Even being surrounded by models (including one totally hot gamer girl) isn't enough stimuli to snap me out of it. Perhaps I'll find my fifth wind after steak at Steve Wynn's new place. Episode III is out!!! Watch it (please)!!!

2005-08-09T16:09:00.000-07:00

Lone Star The Atari trip is really fun so far. It's great catching up with old pals and I've met some really cool peeps (and spent time with peeps I've never hung out with before) too. Here are the nice photos. Here are the naughty photos.

2005-08-08T01:04:00.000-07:00

Serving it Up Actually, it's more like not serving it up. I played tennis for the first time in...well over a year (Phu, when was the last time we played?). My groundstrokes were okay. My volleys were okay. But man, I can't serve for crap. This is alarming since my game has been reduced to relying on spin and my lefty-acity. I know what the problem is though. I'm taking my eye off the ball way too soon. I can cheat like that on my groundies and volleys, but when I do it on my serve all sorts of things go wrong. Oh well. It was fun to play and I'd like to play more. I'm officially calling out Phu. On a related note, I probably should get some new racquets. The ones I have are really for a more advanced player (what I used to be). I should trade in my mid-sized, modestly-powered sticks for some oversized racquets with a little more pop. *sigh* I'd like to stick to Yonex, but I should probably see what they make these days. Aside from that, I really didn't do much over the weekend. I was a little tired from rushing episode III and I wanted to save my personality for the road trip (have to put on the idiot act for the kids ya know). I'm sure it'll get a little bit crazy so I figured I'd get some peace/slash quiet before it all starts. Plus, kit introduced me to the wonder that is Paul Walker. I swear, it's as if Shane were a Hollywood star--he's just so breathtakingly bad. I should probably send off emails and prep my PC for the road. I have to leave for the airport in less than five hours.

2005-08-03T23:27:00.000-07:00

Movie Time I've seen three movies in the last two weeks...might as well review them. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: B- Bad News Bears: 3/5 Wedding Crashers: 83% My women issues are getting worse. Mushy movies don't even work anymore. Filming at the studio tomorrow and finishing edits on episode III on Friday. Then comes the big road trip. Maybe I'll figure something out while I'm on the road. It's good like that.

2005-08-01T01:16:00.000-07:00

Hello August Man, summer is totally flying by. This month looks like it'll go by giga-fast too. This week I'm at Yahoo! Monday, Thursday, and Friday. Tuesday I have lots of errands and hopefully an optometrist appointments. Wednesday I have to get my hair snipped for Thursday's shoot. Next week I'm off on a road trip. It's Austin, Chicago, and Vegas. Then I'm back for two local shoots (might be a third too) and more editing. The last week will be all about finishing up episode IV. Somewhere in there, I'd like to fly to NY to see my family (it's my brother's birthday on 8/8). Oh yeah, you're not excused from watching episode II. Click now!!!

2005-07-30T01:03:00.000-07:00

No Go Before I get to my postiliciousness, watch Episode II of RESET!!! I'll do the director's commentary thingie later. The most obvious criticism is that I look like a frickin' cow. Crazy training starts Tuesday. So I'm not going to Singapore. I'm doing the smart thing--finishing the next episode and preparing for my three-city tour. I'm a little bummed, but it's the wiser thing to do. I just wish it didn't make me feel like such a grown up. Yuck. On the plus side, I got out of going to QuakeCon. It would have been okay, but I really didn't want to go to Texas twice in a week. More importantly, I'll be filming the the segment I really want to film. So after Austin and Chicago, I'll be going to Vegas to play at this silly thing. The QuakeCon content would have been more substantive, but this will pull in more traffic. Plus I'll get to ask models questions like these: A caravan of wood elves, traveling 70 miles per hour, leaves Velius heading toward Kunark, 260 miles away. At the same time a caravan of gnomes, traveling 60 mph, leaves Kunark heading toward Velius. When do the two caravans meet? How far from each city do they meet? Hmmmm, I'll need to rethink this. I'm pretty sure EverQuest uses the metric system.

2005-07-28T23:09:00.000-07:00

Ah Singapore I love that Shonen Knife Song. So yeah. I'm trying to convince myself that it's a good idea to go to Singapore next week to film a mouse launch. It's not the most practical thing in the world to do...but when do I do what's practical? It would be such a cool experience and I really want to do it, but it would delay the next episode for a few weeks, which in turn delays me getting paid for the next episode, and I'd be on the road for two weeks straight (Austin, Chicago, and maybe Vegas or Mesquite)...plus it would be raintastic down there...but it's Singapore! I've only been there once and I didn't get to look around at all. It would be an adventure. Perhaps I'll reward myself with Singapore for agreeing to suffer through the disgusting weather of Mesquite (QuakeCon). Damn, I need to make a list. It's time for an Augustine Chan Binary List (yes Steve, I know the binary system is yours, but it's funnier to me if it's Aug's). Good: I get to go to Singpore. Bad: The next episode is delayed. Good: I get to film a segment nobody else will have (I believe I can make a mouse story informative and entertaining). Bad: My next check will be delayed too. Bad: I'll be on the road for two weeks straight. Good: I'll mostly be living off of someone else's tab for two weeks straight. Good: By pushing out the next episode, I increase the chances of Best Best being able to do stuff ergo making it a much better product. Man. Opportunities like this don't pop up too often...I should go...or I should grow up. I'll figure it out tomorrow.

2005-07-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

Rayphoria '05 So that was fun! I got to catch up with a lot of old friends, meet some new ones, steal some shades (thanks C!!!), and get into a little trouble. My time at the show was spent socializing, networking, drinking, ignore The Bravery (kinda wish I didn't), and watching the Black Eyed Peas. I didn't pay any attention to the awards (I'll just watch it on TV) and I didn't play any games (kinda wish I did). Some random thoughts: - Since G4 had The Bravery does this mean they'll team up with them to fight The Killers and Microsoft? - The Black Eyes Peas were really fun live. Great energy. Fergie's hot. Apl.de.ap is kind of weird, but I must support him for being Pinoy. - Melissa was adorably giga-drunk, which makes her amusingly opinionated. Even I winced at some of the things she said. Tee-hee. - Way too many G4 people have watched Reset. I felt really embarassed/sheepish when one of them would mention it to me. In my head it doesn't seem quite real and I feel uncomfortable that real TV people have seen it. And I don't mean to insult the Yahoo! Studios guys, Zoe, and Kat; it's just my own silly issue in my own stupid head. - I hung up on Cliff because Seamus wanted to talk. Sorry man. Priorities. Tee-hee. - Oh, I told a company I'd go to their launch event in Singapore next week. I'm not sure I can get a shooter though. Oops. Better go sort that out now.

2005-07-27T11:05:00.000-07:00

Oh Snap So I woke up super early this morning for some strange reason. Something was just...off. So I tried reading The Defenders miniseries to put me back to sleep (never mind that the Giffen/DeMateis bwahahaha humor isn't conducive to sleep). I turn over on my side when I hear a teensy weensy wet snap. My back has been not happy ever since. This has happened once before--right before I left to Cabo in 2003. I bit the bullet and got on the plane since there was no way in hell I was going to miss Cabo. I suppose I'm biting the bullet again because I don't want to miss Gphoria. Hopefully some vodka tonics will make the pain go away.

2005-07-26T11:19:00.000-07:00

Normal! I'm actually going to have a pretty normal week, which is odd for an independent contractor (can I be a codependent contractor?). It's lookin' somethin' like this: Monday - Play stuff. Write stuff. Lunch with Ryan/Jane. Tuesday - Finish episode II. Wednesday - Write more stuff. Go to LA. Thursday - Go back home. Play more stuff. Friday - Start edits on episode III. Gphoria should be interesting. Word on the street is that a lot of people are missing it. Still, I'll have fun catching up with Cliff, meeting his sexy 12-year old, seeing my pretend girlfriend before she moves to New York, seeing my fiance, catching up with the G4 crew, and all that good stuff. No black outs this year! Oh, I pray this movie turns out to be cool.

2005-07-21T21:58:00.000-07:00

Best Best Break The last three days were giga-fun. Best Best came by for a much-needed break (even though I made her work *guilt*). We worked, played, hang glid (see Eddie Izzard), shoe shopped, drank, saw Les Miserables, and had all sorts of fun. It was really great for me. I've been all over the place the last two months and her visit helped me find my happy place. I hope it was lovely for her too. In other news, a pair of articles on Reset/me went up this week. The first is from SFist (a local SF blog-type thingie) and the second is from Hackenslash (an Asian gaming site). Gordon just AIMed me a horrible pun on the latter article, saying that it should have been called "Game Pinoy Advances." Tee-hee.

2005-07-19T09:29:00.000-07:00

Heeeee!!! I'm off to the airport to pick up my personal effects. Yay!

2005-07-18T19:01:00.000-07:00

Bar Pics Here are some shots from last week's Buddha Bar outing.

2005-07-18T18:22:00.000-07:00

Tee-Hee Sarai sent me this.

2005-07-16T00:38:00.000-07:00

Flame On! So the Fantastic Four wasn't that bad. I needed to see the movie since I love comics and aspire to be a superhero one day. My expectations were low and I was surprised at how entertaining Marvel's first family was. All the heroes did a good job and my love for Jessica Alba has only increased. The big surprise was Reed Richards. From the trailers and stills, he looked totally lame, but Ioan Gruffudd did a nice job portraying Richards as a socially/romantically inept genius that harbors guilt for an experiment ruining the life of his best friend. Unfortunately Doctor Doom absolutely sucked. In the comics he's this brilliant, arrogant, and vengeful man that uses technology and arcana to power his evil schemes. He's a complex character...certainly one of the more interesting Marvel villains. In the movie he's this evil businessman that has super powers and stupid motives. You need good villains to have good heroes and the movie totally fails here. Watch my show! Download it again just for kicks. Surprising opportunities are popping up. It's pretty crazy.

2005-07-11T00:33:00.000-07:00

July Idiot Tax But before I get to that, watch RESET!!! So my TiVo remote has been acting funny for the last month or so. It would stop working randomly, which is incredibly annoying considering that it has changed the way I watch television--I really don't like being without its features. Anyway, I decided to troubleshoot it last week. I tried changing all sorts of settings. I tried tweaking all kinds of options. I searched a few message boards to see how others have dealt with similar problems. After more experimenting, I consigned myself to calling TiVo tomorrow to see about sending it to be repaired...then I randomly tried changing the batteries--works fine now. DUH!!! I'm actually surprised I didn't try that first. Egon's line from Ghostbusters 2 has stayed with me: "In science, we always look for the simplest solution." So yeah. I skipped the simplest thing and tried out all these other (sometimes complicated) nerd fixes. Oh well. Live and learn.

2005-07-08T23:24:00.000-07:00

Watch It!!! The first "real" episode of RESET is up. Watch it! It's okay. There are eight-million things wrong with it, but it's a step in the right direction (all things considered). So download it, stream it, stream it again, and love it so I can remain gainfully employed. Here's a sorta kinda director's commentary on the whole thing, just for my special friends. EA Sports Going into the event, I was worried that the producers would be boring so I decided to interview some editors to add some energy. Originally I was going to be in the shoot with the editors, but I cut myself out. It was the right decision but the angle kind of sucks. Next time I'll have the editors shot the same way as the producers (which makes it a total Filter rip off). Also, I shouldn't have led with something that wasn't host driven. Also (also), I will boycott publishers that give me 40 seconds of b-roll per game. Yuck. Hmmm, what else. Oh yeah, initially I was going to only include print editors since I didn't want to put the competition on Yahoo! I've changed my mind about that and will just grab the most dynamic person around (that's not me, of course). Besides, I can then post on online editor's Forums and mooch traffic from their fans. Conker Party It's the usual Raymond-as-an-idiot show. This was a really fun shoot and a total bitch to edit. There was so much stuff. A lot of it got censored to keep it a family-friendly show. I totally understand why it was cut, but I threw my little creative tantrum anyway. The two girls at the end were so much fun. I got them kissing and feeling each other up (I would have cut the latter part anyway). The original outro had them sitting on my lap giving each other a secret handshake that was a little bit naughty. Hopefully Yahoo! lets me use an age gate so I can put up the cooler version in the future. Marc Ecko Zoe's interviews are so much fun to watch. They're totally bouncy, fun, and conversational. I like the piece overall, but wish we had more interesting b-roll. What the hell was with that clip of Trane climbing the ledge. There's an entire minute of that on the tape. It's kind of fun to watch Ecko speak very deliberately; you can totally tell he wants to speak all street, but is very mindful on how he comes across on camera. I miss Zoe. *sniff* Studio Stuff This will get better in the future. Kat was a bit nervous initially, but she did totally fine at the end. Her voice is so strong--commanding, yet approchable. She should slip into her South Carolina accent more--it's super cute! Kat's going to get better each time she's in the studio...which means she'll be exponentially better than me as a host around episode III. I was pretty stiff. Part of it was that I was being really mindful about not being too fruity (lots of people told me I was totally ghey in the E3 special). Part of it I was being distracted by the Geoff/Kat dynamic. I think Kat totally thought that Geoff hated her, but he's just a really gruff guy. Actually, he comes across as gruff and condescending, but he pretty much likes everyone. Oh well, Zoe thought he hated her too.

2005-07-07T00:55:00.000-07:00

Eep! I totally forgot that it's Popfest this week. I really want to see The California Oranges and My Favorite. I'm curious about Remedy 'n' Wren. And The Autocollants are getting back together just for Popfest!!! Anyone want to go with me? Saturday's show looks boss.

2005-07-06T12:03:00.000-07:00

Weirdo Dreams I almost forgot! I had the 17-hour flu on Sunday. It was really weird. Around 10PM, right before we were going to leave the hot tub, I just felt really weak. I was pretty much floored until 3:00PM the next day. The really weird part is when I tried to sleep. Despite the comforts of the Westin Heavenly Bed, I slept horribly. I had a half-awake, half-asleep dream that the Yahoo! crew was in the room shooting b-roll of me sleeping. Why they would do this is beyond me, but I kept having to change positions in the bed for different shots so I kept tossing and turning. I'll chalk that weirdo dream up to the 17-hour flu.

2005-07-05T12:05:00.000-07:00

Adventure in SoCal My SoCal trip was really fun and really productive. Tommy, Kat, and I did three shots in three days. I got to see a Justin, Kate, and Peter. I had a really fun adventure with Melissa. And I got to do all my favorite OC things (visit Steve, hang out in the hot tub, eat at Shin Sen Gumi and Taco Mesa, etc.). Like Kit, I felt all kinds of nostalgia for The OC. I'm not thinking of going back or anything, but I miss the pools, the weather, the BBQs, and all that good stuff. Don't worry, if I run away again it'll be to Maui (right Steve?). Here are some pics from Acme Games Store. Here are some random OC pics. And here are eight-jillion stalker-ish pics of Melissa.

2005-06-28T16:30:00.000-07:00

Dear Santa Yeah, I know it's summer but if you could get me a DSR-11 it would make my life considerably easier.

2005-06-27T19:23:00.000-07:00

Still More Pictures! Here are shots from Carol and Cindy's fine party last Saturday.

2005-06-27T01:07:00.000-07:00

Even More Pictures Photos from Kit's birthday!

2005-06-24T17:37:00.000-07:00

Picture Time! The captions suck because I was too lazy to think of good ones. Ray-B-Q SF Random SF Weekend Check it out!

2005-06-21T23:48:00.000-07:00

Nawlins and my People New Orleans (prounounced Nawlins) was so much fun. Everything was fantastic--the Southern hospitality, the amazing Cajun food, an excellent party (here are some of Rob's pics), lovely local girls, a kick-ass upgrade at The W, and more. I suppose the only thing that sucked was the incredible hangover I had most of Sunday. Oh well, that's what I get for staying out until 5AM. So yeah, I definitely want to visit again. If anyone's game, let me know. It would be quite an adventure. Now for a history lesson. Although Filipinos have been coming to America since the 1500s, Louisiana was the first place in (what would be) the US that had a permanent Filipino settlement. From 1565 to 1815, lots of Filipinos were forced by Spaniards to work the trade route between Manila and Acapulco. Many of them chose to jump ship in search of a better life. Some settled in Mexico, while a decent-sized group ended up in the bayous and marshes of Louisiana. I guess the climate made them feel like they were home. This brings me to my last point. I've been approached to be the subject of a feature by a journo in Manila. He's part of an organization called the Asian Gaming Journalists Association. He says the group's goal is "to unite Asian gaming journalists and encourage more publications to devote space to developments in the gaming industry across the region." It seems like a cool thing to do; I'd be helping my people and hopefully Reset would get some international viewers. Plus I'd get an honorary membership into a group with an acronym. This brings me back to my colleges days when I'd terrorize other kids with my memberships in the Chinese Students Associations (CSA), the Asian American Alliance (AAA), the East Coast Asian Students Union (ECASU), the Filipino Intercollegiate Networking Dialogue (FIND), the National Filipino American Youth Association (NFAYA), and a bunch of other militant (not really) groups that I can't remember. Ha!

2005-06-18T00:15:00.000-07:00

Time to Make the Donuts I've been pretty...Dionysian the last week. It's pretty much all been about wine (beer), women (Sad Girl), and song (karaoke). Andy Mc's visit was followed by a visit from Ted, which meant lots and lots of drinking. It was really fun but it made me feel really lazy and decadent (even though I did two shoots). Sad Girl was inhabiting (see Love Actually) with me for the last week. It was mostly good. I enjoy taking care of her and I want to be there for her as she tries to figure herself out. The days were fun and harmless. Nights were sometimes difficult. She drinks a lot and gets pretty frisky. I'm usually really good about fending her off, but if I'm really drunk it seems like a good idea. It doesn't bother me anymore that she acts friend-ish sober and totally tries to jump me when she's drunk. It's kind of sad for both of us, but I've accepted it for what it is. She can't hurt me anymore. Anyway, she's gone now. Actually she's still there (in SF, not my apartment) and I'm in New Orleans (prounounced Nawlins). Works going to get pretty busy, which should keep me away from the wine, women, and song...or at least two of those. After I get back from Nawlins, I have a few days of post, a day of studio shoots, one more day of post, and a couple of shoots in The OC/LA. I also have possible (probable actually) shoots in New York, San Diego, and San Francisco. It should be crazy fun for a bit. Oh, Nawlins is pretty neat. I walked around town for a bit, ate some delicious Cajun food, and skipped out on French Quarter debauchery in favor of seeing Batman Begins again. I think I'll hang out tomorrow night though. I miss cities where bars stay open until 4AM.

2005-06-14T11:28:00.000-07:00

Good Times Wow. Ted's been over and it has been leading to some interesting adventures. Last night was probably the most ridiculous. 6.5 liters of wine at Bucca and some really lovely, really expensive whiskey at Shane's.

2005-06-07T23:47:00.000-07:00

Oh! I totally forgot that Andy Mc is coming to town this week. That makes things exponentially more fun. A marathon session of liar's dice is in order on Wednesday. Oh yeah, a bunch of us were thinking of going to BY Grill on Thursday. It's all you can drink beer for $25. Skip and I want to make them pay for their folly. Drop me a line if you want to come!

2005-06-07T01:53:00.000-07:00

City Hall So I spent most of today doing paperwork for my new venture. This included a rather neat trip to city hall, which in turn made more than a few friends wonder if I was filing for a marriage license. Very funny people. That's next month. *joke* So yeah. I called the feds to get some tax number. I filed something with the state for a California tax thingie. And I filed another piece of paper so I can fictitiously do business (a concept I'm still struggling with). In between I scrounged up another writing assignment to keep me occupied until my next shoot. So what does this all mean? Not much really. I can now get sued twice as much as most of you. You can sue me or you can sue me under the fictitious business name (FBN) I'm doing business as (DBA). The government is so cute with its acronyms. That's been kind of a challenge for me actually. I haven't had a lot to do since the E3 episode posted. The writing stuff is slow and I jumped at the chance to do something even though it wasn't the most interesting game in the world. The downtime allowed me to finally fully unpack from E3, buy some new shoes (Camper x 3), and put my room in order. It also allowed me to spend way too much time thinking, which is rarely good when I dwell on romantic matters. It also allowed me to get drunk and meet new people. This can be a good thing, but it might have led to the single dumbest thing I've ever done in my life. I'm trying to avoid thinking about it, but I'll have to soon. I really need to learn how to say no to pretty girls that say really sweet things when they're equally drunk. (And no, it's not what you're thinking.) Thankfully things are picking up again. The next few shoots are planned and I have to figure out what the hell I want the next two episodes to be. There are lots of logistical problems to tackle, which is fine -- it'll keep my mind busy and away from silly things. Oh, the cuts on my fingers finally healed. So it's going to be boxing time again. Sweet!

2005-06-01T23:47:00.000-07:00

Picture Time! Mark's Excellent BBQ Eeeevers Birthday Another Karaoke Night Jennie's Excellent BBQ

2005-05-28T04:41:00.000-07:00

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!

2005-05-27T17:07:00.000-07:00

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!

2005-05-25T22:55:00.000-07:00

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.

2005-05-21T23:52:00.000-07:00

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!

2005-05-14T09:21:00.000-07:00

Heeeeeee!!!

2005-05-12T02:30:00.000-07:00

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*

2005-05-09T23:53:00.000-07:00

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.

2005-05-08T02:40:00.000-07:00

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.

2005-05-07T12:31:00.000-07:00

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.

2005-05-05T10:14:00.000-07:00

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!"

2005-05-03T01:02:00.000-07:00

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.

2005-04-30T22:34:00.000-07:00

Craziness What an emotional week this has been�. Let's break it down. Goodbye -- As I mentioned last post, this was my last week at work. The parting didn't go as smoothly as I had planned. There are some things I could have done better and there were some things they could have done better. It's a shame since I tried to be as accommodating as possible. I really wanted to keep writing for the guys and continue writing my column; I still have some great friends there that I want to help and I really enjoyed my column. Sadly, after taking care of some odds and ends, it looks like my services will not be required. There are definitely other places I can write for and lots of people have asked already, but that green site has a special place with me. The worst part of it was that Bryn and I had a nice exit plan in place. It would have benefited us both, short term and long term. It didn't work out. And when things don't work out the way I have them planned in my head, I kind of crumble. Hello -- Best Best and I filmed our pilot. It was such a fantastic experience. The crew is amazing and so much fun to work with. We've dubbed them "The Fantastic Four." Geoff is the boss so he's Mr. Fantastic. Brian is the biggest so he gets to be The Thing. Since Joel is the prettiest of the bunch we dubbed him The Invisible Woman. So by default, Tommy is The Human Torch. Most of the stuff was great considering the circumstance. Best Best was wonderful, I did okay, and the roundtable�well, that's going to be a mess to edit but it was a good learning experience. Though it doesn't convey much of our vision, I feel very positive about the pilot. Hopefully Yahoo! picks it up. Even if they don't, I wouldn't trade the experience for anything in the world. Six shoots over three days was a lot of work -- and not the kind I'm used to -- but doing it with an amazing crew and Best Best made it really fun and really cool. Chats -- Leaving my job and starting a new projects was quite the conversation piece. I was really excited to talk about the new stuff. Lots of old friends noticed how amped I was about everything and were really happy for me. Unfortunately the rumor mill was running rampant and I had (and still have) to do some damage control. Explaining to people over and over again that I was not fired became tiresome. Me Stuff -- Of course no Raymond week would be complete without some kind of emotional breakdown! Tee-hee. A person I love very much is really concerned about a choice I made�and I suppose she worries about me in general too. Things are just complicated when it comes to her. Plus I got into a little spat because I've been trying to prove that some men are islands. Speaking of which... Island Living -- I've been trying to be stronger and more independent the last few months. Sometimes it works. I've been making an effort to be a bit more distant and detached. I keep whining about the same problems to the same people. I'm tired of saying it so I imagine they're tired of hearing it. I'm trying to change things. My plan was to start letting people in again after I've made significant progress. There are times when it's really hard for me (remember, I'm brave not strong) and there are times when it's okay. Best Best totally called me on it after I freaked out a bit. Bless her for putting up with me and helping me talk things through. At the same time, I still need to be able to stand on my own. I'm still at the point where I'd be a mess if she didn't fix me. It's like "Faithfully." "Wondering where I am, lost without you." No Rest for the Stupid -- So you'd think I'd have some down time now that I don't have a job. Riiiiiight??? As Ivan Lendl so eloquently said in his Snapple commercial, "Not so." Next week I have to fly up to Seattle for a business trip, write some "Hi I wasn't fired. Here's my new contact info." emails, go to the doctor, go to the dentist, go to DMV, check out the footage we shot this week, track down more b-roll, make sure I'm still down for all the press conference, and get some work nailed down for E3. It's nothing I can't handle, I just need some time to clear my head and heart. Fear Factor -- So yeah. This is a really interesting time for me. The Yahoo! stuff has me jazzed. Another company has expressed interesting in having me produce some stuff. Maybe this is a start of an all-new, all-different part of my life. When self doubt creeps in I get a bit scared. I left a steady job and it looks like I won't be able to freelance there. I can't say for sure that I'll get enough writing gigs to get by if the video stuff doesn't work out. So there's a chance that in a few months I'll be struggling to pay rent, still be alone, and be without any career direction. Oh well, I have to believe in myself and believe in Cobra's mantra: "No reward without risk." Oh yeah, McNamara told me some joke last week and it made me pull an oblique. It hurt so much that I thought my appendix was on the verge of bursting. Damn it Andy!

2005-04-28T10:10:00.000-07:00

Quickie Wow! Waaaaoooooooowwwww. Yesterday was so busy! Best Best and I shot with a four-person crew -- it was amazing!!! The guys were awesome and it was incredible working with so much. The excitement + the long day + an ill-advised trip to Buddha Bar left me totally sapped. Oh yeah, I quit GameSpy yesterday...but I may have gotten fired after I quit. I should call and find out. More later!

2005-04-25T07:22:00.000-07:00

Ha! It's a new day. It's a new week. There are so many exciting possibilities. The weather is nice. Best Best is coming for a visit tomorrow. In the immortal words of Bizzaro, "Life am good."

2005-04-24T13:47:00.000-07:00

Tumult 1 a : disorderly agitation or milling about of a crowd usually with uproar and confusion of voices : COMMOTION b : a turbulent uprising : RIOT So yeah! Friday was pretty interesting. I was having a fun drunken-karaoke evening. But then I ... (wait for it) ... went to the dark side. I don't remember the last hour or so, but apparently I was really bad. I have some clean up ahead of me. I feel bad. I don't really know her that well, but she's been really nice to me. Sometimes I run. Sometimes I hide. Sometimes I'm a horrible drunken idiot. Thankfully daughter dearest was around to take care of me. The one thing I do remember is crying on her shoulder while we were in her car. At least, I think I remember that. So that was part of Teddy Bear's birthday weekend. Saturday I just felt like hell and didn't feel like a functioning human being until 10:30PM or so. Ted and I went to Buddha for some Guiness and dice. Mark and I spoke about Sandra for a bit. You know, as bad as that was at times, she was always honest with me. Considering my trust issues with females these days, I really appreciate that. It's probably not a good idea for me to call her though. It has been brought to my attention that I've been being a bit of a himbo lately. This isn't entirely accurate. There were those incidents with Stefanie, Kimberly, and a few other people, but it wasn't as bad as it looked. Leaving with someone doesn't mean you're "leaving" with someone. A few people have theorized that my himbo-ness is the influence of a certain friend of mine. I think that's really unfair to both of us. He's really not like that and I can think for myself. Today is going to be pretty domestic. Ted and I had lunch at Klein's before he took off to the airport. I emptied out the keg from last weekend's party. I put away some dishes. I'm doing laundry. And I'm going to tidy up the place for my nemesis' visit. So to recap, I had a lot of fun on Friday until I became an idiot, I have a really angry Korean woman (who's also really pretty and smart) to apologize to, it was nice having Ted up here for the weekend, and I'm really not a slut. Hmmmm, let's end on a positive note. I've really enjoyed becoming friends with Ted over the last year. He's an excellent person and one of my favorites to spend time with on the road. Hopefully he ends up in SF some day.

2005-04-21T19:23:00.000-07:00

The Wisdom of Cobra "No victory without risk!" I picked that up from the stack of G.I. Joe comics I borrowed from Hilary. In addition to being happy for him because he's more satisfied with work, I'm thrilled that Hil started a comics site so that I can borrow stuff from his desk each week. Plus, I get little nuggets of wisdom from Cobra Commander and people of that nature. So yeah, the phrase is actually quite applicable to what I'm going through right now. I'm still sorting out what's smart, what's brave, what's practical, what's cowardly, etc. Of course my new plan is to get a pair of these so I can pitch for the Yankees. I'm lefty. I can throw a changeup. I can learn a knuckleball. Perhaps it's my destiny to be one of their middle relievers. Oh, thanks to everyone that dropped me a line to check if I was okay. I appreciate it. But please note, I'm disgruntled, not psychotic.

2005-04-15T23:51:00.000-07:00

That's Interesting I took this quiz I found on daughter's site. I think I did it wrong. I could have sworn I was a bit more romantic. The wealthy/ambitious thing I don't get at all. I suppose I do have many lofty dreams, but none of them have to do with wealth.

Your dating personality profile: Liberal - Politics matters to you, and you aren't afraid to share your left-leaning views. You would never be caught voting for a conservative candidate. Big-Hearted - You are a kind and caring person. Your warmth is inviting, and your heart is a wellspring of love. Adventurous - Just sitting around the house is not something that appeals to you. You love to be out trying new things and really experiencing life.

Your date match profile: Big-Hearted - You want someone compassionate, someone gentle and kind. A loving, nurturing person will fill that hole in your life. Shy - You are put off by people who are open books. You are drawn to someone who is a bit more mysterious. You want to draw her out of her shell and get to know what she is all about. Adventurous - You are looking for someone who is willing to try new things and experience life to its fullest. You need a companion who encourages you to take risks and do exciting things.

Your Top Ten Traits 1. Liberal 2. Big-Hearted 3. Adventurous 4. Wealthy/Ambitious 5. Sensual 6. Athletic 7. Romantic 8. Funny 9. Outgoing 10. Intellectual

Your Top Ten Match Traits 1. Big-Hearted 2. Shy 3. Adventurous 4. Intellectual 5. Practical 6. Funny 7. Athletic 8. Traditional 9. Romantic 10. Sensual

Take the Online Dating Personality Quiz at Dating Diversions

2005-04-13T23:09:00.000-07:00

Grrrrrrrrrr Wow, I was pretty moody at work today. Everything was pissing me off -- the lack of overall direction, the lack of planning for the big show, the lack of vision, the lack of leadership, and (IMHO) the decline of the site in general. If we're not going to be competitive, I'd love to be more creative than the other guys. I really don't see us being either. This latest video really irritated me too. It should have been way better. I was sharing a shooter with one of our sister sites. The other guy was interviewing for a wrestling site, so his questions centered on WrestleMania XXI (even though he spilled onto my stuff). My questions focused more on the game stuff. Due to time contraints, only one piece was made. So it's a mish-mash of two sets of interviews for two sites for two different audiences. Plus, the shooter didn't know that the sound was off during the best part of my interview with Captain Charisma. The world will be deprived of my incredible encounter with Christian. As I finished my stupid story and updated my sections, I had blissful visions of getting laid off. Hopefully my tryout pans out and I can save myself from all this ... that or I'll get fired for hitting someone with a bat at work. Guess who'd be the first target. Oh, I had a sudden half hour of missing someone immensely. 50 First Dates does that to me.

2005-04-11T09:39:00.000-07:00

What Life's About One of the coolest things about loving small record labels is that the owner will personally email you lyrics for their artists. That's so cool! Ed rules!!! Anyway, here's my song of the month courtesy of The Shermans. "What Life's About" Morning toast, Nights by the coast, Dark red wine, Valentines. That�s all I need, that is for me what life�s about, Not all the money in the world could burn me out. Cheese on rye, Hot apple pie, Unexpected smiles, A new hairstyle, A stroll in the park, A kiss in the dark, Children�s laughs, A long hot bath. That�s all I need, that is for me what life�s about Not all the money in the world could burn me out. That�s all I need, that is for me what life�s about Not all the money in the world could burn me out.

2005-04-10T01:51:00.000-07:00

Security I woke up holding an article of clothing that belongs to someone dear to me. It was a little odd since it wasn't really close to where I fell asleep. It was wrapped in my arms ... like I suppose I wanted its owner to be. I might have a really huge decision to make very soon. I have to figure out if it's a rash thing to do or if it really is one of those "dare to be great" moments. I need to make sure that I truly rationalize it and I don't fool myself into being practical when I'm really afraid. I need to keep my self doubt in check so I don't miss a chance to try something new and exciting (and uncertain). I'm really not in the right frame of mind to make this decision -- too many other things are playing on my mind -- but I don't have the luxury to wait for myself to become stable. Hmph. Maybe I'll just run away and get a job making coffee ... for tourists ... in Maui. :P

2005-04-03T03:22:00.000-07:00

Hello Sinner The title is how I answered the phone after a rather funny call on Wednesday morning. Tee-hee. So I just got back from seeing Sin City at the Arclight. The movie was most enjoyable, but a little strange for me. I read several times that Rodriguez wanted the movie to be exactly like the books, panel to panel. I didn't really believe it until I saw it. It took me a bit to get used to the literal style, because it truly was like watching a comic book. It was so close to the source that it was disconcerting at first -- almost like someone was turning the pages for me. The really weird thing was hearing many of the lines I've read so many times. They've sounded a certain way in my head for years. Hearing someone else say them differently was definitely odd. Still, I love the stories. I love what RR did visually. Most of the performances were great. I only found one to be really bad (poor Brittany). And Jessica as Nancy ... wow! I didn't think she was right for the character, but I totally fell in love with the way she made Nancy strong, vulnerable, sexy, and innocent at the same time ... which is particularly challenging when you're playing an exotic dancer. Jessica's Nancy was so charming!

2005-03-31T02:13:00.000-08:00

Oops I totally forgot! My blog turned four yesterday. That's right -- four years of idiotic thoughts and adventures have been documented right here. I changed the template for a blog makeover and am experimenting with a feature to make my daughter happy.

2005-03-30T15:42:00.000-08:00

Superfly I just got to Los Angeles. The flight here puts me at 25,352 qualifying miles for 2005. I hit my goal of making Premiere for 2006 by Q1. It's good to have goals. 100K here I come! So yeah, that article I mentioned in my last post ... it's pretty fluffy. I was never much of a reporter, and I've gotten worse at reporting as I've become better at entertaining (I'm available for parties). On one hand, I was flattered that the people involved chose me to deliver their message. On the other hand, I was a bit of a pawn. Despite being told that I was chosen for my understanding of the issues, I know part of it was that they know I'm a fan of the company and the person. I'm sure they knew I was going to lob softballs and not ask really hard questions at this time. Still, it made the day more exciting. My hotel for this trip is in WeHo. It's a really exciting area that I don't care for at all. The first few times I hung out at The Standard or The Mondrian were pretty cool, but I much rather be in Westwood. I made the mistake of telling a few people that I'll be in LA. They told a few friends and they told a few friends and so on. I feel guilty because I'm not going to get to see 1/10th of the people I'd like to. Part of it is that there's too many people and too little time (not to sound like Mr. Popular or anything). Part of it is that I don't have it in me to put up the facade for six days in a row (no matter how much makeup I wear *tee-hee*). I'll get to spend time with old friends like Steve and Justin (and hopefully Kate!). And I'll get to see people I'm comfortable being myself with like Ted and Lindsay. Now I just have to figure out how to fit a few more dozen in.

2005-03-30T12:22:00.000-08:00

See-Saw Surprise This week has been weird. I was still in my "mood" on Monday. I had a ridiculous conversation with a woman -- it totally reaffirmed my current views on the fairer sex. I was really tired since I slept poorly over the weekend. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I didn't go to sleep as much as I passed out. So between my stupid conversation and the lack of sleep (and everything else on my mind), I was not a happy camper. Tuesday was surprisingly excellent. I had a pretty neat story land on my lap. It's not the best thing in the world and it was a total softball chat, but it was part of Fanboy Tuesday. After chatting with Lorne and getting the story up, I went to a Double Fine party. I expected to chat and have a few drinks, but things got pretty interesting.... I caught up with a lot of people (nice catch up session with Shane and lovely pep talk from Ricardo). I had a really excellent time. I witnessed some curious incidents. And I had two surprising girlie moments. The first was pretty wonderful, but totally wrong. Hopefully nobody caught that one. The second one was totally dickish of me. I met this girl at Buddha. She was with a guy that she wasn't into, but was totally into her. So naturally I chat her up, get her phone number, and kiss her in front of the dude. That was pretty wrong, but I was pretty drunk and I'm really jaded about so many things so I'll give myself this one. Hopefully I'll get to see her again. She's a bit young though. Oh yeah, I met this cool chick. I'll call her Timex for now. With any luck, we'll be singing Beatles songs at the Berkeley BART station.

2005-03-28T06:39:00.000-08:00

Only Lonely I didn't have much of a weekend. Friday was my only fun night. I had a really good wine-filled chat with Eeevers. Some of it was stuff I didn't want to hear, but it was probably good to hear it. Aside from that I spent the rest of the weekend working, took a break to vacuum, worked some more, went to Farley's for coffee, and wrote two letters. There are worse weekends to have, but I felt very alone. It's funny. I'm definitely lonelier than most people think, but probably not as much as I sometimes think I am. Wait, why is that funny? Oh yeah, watch me play with the kids during PSP launch. I'm all skittish and tentative on camera now. That "incident" has left me scared. Bummer, I was just getting to the level of barely competent.

2005-03-24T15:20:00.000-08:00

Slaya Scents Cute little letters sprayed with perfume are so lovely to receive. Thanks darlin'! In other news, I had my breath taken away in seconds last night. I miss her so much.

2005-03-23T09:59:00.000-08:00

Coffee Whore So I was waiting for the 48 bus this morning when Roger (the owner of Farley's) pulls over and asks if I need a ride. I took him up on his offer and asked him to drop me off at 24th and Folsom to meet Ryan. It made me feel all "Accidentally Kelly Street" about my neighborhood (yay!). It also made me feel like a coffee slut for having the owner of Farley's drop me off at Phil'z.

2005-03-23T00:23:00.000-08:00

Retrocalcaneal Bursitis Those are today's magic words boys and girls. Ouch. I actually feel a lot better now. Meds can be quite amazing. Prior to popping pills, I was pretty lame for 36 hours or so. I was struggling at the airport yesterday -- both PHX and SFO. Thankfully Rannie came to get me and help me get my luggage upstairs (women are always emasculating me). Today was pretty funny. I woke up pretty early and thought about getting up, but the pain (the pain!!!) decided otherwise. I finally took advantage of my health insurance, got diagnosed, and got some meds. I was hungry around lunch time (duh), but was in no condition to take a stroll to get food. So it was cereal-bar city! Sometimes I'm too proud and/or embarassed to ask for help. I should be able to limp to the office tomorrow. Though what I really want to do is limp to the bus so I can get Phil'z coffee with Ryan in the morning. *sigh* Apparently rushing into boxing after a few weeks off, walking up my lovely new hills, and being a blimp is bad for my calcaneus. Aging sucks. Oh yeah, this month's theme song is "Accidentally Kelly Street." It plays in my head whenever I'm walking around my lovely, new (old?) neighborhood.

2005-03-21T00:08:00.000-08:00

Desert Nights This has been a most interesting trip. Saturday was particularly memorable. The crew and I spent ten hours at the same strip club. We got there at 4:00PM and closed the SOB at 2:00AM. The amazing part was that I was the sober and well-behaved one. Right about now you're asking, "So how does one stay sober and well behaved for ten hours at the same strip club?" Good question! The answer is that you try to ingratiate your crew to the management and the staff to get preferential treatment. I made it my role -- though everyone definitely helped -- to mix with the staff to make everyone's time more enjoyable. We got away with so much that I was totally amused and didn't need to be drunk or naughty. Here are some of the things I/we engineered: - Getting the cocktail waitress to change into stripper garb to dance on stage and give lap dances when there was only one "regular" girl working. - Getting the manager to give us free pizza. - Getting permission from the manager to order Chinese food and eat it at the club. - Giving a girl a new name which she used for the entire night. - Being such good patrons that management didn't mind that one of our crew was passed out for two hours. There were only two areas where I/we failed: - The (female) bartender wouldn't dress up and give lapdances for anything less than $50. - The (male) DJ wouldn't give the bachelor a lapdance for anything less than $100. The starting five of Cali, Blanca, Kaela (Rachel), Courtney, and Alex was quite the hit with the boys. Faith is also the BEST WAITRESS EVER for dancing when nobody else was around. Overall, the boys had a really great time. Don't worry, I didn't get married this time. I didn't really like any of the girls too much, except one. Kaela (Rachel) was telling our crew stories of how she doesn't climb the pole anymore because she kept hitting her head on the ceiling and banging her head on the floor because she'd misjudge the space. Her clumsiness was really endearing. Plus, Cali told me that Kaela (Rachel) was self conscious about her stretch marks and it made me want to give her a supportive hug. Don't worry, I didn't -- I'm still pretty terrified of women, even the naked ones that are being really nice to you to get your money. Plus, we invented a new word: strippering. I mean, you can say you're stripping paint or stripping a car for parts or something. People strip before they go into the shower. Strippering is a very specific action that's used by a very specific type of professional. So yeah, aside from that I have a most interesting tan. At today's baseball game, only the right side of my face getting sun. I look like Harvey Dent. In some ways it's appropriate because it's a physical representation of what I'm trying to become. It's working pretty well so far. Let's see if I can successfully make two seperate halves. Hopefully my last day will be sunny. It would be nice to go home with an evenly tanned face.

2005-03-17T18:47:00.000-08:00

JDH Seeing Mizuguchi-san and Yamaoka-san has inspired me to grow Japanese Developer Hair (JDH). I usually do something with my hair after a drastic change anyway, so I might as well keep growing it. Hopefully it'll be in all its JDH-helmet glory by Tokyo Game Show 2005.

2005-03-15T20:13:00.000-08:00

Rebirth You know how I've had a pretty rough go of things from mid-October to mid-March the last two years? Well I thought my rebirth was going to start yesterday, one day early. I had an excellent day with Ultimate - Best - Best - Kitten - Butterfly - Woman. We drank Phil'z brilliant coffee, played in the park, watched a movie, ate yummy Mexican food, did some research, had wine and cheese, sang karaoke, and went to Buddha Bar -- you know, standard building-memories things. Unfortunately I went to the dark side at the end of the night and got extremely emotional. Between the work drama and holding back everything I've been feeling because of my crap February, I just totally broke down. Like really hit rock bottom. Unfortunately I laid into Best Best way more than I should have and she had to deal with me. We do a lot for each other and I try my best to treat her well, but the last few times we've hung out she's had to see the worst of me. No human should have to put up with the parts of me she puts up with. I'm amazed that she does and I feel so fortunate that she's there for me. Then again, I'm not sure she really has a choice since we share 11 percent of our brains (tee-hee). So yeah, this is the deepest I've fallen into the dark side in ... probably the last ten years (see Raymond's failed engagement). It was pretty awful. I'm probably going to reveal way more than I ought to, but like Christian (the WWE one, not my roomie) says, "That's how I roll." Despite all the whining you read on my blog or hear on the phone or read in my AIM windows, I really love life. Even when things aren't going well, I still always appreciate that I'm alive to feel anything. Plus I'm extremely terrified of dying, or really not being able to feel. I love being alive. It totally rocks. Last night I didn't care any more. (Don't worry, I'm not getting suicidal or anything.) For a few hours, I wasn't terrified of death and I was pretty ambivalent about living. I didn't want to die or anything, but with everything I've been struggling with over the last six or seven weeks I wouldn't have been averse to Zeus striking me down with a bolt of lightning (normally I'd sidestep it). And I'm well aware that there are millions of people that are exponentially worse off than me, but I'm just not that strong a person. Brave? Most of the time, yes. Strong? Ha! So my true rebirth began on the ides of March, as expected. Best Best and I talked out some of our issues; hopefully it's like my other mishaps and we use the experience to grow. The work drama got as settled as it'll ever get internally. This was important because I've discovered a few gray hairs that sprouted up because of the incident and the damn thing was becoming an emotional rollercoaster that left me exasperated. I'm pretty sure it's all done internally. Did I make a mistake? Sure I did. Were other people overreacting? I think so. Am I going to use the whole experience to learn and progress? Oh, most definitely. It was a learning experience ... on several levels. It helped me confirm some allies and friends. It helped me see the people that would sell me out without a second thought. It helped me get over some of my naive ideas of how "real" people can or can't be. So while it added some undesirable color to my hair and excess emotions to my life, I'm glad I could learn from it and can use it to prepare better in the future. Plus, when you try to do something different and / or new, not everyone will like, appreciate, or understand what you're doing. So here I am. After my walk on the dark side. After settling the work drama. Ready for my rebirth. This isn't how I expected it to kick off, but it's kind of appropriate. I feel so emotionally drained and I probably cried three months worth of tears. So maybe I just needed to empty the glass of negativity so I could refill it with positive vibes. If my theory is wrong I'll just f*cking go to Hawaii.

2005-03-13T19:37:00.000-08:00

Split Decision Last week was quite tumultuous. A lot of good things happened, but a lot of bad things happened as well. Being the lugubrious being I am, I obsessed with the latter. Since it was so split, it's time for an Augustine Chan binary list! 1 - I wrote the biggest story I'll ever write for work. 0 - It got edited to high heaven and I'm really unhappy with the results. 1 - The story got a lot of nice attention from my peers. 0 - Some of my peers wanted to kill me. 0 - Microsoft had its satellite laser system ready to obliterate me because of said story. Good thing it crashed. 1 - I got to see the ultimate woman. 1 - I got to see my dream girl too. 1 - Mizuguchi-san and Yamaoka-san remembered hanging out with me in Japan last year and greeted me with hugs. I totally marked out. 1 - I got really drunk on Tuesday and managed not to break anything, though I did take a teeny tiny jab at my 19th favorite game designer. (To be fair, he hit me first.) 1 - Bryn was also really drunk and it was marvelous catching up with him and getting to hang out. 0 - Between my big story and punching the game designer in the face (he was being an Unreal bitch about it and was telling everyone the next day), I was getting way more attention than I cared for. 0 - I realized how ridiculous I am for wanting lots of attention when I don't have it and shunning it when I do get it. 0 - I got really drunk on Wednesday and totally blacked out. 1 - Thankfully Kat took on the Herculean task of taking care of me. It was an incredible thing of her to do. Who knows where I would have ended up without her. 0 - Unfortunately she didn't know that I moved and took me to my old apartment. 0 - Apparently I passed out in the hallway by the kitchen. I was so bad that Carlos had to check to make sure I was breathing. 0 - Somehow I ended up on Phu's floor. 1 - The next day I did a good interview with the Nokia dude and an okay one with the Nintendo dude (I was prepared for the Nintendo chick and had to wing it). 0 - The interviews with another huge company didn't go to the company's liking. They didn't enjoy or appreciate the goofy and informal (but really fun!) style we use. 0 - The interviews cause a lot of drama and giant headache for one of my favorite PR people. 0 - I felt enormously guilty for possibly insulting a really important gentleman and making him feel uncomfortable. 1 - The bulk of my personal guilt went away when I heard some of the things the subject said and his attitude towards the whole thing. 0 - None of my professional guilt went away because I'm paranoid that I won't be able to interview anyone from the company ever again. Yes, it's probably not justified. 1 - Thursday night I didn't drink that much and was well behaved. 0 - Being sober left me outstandingly bored. 1 - I got to have a good chat about the interview incident. 0 - Someone I care for very much said some pretty-not-nice things to me. I'll chalk it up to alcohol, but it still kind of hurts. 1 - Had a pretty interesting, though difficult to follow, meeting on Friday. It could lead to a significant change for me. 0 - I wasn't too drunk on Friday night and was a little bored. 1 - Thankfully I had a good friend to hang out with. 0 - I saw an incredibly awesome girl dealing with heartbreak and it killed me. 0 - I realized how numb my own heart is in regards to most things. 1 - I went dancing with really cool audio designers from Japan, including Yamaoka-san. 1 - I gathered up some of the troops for Ben's birthday. 0 - I was in my sober / bored mood during dinner. 1 - Ben, Eeeeevers, and I went back to my place for a lovely shiraz. 1 - I made the wise decision not to go the large industry gathering. I would have been stupid drunk or sober bored. 1 - Sunday was domestically productive. After my morning Farley's, I went to the grocery, did laundry, unpacked several boxes, vacuumed, cleaned some cupboards, did dishes, and set up my new color laser printer. 0 - I got into a fight with my printer during toner installation. 0 - The K cartridge kicked my ass, the Y got in some good hits, and the M grazed me a bit. Thankfully the C didn't touch me at all. 0 - The picture above is what's left of my shirt. What kind of moron wears a white t-shirt while messing with four toner cartridges?

2005-03-12T03:37:00.000-08:00

Dancing with Japanese Audio Designers... ...until 3AM is a lot safer and way more fun than dancing with wolves.

2005-02-26T21:41:00.000-08:00

Suck You Okay, I didn't buy a $500 vacuum. A rare bought of logic came over me. I ended up with a Bissell PowerTrak 3594. It was on sale for $119 at Target (bonus!). The reviews on Amazon and Epinions are pretty positive. It has a cute red light / green light sensor that tells me if the carpet is still dirty or not. I'm pretty sure it's just lying to me though. Its Hepa filter is called a "Media Filter." I'm not really sure what that means, but I'm going turn on Fox News to see if it gets rid of any of that garbage. I had fun vacuuming my empty apartment! Vacuuming rules. Wow. I think I'm an amalgam of Monica, Ross, and Chandler.

2005-02-25T23:41:00.000-08:00

Life Sucks I'm totally obsessing over what kind of vacuum cleaner to get for my new apartment. It's pretty ridiculous, but I really, really, really, want to buy a Dyson. Sometimes I'm just such a tech whore. Target has three models. The DC14 has the telescopic reach, the large debris channel, and is the cheapest. The DC07 has a reversible wand and airflow tools, plus the model available at Target is this cool purple, making this the vacuum Prince would use. The DC11 doesn't have a floor tool, but it's so cute and small -- I would pretend my vacuum is R2D2. I could even strap it to my back and pretend I'm a Ghostbuster. *sigh* Which $500 vacuum to buy....

2005-02-25T09:51:00.000-08:00

Let's Try that Again! Wow. I really wanted to pass out before lunch yesterday. It's like my whole month of travel and stuff caught up with me in a single day. Looking back, it has been quite a trying month. In addition to all the travel, a lot has happened. Vegas - Silly, wine-induced crying spell. New York - She stopped talking to me. Vegas - Catching up with the wife. Hearing Julie gush about marriage. Seattle - Recovery plans falling through. This weekend I have to pack and move, so it's not over yet. I'm so over February. I can't wait for the month to be over. I'm starting to think I'm a seasonal creature. I was pretty miserable from mid-October 2003 to mid-March 2004. Things started going bad again in mid-October 2004 so if the pattern holds up things will be all bright and cheery again by the middle of next month. I think I might force the issue and go to Hawaii or something, just to make it a self-fulfilling prophecy. So yeah. Last night I fully intended to go boxing, but I totally passed out around 9PM. I woke up around 9AM. It's the best rest I've gotten all month. I still feel off center, which isn't so bad since I don't want to be in a good mood only to have it ruined by packing. Speaking of which, I better get started....

2005-02-23T00:50:00.000-08:00

Being Boring That Pet Shop Boys song is stuck in my head. I'm so outstandingly bored. I'm stuck in Washington's equivalent to the Irvine Spectrum. And I have nothing to do ... or nothing I want to do. I totally forgot about The Wired awards. Ach! What a wasted opportunity to self promote. I bet my would-be agent has found a smarter, more-talented, and better-looking boy to take to the promised land. Oh cool, I found something to do. I'm chatting with Evers' MILF friend. She's pretty neat. She's going back to Japan on 3/1. Maybe there's enough time to sneak in a kiss. I mean she's married, she has kids, she lives in another country, and she has issues -- she's perfect ... except for not being white. *joke* When I get back home, things are going to be crazy. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle it all, though I've done a surprising amount of legwork remotely. I just have to make it all work out by Monday. I'm sure I'll figure it all out, though I'll probably be a mess (more of a mess really) when it's all done. Hmmmm, maybe being stranded in Redmond isn't so bad. Lemme get back to Milfy-chan.

2005-02-22T02:23:00.000-08:00

Focus Okay, I think I'm starting to get centered. I spent most of the last 17 hours being emotional and irrational and struggling to let logic prevail. I think I'm over it. I created this fear that all women I get really close to -- no matter on what level -- will eventually hurt me or disappoint me or let me down. It's still in the back of my mind, but I'm starting to become a reasonable human being again ... or as reasonable as I ever was. Bleh. I have to wake up in four and half hours so I can play a game and do some interviews. I'm really excited for one of them. It's part of my plan to help Asian Americans take over the business. I'll be fair, but I'll give him ample opportunity to put himself over. Wow, I've been all over the place the last three weeks and it's going to get crazier soon. I had planned to take some shelter from the storm, but I don't think you can really do that. You just need to protect yourself and fix things on your own. It's a new theory I'm working on. Must sleep.

2005-02-21T00:05:00.000-08:00

Whirlwhind So I got back from Vegas this evening. It was an okay trip. The work part was fun. The straight interviews were okay -- there's enough stuff to edit to make it look good. The wacky stuff was better. Mikey C was really fun and I've dubbed him the president of Raleigh. I also had fun with Frodo's brother, making him really uncomfortable by telling him how pretty his eyes are. Sweet. You know, I totally forgot that I was in New York a week ago. I had to think real hard to remember where I was between my two Vegas trips. Tomorrow I'm headed to Seattle, so my brain should be really scrambled when I get back Wednesday evening. Oh yeah, there might be a major change happening next week. It's all happening so fast. Calgon, take me away ... actually Calgon is totally lamerz -- I much rather have a Lush Bath Bomb.

So back to Vegas! Oddly enough, I didn't spend much time with Justin or Billy. I haven't had as much time to socialize during publisher events since I have to pay attention for writing purposes, grab people for interviews, interview said people, and do some networking for future things. There are lots of people I want to catch up with, but it all goes by so fast. Such is life I suppose. I did get to spend lots of time with Tina-nana and Julie after the event. Tina is so much fun; she's super cute, funny (as funny as women get anyway), smart, charming, smart (again), and she reminds me of Kasumi. She's one of my favorite drunks. Julie ... hmmmmm. She has certainly blossomed over the years. I remember when she was this adorably goofy girl that I gave a special ring to. She went on to become a beautiful woman. And now she's a gorgeous wife. Spencer is quite the lucky man. Oh yeah, I got really drunk. It wasn't the crazy vodka drunk of last year, but rather a sustained wine drunk. I think I was loopy from 9PM to 3AM. I was mostly in control. When thinks looked like they were starting to go over the edge, I had to take care of Tina for a bit, so that was good. I did make one drunk text message. I didn't write anything I didn't mean, but I shouldn't have sent it. I feel bad about that. Oh well. Hopefully next time I'll have a babysitter. I miss my daughter! Even though her new site isn't as cute and smells like it's powered by something a little boy conjured (*snicker*). I think my world is becoming right again. It all started on 02/17/05. Pitchers and catchers reported to spring training that day, and I just felt a little bit better about life in general. Oh yeah, who the hell is playing fantasy baseball this year? I wanna play!!! (I think I rather go for a Yahoo! league than SportingNews this year.) Oh yeah, back to Vegas again. I wasn't in a very social mood so I totally skipped the madness that went on. I spent lots of time at the Luxor Spa, which at $25 / day with unlimited re-entry is the best way to keep out of trouble, stay relaxed, get a little workout, and be good to your skin. I played some cards just to see how my counting skills are. Newsflash: they suck. I won a little bit of money, but I made some really bad mistakes. If I played better I would have been up $900; I'm nowhere near that. Last, but not least, I caught up with an ex. It was mildly amusing and totally harmless. I probably shouldn't have called her, but I really didn't want to be totally alone. Well, I guess I should pack!

2005-02-17T00:26:00.000-08:00

Duh Randy Johnson had this dumb ass quote at a Yankee press conference yesterday: "Any time I've taken the mound it's always been the old Samson-and-Goliath story written about me." So I guess it's David and Delilah, huh? Like The Big Unit, I too feel really dumb right now. It started when I forgot to photocopy our apartment application. Yes, the concept of people filling out separate applications for an apartment totally vanished from my mind. Kit and I went to my office, where I went through one White Out pen and half a bottle of Liquid Paper trying to cover up a copy of Kit's application so I could turn it into mine. After three layers and lots of photocopy experimentation I settled for a mess of an application. Yes, I can deftly apply makeup to somewhat cover up my physical disability (my face) but I struggle to brush Liquid Paper over ink in an acceptable fashion. Go figure. The whole White Out ordeal left me mentally drained. I was tired to begin with, but it just got really difficult to think after that. It makes me want to trade back some of the fun I had for some of the brain cells I've obliterated. Next I had a conversation with my friend where he was talking about something like "extracting globules from the iceberg theory." I honestly never heard the phrase "iceberg theory" before. Sue me. Anyway, he said a lot of things that were just completely flying over my head. I think it got a little frustrating for him. The ironic part is that he really didn't get what I was saying either. Perhaps my lack of brain was working against me here too. The words "taint" has been on my mind all day. I feel like I'm dragging around this bundle of negative energy with me. It's kind of like a bunch of balloons, but without the shiny / happy effect. It reminds me of when my friend from NYU (totally forgot her name) ran up to me and was amazed at what a negative aura I had. I feel like I have this taint and I ruin everything I get close to. This stems from making an amazingly cool connection with someone and totally ruining it ... because of said taint. It makes me want to avoid people or put up walls. Hmmmm, if I go with the latter will I have a negative feedback loop of my taint? Oh yeah, in another idiot moment I totally forgot that I'm going to be away for almost all of the next week. I need to do laundry and wake up early to pick up dry cleaning. Way to go moron. Oh yeah (2), I got this wicked raise that will allow me to buy an extra Happy Meal every paycheck. On a positive note, pitchers and catchers report to spring training in a few hours!

2005-02-16T18:25:00.000-08:00

Apartment Hunt! Kit and I spent the afternoon looking at apartments in Potrero Hill. We saw four places. Three of them were interesting and one was just incredible. Here are the pictures. And here's my rundown on each. 320 Pennsylvania 2br/1ba $1800 - Awesome location - block and half from Farley's, close to my gym, 22 bus is right there, CalTrain and 15 are a short walk. - Average bedrooms - Average living room - Old paint - Small closets - New kitchen - New bathroom - Parking spot 531 Pennsylvania 3br/2ba $2500 - Great location - short walk to Farley's, nice walk to gym, close to Caltrain, 22, 15, and 48. - Two big bedrooms (one with a bathroom -- mine!!!) and one smaller bedroom - Big living room - Big dining room - Big kitchent with new dishwasher and fridge - Good closet space - Garage - Brown carpet (well ... I'm brown so I can camouflage myself) - Washer /Dryer in building (though I'd probably go to the laundromat on 18th to unsuccessfully meet women) - Small deck with a lovely view of the bay - Electric, gas, and water included in rent 121 Arkansas 2br/1ba $1975 - Awesome location - right between Farley's and my gym, 22 is right there, 19 and 15 are a short walk. - God bathroom - Small kitchen - Small rooms, one with great wall units - Washer / Dryer in building - Small living room - Interesting neighbors ... though two are French - Jacuzzi to be installed - Cool floors ... made out of floor sh*t (see Curb season 3) 710 22nd Street 2br/1ba $1700 - Bleh location - close to 15 and 48, anything interesting is a bit of a walk, Third St. has a good share of derelicts. - Small living room - Average bedrooms - Big kitchen with fairly new appliances - Water closet and shower seperate - Laundry room - Unusually low ceilings, which I suppose is good since Gifford can never visit (*joke*) *sigh* I'm in love with 531 Penn. I think I'll write the deposit check now. Heeeeeeee!

2005-02-14T22:26:00.000-08:00

Randomosity My brother and I saw Sideways last night. It was my second time seeing it. I love that movie -- definitely the best thing I saw last year. I am Miles Raymond. I'm underachieving and lacking -- almost utterly -- in confidence except when it comes to obscure things I'm really passionate about (i.e. Blue Beetle and Booster Gold). I need someone to tell me not to go to the dark side when I drink and prevent me from drunk dialing. One of the trailers shown was for The Upside of Anger. It looks cute and gave me an idea. Perhaps what I need to do is find my equal in misery so that we can arrive at a new place together. I can see the personal ads now: Desperate, Needy, Pathetic seeks other. My brother appears on this recently release album. Go buy it. I haven't listened to any of it yet, but from the cover I'll go out on a limb and say it's lesbian adult-contemporary. This Photoshop-ped picture by Shane made me laugh. Thanks buddy. I needed that. Here's my first GS interview that was not shot by Ryan. I don't think it's unfair to say that if Ryan were behind the camera it would look eight-jillion times better. Perhaps the cameraman -- and just to be clear, he's a really sweet and nice guy that I like a lot -- was listening to Public Enemy and was attempting to "Bring the Noise" into the shot ... at every possible moment. Oh well, at least it's in widescreen.

2005-02-14T00:01:00.000-08:00

My Bloody Valentine Hmmm. It's Valentine's Day and I can't remember if this is ninth or tenth I've been alone for. I guess it doesn't matter after a while. Since I'm fond of lists, I'll go ahead and make one. I'm sure it'll be incomplete, but here it goes. From the home office in ... uhm ... actually from my parent house in New York here are "The Top 10 Most Ridiculous Moments in my Romantic Life." 10) Learning that Marissa was going to the prom with someone else. (I was her boyfriend so I assumed she'd be going with me.) 9) Discovering that Hyacinth and Wil were together. 8) That time I was dumped for not changing religions. (Shane I put this one in just for you.) 7) The time I visited Diane and learned she got married the week before. 6) Insert your favorite Sandra moment here. 5) Discovering that Sharon and Vince were together. This one was great because she was asleep in my (hotel) bed and he pulls me aside for a chat in the bathroom. 4) The night I ruined my friendship with Sue by calling her Sharon at a really inopportune time. 3) Giving The Girl that book I wrote for her. (I still have half a mind to break into her place and steal it so I can deny ever writing it.) 2) Reaching down to hold her hand after an amazing night, after making what I thought was an incredible connection, and after hearing how special I was more than I've ever heard in my life only to feel ... (wait for it) ... a wedding ring. And the number one most ridiculous moments in my romantic life... 1) Going on a perfect date with a girl I didn't deserve to be spending time with. In the immortal words of Mick Foley, "Have a nice day!"

2005-02-13T17:26:00.000-08:00

February Theme Song "Be Be Your Love" You can listen to it here. And also, "Ha!" I picked a theme song before you did this month. I think I deserve more Wine Gums for that.

2005-02-12T13:45:00.000-08:00

Damn I Look Good Okay, that's not entirely true. In this recent interview about WrestleMania XXI I actually look quite wretched. I just got back from Asia that morning, had no intention of going to the event, and certainly had no intention of conducting an interview. But thanks to Ryan's mad skills and the power of the Canon XL2 the interview looks fantastic! I also picked a pretty interesting corner to film in, as opposed to the boring-ass window our sister site was filming against. This was our first interview using the XL2 and I can't wait until we use it again! It's a damn good thing I know a bit about wrestling or my jet-lagged state would have made for a really bad interview. My voice was scratchy, my hair was a mess, and I didn't have makeup to cover my wreck of a face. Thankfully, Ryan and the XL2 save all! Oh yeah, that EA event on Thursday was the first time I did any site interviews without Ryan. I think I did an okay job with the interview, but every time I glanced back at the camera a sense of panic shot down my spine. Is this shot framed well? Is he making that neutral density filter mistake again? Is he going to change angles once during this shoot? *sigh* I missed shooting with Ryan. It's just comforting to know that you have a talented cameraman shooting you and you don't have to worry about anything but the interview. Anyway, since nobody is bothering to make this interview easy to find on the site, download it here! Oh, after I return from New York and skip off to Vegas I'm off to Seattle. Being a road warrior is actually a good thing for me right now. I really don't need to be holed up in my room thinking the terrible thoughts I usually think. Then again, Vegas is a bad idea when my heart band-aid isn't enough to keep my fractured self together. Then again (x2), I also need to look for a new apartment so maybe all this travel isn't the smartest thing right now. Of course, I can just bag it all and run away in April to become a bartender in Maui -- just a thought I'm playing around with.

2005-02-11T16:33:00.000-08:00

Gosh!!! Idiot!!! So that panel at Columbia was fun. Sitting with people far more important than you are (CEOs, executive vice presidents, etc.) while speaking to MBA students is definitely a ... humbling experience. I was pretty sure I'd be the dumbest person on the panel and that there was a fair chance I'd be the dumbest person in the room. Turns out I was right! So I did what any insecure person would do in that situation -- I made them laugh. Someone once told me, "You try to keep them laughing so they can't see your fear and pain and insecurities." So yeah, once again I played the role of the jester. I actually managed to make some okay points too. I give my panel performance a C+, mainly because I was able to be somewhat animated on four hours of sleep. See, last night Andy, Doug, Billy, Jeff, and I followed Tara, Laura, and Ann around town. Adventures with Tara usually mean trouble ... in the best sense of the word. I was actually pretty well behaved. I didn't get idiot drunk like I used to and I didn't get hyper-emotional drunk like last week. Mostly-sober Raymond chuckled as drunk-ass Andy / Doug would randomly shout, "Jambalaya!!!" (Long story. Don't ask.) It was just a fun time at a cool roof-top bar with gorgeous views of Manhattan and Jersey. Andy is one of my favorite junket companions ever -- we've had some excellent times on the road (spanning four countries I think). I used to be able to say the same about Doug, but then he drunkenly tried to drown me in Mexico. Jeff ... wow, it's weird to think I've known someone for that long (13 years?). From being idiots in college to becoming idiots in gaming, it's been quite a journey for us both. It's been neat watching Tara and Laura grow up over the years. They're still immensely fun ... but you can just tell they've gotten smarter and wiser about ... well, everything really. Plus there's a Pacifica in the mix now. And Ann. Well Ann is just hot and really sweet. So yeah! After I left the city to head to my parents I discovered an email crisis ... which became a lengthy email discussion ... which became an email goodbye. It's sad and I'm really hurting and I'm losing one of the most wonderful people I've ever met, but it's the right thing to do. Ah, there it is ... the incongruity between what is right and what feels right. In a way, the heartache is comforting. It's like an old friend. Oh yeah, I saw James last night too. James and me back in New York! Ha! I miss him a lot and this whole email thing reminded me of something he once told me. It was like, "God forbid you're ever happy or have something that works out. You wouldn't know what to do with it." *sigh* I don't think he's right in thinking that I gravitate towards things that don't work. Things like that just don't work out for me. Butterflies and slugs.

2005-02-09T19:30:00.000-08:00

Return of the Roadster Ech. My laptop's configsys decided to die so I'm typing from the hotel's TV Internet thingie. I hate it and I want it to die. I'm five second away from smashing this wireless keyboard over my head. Anyway, she cancelled on me last night. That's twice in the last two weeks. That makes it 29 times in the six months we've been hanging out. (okay, I might be embellishing). The point being this is just pathetic. I mean, the last few weeks (months?) there's only two things I've really wanted to do when I'm home: spend time with her or box. Sure there's industry parties happening all the time and Glenda makes sure I have someone to talk to, but I almost always go back to those two things. Logically, I'm ok with it. I know she has a lot going on at work, she has a boyfriend, and she needs to spend time taking care of her health. Emotionally, I'm struggling with it. I truly wish I meant something to her. "You let people walk all over you," she once told me. That's a lovely observation from someone at the head of the line, huh? The good news is that I'm not going to drown this all in vodka and I'm on the road so I can't drag Sandra back into the mix (mess?). I'm in New York until Tuesday and then I'm in Vegas from Thursday to Sunday. Thankfully being on the road helps me forget how stupid I let things get. Wow. I'd probably be a lot more stable if I stuck to my original plan of not seeing her anymore after that wonderful night in October. Oh yeah, happy new year.

2005-02-08T07:56:00.000-08:00

I Believe in Yesterday Yesterday was an amazingly efficient day. I got so much in personally and professionally that I'm pretty impressed with myself. I went to a Sony tech briefing, had coffee with Kat, responded to a lengthy email regarding a side project, had a working lunch, wrote an article, confessed guilt to Kitten, caught up with a friend I haven't talked to in months (Alison!!!), and took in a demo. I so owned yesterday. Of course I pretty much passed out at 9PM. Perhaps being amazingly efficient is too much for me to handle.

2005-02-07T01:56:00.000-08:00

Dinner Time The roomies had a dinner party tonight. I was out boxing and my metabolism was up so I missed dinner. So for me it was a wine and strawberries party. Check out the pics. A friend of mine is going through a lot right now. I just want you to know that I'm thinking about you, wishing you well, and sending you positive energy.

2005-02-06T01:03:00.000-08:00

My Life in Pictures Here are some shots from D.I.C.E. and my last few evenings. Enjoy!

2005-02-05T18:22:00.000-08:00

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.

2005-02-05T02:41:00.000-08:00

Birthdays and Videos Okay, if you ever loved me ... hell if you ever liked me then you'll download this video. It's the D.I.C.E. piece that we shot this past week. I've watched it twice and I'm really, really pleased with it. Considering it's a one-man crew (Ryan!!!) doing a ton of the work, two people pestering importants for interviews, and a segment that was cut in such a short time, I think it's pretty damn impressive. It turned out to be nearly everything I envisioned and a few things I didn't. I'm really proud of what Ryan was able to do. It's neat watching his career progress. Kitten and I both agree that he has an incredibly bright future. Now go watch that vid! So tonight was my daughter's birthday party. She was happy and hammered, and it was fun for me to watch. Three nights of D.I.C.E. and that SOE party left me feeling a bit anti-social -- I really needed to be "off" for one night. Thankfully Kit was around to keep me company and enjoy the lovely '80s set the DJ was spinning. Lots of people were having a wild time, but I was totally content to catch up with Kit, sip a Boddingtons, enjoy the music, and watch my little girl tear it up. After making sure she was taken care of, I took a cab home and thought about the video some more, as well as the surprise email / phone call I got at work. Things are definitely interesting for me right now. Oh yeah, I'll get to that long D.I.C.E. post tomorrow.

2005-02-04T15:46:00.000-08:00

Eep! People are posting pictures of me where I look ugly and stoned. My future agent better prevent this from happening. Hmph.

2005-02-04T01:49:00.000-08:00

Rolling I should be blogging about DICE 2005, but I'll save that for a longer post. It was a fantastic event; I got a lot of great work done, the networking was superb, my experimentation with libations took a curious twist, I had a really good time, the self promotion was excellent, I didn't get married, and it was really emotional on several levels. I still need to think about it more and let it all sink in. Anyway, shortly after getting off the plane from Vegas, I hit up a Sony Online party. It was more fun and productive than I thought it would be. I met some great people -- both professionally and personally. It was fun, I didn't get hammered, and I think I have some really cool interviews set up for the near future. Kat introduced me to Ashley, my favorite frag doll. After chatting with her and her (maybe ex, maybe still) boyfriend, I was just totally charmed. So many of the boys were enamored with her, but this 22-year old bumpkin got to me in ways that ... I guess I don't think the other boys saw the same things I did. She very much reminded me of another short, young, big-eyed, blondie. After fifteen minutes, I knew she was dangerously charming. I am not allowed to talk to her ever again. She would kill me. I was in wingman mode once again (always the bridesmaid), as one of the people I met took a strong liking to a friend of mine. I put forth a strong effort into setting them up, but he totally dropped the ball on this one. Hopefully he'll recover because she's all about him. Oh, I really shouldn't hug people wearing white shirts when I'm wearing makeup. One of the PR people drunkenly told me, "So, I heard you have a big crush on Zoe Flower." After spitting a bit of pinoit noir across the table, I recovered and replied to one of the funniest things I've heard in the last three years. It was my usual response of claiming that I know her a little bit and hinting that I'm using her to advance my career. I 've been in the North Beach / Chinatown area twice in the last week and I haven't popped into Buddha Bar. I feel enormous guilt for that. Oh, apparently sad girl is on the verge of being homeless again. *sigh* I don't think I have it in me to take care of her right now. February is going to be busy; just got back from Vegas, going to New York, going to Vegas again, and maybe a surprise international trip if I get the story I want. Nope, nope , nope. I can't take care of her. I have to be selfish and try to take care of me. Anyway, I should sleep. I have a day of work and long DICE post tomorrow.

2005-01-27T21:23:00.000-08:00

More Stuff I Forgot I think I'm going to beat jet lag much better than last time. I forced myself to stay up by going to a THQ event last night where I did my first jet-lagged interviews! I'm curious to see how they turned out. Hopefully I'm not yawning on camera. Or maybe I should have yawned and said, "No, no, it's not you. It's just what you're saying." I've always wanted to get that on camera. Maybe next week with Stan Lee. Tee-hee! Anyway, here are a few things I forgot to mention about my trip.

- Japanese Melon Fanta is my new favorite soda. - I really, really miss wearing flip-flops. - I really, really miss flip-flop weather. - Being away from the Internet and not having a mobile phone for a week is quite liberating.

2005-01-26T14:29:00.000-08:00

They Love Me in Korea Wow. I've been back in the country for six hours and things are already silly. It started off when some idiot took my bag off the luggage carousel. I waited and waited for my bag, but it disappeared without my knowledge. So the airport personnel called this tool and I had to wait for him to drive back and drop off my bag. I wanted to hit him when he got out of the car. I sent one of my "too honest" emails. She must think I'm a total sap ... or that I own stock in the company. Sap, LLC. Oh, I totally forgot to mention that I met my tenth fan! Anka and I were walking around when this guy comes up to us and says, "You microphone good!" He's all happy and smiling, so naturally I assumed he was trying to talk us into going to his karaoke bar or something. He keeps rambling things that I'm not really listening to when I finally hear him say, "GameSpy." So I start paying attention to him again and discover that he's from Korea and a fan of my video interviews. After being told, "You very funny!" and, "Good, good show," I randomly went into this Martin Short from The Three Amigos thing and replied, "You think I'm very funny! That's great. I don't know how funny I actually am, but often I think it's the fans that let me be so funny by allowing me the creative license to pursue what I find to be truly humorous. If people like you didn't watch then my superiors wouldn't let me be 'very funny.'" (Or something to the effect.) He had no idea what I was talking about.

2005-01-25T22:07:00.000-08:00

Shanghai Surprise I'm coming at you live from Narita again! My trip has been mostly amazing. It was so much fun, incredibly relaxing, and wonderfully random. Anyway, here are some random thoughts while I wait for my slight back to San Francisco.

- All Asia passes are great for when you want to randomly follow people around to other countries.

- In a continent with millions of beautiful Asian women, I latch onto the first white girl I meet. That sounds about right, huh?

- I'm convinced that all dogs bark in English, no matter what country they live in.

- The same goes for cats and meowing.

- Starting off the day with a lovely stroll to the fruit stand for some freshly sliced papaya and / or some freshly cracked coconut is delightful.

- Going to some island because I heard it mentioned in a movie was one of the most brilliant ideas I've ever had.

- Vacationing in countries with favorable exchange rates is totally boss. It's rad when a venti latte comes out to $2.83 USD.

- You know, I'm not sure I've been to a country that didn't have a Starbucks.

- It's really weird seeing small elephants strolling down the sidewalk.

- I really need to understand the metric system better. When someone tells me that we're only 7.5 kilometers from the next island it has no meaning � though it lets my brain exercise a bit by trying to calculate how many centiliters that is.

- Seeing who can find the coolest piece of washed up coral on the beach is a fun contest where everyone wins.

- The few days I spent in non-tropical climate probably prevented me from tanning so much that I turned orange.

- Vacations are good. I wonder why I haven't taken a real one in several years. Maybe I'll go on another in a few months. *Sends mental signals to Steve*

2005-01-18T23:46:00.000-08:00

Sweet The Red Carpet Club in Narita has WiFi now. This makes it the best RCC ever. It's clearly the nicest one I've ever been in and the Japanese hospitality makes it comfy. And now I can blog from here while I sip oolong and eat Japanese Oreos. Score.