Moving!!! I have moved here.

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!!!

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!!!

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.

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.

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!

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.