Relaxathon...part deux

Vacation week two starts today.

So far so good, I've been just as lazy as week one. But can it last?
Is it possible to continue to be this lazy? Seems unlikely. I was pretty lazy last week.
But I refuse to feel bad about it at all. I was pretty exhausted and a week of nothing was just what the doctor ordered.

This next week is going to be more about having fun. I feel like I've got my energy back. It's probably time to go reintroduce myself to society. It's been a while. They've probably forgotten all about me. It's almost like a first date again.

The first step is to get out of here and go enjoy what's left of the day. Now what do you bring society on a first date?

Relaxathon

The best plan I had for vacation was to do absolutely nothing for the first week. I've fought off the temptation to do anything productive (almost...) and have just been kicking back and relaxing.

It's just nice to feel exhausted and know that I can just give in to that and do next to nothing.

Next week is the week to get more adventurous.



In the meantime, I'm loving my new camera...

Vacation Time

I'm on vacation-time these days and lovin it!

Pretty much every serious task I had to accomplish today has been subverted.
Today turned into new camera day - so I'm spending the day trying to figure out all the buttons.
Between that and Halo 3 - I don't see anything else getting taken off my to-do list in the short-term. Those people can get their condo fees some other day.

Did I mention that I love vacation!

A Vacation frame of mind

Day 2 of my vacation and I'm already not sure what day it is.
It's kind of like summer vacation when you're a kid - the days of the week lose their meaning and you just enjoy yourself.
Until you see the first of the back to school ads - boy did those suck.
Thank goodness there's no back to work ads.

Fortune Fraud

I got jipped by the cookie yesterday.

I always look forward to the fortune cookie at the end of my mongolie grill meal. Yesterday though, I got the exact same fortune as my friend. How could two people's future's be so intertwined? That would be unpossible! I felt that my future had in some way been cheapened. It was like discovering santa claus isn't real.

Damn you fortune cookie!

Stories

When you boil it right down, I work for a company that tells stories.

Now personally, I think that's just plain cool. And scary at the same time. Apparently it takes 150 people 3 years to tell a story these days.

They say that every story has already been told. Everything is just some variation of an archetype that has already been written. I guess that explains all the crap that comes out of Holywood these days.

I got to thinking the other night about how story telling might have started. Were stories told before there was even language? Were grunts and gestures used to pass along knowledge of a successful hunt, for instance? When did people start using their imagination? Where did these archetypes come from?

As I've said before, I really need a switch to turn off my brain some nights.

Graduation day

I'm off to my new project today (whenever they eventually get around to moving me upstairs).
It kind of feels like the last day of school/first day of school combined.
On the one hand, it feels sad to be leaving all of the friends I've worked with the for the last couple years. We've shared all the laughs and frustrations and rewards of being on a huge project like Mass Effect. We've all bonded through the shared pain and pressures of crunch these last months.

I feel like I should be getting them to sign my yearbook or something.

On the other hand, I'm excited to be starting a new project, with new challenges and new people to get to know. A chance to start out fresh again. A chance to once again be early enough in a project to effect change. A chance to be revitalized by new outlets for creativity - not be forced to compromise due to deadlines or any of the myriad other reasons that affect decisions when making games.

I hope the kids in my new office will be friends with me.
At least I have a new set of crayolas.

Last Weekend of Summer

It's the last full weekend of summer and time to head up to Floating Stone and close down the cottage.

I didn't get up to use it as much as I'd hoped this summer, but at least we're still getting in our last gasp annual work trip. A little bit of drinking and games makes for a nice relaxing weekend away from the cares of the city.



I think my moratorium on drinking may have to wait till next week to officially start.

Feels like Fall

Brrrrr. It feels like fall out there today.

Its that time of year to dig through my clothes closet again, shove all of those summer shorts and shirts to the back and bring forth all of my winter gear.

It's these first couple weeks of fall when I am most disorganized. I have the right hand from three different pairs of gloves, 1 old toque and several unmatched wool socks. God only knows where I stuck my winter jacket.

I think I need a better system come next year other than shouting 'woohoo' and running out into the spring sunshine leaving a trail of winter items in my wake.

New Years Need

So now that the project is wrapping up - my thoughts turn to holidays.

I'm thinking a quick little England trip in October to go see a soccer game (with maybe a little jaunt over to Dublin thrown in), but what I really need is a good new year's eve plan.
Where would be cool to go to for New Year's?

New York? Las Vegas? Dublin? Cuba? Australia?
Maybe somewhere as close as Vancouver...although somewhere warm really does sound appealing since I've missed out on most of this summer?)

Who has a cool new year's suggestion for me?

Genetic Modification

I've decided I need to go in for some kind of gene therapy modification or something.

My brain needs an off-switch.

It's midnight - I'm lying in bed. The body is tired, but the mind is wired. Wouldn't it be nice if there was some simple off-switch you could hit. But noooo - I have to lie there for an hour while all those stupid neurons continue to fire. Stupid brain.
I must try harder to destroy you with alcohol.

I need a new camera

Went to Crowded House on Thursday. What a fantastic show! Those guys have aged pretty well and so has their music. You can tell when musicians are having fun on stage from their banter - both with themselves and the audience. Mr. Finn was in fine form, I can tell you.

I've decided I need a better camera in the future, though. A lot of my camera shots were a little on the blurry side - but it did get better when we went up stage-side for the encore.

Thanks to Cookie for coming along - nice to share the evening with someone who's as passionate about music as I am.

Internet - is there anything you don't know?

Speaking of school...one of the things I realize about my university days is that the knowledge I retained from those days often has very little to do with the classes I went to, but was more likely to be random tidbits of information that I found interesting.

And this was before the days of the internet. The amount of random interesting bits of knowledge available to the average internet user these days is staggering. There really is no excuse not to be learning something new every day (but it must be said that one must always consider the source - just because it's on the Wikipedia doesn't always make it 100% true).

Anyways - the most interesting thing I've come across recently is this.

http://www.ibiblio.org/ebooks/Geronimo/GerStory.pdf

The 1906 biography of Geronimo - as told by him to the superintendant of education while he was in a military reservation near the end of his life. It's quite a fascinating read and a perspective of history that probably not a lot of people have been exposed to.

Thanks internet!

First day of school

Yesterday was the first day of the school year.

Wow - what a difference that makes. Suddenly the roads are packed - the drive to work takes 10 minutes longer.

Since I moved I have a nice scenic route through some quiet residential neighbourhoods on my way across the river. Not so quiet any more. Wall to wall cars as parents drop their kids off at school. What ever happened to walking (or biking) to school.

It was kind of cute seeing some of the little kids clutching their parents hands as they went for their first day of class. I remember that very first day being pretty scary - but after that, it became a pretty fun day. You get to see all the friends you haven't seen all summer, find out what they got up to. Start getting into trouble at recess again.

That's what you miss out on when you get a job in the real world - that first day of school feeling.

Signs, signs, everywhere are signs

Signs that make you go 'hmmmmm'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/6054726.stm