a sketch a day - May

053107


053007
The first day of work after a nice long weekend is hard. Half the day was spent updating and getting back into the "groove" of things. An asset fix for all the assets in the game was pushed through last weekend and that process had quite few bugs. Now quite a few levels are "broken" with transparent geometry and no toon lines. Good thing the artist don't have to go back and fix them all, instead, the technical artist will do the job for us. Seems only fair, since they're the one's that caused the results from their batch process over the long weekend. Anyway, it's going to be another long week for I have, in a sense, lost two days of work while enjoying the long weekend relaxing in preparation for these next couple of weeks in HELLLLLLLLLL, muahahahahaha!


052907


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052707


052607
This week has been tough. I was given three-quarters of an entire level to pretty much redo because the AD did not like what was there. It doesn't help when Alpha's just around the corner and i only have two and a half weeks to finish. I am totally anticipating longer hours and weekends from this point on. My brain hurts.


052507


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052107


052007
5:20am
My eyes pop open ten minutes before the alarm’s set time of 5:30am from a weird dream that I no longer remember. Got dressed, ate and was ready to leave by 5:45am. This is it! The big day! Today, I run in the Bay-to-Breakers for the first time! Since I did not want to drive into the City, I drove to the Millbrae BART station instead. I was concerned about overdressing when I got to the station when I saw runners heading into the station with nothing but running cloths. Because it’s San Francisco, I’d figured that it was going to be pretty darn cold and windy, so I wore a light jacket and brought a knitted cap.

6:45am
When I got out of the BART station, I was surprised at how nice the weather was – clear, very little breeze and not too cold. I was early enough to get close to the starting line for zone two (There’s three zones, one for the professional runners, one for the average runner and one at the end for the people with costumes). Needless to say I was not in the first zone. Anyway, as I was walking up to the masses of people, I can see things flying through the air above this mass of people. These things looked like small, beige Frisbees. As I got closer, I can see that those “Frisbees” were tortillas flying through the air. At first I did not pay much attention, that is, until I got pegged on the head by a couple of those things! After that, I was totally on the look out for they freakin hurt, but non the less, it was fun when a car pulled up and tossed a whole car full of orange beach balls into the waiting crowd. Ten minutes before the start of the race, I pop open a can of Red Bull. I’d figure if I were going to make it to the end of this seven and a half mile run, I’d need all the help I can get, hahaha.

8:00am
As I cross the starting line, I turned on the GPS distance monitor and timer I borrowed from a friend, and turned on the MP3 player to pass the time. I have to say that running through the streets of San Francisco was quite exciting. Normally these streets are jammed packed with cars, but not today. Today, it’s a river of runners, and the images of Lemmings come to mind as we, too, run towards the sea… I think the run was quite fun. All along the running path, people were already gathering for the costume viewing far behind me.

One part of the race that I was not too excited about was running up the 11.15% grade that is Fell Street. I'd managed to make it three-quarters of the way up before my lungs cought on fire and I had to walk the rest of the way up. Once over the crest, it was fairly smooth sailing to the end. Between the top of the hill and the finish line were many live bands playing, and even more people cheering. This was the most fun part of the race. I crossed the seven and a half mile finish line in one hour, ninteen minutes, and thrity three seconds. That bloody hill cost me at least five minutes!


051907


051807


051707
What the hell is with these "concept" people anyway. Not only are the concepts late, but they suck the big one! I'm working on an interior space for the level I'm currently working on and with no concept to go on, started on my own to do research on google images. I'm over half way done today and I get an email saying the "concepts are done". What a freakin joke! When one hears "concept drawings" one would think something detailed indicating what a space would look like when it's finished. Well what I got wasn't it! They're nothing but a screen capture of the "block model" that the designer slapped together for game play purposes, with snippets of furniture concepts with lines indicating where they should go. Pretty useless - Discarded! I'll just continue with what I'm doing. Enough of the ranting. Tomorrow is another day and the start of a busy weekend.


051607


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051307
Yesterday was a long day. The wife gave short notice to me Friday informing me of her early arrival from her work across the sea (she's supposed to be back next week) along with a cold. Because she lands in the morning, I had to bail out of the painting workshop for that day, BTW, she has brought splat toys for the GOGs who has broken mine.

Last night was also a preplanned evening with a bunch of people from work. We all bought tickets to go see Russell Peters at the Cobb's comedy club in the city. Although the tickets indicated a 10:15 show, we were very annoyed to find out that that was when the doors opened for seating. The show didn't start until everyone was seated which was around eleven. There were two opening acts before Russell appeared, and one of them was quite hilarious. Russell was also very funny. By the time we got out at quarter to one, everyone was ready to go home. Maybe the GOG should set a day for a comedy club and have a few laughs, heh, heh;)


051207


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051007
The week has been long and tiring working many hours. I get home and I go to sleep to recover from the days of full concentration on the level that I'm assigned. Apparently, the mile stone that was completed last Friday was a good one, and the executive producer on this project decided to treat the entire team to an afternoon showing of Spider man 3. Seems like the theater was reserved for this occasion for there were no outside patrons except the the hundred or so people who's on the team. I guess the break is a welcomed one, but that just means making up the hours at some point in the near future.

The movie was not the greatest of the three, but entertaining none the less. I think the problem with this iteration is the fact that there's just too many story lines crammed into the two and a half hours. But being in the CG entertainment industry, my attention was mainly on the special effects. The Sand man and the Venom effects were totally awesome! The particle effects were quite convincing and fun to watch, but I think the character animations are still far away from the "life like" qualities that would blur the lines between fantasy and reality. The ending was way cheesy and unnecessary. After the movie was let out, guess who I saw in front of the downtown Centry 12 theater smoking? Our old pal Mook! Seems like he's been busy with a new "lady friend" of his, which may be why no one has seen or heard from him in months. I don't remember her name. So tired, I hear the sand man calling.


050907


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050607
This has to be one of the most relaxing weekends in a long time. The half days really helps in terms of cutting down the stresses of work. Tomorrow will be the start of a very long week, I gust hope I can make it without getting too frazzled by next weekend.


050607


050407
Took another half day off today because I'm maxed out on PTO, and it's a use it or loose it policy beyond the two hundred hours mark. I have to say it's doing wonders for my moral. I actually started on making the the two DVD shelves that I've been meaning to start on for ages. The stacks and stacks of DVDs laying next to the TV is getting annoying to look at, so this will hopefully get them more organized and presentable, HA!


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050107
Six weeks to Alpha! Sounds long, but that time goes by fast and I'm not ready! This week I'm going to be taking a couple of half days so my brain can relax a bit before the crazy hours that's a comin. Yes, crazy like twelve to fourteen hours days. Near Alpha, I wouldn't be surprised to be working weekends. Not looking forward to that at all. So keep a smile on your face and a song in your heart, for there's no place like home.....