The gather yesterday was held at the craftsman's house. That was the first time that I have ever been there, so it was great to see his pad. Even though I was not able to stay for very long, and therefore, had to bail on the first Rifts game, the warden and I was privileged to sample the Craftsman's collection of old single malt Scotches! That was awesome! We had a sampling of a fifty year old Scotch, which was quite mellow and very smooth going down, and then a thirty year old Scotch, though not as smooth as the fifty, but smooth none the less, also the thirty had a nice bite to it which the fifty did not. We topped it all off with a Johnny Walker Blue Label, though good, did not compare to the other two. Now I under stand where the Craftsman got his Scotch snobbishness from, because I'm there with him, hahahaha!
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Today was a long day, and it's not due to having fun. No, it was long because I actually had to apply myself to finishing DevTrack tasks that's needed for next week's mile stone. On top of all that I had to participate in a video conference with the people in Shanghai and other meetings to get situated with what's going to be happening over there in the next month, as they're finally getting integrated into the art pipeline that's been established here - no more grace periods from here on out.
I have to say that I'm not ready! I'm not ready to go into another crunch, and I'm not ready to leave the comforts of home and putting my life on hold because I still have a lot of things I want to do, like making more boxes, which I have had no time to do any more, sorry guys. But on the other hand, it should be interesting to see what it's going to be like living in a foreign country and immersing myself into another culture. It's just too bad that I'm not much into shopping, otherwise, I'd be like a kid in a candy store, hee, hee.
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Only a week into the new project and I'm already slated to meet a mile stone for Wednesday, and I'm not even fully familiar with the new pipeline at that. What a pain in the ass. On top of that, I've only got two more weeks left before heading off to help transition the team in China over to this new pipeline, as well as help them out with "best practices" for modeling and texturing for the assets that they're going to be creating. "Outsourcing" is going to be the norm.
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I had the strangest dream the other night. It was so unusual, that I can't forget it that quickly. So the dream goes; I was in China, and I'm in a connivance store getting a soda. All of a sudden, an old man bursts into the store screaming and weaving a gun. He screams all kinds of words that were incoherent, maybe because I don't really know the language, or he was screaming in some Chinese dialect, or what ever. What was strange was that, while everyone else was scared to death, or for their lives, I was not scared. I mean, I was standing there as if I was playing a video game and could not be hurt. But, I think it was more then that. I think why I was not scared, was because I was not afraid to die - that was such a strange feeling. It was strange because I felt at such a peace, that I was happy enough to take it in stride, because I have no control over the situation and that what ever happens, happens. As the madman starts directing everyone to a corner of the store, and everyone else is cowardly and fearing, I was walking upright like I was strolling through a park on a sunny afternoon. As I'm walking I kept glancing at the madman, and getting glimpses of his face. every time I look at he him, his expression would get from mad and determined, to angry and confused. And I know why: It's because I'm not like the others, all scared and cowardly, ready to do anything and everything to save their lives. No, I was an "arrogant bastard", who's all high and mighty to be above the rest. And who the hell am "I", to be all in control and not scared. "I'm going to teach him a lesson. I'm going to make an example of him in case anyone gets any ideas about not listening to what I say." And I'm OK with that. I knew that there was a possibility of getting shot if I keep acting the way that I have. What's even more interesting was that I was playing a video game with the character looking exactly like me...And I think to myself, That's crazy. Then I woke up.
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I don't like Mondays. It's the name of a song and I totally agree with it today. This is my first "official" day starting on the new team and project and they insist that I move myself over to their new area. And so, I pretty much spent the entire day packing up my stuff, computers, monitors, and a freakin huge 32" tube TV. Not much fun, and a whole lot of sweaty work - all by myself! Then unpack and set up everything again so I can start work tomorrow for a mile stone that's due next Wednesday. Just wonderful. I don't like Mondays.
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Today I went over to Mutt's house to finish his closet enough to be functional, meaning that the shelving is finally in. All that's left now is the facing for the exposed studs. This has to be one of those perpetual projects that gets dragged on and on and never sees the finish line. While I was doing the closet, the Warden got so fed up with Mutt's filthy kitchen that he decided to clean and organize it for him. The Warden stuffed all the cabinets that he found space in, with all the bottles of booze and food stuffs that's just laying about the counters. He put out what he considered trash and unused crap. He even vacuumed the floor and wiped down all the counter tops. Now there's actually usable counter space where mounds of crap once were. Chances are that it's all going to revert back to it's messy state in a week, and I can't disagree. His room mates were very appreciative of his work. At the same time I also installed a new hanger bar higher up in the room mates closet ,so they can better utilize the high ceiling in the closet cavity.
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Ever since I got back, I've been sleeping very deeply. I think all those days of sleeplessness bottled up from the trip to Shanghai have been uncorked. Or maybe it's my own bed and I feel much more relaxed sleeping in it. Tonight's also the first time that I've gamed in a while, and it was a lot of fun. It's great hanging out with old friends that you've grown up with. I really like to have that level of comfort with the friends I know. It sure seems like good friends are hard to find and even harder to keep. I only hope that I can keep making more and keep them as well, but that also requires a lot of energy and sometimes I just don't think I have it.
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It's a good thing my current manager's letting me slack this week because I've been getting up quite late and going to work quite late. He knows that I'm a bit burned out from the constant crunch schedules back to back and told the other project that I won't be starting with them til next week, which is totally awesome! It's a good thing, too because I've been getting into some really deep sleeping patterns the last few days. I think it's due to the fact that I'm home in my own comfy bed, hahahaha. I guess I should enjoy it while I can for I've been assigned a four month tour of duty to the EASH office to help facilitate the art pipeline there. With another aggressive production schedule, they need someone to make sure the production process is going to be smooth across the seas because they are going to be doing half the game. No pressure or anything, sheesh!
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Well, today didn't start off very well. I was supposed to go over to Mutts' house this morning around eight, and get the shelving that I still haven't done in a while. But I totally slept through the alarm and it wasn't until ten thirty that I was woken up by the ringing of the phone - which I totally knew who it was before I, embarrassingly, answered. I feel small. Will try and make it up later this week.
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A few things I have to say about the old Shanghai neighborhoods: although they are a bit run down, they are none the less, a part of Shanghai's history and are more than a hundred years old. If this was another part of the world, great measures would be taken to try and preserve as much of it as possible. Some of the architectural elements and details are quite wonderful such as doorways and window frames. It would be totally great to restore them and use them as commercial property, but instead, blocks and blocks are being torn down at an alarming rate to make way for new shiny high rises. Oh, yes, and don't break and laws there, because the Police have great incentive to give tickets because they get a percentage of every ticket they give out - they do make a pretty penny and lots of people wants to be on the force, HA!.
Finally back home and loving it. Shanghai's fun, but I can do without the humid weather. I haven't slept much for the past forty eight hours due to getting things done around the house; laundry, unpacking, paying bills and preparing for a work day tomorrow. And here's all the sketches from the past two weeks.
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Day 13 - Shanghai time 9/06 10:25pm
Not much to do today. Walked around the block and watched people hustling about with serious faces on. I am so ready go home and get in some serious sleep time because it's so noisy here in the middle of the City. Every morning a wake-up bugle sounds off around six near by, and every other day I can hear a group of older ladies practicing some kind of drum dance in the park below, banging away around seven in the morning.
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Day 12 - Shanghai time 9/05 11:31pm
Went and had dinner with the Friend and his Roommate. They took me to this noodle place that served one hundred RMB bowls of noodles. They rave about it saying it's the best noodles, ever. Best noodles or not, one hundred RMB is a fortune for these people, consider that you can get a bowl of noodles for five RMB and still taste pretty good, one hundred better be damn mind blowing. Of course, converting the RMB to US currency, for us, twelve dollar bowls of noodles are no big deal. Some places in the States do get that expensive, but nothings going to sell at a hundred dollars a bowl. When the noodles came, I have to say, looked pretty good. Not only does one get a large bowl of noodles, but one also gets a plate of the stewed beef that the broth is made from, along with a small bowl of pickled veggies (for mixing with the noodles), and a glass of what tasted like prune juice. It was delicious! What made it better was that they picked up the tab, hee, hee.
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Day 11 - Shanghai time 9/04 11:48pm
Not much going on today except walking up and down a street where a lot of music stores are located. I was in search of a tuner for the niece's violin so she doesn't have to rely on her teacher for tuning. Fro what I can tell, prices for guitars, electric and acoustic are pretty comparable to those in the States, no savings there. I was surprised to find real Gibson Les Paul's! How people can afford them is beyond me. Chances are they're just going to hang there for some time.
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Day 10 - Shanghai time 9/03 11:38pm
Went to check out EASH's local office to meet a friend for lunch. The dev studio here is located about eight miles from the old city center where we are. The studio is small, compared to EARS, but with the way we're going, it's going to get a lot bigger. With outsourcing as the planned solution for cutting development cost, I have a feeling there's going to be less and less people doing the real work in the States and more managers, not like there's too many now... The friend of mine is here on a two year assignment, along with his friend, and room mate, who's also doing the same. His friend's from the EA's LA studio where he used to work. From what they've told me, they don't like it here as much as the States. They find that they have to work harder and longer, for not only are they helping the local staff with their questions, they have to sync up every so often with the home office through teleconferencing. That means staying up later so as to be on par with the home offices. when I asked them about exploring their new surroundings, they say that they don't have time and when they do have free time, it usually just staying home to relax. That's pretty scary, for the other half is also saying the same thing.
After the lunch, I headed back. I've decided to walk the distance because I'm too much of a chicken-shit to get on public transportation. also I wanted to see the city on foot. As I was closing in on the main part of down town, it started to rain. As the rain got harder, I had to duck under a freeway until it subsided enough for me to continue. All in all, the walk took one and a half hours.
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Day 9 - Shanghai time 9/02 10:22pm.
Another overcast day today, as well as a rainy one. Not a whole lot going on and I've been pretty tired and bored from sitting around doing a whole lot of nothing. I must have ate something bad today for while watching a bit of the X games rally championships, I felt the pain of something grabbing my bowels and something was about to make a break out the other end. I jumped off the couch and made a beeline for the porcelain thrown. As I was halfway down the hall, something wet and bubbly pushed past my tightly pinched cheeks. Needless to say, I was at a panic as I realized that I might have just soiled my freshly washed underpants. I barely had my pants down and inches before hitting the seat, when I hear the explosion echo out of the bowl and foul fumes burned my nostrils - that was close! I was greatly relieved to find nothing wet and smelly was left in my underpants. Let's pray that this is the last of it for the trip. Let us pray...
1 comment:
I've lost my appetite.
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