Why is my check in Tolman. -_-

This is cute. A bit melodramatic, but cute. >_>

(and yes. i know Max probably wouldn’t appreciate me describing it that way. ::lol::)

… two more days! o_o

I had a dream about talking to Damien through WoW.

This is actually the second time I have ever had a dream like this… the first one was years ago, before he passed away.

I really can’t remember the details (of this latest one) now, you know how elusive dreams can be… but basically we were chatting and he seemed as happy and carefree as ever. The strange thing was that I knew it was a dream (or at least strongly suspected it) and I asked him whether or not it might be true that every time I talked to him in a dream through WoW (which thus far has been the only way I’ve talked to Damien in dreams, so only these two times)… that I was actually talking to him in heaven…

Devastatingly enough (just to prove that I may have been somewhat lucid but continued to have zero control of where the dream was going — lloyd :P ), I got disconnected from WoW before he could respond to my critical question and try as I might, couldn’t get back on to the same realm, though a couple other servers seemed to still work. I was in sheer panic, desperately trying to log back in before he would inevitably vanish into the ether again, but I was never able to sign back in…

I don’t know. I don’t even know if I believe in heaven. Or Heaven, whatever. Generally I tend towards the athiest side of agnosticism. But I guess knowing people like Damien makes you want to believe that the light at the end of the tunnel is not just that.

xkcd: Regrets.

On a completely unrelated note… I like Adobe Soundbooth! It makes recording easy!

… They served Cheese Nips on the plane. :x

And Dev has kitties and they’re really friendly! :D :D

• EMP
• Sci-Fi Museum
• Amplitude O.o
• Stadium (Dev’s old high school)
• Josie and boba and DDR, zomg
  • This was especially hilarious since I don’t even remember the last time I played DDR… Dev suggested that it might have been when he visited last year and we went and played DDR with Kenton at Google. O_O There was that time, of course, that I did DDR for a project in my film class, but I was too busy filming to actually play DDR, I think. ::lol::
• UPS (Dev’s old university. ::lol::)

• woke up late, bwahaha
• talked to Miah via webcam
• Point Defiance Zoo (and Aquarium)
  • omg polar bear :x
  • omg confused looking meerkats
• 5 mile drive (?)
• Dev’s dad’s house
  • omg Ginger
    • omg more shedding animals. -_-

• pretty much nothing! XD
• mostly just video games, like Wii Play and Sports.
• I played some American McGee’s Alice. O.o
• And made a critter in the Spore Creature Creator, cause I could never get it to run on my desktop
• Nosed through Dev’s old notebooks
• Oh, we watched Bladerunner. It was very meh.
• Disney Trivia game. Also very meh. :x And Dev stole one of my tokens and knocked me out of the lead. :(
• Fireworks at the park across the street, cause they’re having some kind of festival thinger over the weekend

Even DnD was slow today. >_>;

Buying BlizzCon tickets is an adventure in itself. Albeit a very, very sad one. ;_; I don’t remember having this much trouble when I bought for the first one…

[edit at 9:07 PM] OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG. After stalking/camping the Blizzard Store site since 6:30 this morning… I finally got five tickets!!

Originally I was just going to get two… and then Vinny decided he wanted to go, so I was aiming for three… and then around 5:00 or 6:00 PM, me and Dev realized there were a good number of customers who were leaking through and managing to score tickets while the rest overloaded the server… so we decided to each attempt to get five (the total we needed between the two of us), so that only one of us would have to get lucky.

AND THEN I GOT LUCKY! :D :D And now the store is hosed again, BUT WE DON’T CARE CAUSE WE GOT OUR TICKETS OMG YAY!! XD

(Dev didn’t build the beach temples… he was just fixing them a little, cause some poles fell down. :x )

:(

[edit at 11:46]

Dev: “What? Don’t put a sad face… you had no fun and just can’t wait to get out of here, huh?”
Me: “That’s NOT WHAT IT MEANS and you KNOW IT, noob!”

Thank you to Dev and Sander and Dev’s mom “Betsy” for putting me up for a week in their endearingly creaky and ever-so-cozy home. I know Dev worries that we didn’t do enough stuff, but I’m not a tourist junkie, so what we did was the perfect balance of laziness and ooh-what’s-that. <3

The fifty-cent summary

• Dev’s cats, Henry and Stewart, are so friendly… and needy… and they shed a lot. I was allergic to fur and the like as a kid, but grew out of it… but I was still getting overwhelmed by the sheer hairfest at times… mostly when I sat on the floor and one of them would flood me with rubs. ;_; (<— me and my watering eyes) THEY WERE CUTE THOUGH. I WANT A FELINE GOD DAMMIT.
• EMP = Experience Music Project. Was only minorly interesting, but I was treated to one of Dev’s impromptu piano concerts as a result, so that made up for it. :x
• Seeing Dev’s old high school, Stadium! Holy crap, it’s so neat looking… and they did a film there (and Heath Ledger was in it… ::lol::) I’ve wanted to see it for a long time, not just because it looked unusual, but also to indulge my curiosity about Dev’s environs earlier on in our friendship. Hahaha.
  • Teh reverberation Spot. >_>
• Met Josie. Yayz.
• Seeing Dev’s former university… this was surprisingly entertaining as well, thanks to the fact that Dev still has a key to his old work facilities… and it Still Works. So we were totally not breaking and entering into the psychology department’s rat lab at 10pm at night and totally not snooping around the experimentation chambers (or whatever they’re called, nur)…
• Point Defiance Zoo, which Dev felt was “less depressing” than the SF Zoo and I guess I would have to agree. The enclosures are nicer (not to mention… more secure? haha) and their animals seemed to be less bored.
  • Polar bearz are huge! I would’ve taken video (with my crappy camera phone), but there were too many other people in the way. Bleh.
  • Hokey animal theatre show.
• Visiting Dev’s dad and his house… another remnant of Dev’s history! They has a sweet dog named Ginger too… another major shedder, but very affectionate.
  • Hmm… you never did find your multitap, did you, Dev… ::lol::
• Fireworks at the park across the street! Purdy.
• Lots of games and movies, thanks to Netflix… (my) Wii, Grimm 2, Alice, Spore Creature Creater, a taste of Bioshock, Amplitude, Bladerunner, Star Trek II, The Brave Little Toaster (O.o), Amelie. No WoW, though. :x
• Camping the Blizzard Store website for BlizzCon tickets. x_X
• Camping… uh, real camping. :X At … Dungeness… something. >_>
  • I totally can’t remember much of backpacking, so this was still pretty new… helping/watching them set up camp and all. They had a huge three-room tent, though, which was surprisingly spiffy (to a city-girl like me! ::cough::) after it was set up and staked properly… had “walls” and everything. :x
  • We were camped out on a bluff above the previously pictured beach/spit, so I guess it was chilly… but I didn’t feel it until morning. >_>
  • Plus those bathrooms were impressively clean, considering. O.o
  • We did the whole campfire and s’mores thing. I had too many. Wii Fit complained the next day. ;_;
  • Hours of “Who Am I?” … curse you, Mrs. White!
• In the morning, packed up and drove back… so that I could pack my own bags and get taken to the airport for departure. :(
  • Finally cleared enough to see Mount Rainier on the way to the airport.

As ever, after one of these extended visits — and it doesn’t seem to matter who is hosting — after the goodbyes, I always feel just a little empty inside. I visited the bookstore in the airport and bought something small to distract myself with… and it ended up being a somewhat poor selection, but it was only $8 and I wasn’t being very careful. It lasted me the pre-boarding time and the flight itself, so whatever…

No matter how much I tout the internet as a communication/bonding device… I dunno. There’s still something about real life, I guess. Well, I guess I’ll look on the bright side… at least I won’t have to put up with Dev’s questioning/correcting me about my pronounciation every now and then. >_> Cursed son of an English teacher… he’s always right about them, too. x_x

Hmm. Now I remember the other thing I remembered that I meant to look up. How odd is this? I had a dream a couple years ago about a special door in Dev’s house that led to anywhere. Naturally I had this dream waaaay before it was even a possibility that I might visit him… and, even more funnily, I ended up naming that weblog entry… Portals? ::lol:: Very strange.

Highlights

• Television’s “first interracial kiss” … Star Trek! XD
• Definitely breaking and entering into the rat lab. I mean… NOT… breaking and entering. We would never do such a thing…
• Getting owned in Amplitude… with the occasional opportunity for short-lived vengeance.
• One of Dev’s cats, think it was Stewie, coming to sit in my lap during Disney Trivia and not knowing how to knead with his claws sheathed. X_x
• Being staked out in Dev’s room with my laptop, the two of us staring at our respective monitors at WoW forums and the Blizzard Store’s website, either at a murloc bearing an “OOPS” flag or an equally unwelcome yellow SVC unit, refreshing like crazy. Oh so sad/pathetic.
• Getting chauffeured around! Even if it was in Dev’s stick-shift car which has to rev a lot before it can go … well, anywhere. ^_^;
• Finding out that Dev’s computer Miles (is a behemoth and) has a custom sound scheme made up of entirely Portal soundbytes. So when it shuts down, it goes “Remember when you were sliding into the fire pit and I said ‘goodbye!’ and you said ‘NO WAY’“… etc. (geeeeeeek…)
• Getting to go overlook the water and the waves first thing in the morning and the wasn’t-really-a-walk.

I felt all distracted and disoriented at badminton. I guess I did something odd after one of my games… leaned against the wall or something… cause an embarrassing number of people asked if I was okay after that and, baffled, I told them all that I was fine.

Assuming you could call feeling like I have left a quarter or more of my brain or some other vital organ of equal value back in Washington “fine”.

Maybe it’s in my shower cap?

… yay, they’re going to keep that one class on Wednesday, so I’ll still only have classes three days a week! XD One of them Saturday, unfortunately, but what’re you gonna do…

HAHAHA… this is really good. XD Voting Machines.

You’re old enough, but somehow you still can’t shake the wistful shroud that cloaks you, making you malcontent even when you have everything you need.

Maturity has long since ruined your belief in magic. It’s just not possible to believe in fairies (clap clap) or magic wardrobes or supernatural beings (or at least not in the capacity that you will ever experience them). And yet, though you tell yourself you don’t, you cling onto the one element of all happily ever afters that seems like it could continue to exist even in the harsh climate of reality.

Maybe it does, but you don’t deserve one? Or maybe it does, and it’s even within your grasp, but you just don’t see it. Or know how to grab it. Because while I could believe that maybe happily ever afters exist, the easy wish-for-it or even work-hard-for-it methods probably won’t cut it.

Damn Disney.

So I just got really rickrolled for the first time. Was looking over the journal entries that one student had and clicked on his 07/07 link… only to get sent to YouTube and Rick Astley in all his glory.

I backpedaled to the student’s index in confusion … if he wanted to rickroll me for that journal entry’s date, where’s his journal entry? Then I went to check my assignment list… we just didn’t give one that day. Clever bastard. -_-

I’ve never failed someone so miserably.

Driving for six hours sucks.

Rearranging your apartment after that sucks even more.

Blargh.

… too hot here. Gargh.

This is definitely one of my favorite cinematics so far: Wrath of the Lich King, Cinematic Intro. Though it differs a lot from the previous ones.

At any rate, it inspired the following question, which I am now taking bets for. Anyone who has played Warcraft 3 is welcome to place a guess and I’ll note it down and we can see, at the release of the expansion, who wins. :x

At the end of the next expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, Arthas will a) die evil, b) die repentant, or c) live repentant? (I suppose there’s a D… live evil, but it seems unlikely. :P )

• Kass: Die repentant
• Spark: Die evil
• Dev: Die evil (but he’ll “hesitate” just before so we can’t know for sure)
• Max: Die evil
• Tansen: Die evil
• Ralph: Die repentant
• Notus: Die repentant
• Doug: Die repentant

For the record, my guess is less of what-I-really-think and more for the sake of having some variety in wagers… I don’t think Arthas will live (though it’d be just as cool if he did XP ), but I’m really undecided between the remaining two.

Any other wagers? C’mon now. :x

Umm, okay. Better late than never, right? >_>; Where’s a list of my classes…

Fall Semester

CTIN 541: Design for Interactive Media with Balsamo, Anne and Bolas, Mark

There was a lot of reading in this class. A lot of which… I never got around to. ;_; And sometimes Anne talked about stuff that I couldn’t always wrap my head around. On the other hand… we got a whole lot of hands-on exercises that, I think, helped expand my preconceived notions of design in general. And even though I didn’t really like working with foamcore, I do still think it was a good thing to have at least a brief run-in with. >_>

Plus the class gave me an excuse to see Wicked. :X And Mark is freaking hilarious all the damn time. ::lol::

CTIN 534: Experiments in Interactivity I with Hoberman, Perry

Hmm. This was largely a develop-your-technical-skills course. I had a lot of fun with some of the Processing exercises, though it all seems kind of moot now because Flash is likely the better prototyping tool in the end. Oh well. We didn’t get much hardware experience, which I’m both glad and sad over (ew arduino!)… but I really, really liked my final project for this course, which was ChatScape. Even though it doesn’t work now (thank god I took video), it was an interesting application and I do so love having my little ATDP mob help me out on school assignments… :)

CTCS 505: Survey of Interactive Media with Anderson, Steven

Umm. ::lol:: An all theoretical class, to balance out the all technical one, I suppose. It was tedious at times, but we were exposed to all manner of … things. (I mean, now I know more about David Cronenberg’s work than I ever wanted to know. Seriously.) The game demos were fun, though, if a little poorly organized/managed… ::lol:: And uh… I was able to use my final project in 541 as a final project here too, so win. :P

I like Steve, though. He’s funny/cool even with his minor obsession with SecondLife… :x

Spring Semester

CTIN 544: Experiments in Interactivity II with Kratky, Andreas

Gaaahhh. XP I’m not a (making) film buff, so pretty much all the projects in this class aggravated me, though I did eventually find something I kind of liked to do for each of them in the end. They always fell kind of short of my own personal expectations, but I have high standards, I guess. At least I got to shoot WoW machinima for one of them… that one came out okay.

One of the cool things in this class was the actual introduction to the real film process… we had all these mini demos of how things worked in an actual film studio, etc. Those were enlightening and intimidating and … tiring all at once. But I have a newfound respect for the cameramen and the light and boom people and god that must be a thankless job… :x So that was educational… at least it taught me that I never wanted to work in that industry. >_>

Plus plus plus! Elevator Park came out of this class, so it couldn’t have been a total waste. XD

CTWR 518: Introduction to Interactive Writing with De Meo, Paul

I liked this class, though I’m not sure why. I really did like Paul, even though he was kind of … um…. optimistic… and cynical… at the same time. (is that possible? ::lol::) We had some relatively basic writing exercises which were… okay. But the bigger assignments were neat… design your own theme park (Tronland!), one expanded fiction (SotC), one original fiction and then a walkthrough for your original fiction.

And I REALLY liked what I came up with for my original fiction, too… that would totally make an awesome sandbox game. :P

CTIN 488: Game Design Workshop with Swain, Chris

Thiiiiiis class was good. Hard, but good. Learned a ton, lots of good experiences… and bad ones, which end up being good experiences because you always learn more from bad experiences than good ones. >_> There wasn’t a whole lot to the theoretical stuff that I didn’t already have some idea about, but it was kind of nice to have terms to put to everything (which is what the class is largely about, since game design is still kind of new and everyone has different terminology to describe the same things, so it’s hard to communicate at the present).

And the actual prototyping projects were invaluable… not to mention frustrating. It’s really very hard to design an original game that’s fun to play. T_T; But I also really liked the play experiments, because it exposed me to a ton of interesting games and developed my interest in the world as a whole. Before this class, I had only really played Settlers of Catan and now I feel much better versed in board games. :x

This class (and the program in general) also got me really thinking about how I need to play a larger variety of games, so I vowed to play one new game every month… a promise that has been sometimes difficult to keep (just because it’s hard to get my fiscally-conscious paws on new and interesting games), but I think it has been really educational as a result. Even if it has stuck me with a ton of unfinished games on the backburner. -__-;

Oh. But the quizzes were killer. >_>

WHOO, I DID IT. That was fun. :X

Gonna call this the Wii Fit review, part I, because I might write a part II later… when/if I ever hit my goal weight. :x

It’s been about a month since I got the game… and I’ve managed to work my way down into the “normal” BMI zone and stay there for about a week now. So it seems to be working. :x

My biggest complaint right now? Need moar aerobics games. -__-; I don’t know why they put in things like 2p run and free step and free run (although I realized I could have done free step while watching Biden’s speech earlier today ::lol::)… and why do they need two different hula hoop games??

I suppose it might be difficult to come up with more interesting ways for people to plain out burn fat with the Wii Fit board, but at the same time… it has to be one of the primary draws, too. Most of them aren’t so bad, but I am dead sick of rhythm boxing. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s boring or if it’s just really long (13 mins)… but it’s part of the daily routine, sooo…

On less lazy days, I try to do a little yoga and strength exercises too. I should start doing jackknifes, now that I’m in a home with actual carpet on the floor! :P

And I pwn at lotus focus. ^_^

I revoke what I said about free step/run, because I ended up doing BOTH today. There’s a LOTR marathon going on television and we just had it playing and after D&D, I had to do my exercise… but was reluctant to stop watching…

… so I did free run and free step while watching, hahahaha.

First day of classes today! :X Just have one, with Peter Brinson (or is it Tracy’s today? whatever).

YAY.

Wicked cool article… now I’m totally moved to watch the film, even though it’s probably depressing. :P

Link to my post at limelight.

I know we started Monday, but today feels like the real beginning for some reason… guess it was because of seminar? Which wasn’t all that exciting… but it looks like they’ll be shaking up the format a little so that there’s actual work involved. Damn. XD

Also talked to Scott about the internship class and the requirements involved therein. Was good to get some clarification on the aspects of that. But … still gotta find one first and apparently I only have until September 12th, if I wanted to get it done this semester…

Parking is bad this year, though. There’s a whole lot of construction across the street from Zemeckis, which takes out the entire sidewalk there where I used to have potential street parking. And then, my backup street parking is ALSO gone because I have no idea why? There are just “no stopping anytime” signs there now. So now I’m down to like… seven spaces on the Zemeckis curb side… and there’s street cleaning until 11:00am on Wednesdays, so I’m totally screwed cause my class is at 10:00. ::cries:: Gonna have to figure something out…

My classes on the other two days (Mon/Sat) are on the main campus, so I can’t drive there anyway… going to be walking / shuttling for those. Blargh. Maybe I’ll find some new places on campus TO eat though, since we have a lunch break for the Sat class. -_-

Gas in West Hollywood is still $4.35ish… where it’s as low as $3.89/90 around USC.

Does that mean gas was over $5 when we were at $4.30? :X

Also… I was doing strength exercises when my trainer got replaced with the male one, who said “hope you don’t mind, but I’ll be filling in for your regular trainer”. O_o Like electronic trainers take time off! Sadly, the regular trainer was back in the next exercise… would have been more realistic if she had taken all of today off instead. :X

… Twilight… Princess… before the end of the month… nyyyyaaarrggh…

All right… credit to my dad… he does send me some really funny %*$# sometimes. Comedian Alan King in one of his segments… Survived by his wife.

Spark says the punchline is totally fake, but even if it is, I still think it’s damn hilarious. XD

It’s uh… not getting any smaller…

Redesigns

• k.meta
• punks.meta / metaverse
• thingy

Conversions

• portfolio
• dfdmaestro
• starwind

Hmm. Thought there was more…