Okay, Work Sucks Again!

Its like 11:30 at night, I am still at working, racking my brain to death over ONE LEVEL DESIGN (!) and I am stuck and still very behind schedule....

Oh yeah...I am stressed and frustrated. Compound that thought with the fact I had one of the most WONDERFUL time last nite, in which I was on such an emotional high. I guess when you are on that type of high, the only place you can go is down...

And what's worst? The deadline was supposed to be this Friday but has kinda been extended over this weekend til Monday so my brutal week will last a little bit longer. This just sucks...

Work is Better

Hooray! I am finally updating...

Yeah...I have been really busy...like "work til Midnite but still coming in by 10 am" busy...like "work on the weekend" busy. And it will be like this til at least this Friday...the end is almost near.

Even though I am working this much...I am not as stressed out as I last wrote ta ya. I actually sat down with my prez and talked about my frustration at work. He really calmed my nerves and told me that he knew that I was struggling and that it was okay. Because he knew how hard it is to level design for the project I was currently working on, and he didn't expect me to learn it "overnight." He also told me that he didn't hire me just for some short term goal such as for a one year project that needed a game designer immediately but for the long haul. I was to be shaped into a great game designer over the course of the next 5 ~ 6 years!! Yikes! And he reliterated his commitment by telling me that they JUST approved my new H1-B visa, which is good for the next 6 years!! WOW!

So I feel a lot better about work even though I know, this week coming up will be brutal!! Stay tuned...

And for Denny...

Happy Midoriiro Day == Happy Green Colour Day == Happy St. Patrick's Day

Duh!

HAPPY MIDORIIRO DAY

or any excuse for my co workers to use the Japanese that they have learn in everyday conversation...

Work Sucks

The past week has been one of the most stressful weeks I have had at work, almost to a point where there may have been a possibility that I could have gotten fired.

Basically, I am taking a long time to do things and I am really behind. Its really frustrating because I am NOT slacking off...I am working REALLY hard and staying till like 10-12am everynite and yet, its still not enough. I am slowly "gettin' it" but it doesn't help the fact that the milestone is very close at hand, and I still have a lot of work to do after "gettin' it."

Game design is hard. Game design under these guys is even worst.

Wonderful Birthday Celebration

This weekend past was my birthday. And normally I really dont do anything for it. Sometimes I dont even tell anyone its my birthday. So, its really nice when people want to do stuff for me on my birthday. I had a surprise dinner, a planned dinner, a nice dim sum lunch and a whole bunch of phone calls and instant messages and emails, all there to remind me how old I was getting. And I was completely blown away how blinding the light of all those candles on one cake can be. Damn...I am getting old.

Thanks to everyone who wished me a good one. It really means a lot to me. I love you all.

Horrible Day Back

Its official! For the next couple of weeks, I am in CRUNCH TIME! Say goodbye to weekends and going home "early". Say hello to horrible stress and deadlines. *sigh*

Stuff in the Mail

Got quite a few stuff in the mail these past days consectively that I have been waiting for, for awhile. Lemme count the ways:

South Park Season 1 5 CD Audio Commentary Set: When South Park Season 1 was released on DVD, it lacked the audio commentary tracks because Warner Bros. refused to put them in. So, Trey and Matt (creators of South Park) decided to give them away for free on a 5 CD set to all those who bought the DVD, like me. And I finally got them NOW, since I did send away for them in DECEMBER. Still dont know what all the fuse is about. The commentaries are still funny and inciteful but kinda tamed (and sober) for South Park standards. Unlike the drunken commentary coming for the Orgasmo SE DVD in the fall (can't wait for that!).

My First Issue of Edge: Edge is quite possibly the BEST English language video game magazine in the world. Its also from England and is also one of the most hardest magazines to find here. I pretty much looked all over Seattle and also whenever I am in Canada (Toronto or Vancouver) but can never find a issue. So, I decided to bite the bullet and subscribe to it (its kinda expensive). And I got my first issue this week (even though I subscribe in DECEMBER!!). Great issue though, its the "Girl Issue" and has all these informative articles about the role of women in the games and in the gaming industry. Fascinating.

My Internet Photos Printed on Photographic Paper: The site in which host my online photo album (http://www.fotki.com) also allows users to print out their photos in a physical format. So, I decided to try it on few photos I had. So, for $0.19 a photo, I did about 70 photos which cost me in total about 14 bucks (including postal). Not a bad deal. I recieve them yesterday (I only ordered them a week ago) and the photos were okay. Some of the photos were bad because of the lighting of the camera I was using (the Cybershot U-10 (that really small one) is not as good taking pictures in poor lighting) while others the color balancing was off. I still think the best quality for your digital photos is still www.walmart.com but since it takes forever to upload photos to www.walmart.com , its easier to just pick and choose what I have on online photo album and order it right there! And $0.19 a print is CHEAP!

The Ring DVD

I picked up the DVD version of The Ring when it came out this Tuesday. Its one of my favorite movies of last year, so I really wanted a copy. Anyways, buying that copy brought a huge discussion at work.

There is this co worker of mine and basically, he is the BIGGEST WUSS I have ever met. There's no other way to describe him...he is every stereotype of a computer geek: shy, quiet, no confidences, and a total wimp, who will NOT watch anything remotely considered a scary movie. And he wont watch The Ring, even though its only a PG 13 movie.

Now, I dont really mind if he doesn't want to see it (I did offer to lend it to him) but what got me was he did everything he can to find out everything about the movie including its story, plot and ending, without watching the movie. He went on the internet and tried to uncover all the secret of the movie. Now, this I thought was WRONG. I mean, I think The Ring is an awesome movie and should be experienced as a movie for the first time. And he was really ruining the movie for himself but also cheating himself, in a sense that he would NOT confront his fears of scary movies. He actually kept bugging me to tell him everything about the movie and I told him he just needs to watch it. It was really pathetic.

Anyways, what REALLY pissed me off is that someone at work decided to tell him all about the movie. Everything. Not only that, he told it to a group of ppl who haven't seen it also and ruined it for them. Not only that, he also told the secrets of The Ring 2 (japanese version). WHY did he do that? I even told him off after because I knew he did it because of some superiority complex that he has. What an asshole....

Ketchup Chips and VCDs

So, Keith and I drove up to Vancouver on Saturday. Keith and I went to Digipen together and this was his first trip back to Vancouver since 9-11 (yes, he was stuck in Vancouver for like a week on 9-11 when it happened with no way to cross back into the US!).

Before we hit the border, we had to stop for gas and snacks. While at this gas station, I manage to stumble onto Uncle Ray's Ketchup flavoured chips.

Now, Ketchup flavoured chips is NOT new. You can get them in Canada and it looks like, only Canada. But all the suddenly, I found it HERE in the US side of the border. Was this too good to be true?

Yeah, it was.

I bought a small bag and tried them out. It SUCKED big time. First of all, I thought they ACCIDENTIALLY put in REGULAR flavoured chips in the bag marked "Ketchup" because there was NO FLAVOUR at all. But upon closer inspection, each chip had tiny red dots on them, signifying KETCHUP spots! But boy, you couldn't taste them!

When I hit Canada, I did buy some REAL KETCHUP FLAVOURED CHIPS (Hostress Frito Lay babee!) as well as some All Dressed Ruffles Potato chips (another great favour exclusive to Canada...dont ask me what it taste like cuz everyone has a different description of its flavour!). I also bought a shit load of cheap Hong Kong VCDs. The funny thing was, even though they were HONG KONG VCDs, most of the movies I bought weren't Chinese at all. I got a whole bunch of French and Korean and Japanese movies. See, I am very cultured!

Here's a list of what I got. Think of the list as recommended viewing by the iNfoMan. Look for ReviewCity! HK VCDs Edition soon!

--Guns & Talk (Korean gangster comedy)
--He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (French flix staring that Amelie chick. Saw trailer for it, and it looked great. Has big secret in the movie in which I am dying to find out)
--Hero (HK Jet Li epic...nominated for Oscar this year)
--My Wife is a Gangster (Korean comedy...supposively being remake by Hollywood)
--Ping Pong (Japanese comedy about ping pong players)
--Taxi (Luc Besson classic French action car chase movie)
--Taxi 2 (French sequel)
--The Touch (Michelle Yeoh's HK/American movie which was suppose to come here but doesn't look like it anymore. Was it that bad?)
--The Tricky Master 2000 (Stephen Chow's comedy...saw it before and I fell aslepp even though everyone loves it. WIll try to watch it again)
--Wasabi (Jean Reno/Luc Besson French/Japanese action flix)
--Waterboys (Japanese swimming movie from the guys who brought us "Shall We Dance". Was shown at last year's San Diego Asian Film Fest and touted as "Shaolin Soccer but with swimming (?))
--Volcano High (Korean action flix about a school of superheroes. Think Hogwarts, but cooler and without a wimpy Harry Potter).

Ah...HK VCDs: A haven for movie fans!