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Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
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8:32 am - Princesses Ate My Brain...
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...and the world seems pretty set on rubbing it in that I'm addicted to sugar. Or have a sugar dependency. I get it already!
Horrible, terrible articles pointing out that you're really only supposed to have ten teaspoons TOPS of "added" sugar per day and things like soup and pasta sauce and salad dressing (prepackaged) take up a quarter to a HALF of that daily allowance! Felt pretty smug about that because I avoid most preprocessed foods like the plague and don't drink soda...until I considered the allmighty Snickers bar and it's 0 grams of natural sugar and its 28 grams of added sugar...which is like 6 or 7 teaspoons.
I measured 7 teaspoons of sugar into a cup. Now I feel a little sick.
Princess songs running through my head. Played a competing product : Disney Princesses Magical Jewels for hours yesterday, then watched Enchanted with David so we could send it back to Netflix. I'm pretty sure most of my brain leaked out my ears and soaked into my pillow last night. It was probably pink. And sparkly.
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| Monday, May 5th, 2008
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8:37 am - Tummy upset
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Tummy a little upset this morning. I'll still be going in to work though.
Weekend was good, went to IKEA and got the World's Largest Cubby Shelf EVAR and it's all put together. Separate account for apartment bills so we can budget better (trans. "not have to get out the calculator because we have a roommate but everything comes out of our account"). CAT5 along the edges of the room and not floating freely down the middle. Emergency food supply done. Need to get dust masks and a water filter and some buckets. Yesterday AJ and Liz came over for dinner and we made Split Pea burgers and they were remarkably good. Needed more texture. But tasty. And cheap. Employment cake very good.
Yesterday afternoon, David took me to see his office and we walked around Alki a little bit. The weather was gorgeous. I took a picture of us but he was on the phone so it looks funny.
Yumi is losing weight...but only around her face.
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| Saturday, May 3rd, 2008
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11:12 am - Weekend!
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Yay! AJ and Liz are coming over tomorrow for Alton Brown's Pea Burgers (and backup food in case they go wrong) and Employment Cake. I have still not decided exactly what Employment Cake looks like but I am thinking at the very least it should be green. And gluten free.
IKEA today. Also excessive amounts of cleaning, organizing, bill paying, budgeting and grocery shopping. Yes!
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| Thursday, May 1st, 2008
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7:37 am - Updating in the morning...
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...feels a little counterproductive since nothing has happened yet.
I got up. I made David's lunch. I looked through the Bed Bath & Beyond flier. I should update in the evening except then all I could add would be: I went to work. I worked on my design document. I played Phantom Hourglass on my lunch break. I played Phantom Hourglass on my afternoon break. PS I really like Phantom Hourglass so far!
Which is true.
Insatiably hungry at work lately. I think it might just be boredom. Spent a week eating anything that wasn't nailed down. Have resigned self to fact that this is not healthy. Ate two cups of dry Cheerios and about a pound of carrot sticks yesterday between meals. Still not drinking enough water. I really need to pay more attention to what I eat. Actually, I haven't had my multivitamin in a week or two either....hmmmm....this could be a very Doh! moment coming up here...
Attempted to invite coworker and his girlfriend to apartment this weekend. They haven't said yes or no just yet. Trying to create a social circle is awkward and unfun, but as I seem to have borked or not been compatible with all previous RL offerings (give or take a few), I'm guessing effort might need to be applied.
Hm. I should probably clean the apartment if that's going to happen.
current mood:  ponderific
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| Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
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8:08 am - I'm awake! Sorta.
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Got up more on time than usual this morning, but am feeling it already. BUT! am also already almost done with morning routine and haven't surpassed 8:40 yet. This is reassuring. Will take painful shower in hopes of awakening.
Got a comp copy of HSM TV game from work yesterday. Debating whether or not to open it. The controller design is truly hideous in person, I'm not sure who thought mud brown, drying blood red, and mustard yellow made a good combination. Eh, resume fodder, I suppose, if I ever go anywhere that might care. I'm still proud of my pizza sprite--it "cooks" without any additional animation frames--just color swaps. :D And the cheese actually gets, like, kinda spready-er and looks melty-er. Kinda. Without any pixels moving. Yay me!
David is attending Columbia Tower Club with new boss and some people from out of town tonight. I was asked if I wished to join them but frankly feel fish-out-of-water enough just walking around the mall. I can't imagine what I'd do in a club that has membership dues...especially ones that cost more per month than I've spent on clothing all year. All LAST year AND this year. David, luckily, has some nice dress clothes due to being a pallbearer at his grandfather's funeral last year, and working in the Attorney General's office.
Work is frustratingly slow. I keep getting new information about the thing I'm designing, and every time I have to backtrack I lose more steam. CEO bought an old Tempest cabinet for the office. It is quite loud and does indeed make me feel like I'm working in an arcade. They put it in the area by my desk. I don't know where else it would have gone; but it doesn't do much for my productivity. Glad I bought new headphones. It's kind of cool to watch.
Showertime!
current mood:  dull
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| Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
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8:16 am - Game Ahoy!
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STILL not getting up on time to deal with lunches and breakfast in a proper manner. Totally spaced last night and didn't even bother with dinner, just had crackers, brie, and carrot sticks.
Work not so much fun at the moment. Although you can pick up the first US released game I worked on, the...er... High School Musical Plug & Play (the Mi Digi World was only released in Europe) at Walmart for $20...I don't know why you would, but the POSSIBILITY remains and therein lies a smidgen of cool. Woot?
Better get on with it...
current mood:  mildy entertained
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| Monday, April 28th, 2008
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8:14 am - I have been be-socialized!
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Sat: Helped at the UPS Store for several hours with seriously the WORST program ever created (no real help other than 'here's the name of this button, which is already printed on it, never mind that it does something completely counterintuitive), no manual, and a slew of horrible features such as field with date that you CAN'T TYPE IN, instead click the little calendar and navigate from there. ARGH. But I got to do the part of that job that I miss the most (talk to customers) and play with Nico a little bit.
Went to see Forbidden Kingdom. Yay martial arts mayhem! Enjoyed quite a lot even though some bits were full of traditional kung foo cheese. Had lunch with Adam, Kelsey, and Spiz afterwards and walked aimlessly around the mall. Decided if I ever became a film-maker, I would make a documentary on those massage chairs they have in Brookstone, etc. Just put some hidden cameras around to watch all of the facial expressions of people. Cause that's hilarious. :D
Drove around a bit afterwards. Weather was nice but not nice enough by the time we HAD time to take a walk or ride bikes, so we didn't.
Sun: Went to Fry's and purchased stuff to re-wire the apartment so that there's no more CAT5 strung all the way through the halls and dining area and living room. Also bought DSes and a couple of games, as David's treat to both of us now that there's regular money coming in. He got a bonus from the last temp job he did, for finishing the project early, and we agreed that could be treats while everything else (tax return, paychecks for quite a while yet) will go to savings and debts and bills.
Got groceries and had Adam and Kelsey over for dinner and to watch five episodes of Atlantis (incl. 3 parter). Got complimented on my It Girl painting and wanted to paint more. Lots of dirty dishes in the sink. Must wash before I leave for work.
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| Friday, April 25th, 2008
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7:45 am - Morning Thoughts...
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The morning issue is still...an issue. After this weekend I'm going to move bedtime to 9:30, which sounds ridiculous, but I'm not sure what else to do. After 19 years of chronic insomnia, I thought I was at the very least in control of my sleeping schedule. Apparently not. I just don't get why it feels SO GOOD to go back to sleep in the morning...I don't even remember that from the high school days of horror and regular 2-4 AM nights...
Having Curt & Petra over for baby back ribs, baked potato, salad and roasted cauliflower tonight. I have approximately one hour to get the apartment tidy before I have to leave for work. And a shower. HAH! David will pick up where I left off...he gets home earlier than I do.
My homework for the next week is to play various video games and pay attention to the sound effects-where they are, what they sound like, what they indicate. I still have not gotten over the weirdness where we played Raving Rabbids for two hours yesterday AT WORK. DURING WORK HOURS. It'd be really cool if it weren't so surreal.
Need to make doctor, dentist, optha...eye doctor...and physical therapy appointments for both David and myself. Plus allergy assay for David. I really hope they're all free on the same day...or are open on weekends.
current mood:  sorta awake
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| Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
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8:25 am - Clever Solutions...
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Seriously considering setting the alarm for five thirty instead of six.
Starting an exercise regimen? Not enough time in the morning? Saving money on the water bill by showering before peak hours begin?
NOPE.
Because David and I usually spend the half-hour following the alarm going off in Ten-Minute-Snooze-Button-Intervals of Sleepytime-Cuddle-Mode. And as much as I want to get up on time (6:00) and have a nice sit down breakfast in something other than my pyjamas, I am NOT willing to give up my cuddle time.
Especially since I've been going to bed with an ice pack on either my wrist or elbow for the last few nights and that's a cuddle-blocker if there ever was one.
Still...five-thirty. *SHUDDER*
current mood:  possibly going crazy
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| Monday, April 21st, 2008
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8:35 am - Hello, Work Week.
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This weekend, I:
- Sorted and shredded THE LAST box of old paperwork!!!
- Did rudimentary pre-budget tasks with David--categorizing the last 5 months of bank statements and getting credit reports.
That's it.
I didn't even cook any meals.
I wasn't sick, but I sure as heck wasn't motivated. I zoned out in front of the television for, like, 14 hours a day. I didn't play any games, even though my backlog is reaching critical mass. Work is eating my brain, or my energy, or something. Of course this means that this week will be killer, since all the weekend stuff (meal plan, groceries, post office trip, laundry) is going to get lumped in with work and the weekday chores. Bah.
I need to get back to art. Not pixel pushing (which I have yet to escape from despite the "Designer" thing) but real, visceral, Arty Art. I haven't truly painted in two years. The last painting I expended an appreciable amount of effort on was a portrait of Adam's WOW character. Work came first, you know, the roof over head, the food on the table. Now I can relax a bit about that and maybe get back to sketching or something. Except for the galloping carpal tunnel begotten of the pixel pushing/document typing...ergh...
Fine.
I need to get me some physical therapy, and THEN I will get back to Mr. Arty McArtenson.
current mood:  artistically frustrated
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| Friday, April 18th, 2008
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7:43 am - Is there cake?
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Nearing the end of Week One : Our New Life, and we're still alive! It has been an interesting week. It was:
First week EVER where both David and I worked full time at something other than retail.
Third week in the most intensive attempt to fix David's guts yet (gluten free supplemented by aloe juice, a probiotic called Primal Defense, multivitamin, ground flax seed, daily salad, fiber supplements, and coconut). So far, so good.
First week for me to be writing a real Game Design Document (that might eventually get used)
A week with BOTH of David's brothers living with us (Mike needed some unwind time)
And the first week in a long, long time that I have breathed semi-normally. I can FEEL stress leaving, and it is AWESOME.
Big long weekend ahead (cleaning, budget, a weeks worth of errands). Tonight we're going over to Adam's apartment to watch more Atlantis and play Rock Band.
I wonder if David remembered to bring the Atlantis with him...
current mood:  ALIVE!
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| Sunday, April 13th, 2008
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3:28 pm - Check, check, check...
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Mmmmmm, I love checking things off. Almost as much as I like making the lists in the first place.
David has a job.
We filed taxes.
We shredded FOUR BOXES worth of ancient paystubs, bills, credit card applications, etcetera.
Laundry is mostly done.
The cat's skin is finally clearing up due to a combination of pills, baths, and avacado-based cat food.
DAVID HAS A JOB!
I finished part one of my cheap cool thumbtack project and now have a nice display of photos.
Debit cards have been reordered and will finally be in my married name.
I actually beat Pikmin (the first one).
Yesterday I went and hung out with Mike & Melissa...and baby Sophie! Sophie and I took a walk because it was gorgeous out. They have the nicest stroller I've ever pushed, and she's such an "Easy" baby...all smiles and giggles and friendlies. AND I got a cool experience to boot. We walked under a tree and I swear it sounded like popcorn, but after a minute I realized it was all of the pine cone's scales popping apart. It was really cool!
Might finally have a project instead of more pitches at work. Much as I like the challenge of coming up with game ideas, it'd be nice to settle down and concentrate on one.
Oh yeah and DAVID has a JOB!!!!
We're very excited. :)
current mood: cheerful
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| Thursday, April 10th, 2008
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10:20 pm - Dah Dah DAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!
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David has a job!
A paying job!
*giddiness and spontaneous stress shedding ensues*
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
current mood:  HIP HIP HOORAY!
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| Wednesday, April 9th, 2008
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11:16 pm - Looking up...
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Exhausted.
Flowers, dinner out, and potential good news from David today. Got a lot done, errands, haircut for him, work on my 'cheap, cool thumbtacks' project for me. Very much ready for bed but a little afraid to go to sleep as I worry I will wake up tomorrow and it will have been a dream.
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| Friday, April 4th, 2008
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8:16 am - Bad/Good
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Yesterday at work, I had what I would euphemistically term "a bad day." Nothing horrible happened, but nothing good happened and it just dragged on and on and on. It was overly warm in the building, which doubled my annoyance with everything and gave me a migraine toward the end of the day.
Then I had a good evening. Adam came over with the last disc of Stargate:Atlantis...we're now officially out until June. Now what'll we do? Petra and Curt dropped by to give us soveneirs from their trip to Arizona and show off Petra's amazing Technicolor skin. They brought strawberry shortcake (DELICIOUS!) and David gave them some salsa--he's really into this make-your-own thing at the moment. After Petra and Curt took off, we had burgers (so rebellious, dessert before dinner!)...David and Adam tried mozzerella and pepperoni on theirs, which was apparently quite good. David had red onion and Adam had red peppers, and David wants to try again but drizzle the whole thing in vinagrette. My veggie patty was good too, but I didn't do anything weird.
The Critical Stage Analysis has exposed a brutal flaw: my short term memory sucks and even after just a week I have a hard time remembering what's happened. So...found a problem, decide on a course of action...I guess I'll do them daily for a while until I'm good at paying attention to these things, and THEN I'll go to weeks. More lists? I think I can handle it. :) I'll hold it to three things instead of five though.
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| Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
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8:01 am - Survived...
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Field trip documentary was actually quite nice. Saw previews for one called Young at Heart that I really want to see. I wish more mainstream theaters showed (and advertised) this sort of film. The twenty or so previews before 21 contained about ONE I considered watching. There were four previews shown at this theater (which had multiple screens but seated perhaps 40 per screen) and I could see myself enjoying them all. Maybe I'm just not mainstream (I can hear all y'all laughing from here).
Downtown Tacoma once again chewed up any semblance of "Oh, I'm sure we can figure out where to go from here" and spit it out 30 miles away. We had some small issues finding a restaurant that wasn't a bar (we had kids with) and ended up in a fancy place that would have made me feel uncomfortable even if I weren't dressed in a tshirt and a hoodie that said GIMMEE GIMMEES across the front. I heard the food was excellent-it certainly looked beautiful- but there wasn't a whole lot for a vegetarian and that was fine by me. Expensive food makes me uncomfortable too--I start freaking out that I won't like it.
Once again, day looks beautiful. I need to get my sleep schedule back on track so I can start walking to and from work again.
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| Friday, March 28th, 2008
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7:23 am - This morning? DO NOT WANT.
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At work late last night (7:15), then watched three episodes of Stargate: Atlantis (10:30, and actually semi-decent episodes, wow!), then off to feed and medicate my friend's kitties while she is off in Arizona. As I put the key into the lock, I think, "Wouldn't it suck if this key didn't work?" Guess what happened. HA. HA. HA. So after scrambling around the house checking windows, trying to turn it only about four hundred times, calling her to leave voicemail, we return to the apartment (11:30), I find an old key ring with a likely candidate, which I had assumed was replaced by previously mentioned key due to a changed lock or something (11:45). Return to her house (midnight), try key, key works, call her back, locate kitties, pour roasted chicken flavored medical oil (!) down the one with asthma, feed kitties, cuddle the ONE kitty who really was into me being there, get back in car (12:30), return to apartment (12:45), go to bed (12:50)....find I can't sleep. ARGH. Playtest a comparable product from work until 2, go to sleep, get up at 6:45.
Would rather go back to bed but am in actuality going in to work early because unlike last week where I had nothing to do and had to resort to my "God I wish this would get fixed but have no time to do so" list. By the end of the day I will probably have nothing to do again, but...I don't like people getting held up because of me.
Tomorrow I am sleeping in. And making plum ice cream. And making it up to David.
current mood:  tired
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| Thursday, March 27th, 2008
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7:38 am - My Life : A Postmortem (not literally!)
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I think I've finally accepted that I'm really and truly a designer now, which is good because now I can get on with it and immerse myself in figuring out what that means. I've been hovering insecurely, waiting to be pushed back to artist or worse...
ANYWAYS, yay for me, blah blah, POINT:
Yesterday the designers as a whole had a discussion (I was included! Thus the acceptance speech) about the practice of postmortems, which is a system in which, once a project has all been completed, everybody gets together and discusses what went right and what went wrong and how to streamline the process and never have those problems again. Of course, by the end of the project everyone's forgotten half of it and gotten really emotional about the other half, and everyone's so tired that they don't actually pay attention and forget it all by the time they get to the next project.
And we all read an article on Gamasutra about ditching the postmortem. The article, by one Wolfgang Hamman, suggests that instead you have micro-postmortems at every milestone, or at predetermined checkpoints, so that you can find out what's going wrong BEFORE it gets out of hand, and maybe fix it for THIS project instead of the next one.
AND maybe I was a little distracted by thoughts of my hubby, who was in the middle of a phone interview with a very, VERY cool company (not jinxing), and of our relationship and my tendency to wait and wait and wait and wait until something gets unbearable and THEN mentioning it to him. (Eheh...) I thought, that's kind of like a postmortem (and just like a postmortem it usually doesn't solve anyone's problems). Hmm...think about other people's relationships. Think especially about how when I've seen one fall apart and there's a million billion unresolved issues that come pouring out like a shaken mouse nest, SURPRISE! Hmm, have also seen people swear they'll never make those mistakes again and then hop into a relationship where that's bound to happen...DUDE It's JUST LIKE a postmortem!
So last night, I suggested applying Critical Stage Analysis to our relationship.
I got The Eye of course. The one that says, with naught but a cocked eyebrow, "Did you try to drink coffee again?"
Okay, yeah, maybe it'd be a little weird...just a TEENSY WEENSY LITTLE BIT. And awkward. And perhaps I shouldn't have started out the conversation with the phrase, "So I've been thinking about our relationship..."
....yeeeeeeaaahhhh...
So before I do that again, I'm going to pre-test it on my life. I have goals, I have deadlines (milestones). I most certainly have issues with the way I end up doing stuff. I also 100 percent look back on my life and try to analyze what went wrong, but usually way too late to fix problems. That's a pretty close analog...should be a walk in the park, right? RIGHT?
So every weekend I will list in order of impactfulness:
5 most important things I did right,
5 most important things that went wrong,
5 ways I could improve for next week.
And (kicker alert) pay attention to those the following week.
current mood:  there was no coffee involved
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| Wednesday, March 26th, 2008
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7:51 am - Kitchen of DOOM
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When you come home from work every day to a guy gazing into a monitor sporting 22 characters with ridiculous weaponry riding on tigers and rams, sometimes it's hard not to be frustrated and feel like you're doing all the work and he's just lazing around. Unfair? Yes. Self-centered? Undoubtedly. Human? Why, yes again!
It is also incredibly telling that in the past three days where David has had work to do (yay, temp agency!) and hasn't been home, the kitchen and bedroom have become complete disaster areas.
Ehehehehehe...dammit.
current mood: guilt rising
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| Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
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8:38 pm - Cubicle Joy of the Esoteric Variety
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If you ever maybe worked at a company in an alternate reality, that makes licensed video games, hypothetically, you might come across a license that you hope and pray doesn't ever make it out of the pitch stage. Perhaps your fervent prayers could come true and you might dance ecstatically in your cubicle and praise the heavens and celebrate with a visit to Walgreens for clearance holiday candy. And then possibly your deskmate might buy you a doll from aforementioned license as a birthday gift. At first, you might think this is horrible torture because it might just make you think of hookers and fish people and those things shouldn't even come together hypothetically except maybe NEVER but then you find out how much torture value could be inherent in such a toy, especially if it maybe possibly is supposed to represent a 16 year old and has painted on lace panties and you work with a bunch of nerdy guys perhaps.
Yeah.
This made me ridiculously happy, and the programmer that sits next to me whimper in mental anguish. Bwahaha!
Jackal Sniper on the left, by the way, abandoned at my desk because it was purchased by a coworker for the beam rifle packin. He and Cloe have become quite close.
current mood: ridi ridiculous
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