Tag Archives: connecticut

Games and Game Development, Personal Blog

Massachusetts Visit

I just got back from a weekend visit with Steph and it was a blast and a half! Or no, make that 2 whole blasts.

After a tasty lunch, we went to this awesome candy store. You can pick out your own assorted chocolates, so it’s like getting a box of chocolates, only just with the kinds you like, and no scary surprises. I also got a sucker in the shape of a lobster (don’t worry, it was not lobster flavored)

Steph showed me around Salem, MA, and we went to some dinky-but-fun history museums about the witch trials. We also hit up a comic store, where I *finally* indulged myself in snagging the last volume of Bone, only to see the new color reprints! Now I want the whole set all over again. We also rooted through a secondhand bookstore, snagging children’s books with inspiring illustrations out of the 50% off box.

We spent the rest of the evening playing various video games, with a brief break for sushi. After a bit of gaming the next morning, we went out for lunch, and then adventured on the shore (we did not find any critters, only a shoe-full of cold water, oh well!)

I’m really glad I got to visit! It was good fun, and I also got to see a bunch of Steph’s art up close, including her in-progress raven thief sculpture. I also got to meet her sweet little rat, Oreo, who is adorable and has inspired me to add rats to my “potential pets” list Yay for visits!

Games and Game Development, Personal Blog

Birthday Madness

My parents sent me a cast iron teapot with 2 matching cast iron cups. It’s reeeeeeeeeally cool looking, and holds a lot of tea. I guess I’ll have to expand my tea horizons beyond Oolong now. It also has a dragon on it, and since I got a dragon teapot last year for my birthday, and another dragon themed teapot a few years ago for Christmas, I guess I might as well say I’m collecting them now ^_^

I also got, from my parents, money that was specifically intended for me to buy myself a Nintendo DS. This was great, because it’s been a long time since I’ve been excited over getting a toy for a present. Plus, I haven’t had a hand-held console since the original Game Boy and the Sega Game Gear. I went to the game store with Scott, and discovered they were selling Game Cubes for $60! This was highly tempting, because I’ve always said I’d like to get a Game Cube for cheap, for the sole purpose of getting Warioware and MarioKart, which would probably be the only two games I’d play for it. Tempting, yes, but I stuck with my original plan and got a DS. I’ll need something to keep my occupied on that flight to Japan!

Today at work, the prop shop threw me a little birthday party, complete with donuts and video games at lunch time. Then the most surreal thing happened. Billy the props carp showed me this crazy game for the PS2, Katamari Damacy, which is very silly and quirky, and great fun. I thought it’d be a fun game to get, and I almost considered asking to borrow it to show Scott and Geoff at home. Well, when I got home, Geoff started leading into a story about this crraaaaaaazy game he got for PS2, and I thought “Oh man, it’s going to be the same game.” Sure enough, Katamari Damacy. I think this is an omen telling me to go out and buy it.

So we had a birthday dinner at the house, and then Carleton’s family surprised me with a gift! Not just any gift…Scott sneakily heard my temptation lament at the game store, and the whole family went out and bought me one of those $60 gamecubes, along with the my 2 coveted games. SO EXCITED!

It’s been a very long time since I’ve gotten so many fun toys for my birthday, and I don’t think I’ve been so excited about video games since that Christmas when I got my Sega Genesis. I am endlessly grateful!

Personal Blog

Cowboy Beebop

Someday, I’m going to make an animated TV series. And you know what? It’s going to have a happy freakin ending. Warm, fuzzy, self-gratification happy.

It might not be the correct ending. It might not be the appropriate ending. It would certainly make the Centre drama department shake their heads and tsk-tsk, such an ending. But I don’t care.

The end will make people so happy that they’ll finish watching it, go outside, and dance on clouds and make sunshine. The kind of sun with the smiley face. It will be so happy that people will pee spring water and their sweat will evaporate into euphoric gases. People will be so freakin happy they won’t know what to do with themselves.

So…so there! *sobs in her pillow*

Personal Blog

NYC

I could talk about Singing Forest right now, but I don’t think I’m ready to talk about that yet, so instead I’ll give a simple weekend review.

I went with Carleton to New York to visit his friend, Mike. I hadn’t been to the city since the 6th grade, and that trip mostly involved me scurrying to keep up with my dad and uncle, occasionally gazing at the tall buildings because that’s what I figured tourists were supposed to do.

It was a nice train ride from Milford (which is just near where I work, and has free parking on the weekends for their station, woo!). Mike’s apartment is in the Upper West side of Manhattan and is quite nice. Friday night we went to the planetarium for some music-and-show-off-computer-rendering deal. ‘Twas nice.

The next day we went to get bagels, at some place that Carleton spouts is the best bagel place in the WORLD!!! (Just tasted like normal bagels to me, perhaps my palette for bagels is just not sophisticated). The main mission of the day was to help Mike buy a betta. I wish I’d brought my camera so I can add Rocky’s picture to the growing list of “Friend’s Bettas”.

That night we went and saw Carleton’s Cousin play a set at some club/bar place. His music is very good, and we’d seen him play at a coffee shop in CT last weekend. This time he was with a band, and it was a very lively set.

We then retired to Mike’s apartment and watched City of God, a very powerful and awesome movie. Mike’s mom is from Brazil, and used to teach in the City of God, and apparently said that the movie is quite accurate as far as how things are there. The individual story is very uplifting, but the truthfulness of the situation is rather depressing.

Overall, a very nice visit. It’s much more pleasant to visit the city when you are with people who know how to get around.

Personal Blog

2004 Review

-January of 2004 started out with Centre term and The Yellow Boat. It was an amazing experience, and made me think that I might want to do props as a job. The show itself was a joy to work on, and the end product was so powerful.

-Also in January, my need for companionship drove me to acquire Fish, my first betta. He’s still going strong–moved all the way up to a 10 gallon tank–and he provided many things for me through that spring term of senior year (namely company, and someone to care for–sometimes at my own expense).

-Spring of 2004 was a flurry of busy times in my memory. I recall a lot of pain and sweat. It culminated towards the end, where it all paid off at the conclusion of my senior art exhibition, in which I was informed that I had acquired a job for the next year. The sensation of relief and excitement afterwards was amazing.

-I made the best of my last summer ever. It was an outpouring of pent up creative juices into various forms of art, spending time with good friends, and having Carleton nearby. I made it a point to never be bored, and milked the time for everything I could.

-The fall was the start of the changes. Moving up here, starting my job, having various intimidating grown-up things tossed at me from all around–it was all rather overwhelming. I’ve learned so much working at Long Wharf, both good and bad. I’ve acquired all kinds of exciting new skills, and all kinds of unpleasant new knowledge.

-Winter rolls around, and it is time for change. It is strange, I love the things I get to do, I love to be able to create. But at the same time, I am not happy here. To put it bluntly, working in theater sucks balls. It is not worth it. People say that to work in theater you have to “really love it,” more and more that’s starting to sound like a cop-out, something people say to reassure themselves. I remember hearing about when Laura Beth Adams gave up theater to move to Arizona and teach aerobics, or something like that. Everyone seemed so shocked, and even outraged, but I think I can empathize now.

I don’t know what to do now. I took this internship to find out if I really wanted to do this as a job, and the answer is a resounding No. Would quitting be along the lines of abandoning these people or this obligation? Or would it be the right thing to do, the braver thing?

More than this has taught me that being brave is terrifying and painful.

Personal Blog

Merry Christmas

It’s been a bittersweet holiday. On the one hand, the family gatherings this year have been more close feeling and energetic than I can ever remember. Perhaps it is because I’ve been away from home for the first time, perhaps it is because both my nana and our close family friend have survived their respective bouts with cancer and are thriving. Either way, I enjoyed the feeling (I also impressed my grandfather with the mad fire-building skills I picked up in CT, no starter logs for me!)

On the otherhand, it has been a sad time due to the unexpected death of Brendan’s stepfather. He and Brendan’s mother had barely been married a year, and I cried when I first found out what had happened. Brendan and his family are of the kindest, most generous and caring people I have ever met, and it hurts me deeply to see them have this to go through. Brendan, you are awesome and strong and I am always here if you need me.

Tomorrow will take back up to Connecticut, let’s hope my airline doesn’t go bankrupt until after that happens

Personal Blog

Book Review

Carleton’s stepfather, Tom, has a habit of occasionally coming in and tossing a book to me saying “this is good, you should read this.” I don’t mind it at all, as my need for leisure reading since graduating has been somewhat gluttonous, I’m always on the search for new books to consume.

The most recent one has been The Unschooled Wizard by Barbara Hambly. It’s actually a collection of two novels: The Ladies of Mandrigyn and The Witches of Wenshar. Tom told me to ignore the poor cover art and not-very-well-written back cover blurb, so I took off the bookcover altogether and started reading.

It is a very good story and very well-written. The plot in each of the sub-novels led to total surprises for me, which is quite impressive, as I have a habit of sniffing out a “clever” plot twist from miles away.

It’s fantasy, but not *too* fantasy, in that it doesn’t rely on the stock elements of fantasy to make it a good story. (Brendan and Dave, I think you both would like it a lot).

Personal Blog

Books and Weather

I believe I’ve hit a new reading record for myself: A 435 page novel in less than 6 hours (subtracting some time of boarding and unboarding the plane, the drive home, and the time it took to eat a late lunch).

Also, I wanted to make a clarification. Judging by the bewildered expressions and exclamations of people I told about the heavy, 14 inch snowfall here in Louisville, it seems there is a huge miscomprehension in New England that everyplace south of Pennsylvania is a vast, burning desert with year-round heat waves.

This is not true. Just wanted to let you guys know.

Merry Christmas! It’ll be below 0 for ours.