What is happening to my summer?
The weather has finally arrived but who has time to enjoy?? Work has be running my butt off. So much that I had to... vent at a management meeting this morning. It wasn't too bad but I had a small meltdown. This is by far the busiest time of the year. Well, actually, we're busy all year now but the summers are especially crazy. I've got 3 project all on the go and trying to final within the same month. Then 8 weeks later, they will all be going live in the marketplace and with today's online gameplay, we no longer develop, package and ship. Now we develop, package, ship, monitor online service, create downloadable content, post online updates, update rosters, etc... It never stops now. But I digress.
Today at the managers meeting we were discussing yet another new 'initiative' which would require further time and energy. While the idea makes sense, it also made sense that I was the best person suited for the job. Hey, I'm all for new initiatives and maybe working on initiatives is part of my job but i've also GOT A JOB TO DO! I can't keep up. It just gets piled on more and more. I fully acknowledged that maybe I need to go to time management school or something but I had a bit of a conniption when I realized I was being burdened with yet another assignment.
Fortunately my peers found my freak out both entertaining and well founded. For some reason it always seems to be me arguing back at these meetings. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I'm the least able to control my emotions. Normally I have my little spaz attack and halfway through I realize I've gone too far. So I need to only let the genie out of the bottle a little bit. I think I have valid points but sometimes I think I sacrifice what dignity I have left when I let lose.
Regardless. I still have this new assignment to tackle...
For those interested readers, you'll notice that I used the word 'spaz' up above. Apparently, this is a really bad word in some parts of the world (mostly those heavily influenced by Great Britain). I innocently used the word 'spastic' in an email I sent by father in law in Australia. I think he found it both funny and disturbing that I would use such a word. Meanwhile, I was confused by what the fuss was about. So naturally, I googled it. In England, this is almost a swear word. I think we all kind of know what spaz references but in the UK it's 100 times worse than using the 'R' word. You know the 'R' word. It's followed by 'etard'.
Anyway, I cut and paste from Wikipedia.
In American slang, the term "spaz" is largely inoffensive, and is generally understood as a casual word for clumsiness, sometimes associated with over excitement, excessive energy, or hyperactivity.
Ok. So how about the UK?
The current understanding of the word is well-illustrated by a BBC survey in 2003, which found that "spastic" was the second most offensive term in the UK relating to disability (retard was deemed most offensive). In 2007, Lynne Murphy, a linguist at the University of Sussex, described the term as being "one of the most taboo insults to a British ear".
Whoops. I guess the R word followed by "etard" is actually more offensive. I apologize to everyone for using it so very, very often. It's just so fun to say.
Ok, this post is almost over.
I'm going to finish with a couple of game videos.
The first one is called "Limbo". It's an 'arcade' title on the 360 and looks so out of the ordinary and original, I simply must get it. There are thousands of games made every year but when something truly original comes out, it's so refreshing. Actually, it's still a side scrolling adventure game at heart (like Mario) but illustrated so... spooky.
But then again, sometimes originality is overrated. 
My friend at work who has friends at Dice Studios in Sweden just got me in on their closed beta program for the new Medal Of Honor. Grimoire, I know you're jealous.
Across The Street… he watches
Ok, this scares me. I snapped this picture from my iPhone so I apologize for the lousy resolution.
This house is across the street from where I live. Last year it caught fire and was gutted. It's always been un-kept (since we've been in the neighbourhood) and appeared to be lived in by a bunch of noisy kids. Listen to me! I've turned into the neighbourhood old coot!
Anyway, it's been vacant for some time. Until... HE showed up. No he watches everything I do. Always grinning. Always plotting. Waiting. Waiting...
And for today's SPAM comment caught in my comment filter...
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UPWARD THE SUPERB PERFORM!!!
I’ve got so much I want to say!
But no time to say it...
So I'll leave you with these 2 little tidbits.
Found this in my comment spam filter... should I approve this guy? I mean, he sounds nice and all...
"Cheers for the well-written piece of content. I’m seriously at perform at the moment! So i require to go off without reading all I’d like. But I have extra your place to my RSS feed to ensure I can take my time to go as being a the web site."
And more importantly...
Happy Red Dead Redemption Day...
I’m a Bad Blogger…
So I'm pretty sure that my parents are the only ones that keep checking back to the site so most previous readers probably don't even know that I've been slack on the updates. But I'm still here, still alive... still trying to post.
Facebook really is the death of blogging. I update my facebook status usually daily, sometimes more. And with those updates, my need to send information out onto the information super highway is usually sufficed . The unusual thing about facebook (and twitter I guess though I don't use twitter) is that you have one sentence to inform, entertain and update your other facebook followers. That may sound silly but its actually quite challenging. Facebook updates are the haiku of the 21st century. Well, except for the formal structure... or the poetic verse. Or anything really. Other than the challenge to write.
I've got some facebook contacts that just... update what they are doing. Like "I'm going to the gym". Ya, that's nice. Thank you. I prefer to read people's updates where they actually work on what they want to say. He could have said something like "I'm off to the gym to work off the poutine I had at lunch. See you in three weeks". Ok, not funny but did it tell us something more than just 'i'm going to the gym'?
But to the point of this post, facebook has ruined me as a blogger. Where I can sum up what I have to say in one (well crafted thank you very much) line, I am unable to do that on the blog. The blog takes time. Takes writing several paragraphs. Takes... effort. And my attention span is very. ah... um. short.
That being said, we've had a fantastic, busy Christmas. Many things worth writing about. We've been to friends places for dinner/parties, we've had friends over for dinner one night, drinks another night. Got to spend time with the Mavai's and their visiting brother (and girlfriend) in from Japan which was awesome. Saw Avatar. Saw Sherlock Holmes. We're dog sitting Harvey. We've spent countless hours cleaning the apartment which usually sucks but man, I love this place when it's tidy! We're sporting a live, 7 foot Christmas tree this year that Rachel did an amazing job of decorating. I went boxing day shopping for the first time ever and actually enjoyed it (hello gps!). We've got friends coming in from the island tomorrow and staying over New Years. We're picking up studio lighting today from a friend to borrow for a short while which I'm excited about. All in all, it's been an awesome holiday so far. I'm so not looking forward to returning to work.
And this has all put me in a bully mood for 2010. I think 2010 is going to be a break out year. I'm not exactly sure with what or where... but my nose is telling me something. And I have a very big nose...