Tonight I went out to play frisbee golf with some ETC alums and some park in Pasadena. It was a fun time all around, but being out in the park really drove home for me how unfamiliar I am with the plants and animals of my new home.
Ever since the sixth grade (go Holy Family Ecology Team, woo!), I've had some ability to identify trees, and while I may not remember their scientific names anymore, I could always name the more common varieties in the woods of Kentucky and Pennsylvania. The animals I ran into always felt familiar to me. I mean, I grew up with all of that, right?
Tonight at the park, I saw some lizards, but didn't know what kind. We flushed out a family of some kind of ground bird with a stray frisbee. Kind of like quails, but I don't think they were. And, of course, we trudged through all manner of desert scrub and under trees which I couldn't name if I tried.
Basically, I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do. Surely the library will have one of those tiny books on identifying local trees.
Speaking of trees, around the 13th hole, we saw some guys who had treed their frisbee, and couldn't get it down by throwing rocks (it was wedged high up among the small branches pretty good). I was feeling adventurous, so I clambered on up into the high branches of the tree (about 15 feet up), then walked out onto a bough near the edge, in spite of the terrified protests of my friends below. I managed to prod the frisbee out with a stick, and climbed back down without injuring myself (though I did sustain a fair amount of scrapes).
The two guys were extremely grateful, and I felt very happy knowing that I can still climb a tree at 27 - I'm pretty sure the last time I did so was in high school or earlier. Adventure! I'll probably regret it tomorrow morning, but for now, I feel hard core :)
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
Books
It's easy to take for granted, but the library is pretty much the greatest thing ever.
I haven't just been focusing on games since moving to LA; there are plenty of books I'm plowing through. Living right next door to the library has inspired me to use it, it would seem. Here's what I've finished so far.
Moby Dick, which I'd never read before. I liked it a lot! Even the whaling sections! I think it has to do with my insanely fast pace at reading: it made all those informational chapters feel like pleasant asides, nothing that I had to plow through. As I mentioned in a status update before, it could just run in the family (my brother is a big Melville fan).
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I always got this and To Kill a Mockingbird mixed up, because they both had birds in the title. I enjoyed this read quite a bit as well, even though I foresaw the inevitable end. It was tough, but fascinating and well-contained.
Shardik. In spite of Watership Down being my favorite book ever, I realized I'd never read any of Richard Adams' other stuff. Shardik was a focused journey story, and had a lot of the same feel as Siddhartha to me. I think I prefer Adams' animal-POV stuff, but it was a good read nonetheless.
Next up on my plate are The Forever War and another Adams' book, Traveller
I haven't just been focusing on games since moving to LA; there are plenty of books I'm plowing through. Living right next door to the library has inspired me to use it, it would seem. Here's what I've finished so far.
Moby Dick, which I'd never read before. I liked it a lot! Even the whaling sections! I think it has to do with my insanely fast pace at reading: it made all those informational chapters feel like pleasant asides, nothing that I had to plow through. As I mentioned in a status update before, it could just run in the family (my brother is a big Melville fan).
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I always got this and To Kill a Mockingbird mixed up, because they both had birds in the title. I enjoyed this read quite a bit as well, even though I foresaw the inevitable end. It was tough, but fascinating and well-contained.
Shardik. In spite of Watership Down being my favorite book ever, I realized I'd never read any of Richard Adams' other stuff. Shardik was a focused journey story, and had a lot of the same feel as Siddhartha to me. I think I prefer Adams' animal-POV stuff, but it was a good read nonetheless.
Next up on my plate are The Forever War and another Adams' book, Traveller
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Twilight Princess
Twilight Princess checked off my video game list! I finished tonight, and was extremely pleased with the game. I enjoyed it through and through, especially a lot of the items and mechanics that I wasn't used to, and the storylines were all great. I really loved the relationship between Midna and Link that grew throughout the entire game - it was beautifully nourished (and I even shed a few tears at the very end!)
Creating believable relationships in games, and making you really care about characters, is hard as all get-out, as we all know. Many times if a game tries very hard to make you feel a connection to a character, it feels forced, contrived, and induces eye rolling and scoffing (*coughcough*GearsOfWar*cough*). The Midna relationship, however, grew and changed and was believable, and I latched right onto it. I feel like just about everything in that game (from the story, to the animations, to the audio) served that character relationship, and it worked!
Also, Twilight Princess has some of the best end credits ever. When I finish a game, I want the end credits to wind down the experience - a nice ease out of the interest curve. Credits that give nods back to the story and show "what happened after" are wonderful and gratifying. I'm pretty sure these end credits were the most pleasing I'd experienced since Final Fantasy VI.
Well...7 games left! I'd better pick up the pace! :) I doubt I'll make it by the end of the summer, but I'll keep working at it.
Creating believable relationships in games, and making you really care about characters, is hard as all get-out, as we all know. Many times if a game tries very hard to make you feel a connection to a character, it feels forced, contrived, and induces eye rolling and scoffing (*coughcough*GearsOfWar*cough*). The Midna relationship, however, grew and changed and was believable, and I latched right onto it. I feel like just about everything in that game (from the story, to the animations, to the audio) served that character relationship, and it worked!
Also, Twilight Princess has some of the best end credits ever. When I finish a game, I want the end credits to wind down the experience - a nice ease out of the interest curve. Credits that give nods back to the story and show "what happened after" are wonderful and gratifying. I'm pretty sure these end credits were the most pleasing I'd experienced since Final Fantasy VI.
Well...7 games left! I'd better pick up the pace! :) I doubt I'll make it by the end of the summer, but I'll keep working at it.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Squee!
I am full of happy, you guys. A near-full month has flown by right under my nose, and I am completely at ease with the pace. I don't feel like I'm in a hurry for anything.
I love my job! The Insomniacs scooped me right back up into their pack, and I feel completely at home there. I love my team and I love the work that I'm doing, and I try every day to be grateful for it and for how lucky I am.
I also love the place that I live. There are so many flowers piled up outside my window, and every day hummingbirds zoom about and drink out of them. It smells wonderful! I was hesitant about choosing to live by myself out here at first, but now I'm very glad I did. Owning my space has inspired me to take responsibility for it, and I've made it into a place where I am happy to be. I took Joyce's suggestion and printed out several photos from my trip to the Phipps Conservatory, framed them, and hung them about my apartment.
The greatest thing about moving across the country and starting a new career is the opportunity it gives for creating good habits. It's like a clean slate for starting up routines.
I've been cooking regularly again, like I used to before grad school, and I have a little herb garden which I use just about every day.
I've started riding my bike to work every day, and I've been stretching every morning and every night. It's like I'm getting healthy again, or something!
Anyway, I'm trying to burn a solid memory of how I feel these days into my mind, so that when I run into hard times in the future, I can call it back up and smile.
I love my job! The Insomniacs scooped me right back up into their pack, and I feel completely at home there. I love my team and I love the work that I'm doing, and I try every day to be grateful for it and for how lucky I am.
I also love the place that I live. There are so many flowers piled up outside my window, and every day hummingbirds zoom about and drink out of them. It smells wonderful! I was hesitant about choosing to live by myself out here at first, but now I'm very glad I did. Owning my space has inspired me to take responsibility for it, and I've made it into a place where I am happy to be. I took Joyce's suggestion and printed out several photos from my trip to the Phipps Conservatory, framed them, and hung them about my apartment.
The greatest thing about moving across the country and starting a new career is the opportunity it gives for creating good habits. It's like a clean slate for starting up routines.
I've been cooking regularly again, like I used to before grad school, and I have a little herb garden which I use just about every day.
I've started riding my bike to work every day, and I've been stretching every morning and every night. It's like I'm getting healthy again, or something!
Anyway, I'm trying to burn a solid memory of how I feel these days into my mind, so that when I run into hard times in the future, I can call it back up and smile.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Training
A week into work and already things are in full swing! I am extremely happy :)
Now that I am a Dr. Professional Game Designer, and now that I have some threads of consistency to schedule around, it's time to start training! That is, it's time to start catching up on games that I have been intending to play. As I started making a list and a plan, I realized that this is rather like having a workout schedule or an exercise program.
Dividing daily workouts between cardio, upper body strength, lower body strength...dividing daily game playing between the Wii, the PS3, the PS2, the PC...it's amusingly similar.
An issue to contend with is my budget: I'm in no place to start buying games, even used ones, so I'm starting with what I already have or what I can scrounge up for free or very cheap, via Insomniac's game library or Gamefly or whatever. Jake at work suggested that I could scrap by pretty well on demos and betas, and gave me a multiplayer beta voucher for Uncharted to get started (it rhymes, tee hee!).
So, here's my starting list of games to either beat or sample.
Wii
1) Twilight Princess - which, I realized the copy I have doesn't even belong to me, it's DC's! I borrowed it and never gave it back because I'm a TERRIBLE FRIEND
PS3
2) Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty - hooray for Insomniac freebies!
3) Assassin's Creed - I feel like I practically played through most of this when watching Joe last spring, and I would like to play the sequel when it comes out, so I need to catch up
4) Far Cry 2 - I saw so many talks about this game at GDC this year that I want to check it out and see what's what
4) Flower - I only got to play a tiny bit when we were playing it at Schell, so I went ahead and bought it
PS2
5) Fatal Frame - oh how you taunt me! This game is effing hard, but not in a discouraging way, in an "omg I must conquer you!" way. I'm gonna get myself a guide and play through and have enough film for the last two nights. SO THERE!
6) Ico - this gets referenced and brought up in game design discussion so much that I simply must play it for research.
PC
7) Half-Life 2 - I had a pretty good run playing through this game until I got myself stuck under a pipe because I wanted to see if I could fit under there. It happens. Anyway, research!
DS
8) Rhythm Heaven - because i almost beat it when I borrowed it from Carlos, and had a super fun time with it!
8 Games in one summer, can I do it?
Now that I am a Dr. Professional Game Designer, and now that I have some threads of consistency to schedule around, it's time to start training! That is, it's time to start catching up on games that I have been intending to play. As I started making a list and a plan, I realized that this is rather like having a workout schedule or an exercise program.
Dividing daily workouts between cardio, upper body strength, lower body strength...dividing daily game playing between the Wii, the PS3, the PS2, the PC...it's amusingly similar.
An issue to contend with is my budget: I'm in no place to start buying games, even used ones, so I'm starting with what I already have or what I can scrounge up for free or very cheap, via Insomniac's game library or Gamefly or whatever. Jake at work suggested that I could scrap by pretty well on demos and betas, and gave me a multiplayer beta voucher for Uncharted to get started (it rhymes, tee hee!).
So, here's my starting list of games to either beat or sample.
Wii
1) Twilight Princess - which, I realized the copy I have doesn't even belong to me, it's DC's! I borrowed it and never gave it back because I'm a TERRIBLE FRIEND
PS3
2) Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty - hooray for Insomniac freebies!
3) Assassin's Creed - I feel like I practically played through most of this when watching Joe last spring, and I would like to play the sequel when it comes out, so I need to catch up
4) Far Cry 2 - I saw so many talks about this game at GDC this year that I want to check it out and see what's what
4) Flower - I only got to play a tiny bit when we were playing it at Schell, so I went ahead and bought it
PS2
5) Fatal Frame - oh how you taunt me! This game is effing hard, but not in a discouraging way, in an "omg I must conquer you!" way. I'm gonna get myself a guide and play through and have enough film for the last two nights. SO THERE!
6) Ico - this gets referenced and brought up in game design discussion so much that I simply must play it for research.
PC
7) Half-Life 2 - I had a pretty good run playing through this game until I got myself stuck under a pipe because I wanted to see if I could fit under there. It happens. Anyway, research!
DS
8) Rhythm Heaven - because i almost beat it when I borrowed it from Carlos, and had a super fun time with it!
8 Games in one summer, can I do it?
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Banana Tortilla
So I've been in my new apartment for a few days, but my stuff won't get here until tomorrow. Thus, being left with my cast iron skillet, my travel/camping spice kit, a banana and some corn tortillas, this delicious treat was created...
Ingredients:
1 banana
2 corn tortillas
cinnamon
honey
vegetable oil
1) Drizzle some oil on the cast iron skillet and heat it up, medium-high
2) Slice the banana and throw the pieces on the skillet; sprinkle pieces with cinnamon
3) After about 30 seconds, flip the banana slices and sprinkle cinnamon on the other side
4) Remove banana slices and divide between two corn tortillas. Drizzle with honey and fold the tortillas over
5) Heat the banana-filled tortilla on the skillet, about 15 seconds each side.
Enjoy!
As for other updates, I LOVE my apartment in Burbank. Love it! It is so beautiful, and the area is filled with fragrant flowers, and the view outside my sliding patio door is so pretty and placid. I've already set up an herb garden and printed out a few of my Phipp's photos to hang on the wall.
Once I get all my belongings in and set up, I will be keen on visitors for sure. I start work on Monday: excitement!
Ingredients:
1 banana
2 corn tortillas
cinnamon
honey
vegetable oil
1) Drizzle some oil on the cast iron skillet and heat it up, medium-high
2) Slice the banana and throw the pieces on the skillet; sprinkle pieces with cinnamon
3) After about 30 seconds, flip the banana slices and sprinkle cinnamon on the other side
4) Remove banana slices and divide between two corn tortillas. Drizzle with honey and fold the tortillas over
5) Heat the banana-filled tortilla on the skillet, about 15 seconds each side.
Enjoy!
As for other updates, I LOVE my apartment in Burbank. Love it! It is so beautiful, and the area is filled with fragrant flowers, and the view outside my sliding patio door is so pretty and placid. I've already set up an herb garden and printed out a few of my Phipp's photos to hang on the wall.
Once I get all my belongings in and set up, I will be keen on visitors for sure. I start work on Monday: excitement!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Phipps Conservatory
So I went to the Phipps Conservatory today to take some photos. I love my fancy Canon Rebel, but I'm notorious for leaving my camera behind when going on outings, and so I never have any new photos! It seems that if I want to take pictures with it, I have to plan a trip to do so. That's all the well, I'll get better at remembering eventually.
The Phipps is one of my favorite places in Pittsburgh - both the architecture and the overwhelming pleasantness of the botanical gardens. Plus, it has a whole room devoted entirely to orchids, my favorite flower!
You can see all the photos here, but below are a few of my favorite shots. Enjoy!
I took all these with a standard lens kit, though I often was craving a macro lens. I think I did just fine without one :)
The Phipps is one of my favorite places in Pittsburgh - both the architecture and the overwhelming pleasantness of the botanical gardens. Plus, it has a whole room devoted entirely to orchids, my favorite flower!
You can see all the photos here, but below are a few of my favorite shots. Enjoy!
I took all these with a standard lens kit, though I often was craving a macro lens. I think I did just fine without one :)
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