Dentures and Code

There comes a time in every programmer's life when they have to decide, keep the garbage he/she has spent days writing or scrap it and start over. I've just decided to scrap the end-level menus that I've spent nearly a week on. It hurts, not quite as badly as my kneecaps at the moment, but boy does it hurt.
You know what I've noticed...all my favorite DJs...like me, are getting quite old. DJ Dan...dude, the guy was mixing from his crypt and rocking the house. I'm surprised his dentures didn't fall out from the beat vibration...maybe the dude uses Extra Strength Sea-Bond like me.

Insaniquarium

I packed a few of the items I thought I would need for a backpacking trip and some water...and the god damned bag was close to 20lbs. I've always wonder how it was possible that most backpacks for a couple nights of camping would be easily more than 30lbs, now I know why. Fucking water!!! Small doohickeys add up too.
Hiking Mt. Si with an extra 20lbs was waaay more painful than I could ever imagine. Understanding that this is about 18 percent of my body weight, I still didn't think it would be this hard. It was so hard, I actually thought about going back to car and dumping all the stuff for most of the first mile.
Oh man, thinking back now, I actually felt bad for Dennis because I was crawling along slowly like a beaten turtle, crying and complaining all the way. At some point he actually carried part of my lunch for me. Yeah, I bought these two bananas and a sammich for lunch. Did you know 2 bananas can weigh fucking .87 lbs? That doesn't seem like much until you have 20 fuckings lbs on your back on an uphill climb, suddenly, I'm thinking why the hell did I buy those damned things. They would decompose fairly nice in the woods. Dennis carried them. He also then added a giant rock to his bag so that he too could get the "Feel The Burn" exercise I was getting. He slowed down significantly after acquiring said rock too, so I felt a little less bad about my slow crawl.
Oddly enough, around the one mile mark, I actually was able to move along at a decent pace. Dennis later made an apt remark that while it actually never stopped sucking to have to carry all the extra weight uphill, you actually stop caring about the "suck" part and ignore it. As we neared the top we notice the heavy fog everywhere. By the time we got to the top, the fog was so thick you could barely see a thing. Normally, you can see the town and freeway all the way from up top.
We had lunch on some pile of rocks, while these two huge shameless birds came to beg for food. They had absolutely zero fear of human. Then there was this adorable little chipmunk. Poor thing, I kept trying to throw him some bread but the birds shoo'd him away (they were about the same size as the little guy, with a big mean beak) and kept stealing the bread. By the time I finished my sandwich, the birds had stolen every bread crumb and the chipmunk still got nothing, so I broke open a bag of trail mix for him.
Being that the chipmunk was so darned tiny I thought dropping him 3 peanuts and a large almond would be plenty. Nope. The little guy weaved around us and under our legs and everywhere else until I kept dropping more food. He made out with something like 10 peanuts and 1 almond.
Going back down was surprisingly easy with the extra 20lbs, but man my knees burned, especially my one still broken knee (no, it still hasn't had a chance to recover). Why the hell am I still doing all this? Well, there's an obvious answer. I'm fucking crazy. How else would I have the energy to maintain? Ever notice how those people in straight jackets could thrash around for 24hrs straight and still have the energy to kick their caretakers' asses? Crazy people energy. The hike was actually a lot of fun with the extra challenge...extremely painful but fun.
Hmmm...must go get ready to go clubbing with my sister. I can't ban her from clubbing with me two nights in a row (yes, I actually banned her yesterday).

Ghost Hunters

Ooooh, it looks like it might rain a lot today, perfect hiking weather, maybe not for Mailbox though.
So I was telling Brian yesterday about my theory on needing a dog.
Brian: Yeah, that sounds like a valid idea. Are you really going to get one?
Me: Oh, hell no, do I have time for one?
Brian: Maybe you could rent one.
Me: Yeah, I already have that, I call them buddies. They just aren't always available when you need them.
What? Don't look at me like that. It's all mutual. I'm their rent a bitch too.
Now about this hiking in the dark thing...I get scared because I have this inexplicable fear of ghosts. Yes, I don't know why, but I'm sure it all goes back to my childhood where we lived in refugee camps with people turning up dead in the ladies room. If that was a joke, I must be a pretty sick human. Refugee camp is like a giant camp of hundreds of thousands of homeless people, an occasional case of rape and murder hardly faze anyone. My younger brother was murdered here...can't say I remembered him, we were all so young, I was maybe 3-4. Being so young, I don’t think I was too traumatized by all this, but we’ll talk again when I’m spending thousands of dollars for therapy in the future. My sister is three years older; I wonder how she takes in all this. I think she represses most of her childhood memories. I wonder how my parents survived the ordeal. Sometimes, when I look back and see how far they've come together, I'm a bit sadden by how they can't make the good times work.
Now as a kid, when faced with mortality, it's a bit hard to wrap your head around someone being there, and then not...so ghosts made perfect sense.
Back in high school me and my friends used to always go hiking at night though or haunted house stalking. Why do high schoolers love haunted places so much? Ghost hunting. What did we think we would do with the ghost if we found one? Did we think we could outrun a ghost? No, I figured I just need to outrun the smokers in the group. It was just good fun to go hike around at night with a bunch of friends.
Hmmm…I need to go pack my backpack for the hike; I figured I should get used to walking around with at least 10 of the expected 30lbs on my back… But I’m scared my roommate is still waiting around to play “Gotcha-Bitch!” Silly crawlie thingies and their addled sense of humor.

Club and New Roommate

As per approaching milestone time, I'm still working too much and still too cranky, so I'd rather not deal with people today... So what do I do? Why, go clubbing of course. DJ Icey is playing today at Showbox. He spins pretty damned good break beats, but honestly I thought his opening DJ was better. It seems like these days, openers are almost always better. Like Blackalicious, opener was waaaaay better. They just try to do more cool stuff.
Man, I miss clubbing alone so much. I forget how much fun it could be. You pick the time to get there...you pick the time to leave. Hike tomorrow, must get sleeeeep. I found a new roommate. Bastard is more photogenic than me. Where is a spider killer when you need one?
What's the best thing about clubbing alone? No drama. Just good music. Of course I'm practically standing on my computer chair now because my roommate just disappeared.
Now I wish, I had gone to LTJ Bukem last weekend when my drum N' bass buddy bailed on me. Haven't heard really really good drum N' bass in soooo long. Hmmm, DJ Dan is in town tomorrow, I could use some good prog house.

Hiking Glee

So I was at the gym earlier today to work off some of this crazy agro over-worked energy (if you've ever felt like murdering everyone because you're over-worked, that's what this is)...when I realize I didn't want to go on a nice easy hike tomorrow. See, during Mailbox Peak hike, my buddy and I thought we should take it easy this weekend and go on a hike that has more distance but not as much elevation, so we were thinking Taylor.
Mailbox: 8 miles, with 4041 ft elevation gain.
Taylor River: 10 miles, with 700 ft elevation gain.
Si: 8 miles, with 3100 elevation gain.
I got a hold of my buddy and told him I decided to go against the easy hike idea, and he said he felt the exact same way. We were both crazy happy for days from that crazy hike. So maybe Mailbox again, or maybe do Si 1.5 times.
Happiness is finding a hiking buddy as crazy as you about hiking burly trails.

Stirring

There is a general restlessness in the air. It's not just me but everyone around me. Spring cleaning of the home has not been enough for all. Changes needed.

Long Boring Restless Rant and Rambling

I've been getting tired of the gaming industry lately. If you've seen Eric's comic, you'll see one form of someone getting tired of it, he's got a bad case of industry burnout. Me, I've always known my days would be numbered...it's probably why I'm one of a happiest person in the industry. I realize I'm living my childhood dream job and it’s temporary. It's what I've always wanted to do, unfortunately, sometimes little kids do grow up and heaven forbid they should actually wish to do something else. I was a very different person when I was younger, I loved people, but they wore me out. I was not mentally equipped to deal with them, being a programmer was great for that. I simply have to sit in front of a computer with minimal people dealing.
I’d like to think that I’ve grown up and learned how to deal with people a lot better. There are still times when I know better to avoid certain people, like I would rather risk walking alone in the park at night than go out with my drinking buddies or my sister (emphasis on sister). Regardless, for the most part, I love dealing with people now.
Game industry also has a pretty defined glass ceiling, you become programming lead and that’s that. I don’t want to be a lead programmer, my boss has been trying for over a year to get me to be one, but I’d rather not. I was talking to Brian about this restlessness recently. I mentioned I don’t get how most programmers are content with what they do there’s just not a lot of room for growth. His reply is a metaphor for one of the programmers, “That guy is sitting on top of the mountain and feeling like the king of the world.” I told him maybe that’s why I’ll never be content. Like recently, I was sitting on top of Mailbox Peak, I was bone weary, but all I could do was look off in the distant and seeing that other taller mountain. I want to train to climb that.
As a kid, I've always read about people trying to climb Mt. Everest and dying, and I thought, “Stupid white guy.” Now I understand why….wait...little Chinese girls don’t grow up to be stupid white guys do they?
I’m currently hoping to start a lounge type thing. I wish to be around people for a change. While I know I don’t have a lot of experience, I know a TON about what not to do. I’ve watched my sister for so long. I’ve watched people get frustrated with her…this is one of the most horrifying experience ever. I’ve had to hang out with my sister a lot for the last year because she has needed me more than any other time, but to get front row seat to her dealing with people has made me scream and cry in frustration more than once. Many people have asked me why I haven’t stepped in to steer her the right way…I’ve tried, you can’t change someone… One thing she does that really gets my goat is she does the minimal required…in EVERY aspect of her life. She gets the ball rolling on things then walks away. Even when I thought she has changed for the better I realized she’s learned the minimum to get by with me, she’s learned to talk the talk… I can see this, but she is still my sister. People don’t change. I have only one choice left to make, I chose to love my sister for all her faults and wherever I could, I try to get people to see that her choices are still hers to make. I can feel people sometimes transferring their frustration with my sister over to me because they’ve somehow decided I must be exactly like her. *sigh*
I’m simply me, forgive me for deciding to love my sister and letting her live her life for herself.

Alone in the Dark

You know what sounds like a good thing to do after work when you work late? Not drinking! Yes, excellent. You know what else is better? A nice walk in the park. You know what makes that a batshit crazy idea? Doing the two and a half mile walk alone--in the dark. Seward Park is nice, with the walk almost completely surrounded by water, only the parking lot part of it was lit. I used to consider this walk "exercise"...now the walk barely does anything other than freak the hell out of me when I hear leaves rustling in the woods.
I realize I need to learn how to stop being so skittish about being alone in the dark. But I figure there's a better solution. I need a dog. A big one.
When I got to work this morning, I had a goofy pick-me-up email from my buddy, Eric. He had seen the warning label on my JetBoil thingy, and decided to illustrate what went through his head when he first saw that. I so envy artist's ability to do stuff like that (even with necessary spelled wrong, I envy them, granted he did that at like 8-9 in the morning).
See, my thought on the whole backpacking thing would be illustrated by my artsy programmer's stick figures.
<--(Me, being krushed to death by heavy pack, or explodey pack.) Yeah, I don't have as much faith that I will be feasting on delicately flame broiled bear-meat. Nor do I plan to use chessy one liners borrowed from the dude-with-the-face-I'd-like-to-punch from Fantastic Four. Eric thinks his brain might be broken. I tend to agree with him. Too much thinking about game design will do that to you. He's got this comic on the game industry that's a scary but true reflection of things that go on. It's an impressive use of three colors.

Killer Gearz

After a happy dorky day of writing Boba Fett's boss AI, how does a person try to look like more of a dork? Attach a bright bright headlight to your forehead. It's teh secksi! I'll need a picture of myself wearing this hawt item never...which means my buddies will take five billion pictures of me with it.
My snowshoes and various REI stuff came, so I'm all set for my dorky backpacking trip. First thing first, I think I should try hiking with all this crap on my back. I've got this water cooker thingy that wants to kill me badly. Hike around with heavy pack of crap and explosives on my back. Check.
The other day, I noticed this weird label on my snowboarding pants. It's hoping I'll fall under some horrible mishap. Perhaps it's trying to justify the insane cost of those pants, but man... I do appreciate their careful wording of: "Don't be a dumb ass!"

Men = Spider Killers

I played some pool with a buddy of mine, after getting off work and not wanting to go home just yet...Shawn was talking about doing his spring cleaning and how it seemed like his place is crawling with spiders and that he'll occasionally scream because of them popping out of nowhere. I said, "Dear God, what good are y..." He replied, "I killed them. I was just get shocked by them. I don't scream with girls around." Hahaha, I told him that's a good thing, because pretty much men would be worthless if they can't kill crawlie-things-with-too-many-legs. Apparently he is aware of that fact.
We played pool at my old favorite haunt, Temple. I met this adorable gal there who I swore I knew, so I stopped her to talk to her. As it turns out, she has been to my sister's place a good few times. Then she asked, "That guy, is he your boyfriend?" Me, "Oh no, definitely not, he's a good buddy." She mentioned he looks familiar. After more chatting, I find out she bartends at Colin's Pub. I told her, Shawn was just at Colin's for a coworker's going away party. She said, "No wonder, I thought your boyfriend..." Me, "Please stop, not boyfriend...buuuud-die." Valerie, the gal, apologizes profusely, "I'm soooo sorry, I can't believe I'm doing this, I have a lot of guy friends too, and I always worry about people doing that. It makes things awkward."
Hahaha, yes, please, I have a lot of guy friends that I love so much. FRIENDS!!! I might guilt trip them into killing the occasional spiders here and there, but they're still friends.

Geeking Away with Snowshoes

I walked into some coworkers playing some video game, I looked at the screen...it was a "Control Pad". I pointed out that it looks like the BEST game EVAR. They laughed and switched back to the actual game...it was so horrible...StormTroopers didn't look like StormTroopers, I didn't even realize they were troopers until they told me this was a StarWars game. Apparently it was one of the first N64 games, it looked more archaic than the first Wolfenstein 3-d. I told them to go back to the "Control Pad" screen because that looked infinitely more fun.
I wanted to check out this game in hopes of finding some inspiration for my Boba Fett AI, but all this game inspired me to do, was to turn off the TV.
I told Brian I needed to shop for some snowshoes. His reply: "Of course you need some snowshoes, it's only May." Smart ass. Snowshoes are so cheap right now, I could not pass them up. I wanted these Atlas Elektra shoes which normally goes for $250 but are now going for $125. Die, Pilchuck! I gots shoes with teeth on them!

God, Steak, Tequila, and the Full Circle

God has definitely not forsaken me. I woke up extremely hyper and happy…all I wanted to do was to go mountain biking or frolic in some lake. This is where I hit the limits of being single sometimes. I don’t know how to invite guys out to frolic in a lake without leading them on—dear god, that sounds so high school-ish. Then again, in high school, a girl can claim ignorance and go frolicking away. Now, not so much…sucks!
So I went to dinner with my sister who invited Sung, and Grant to join us. I love them both so it was lovely. We had really really good steaks for dinner.
Then we went back to my sister place where I ordered my favorite tequila, Don Julio (my love), while Grant and cousin/friends did some tequila. I forget how much I love this. I forget how drunk I must be, when I think this is a good idea.
I see Nathan again, and he is forever handsome/stupid as he was (why oh why must they be hot AND stupid!!? stop laughing at me god, it's just not that funny anymore), and he simply started apologizing before I can get a word in... I had to stop him. I had to tell him, just stop because everyone I saw the day after, told me I was so mean to him... I told him, I still stand by my words that I felt he deserved it, but more people felt for him. He just kept apologizing which made me feel like an ass, but I told him to let bygones be bygones...honestly, I didn't care, I was happy and he was being nice.
The best part comes when Colin visits the same night. I have not seen him in so long. We did holy-god-fuck-more-tequila shots then just chatted some more.
This has been a great week. So much has happened without my noting, I feel bad but damn time will fly if you stop to take note... Time waits for no one.

Mailbox Peak

There are very few hikes that makes me feel like I've actually accomplished something, Mailbox Peak is one of them. To say this hike was tough is an understatement.
You know how you can tell a hike is about to kick your ass really hard? When they actually bolt down holds on trees for grip, so that people don't plummet to their doom.
This is the kind of hike you want to take a newbie hiker to if you wish for them to NEVER hike again. It's extremely steep uphill with maybe 20 strides of flat throughout the entire hike. I thought I knew a thing or two about hiking until this. My buddy and I scoped out this hike because we wanted something a little tougher than Mt. Si with approximately the same hiking distance, so we found this WTA site which listed Si as "More Difficult" while Mailbox was "Most Difficult". So we were mentally prepared for this, but I honestly believe that if someone randomly dragged me into this hike without warning me about the difficulty, I would declare that person my worst enemy and never speak to this person again. The trail was that evil. I've always felt hiking was super simple, you put one foot in front of the other, no big deal. This place makes you feel like you will fucking die if you take a wrong step...hell, when you get near the top with all the random postholes, you feel like you might die even if you took the right step. You get weak-knee'd just looking back at the trail that you've just climbed! The second half of the trail isn't so much a trail, it's really just a steep side of a mountain with a lot of tall trees...see at some point, all the undergrowth is gone due to lack of sunlight, so it's hard to see where the trail is. Pretty much, you sometimes see a thing that resembles a trail, and other times, just keep hiking uphill and hope to see a trail. When you think you're finally done, you're very very wrong.
There is still more climbing, I saw a grown man almost cry. During a short photo break, this guy climbed up near us, and said, "Oh thank god it's over, my calves were about to give up." I told him...that's too bad because right behind me is still a giant climb.
As we approached the top, we noticed there was a group of people playing up there with their dogs. They had all sorts of mountaineering gear, with pickaxe and stuff. What does a person do with one pickaxe up here? A few people were using this peak as a training ground for climbing Mt. Rainier.
What is in this mailbox? Like every damned mailbox, this one has a free trial AOL CD. Of course.
<---The hike up under the sun was sweaty and very sweaty. Those people have been hanging out for a while. The view up top was insane! When they call this place a "Peak" they really meant PEAK, you get this amazing 360 view. On the stitched photo, you can see Mt. Si waaaay on the right.Last time I hiked Mt. Si, I was still in shape to go shopping at the mall and clubbing that night. With Mailbox Peak, I will probably be limping around tomorrow in pain, sobbing, "God, why have you forsaken me!!?" A cold beer sounds nice.

To Love and Be Loved

I simply want to take a moment to say thanks to all that loves me despite my faults. I know I can be stubborn, opinionated and out-spoken. I'm grateful for friends and family that understand this about me and dealing with me. In return, I'm happy to have friends and family that are so lovable. Today, I hit the big Three-Oh, and while I know a lot of people get depressed, I'm oddly content. I feel like I've earned my years. I've learned so much. I feel like time, life and the people in my life has treated me well. I look forward to the changes the next five years will bring.
I know I often complain about my family, but they do deserve more compliments. They tolerate my sporadic mood swings. My sister and my dad, despite them being the ones I complain the most about, have throughout my life, shown me so much love that I am often humbled by it.

The Burial

Every week, at least once each week, I contemplate killing my sister. Last week it was because she refused to walk five blocks to a club, insisting we should cab. Today, I've asked Brian if he could just kill her for me, and I'll help with the burying part.
I woke up at 5:30 this morning because my sister had asked me to go with her to see China's prime minister off at 7 a.m. with my dad. I honestly don't care to do this, but she convinced me to go, and I wanted to see my dad. Then about 20 till 7, we're running behind, and I told her we should get going, and she said she HAD to get get a latte. I'm just in awe, that her latte could be more important than being on-time for meeting up with my dad.
Then we get there, and I find out the ceremony part will not start till 11 a.m. but the guy will not actually show up till around 1 p.m. My sister somehow forgot to mention all this. I don't have the time to sit around and wait to catch a glimpse of ANY person in the world. I asked her why didn't she tell me about this timing thing, and she told me, "I thought you knew, you didn't ask." Apparently she only knew about the 11a.m. part (which wouldn't have worked for me already) and she had a photo shoot scheduled for 11. I asked her if she had a photo shoot at 11, how the hell did she think she would make it on time from the airport 45 minutes away...she said she figured they could "wait a little".
In a such a short moment of time, she has shown utter lack of regard for my dad's time, my time and the photographer's time. It takes so much patience to love my sister sometimes.
It was nice to see my dad though. I haven't seen him in over a year. He's probably the number one reason I have so much love and patient for people in general. I love my dad, but he is not a good man for my family...before him and my mom got divorced, he caused my family so much pain, time and time again. I figured if I could love someone that has brought so much hearthache for me and my loved ones, I should be able to love others as well.
Eh...where were we again? Ah, yes, killing my sister. I need sleep first, so damn tired...maybe that's her plan, keep me too tired to carry out the "killing her" part. I'll bet if Brian shows up, she'll offer him free food and booze, until he passes out.
Needless to say, the prime minister of China isn't being received with love by everyone here. The more amusing part is, there are actually more people protesting than greeting. Protesters are more eager to wake up at 5:30 in the morning to protest something. Who are these people? Where do they find time to do this? I don't even have time to sit around, eat wonderfully catered food, while watching random performances...yet they have time to stand outside of this guy's hotel to tell him he sucks.
My dad got us these amazing passes that actually worked. Check out the hot photos, they look exactly like us.

Alpental

I love this photo stitching program. Without it, you really can't explain what an awesome place Alpental was today. Started out cloudy, then snowed for about 1/2 hour and became sunny. It was a glorious day. Snow was a bit slushy but extremely soft, which is good because for the first entire run, I've somehow forgotten how to snowboard and fell down half the mountain.

Minty Fresh

Here's a few things you don't want to think to yourself when you wake up at 4 in morning ... Where am I? Fuuuuuck...it's COLD. Why does my hair smell minty fresh?
I went out with my sister last night. We were going clubbing so I did something I hadn't done in a very looooong fucking time...pound a BUNCH of drinks before heading there. I think the part where shots came along was a bad idea. We had a great time at the club. Dance. Drank. Life was good. Then after we cabbed back to her place I knew I was tired and drunk and went to pass out in my car.
I currently have GUM in my hair. I'm a drooler when drunk apparently. Secksi! Stop it boys, there's only one of me. I have no excuses. This same exact thing happened about a year ago and I had to cut a clump of my hair off. Then Charlie told me...you know you just have to massage some peanut butter into that gum and it will dissolve. I asked him how the fuck he figured that out...he said he was once a little boy. Once, he says that like little boys ever grow up. Still, that make sense, simple chemistry--oil breaks down gum. So, I now have gum and Extra Chunky Skippy Peanut Butter in my hair (this would be funnier to me if this is not true).
I do vaguely recall before I cured my hair of halitosis that I made my sister's sushi chef the happiest guy on the planet. Apparently, Jen who does kick-boxing brought in a guy, Bob Sapp, who is a world famous FFC champion. The sushi chef came to talk to me and was gushing all over how this guy is so famous in Japan and how happy he is to have met him. So I told him I brought my camera and when Jen and friends finished their dinner, I will ask if the fighter dude would take a picture with him. The chef was beaming with joy.
I think my camera is the best 400 bucks I've spent this year.
And to cure my hangover, I shall down this bottle of Heineken and go snowboarding. It's a bit ironic how I can't hike certain mountains because of too much snow...with fucking fresh powder covering my tracks as I hiked, but I can't go snowboarding because of too little snow.
Happiness is making someone else happy with the push of a button.

Pilchuck 2 - Champagne 0

Too much snow yet again! Damn you, Pilchuck! Damn. You!
Last time, in Champagne vs Pilchuck she didn't even make it near the trail head, because there was snow 7 miles out from it. Cars can't get near. Lake Helen trail greeted her with open arms and nearly broke her hips. This time, snow started 2 miles out from the trail head and lo behold, she makes to the outhouse near the trail head only to realize there's about 4-5 feet of snow everywhere.

She made her way into the trail until near uncertain death chased her away.







Next time, I will return with SNOWSHOES! You're going down, Pilchuck! You're going down!

So Cool!

I just found this amazing program that glues sets of photo together and creates a panoramic picture for you. I took all the photos from the top of Oyster Dome, and all you have to do is literally select the group of photos and hit OK. Then sit back and your picture is glued. It's so damned awesome. I'm actually going to take a lot more photos during my hikes from now on.
Now the glued photo looks a bit off because I was lazy and didn't take that many photos, but I'm sure given a few more photos, this could really rock.

And I Live

JC didn't kick my ass, much to the disappointment of many coworkers. Really, they didn't even pretend like they were happy I survived.
I thought taking your first karate class when you're much older would be weird, but I've came to the conclusion that if I start thinking like that now, I'm going to be missing out on a LOT of cool stuff. Brian punked out, but another coworker of mine joined us, who was also going for the first time, but ALSO has a freaking black belt in a slightly different school of karate (shotokan). It seems like everyone and their grandma has a black belt these days, I should watch my auto-sassing tongue. "Should" stays with me until I'm in presence of company.
My coworker mentioned something that was oddly comforting, he noticed I was a little apprehensive...alright I was downright kicking and screaming all the way with JC trying very hard to soothe me...he said his old sensei once told him, "No matter what, your first class will always be awkward." Alrighty then! If I know that it's expected that I will look like an idiot, I can comfortable rest in being an idiot and focus on other stuff. Turns out it really wasn't that bad, years of my taking random crazy classes (try Flamenco or Irish dancing) have taken the edge off being the idiot.
I did accomplish a few things from this class:
a) Spend some time with JC. He's a long time friend, and life and work has gotten much in the way of us hanging out.
b) Finally take that damned karate class. I believe there are two things that most of the population would love to know how to do, one, karate or some equivalent form of martial arts, two, play the fucking piano.
So, now I just need some piano lessons and I can die happy. I'm also pleased to announce that I've somehow "learned" how to be a lot more coordinated. I vaguely remember kicking my own ass during some gym class back in high school, gave myself a black-eye. That's just something you can't really explain...yeah, when you suddenly scream and double-over in pain with no one around you, just pretend like it never happened. What black-eye?

Laziness Paying Off

I still haven't written any vehicle AI because I've been drowning stupid menus. Today, I'm told that is a good thing because we're redoing the way our vehicles move completely. Previously, vehicle AI were kind of faked, because they basically work like Han Solo running around in space...which is fine until you come up to a pit and the Millennium Falcon falls into the pit due to our gravity system. I mentioned I have no problem with the Millenium Falcon randomly falling down in pits in outer-space because that thing is so faulty...how many damned times did they hit that hyperdrive button before it actually worked? Our level designer said, "Yeah, we just have to make sure to add little sparks to it when it falls."

Getting My Ass Kicked

My buddy JC has been trying to talk me into joining his Karate gym since forever now, and I think we're actually going tonight. I'm scared because:
a) I've never done anything even remotely close to this before.
b) Brian will be going also, and he has a 2nd degree black belt.
c) JC is two levels away from black belt...whatever the hell color that is, I think fushia for him.
d) I've spent the last five years tormenting and mocking JC every opportunity I've had.
Yes, even though JC is pretty much second in charge my studio I don't hold my tongue around him. In fact, when he came by to ask me about going to the gym, I told that bitch to leave me alone. One of my teammate said, "Wait, did you just call JC a bitch?" I often forget that people actually show him respect around the office, "Yes, Kelsey, why are you so damn shocked, I call everyone a bitch, in fact, I think you're a bitch too." I keep expecting they'll fire me... what, I only have two swimsuit calendars and a Playboy poster up in my cube wall. Nah, they love me...it's only awkward when they have clients around. But it's not like I haven't gotten at least two clients so drunk they almost missed their flights and called at least one of them a "God damned fucking pussy!" (He deserved it, you had to be there.) Oh, and another one puked all over his hotel room. Hey, I'm just the programmer here, it's not my job to look couth nor take good care of the client's ego.
JC told me he looks forward to kicking my ass for real. I told him I'll tell the Sensei if he does. He said, "Oh, that's okay, because he normally kicks my ass anyhow." Hmmm, is this possible? Will I actually lose a fight with JC? Oooh, this could be a sign of the apocalypse, I don't lose fights.

Giving Thanks

Ever sit down and feel like complaining about this and that...then realize, you simply have more to be thankful for? I simply want to say...that I'm grateful for having great family and friends. Then as I swam in my sea of gratitude, I thought maybe I'm more drunk that I believe. In the midst of that thought, a random Jack Handey "Deep Thought" came to mind:

Is there anything more beautiful than a beautiful, beautiful flamingo,
flying across in front of a beautiful sunset?
And he's carrying a beautiful rose in his beak,
and also he's carrying a very beautiful painting with his feet.
And also, you're drunk.

How to Decline a Party Invite Nicely

What would Champagne do when she gets an invite to a loft party from the nice Italian restaurant owner of which place she happens to be dining at?
1) Say, no because she has to get up early to go snowboarding in crappy April snow?
2) Flirt shamelessly with her server?
3) Insinuate that the loft party is going to be a coke-fest?
4) Leaves to go to the dive bar across the street, so that she can listen to god-awful punk rock metal and drink Pabst?
5) All of the above?
Yeah, after choosing to do all of the above, I got my tab and found out he had bought me 3 of my 4 glasses of wines which is more than the price of my meal + 1 glass of wine. I felt bad, but I had plans.
Very important plans to contemplate shaving some dude. -->
I try to keep an open mind about some things, but when you combine metal and punk together, it has the same effect as a bad case of vertigo and creates vomit. Sometimes, I just have to admit to being a bit of a curmudgeon.

Oyster Dome

Oyster Dome was an awesome burly hike, too bad it's so far from Seattle. It almost rivals Mt. Si for burliness...but not quite. Really, as much as I love Si, I still cry like a man that got kicked in the crotch every time I see stairs the day after hiking it. My right knee is tweaking out like crazy during steep descends these days. Could be because I'm getting old and feeble, but I blame Mt. Pilchuck...I think I threw out my knee there from hiking in the snow, and when your foot randomly sinks hip deep in, it causes all sorts of knee and hip unhappiness. I took a good month and a half off from hiking after that in hopes of recovery (this excludes the biking, boarding and climbing of course...because um...who needs knees for those sports). Still, the hikes are too nice to be missed these days.
On our way back down, about ¾ mile from the top, we saw two individuals that simultaneously, impressed and scared the bejeezus out of me. We saw this lady hiking alone with two dogs. The lady was at least 5 months pregnant. She was soooo pregnant you wouldn’t even think she could just be fat and needed the exercise. You just look at her and think, “Holy hell, her water could break any minute now and we're 3+ miles from the bottom.” Keep in mind, the trail was extremely slick and wet in some areas, and it was raining.
The second person was this white dude, whom I dubbed, Justin--as in Justin from the American Idol show. The guy had the world's largest and most well manicured blonde fro, and he was wearing a flowery button-up shirt. As if that’s not enough to create a scary picture, I noticed as I let him hike pass me, the dude was wearing cowboy boots. Fucking pointy toed, with dainty heels black cowboy boots.
The one really cool thing about Oyster Dome is all the random little side trails. On our way back down we hiked this random trail that leads to bat caves (no bats unfortunately)...but the view from it is nice. You can look up to the ledge we just came from.
Happiness is hiking a really burly trail and being exhausted to the point where you can't move.

And Back to the Family

15 days in and I've decided to stop writing about random people. Partly because I am very lazy; partly because I thought people would be more interesting than me but I've found that you have to generally spend a LOT more time with people to dig into the cool stuff (or you can ask if you can squeeze the girl's breasts, this breaks all sorts of ice like you would not believe--especially the guy standing next to you with his jaw hanging).
I went clubbing with my sister last night, and she had another relapse in sad drunken id with a lot of hurt and anger. I need to gather all my energy to deal with this, as much as I love to love everyone, my family comes first and moments like now, I just need to focus. If you've ever had a blacked-out drunk loved-one lash out at you for no good apparent reason, you'll understand why this takes up so much energy.

Day 14 - Savine

Savine is Jen's friend/hairdresser…odd that I've known Jen for over a year, and only just now meeting Savine for the first time. She's Cambodian, and the name itself is ethnically Cambodian. I went to elementary school with a lot of Cambodian friends and I swear all of their names were at least twice as long and much harder to pronounce, she somehow lucked out. She’s adorable and ready to marry her boyfriend of two years. She won our buddy, Anthony’s heart by declaring her love for fried chicken from the KFC in (this is important) Capitol Hill over Ezelle’s.
We were in McCormick’s on 1^st having some drinks when Savine saw some guy that she swore she has met somewhere. She and Jen were actively discussing whether she knew this guy or not, when I turned around and introduced myself. I simply said, hi, and asked for his name (Joe) and said my friend seems to recognize him from somewhere. I apologized for bugging him, but I told him, it’s a slightly better fate than having strangers point at him all night and talking about him. I can’t tell if he felt better about it, but I honestly would rather we solve the mystery and move onto other topics. I introduced the guy to Savine. Turns out the two of them went to the same salsa dancing club. She told me I shocked her with this intro of the Joe guy afterwards…I guess girls prefer this talking and pointing at the dude thing. I can’t do that. It could be tactless of me, but I hate talking about people without them knowing.
I met this other man, Pauli again for the second time. Pauli is an interesting fellow, but the man holds people with disdain. I can’t tell what it is, but I hope to never gain his attitude within my lifetime. He’s supposedly one highest ranking cardiologist in the world, so it could be arrogance that I’m detecting, but I doubt it’s only that. It’s almost as if he has dealt with one too many ignorant people or one too many sycophants in his life that he doesn’t hold people in a peers’ regard. I’ll ask him about that next time. He is a very intelligent fellow, so I’m sure he’ll be able to come up with good reasons for his behavior. I’m always amazed at what people will tell you when you stop them dead on track and ask them why they did what they did.
Still, despite his air of disdain, the guy is fun to talk to. He has a lot of interesting things to say when you bring up the subject of mal-practice lawsuits. The fact that he calls Decklin, co-owner of Owl n' Thistle--who is easily the oldest guy in the room "Young Man" doesn't hurt either.
Decklin is funny because he's like the perpetually drunk Irish grandpa. I once asked him if he has an Irish accent but he claims to have lived in the states for too long, so I said perhaps it's because he's drunk and slurring like a mofo. He tried to say something to the effect of maybe he's actually sober and only speaks properly when drunk, but he was too smashed to string two words together.

Dragging Ass

I've been pretty non-productive at work these days. Mostly because I've been working on stuff that I'm not overly excited about or scared to death of. I've got the choice between end-level menus or AI for Tie-Fighters. I love writing AI, but it's just hard as hell. I think all the programmers are a bit scared of it too, because we currently have a lot of spastic AT-AT dancing around on ice and randomly climbing mountains.
The thing I'm hoping we'll get are banthas. I call them space cows, and I think it would be extremely dorky fun to write code for force cow-tipping.
Yes, Luke, use the force. Moooooooooo!
I've been staring at this menu thing for almost a week now and getting nowhere, but I can guarantee you, the moment we get art for banthas, there will be large tipped over creatures within an hour.

Day 13 - Hell If I Remember

I went into work yesterday and a coworker offered me a ticket for the Mariners game, that very afternoon, provided courtesy of our company. So I immediately sent email to my team about taking the day off and planning my drinking binge. It takes that much motivation for me to leave work early and drink heavily.
We started drinking at 1:30 and it was all downhill from there. After the game, my sister and I met up with Sung and Katie and had dinner and still more drinks. I met so many people this day and only remember a certain hot Korean waitress named Jimmy (she is gorgeous). The entire day’s event was fuzzy, I only remember the day was soooo damned gorgeous and oh, my coworker got beaned by a foul ball. I hope I remembered to say a nice word of concern in the midst of drowning myself with beer.
Happiness is leaving work early and watching a ball-game on a sunny day in Seattle.

On a Slightly Serious Note

<-(left to right: Amanda, my sister, Eric, me) My sister and I went to Triple Door to hear Amanda Lammert sing. She is really quite an amazing singer live with a lot of adorable sass. I think around mid-April she will start singing at my sister's place every Sunday.
We met a guy there named, Bo, he's Chinese Italian. I think the guy wears more makeup than me, but he's also prettier so I hate that bitch. Then there's this drunk guy Bill who kept trying to dance with all the girls while trying to steal my drink. MY Guinness!!!
Onto a more serious note, I woke up this morning with a slight bit of depression. I know this because I usually wake up to the bright beams of light pouring through my windows while angels sing sweet melody...this morning it was not the case. I just felt a little ill without being physically sick. I was going through a minor case of people weary. I get that. It has been only 12 days since I started my meeting new people project and honestly there have already been a good couple days when I wanted to quit.
I wanted to quit because I told myself this project feels a bit shallow in how I meet these people. I wanted to quit because it really is tiring to make yourself meet someone new every single day, after all there are days when you just want to walk around with your head hanging and not talking to anyone. Then I decided I should at the very least finish the danged thing because I'm still learning something new from it every day. We shall see how things go. I know the way around this is to figure out a way to see things from a different light.I believe this because far as I can tell a lot of human behavior can be modified by awareness and intention. A few nights ago, my sister and I crawled home late and drunk and my mom was up. She asked if my sister would do her hair. Being that it was so late, my sister didn’t really want to, but I told my sister she should just do it, and that I sit up with them because my mom looked like she really really wanted her hair done badly. I made myself some soup while my sister mixed up dye for my mother. I listened to them chat, throwing in a couple comments here and there.

I listened to how my sister talks to my mom, and I was a bit horrified, because I know that’s probably how I talk to my sister…with just a slight bit of contempt in her tone and a disregard for my mother’s word. I realize my sister does not mean any disrespect for my mother, but she is simply exasperated with her. My mother talked about how her siblings are saying dreadful things about her despite the fact that she loaned them huge amounts of money, money still owed to her. My sister’s point is that her siblings have always been terrible to her no matter what she has done for them…so she doesn’t understand why my mom would keep putting herself out there to get hurt.
I do love my sister. I didn’t mean to disregard her opinion. I realize while this stems from my exasperation with her, it shows that I don’t respect her opinion. This is bad. Couples do this all the time in their relationship and this can break them up. The way to combat this, is an awareness of what you are doing, and that when you do feel the rise of need to not listen to her…you simply have to focus on why you think this person is special. My sister is a strong, wonderful, loving person that people meet and instantly fall in love with because she is so kind, she is someone that deserves my time to hear out.
Now I believe this same method can be applied to every relationship however shallow. Learning to love everyone is a hard task, but I believe it to be worthwhile.

Take the day I asked about the cannibis leaf on the Starbucks apron, everyone that was there actively discussed it. It could have been just another routine trip, but energy in the room was transformed when everyone lifted their head and pitched into the debate. The laughter brought in magic. Sure, I'm sappy sometimes.

Day 12 - Jerimiah

Starbucks aprons when worn backward looks like it has a cannibis leaf on it. Really. That's what I thought it was when I saw this guy wearing it. I asked him if he was serving us "extra special" coffee today. He looked down at his apron and said, "Jeez, some coffee master I am." He takes his apron off and puts it back on right. It's got a coffee plant with the words "Coffee Master" underneath it. I think it's a hidden message. This is Jerimiah, my barista of the day. I asked him about the whole "Partner of the Month" thing they have at Starbucks. I thought maybe they get a party hat and a free cup of coffee...but nope, they just get their picture displayed. What a rip off!!? Apparently they vote for each other every month and that's their little version of hi-fiving their fellow coworker. Bleh! I hate having my picture taken. If I made partner I would have the biggest smile while flipping you the double bird. Classy! And fired.

Day 11 - Rouel

Not much to say about Rouel, other than the fact that he has absolutely one of the most gorgeous family of sisters ever. He carries in his wallet a photo of himself with his three sisters. I declared that he has the hottest family ever! The guy a few bar seats down said, "I didn't know you have sisters, how come you never show me the photo?" I told the guy to wipe the drool off the side of his face and explained that may be why.

Day 10 - Nick

I met Nick at Lola's while having some snacks with my sister, waiting for my buddy, Sung and his girlfriend Katie to show up. Nick currently works as a system engineer for some company owned by Microsoft. He's just in town for a week for training. He's from D.C. and seems content to stay within the hotel range...which I later found out made perfect sense because the dude is married and has a two years old daughter. I think it's sweet that he's not prowling and quite frankly I was happy to have someone to chat with that doesn't think about clawing me.
Sung and Katie shows up and I was happy to say, being that I used to date Sung and being that it was the first time I met Katie, she’s just a sweet gal. Although, knowing Sung, I doubted she would be all that heinous if he would date her. I’m extremely happy to see them happy together. There were two things that flagged me though, and I hate flagging things…but I have to at least acknowledge them (always be honest with yourself).
One, she hinted at hanging out with my sister and I without Sung, which means she wants to be my friend. I’ve found so far in my short little life that that is ALWAYS a god-awful idea. It doesn’t even matter if you like the gal, this has bad written all over it. It’s like how a gal friend of Brian’s (who harbors deep love for him) recently moved out to Seattle from Jersey, and wanted to hang out with me…I loved the girl, but I had to say no. This is DRAMA potential. I guess it’s like how I keep my friends in their respective corners; you always know which side to pick.
Don’t mix friends. I became good friend with Brian’s ex-girlfriend because he is my buddy, and I love him, and I love the people he loves. When you're friends with a couple, you always want to be unbiased but you never can be.
Two, she tried to push me to give Sung’s buddy a chance in the dating arena. This makes my skin crawl in the worst way possible...honest-to-god heebie-jeebies like you would not believe. I could be old fashion at times, but the whole 90210 thing doesn’t rock my boat. If I dated that guy, my friends should not be looking at that guy (seriously I don’t sleep around enough for this to be a problem). In the same note, I consider all of Sung’s close friends off-limits. It’s just a simple respect thing. I understand a lot of people don’t play by that rule, and I can respect that they are that way…those people are not close friends of mine. I most certainly didn't choose to be single to scam on Sung's buddies. *shudders again at the thought*
All in all, I was happy to finally meet Katie and I’m happy to see that she obviously adores him and that he cares for her a lot. I hate thinking that she might believe that I hate her and didn't care to give a rat's ass about meeting her (it's really not true, I'd give at least five rats' butt-cheeks to meet Katie). Sung is a good friend of mine, I do love him and as mentioned before, I love the people that he loves.
Happiness is knowing who your friends are, and knowing you should never have to choose from amongst them.

Moment of Silence

It's April. I think it's time I hang up my snow dancing shoes. It makes me sad, but I do look forward to warmer weather. I need some OJ for that Grey Goose. Maybe even think about buying another book case.

Day 9 - Brandon

Last night ended up being one big blur of meeting a whole sea of people at some club. I think there was a time when I found the idea of meeting more people than I can remember fun. I most certainly do not feel that way anymore.
Brandon, whom I somehow misheard to be Randy, was kind enough to let me call him Randy if I did so desire. Wow…that wasn’t even phonetically close, I’m hearing things now. Brandon is an old friend of Jace whom I didn’t realize is from Phoenix, Arizona. He’s only visiting for a couple days which is unfortunate because they love to snowboard. Jace hinted at going boarding, but man…being the guy with the psycho ex-girlfriend that can’t let go and might have keyed my sister's car because she thinks my sister likes him, I don’t think so.

In Rain and Snow

It turns out my worries that Dennis wouldn't want to hike in the rain was unfounded. The guy was at our meeting place before me, bright-eyed bushy-tailed. Apparently he is an avid hiker and most of his hikes were in the rain. He's a programmer in my team...it's how I managed to snag him as a stand-in when Daniel bailed on Friday. We had such a good time hiking, we're planning to go on another hike next Saturday.
Dennis mentioned how much more fun it actually is to hike with someone for a change… I asked him why he would hike alone when a hiking buddy could push you. It’s true, had I hiked alone, I would have given up when I felt a little faint around the 1^st mile blaming the recent blood loss…but then Dennis donated blood too and was hiking along.
I would have given up when the rain started pelting down really hard or when rain became snow near top.
<---(it was snowing like crazy on top of Mt. Si, this was taken from our lunch point next to the Haystack) I would have found a million excuses stopping hiking; I’m a lazy bastard when no one is watching. Dennis’ reason for hiking alone is because he is socially inept. This seems so sad to me. I never thought of him as socially inept because we always have such a good time chatting about hiking or programming, those are two things the two of us could drone on forever. Yet, I guess that’s not a lot of common grounds for most people.
<---(REI approved rainjacket!)
I'm glad I finally bought myself a new compact camera that I ACTUALLY carry around and take pictures with. I didn't realize I had my world's dorkiest camera bag in hands. When Brian first saw my camera bag, he called me a hippy because he thought I made a little drawstring bag for it. Then I flipped it over, he laughed, "Oh my god, that's so cute, you really are a dork." I'm not sure which is more insulting, but whatever. The bag was an old Harry Potter Bertie Bott's Beans sack. Hey, I never claimed to be a role model for coolness.

Assholes Needed

I seem to be coming up short in supply of asshole buddies of late. This is a bit of a problem. Maybe I should put out an ad in CraigsList for them. I'm either oversupplied with assholes or undersupplied. By asshole buddies, I mean buddies whom I go out and do various outdoors activities with. All of them are extremely good at their sport and have a strong love for it. All of them will happily push me to my limits and then some. If I fall badly, they will check on me, and tell me to get up and keep moving.
Rob, my snowboarding buddy, rolled his ankle a couple months ago and that put him out for the season. William, my climbing buddy, is always a little flakey. Charlie, my mountain biking buddy, just started school and is working full-time so he’s always a bit busy. Daniel, my hiking buddy, is knee deep in crunch mode from hell, luckily he should be done with his project soon.
Now it’s pouring dogs and cats outside, and had Daniel been in the plans for hiking today, I know he would be the jumpiest little boy eager to test his boys scout gears against the weather! This is the amazing thing about having and asshole buddy who is good at and love the sport. They don’t quit, nor will they let you. Before I hiked with Daniel, if there was even one cloud in the sky I would think maybe it might drizzle, I should stay home and sleep. I’m sure all non-avid hikers have done that. It could mess my hair up. I could get all wet and miserable.
No, that was not allowed. Daniel actually went with me to REI to make sure I have some basic hiking rain gear and off we went. We hiked in the rain on a snow covered mountain. It was awesome! I looked like a drowned rat at the end of it, but it was a lot of fun. Really though, if you live in Seattle and you don’t ever want to hike or bike in the rain, you’re spending a lot of time thinking about it.
Today, I’m hiking with my backup hiking buddy, Dennis, I wish he has decent rain gear.
I think I need to find a few more backup buddies for the other sports, I have a bunch of backup hiking buddies, but not enough for the other sports.
I'm going to be a bit irked if we can't hike today...hell I gave up drinking last night for this! Yes, one whole night of drinking, I haven't even done that much for work all week (terrible i know)! I'm honestly still more than a little dehydrated from giving blood. I've noticed I tend to be a lot more lethargic and extremely dehydrated for the few days after giving blood. I think a pint = some 600g of blood = 1.3 lbs of blood. It's not a lot but if you barely weigh the 110 lbs it takes to donate, 1.3 lbs is a lot.