So, I finally managed to fill up my Gig memory stick on my digital camera, and a good part of the reason is it has every video clip I have made in the past year. So I finally made a YouTube to upload them all to.

Videos include clips of Comic Con celebs, Thailand, the Nightwish concert, random parties (quite a few of the modeling/performances at the Art Party), and random stuff like Ren Faire paradesn and a clip of Olive Garden waiters singing to Eddie at his b-day and George explaining why he will not be giving any more hard alcohol to Dave's very cheery looking stepmother at the wedding reception. :) Oh and the very belated "video that proves Melinda was drinking."

So, it never occurred to me that I wouldn't be able to rotate the videos... so there are a decent number of clips that are sideways. Sue me.

http://youtube.com/profile?user=missdoomcookie

Oh and there new albums on Flickr. Comic Con, the last Havasupai party, Nightwish, and Halloween/Teresa Fest.
http://flickr.com/photos/doomcookie

Nightwish concert So I made the drive to Santa Ana last night with Tom to see Nightwish. This is the last of the series of symphonic and power metal concerts we've been to this fall (Sonata Arctica, Therion, Nightwish... Symphony X for Tom) and it was definitely a good way to end the run. The whole band had really great stage presence. Anette seems to be coming into her own. We saw videos of earlier shows in the tour and she was lacking stage presence, but last night she had confidence and energy to match everyone else. Marco was so cool and so sexy. Tuomas was cool and sexy. Erno was... short... and hilarious. I couldn't catch many glimpses of Jukka, because I am short. Anette was friggin' hot with her pigtails and corset.

They didn't play much in the way of old Nightwish. They did play Wishmaster, Nemo, Everdream, and Wish I Had an Angel, which are all good picks. It makes sense, though, as the vocals weren't written for Anette. They mostly played the new album, and honestly, I found myself enjoying all of the new tracks more than I did initially. I have a few favorites that didn't disappoint - the Islander and Amaranth - but some of the others, such as Sahara, were really awesome live.

So we pushed our way almost to the front of the crowd, and I got a bunch of video I'll be posting, but good news for those who missed it. They are going to be in San Diego in May!! I fully expect to have a bigger group to go this time since I know there are other Nightwish fans who may not have been willing to go to LA but I'll kick if they're too lazy to go to HOB downtown.

So the coolest part of the evening? The people at Enter the Vault are f-ing liars, and there was in fact a Meet and Greet. See, we bought VIP tickets because it meant going to the Meet and Greet, then they claimed there wasn't going to be one. I was angry and tried to get a refund, but they refused. Last night when we showed up, though, they gave us wristbands and told us the Meet and Greet would be 20 minutes after the show. We were shocked and surprised but very happy. It was fun getting to chat with them. Only really Anette, Marco, and Jukka spoke though. Erno didn't seem to speak much English (he gave me the "I don't understand" smile and nod when I babbled at him) and I think Tuomas is just shy, but it was very cool getting to talk to them. We were right in front of the line, so they weren't sick of talking to fans yet. Did I mention Marco is so sexy? Yeah. He's very nice too, and has the best beard in metal*.
(* - Quoting Tom, but I agree.)

Anyway, it has been a run of very good shows. Sonata Arctica suffered from 5 shitty opening bands, but they themselves were great. Therion was absolutely transcendent. And Nightwish was just a blast.

Videos and pictures!
http://flickr.com/photos/doomcookie/sets/72157603003337083/
http://youtube.com/profile?user=missdoomcookie

Look into a trip to the Seychelles Islands. They are off the northeast coast (well, sort of the east coast, since most of the northeast is the middle east, but still northish-east) of Africa and are described as about as close to paradise on earth as you can find. There are no known tropical diseases, almost no poverty or crime, and they are never hit with tropical storms. The people personify the laid back island lifestyle. But cheap it is not!

Examples:

http://www.boatbookings.com/yacht_search/yacht_view.php?pid=1214
This yacht costs 180000 euros, or about 300000 USD, per week to rent.

http://www.north-island.com/
This resort takes up an entire island. It is all an eco-luxury resort that will cost you 1500 euros per person per night for the cheap rooms or 2700 euros per person
per night for the nice rooms. They have a "no menu" policy. Each day the chef comes around to each of the cabins and will make whatever each party wishes him to make.

If you don't search and plan the right dates, you're likely to spend 4-5000 dollars on a plane ticket from LAX (and your general Expedia search will show you a bare minimum of 2700). The government does this intentionally to keep the visitor numbers down.

It can be done without spending a fortune, though. The cheapest way to fly there that I have found is to book two separate tickets. Air Seychelles can get down to about 500 dollars (with tax) to fly there from Johannesberg, South Africa. Tickets to Johannesberg from LAX can be as little as 1200 (also with tax... and that I've found with a pretty curosry search.) 1700 is a lot nicer than 4000. A casual trip it's not. But a once in a bluemoon trip? It's feasable. Especially if I only have to buy my plane ticket. Though even at 1700, that is still more than I spent on my whole trip to Thailand or my second trip to Europe, though considerably less than my first trip to Europe.

Too big for my profile, I decided. Finding its home here.

Does anyone have any favorites? I have been reading through ontheissues.org (a great resource to analyze candidates) and have generally started taking an interest.

All who know me well know I'm a registered Green and voted Nader/Camejo in 2004 (yes, they were running as independents, not Greens, but I do not believe in party loyalty, I believe in voting for who I want). I don't know yet whether Nader plans to run, or whether there will be any other major leftist independents, so I have been checking out the major candidates.

In terms of Dems, I don't like Hilary, I think she's manipulative. I have been matched most highly with Obama on the issues, but I'm concerned about his lack of experience. I was reading about Chris Dodd, who I generally think is a fairly promising. He has a strong link to Hugo Chavez and generally building relationships with Latin America, which I dig. BUT, wikipedia sited something saying that Enron and Andersen have given him a lot of campaign funds. It didn't go into detail, and I don't trust wikipedia about everything. It seems kind of odd with this guy's track record. Anyone else know much about him?

In terms of Repubs, it comes as no surprise I was matched most highly with the mostly-liberitarian Ron Paul. I think liberitarians are a little crazy, but we at least tend to see eye to eye on social issues (if for different reasons.) Rudy Giulani has a few similarly liberitarian trends (pro abortion and gay rights), and he has gone a long way in cleaning up New York, so he was matched second. After that was McCain, who I largely disagree with on a lot of issues, but I do respect.

So anyway, I definitely don't have anyone I feel great about. I was a passionate Nader and Camejo supporter (and probably would be if one or both of them were to run again), and I generally feel the desire to get behind someone, but I don't know who.

grades for last quarter were posted... 4.0 for the fifth quarter in a row, getting me to my goal of a 3.9! :) (barely, 3.902) final A+ count: 6.

i will likely either be getting magna or summa cum laude for latin honors but i don't think i'll know until my diploma application goes through.

Scott, the producer of Everquest 2, called me on Wednesday to let me know that the team wanted me and unofficially offer me the job, and that want was on its way to navigate through the labyrinth of paperwork that is HR. I wasn't going to post anything until it was "official" but after hearing that Dave G (the Producer of Vanguard) told folks over at former-Sigil (now SOE North) that I had been hired, I guess it's pretty official.

So yeah... an interview a week after I was laid off. A job offer the next day. Not too shabby!

Ah, Bloody Tuesday. Sigil Games was acquired by Sony Online Entertainment yesterday. As such, many people were laid off. Myself included.

I have a lot I could rant about related to this. Especially the way in which those who were rehired were brought up first and they had to march past all those waiting to find out they had been laid off, averting their eyes away from us. I don't blame them. I would have done the same thing. I blame the people who marched them past us.

I had a rough day. I was on 4 1/2 hours of sleep from trying to get a term paper for my film class and 22 copies of my 17 page short story for my short fiction workshop turned in before I had to be at work at 10 since I usually go to school on Tuesdays, and was so stressed from that I was nauseated (I ended up having to leave the short stories in a brown paper page taped to my professor's office door). So I admit, I was an emotional wreck the whole day. Huge thanks go to two of my coworkers, Paul and Daniel, for supporting me through it.

Why was I let go? "You are almost done with your degree and you have a lot of prospects and you don't intend on making game design your career." I guess I can understand that. I don't know exactly where I am going yet, though I am strongly considering game design as my path. Sure, I would love to be a globe trotting novelist, but that's not realistic. Game design, however, is. All I want to do is write and build worlds, and if games are where I find myself, I'm happy to be there, but I guess I have never communicated that to them. Oh well. I know it's not merit and even my overly self-critical nature can accept that. I implemented the majority of the live Diplomacy content and I was one of maybe two designers who was never once behind schedule. I know I did a good job, and that had nothing to do with my being selected for letting go.

The community reaction has been huge though. I posted my goodbye to the diplomacy forums and immediately players made petitions to try to get my job back. They were shut down after a couple of pages on the official forums, but there's one six pages and growing on the diplomacy forums. I know it's not going to get me my job back, but it made me feel really loved. I know the players have appreciated what I've done. And Steve, bless his heart, has been raising hell for me. Thanks Steve.

I'm feeling better, looking forward. I tend to have very strong but very brief emotional reactions and then I'm on my feet again. There's a content designer job open at SoE I'd be perfect for. Game fiction, storylines, characters, and narrative design. Sound like me? Hellz yeah. I hope some of the others who lost their jobs get hired on in the other game designer positions they have open (looking at you Paul!). I'm sure some will. And hey, it'll relieve the burden of full time school and full time work for awhile and by the time I'm hired some place, I should be just about done with UCSD for forever.

i only got about 4 1/2 hours of sleep because a bunch of us sigil folk partied together for what was possibly the last time last night... had a few rounds for our poor dying company.

i'm trying to finish off a paper about the complications regarding the intersection of individual and national (gendered) identity in the films painted fire (korea) and woman, demon, human (china) so i can hastily turn it in to my professor and run back up to sigil to find out if i still have a job (it is almost done, but i left without finishing it to go to the wake last night). this has officially been one of the most frustrating papers i've ever written. it can only be 1000 words but it has to incorporate 5 sources. tell me to write a 30 page paper, i'll tell you no problem. tell me to write a 3 page paper, and i stress over it for a week before finally sitting down to write it. and the fact i'm sitting here thinking about the future of our game and my career is not helping.

i am really prepared for anything at this point. if i get laid off, i get laid off. it's been a good run, and i can focus on school for the last five weeks. if i have a job, i damn well have a job! we'll see. regardless, things won't be the same from here on out, and i always welcome change, as much as i may not want it sometimes. the diplomacy boards are full of well-wishes for us, as everyone knows what's going on at this point, and that has warmed my heart.

so on wednesday, mum and i flew in at 9:30 AM, and aspired to make it to work. we flew up to the house and parked out front. i wasn't going to be coming home later, so mom needed her bags out. after a few minutes of unloading,  i was standing on the driver's side with the driver's side open when the car suddenly began rolling back down our hill. i ran with it, trying desperately to push at it and get it stopped rolling. unfortunately it was going too fast for me to actually jump in to step on the break and as we were rolling, CRACK, the end of the door clipped this giant palm tree and crunched it back like a loose tooth. mom and i got the car stopped without any further troubles, but my driver's side door was no longer capable of getting anywhere near closed. i am still unsure of what point the ebrake got popped, but it was up when i parked, and down when it stopped rolling. we must have knocked it with a bag.

so it got hauled off to the body shop and i won't have it back for 3 weeks. : ( i have a rental car right now but i can't afford to keep it the whole time so i will be bus/training it around to school and work.