Monday, September 10, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Back in Ottawa
Things keep changing when I come home. I suppose after 7 years it's to be expected. It's hard to believe that I've been away for so long, and I feel like I've already drifted away from the person I used to be. I like my life now, but a part of me wants to keep some of the good things the same.
I'm back for my best friend's wedding and even though this is a big step in a person's life, it doesn't feel like anything's going to change really. I bet when they start having kids it'll be different.
I kind of miss my dogs. Even the little guy. I was away in Miami for a few days before coming to Ottawa so it feels like I've been away from home for awhile. I am eager to get started with school again, and finish my degree. Part of me is worried about a job, I'm pretty confident that I could find one, but will I find something that will keep me satisfied? I feel like I'm very spoiled. I'm a little embarassed by it. The fact that I have nice things, a lovely family, and the ability to do what I want to do. I try not to take things for granted, even though sometimes I feel like I already have.
Meeting up with old friends has been fun. There's something about childhood friends which makes them different than the new friends you make. There's this bond because you had to suffer through classes together. It wouldn't matter where you were, or what you've done, but you can always meet with an old friend and catch up, whether it be the last 5 or 20 years. You can be candid, honest and open, even though technically you could be strangers to each other. It's just easier to open up to someone who was a part of your childhood than someone you meet later in life, unless you connect on some level.
I don't know why I suddenly feel so nostalgic, maybe because I feel like I'm getting older and people around me are growing up. It's the wave of weddings and babies. I'm sure it's much worse for my grandparents who have been going to a lot of funerals lately.
But anyhow, it'll be back to the daily grind soon enough. This vacation time has been nice because it's given me a chance to read books. I should be reading anyways, but it feels like I'm always so distracted in my own house. Too much stuff I guess.
I'm back for my best friend's wedding and even though this is a big step in a person's life, it doesn't feel like anything's going to change really. I bet when they start having kids it'll be different.
I kind of miss my dogs. Even the little guy. I was away in Miami for a few days before coming to Ottawa so it feels like I've been away from home for awhile. I am eager to get started with school again, and finish my degree. Part of me is worried about a job, I'm pretty confident that I could find one, but will I find something that will keep me satisfied? I feel like I'm very spoiled. I'm a little embarassed by it. The fact that I have nice things, a lovely family, and the ability to do what I want to do. I try not to take things for granted, even though sometimes I feel like I already have.
Meeting up with old friends has been fun. There's something about childhood friends which makes them different than the new friends you make. There's this bond because you had to suffer through classes together. It wouldn't matter where you were, or what you've done, but you can always meet with an old friend and catch up, whether it be the last 5 or 20 years. You can be candid, honest and open, even though technically you could be strangers to each other. It's just easier to open up to someone who was a part of your childhood than someone you meet later in life, unless you connect on some level.
I don't know why I suddenly feel so nostalgic, maybe because I feel like I'm getting older and people around me are growing up. It's the wave of weddings and babies. I'm sure it's much worse for my grandparents who have been going to a lot of funerals lately.
But anyhow, it'll be back to the daily grind soon enough. This vacation time has been nice because it's given me a chance to read books. I should be reading anyways, but it feels like I'm always so distracted in my own house. Too much stuff I guess.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Stitch
We were only there for the discount strawberries when we saw a 10 week old puppy that was up for adoption by the Tri-Valley Animal Rescue. A corgi/jack russell mix (they think) was given up by his original owners who got him from Oregon because he had a skin condition that they didn't want to treat. TVAR got him on meds and fixed him up (and fixed him permanently :p) so we were able to bring him home on July 5. He had stayed with a foster mom for a couple of weeks until he was ready.
We've been debating about getting a second dog for awhile now, and it was the perfect time with me out of school (and out of a real job). Bailey generally takes to other dogs quite well, but when we brought him home, it was the first time I've seen Bailey actually growl at another dog. Maybe he knew that this was a permanent arrangement.
Either way, as the days go by, Bailey has gotten used to Stitch (yes, named him Stitch) and they play together really well. Bailey is so gentle with him, despite Stitch biting and crawling all over his face. Bailey's 4th birthday was July 15, so we took the boys to Monterey to play on the dog friendly beach.
Potty training has been tough, but after a week and a half, I think the little guy is finally figuring it out. He has now started walking toward the door when he needs to go. Yay! Let's just see how many days he goes accident free. The real test is leaving him home alone, he barks and howls and if he potties, he screams bloody murder when we come home to his mess.
He's about 6 lbs right now but I feel that he's getting bigger. Especially since we carry him around a lot. I hope he doesn't get too much bigger, he's a really good lap dog.
Other than the potty thing, he's been relatively good. He doesn't chew on random things, and he plays with his own toys (and likes to take Bailey's). He has a bit of separation anxiety that we will need to work on once he's potty trained. He's really friendly with people, especially girls and he is really good with dogs in general. He's only had one bad encounter with a boxer puppy that tried to stomp him. That was the first time I've seen him scared.
Otherwise this guy is fearless, unlike Bailey who is scared of everything. Stitch is still hesitant when climbing down stairs, but I feel that once he's used to it, he'll be jumping off laps instead of wanting to be on them. I think most of the time he sits quietly on our laps is because he's scared to move.
Other than barking while we're gone, he's pretty quiet and only whines and grumbles if we are out of his line of sight. I hope he starts getting used to it, because we can't always be home 24/7. We'll have my aunt babysit him this weekend which should go smoothly since he adores people.
That's pretty much what I've been busy with the last two weeks. I can't wait until Stitch can take longer walks and then we'll take them both hiking. Right now it's just dog parks and walks around the local park.
We've been debating about getting a second dog for awhile now, and it was the perfect time with me out of school (and out of a real job). Bailey generally takes to other dogs quite well, but when we brought him home, it was the first time I've seen Bailey actually growl at another dog. Maybe he knew that this was a permanent arrangement.
Either way, as the days go by, Bailey has gotten used to Stitch (yes, named him Stitch) and they play together really well. Bailey is so gentle with him, despite Stitch biting and crawling all over his face. Bailey's 4th birthday was July 15, so we took the boys to Monterey to play on the dog friendly beach.
Potty training has been tough, but after a week and a half, I think the little guy is finally figuring it out. He has now started walking toward the door when he needs to go. Yay! Let's just see how many days he goes accident free. The real test is leaving him home alone, he barks and howls and if he potties, he screams bloody murder when we come home to his mess.
He's about 6 lbs right now but I feel that he's getting bigger. Especially since we carry him around a lot. I hope he doesn't get too much bigger, he's a really good lap dog.
Other than the potty thing, he's been relatively good. He doesn't chew on random things, and he plays with his own toys (and likes to take Bailey's). He has a bit of separation anxiety that we will need to work on once he's potty trained. He's really friendly with people, especially girls and he is really good with dogs in general. He's only had one bad encounter with a boxer puppy that tried to stomp him. That was the first time I've seen him scared.
Otherwise this guy is fearless, unlike Bailey who is scared of everything. Stitch is still hesitant when climbing down stairs, but I feel that once he's used to it, he'll be jumping off laps instead of wanting to be on them. I think most of the time he sits quietly on our laps is because he's scared to move.
Other than barking while we're gone, he's pretty quiet and only whines and grumbles if we are out of his line of sight. I hope he starts getting used to it, because we can't always be home 24/7. We'll have my aunt babysit him this weekend which should go smoothly since he adores people.
That's pretty much what I've been busy with the last two weeks. I can't wait until Stitch can take longer walks and then we'll take them both hiking. Right now it's just dog parks and walks around the local park.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Update
I have made the first steps to making my own web site and I'll be hosting my own blog eventually. Although it's not a good sign that I can't even keep up this one. But I like to tell myself that once everything is up and running, I'll actually update. We'll see. The Dreamweaver for Dummies book is kind of long. BUT! At least we have a server... there's a start.
I've been doing an internship at a gaming studio for the last month or so. It's been fun and interesting so far. Everyone is really laid back, to the point where they like to come in at 11. That also means no one is leaving until at least 7pm which is way too late for me. I go in twice a week to do some testing or sit in on some meetings and then work from home the rest of the week doing research and game design. It's nice to know that people value your opinion because you play too many games and they want to know what you think and how their ideas compare. I don't mean to say that my opinion means all that much, but at least I've played a wide variety of games and have read a lot about them to know whether people like it or don't like it. That's what happens when video games becomes a hobby where all your disposable income goes to.
Right now I'm playing Okami and I was playing Tomb Raider Anniversary before I lent it to a coworker. I think I'll try to play Super Paper Mario next....
In other news, we're adopting another furbaby! They think he's a Jack Russell Corgi mix and he's only about 11-12 weeks old right now. We should be able to bring him home by Thursday. I just hope he gets along with our lab. We're going to name him Stitch so I hope that doesn't jinx us. He seems like he really wants to play with Bailey, but our dog now, he's 100 lbs of chicken and freaks out over the tiniest things. At least he loves dogs though, I just don't think he cares too much about dogs that don't come to his eye level. Either way, I think Stitch will be very fond of Bailey and I hope they only learn good things from each other. I have nightmares about this little demon tearing up the place, but hopefully he'll be an angel, just like Bailey ;)
Canada Day was Sunday, and obviously it goes by unnoticed here. The fourth of July is tomorrow and we'll be spending it eating and gorging ourselves. We paired up with a friend to host day long festivities since we have the BBQ. I hear it's going to be hot... which is disappointing because so far the weather has been perfect. So perfect in fact, that we've actualy gone hiking twice!
I've been doing an internship at a gaming studio for the last month or so. It's been fun and interesting so far. Everyone is really laid back, to the point where they like to come in at 11. That also means no one is leaving until at least 7pm which is way too late for me. I go in twice a week to do some testing or sit in on some meetings and then work from home the rest of the week doing research and game design. It's nice to know that people value your opinion because you play too many games and they want to know what you think and how their ideas compare. I don't mean to say that my opinion means all that much, but at least I've played a wide variety of games and have read a lot about them to know whether people like it or don't like it. That's what happens when video games becomes a hobby where all your disposable income goes to.
Right now I'm playing Okami and I was playing Tomb Raider Anniversary before I lent it to a coworker. I think I'll try to play Super Paper Mario next....
In other news, we're adopting another furbaby! They think he's a Jack Russell Corgi mix and he's only about 11-12 weeks old right now. We should be able to bring him home by Thursday. I just hope he gets along with our lab. We're going to name him Stitch so I hope that doesn't jinx us. He seems like he really wants to play with Bailey, but our dog now, he's 100 lbs of chicken and freaks out over the tiniest things. At least he loves dogs though, I just don't think he cares too much about dogs that don't come to his eye level. Either way, I think Stitch will be very fond of Bailey and I hope they only learn good things from each other. I have nightmares about this little demon tearing up the place, but hopefully he'll be an angel, just like Bailey ;)
Canada Day was Sunday, and obviously it goes by unnoticed here. The fourth of July is tomorrow and we'll be spending it eating and gorging ourselves. We paired up with a friend to host day long festivities since we have the BBQ. I hear it's going to be hot... which is disappointing because so far the weather has been perfect. So perfect in fact, that we've actualy gone hiking twice!
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Yesterday
Yesterday just happened to be the last day of school as well as my friend Rob's birthday. I had to do a final presentation in my mag class, which went relatively well despite what we had. I had an oral presentation in my Chinese class later and then I stayed around to help set up the banquet for our Communications department. I normally don't go to these things, mostly because I don't pay much attention to what goes on in the department.
I wasn't planning on going until a few days ago the chair sent out an email to a handful of people saying that we should be there because he might have some good news. I saw that a majority of the Pioneer staff was on it, so I thought hmm, maybe we're supposed to show up because they'll brag about the Pioneer.
After my professor got up there, I'm not even sure I remembered what he said, something about reporting everything except sports but she might have done it too if we told her to. I joined as a report in Spring quarter but they felt I did a good enough job to give me Report of the Year. :D I was super delighted because I haven't received an award in a really long time... well, I did get a PeopleSoft Overachiever (Outstanding Contributor) Award which made me feel uber special. My editor in chief, previous editor, the photo guy and a couple of other people all received awards too. The staff isn't very big, but I guess they like to honour the people who put time into the school newspaper each week.
So afterwards I had to rush home and get to Rob's birthday dinner. We went to a shabu shabu place in the city and he was totally wasted within like an hour. Two hours later, we're making sure he doesn't fall into the toilet head first, but everything he did ate, did come right back up again :p Way to go Rob, happy 26th.
I wasn't planning on going until a few days ago the chair sent out an email to a handful of people saying that we should be there because he might have some good news. I saw that a majority of the Pioneer staff was on it, so I thought hmm, maybe we're supposed to show up because they'll brag about the Pioneer.
After my professor got up there, I'm not even sure I remembered what he said, something about reporting everything except sports but she might have done it too if we told her to. I joined as a report in Spring quarter but they felt I did a good enough job to give me Report of the Year. :D I was super delighted because I haven't received an award in a really long time... well, I did get a PeopleSoft Overachiever (Outstanding Contributor) Award which made me feel uber special. My editor in chief, previous editor, the photo guy and a couple of other people all received awards too. The staff isn't very big, but I guess they like to honour the people who put time into the school newspaper each week.
So afterwards I had to rush home and get to Rob's birthday dinner. We went to a shabu shabu place in the city and he was totally wasted within like an hour. Two hours later, we're making sure he doesn't fall into the toilet head first, but everything he did ate, did come right back up again :p Way to go Rob, happy 26th.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Newspapers
So my big story of the quarter got published today. I put it in my other blog too. The web site version is available here.
I'm really happy with the story, and so is the teacher. I spent a lot of time meeting with him and contacting the various sources I needed to get the story across. It's difficult when lawyers, districts and unions won't talk to you but I did the best that I could.
I also asked the Hayward Daily Review if they'd like to run it, and I've submitted a shortened version for them. What sucks about news is that there are times where you're limited to 300-500 words and there is no way you can tell the whole story in so few words. You leave out vital information which either confuses the reader or gives them the wrong impression. They'd have to go out of their way to get the whole story, and even then, how many people would actually do that?
Anyway, it's kind of depressing that all Bay Area newspapers are owned by one media company. Except for the Chronicle, and they're losing a million dollars a week so it's only a matter of time before they disappear. So really, our news is being delivered the same way but under a different logo.
I'm really happy with the story, and so is the teacher. I spent a lot of time meeting with him and contacting the various sources I needed to get the story across. It's difficult when lawyers, districts and unions won't talk to you but I did the best that I could.
I also asked the Hayward Daily Review if they'd like to run it, and I've submitted a shortened version for them. What sucks about news is that there are times where you're limited to 300-500 words and there is no way you can tell the whole story in so few words. You leave out vital information which either confuses the reader or gives them the wrong impression. They'd have to go out of their way to get the whole story, and even then, how many people would actually do that?
Anyway, it's kind of depressing that all Bay Area newspapers are owned by one media company. Except for the Chronicle, and they're losing a million dollars a week so it's only a matter of time before they disappear. So really, our news is being delivered the same way but under a different logo.
I've been slacking
The important part about owning a blog is to.. well, actually blog. My finals are next week, so really I have no excuse anymore. After my magazine proposal presentation Friday, I'll be a lot less stressed. It's been a great quarter and I'm proud of what I've achieved. I've had several great articles printed in the paper. I haven't been posting them in my soapbox blog, mostly because they're news articles. I guess I should post anyway, what's the point in reading a blog that's not updated?
I'll be interning at a gaming studio this summer to give game design a try. I never really thought I could contribute much as a designer, since I don't draw or program, but there are other things that I could do like research and writing. I hope that I will learn a lot and that my skills will be useful. Otherwise, I am still quite fond of writing and I'd like to continue doing it.
After taking this magazine publishing class, I feel like I could expand my writing and look for jobs in the mag industry. I still want to be in the video games industry for sure, but there are days where I feel like I want to write about things that really matter, like giving a voice to the voiceless. Not that games don't matter, but no one will be hurt if a review doesn't come out for a game.
We'll see. I had a lot of fun writing up some controversial topics. When people are really grateful of what you've written, that's what makes writing worth it.
I'll be interning at a gaming studio this summer to give game design a try. I never really thought I could contribute much as a designer, since I don't draw or program, but there are other things that I could do like research and writing. I hope that I will learn a lot and that my skills will be useful. Otherwise, I am still quite fond of writing and I'd like to continue doing it.
After taking this magazine publishing class, I feel like I could expand my writing and look for jobs in the mag industry. I still want to be in the video games industry for sure, but there are days where I feel like I want to write about things that really matter, like giving a voice to the voiceless. Not that games don't matter, but no one will be hurt if a review doesn't come out for a game.
We'll see. I had a lot of fun writing up some controversial topics. When people are really grateful of what you've written, that's what makes writing worth it.
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