dracil

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/30/rumor-gamespots-editorial-director-fired-over-kane-and-lynch-rev/

http://kotaku.com/gaming/rumor/gamespot-editor-fired-over-kane--lynch-review-328244.php
http://kotaku.com/gaming/jeff-gerstmann/cnet-comments-on-gamespot-controversy-328623.php
http://kotaku.com/gaming/rumor/alleged-gamespot-employee-spills-guts-on-valleywag-328797.php

Also check out this 354 page (as of this writing) forum thread http://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=26072117

Some general interesting tidbits. The firing is by Cnet, not Gamespot. This may be related to Cnet's new VP (end of October) who used to be the CEO of Dennis Publishing, which does Stuff and Maxim. Also, another editor left later, possibly in protest, and there is at least one moderator who's thinking of possibly doing the same.

This has gotten big enough that regardless of what happens, it's gonna haunt CNET, Gamespot, and Eidos for a very long time.
Currently feeling surprised

dracil

*Sigh* @ ruined weekend plans

Well, that's not to say I didn't do anything this weekend. Checked out the Stern Grove park, which is the closest park within walking distance to me now that I'm quite a bit away from Golden Gate Park. It's actually pretty nice although most of it's a dog park, but there's a section on the East side that's a little more secluded with some squirrels nearby. They're more skittish than the ones at GGP though. I guess people don't really feed the ones here. There's also a lake with ducks at the West end of the dog park.

Also, finally managed to see the early episodes of Heroes 2 so I can actually keep up with the episodes on NBC.com. The evo stuff is still silly, and I think they realized it too, which is why they seem to focus so much on relating it to the regeneration power instead of, say, the flying or time traveling powers.


Currently feeling disappointed

dracil

One thing I've wondered is if I died, fell in a coma, or am otherwise incapacitated, who would know?

Because of insurance and related stuff I guess my parents, aunt, workplace, and housemates would be the first to find out. From there, the rest of my relatives would know as well. But where after that? My cousins might tell my pre-college friends eventually, but... would my any of my post-high school friends ever find out? There's actually a possibility they won't, or at least not for months or years. As far as they know, I'd just have disappeared off the face of the earth and some might realize that something's wrong if only 'cause my online screenname will become idle for days, weeks, months. And that's only the ones who are on the IM systems that say how long I've been idle. And that's if people don't shut off my computer first.

No, I don't think something's gonna happen to me but it's still an interesting train of thought.
Currently feeling thoughtful

dracil

Work: +
Social: -----
Currently feeling blah

dracil

Sleep: +
Mood: ---
AT Field: ---
Currently feeling grumpy

dracil

Got up 6:10, apparently not long after Jenny went to bed. Got on the 7AM Muni, transferred to the Muni bus at West Portal (so it seems like the subway is closed before 8AM so they use the streets), was early for Bart (stations weren't even open), caught the first train out. Bart sucks. They delayed twice, at the central transfer points which meant I was 25 minutes late, and thus technically 2 minutes late for Amtrak (not including printing the tickets). Was pretty frustrated 'cause being 2 minutes late would mean I would be 2 full hours late. Luckily, Amtrak was 8 minutes late so I made it, to the relief of me and all the other people who were trying to catch it. But if I didn't have the habit of going early as a precaution, I really would've been late!

Got to Davis, then realized my camera disappeared. Now that I'm home and writing this entry, I know for certain I left it on one of the public transportations. =/ Gonna need to check the lost and founds tomorrow.

I guess Jenny caught me as I was twisting my face trying to remember where I'd left it. So we went to Davis Noodle City and basically had appetizers for lunch. For the most part, we didn't agree with the restaurant's choice of sauce for each dish, and felt the sauce from a different dish (or just plain soy sauce) was better.

Since we were still early, we went to Borders' where Jenny got a gift and I got a book. And then we went to see August Rush. I really liked the movie concept and how it led up to the finale. As we were driving away, Jenny realized she forgot her hat, and we got back just as the staff was walking out with it. At least one of us got our lost things back.

So, after that, spent the rest of the afternoon decorating the cookies that Jenny baked. It's actually quite a bit of work but it was fun too, though I started running out of ideas later. Had some rice dumplings her that her mom had made for dinner and then rushed to catch the "last" Amtrak train, only to miss it by 10 seconds. The conductor literally told me "Too late, the train's already moving" as I was rushing up to it. Luckily Jenny had waited and so we went back to her place. Consequently, she wasn't able to go to her friend's BBQ.

But she still needed to get food so we went out again. She needed to print something out at her lab first so we went there. Cool place, especially with all those warning signs posted all around. With the Internet there, I found out that the train I missed was actually not the last train after all. I guess there's a cutoff that just happens to show everything up to the second-to-last train (7:25) when it shows all the trains for the day. It was only now that there was only one train left that it showed me the 9:25 train. Oh well.

So unfortunately it was kinda late and all the restaurants were closing. Eventually we went to the Old Teahouse which was open till midnight. She had her hot black tea with tapioca and I tried pudding blizzard since I never usually get blizzard. Our entrees were essentially the same thing though. I had Baked Oven Seafood Soup, and she had a Baked Seafood Plate. The cream and seafood was the same, just that mine had a nice bread thing to go with it (and it's a soup) while hers was over rice.

Went back, then went out again to Target before it closed to get a wireless router so I could help set it up. The drive was 10-15 minutes. Buying it was 5-10 minutes. Then drive back. Setup took about half an hour. Turns out we had to actually restart the modem after we changed routers, which is different than normal.

After that, watched her Phantom of the Opera DVD and decorated the remaining cookies. As a consequence I had (still do actually) songs from it stuck to my head all day. Oh, so the movie's quite cool. So first of all, the songs make more sense now that I have them in context. The movie itself was well done I think too. Very nice use of colors in the various scenes.

Ended up sleeping at 3:30am, got up at 8, Jenny made onion cake + egg for breakfast (which felt like roti for some reason), and I managed to catch the 8:45 train. Got to work about 1.5 hours later than usual, which is about prime time for when most people have showed up (I'm usually a lot earlier than other people), but everything was fine otherwise.

So yeah, that was a great 24 hours! Technically it's 29, but obvious references to the show 'cause of all the close-call moments.
Currently feeling happy

dracil

Hmm.... interesting. I just looked up dates and.... I think I probably came up with this name sometime in 1992 or 1993. That's.... a long time. Probably in 5th grade actually. I remember coming up with it as a character name for some RPG I was playing by myself. Haha, that's kinda sad. Well, it's not like any of my friends over the years have really been table-top RPG players, and even I only had a very brief stint in my freshman year in college (back then, I thought walking from Freeborn to Telegraph/Blake was really far), and a few online attempts that didn't really last more than a month. The groups just crumble (that actually ended up to the face-to-face group too actually).

I'm still fascinated with RPG systems though. But I think the perfectionist side side of me makes me annoyed at them too because there's inevitably a slew of erratas and then i feel my book is no longer perfect, especially if they have a 2nd printing that fixes the errors.
Currently feeling thoughtful

dracil

Ugh, closing the window by accident in the middle of a post really sucks. Let's see if I can remember what I was writing...

So yesterday I decided to go to the beach. It was pretty nice, especially given that I'm not really a beach person (I prefer forests, which may also include mountainous areas). Lots of snow plovers, unleashed dogs, dead crabs, and a guy surfing. Next week, Lake Merced?

The other day, someone called me a girl for thinking that Grey's Anatomy wasn't bad. Apparently I'm a lot more normal than she thinks. :3
Exhibit A
Exhibit B
Granted, the fact that people actually wrote about this means that the groupthink is definitely there.

And one last item for today.

I think Cat would get a kick out of this.
Currently feeling okay

dracil

It's actually kinda interesting how a show that's supposedly marketed for women has 3 sex scenes in the first 5 episodes. So is that what women want?

I mean, barring outright porn, sex is not nearly as heavily featured in shows that are aimed at guys or are just generally more gender-neutral, such as 24, Battlestar Galactica, or Heroes.

And they say guys think about sex all the time.

Like I said. Very interesting. :3

Currently feeling amused

dracil

So last night our landlord and his family treated us and some people from his church to dinner at Best Panda Restaurant. I was surprised when I went in 'cause it was so similar to Bay Fung Tong. From the colored papers advertising their menu on the wall to the actual food items and prices and portions and uniforms. So later on I confirmed that it was because it was the same owner. So that explains it. Spent all day today eating leftovers (we had 7 plastic containers worth of food).

We also got to see the famed house on 34th and Quintara. Basically it's a house completely covered in Christmas decorations. Apparently they also had stuff for Halloween too but I didn't know about them at the time.

Had a pretty vivid dream last night. Or technically it's a nightmare (though a fun one) I guess given that it had some stuff to do with trying to survive and fighting some evil plot and monsters and people dying. I should've blogged about it first thing in the morning, don't quite remember it now. However, I think it has to do with me watching so many episodes of Higurashi in a row. And I think it was actually the second dream. There was another one earlier.
Currently feeling okay

dracil

So today I went over to Jenny's place for hotpot. Was pretty much still planning the schedule until the moment I left. Went to 99 Ranch first and just looked around a bit until Jenny showed up. Then we waited to get duck but unfortunately by the time we got to the front of the line, they were out, and also out of Chashu as well. So we ended up only getting a bottle of soy sauce.

After we got to her place, since no one else was there yet, I played some Christmas songs on their piano for a bit and even tried to do "All I Ask of You" from Phantom of the Opera. So looks like I can still do simple stuff pretty well, but lots of flats/sharps + chords will mess me up.

Her sister and family came home afterwards and I started to help prepare the food then and then got to play with the baby for a bit.

Dinner itself lasted for several hours and her brother came back a bit after 6. Then her sister and family had to leave after 7.

Ate a lot of stuff but even so, I think we only finished maybe half the food. (Originally there was supposed to be more people) Afterwards Tom dropped me off at the Bart (speaking of which, finally got to use my EZRider card, which is so much more convenient than getting regular Bart tickets!)

Thank you again Jenny for inviting me! It was lots of fun. :D

And Merry Christmas everyone!
Currently feeling happy

dracil

Another odd dream again.

But first the one from the day before. I basically dreamed that I'd gone to work and then when it was about 5PM, realized I had already taken the day off so then I was wondering if I could still cancel my PTO for that day. Oddly no one had asked why I was still there either though.

So the one from last night was also more of a "horror" dream (the thing is, it's not like I'm scared, and I actually enjoy the suspense so I don't really consider them nightmares. Maybe 'cause there was always a feeling of hope and being able to get out alive). Anyway, from what I remember I got on some train, but I think it turned out it was some sort of ghost train and somehow I managed to get off. Or maybe I didn't. But then I remember a bunch of people trying to get on at some station and I tried to stop them, but a little girl had already gone on the train so I went back on, and other people followed. I tried to explain the situation to the girl but she wasn't worried and even smiled at me. Seems like she was able to control the train or something and afterwards we all managed to get off safely.

I think the feeling of danger vaguely resembles the ending of one of the Final Destination movies (which I saw a couple years ago) though it wasn't 'cause I saw my impending death like in the movie, but just a general feeling of wrongness about the train (and how it was all dark inside).

Heh, I miss having dreams (or remembering them technically). I think it's 'cause I've been able to sleep without an alarm clock these past few days, so I can stay in bed and think about the dreams in a half-conscious state long enough for them to stay in my long-term memory.
Currently feeling thoughtful

dracil

Was actually a little boring. Dunno. The problem is that you can't really get close to the lake. And a huge chunk of it is a golf course (Harding Park). And there's very little life in the lake. =/

I did see a hummingbird though.

Went back to the Chinese market to refill my supply of drinks. Noticed the quail eggs. Again. I really think I should try making something with them. I have some fond memories of eating quail eggs as a kid. I'll probably end up realizing it's just like chicken eggs but smaller. Ah, nostalgia.

Also went back and got a hamburger combo at the Bashful Bull Too. It's a fairly decent price especially with the milkshake (they could actually advertise it as, "Buy a milkshake + fries, get a free hamburger!"). Service is sub-par though (you really should not ever need to ask for water refills if the glass is empty and sitting there for a while. This is one thing I always note when I go to restaurants)

Currently feeling surprisingly sleepy

dracil

So I was at Borders today looking for a book. While there I noticed this kid opening the wrapping on some Yugioh graphic novel. Pretty sure he should've just gone up to the front desk and asked to look inside but whatever. However, soon after that I notice him taking the promo card out of the book and sticking it in his wallet. Ok, that's crossing the line. So I confront him and tell him he really shouldn't be doing that. He murmurs an "OK" but just continues to pocket the wallet, card and all, and then starts reading the book. WTF. I'm pretty sure by now he he has no intention of buying it so I end up going to the Info desk and inform them about this. The girl says something about contacting the "LP" (local police?) and I return to my book search.

By the time I left, 15-30 minutes later, the kid's still there reading the book so I'm not sure if they ever did anything.

Still not sure if I was just being a busybody or if I should've done more about it. But the thing that bothers me the most is how shameless he was going about it all.

Currently feeling thoughtful

dracil

So yesterday afternoon, sort of spontaneously decided to go over to Jenny's place to help her finish packing after I found out she was sick and so wasn't able to pack well. The timing ended up being perfect, as if I had gone earlier I would've been stuck waiting for the Amtrak. I heard conflicting reports of a death+crash, and some police action. Checking the news today, 3 people were injured when the train hit their car. Luckily, the train scheduled to have arrived 3 hours earlier arrived in time for when I had expected to get on, so I wasn't late at all. It was a lot more crowded than usual though and the next train was also right behind us, so the conductors kept suggesting that people take the next train.

Davis was a lot colder than expected. I walked from the station to her place (which is a good thing 'cause the bus never came during the entire walk), stopping by the Old Teahouse along the way for some popcorn chicken and pudding blizzard. Saw a huge flock of crows in the trees there. Had some of her leftover pasta and soup along with the stuff I bought for dinner. And hot cocoa. With whipped cream. And marshmallows. :D Also decorated some more cookies.

Packing took a few hours but was shorter than expected so we managed to squeeze in the 5th Harry Potter movie afterwards.

I think neither of us slept too well though. We left after having eggs, bacon, and soup for breakfast. She went home first then dropped me off at the Bart station. Ended up going to the Berkeley one 'cause neither of us were awake enough to notice she went past the Orinda Bart. I took advantage of it to look around the stores there.

After I got home, Jennifer woke up and asked if I wanted to go to Circuit City so there was a bit more shopping after that.

Heh, tired now. Tomorrow, finish moving!

Random thought: Recently people seem to think I'm very religious for some reason. O_o

Currently feeling content

dracil

I started my day with a burnt out light bulb at 6AM.

Then got to Lafayette Bart where Peter picked me up to Jenny's place where we picked her up then went to her Davis place where we met up with her brother. They went to get the U-Haul then we finished packing/moving stuff into the U-Haul. Lunch at Old Teahouse. Then we drove back to her home to finish the moving. Parted ways after that.

Peter dropped me off at the Berkeley Bart where I waited for Leqi and her friend to show up. Showed them around campus then we ate at Cafe Intermezzo where we learned 2 bowls of salad > 3 of us (we only finished the equivalent of 1 bowl). At the Bart, realized I left my bag at the restaurant so I went back to get it while they stayed at the Bart station. Luckily they still had my bag so all was good.

Spent the rest of the night playing some Wii with them.

Currently feeling kinda empty inside...