Revenge of the nerds

You know the saying: "first kid on the block to own...". Well in 1986, that was more. For my 6th birthday, my mothers boyfriend came over with a huge wrapped box, and when opened revealed the original Nintendo Entertainment System. Console, 2 remotes, a Zapper, and even that stupid robot that didn't really work. Soon after followed avid playing of such titles as Duck Hunt, Super Mario Bros., Excitebike, Tecmo Bowl, and many others. They had one thing in common: I sucked at all of them.



Years have passed. I pretty much stopped playing video games. I remember getting a Sega Genesis and a Sony Playstation over the years but never ended up owning more that 2 or 3 titles for each system, and continuing to suck at all of them The truth is my hand eye coordination was never that good, which can also be seen in my inability to play guitar or baseball.

The past 2 days I've been working for G4, Comcast's video game based network, covering the Microsoft and Sony press conferences where they announce new technology and games to the fanfare of thousands locally and millions worldwide. Turns out these events are a big deal.

What seemed to amaze me the most was Microsoft's Project Natal. A futuristic gaming platform that when attached to an XBox, will sense human voice and motion without the use of a remote. I had two different feelings about it. One, that this is awesome, or two, that this is really creepy. Especially the video of the virtual child that was interacting with a woman, even showing emotion and recognition of color.

I feel sometimes that we're pushing the limits of technology a little too far. Is Microsoft inventing the new method of human/robot interaction? Will video games and the nerds who create them take over our lives by taking advantage of those of us with limited hand eye coordination and getting me to join their world? Do I really want to hook up something that does all this?

Hell yeah I do.

Single life?

So a person that was a big part of my life romantically has moved about an hour and a half away from me and I'm trying to figure out what to do. I've been "single" for a while now but I haven't really moved on and neither has she. It seems like this might be a good time to sort of move on. The last thing in the world I want right now is a serious relationship but I haven't been on a first date or anything like that in years and part of me wants to meet someone new.

This sucks, that is all.

Celebrate California?

So yesterday I made a last minute decision to join some friends at Disney's California Adventure theme park. They had free tickets and I knew by going I would get a free ticket to Disneyland in the next 30 days.

The park itself is actually a lot of fun for being Disney's redheaded stepchild of amusement parks. The rides are a lot of fun except that god awful ferris wheel. I was bummed I couldn't go on the new Toy Story ride but we managed to go on most of the main rides there in 5 hours.

I guess what's funny about it is the fact they decided to have a California themed park. I was thinking if this was really a place for California related themes, we could have such exciting rides as "The Border Crosser", "Wildfire Run", "Earthquake: The Ride", and of course "The State Budget Roller Coaster". I guess the "Tower of Terror" will have to do for now.

Welcome!

So I've decided to start this blog over again. Now that I'm a college grad I felt that a blog related to my last college class has become a tad irrelevent and it was time to move on as to not confuse any potential readers.

Bringing you up to speed:

I finished college in December 2008 and have been working as a freelance production assistant since then. Work is up and down. The first few months were great at TV Guide Network but I haven't done a whole lot since then. A couple days on L.A. Ink, a really bad pilot that will probably get picked up, and I'm always trying to line up a few gigs here and there. I still work part time at the Griffith Observatory but after graduating the job just doesn't feel the same.

In a total shock to many of my peers, I might be taking a hiatus on my career path in the next few months. While I eventually want to end up back in the field of media (mostly TV and film), I have taken the initial steps to join the U.S. Navy as an officer. This will be a monumental task but I am very determined to make this happen over the next few months. My goal is to become a Public Affairs Officer for the Navy but have discovered I will have to spend a few years doing something else before attempting to become a PAO.

So you might ask yourself "What in the hell made you want to join the Navy?"

Well, it had actually always been a dream of mine since I was very young. I remembering wanting to be a fighter pilot but those dreams were cast aside in the 4th grade when Dr. Lee fit me for my first set of glasses. Through the years of struggling with school and attempting to be a rebellious punk rock kid, I still had a great respect for the military and my country. I had even thought about joining 5 years ago when I was 23 and had dropped out of college but decided to go back to school instead.

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of getting a tour of the USS Ronald Reagan, one of the Aircraft Carriers based in San Diego. After the tour I found myself being bit by the bug that I wanted to serve the country that has given so much to me, and on top of that, provide me with someone of the self discipline and structure I feel that my life lacks. I don't know if I will ever get through the admission process to join the Navy, but I'm going to try like hell to not take no for an answer.

So that should get anyone who cares up to speed. From mow on my blog posts will probably be shorter, less about me, and more about my interactions with the world.