Seeking a friend for the end of the world is one of those movies that has gotten me thinking. Never a good thing but it made me realize how lucky I had been. I have friends I would go to any length to be with come the day of judgement. I am sure you know who you are. The family, my oldest friends and then a few people that have meant a lot more to me than I think I ever meant to them. I guess everyone has regrets, but as I said I am lucky.
There are many flaws with the film, it wishes to see the best in people, to see the values upheld. The realities I imagine as the end of the world encroaches is a descent into anarchy, the rise of fear, violence, crime and abuse. A world where the strongest and most depraved seek out their most depraved fantasies at the expense of everyone around them. Then again, maybe I am just being a pessimist. I know however that when it comes, I would want to be with my friends.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Monday, August 26, 2013
Day 56 - Late
I have done a pretty good job so far I think of keeping on schedule. I had one instance of forgetting to press submit causing a blog to go live a little late but other than that this is my first late blog.
Yesterday was fantastic! Exhausting but really nice. I went with David up to Sausalito our first trip across the fog shrouded Golden Gate Bridge where we had a great brunch at the Lighthouse Cafe, a little shack owned by a Danish expat that seemed to love what he was doing. The food was fantastic and totally worth the queue that everyone had to go through before getting a seat. After brunch, we caught a bus up into Muir Woods where we walked around and took a load of Photos. We walked the Hillside - Ben Johnson - Dipsea Trail route - a total distance of 4.35 miles. Not too far but pretty hilly in parts and we made good time - completing the trail in a little over an hour and a half despite several lengthy stops for globe shots with the Nexus 4.
After getting back and having showered and changed, we headed out to meet up with Mimi and have Cajun Seafood! It was awesome but I ate far too much!
Nothing profound in this entry as work continues to rain down on me in buckets. I will try and write something a little more interesting tonight.
Yesterday was fantastic! Exhausting but really nice. I went with David up to Sausalito our first trip across the fog shrouded Golden Gate Bridge where we had a great brunch at the Lighthouse Cafe, a little shack owned by a Danish expat that seemed to love what he was doing. The food was fantastic and totally worth the queue that everyone had to go through before getting a seat. After brunch, we caught a bus up into Muir Woods where we walked around and took a load of Photos. We walked the Hillside - Ben Johnson - Dipsea Trail route - a total distance of 4.35 miles. Not too far but pretty hilly in parts and we made good time - completing the trail in a little over an hour and a half despite several lengthy stops for globe shots with the Nexus 4.
After getting back and having showered and changed, we headed out to meet up with Mimi and have Cajun Seafood! It was awesome but I ate far too much!
Nothing profound in this entry as work continues to rain down on me in buckets. I will try and write something a little more interesting tonight.
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Day 55 - The Raiders suck... the fans rule!
So yesterday evening I took David to his first ever live American Football game. I think he enjoyed it. The Bears walked all over the Raiders... so I wasn't happy. Especially as it didn't really feel like the Raiders were trying too hard with Flynn and McGloin both getting more field time than Pryor our only real Quarterback and the team playing such a running centric game that by half time the Bears had given up all pretense at guarding the Wide Receivers... not that it mattered as Pryor is the only one that can throw a completion and he was nowhere to be seen. It was a great experience despite the lack of gusto from the team. Raider's are known for their fans and the Raider Nation was out in force. A Sea of Silver and Black spread out across the Coliseum with as much noise and fervor as any soccer fans. Raiders fans are known for bad behavior but I can't say we experienced anything more than some pot smoking and a little ribbing of the Bears fans sat in the home stands.
I wandered into town to return some DVDs and I was thinking about the imbalance of power in the US. I know that Europe has imbalance with pay and work but that's nothing on the US. A country that basically lives on the servitude of non-natives too desperate to be able to have a chance at a better education for their kids whilst they guarantee their own life long servitude. This country is leaching off the desperation of the less fortunate, whist asking individuals to spend pennies to assuage their guilty and legitimize this modern day slavery.
I got up today to do some fun filled work thanks to my rotation mentor while David headed into SF with Diego. I got a lot of work done before totally zoning out and trying out LotR: LCG which was excellent. I fielded the Tactics starting deck against the Passage through Mirkwood. The Tactics deck is very combat focused but getting progress tokens is really tough. I got lucky on the card draws and made it through to the final part but waiting for the final card when a load of location cards came up it was too hard to get the progress to survive.
In the evening we sat down to watch Seven Psycopaths which starts out really slow but the self-aware almost 4th wall breaking demented weirdness totally pays off.
I wandered into town to return some DVDs and I was thinking about the imbalance of power in the US. I know that Europe has imbalance with pay and work but that's nothing on the US. A country that basically lives on the servitude of non-natives too desperate to be able to have a chance at a better education for their kids whilst they guarantee their own life long servitude. This country is leaching off the desperation of the less fortunate, whist asking individuals to spend pennies to assuage their guilty and legitimize this modern day slavery.
I got up today to do some fun filled work thanks to my rotation mentor while David headed into SF with Diego. I got a lot of work done before totally zoning out and trying out LotR: LCG which was excellent. I fielded the Tactics starting deck against the Passage through Mirkwood. The Tactics deck is very combat focused but getting progress tokens is really tough. I got lucky on the card draws and made it through to the final part but waiting for the final card when a load of location cards came up it was too hard to get the progress to survive.
In the evening we sat down to watch Seven Psycopaths which starts out really slow but the self-aware almost 4th wall breaking demented weirdness totally pays off.
Friday, August 23, 2013
Day 54 - Staying Up Beat
I have tried to stay up beat in this blog, focus on the good or at least being funny rather than just down or unpleasant but the last few days have made that really difficult as the workload piles up on both for my old role and this rotation. I am getting stuff dropped on me for immediate action with no notice or consideration of the work required. Spent today hammering Excel whilst listening to an Instant Mix on Play Music. One of the songs that popped up summarized things pretty well:
Dev is stressed and wants to go back to just having one job.
On the plus side I get to go to my first ever Raiders game today! It's only a preseason but I am still really hyped about it. I will post this early as I doubt I will have enough energy to post after the game.
Summer's gone,So David is up to visit and I am being a shit host because I am so swamped with work, my book is in need of TLC that I can't afford to take time out to attend to & LotR:LCG has arrived and is just sat taunting me because I don't have time to play it.
I over slept and woke up to the chill of fall
Over worked
And now I'm all used up.- Tv trays by Death Cab for Cutie
Dev is stressed and wants to go back to just having one job.
On the plus side I get to go to my first ever Raiders game today! It's only a preseason but I am still really hyped about it. I will post this early as I doubt I will have enough energy to post after the game.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Day 53 - Many Arrivals
LORD OF THE RINGS CARD GAME IS IN MY HANDS
<Insert prerequisite comment about my precious>
Mimi, Jackie and Andreas from my old team also came to MTV today which was nice.
David has also come to town which is great. We went to dinner with a bunch of my old team inc Andreas from BART Eng who I really like. We went for Mongolian Hot Pot which I have been craving since even before I came out to California.
And Finally I enjoyed the arrival of a massive headache c/o some really unreasonable expectations from my mentor combined with several major issues with my old team. I am really concerned about the workload and I may have to cancel some of my plans with David this weekend in order to get everything done that I have to do.
This evening I had a great dinner with everyone and Mongolian Hot Pot!!! I love hot pot. It's so good. Ate far too much and then we had Bubble Tea for afters.
<Insert prerequisite comment about my precious>
Mimi, Jackie and Andreas from my old team also came to MTV today which was nice.
David has also come to town which is great. We went to dinner with a bunch of my old team inc Andreas from BART Eng who I really like. We went for Mongolian Hot Pot which I have been craving since even before I came out to California.
And Finally I enjoyed the arrival of a massive headache c/o some really unreasonable expectations from my mentor combined with several major issues with my old team. I am really concerned about the workload and I may have to cancel some of my plans with David this weekend in order to get everything done that I have to do.
This evening I had a great dinner with everyone and Mongolian Hot Pot!!! I love hot pot. It's so good. Ate far too much and then we had Bubble Tea for afters.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Day 52 - Will progress bear fruit?
Today has been a pretty hectic and stressful day. I am starting to realize that I have a lot to do. A lot of unexpected deadlines approaching quite rapidly and I have been far too lazy of late. Just keeping track of all the things I have coming up is pretty intimidating. On top of that I have quite a few extracurricular things happening, colleagues visiting, David coming up, a gTech team event, giving my first training... all of it together means I am going to be a busy bee for the next couple of weeks. As a result I will be posting shorter blog entries that will doubtlessly be rather mundane but I will try to ensure that I do at least keep it daily.
I was thinking today about the power of story telling. I have been listening to a few short stories on Podcastle including http://podcastle.org/2013/07/31/podcastle-271-nightfall-in-the-scent-garden/ which was a very sad story about foolish decisions and the toll of unrequited love. On the flip side I have recently been listening to the BBC dramatizations of Asimov's Foundation series. It is not that they are soulless, but very precise, very intellectual but missing heart the effect is that I end up thinking about the mechanics of the story and finding faults that I would never look at in a more emotive story.
I was thinking today about the power of story telling. I have been listening to a few short stories on Podcastle including http://podcastle.org/2013/07/31/podcastle-271-nightfall-in-the-scent-garden/ which was a very sad story about foolish decisions and the toll of unrequited love. On the flip side I have recently been listening to the BBC dramatizations of Asimov's Foundation series. It is not that they are soulless, but very precise, very intellectual but missing heart the effect is that I end up thinking about the mechanics of the story and finding faults that I would never look at in a more emotive story.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Day 51 - YouTube Takeover
Another day in the YouTube offices and as I have expressed several times before, these really do me the world of good. I love being able to catch up with the rest of RSO. Today was especially awesome as Jackie and Andreas are both in town so I got to catch up with them, which was part of the reason for moving it from my usual Monday slot. What I didn't know is that several other folks I new from various offices were also in town so it was great to catch up with everyone!
In the end I was able to have a brain wave and get a substantial breakthrough with my queries but with all the distractions in the office I didn't really get to implement it until I got home. 4 hours later and I am half done and the attempt to take shortcuts has rather backfired. I will have to try and get it all sorted tomorrow. I will need to consult with some of the others. I think being so lax on Friday and Monday is going to bite me in the ass.
In other news, ideas for my other blogging project are firing away and I should have little trouble getting the next two or three blogs written in advance which will help a lot as I suspect the next few weeks will be hectic.
As I worked this evening, I had Planets 51 on, another of the ever growing reel of low budget CGI movies that use formulaic story and witty lines along with rather bland graphics to create short, entertaining children's movies with a bit of a nod and a wink to the parents in the audience. This one reminded me a lot of Hoodwinked, the same low level graphics and the endless references that are done in varying levels unsubtle. Despite this rather harsh description, I enjoyed it a lot. I love all of these movies and I think this one is a fine example. It is just a matter of viewing it in the context of the budget and style.
In the end I was able to have a brain wave and get a substantial breakthrough with my queries but with all the distractions in the office I didn't really get to implement it until I got home. 4 hours later and I am half done and the attempt to take shortcuts has rather backfired. I will have to try and get it all sorted tomorrow. I will need to consult with some of the others. I think being so lax on Friday and Monday is going to bite me in the ass.
In other news, ideas for my other blogging project are firing away and I should have little trouble getting the next two or three blogs written in advance which will help a lot as I suspect the next few weeks will be hectic.
As I worked this evening, I had Planets 51 on, another of the ever growing reel of low budget CGI movies that use formulaic story and witty lines along with rather bland graphics to create short, entertaining children's movies with a bit of a nod and a wink to the parents in the audience. This one reminded me a lot of Hoodwinked, the same low level graphics and the endless references that are done in varying levels unsubtle. Despite this rather harsh description, I enjoyed it a lot. I love all of these movies and I think this one is a fine example. It is just a matter of viewing it in the context of the budget and style.
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