Wow, this week went fast: already Friday?!
Well, I've mostly been ill all week and haven't done anything exciting: just nursing a stuffy nose and back ache. Hopefully I'm feeling better for next week.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Thursday July 22 1515
Interesting thing I realized the other day: I have a strong mental association between death and the taste of green apples. It's true: although I absolutely love the sour taste of a good Granny Smith, it has always had a note of forlorn-ness to it when I bite into one. It's not been debilitating to my apple-preferences, but I've never been able to place exactly *why* until the other day.
Well, I was chilling out in my room after work on my laptop and I accidentally knocked Tigris off the bed (yes, of course he's here! it's the year of the Tiger...) and so I picked him up. I was sipping on an apple juice, and I got hit by a memory from deep childhood.
I remember being at the house in Renton in the livingroom: the room was generally 'brown' with wooden furniture and some paneling, and a kind of coffee-beige carpet. I think I was playing Megaman 5 trying to beat Gyroman, when Dad came out from the hallway (it led out of the livingroom and was the primary corridor where all the other rooms branched off, I think he was coming from the Library room, although I don't remember if the library door's handle was Pre- or Post-dad-escaping-to-rescue-me-from-a-bee-sting). I had just sat back down to play after pausing so I could get a green apple out from the kitchen, but I hadn't started to eat it when Dad said something along the lines of 'Hey Eddy, can I talk to you a minute?'. Dad seemed sad, so I decided to let Tigris hold onto my apple so I could talk to Dad.
Dad asked me if I remembered his grandma, and I already figured that Bad News was imminent, so I said yes, even though I didn't really recall her right away: I was still a bit too young I think. Dad talked about her peanut butter cookies, and I *did* remember liking those, so I felt a bit more encouraged. Dad, with what I perceived as a flair for the melodramatic, then told me that she had passed away, and that there could be no more such cookies. It was a very sad moment, and I started to bawl: no more delicious unique great-grandma peanut-butter cookies!
He offered some words of consolation, but I mostly wanted to just stop crying, and so I recall soon returning back to the TV, giving a sad nod to Tigris as he gave me my apple back, then taking a big, giant bite out of the still-refrigerated granny smith apple.
So yeah, I thought it was cool at least to remember something so far back. It's not my oldest memory (I remember some odd tidbits from Hawaii), but it may be one of the earliest of Renton, which I generally consider as the site of my 'childhood', since I generally see myself as a grown-up by the time I lived in Colorado.
Well, I was chilling out in my room after work on my laptop and I accidentally knocked Tigris off the bed (yes, of course he's here! it's the year of the Tiger...) and so I picked him up. I was sipping on an apple juice, and I got hit by a memory from deep childhood.
I remember being at the house in Renton in the livingroom: the room was generally 'brown' with wooden furniture and some paneling, and a kind of coffee-beige carpet. I think I was playing Megaman 5 trying to beat Gyroman, when Dad came out from the hallway (it led out of the livingroom and was the primary corridor where all the other rooms branched off, I think he was coming from the Library room, although I don't remember if the library door's handle was Pre- or Post-dad-escaping-to-rescue-me-from-a-bee-sting). I had just sat back down to play after pausing so I could get a green apple out from the kitchen, but I hadn't started to eat it when Dad said something along the lines of 'Hey Eddy, can I talk to you a minute?'. Dad seemed sad, so I decided to let Tigris hold onto my apple so I could talk to Dad.
Dad asked me if I remembered his grandma, and I already figured that Bad News was imminent, so I said yes, even though I didn't really recall her right away: I was still a bit too young I think. Dad talked about her peanut butter cookies, and I *did* remember liking those, so I felt a bit more encouraged. Dad, with what I perceived as a flair for the melodramatic, then told me that she had passed away, and that there could be no more such cookies. It was a very sad moment, and I started to bawl: no more delicious unique great-grandma peanut-butter cookies!
He offered some words of consolation, but I mostly wanted to just stop crying, and so I recall soon returning back to the TV, giving a sad nod to Tigris as he gave me my apple back, then taking a big, giant bite out of the still-refrigerated granny smith apple.
So yeah, I thought it was cool at least to remember something so far back. It's not my oldest memory (I remember some odd tidbits from Hawaii), but it may be one of the earliest of Renton, which I generally consider as the site of my 'childhood', since I generally see myself as a grown-up by the time I lived in Colorado.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Monday July 19 1521
I had an awesome weekend: Huzhou and the Shanghai Safari. Am rallying together camera pictures, so will post pics later.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Saturday July 17 0809
Yesterday afternoon, Uberboss asked if I'd like to tagalong and be the 'token foreigner who makes the company look more important' guy at a billion+ yuan project proposal to the Nanxun City Government in Zheijang. The city is super old, and was the site of silk-growers for a long time. They're mostly countryside, but they have an enormous government building complex sitting in the middle of a bunch of agrarian fields. They want to change that, it seems.
We walked into the conference room, and everyone sat facing east, except for the executive bureaucrat, who sat on the other longside of the conference table alone facing west. I and others who weren't directly participating sat along the wall, and I was dead center in front of the mayor-equivalent. On the left were the architects, who gave pretty impressive building plans, in the center slightly in front of me was a councilwoman, and to my right was a group of (I presume) local relevant advisors (building codes, financier, etc).
It was all conducted in chinese, but because I had to be 'the foreign guy', I used my advanced skills in figuring out what people are on about to look quite important. It was funny that, because I was looking alert and understanding, the mayor basically ended up addressing me in chinese most of the two-hour meeting, so I'd nod understandingly and stuff. He caught me after the meeting and starting talking to me in Chinese, but he was completely floored that I didn't actually know any. He said I was 'very cool, and a great help to my company', and I just smiled and thanked him: I didn't even know which architect I was supposed to be rooting for!
Now I'm in Hanzhou (a relatively picturesque garden city, although it has plenty of factory smokestacks too?) and am being taken by the Uberboss' business friend to tour around a bit. I'll have to ask to borrow a camera, since I didn't get to hit my house for my camera before being whisked out here.
I think it is super weird that I was taken out here as a luck charm.
We walked into the conference room, and everyone sat facing east, except for the executive bureaucrat, who sat on the other longside of the conference table alone facing west. I and others who weren't directly participating sat along the wall, and I was dead center in front of the mayor-equivalent. On the left were the architects, who gave pretty impressive building plans, in the center slightly in front of me was a councilwoman, and to my right was a group of (I presume) local relevant advisors (building codes, financier, etc).
It was all conducted in chinese, but because I had to be 'the foreign guy', I used my advanced skills in figuring out what people are on about to look quite important. It was funny that, because I was looking alert and understanding, the mayor basically ended up addressing me in chinese most of the two-hour meeting, so I'd nod understandingly and stuff. He caught me after the meeting and starting talking to me in Chinese, but he was completely floored that I didn't actually know any. He said I was 'very cool, and a great help to my company', and I just smiled and thanked him: I didn't even know which architect I was supposed to be rooting for!
Now I'm in Hanzhou (a relatively picturesque garden city, although it has plenty of factory smokestacks too?) and am being taken by the Uberboss' business friend to tour around a bit. I'll have to ask to borrow a camera, since I didn't get to hit my house for my camera before being whisked out here.
I think it is super weird that I was taken out here as a luck charm.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Friday July 16 1144
Yesterday being payday, I decided to treat myself to one of these. It's pretty awesome, and I can actually draw on my laptop now. Quite recommended: it's like having a gazillion pens, markers, pastels, and some brushes once you get the settings tuned.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Tuesday July 13 1331
Rainy tuesday, bleh.
Just working here, although almost all the creative part of the job is behind me: it's making list after list now, and not having any player game data to play with for at least a month. Keeping on top of it, but it certainly isn't as dynamic at the moment as it often can be. Working on various small projects at the moment creatively off-work, such as practicing my dialog-writing skills, working on my language (came up with how I'm gonna do names, if you haven't noticed), and other things. Am going on a safari this weekend with Chris, so will make sure to get pictures as long as we don't get rained out. Hope all is going well for you all!
Just working here, although almost all the creative part of the job is behind me: it's making list after list now, and not having any player game data to play with for at least a month. Keeping on top of it, but it certainly isn't as dynamic at the moment as it often can be. Working on various small projects at the moment creatively off-work, such as practicing my dialog-writing skills, working on my language (came up with how I'm gonna do names, if you haven't noticed), and other things. Am going on a safari this weekend with Chris, so will make sure to get pictures as long as we don't get rained out. Hope all is going well for you all!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Thursday July 8 0931
Just because, the names of everyone who has posted on this blog in my made-up language (sorry if I missed someone! it won't let me search through comments):
Take your name from this list...
Edward : Guardian = Saribke "suh-RIHV-kuh"
Kirk : Church = Sidhe "SEE-theh"
Tamara : Palm Tree = Nesuldha "neh-SULTH-uh"
Barbara : Stranger = Risdha "RIZ-thuh"
George : Farmer = Suasre "SWAHZ-ruh"
Rachel : Lamb = Kerenme "ke-REN-muh"
Ronald : Advisor = Diceke "di-JEHK-uh"
Michael : Who's like god? = Israel "is-RA-ehl" (funny coincidence, that name!)
And then put your last name after it...
Miller: "In misty lands" = ne Seraba "neh seh-RAV-ah"
Marler: "In wild lands" = ne Relaba "neh reh-LAV-ah"
Davis: "In sunny lands" = ne Kaliba "neh kah-LIV-ah"
(These are the place-locations I associate with the lastnames: mom's side is generally in the West out in the country, dad's side I associate with the Pacific Northwest, and Rachel is from California.)
So I'd be
Saribke ne Seraba
Take your name from this list...
Edward : Guardian = Saribke "suh-RIHV-kuh"
Kirk : Church = Sidhe "SEE-theh"
Tamara : Palm Tree = Nesuldha "neh-SULTH-uh"
Barbara : Stranger = Risdha "RIZ-thuh"
George : Farmer = Suasre "SWAHZ-ruh"
Rachel : Lamb = Kerenme "ke-REN-muh"
Ronald : Advisor = Diceke "di-JEHK-uh"
Michael : Who's like god? = Israel "is-RA-ehl" (funny coincidence, that name!)
And then put your last name after it...
Miller: "In misty lands" = ne Seraba "neh seh-RAV-ah"
Marler: "In wild lands" = ne Relaba "neh reh-LAV-ah"
Davis: "In sunny lands" = ne Kaliba "neh kah-LIV-ah"
(These are the place-locations I associate with the lastnames: mom's side is generally in the West out in the country, dad's side I associate with the Pacific Northwest, and Rachel is from California.)
So I'd be
Saribke ne Seraba
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Monday July 5 0819
Well, it seems the wet season has hit Shanghai, and everything is covered in rain. It made me think of the lovely summer weather Seattle is supposed to have. The Koppen Climate Classification is a way of, naturally, classifying climates of certain places. Shanghai is Humid Temperate - Hot Summer, also called Cf-a. Seattle is Humid Temperate - Cool Summer, also called Cf-b. Since I generally love the weather of the Pacific Northwest (as opposed to the more humid/hot East Coast or Coastal China), I looked up a world climate map and tried to find places I'd like.
Here are all the Cf-b regions I could find:
Pacific Northwest
Very South Fjords of Chile
Lower right-side coast of South africa
United Kingdom
North of France
Belgium
Netherlands
Germany
Denmark
South Sweden
Norwegian coast
Tasmania
South Western Australian coast
New Zealand
Based on this, here are some cities I might like to live in:
Seattle, USA
Vancouver, Canada
Portland, USA
Dublin, Ireland
London, UK
Liverpool, UK
Edinburgh, UK
Lille, France
Brest, France
Paris, France
Brussels, Belgium
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Hamburg, Germany
Frankfurt, Germany
Berlin, Germany
Copenhagen, Denmark
Gdansk, Poland
Prague, Czech Republic
Oslo, Norway
Trondheim, Norway
Stockholm, Sweden
Gdansk, Poland
Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Puerto Aisen, Chile
Melbourne, Australia
Canberra, Australia
Hobart, Australia
Wellington, New Zealand
Auckland, New Zealand
Christchurch, Ne Zealand
And so, yeah... pretty good selection I think!
Here are all the Cf-b regions I could find:
Pacific Northwest
Very South Fjords of Chile
Lower right-side coast of South africa
United Kingdom
North of France
Belgium
Netherlands
Germany
Denmark
South Sweden
Norwegian coast
Tasmania
South Western Australian coast
New Zealand
Based on this, here are some cities I might like to live in:
Seattle, USA
Vancouver, Canada
Portland, USA
Dublin, Ireland
London, UK
Liverpool, UK
Edinburgh, UK
Lille, France
Brest, France
Paris, France
Brussels, Belgium
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Hamburg, Germany
Frankfurt, Germany
Berlin, Germany
Copenhagen, Denmark
Gdansk, Poland
Prague, Czech Republic
Oslo, Norway
Trondheim, Norway
Stockholm, Sweden
Gdansk, Poland
Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Puerto Aisen, Chile
Melbourne, Australia
Canberra, Australia
Hobart, Australia
Wellington, New Zealand
Auckland, New Zealand
Christchurch, Ne Zealand
And so, yeah... pretty good selection I think!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Friday July 2 0942
Work is coming along well, although my tasks have petered out creativity-wise: it's mostly just coordinating people and tweaking large lists, since it's mostly up to programmers and artists now. I find summer in China to be oppressively humid and hot, so I have to admit I've been loathe to do anything other than hit work and hide in my room. =)
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