We arrived in L.A safe and sound and have been enjoying the hell out of Annika and Will’s company. They are without doubt two of the coolest human beings (or otherwise) in the universe. I feel like coming to L.A. is sort of like my own “pilgramage to Mecca”. I can feel a certain energy and buzz here, and there is undoubtedly a part of me that will not want to leave. However as I fully expected, there is the other part of me that loves Austin and also acknowledges the not so keen aspects of L.A. I’m not ready to up to move out to old Cali yet (if ever) but there is a sort of cosmic pull that tempts me, mostly since this is where the vast majority of my career choices lie.
Gotta go! Katherine and Min are here now. On a cool side not, you can go out on the balcony here and see the “Hollywood” sign. Although that’s probably true for much of L.A. since it’s on a big friggin’ hill overlooking the city.

So yeah, I suck at updating lately. It’s been a whirlwind life, I tells ya!
My new job is everything I knew it would be. Absolutely love going in every day. We have been trying to play EQII (we still plan on playing CoH too), keep up with TiVo and Netflix, wash clothes, eat, sleep, work, shop, socialize, etc. It just seems like I never have any time at all any more.
We got almost all of our X-mas shopping done in one night of online shopping, so that rocks.
I’m still working on completing our CD (not going to happen by the end of the year as I’d hoped), and we’re kicking into busy band month. I need to learn two new songs by this weekend. Doh!
I think I’ve taken the plunge and ditched Outlook in favor of Thunderbird. It can sync with my Palm if I use an extension, and it’s much improved in its 1.0 state from when I tried it back at 0.3. I’ll miss the calender in Outlook but I can just use the palm desktop calender (with the extra effort of opening up a nother program).
I’m jonesing to build a new computer and drooling heavily over the Treo 650. Must have it.
And of course we are determined to get a Toyota Prius. That’s it for now! Off to get Jess and run around some more!

First let’s just get this out of the way:
My new job rocks AND rolls.
It feels so right. Mu cubicle rules, the department rules, the people rule, the atmosphere rules, the job rules. Even my bitchin’ fancy phone which emails your voice mails to you in an message with the caller ID info and the audio of the message in a .wav file rules.
For anyone who doesn’t know, I’m working for a video game company as a Quality Assurance Tester. This means I try and break things. Due to the whole confidentiality thing, I’m being purposefully overly vague just be safe here, but I spent yesterday getting settled, getting my computer feeling all home-y and getting to know the game.
This means I pretty much spent the day playing the game (what there is of it so far) and getting to know the part which I will be responsible for testing.
It still pretty much puts a damper on any acting/film crew work I’d like to do, but I think the good far outweighs the bad. If these are “chains” they are soft velvety chains which are kind of nice to wear.
Now that Jess and I are both gainfully employed at “real” jobs with decent pay and benefits, we’re planning to go order us a Toyota Prius. I’s going to be quite the financial leap, but as much gas as we use, it should be worth it.
I tend to walk around in a dreamy daze with a giddy smile on my face these days, a bit stunned at the whole predicament. It all happened so fast, there were three or four other people interviewing for this position, too. I had felt that the interview had went really well though, and I’m glad I was right. Over the weekend, I actually found myself waiting for Monday with excitement and anticipation.
Today I am “moving in”. I’m bringing all my geeky cubicle accoutrements. I think I’ll even get into the whole 401K retirement fund thing that I’ve never bothered with before. This is the first company that’s actually provided me with enough information and literature that I feel comfortable knowing how it all works.
So in conclusion, WOOHOO!

My world domination plans are progressing nicely.
I GOT THE JOB! I start on Monday!
Can’t type much more right now, too busy jumping around celebrating.

Just a quickie update since I’ve been way too busy to update properly (Hi Athena!) This crazy busy-ness is also the reason that the daily haiku has become the “whenever I get a chance” haiku.
I’m unemployed, and yet have no time to relax. I’m participating in NaNoWriMo, so I’m writing about 2000 words a day, everyday in November. This is actually quite a chore for me, but I think I’m getting some shining moments among the crap. I’m writing a Douglas Adams Style time travel adventure.
I’m trying desperately to work on songs for the CD as we want to finish out CD by the end of the year, optimistically.
I’m addicted to Evil Genius, still want to play City Of Heroes but hven’t had time, and despite trying to resist, have given in to my desire and my friends desires that Jess and I try Everquest II. We are waiting until December though so we can make the most of our free trial time.
I have an interview on Wednesday for a job I actually really want, and not just to pay the bills.
Life is generally damn fine.

Today, my friends, a momentous goal has been reached. 5 months ago I set out to change my junk food ways and drop all the extra me that had accumulated over the years. I started out at 214 lbs. and set my goal at 175 lbs.
Today the scale read 174.
To anyone looking for a healthier lifestyle, I can’t say enough about the South Beach Diet. It’s not a fad, it’s not a gimmick. It’s just plain simple science applied to your blood chemistry and the way your body absorbs foods. I’ll try not to go on too long since Jess and I have each spouted voluminously about this diet, but there are a few things I want to say.
1. I too am sick of hearing about all the fad diets and low carb this low carb that. Yes I follow the South Beach Diet, and am very glad for the influx of low carb foods making diets like this so much easier now (although, don’t be fooled, South beach is NOT just about “low carb”). This is not a diet in the sense of “something you temporarily do to lose weight”. It is a diet in the sense of “this is my usual food and drink for the rest of my life” such as “A lemur’s diet consists of fruit and insects”. As I’ve said before, it’s the only diet that actually made sense to me after reading the book (something I can’t say about Atkins).
2. I’m not here to try and convince or coerce anyone into eating like I do. I think everyone should make their own choices, and I’m certainly no diet dictator or anything. I won’t be throwing scolding glances at anyone who chooses to have a box of Krispy Kreme’s. I’m all about “to each their own”. However, if you decide to do this or any other diet, eating plan, lifestyle change, etc., don’t do it half-assed. It won’t work, and it will just make everything harder. For example, if you try South Beach, but only half-ass it, your cravings will not go away, your blood chemistry will remain goofy, and on the occasions that you do try and follow it you will find it much more difficult. For me, I honestly felt like a drug addict. If I stayed away from sugar and starches, I stopped craving them, and didn’t really crave them at all. There was an occasional psychological pang, but it was never a physical “I must have this now!” feeling.
I’ve heard so many people who slag off various diets only to find out that they either didn’t actually know anything about what they were talking about or they actually didn’t really follow the diet. Then they get discouraged and cynical because it didn’t work. That Diet Coke will do you no good when it’s washing down a bag of M & M’s, and South Beach (or probably any other diet) won’t work when you only do it half of the time. [Yoda]Do or do not. There is no try.[/Yoda]
I’ll stop being that annoying diet guy now. As I said, I’m not here to convince anyone else, but I’m extremely happy help anyone who’s interested with our experiences and tips that we’ve learned along the way.
Next step: to actually start exercising.