Halo 3

So, I finished Halo 3 tonight. Online, with 3 good friends. Two of them are here in LA but one is in Montreal. This weekend I will be playing with my best friend in Tokyo. Seamless voice chat, two player co-operative story based gameplay, teaming up to shoot lots and lots of aliens. The other night after a particularily brutal battle Hideto and I just chilled out and talked for like 45 minutes in a bunker with some wounded marines, the place was getting shelled way up above but the noise wasn't too loud down where we were. We had intended to quit playing and I was going to go to bed but the conversation just rolled on, the voice was clean and clear, and it was FREE. We just sat there and talked, it was so cool.

We live in the future. It was just like living back in Tokyo, playing Halo with my best friend, only now I am 3000 miles away and he is only virtually on my couch. And we both get full screen! And we're both at home so our wives aren't lonely even if we are a little cut off from them. Last week I played for hours with Darin, one of my oldest friends who still lives in Seattle. If it werent for Xbox I would get to hang out with him MAYBE a couple of hours a year. Now it can be whenever I want, and its more interesting than sitting around drinking beers, its like a huge crazy battle and we are making up strategies on the fly and generally having an awesome time. I love it. Although the story is a bit shit, the game itself is fully a worthy successor to what was until now, in my opinion, the best game of all time, HALO.

Gametime decision

I keep taking all these neat pictures for my blog and put off posting until they are all uploaded and organized and it just aint working out. Last night I made the decision to just update regularily and post pics when I can, even if they are old.

SO lately, switched teams at work, never been happier. I just paint and design all day, which is all I have ever wanted to do. It rained heavily last week and we waited a week, but when we did go down to the beach it was just like going to the dump, plastic bags and plastic cups and plastic straws EVERYWHERE. DId I ever mention how much I hate humanity? Everything in LA just goes straight into the ocean, the storm drains just roll right on in. Cuz you know, its the Ocean! Its Big! Its ok to dump all our shit in there directly, it just goes away!

I'm pretty sure humans are gonna take this planet DOWN, good possibility it will be in my lifetime. I could either be sane and depressed as hell about it, or think this is probably the most exciting time in history, I get to watch the end of the world!! LET IT BURN WOOOOOOOOO. People think I'm crazy when I say shit like this but what are you going to do, look reality in the eye and live in shame and fear of all the stupid decisions greedy oil companies and politicians have made? I can't do shit about it, I mean I try, I recycle like there IS no tomorrow, I avoid taking plastic bags at the store, but at some point you realize that change has to come from the top.

Someone BIG, like the President (not that asshole thats in office now, he can't tie his shoes without "assistance") But someone who realizes we are finite, and so our are resources. Make a law, say within 10 years all plastic packaging has to be biodegradeable. Its available now! There are all these farmers markets and festivals down here in Santa Monica where ALL the plastic plates cups and utensils are biodegradable. They just cost a few cents more each and people are cheap and greedy so the whole world sufffers. Speaking of the whole world, when we pass this law, we need to extend that to ALL things sold in the US. Meaning huge trading partners like CHINA and the rest of the world will be dragged kicking and screaming into a future we might actually be able to continue to exist in. Dammit I'm running, JAKE in 2008!!

Time..

I have been so busy lately this blog is being sadly ignored. I have a huge photo dump from NYC waiting to be uploaded and processed, and just cant seem to get to it! I spent a week in NYC, shortly after getting back my old director/art director from Sega in Tokyo, Yuda-san was in town for the weekend, hours after dropping him off at the airport our good friend Travis Cook stayed with us for a night, an hour after dropping HIM off near the airport we went to an awesome UNDERWORLD concert at the Hollywood Bowl, got too drunk and was hung over and exhausted all day yesterday at the office. And Thursday our dear friends Sam and Aya from Hawaii will be with us for a week with their little boy Luke!

On the good news front, Sunday morning I went surfing with Travis and caught the best two waves of my life. Amazing. And both times, I literally surfed right over a small shark! I had only seen one ONCE in the year that I have been surfing and boogieboarding, and then two on the same day, both while on the best waves of my life. What are the odds?

This week is also my last week on the Speilberg project at work. Lots of policy changes and delays have had me looking for another project to join, and I am very happy to be joining the ultra-effective Command and Conquer team starting next Monday! The subject matter is much more my favorite genre and I'll be drawing and painting like a mad man for the next few months, which is really all I've ever wanted to do. Expect great things!

Recovery week

Its been a slow to fast recovery from the surgery. The first couple of days SUCKED, worse than I would have imagined, but then quickly got way better. I ended up going home early my first day back to work and worked from home the next, but have gotten progressively better since. My good buddy Dave from San Francisco came down fridy night and last night I had my first REAL big meal since the surgery, we had Japanese BBQ and lots of beer, and I feel fine so thats good.

Bunch of changes happening at work, nothing definite yet but may be swapping teams to something that I would really enjoy, working with good friends, so that would be really cool. I'll post news as it happens.

It rained today! And yesterday! For like 20 minutes altogether. I can't remember the last time we had rain. Seriously. I think it was probably like January or February, I honestly can't even recall when it was. Its been drier than usual this year, but I can't help chuckle to think how used to it I have gotten, everyone up north scarcely knows a week without rain at least once, the very idea I simply cannot recall the last time it rained here is funny. Its actually been a beautiful cool windy slightly rainy sunday here in Santa Monica, I have spent the majority of it on my ass on the couch reading through Harry Potters last adventure, it reminds me of a Seattle sunday!

MR GALLSTONE

SO I finally had my gallstone removal surgery last week, was hopped up on pain pills all weekend, finally feeling a bit better but over did it today by going to work and trying to sit in a chair all day. I think tomorrow I am going to try to work from home where I can take frequent lay down flat breaks.

Surgery sucks! Even though it went smoothly recovery is taking longer than I expected, and I feel like an old man, tired, cranky, and slow. Haven't updated the page at all, I will start posting some of the art and stuff I have been up to soon.

SEQUOIA NATIONAL FOREST

Happy Birthday Yoko!!


Last weekend Yoko and I drove 3 hours up north to the Sequoia National Forest for Yoko's birthday! Its all she wanted for her birthday so I couldn't refuse. Besides we have a brand new tent we hadn't even used yet. Around here all the hype is like Tahoe and especially Yosemite, (which IS stunning) so I hadn't heard much about Sequoia, but it turned out to be amazing. We went and saw General Sherman, a 2000 year old Giant Sequoia tree, the LARGEST LIVING THING IN THE WORLD and damn it was BIG. Pictures don't really do it any justice, seriously the branches at the top were as big as normal oak trees. I couldn't believe it. It was humbling.



This is just an average Giant Sequioa, not even as big as General Sherman.



With the blue blue sky reflecting into so many of the plants and rocks later in the afternoon the colors were absolutely stunning.



John Muir called this beautiful little meadow the "Jewel of the Sierra's"



Yoko shows a giant tree just how much she loves it.



These pictures honestly don't do it any justice. I had never seen a tree even close to so big before.




The water is a little swimming hole upstream from our camp site was sure, a bit cold. I came out screaming the first time I dived in. But the second time it started to feel reeeeeeeaaalllly refreshing and good, I swam with the trout and dived around for about 15 minutes. My skin was pretty cold and clammy for the next hour or so...



Yoko wasn't so keen on the refreshing frigid water. In and right back out!

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