Tag Archives: travel

Conferences, Personal Blog

San Francisco wrap-up

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Ugh, I have been sick like a dog all week with post-convention funk. I think I’m finally killing it, though.

So, GDC was fun times for sure, but several of us stayed an extra day over the weekend to hang out around San Francisco. Andy, Edmundo and I stayed with M.E. We got up the next morning and headed for Chinatown to meet Carlos, Carren, and Carren’s sister. The goal was dim sum, but no no, not just ANY dim sum.

You see, when the crew went on their ETC West Coast trip two years ago, they went to a specific dim sum place while in San Francisco. They were all determined to find the same place again, but had no idea what the name of the restaurant was, and nothing but fragmented memories about where exactly it was located.

Between looking up dim sum places and seeing if they looked familiar on Google Street View, looking at photos from their West Coast Trip to see if any pictures contained street signs in the background, and trying to combine their memories (“I remember it was at the crest of a hill!” “I think we were parallel to the Transamerica Tower!” and no less than a dozen “THIS LOOKS FAMILIAR!”), we walked up and down nearly every block in all of Chinatown and STILL didn’t find the place.

I suggested that perhaps it were a magical place, and you could only find it if you’d never been there before. All the same, I wasn’t about to go wandering around by myself to test the theory.

Nevertheless, there is no shortage of good dim sum in Chinatown in San Francisco, so we still had a DELICIOUS lunch!

The other big highlight of the day was going to see the Exploratorium. I had heard many sing the praises of this science museum, and was anxious to check it out for myself. The songs of praise are true! It is, by far, the best science museum I have ever been to. All of the exhibits are 95% interaction and only 5% text (The Louisville Science Center’s newest installations could learn from this place for sure) and the interactions were significant and engaging (not just “press this button”).

Of course we didn’t see it all, and I really wanted to check out the Touchdome, but it was sold out for the day. This is fine, for it will give me an excuse to go back to San Francisco at some point so I can finishing exploring the museum. HEY COLIN!! Can I come visit you sometime so we can go to the Exploratorium? 😀

Anyway, it was lovely time spent in San Francisco. (it was actually sunny for the whole week! Not a cloud in the sky! MADNESS!!)

Personal Blog

Things are good

I am in a startlingly good mood today, and I am unsure of exactly why.

Part of it, I think, is that I am so excited about going to Project Horseshoe this weekend that I can barely stay in my seat nor stay focused on any one thing for too long of a time. I have a feeling that it will be something like a Game Design retreat, and I am oh-so-excited to see Insomniac Drew again. I was also delighted to see that James Ernest and Nick Fortungo will be attending, both of whom recently visited the ETC. Plus, I’ll hopefully get to visit with Bryan Cash while in Austin!

My good mood could also be attributed to the fact that Resistance 2 is coming out, and though it probably marks me as an excitable young whelp in the industry, the launch of my first credited title does have me dancing and skipping and giggling in anticipation. First steps!

It could ALSO be attributed that my WoW friends have finally managed to do a full all-guild Karazhan run (with the addition of one helper), and will hopefully do another one this week. Granted, this was enabled partly from the nerfage, but it fills me with joy and love to be able to play the big instances with friends. I think I’ve given up on the notion that I am a casual WoW player, and will move it over into the “hobby” category. It is just such a fantastic means for me to nurture my friendships with those people I love who are far away from me!

Perhaps it is the weather. Who can say!

Personal Blog

Adventure!

Well, it’s the second night of my cross-country drive on the way to my summer internship in LA. So far so good!

I’ve been trying to keep a frequently-updated Twitter log of my adventures, for anyone interested in micro-updates.

Thus far, my father and I have finished the first two Harry Potter audio-books, and it appears we’ll finish off our trip with the third. My dad really enjoys them, which pleases me, because I figured he would. I also knew I’d never get him to read the books merely by suggesting it; I had to trick him by trapping him in a car and forcing him to listen to the story. It’s all worked out, though, as he claims he’ll be excited to read the rest of the series upon returning home.

I realized, in listening to the stories, how the releases of the Harry Potter books are convenient landmarks in my own timeline, as I associate them with specific points in my life. It was an interesting thought, and at some point I might make a media-referential timeline of life events, relating significant moments to particularly memorable media for me at the time. May be a fun experiment.

At any rate, the drive continues tomorrow. I should be in Burbank by Sunday with no problems, if all continues well!

Personal Blog

5 Shredding Tears and 1 Lisa

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What a fun week! The Shredding Tears performance on the roof of Glassworks was faaaaaaaaantastic! They are such amazing performers! Also, the sound was really nice, kudos to Ken for finding whoever ran sound for that show.

The next day I clambered into the tour van of said Tears and set out with them as an official roadie. The trip was delightful, and their show in Toledo was quite fun. I actually tried very hard to convince Bauer to let me help out, but he was confident in just having me assist Graham in guarding the van as they loaded in and out.

Graham and I make the perfect ominous guard team: a blind man and a short girl. Go us! Here are some highlights from the trip…

Favorite Quote:
“The only thing I’ve ever lost in the band was the band fund which I didn’t lose.” -Bryan Scary

Most amusing moment:
At a pit stop with single user restrooms, Scary attempted to expedite the process when he discovered the men’s room had both a toilet and a urinal by inviting a COMPLETE STRANGER into the bathroom to pee with him (just being polite, the man was next in line after all). Upon the door closing, Mike, Graham, and myself exchanged the most befuddled, horrified, and bemused expressions. What I would give to have captured them!

And the winner of the “It’s Clearly Obvious these guys have spent so much time together that they have assimilated one another’s vernacular” Award goes to…
The word “absurd”

Thanks again to the Tears, who are so very lovable and wonderful people, who let me hitch a ride along their tour so that I could get back to Pittsburgh. I hope they come here to play some time.

Personal Blog

Pittsburgh!

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Here I am in Pittsburgh! Safe and sound! Yay!

All the stuff is moved into the house, though I have an unruly couple of unpacking days, I can already tell. Some words of thanks…

First, God bless parents. Ah for parents to rent a truck and haul all my junk seven hours up the road from Louisville, and then to carry it all in, and then to hook up my window AC unit, and THEN to buy dinner for me after all that.

Secondly, God bless all my wonderful, wonderful friends. Yes for helping me load and pack my stuff, but also for the wonderful couple of years spent in Louisville. It was a fantastic and enriching time, and I am so lucky to have all of you. I will miss you all very much, but there will be plenty of visiting!

And finally, God bless people who set up unsecure wireless networks, just so Lisa can get online after moving into her new place but before she has internet service of her own.

That is all! More updates when the unpacking finishes.

-Lisa

Personal Blog

Pittsburgh updates

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It has been a fantastic week!

On Monday I drove up to Pittsburgh (accompanied by Scott, who kept me from losing my mind on the 7 hour drive)to go apartment scouting with my future roommates. It was quite an adventure. The first 3 places we saw were absolute dumps, and the landlord was crazy, so at first we were all rather worried. However, each place we saw afterwards got better and better, leading up to the last place we saw on the last day, which ended up being the best one (and the one we pounced on right away, because there were a lot of people looking at it).

So, I have a home in Pittsburgh now! Hooray! I will probably move up there sometime in mid-late July, no set dates yet. It only makes me more and more excited about starting at the ETC. Squeak!

The other wonderful thing that happened while I was up there: I found out I won one of the scholarships I applied for! Huzzah! A mere dent in a large tuition fee, but money is money and I feel special for having won.

Yay!

Personal Blog

NYC part 3

So Matt and I were going to go to the aquarium yesterday, but instead we just sat home and played video games all day long. This is fine by me, as this vacation wasn’t so much of a “see New York” trip as a “visit my friends” trip, where the friends just happened to live in New York. We did have the obligatory New York style pizza for lunch, however.

That night I made stirfry for dinner and Carleton came over. We finished off the evening with a rousing game of Dominos. My family and family-friends are rigorous Dominos players in the game of Mexican Wild Train. It’s a very fun game with easy-to-explain rules, so I often spread it around where I can. I’m wondering why I haven’t introduced it to basketball yet.

Anyway, I also played a round earlier in the week, and it must be New York luck, or something, because I nearly won every hand! Last night’s game, however, Matt beat me just barely in the last hand. Beginner’s luck trumps New York luck.

Now to get ready to go to the airport and go home, where I will round off my spring break with WoW and laundry. See you Louisville folk soon!

Personal Blog

NYC part 2

Yesterday was rainy and cold, so potential zoo plans were cancelled. We did make it to the Met, which is good since it’s one of those places I felt I should go visit eventually. First, though, we had hot dogs at Gray’s Papaya, and I must say they were the most delicious hot dogs I’d ever had. I am not a big hot dog person, either, and maybe only eat them once in a blue moon. I am ruined on hot dogs!

Anyway, the Met: we focused on European Painting, Ancient Near Eastern art, and the arms and armory section. They had this unfinished Durer painting that was AMAZING. I love it when I get to see process stuff, especially from people who are badasses. Anyway, I found it very interesting that he completely finished the drapery and hair on the portrait (like, down to the crazy little individual strands of hair highlight) before touching the hands and face. The hands and face had a few places of glaze over them, but for the most part you could totally see his ridiculously detailed Albrecht Durer style preparatory sketch. I found it interesting that he appeared to be starting to paint the lips on the face before anything else. It was super cool, and it made the whole trip to the Met worthwhile.

After our museum trip and an obligatory “Lisa is on vacation” nap, we went down to Little Korea for dinner. I met back up with Carleton, and I got to meet up with Yale too! Yay Yale! We ate at this dumpling place that was DELICIOUS, and wandered about a Korean market store afterwards. We were waiting for Ian to get done with work so he could come join us too. We tried a Korean icecream place, but it was not my style. It was more of slightly tart yogurt with fruit toppings mixed on. Fine in its own right, but not satisfying to my desire for icecream.

When Ian showed up (yay Ian!) we went to Lindy’s for cheesecake, and spent a good part of the evening sitting and chatting. I am glad my two sets of friends got along, that’s something I always worry about a little when friends collide.

Anyway, it was fantastic to see Ian and Yale, and it was a lovely evening of New York galavanting. Coming home tomorrow!

Personal Blog

NYC

The best part about working in a school is that you still get school breaks off in addition to your two-weeks vacation. Woo! For my spring break, after two solid days of WoW and Easter family times, I came up to New York to visit many friends.

First I visited Carleton, which was very fun and involved a lot of eating and computer nerd talk. I also obtained the Gameboy Advance version of Final Fantasy VI as a visiting present, yay! Carleton taught me some clever Java tricks and helped me with some questions my Java tutee had that I didn’t know the answer to.

I spent a lot of the past two days asleep. I know some people would fuss at me for this (won’tmentionanynames*cough*Will*cough*), but Carleton was totally fine with me nodding off for hours at a time, both because he understands my nappy nature and the effects of this disease. I can’t help it that I need to sleep so much, I just can’t, and I think maybe my body relaxed for a spell, which means it tends to shut down. Regardless, I had the nappiest of times, and it was refreshing in the end.

Right now I’m staying with Matt, another friend of mine who I hadn’t seen since summerstock at BTF. Tomorrow we are going on a touristy sort of run, and hitting a zoo and the Met for free, since Matt is a member there. Hooray free stuff! I’m also hoping to see Ian and Yale while I’m up here in the City.

More updates later!