…and speaking of Games

I’m sitting here at my desk eating some Ketchup chips (thanks Dyana and Canada!), reading a bit of gaming news on Kotaku, when I decide that a carbonated beverage would hit the spot. Lucky for me, I have a 12-pack of Dr. Pepper at my desk (courtesy of the IGDA Writing SIG’s Leanne Taylor – Ooo, I need to blog about Austin GDC last week, don’t I?) and I reach for one. The others roll down to take its place (I could see through the handle hole) and it took me back to my skeeball days as a kid.

OVER THE LINE! Donnie, mark it zero.

Remember throwing the wooden balls up the lane without so much as a glance to see if you were scoring points? I was always fascinated by the remainder of my wooden ammo rolling down my way. And there was often a window to see the remainder of your shots. Sad was the time when I would come to the last wooden sphere. I would try to make it really count and either granny-throw it into another lane or try to put some sort of strange spin on it that resulted in a 12 mph roll that would just crest the lip up to the scoring area and fall in the “gutter”. Tragic. At least until I would drop the next token in and see a new full rack of opportunities roll my way.

Do you have any fond/funny childhood memories of gaming? I wouldn’t mind compiling a little list of “I remember when”s.

Try it…I got addicted.

Yes, it has been quite some time since I’ve last posted. But it’s a new year and things are already taking off. A seperate post will address these items, but for now, try this out. I got one of the endings, bumped it up to experienced and now am frustrated because fish keep nibbling my lures to death!

Here I go again on my own

It’s frustrating when you know where you want to go, but the entire world seems like one big roadblock. And that is where I am currently. This blog is supposed to be forming some cohesion and direction, but it’s all pointing to me whining about not having the job and career that I want. Get in line, right? But I’m not saying I want to be a porn star or Eli Manning…I want a job in the video game industry. I want to talk to someone who is hiring and ask, “What do I need to do to make myself someone you want to hire?” I am more than willing to put in the hard work to acquire the necessary skills, but I need some sort of compass to tell me which way to steer the ship. Right now, I am grape-shotting by going after a little modeling, a little programming, a lot of concepts and a little art. I know I need to focus my talents, but everything I read says they’re looking for someone who has some knowledge in every aspect.

Beat down. That’s how to describe the current mood. And I really don’t want this to become a journal. Though I’d love to make this a private entry, I am posting it public. Hopefully someone reads this and can offer some incredible insight on how to get out of my current slump, aim in one direction and achieve. I can only assume this insight would come from someone who has been in this same position…after all, isn’t that the definition?