stilts for brains

(pics are at the end of this entry, if you don't feel like reading through the endless rigamaroll.)

soup cans, y'all. Well, interesting weekend, a little anyway. I guess I (relatively) took it easy after partying a bit, but I did end up going out last night. It was SUPER CHEAP, which is the only way to do it.. we went out early after having some drinks at home (I have had a bottle of gin in my freezer since, like.. new year's!) and i only bought two drinks (one for me, one for my buddy) all night. He snuck in a little bottle of stoli and we just polished that off. We showed up at the LAX club early and got right in at the beginning of the line, fortunately for us they magically waived the usual $20 saturday night fee for us - somehow - and we had a pretty good time. I have only been there really one time before, and it's not really one of my more preferable places - something about the ambiance and the crowd just don't feel too welcoming to me, I am not sure how to put it - but it was cool, it filled up well, and I actually dug the music (cheesy as usual, but it was fun and danceable). I ended up bringing my camera with me, as I have been starting to do a little more lately, and snapped a ton of shots (like.. 60!) I missed doing that. I am gonna shell out for a genuine "party cam" though, because the one I have now (thank you may!) is way to expensive to be bringing out to events like this, it could sort of easily get dropped, lost or stolen - and I do need it for work, before just messing around. I have seen great candidates on eBay, from like $20-$50. I think that's a good plan. Of course, this idea is delegated to the backseat until I am receiving income once more.

At one point in the later part of the evening some chick randomly hit on me, or so I thought - anyway, she was so happy to meet me and talk to me, I have no memory of what we went over (usual stuff, heh) but of course eventually she says "you're Gay though.. right.." To which I had to hastily correct her "uh no, sorry!! I am straight!" And after that point she kind of lost interest in talking to me (fine with me, either way... hahaha!) I just thought it was funny, I've never been mistaken for a gay dude before. Not by a chick, anyway...

When we lit out of the club (I think it was closing time), I was definitely a bit less drunk than usual (much smaller shot of jagermeister in my system, a good thing!), I find I have a better time overall if I am not completely gonzo. We tried to get into an afterhours party, decided against it, and walked back to my pad. There was an enormous amount of police tape being spread over the road up the street from my apartment, and plenty of cop cruisers to match.. cops walking around everywhere. I asked if something was filming in the dead of night, they said it was a hit and run. Must have been a pretty bad mess. Likewise, there was a big bar fight between a couple of asian chicks at our club, which i am PISSED that I missed out on, especially with my camera and all. That would have been some interesting photography. Anyway, to top it off, after we passed the fuzz, we were less than a block away from my place when I saw a gate left open next to some apartment building's alleyway. I gingerly sort of snuck by, as my friend watched from the street "ralpert what are you doing!" I made my way to the darkened end of the alley, which was a dead end, so I made my way back to the entrance, disappointed.. until I noticed a sawhorse leaned up against the side of the building, conveniently beneath a window. I ladder-stepped up the sawhorse, went for the window sash and it easily flew up in a second. I was surprised and enchanted, I started pulling myself up and threw my head through to see what was inside! It was a hallway, and there was a security guard down the other hand talking into his walkie-talkie as he started advancing on me. Time to split! I jumped down off my makeshift latter and bolted for the exit, yelling "run!!!" to my buddy as we both hoofed it outta there, cloaked by the safety of the night.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Having the usual tough times in my head about "what to do, what to do with my life..." I am just right now celebrating my one-year anniversary of moving into my current apartment (best apartment ever!) and feeling quite at home here. I have been spending a bit of this downtime with my friends, and obviously that is quite rewarding. And of course, as I have said before, I am in a relationship. Overall, the point I am trying to make is - I am having a tough time coming to grips with the prospect of actually leaving my life out here in California. I have been going over and over it on this blog ot the point that anyone who is reading this must be getting quite sick of hearing about it, but that's too bad - it really is one of the biggest decisions I could possibly make, for my life, and therefore I am very weary and anxious about how I tread in this manner.

I have been thinking about Shanghai, of all places - there's a job out there with Ubisoft, and I saw their Splinter Cell game for the first time the other day. Beautiful stuff, I could definitely sink my teeth into that kind of work. Supposedly the money would be pretty good as well, and that's a one-two punch that just sounds excellent in a lot of ways. It is a crazy prospect however. I don't know if they have a position open for a guy like me, nor if they'd want me anyway, but I think I could definitely get enough attention to warrant a look-over on my resume. Anyway, I told my contact to see if he could get me started with the application process. In fact I just IM'd him again this moment. Let's see where that goes..

I had an interview on Friday with a place in NYC.As I have said, that city is one of the few places in the world that I could literally see myself dropping everything in my life to relocate to, and continue on with my career. The only thing, really, is that - the industry scene is quite different over there. I want to make sure I would be in a job situation that I could be happy with, not only for the sake of progression with my career, but some stability. If that scene were as fickle as the one on this coast, then I could be in some trouble in between jobs (especially if I wanted to stick around for awhile). The other way to look at that is that it could truly be the catalyst for me to start exploring a more nomadic lifestyle. Likewise with Shanghai (I wouldn't see myself sticking it out for more than a project, or two). It's one thing to say such things before you actually experience living in those types of places, of course. Seeing as how hard I feel about leaving this area, anyway.

The NYC interview was probably the best reception, really, that I have had so far, but I didn't quite get a job offer just yet. In fact i am doing a test for them, and it's quite different from my usual field - a big lateral move, perhaps a bit of a step sideways really. A lot of things in my head (and words from my friends) tell me that moving forward with that particular situation is not exactly the ideal match for me as far as where I'd planned my career to go, but I look at it as a good excuse, in a way, to be a catalyst for some dramatic change. Anyway, it gives me something to occupy myself with in the downtime, I suppose.

Also on the plate, something I have been going back and forth about is taking a cross country trip. Fly back east to meet my friend and then drive to LA. If this happens it won't be for another week and a half (at least), if not until just after thanksgiving. That's obviously a big sketchy deal, then, for lots of reasons. Money... needing to be around for interviews.. what if i get started with some freelance work.. etc, etc. I can think of lots of reasons not to do it. But the big reason it would be PERFECT is that I really DO need ot get out of here, get out of the little routine I have got into, of just hanging out here and waiting. I am going nuts going over all of this stuff in my head. I need some crazy spark, some weird randomness, some way to get a little more objective about all of this.. such a prospect is right-on then. My buddy out here summed it up for me th eother day, "well you have to decide.. do you want your life to be interesting, or not?" Fair enough. Sigh, isn't that like a famous Chinese curse? I talked to the film company I would like to get into the other day, and they pretty much told me "not hiring now, but check back with us in a few weeks.. no promises, though." That's a little of an enabler, I suppose. It definitely starts getting the gears shifting in my head.

Anyway. All of this considered - the world is getting psyched about video games once more. The holidays are a sneeze away, new Playstation and Nintendo video game consoles are due out in stores in less than two weeks, and the media frenzy is beginning once more. Driving home from my friend's pad tonight, I was in my car merely a minute when I stopped at a light, the vanity license plate of the car in front of me read "F82BNLA"

Yeah, and so it goes like that.