Updating the blog, thanks to a friend who chided me for not doing a better job of entertaining him with it. Sorry for the lack of blogging. Believe it or not, I have NOT been playing GTA IV - I've been working on a couple projects.
In the meantime, since I've got nothing interesting to tell you about, how about some pictures?
You can check out the dozen pics I took in San Francisco on Flickr.
Writing this from San Francisco Airport - ducked up here for a one day getaway. Partly for fun, but mostly because I absolutely had to get on a plane.
See, a few months back, I had a claustrophobic anxiety attack while trying to get on a plane. And without being too wishy washy in describing it-
It sucked.
So since then, I did the recommended treatment - coping mechanisms, controlled breathing, and a small sedative. I felt more confident, but I wouldn't know for certain until I got onboard a plane.
Which brings us to today. After a lot of trepidation, I got on board a plane this morning. After determining that there was adequate aisle space in case I had to curl up in the fetal position, the flight went swimmingly.
Which is weird, because I've NEVER had any problem flying before. But for some reason, now I've got claustrophobic anxiety attacks to worry about. Thankfully, I made it - even though it was pretty touch-and-go there for a bit.
So that's why I'm here for a one day San Francisco daytrip. Walked around south beach, had sushi lunch with my buddy Eric, and took a few pictures of AT&T ballpark.
Anyways, the sedative's kicking in. Better get to my gate - hope these security guys give me back my shoes...
If I ever write a travel book, it'll have to be about someplace I know very well. Like the fictional city in Grand Theft Auto 4.
So you may have noticed the lack of postings in the past week. You may have also noticed that it happened the exact moment that GTA 4 came out. Coincidence, I'm sure.
I've also had some family commitments, along with a couple of events hanging out with my writer friends.
Which reminds me. I used to name drop my writer friends on my blog. I stopped doing that, though, because I always end up forgetting to invite someone to these things. Then I feel bad when they read about how we had lunch in their living room, but forgot to invite them.
Anyways, I'm blogging this from my phone. More on that later.
Very weird standing in line at midnight for a video game. There are maybe 200 people in line here at the Best Buy in Sherman Oaks. Everyone is under the age of 35. Maybe 50% Asian. A handful of actual honest-to-goodness girls... here with their boyfriends.
Now THERE's a great date. Hey, let's go stand in line at midnight for the video game that I'll be playing while I ignore you for the next few days.
The mood in line is pretty mellow. Like we're all too cool to be getting excited about this.
Here's what iTunes says I'm listening to this month-
Stop and Stare - OneRepublic Chasing Pavements - ADELE Run (I'm a Natural Disaster) - Gnarls Barkley I Need Something - Newton Faulkner Dream Catch Me - Newton Faulkner Pump - The B-52's Funplex - The B-52's Keep This Party Going - The B-52's Cheap and Cheerful - The Kills
Stop and Stare is on repeat on iTunes right now - love love love this song. And looking at the pop charts, so does everybody else.
The only other song close to getting as much play as Stop and Stare is the track by ADELE. I fell for this song a few months ago on UK radio, but her album just got released in the U.S.
Gnarls Barkley. So. Much. Fun. And the guy's name is D.J. Dangermouse. How can I not like them?
Newton Faulkner - more great, upbeat, acoustic guitar BritPop. Check his stuff out on the iTunes store. Four out of five tin roofs (rusted) for the new B-52's album. And don't forget to grab your free iTunes song each week, like The Kills.
Rice in short supply at Costco, Sam's Club Worried about rising prices worldwide, customers have been stocking up, prompting Sam's Club to limit sales to no more than four bags. Costco is considering a similar move.
So there it is, ladies and gentlemen. We're looking at a potential rice shortage... and I am FREAKING OUT.
I don't want to get all political here, but suddenly I care a lot less about the war, health insurance, the economy, taxes, Supreme Court justices who enjoy a good waterboarding on a Saturday night, ANY OF THAT. One of these fine people who want to be our next president better have a solid plan for solving the rice shortage.
I'll vote for any whacko candidate who can get me rice. White or brown.
The rice, not the candidate - you sick, sick, sick hilarious people.
SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING. Because I don't want to live in a world where a billion Asian people have to subsist on sourdough, wheat, white, and heaven help us, ciabatta...
-Work is... um, well, it's work. It's quiet, but yet I'm still swamped. And looking at my calendar, it looks like it's only going to get busier.
-I got hurt again in hockey. Blocked a slapshot Monday night - whole foot went numb. Besides some swelling, the foot is fine. Now if only I could find some way to avoid getting hit all the time.
-Less than one week to GTA IV. I'm seeing billboards around town - and I'm GEEKED.
-New Cartoon Network show Ben 10: Alien Force is a hit. Big congrats to the whole team, including Dwayne, Glen, Tramm, Sam, Man of Action.
-And remember home shopping on television? Did anyone actually ever WATCH home shopping, let alone actually pay money for anything from them? Maybe if there'd been more events like this, I would've watched more.
Still in clean-up mode. Earlier this week, going through the garage looking for stuff to Ebay, I found my Kenner Star Wars Death Star Playset.
REMINISCING AHOY!
I must have been four years-old - my parents dragged me along to some other person's house. Their kid had a Death Star Playset, and I played with that thing non-stop for hours. It must've been on the drive home that I started my pleading and begging for a Death Star of my own.
I don't remember WHEN I got the Death Star. I just remember eventually getting my own playset - and I loved that thing.
Then when I was eight or nine, I looked for my Death Star playset... and it was gone. I asked my mom, who dropped the bad news. She'd decided that I wasn't using it anymore, so she gave it away to Goodwill so that some less fortunate kid could play with it. So not only did my mom give away my toy, but there was now some other kid out there... WITH HIS GRUBBY HANDS ON MY TOY.
[ASIDE - I once told this story to someone, who asked, "Well, was your mom right? Were you still playing with it?" SO NOT THE POINT. Doesn't matter that she was right, the point was that IT WAS MINE. MINE MINE MINE.]
Anyways, so I lost my Death Star Playset. And because it was one of the few Star Wars toys that Kenner stopped selling, eventually none of my friends had them either.
Fast forward fifteen years. I've got some spending money for the first time in my life, and thanks to the internet, I could find anything I want. So sure enough, I bought myself a Kenner Death Star playset. And it was awesome.
When I had room to show off all my cool geeky stuff, I had the Death Star playset displayed in my office. But now I don't have the room, so my toys are in boxes stored in the garage. So this week, cleaning my garage, I found my Death Star. And for a brief moment, I wondered if I should sell it.
Then I came to my senses.
I couldn't put myself through this all over. It was mine. My Death Star. I went through too much heartache and agony to get it. Years of being without one. Mine. MINE MINE MINE. And I wasn't going to sell it. If I have to be buried with it, so be it - I'll take my Kenner Death Star with me like some Egyptian Pharoah heading to the netherworld.
So that's that.
Or so I thought. Last night while digging through some more boxes in the garage, I came upon a surprise. A second Death Star. I'd totally forgotten that my first Death Star was missing a few pieces, then I'd picked up a second complete Death Star for a steal. So I'd boxed up the first Death Star and forgotten about it.
Oops.
Anyways, there's probably a lesson to be learned here about the stupidity of conspicuous consumption by nerds. No idea what it is, but there's probably a lesson to be learned here. But since I have two of the playsets, I think I'll go ahead and sell one.
Eugene Son is a writer with a big head. Not in a figurative sense - he literally has a big head. Leading seismologists fear his neck could collapse at any moment.
