Cranky. Old. Man?

Awesome day compared to yesterday, even if I woke up late.

So, I missed part of the morning's meeting, but it was apparently the boring part. Score! There was some ribbing from the minions, but it was all in good fun. I was there for the relevent parts.

And then Boss #1 said she wanted Japanese. I am not going to turn down Japanese, and besides, I forgot to pack a lunch. So several of us went to have Japanese (not including the Intern, as he's Grounded, essentially. he didn't get his stuff done, he doesn't get happy extended lunch time.). And since the Japanese place has awesome discount bento box lunches (seriously STUFFED with food; California rolls, fried dumpling things, teriyaki chicken, rice and also comes with miso soup and ginger dressing salad FOR FIVE DOLLARS), they paid for it. I feel healthier for it, as I've been having Coke and ramen for lunch a lot (because it's quick and I've been eating and working at the same time lately). Mmmm, chicken and seaweed and crab. I'm developing a higher tolerance to seafood through my love of the Japanese, maybe some day I'll be able to eat cooked fish without gagging (ironic thing about sushi is that i like it just fine).

Things have been worked out with the Intern. It seems he really didn't get that while he's not paid and that a lot of us APPEAR to be goofing around, we're still working. And that I am Actually In Charge of Him and it makes me annoyed that I have to babysit and hold his hand to go through things. Half the reason I got a raise and respect and the like is that I am a self starter. If I don't have a task in front of me, I do something parallel--learn more gaming theory, read through textbooks, and yes, sometimes goof off, but it's never like, completely useless goofing off? I dunno, it does sort of baffle me that someone won't at least ask for stuff to be doing. I highly suspect his "internship" is more a matter that his mom works in town and needs somewhere to drop him off. Whatever. I don't babysit. Kid's eighteen, should be able to figure out a FEW things.

At least The Word of Boss has cleared up the foodchain.

Going to be staring at more excel files today, may put it off in favor of outlining on the whiteboard. Sometimes I need to see my ideas visually, and I am right next to it.

In dorky news, I have officially developed the muscles to be able to walk around town in heels; not spike heels, because those are crazy. But my nicely re-enforced boot heels? Yes. I'm aware of how shallow that sounds, but I am trying not to wear sneakers all the time, even if they look awesome with suits for shear dorkishness.

And Project Runway starts tomorrow heeeell yes. Also my mom's birthday, where she will be surprised with a Wii, as she fully expected my dad to have gone to Home Depot to get her something. We're sneaky. She's got enough game-age to get her used to it, so that for Christmas we can get her a WiiFit and more games. In fact, this qualifies as gifts for a while. Makes my life a little easier. Now if only she wasn't so scared of a computer.

~Cendri

Had a minor internal freakout about what the hell is going on at work, but instead of having a meltdown I herded some squirrels and got some Shit That Needs Done as well as some better perspective on where we're going. I'm still a little stressed and sort of waited on the clock to go down, but at least I'm thinking normally again. It's a pain in the ass to fit the little education boxes for things and I've had to reverse-engineer a lot of stuff lately but hey, that's why I got hired. I solve problems. It's how I roll.

Some days it just makes my head hurt, though. XD

And I finally got some of the documentation pulled from people. Love my minions but god do they act all secretive with their documents. I should probably be a little more aggressive in letting them know I'm more than just a supplement and sanity check, that I did design the whole first phase of the project and thus created the basis for their shit now. But they did say they wanted to make an action figure of me ("You have so many looks! BATTLE DAMAGE LIZ. ANACHRONISM LIZ. CUTE BOYISH LIZ." Seriously, the boys are silly) so I don't think they're being unappreciative, just forgetful. I'd nearly forgotten to eat lunch too and my blood sugar was down. This tends to make me a little cranky.

Also, the internet was schizo, hence my updating now. XD Bah.

~Cendri

P.S. Since the Space Program was essentially my first fandom ever, I SQUEE AT THIS. ICE ON MARS? ALIENS STEALING PEBBLES? MASSIVE CONSPIRACY? WHO KNOWS!

P.P.S. So the minions loaned me Azumanga Daioh. Haven't watched it quite yet, and we shall see. I don't tend to be into comedy as much (Comic Party! prolly appealed to me because it wasn't so intent on being wacky) but considering the minions are watching Battlestar Galactica now ("OMG what the fuck is it with Helo?" "He's Helo, it's his job to pull the wire and be a dick.") and share a lot of my tastes, I'll give it a shot. Also, it's kind of cute looking. XD

Wow, so yesterday was massive writing day due to having a very slow day (I ended up with a sad rated R Veld story, a semi-philosophical FFX femmeslash, and a silly Vin/Veld based on getting locked out of my house). After writing that sad story yesterday (man, I'd forgotten how emotionally draining in a good way just sitting down and writing until something feels done is) I feel the need to do something cute or graphical. Or both. But today's been busy, so needle therapy will likely be the only thing I have time for. XD Icons should be up sometime, a strange mix. Because I'm weird.

OH AND THE FABULOUS MRS. G HAD LUNCH WITH ME TODAY.

We went to some little bitty house-turned-restaurant that was strangely good, and really cute. We sat out on the porch and chatted for a bit. I ended up talking about costuming and writing, because after the "well, this is what's going on at work" talk, I don't have much of a personal life. XD It's true, but it's not something I regret much, I mean, shit's transitional right now. In this day and age it shouldn't be that shocking to admit that most of my friends I can only keep in contact with by being online. Especially since I'm not in school and one of the youngest people at my company. But it was nice to tell her about costuming, how I'm going to a con, and then this somehow got related to fandom and I told her about phoenixmonthly. She's one of those seriously awesome people that she was kind of fascinated a bit as I told her about some fandom things. I have a tendency to ramble if I'm not careful, but then again, so does she. Which is good, because I still want to be her when I grow up. She's been traveling and basically being fabulous. I cannot describe how much this woman just exudes fabulousity. I felt smart because she hadn't heard of creative commons and as some of ya'll know, I'm kind of an open source crusader, so um. Yeah.

Mrs. G is fabulous because she's passionate about life, and makes me feel passionate about things. I nearly cried when I got back from lunch because I nearly lost that vivaciousness but I realize now it's back. And I'm so thankful to be able to feel again, to really be into something. I mean, that's why I sound so, I don't know, obsessive sometimes. I can't help it. I just... there is always a part of me in what I do, no matter what. I can't distance myself from it, and you know what, it's better that I don't. And I think I can still be like Mrs. G when I grow up. XD

I also have an intern. We have no place to put him so he sits on the floor, but that's ok. While the Minions get paid and have projects of their own and more experience than me, the Intern is in high school, doesn't get paid, and pretty much only answers to me and the bosses. I am so stoked. He's going to help me get a kick start in the higher level game stuff, and I get to do some teaching-ish stuff. I love explaining things! I get to gesture wildly and send him off to copy textbooks for me. SCORE.

Have decided to definitely write more in the vein of On The Maintenance Of Friendships because I like being cheeky. And Mrs. G approves of this type of writing (yeah, she read it. seriously, this woman is awesome). Besides, I haven't gotten to them meeting Barry and Tain, and the deal with kids powering country machines and Percival's wings. It's also practice in the type of worldbuilding I like--subtle, not very full of exposition. Why are connected short stories so much more fun than writing chapters? I'll never know.

~Cendri

P.S. My sidekick and my girlfriend are basically awesome.

P.P.S. Do I lose my nerd license admitting I love articles like this?

I HAVE MINIONS. WORK GAVE ME MINIONS!!!

No, really. They hired on these guys that have actually done game design that I can tell what to do. I will try not to let the power go to my head. They seem cool, and since we're running out of space in the office, they've been given tables in the game room (I am currently homeless as far as desks are concerned, but they said since I am usually in before noon I can totally snipe a desk whenever). Have had a whorlwind re-introduction to what's been happening (I kept up as best I could, but SCHOOL WAS DOOM). Also, rumors of my not being in town were greatly exaggerated.

One of said minions is working on a language game (arabic) in addition to hearing my ideas, and is apparently a huge Final Fantasy fan and is inspired design-wise by Amano. I was cornered in the kitchen to talk about said geekery and there was discussion on my part about prettiness vs. immersiveness and storytelling. I think we will get along. XD Other minion is a little shyer. Hopefully my wild gesturing will not scare him.

Get to go with Boss #1 to kids' game design class she teaches tomorrow. Mildly nervous about this, as most of my interaction with the kids has been behind the scenes. Must look cool.

Already have tons to do, which is exciting. And apparently my reputation precedes me, once again, as all these new people knew who I was once the name was said. XD That's mildly intimidating, as now I'm not just the designer for our Mars Game, I'm also the Person Who Will Solve Problems With Your Proposal Or Logic.

Also, they kept my keyboard off limits. Aww, thanks guys. The post-it with my name on it was nice. I shouldn't be touched by such small things, but it's nice not to be forgotten.

God, it's good to be back at work. Work > School, as bad as that is. "Grad School" was tossed around again. Have trepidations.

~Cendri

P.S. And apparently the rumors about the NASA MMO and my company possibly hooking up with that are true. Only thing is, NASA wants a partner, but doesn't want to pay them. I call foul. But we've got other grants on the back burner, so.