LVL Headed

I came back from work today only to find some newspaper-clippings from New Orleans on my dresser.  The article within states that Electronic Arts is opening up a large testing center in Baton Rouge thanks to Louisiana’s new incentives for electronic entertainment companies.

I drove 2,000 miles across the U.S. of A., only to find that the games industry is branching out only 4 hours from where I used to live.  I spent four days in a car to get a job I now could have gotten without worrying about getting a new driver’s license.

Oh well.  It’s still better here.

So I’m travelling to Los Angeles again in order to start my life there.  This time, instead of flying off with a handful of luggage, I’m hauling all my worthy worldly possessions and driving there.  From Louisiana.  More specifically, from New Orleans.

This is day two.

I’m travelling to Los Angeles in order to fulfill my dream of working within the games industry, and I feel like I’m being given a sign.  I’ve been in the car, doing the same thing for at least 10 hours every day, and I’m feeling great about it.  At no point have I really felt bored (mostly thanks to podcasts, music, and the odd audio-book).  And when I get to Los Angeles, I’ve got an interview for a testing job in which I’ll be required to sit still and do the same thing for at least 10 hours a day.  It’s become obvious to me that I can do nothing but soak myself in media and feel great, so I’m crossing my fingers for a good interview and a position as a tester.

Well, I’ve driven a little more than a thousand miles, and I’ve got a little less than a thousand to go.  And I’m feeling pretty good about it all.

See you in L.A.

Tuesday, July 8th – Rode down to New Orleans with my girl Lauren.  She listened to this interesting podio-book called Heaven, which got nerdier and nerdier as it went on.  I’ve got it on my iPod now and plan to listen through it soon.

Wednesday, July 9th – Prepared for the flight.

Thursday, July 10th – Got up at 4 am (New Orleans time), arrived at LAX at 9 am (Los Angeles time), and went looking for apartments.  The sky was grey and we drove through bad traffic and bad neighborhoods, giving us a first impression of Los Angeles as the most terrible place on earth.  We walked, drove, and searched all day with nothing promising coming up.  Everyone felt their spirits about to splinter.

Friday, July 11th – Once again, the search was on.  There was a pattern of joking and fighting as we rode through Los Angeles looking for good neighborhoods.  Except we actually found the good neighborhoods.  And Los Angeles stopped seeming so bad.  The people were friendly when they weren’t driving, we could finally feel that shimmer of stardom eminating from Hollywood, and the prospect of living in this megalopolis presented us with hope.  We filled out an application for an apartment, the first application yet, looked a little more and returned to the hotel.

Saturday, July 12th – The morning was spent freaking out about being able to find apartments in the time we had.  It was true, time was running out, and we had only applied to one place.  Then we got the call: The Apartment Manager accepted our application and invited us over to sign the lease.  We rode over and signed the HELL out of that thing.  Apartment done.  Now on to banks, furnishings, and the little details.

Sunday, July 13th through Monday, July 14th – It’s all a bit of a blur now.  Though we’ve found an apartment, there is no fun to be had, nor any celebration.  We are back to work, meeting people, setting up checking accounts, looking for nearby stores, buying a bed and a few things that we’ll need when we finally move in.  We eat at The Rainbow, the food is ok but Lauren grabs me a copy of the print version of The Onion, and I am happy.

Tuesday, July 15th – We take the stuff we’ve gotten and drop it off at the apartment.  Then we look at other furniture, pass it up, get some giant deli sandwiches, and finally head to the airport.  I haven’t mentioned it that much, but each day has improved my view of Los Angeles.  By this point I am truly excited to be moving here.  I’m ready to explore.

Wednesday, July 16th – I wake up at 7:30, despite getting off the plane at midnight prior, and get dropped off at the bus station where I ride from New Orleans to Shreveport over 8 hours of reading and listening to podcasts and music.  I actually enjoy myself.

Thursday, July 17th – I get up, ready to meet with someone about a quick web job before I leave town.  Then my car breaks down.  Now I’ve got to figure this all out before I leave.

Back to work.

Hi. Welcome to my blog. It’s not really doing anything right now (lazy bum) but I’m working on that. In case you’re wondering, this blog will be about my own ill-informed thoughts on games, game design, game mechanics, and the medium of games itself. Honestly, besides my current college work, the books that I’ve read, and the handful of games I’ve created myself, I don’t have any experience that puts me in a place of authority to talk about these things. But hey, it’s a blog! That’s the point. And who knows, out of my incoherent ramblings about mechanics and possibilities of the medium there might come something new and true.

Of course, I’m getting ahead of myself quite a bit here.

Before I post more, I’m going to take the time to give this site a proper design. If you’re interested in me and the stuff that I’ve done, you can visit my portfolio at http://www.rudeproductions.com.

Hopefully, I’ll see you all later.

-SKT