The Burger King Diet

When the scale displayed 22% body fat at the beginning of this year, I figured that the time for a weight loss initiative had finally arrived. I wasn’t close to getting obese yet, but seeing how I was into my 30s now (when weight is notoriously harder to lose), and seeing how my physical weight had increased 25lbs since I had met Victoria (a gain I can squarely blame on Lair crunch time), I felt like I should reverse the trend while there was still time. Not through a fad diet, mind you. Through lifestyle changes.

Of course that meant eating more consciously, avoiding most fast food restaurants etc. I actually go to Wendys on a regular basis – their grilled chicken sandwich has honey mustard dressing instead of mayo, and substituting the fries for a side salad isn’t a bad deal at all. But I hadn’t been at a Burger King for ages. Until today, when I had to go to the Best Buy in Marin City, and didn’t have much time to find anything else to eat. There’s a Burger King right there, where my coworkers and I had some fun times several years ago – feeding burger meat to the eager pigeons (if you needed any more proof that pigeons are basically rats with wings, here it is). So I figured sure, why not? Maybe I’d forgotten that I once liked the place! So, picture me…

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Wisdom from Matchbox Twenty

Sometimes you’ll find truths that resonate with you at the unlikeliest of places. For example this one by Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas, talking about their song “Unwell”:

I’ve come to one conclusion, and that’s… In 31 years I’ve found out that everybody in the world – everybody in the world is a little bit fucked up, okay? And it’s okay, it’s okay – when you’re young, when you’re young you think it’s just you. You’re at home, you’re trying to hide it, you figure maybe you’ll grow out of it, maybe sooner or later you’ll get like all of the other people. And what you don’t know when you’re young is that it’s everybody, man! Everybody is a little bit fucked up. And so as you get older, as you get older you have two kinds of people: you have the fortunate people, who realize it early on, man, and they let their Freak Flag fly, and they have a good time, and they…they don’t think too hard about it, they don’t take themselves too seriously. And then there’s those poor bastards on the other side, that are still trying to play it cool, man. Every day: “I’m not fucked up!” So this song goes out to all the wonderfully enlightened people in Atlanta here tonight who know that it’s okay to be a little bit fucked up every now and then.

Found on Matchbox Twenty’s live DVD. Which has terrible sound quality but is still fun to listen to when it comes up in the iPod shuffle.

First Wedding Anniversary

It’s already been a year since Victoria and I got married! Please excuse the temporary lapse in blog updates as we travel around Sonoma and Napa, enjoy the occasion and eat our remaining wedding cake

Snapshot

Cyber-stalking help, October 2008:

Reading… Anathem (Neal Stephenson). Hard to get into, but it’s picking up steam.
Watching… Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles (Season 1). 49ers games.
Playing… Nothing. Waiting for GoW2, Fable II and Fallout 3!
Looking Forward To… Maui vacation One more month…
Hoping… that the Phillies sweep the Dodgers to win the NLCS! Well, I just want them to win the series, but a sweep would be sweet.
Finishing… Beyond Belief 2008. I think. Current VIS time on Intel DualCore 2.6Ghz: 13 hours…

Religion, Myth and Games

As expected, Bill Maher’s new documentary Religulous is stirring up strong reactions from supporters and opponents of religion alike. I probably won’t watch this movie because it seemingly aims to prove a predetermined point: that religion is ridiculous. A more bipartisan effort might have tried understanding why people subscribe to a religion, and what the religious belief adds to their lives.

But I don’t think that a discussion of the validity of organized religion will lead to a fruitful result, anyway. As game developers, understanding why religion plays such an important part in many people’s life can help us, though! Because religion is myth. And understanding myth can help us to create games that connect with the audience on a deep emotional level.

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Campaign Essentials

With the 2008 election season in full swing, I will once again quote from Depeche Mode’s song “New Dress”. The following doesn’t go out to either election campaign. It goes out to America – keep it in mind as you watch the debates, and when you cast to vote in November:

You can’t change the world
But you can change the facts
And when you change the facts
You change points of view
If you change points of view
You may change a vote
And when you change a vote
You may change the world

What Can Squirrels Teach Us About Life?

I found this dead squirrel laying on the side of the trail today. She hadn’t been there when I passed by 20 minutes earlier, and the body was still warm. No major injuries, just a bloody nose (and a broken neck/cracked skull, I’m sure). She must just have fallen to an untimely death.

So what’s the morale of the story? No matter how proficient you are at something, and no matter how much you’re in your element – a potentially fatal slip is always just moments away! So keep checking yourself, and don’t get too confident!

I wonder what the mortality rate from falling to death is for the common gray squirrel…

Learning To Write

Longtime followers of my blog might have noticed an relative outburst of posts in recent months, and wondered what triggered this renewed interest in flooding the internet with Opinions That Might Not Matter. Part of my motivation is obvious: I’m hoping to write posts that you find interesting, and that encourage you to subscribe. But there’s another, more personal reason behind all of this flurry of activity: I’m trying to improve my writing skills. Because I’m not very good at it.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m happy with the quality of my writing. I actually think that it’s pretty damn decent, considering that English isn’t my native language. But just because the writing is good, that doesn’t mean that I’m good at writing.

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Snapshot

Cyber-stalking help, September 2008:

Reading… The Cry For Myth (Rollo May)
Watching… Pinks All Out. Giants – Diamondbacks (1 -1, top of the 8th)
Playing… Started playing Spore but lost interest. Working on (and playing) my Quake level instead.
Looking Forward To… first wedding anniversary
Regretting…that my parents couldn’t make their visit
Fun… meeting old acquaintances in unexpected places

Life Update

Two down, four to go.