First Time Flowing » Work

Albuquerque Visit 2011

Drey — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 23:56:05 +0000

Every year my company flies me back in to Albuquerque for the annual company Christmas party. I usually stay at a nearby motel and work at the main office for a week. This year was wonderfully different as Bess accompanied me. It was great to see her at lunch and have her pick me up at work instead of returning to a lonely motel room.

As usual, there were a few new faces at work, people who I had only interacted with online. Though I got some things done, I always feel like I get less accomplished when I am in the office than when I am working from home.

When I wasn’t at work, Bess and I visited some of my old friends, went out to eat, and caught a movie (The Thing) at the dollar theater. The Christmas party was lovely, culminating in the epic gift exchange. Bess picked out a luchador mask and a bobblehead art toy as our contributions. We scored $20 and a remote controlled truck which we donated to a charity (though I kind of wanted to keep the truck).

The travel portion that bookended the trip was a bit taxing, filled with delays and personal discomfort. We were glad to get home.

On Secrets

Drey — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 01:35:29 +0000

I was hoping I would be able to share something about a recent project, but it is still under wraps. Stay tuned!

I’m pretty good at keeping secrets. You ask me not to tell, I essentially partition that information away in a special vault in my memory. Eventually even I will be surprised by the news.

It’s tricky when I am working on something cool, but I’m forbidden to show anyone. I recently had to sign an NDA at work. Now I belong to a secret society who know about *It*.

In other news, I have secured three video testimonials about The Stork. I want to get one more and then cut together a promo video so I can launch the Kickstarter project. I’d like to get that going by the end of the month.

Don’t Know Whether I’m the Boxer or the Bag

Drey — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 02:34:18 +0000

I scarcely know how to hold a pen, so long has it been
since I pressed one to parchment. My desk and all its contents were
claimed by the waves, repurposed as a piscine mansion. Ink is dear,
gleaned from a painstaking process involving the crushed seeds of a
peculiar mango-shaped fruit we discovered. And I wonder if the
letters will last. Work on the ship continues apace. The command
center and galley receive most of our attention and it is generally
agreed that the day these rooms become a place of respite rather
than labor will be sweet indeed. My constitution continues its
decline, constantly embattled from all sides by the heavy vapors
enclosing us. The breathing apparatus and the seltzers have proven
ineffective. I spend most days on the other side of the thick
acrylic bubbles, overseeing the work, sparing an occasional glance
out at the oppressive topography. But I have begun to feel it even
in my cabin, lying on my bunk. Some spectre leeches my strength, so
that I waken not refreshed, but burdened. The daily job manifests
from the investors blur together. Each site survey has become an
iteration of the previous one, permutations of some ur-site
unfolding through time and space, like hundreds of incrementally
flawed daisies. I send the drones their orders, instruction sets I
know by heart. I fear for the day when I see a colleague insert the
control cards and my own legs lurch forward, watching helpless as
my hands reach for the drill.

Achievement Unlocked

Drey — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 01:01:24 +0000

Sometimes I fall into that slough of self-examination where I feel as though I have accomplished nothing with my life. Or, when compared to Person X, I am found wanting. This often happens when I’m not currently working on a creative project, as they tend to define me and give me purpose.

So I think it might be helpful to recollect the things I have achieved. Not in a boastful, resting on my laurels sort of way. But to remind myself that I am the same person who did all of those things. Try it yourself when you are feeling somewhat less than.

Here are some of the things I have accomplished so far:

Learned to program in BASIC when I was 8 years old
Wrote a computer game when I was 10 and sold one copy
Learned to ride a bike
Learned to play the trombone
Wrote and directed Welcome to the Real World during my senior year of high school
Wrote and performed skits and monologues in front of hundreds of people
Learned to drive a stick shift
Was class Treasurer and class Chaplain
Was a National Merit Scholar
Read the entire Bible
Graduated high school
Won best supporting actor for my performance in Off Kennedy’s Yacht
Won best playwright for All We See and Seem
Helped make the short film K
Wrote a thesis on Interactive Fiction
Ran a massively multiplayer interactive fiction game as my senior writing project in college
Saw Pink Floyd in concert
Drove across the U.S. both East to West and North to South
Learned how to build my own computer
Filmed, directed and edited the documentary Goodbye, Hello
Graduated college
Survived six car accidents, unscathed
Convinced someone to marry me
Created presentations for the biggest company on earth
Owned a house
Survived a divorce
Taught myself Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, Poser, Illustrator, Premiere, and After Effects
Won a short fiction contest with my story The Numbers Game
Published a chapbook of poetry called Poem-Shaped Lies
Solved Myst III without any hints
Adapted The Warlock of Firetop Mountain into a module for Neverwinter Nights. It won a contest created by the publishers of the book. (The British) Steve Jackson played it and wrote me a letter of congratulations.
Checked in to a mental institution
Checked out of a mental institution
Made love to beautiful women
Stood naked on top of a volcano
Adopted a pregnant cat
Won a Telly award for my piece on the New Mexico Jazz Workshop
Had a crisis of faith
Learned how to break up with girls
Dual-wielded .45mm pistols
Published another chapbook of poetry called From the Ashes of Puppets
Won a fiction contest with my story My Strychnine Valentine
Sued the DEA and won
Learned how to make friends in a new city
Lived in at least 9 different cities
Performed slam poetry in five major cities
Created and published a board game called House of Whack
Created a web comic called Dream Job
Held my own with John Hodgman
Was a guest columnist for Secure Immaturity
Created and organized a film festival for women filmmakers called Something Real
Learned how to practice authenticity and integrity
Helped create a bumper for Fantastic Fest called Lollipop
Created a board game and beer meetup called Boards ‘N Brews
Performed improv comedy
Had an existential crisis
Beat Mischa in Wiz-War
Published The Stork
Filed my taxes in January
Saw the last night launch of a space shuttle
Designed hundreds of web sites
Avoided ever breaking any bones in my body
Have, at one time or another, lost everything I thought I needed to survive
Did what was right instead of what was easy

Every Day the Same Dream

Drey — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 04:41:10 +0000

Work has been really stressful the past few weeks. Every day it feels like I have survived a battle. My inbox has become a hydra of tasks. I cut one down and two more rise in its place.

Inundated

Drey — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 03:50:18 +0000

Yesterday there were 15 new emails in my work inbox, which is a lot for the morning. I literally spent all day going through them and resolving each issue, even as more emails came in. Today was similar, but the emails were spread throughout the day. Each one a new wasp to add to the constant swarm of things that needed to be done. Somehow I managed to get a couple of web sites finished too. I’m the Scotty of web design, working miracles all by myself.