Tomorrow is the start of the IGDA Leadership Forum. I am speaking in it. I’m actually more nervous about catching the Caltrain to get there than I am for the actual talk – not because I’m prepared (I’m not), but because a guy died at the Redwood City station last Friday. So I am more worried about saving my life than saving face.

Of course, when it’s finally my turn to speak, my priorities will probably reverse.

Also, whoever made the bookmark for my talk is brilliant:

http://www.igda.org/leadership/program/project-leadership-track/#dirty

Dirty – that’s me!

My sister isn’t really into music, but as part of her “Please get out of the house more, Luna” movement, she bought us tickets for the Bridge School Benefit in the Shoreline Amphitheater. It’s an annual acoustic concert organized by Neil and Pegi Young; the proceeds go to the Bridge School, which helps children with physical or speech impairments.

We went to the Sunday show (Oct. 25) and got there a bit late; I barely caught Gavin Rossdale doing “Glycerine” (sis asked who he was, and I simply replied with, “Pogi.“*) We had paid for real seats instead of camping out on the lawn, which suited our lazy asses just fine – and once we sat down, the great acts just kept on comin’.

First up were Wolfmother, whom I wasn’t that familiar with – but their rendition of “Woman” was just amazing. I’ve always believed that getting a rock band to do an acoustic set is the fastest way to find out if they’re worth anything.  The amount of energy Wolfmother put into their set was ridiculous, and very impressive. (YouTube: See for yourself.)

Next were Fleet Foxes, and if I thought Wolfmother were impressive, Fleet Floxes made me curse out loud with awe. They were so indie, meek, unassuming – but the instant they started singing in unison, they blew everybody away. (Hearing “White Winter Hymnal” live, it was impossible not to fall in love with them.) I am totally buying an album soonest!

Monsters of Folk and Sheryl Crow were next, and they were very good, too, but unfortunately we weren’t their target market We spent this time buying food and beer (overpriced, by the way – $12 for a glass? Really?).

Adam Sandler came up just as the sun was going down. “I know what you’re thinking; I don’t know what I’m doing here, either,” he said. But then he whipped out a guitar and started belting out some crazy tunes, like how he fell in love with a chicken, and how lonely it must be for a seven-foot man with a seven-foot… yeah. It’s Adam Sandler.

And then Chris Martin came on. I’d gotten some flak on Facebook when I mentioned him in the lineup – but honestly, I like Coldplay. I thought the “A Rush of Blood to the Head” album was brilliant, and I was curious to see how Martin would hold up without a full band. And holy shit, hold up he did – actually, I think he’s much better WITHOUT a band. Alone with his piano, he improvised and played the hell out of every song. (He opened with “Clocks”, and it’s not one of my favorites, but he did it so well that I was converted.) Surprisingly, Martin is not as subdued as his music would imply – he acted like he was hypercaffeinated, shaking and grinning all the time. His set was my favorite of the whole night – and considering who came afterwards, that’s a big thing to say. (YouTube: You gotta see it.)

The last set we watched was the band that I’d been waiting for – No Doubt! Everyone in Manila knows I’m a huge fan, more so now than in the 90s because of Rock Band. (Aside from Yeah Yeah Yeah’s “Maps”, “Spiderwebs” is my other token song to sing.) When the band got on stage and started playing the intro riff to “Bathwater”, I cursed again. I couldn’t believe I was seeing them live!

Unfortunately though, No Doubt’s set was just… okay. They did all their songs just right, and Gwen Stefani’s voice is still amazing and spot-on, but there wasn’t any extra oomph to make their performance memorable. Maybe it was because they were acoustic? (Or maybe because they didn’t do “Spiderwebs” I’m glad I still saw them, though. (YouTube: Watch them do “Just A Girl”.)

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I liked the Bridge School setup very much – one single lineup instead of several stages, so you wouldn’t miss any of the good stuff by running around. There were intermissions after each set, too, great for food and restroom breaks. I wouldn’t mind going again next year if the lineup is just as good, though maybe next time they should post the schedule of bands in advance (we stole it from someone’s Twitter). And we are bringing sunscreen next time, because we totally _burned_. Other than that, I had a great time. Thanks, seester!

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*Handsome

(while working beside my brother-in-law at 10:20 pm)

Brother-in-law: Is your company paying for your new laptop?
Me: I’m paid enough to buy my own stuff.
Brother-in-law: Let me teach you something valuable – you are never paid enough. Are you doing an adult’s job? Can you live on your salary if you had a family? Food, shelter, education for your kids? You are NEVER PAID ENOUGH.
Me (distracted by work): I’m trying to make a flaming lizard disappear properly.
Brother-in-law: Maybe you are paid enough.

I spent my last two weeks in Southern California running around like a crazed rabbit, culminating in a last day worthy of the Amazing Race. If my first week was hectic, here’s my second week:

• Went to Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Night with the cousins. If you know me at all, you’d know that I haven’t seen a scary movie in 10 years and I hate being surprised. Much screaming ensued. (There was one actor in the Saw maze who scared me so well that I had to congratulate him afterward!)
• Had lunch with Ciara, a high school friend and now famous jewelry designer, in North Hollywood. We had Philly cheese steaks. Mmmm
• Explored North Hollywood, with their little stores and cupcake places. I tried to hang out at Independent Coffee because I’m a fan of little neighborhood coffee shops, but I accidentally ordered the worst thing ever. (Do not have their powdered green tea latte – it tastes like piss. Seriously.)
• Had dinner with Nelson, a Fil-Am designer whom I’d met at the IGDA Manila forums, and talked shop. He makes serious military games for different countries – they teach soldiers the culture of their assigned posts so they don’t misunderstand the locals and make stupid mistakes. Amazing job, if you ask me
• Watched my first stand-up show at Improv in Ontario, with college friend Glowie. American humor is hit and miss for me, and the comics that night were so-so, though Gary Owen was kind of funny

It was actually raining hard that week so I thought business was slow I decided to make up for it on my last week:

• Saw Zombieland with my cousin at Arclight Theater in Sherman Oaks. The movie was AWESOME. Hilarious. Gruesome. The theater was pretty fancy, too, with an usher introducing the film before the screening. And they’ve got excellent seats
• GDC Austin friend Jorge flew in from Seattle to Orange County, so of course I went back to Irvine! For two nights this time
• Attended the IGDA Orange County chapter meeting; great turnout, incredibly useful speech by Feargus Urquhart of Obsidian on contract negotiations, and fun drinks with Jim and the gang afterward. IGDA meetings here inspire me – I have so many ideas now for IGDA Manila!
• Attended Beer Wednesday, which was ridiculously more fun this time around. Met a lot of great people. But I removed my eyeglasses upon someone’s* advice, got astigmatism-induced motion sickness, and vomited I’m never drinking without my eyeglasses again! (Thanks Jorge, Jim, and Jason B. for taking care of me!)
• Had delicious vegetarian lunch at Gypsy Den in Costa Mesa with my cousin Justine. Best chai latte I’ve ever had! The cafe was located in the Anti Mall, where everything was indie, artsy, and beautiful – my type of place
• Of course, I overbooked – so I was still in Irvine on the day of my flight out from LAX to San Francisco. And when my cousin in LA got the flu, I had to figure out how to get around on short notice!
• Thus begins my Amazing Race: Took the Amtrak at 1:46 pm (1 hour ride), ran to catch the subway (30 min ride) and then the bus (1 hour ride) to catch my airport shuttle at the apartment (scheduled at 4:45 pm). It didn’t help that the train was late and there were two people making a scene on the bus (see below)
• Made it, barely, and got to LAX only to find out that my flight was delayed one hour. Balls.

–

I didn’t like LA. My boss had warned me beforehand, saying I might not escape with my soul intact. I’m sure it’s a great and exciting city and all, but it was just too unfriendly for me. Each time I went out, there’d be people arguing and cursing on the street. And I’d never seen so many cops in my life! They were pulling people out randomly from subways or detaining people on sidewalks at night. On the bus from North Hollywood to Woodland Hills, two strangers were cursing each other from across the bus, and I was seated right in the middle. A vertical slice of their conversation went like this:

Girl: “Fuck you!”
Guy: “No, fuck you, bitch!”
Girl: “Stop harassing me! I’m an undercover cop!”
Guy: “Oh yeah? See here? This is my badge. Where’s yours? I should arrest you!”
Girl: “You can’t arrest me – I said I’m a cop! I’m going to call the Metro Sheriff!”
Guy: “Go ahead! Why don’t you get off the bus and let’s see what’s going to happen to you?”
Girl: “Fuck you!” (etc etc)
Me (in my head): “Please don’t do this now – I need to catch my shuttle!”
(By the way, she did call the sheriff – but they didn’t stop the bus, thank God.)

This was typical. Even in LAX, a girl was yelling at the cashier in Burger King because her order wasn’t understood correctly. The rest of us travelers in line were looking at each other and rolling our eyes. Seriously, where’s the love? (Death Cab for Cutie even sang about this lack of love here.)

On the other hand, I really liked Orange County Being in Irvine was just like being in GDC Austin, with a big bunch of game developers welcoming a stranger like me into their fold. But the difference here was everyone actually _knew_ each other, which made everything friendlier and more personal. I’m actually trying to find a way to go back there for Halloween, which is nuts on several levels – but when was I ever sane, anyway?

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*I mean you, Dave.

Just a quick break from my travel posts to share this fantastic French commercial, which I heard about from the IGDA Writers SIG:

Brilliant.