Manu
05-19-2006, 01:39 AM
This is takenn from and then expanded on from an email I sent to two friends in Europe. I have been so ridiculously busy lately, its really unbelievable. Ira and Corey had sent me multiple emails and I didn't even read them until yesterday. I didn't have a chance to respond or recant my past few days until yesterday. Its been intense. (wait for a journal called intense :P)
Life has been mostly insane the past week and a half or so. I've marked I think 4 14 hour days a few 12 hour days and then the typical 8 to 9 hour days. Its been crazy. In addition, I've been trying to see friends, family, and loved ones. I don't remember much of the mundane from last week, but it was probably a mix of late nights working, smoking lots of hookah, and drinking to excess. Add in a healthy dose of role playing and video games. The life of a workaholic/alcoholic/nerd. I love it.
The real beauty of the past few days starts on Thursday night, with an invite extended to me to go to E3 (the giant ****ing video game convention) by Avidan's brother. But, of course that would mean working late on Friday. Great. Clippers ticket. E3 ticket. Brazilian Girls ticket, and I must choose between the 3. Time to choose wisely.
I decided to decline on E3 as much the the nerd inside of me hated every moment of it. I think it still resents me some, but I satisfied it by playing some video games over the weekend. Great, so now its just the choice between Brazilian Girls and Clippers game. I've posted on craigslist (twice now), ebay, myspace, and DA for the clippers ticket. No one (of course) wants only 1 ticket. So, nothing really comes through. I smoke to excess, pass out, and wake up to go to work on Friday. I got an email at 3AM from a guy in palmdale who wants the ticket. He offers 70. I paid 90. I am willing to do this.
I get into the office and am immediately whisked away to 'mission control' which is the control room for the electronic billboards at Hollywood and Highland. Did I mention the guy that manages them left and in the interim I am the guy in charge? Right. So, maintanence, content creation for Nissan (I've had a crash course in after effects and illustrator) and lots of calls with Chiat and Nissan...thats been my life. I spent the vast majority of my day in Mission Control end up working until 8, leaving Khanh to finish a piece of content and then going to see Brazilian Girls.
I took a brief interlude during my day for lunch and then to meet 'Johnny from Palmdale' on the corner of Hollywood and Orange. This exchange was ****ed/funny for a few reasons. a) he was DECKED OUT in clippers garb. I mean, just totally decked out. The guy had a hat, a jersey, a sweat band. If anyone was buying this ticket, I am happy it was Johnny from Palmdale. I knew he'd have a good time. (even though they ultimately lost) b) he had a cnote that he kept on crumpling and uncrumpling compulsively. Once we made a quick exchange, we talked a bit on the way to his car and then I went back to mission control. On my way I thought 'this benjamin looks pretty fake.' I crumpled it, smelled it, spit on it, and I couldn't tell. It had the 'stripe' in the middle, but it didn't look or smell right, but I don't have a lot of 100 dollar bills. But still, something was amiss. And not in that 'the US dollar looks like monopoly money sort of way. My goal, to use this 100 dollar bill and get real change for it, as it was clearly a fake. (unconfirmed)
I got to Brazilian girls and decide that paying for parking with the 100 is the best thing I could do. Anytime someone wants to screw me on parking my vindicitve side comes out. What a perfect candidate to get paid with a potentially fake bill. I got 90 bucks back in good old fashioned money. It all smelled and looked right. The show rocked, the lead singer is hot, and all is happy. It was really awesome. I don't go to a lot of shows for that style of dance/world/electronic music, so it was great. I got home, crashed, and prepared to wake up early to have a day of some work (for Nissan) and go see Ashes and Snow. (www.ashesandsnow.com)
My plan failed. I woke up at 1 to my phone ringing. Steph and Alia were in town, so we got lunch and then I would go to Ashes and Snow. Lunch was good. I hadn't seen either of them in forever and I had been bugging Steph about hanging out. We had good discussion about video games and work and then we all bounced.
Traffic sucked. I got to the pier around 3:30. There was a ginormous line. I am talking RIDICULOUSLY long. I hop in line, listen to my ipod, but when after 15 minutes I don't move, I ask the lady in front of me how long is the wait...2.5 hours. I am out. I step out of line and decide the only way I am seeing this exhibit is if I use my wit, guile, or charm to get in sooner. A bit of all three played a part. I start near the begining of the line, scanning, searching for my mark...and there they are, 2 girls, 1 in a UCLA shirt. I innocently (and pretty stupidly) ask them if this is the line to get in. They say yes, show me where it starts. We some small talk and I ask how long they've been in line, etc. I pause, ask if they went to UCLA, they still go to UCLA! seniors! We chat a bit about UCLA (as the line is moving this whole time) and then I say my friend I was seeing the show with can't make it, mind if I join you? They accept. I am happy. There is a God.
A 2.5 hour line becomes 20 minutes. I am please. The exhibit was beautiful and amazing. I am not sure what else to say. The videos of the work was even more powerful than the stills, though it was all gorgeous. A great way of capturing a surreal combination of animals and humans. Afterwards, my two new found female companions and I got dinner on the pier and rode the ferris wheel at sunset. Life is good. We exchanged numbers with promises of calls later in the week, and I went on my way.
I then went and got smashed at Molly Malones with Kim, her sister, and cody, joe and pat. Shout out to Jeff for coming up to the LBC. Avidan showed up and I drunkenly bitched about work and what not. I was triple fisting. GNT, Scotch, Guiness. I am all that is man. I was in rare form. Kim's sister beat me at an imaginary game of 1 on 1 on the sidewalk, but thats okay, you gotta let the ladies win now and again. I somehow had this brilliant plan to make Kim and Shani come over, by making Kim take me home...it backfired, they just dropped me off.
Pat and the boys went to get big Tomy's...I then got a call asking where Cody was. He wasn't with me. He wasn't with them. Man down! Everyone finally made it back to my place (Cody included). Somehow in the shuffle my Big Tomy's burger didn't make it. Making Pat and Jeff accompany me to Whinchels, we traveld with beer in our disposable cups and got donuts. We got home, ate Winchels and died. I woke up early the next morning to go make lunch for my mom.
I made Japanese curry and stirfry with Japanese noodles. I sometimes amaze myself. It wasn't that hard, a bit time consuming, but tasty and my mom enjoyed it. I spent most of the day with family and then went off to nathan's to hang out with him and Paul. We watched UNLEASHED and then played video games. I got home too late and knew I would be tired in the AM.
I wake up Monday with an urgent text from Avidan to call Mike. (the guy that used to run mission control) This is bad. I also have an email from him at 4AM saying that the zipper wall is down and him an Khanh have been working on it since 12. This is very bad. We are supposed to demo our content for Nissan and Chiat today. I rush to the office, go straight to mission control. I get the skinny from Khanh and then Avidan via phone. they tell me what they think is wrong. I look at the situation fro 10-15 minutes. I tell them what I think is wrong. They disagree. I start testing. Avidan gets a bit annoyed, because they've already tested that. Following my hunch and instincts I continue and we ultimately get it up and running. I am the king of IT. The rest of the day is spent perfecting content and tweaking how the billboard looks. We meet at 4, they love it. I got into the office at 6:30, after business hours.
Could the day be over? Bet your ass it isn't. The airconditioning in my server room dies. 80 degrees in 20 minutes. I put the portable in there, turn on a fan, and start ****ing around with the AC. It finally kicks on and Avidan and I can rest easy.
Tuesday was no better. What I thought would be a 7:30 exit time turned into 10:30 as we ran into major issues at our accounting office with a router and point to point t1s. Good timing, I wasn't tired or anything.
The last few days have been busy, but nothing in particular, just this Nissan/Mission Control stuff. My 'real' work has been mostly avoided, unfortunately, as now I am getting some grief for being so behind on it. I dont' really see how it can be my fault, given all of this work on our plate. I mean, I've had to deal with angry vendors, making ad spots, and a system of stuff I have no idea how to REALLY operate...maybe cut me some slack?
Tonight has been good. Mostly relaxing. I had a drink and hookah with my new found female friends (I should trade mark that phrase) and now I am listneing to music and writing some stuff. I hope to sleep 'early' as well.
Life has been mostly insane the past week and a half or so. I've marked I think 4 14 hour days a few 12 hour days and then the typical 8 to 9 hour days. Its been crazy. In addition, I've been trying to see friends, family, and loved ones. I don't remember much of the mundane from last week, but it was probably a mix of late nights working, smoking lots of hookah, and drinking to excess. Add in a healthy dose of role playing and video games. The life of a workaholic/alcoholic/nerd. I love it.
The real beauty of the past few days starts on Thursday night, with an invite extended to me to go to E3 (the giant ****ing video game convention) by Avidan's brother. But, of course that would mean working late on Friday. Great. Clippers ticket. E3 ticket. Brazilian Girls ticket, and I must choose between the 3. Time to choose wisely.
I decided to decline on E3 as much the the nerd inside of me hated every moment of it. I think it still resents me some, but I satisfied it by playing some video games over the weekend. Great, so now its just the choice between Brazilian Girls and Clippers game. I've posted on craigslist (twice now), ebay, myspace, and DA for the clippers ticket. No one (of course) wants only 1 ticket. So, nothing really comes through. I smoke to excess, pass out, and wake up to go to work on Friday. I got an email at 3AM from a guy in palmdale who wants the ticket. He offers 70. I paid 90. I am willing to do this.
I get into the office and am immediately whisked away to 'mission control' which is the control room for the electronic billboards at Hollywood and Highland. Did I mention the guy that manages them left and in the interim I am the guy in charge? Right. So, maintanence, content creation for Nissan (I've had a crash course in after effects and illustrator) and lots of calls with Chiat and Nissan...thats been my life. I spent the vast majority of my day in Mission Control end up working until 8, leaving Khanh to finish a piece of content and then going to see Brazilian Girls.
I took a brief interlude during my day for lunch and then to meet 'Johnny from Palmdale' on the corner of Hollywood and Orange. This exchange was ****ed/funny for a few reasons. a) he was DECKED OUT in clippers garb. I mean, just totally decked out. The guy had a hat, a jersey, a sweat band. If anyone was buying this ticket, I am happy it was Johnny from Palmdale. I knew he'd have a good time. (even though they ultimately lost) b) he had a cnote that he kept on crumpling and uncrumpling compulsively. Once we made a quick exchange, we talked a bit on the way to his car and then I went back to mission control. On my way I thought 'this benjamin looks pretty fake.' I crumpled it, smelled it, spit on it, and I couldn't tell. It had the 'stripe' in the middle, but it didn't look or smell right, but I don't have a lot of 100 dollar bills. But still, something was amiss. And not in that 'the US dollar looks like monopoly money sort of way. My goal, to use this 100 dollar bill and get real change for it, as it was clearly a fake. (unconfirmed)
I got to Brazilian girls and decide that paying for parking with the 100 is the best thing I could do. Anytime someone wants to screw me on parking my vindicitve side comes out. What a perfect candidate to get paid with a potentially fake bill. I got 90 bucks back in good old fashioned money. It all smelled and looked right. The show rocked, the lead singer is hot, and all is happy. It was really awesome. I don't go to a lot of shows for that style of dance/world/electronic music, so it was great. I got home, crashed, and prepared to wake up early to have a day of some work (for Nissan) and go see Ashes and Snow. (www.ashesandsnow.com)
My plan failed. I woke up at 1 to my phone ringing. Steph and Alia were in town, so we got lunch and then I would go to Ashes and Snow. Lunch was good. I hadn't seen either of them in forever and I had been bugging Steph about hanging out. We had good discussion about video games and work and then we all bounced.
Traffic sucked. I got to the pier around 3:30. There was a ginormous line. I am talking RIDICULOUSLY long. I hop in line, listen to my ipod, but when after 15 minutes I don't move, I ask the lady in front of me how long is the wait...2.5 hours. I am out. I step out of line and decide the only way I am seeing this exhibit is if I use my wit, guile, or charm to get in sooner. A bit of all three played a part. I start near the begining of the line, scanning, searching for my mark...and there they are, 2 girls, 1 in a UCLA shirt. I innocently (and pretty stupidly) ask them if this is the line to get in. They say yes, show me where it starts. We some small talk and I ask how long they've been in line, etc. I pause, ask if they went to UCLA, they still go to UCLA! seniors! We chat a bit about UCLA (as the line is moving this whole time) and then I say my friend I was seeing the show with can't make it, mind if I join you? They accept. I am happy. There is a God.
A 2.5 hour line becomes 20 minutes. I am please. The exhibit was beautiful and amazing. I am not sure what else to say. The videos of the work was even more powerful than the stills, though it was all gorgeous. A great way of capturing a surreal combination of animals and humans. Afterwards, my two new found female companions and I got dinner on the pier and rode the ferris wheel at sunset. Life is good. We exchanged numbers with promises of calls later in the week, and I went on my way.
I then went and got smashed at Molly Malones with Kim, her sister, and cody, joe and pat. Shout out to Jeff for coming up to the LBC. Avidan showed up and I drunkenly bitched about work and what not. I was triple fisting. GNT, Scotch, Guiness. I am all that is man. I was in rare form. Kim's sister beat me at an imaginary game of 1 on 1 on the sidewalk, but thats okay, you gotta let the ladies win now and again. I somehow had this brilliant plan to make Kim and Shani come over, by making Kim take me home...it backfired, they just dropped me off.
Pat and the boys went to get big Tomy's...I then got a call asking where Cody was. He wasn't with me. He wasn't with them. Man down! Everyone finally made it back to my place (Cody included). Somehow in the shuffle my Big Tomy's burger didn't make it. Making Pat and Jeff accompany me to Whinchels, we traveld with beer in our disposable cups and got donuts. We got home, ate Winchels and died. I woke up early the next morning to go make lunch for my mom.
I made Japanese curry and stirfry with Japanese noodles. I sometimes amaze myself. It wasn't that hard, a bit time consuming, but tasty and my mom enjoyed it. I spent most of the day with family and then went off to nathan's to hang out with him and Paul. We watched UNLEASHED and then played video games. I got home too late and knew I would be tired in the AM.
I wake up Monday with an urgent text from Avidan to call Mike. (the guy that used to run mission control) This is bad. I also have an email from him at 4AM saying that the zipper wall is down and him an Khanh have been working on it since 12. This is very bad. We are supposed to demo our content for Nissan and Chiat today. I rush to the office, go straight to mission control. I get the skinny from Khanh and then Avidan via phone. they tell me what they think is wrong. I look at the situation fro 10-15 minutes. I tell them what I think is wrong. They disagree. I start testing. Avidan gets a bit annoyed, because they've already tested that. Following my hunch and instincts I continue and we ultimately get it up and running. I am the king of IT. The rest of the day is spent perfecting content and tweaking how the billboard looks. We meet at 4, they love it. I got into the office at 6:30, after business hours.
Could the day be over? Bet your ass it isn't. The airconditioning in my server room dies. 80 degrees in 20 minutes. I put the portable in there, turn on a fan, and start ****ing around with the AC. It finally kicks on and Avidan and I can rest easy.
Tuesday was no better. What I thought would be a 7:30 exit time turned into 10:30 as we ran into major issues at our accounting office with a router and point to point t1s. Good timing, I wasn't tired or anything.
The last few days have been busy, but nothing in particular, just this Nissan/Mission Control stuff. My 'real' work has been mostly avoided, unfortunately, as now I am getting some grief for being so behind on it. I dont' really see how it can be my fault, given all of this work on our plate. I mean, I've had to deal with angry vendors, making ad spots, and a system of stuff I have no idea how to REALLY operate...maybe cut me some slack?
Tonight has been good. Mostly relaxing. I had a drink and hookah with my new found female friends (I should trade mark that phrase) and now I am listneing to music and writing some stuff. I hope to sleep 'early' as well.