A day of firsts. I caught the train from Solana Beach to Los Angeles to spend the day at E3. This is my first stop in Solana Beach and first train ride in California. And despite my fears that I would catch the wrong train and end up in Argentina, things went very well. As I waited for the train, some of the sound folks for the game arrived at the station so I knew I was pointed the correct way. One fear down, a million to go :)

Last year at E3, I lived an entirely different life. I wasn't working or living where I am now. My job, while interesting, wasn't exactly what I had wanted. My current employer sent me to E3 to interview with the folks who would become my supervisors and my entire life changed.

And in the past year, I've realized I love my current job. Every day seems a little different with different challenges or opportunities. There's stuff I wish would be different, but I'm able to get past those things.

One thing that I am not sure what to do with is my homesickness for Seattle. I miss the weather, the city, my friends, and most of all my cherubs. That makes me question whether I've made the right decision, to do what I love but live so far away from everything. I lived in Seattle for 20 years and know where to find X, Y or Z if I need to. Will it take 20 years for me to live here before I feel that same sense of connection to San Diego?

You know your mind is someplace else when you're grating parmesan cheese and wonder how some gouda wax got onto your grater, then realize oh...you've grated your thumb. :/

I've been playing KotOR 2 though I'm not quite finished with it yet. I've converted the majority of my cohorts into lovely Jedi, which is rather nice when you see three light sabers slicing and dicing the Sith. However, there's some stuff in this game that I'm not very fond of.

First, your conversations with other team mates seem to happen in huge chunks of expository. You can go for an entire planet without some of them having anything worthwhile to say, but once they get started you can't shut them up. Atton went on for about a half hour at one point :/ There's a lot of typos in the dialog. Grammar, I can get over but separately spelled 'seperately' twice in one paragraph nearly sent me over the edge.

Some of the AI is wonky, too. Every time I'm on the ship and talk to Atton, he never turns around to face me. He'll stand up, face out the front window and talk, which takes away some of the immersion. Then again, most of the time all he wants to do is play pazaak, even when I'm in the skimpy dancer girl outfit (which boosts my charisma ;>). I'm assuming he's the romantic interest in this edition, but since I've turned him into a Jedi, I suppose there's no romance in my future now!

Anyway, my thumb may feel grate (snicker) but I'm tired. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep through the night for a change.

Programming Language Inventor or Serial Killer? The women in game development list has interesting topics.

I got 8/10. :)

A traffic tip for clueless drivers:

When your interstate on-ramp is metered, and the little sign beneath the light says "Two cars, this lane, per green," they mean that two cars get to go when the light turns green. Not, two cars can make it through when the light is green but if it turns red and you haven't made it you must stop cold in your tracks. Nor, if you're talking on the phone and hesitate and the light changes you just sit there while the person behind you has to throw his or her hands into the air in frustration at your stupidity. Two cars per green light when indicated. It's not rocket science. It's math, and even I can count to two.