“Hey, played that game yet?”

Panzer Dragoon Orta.

And no, I haven’t played it. I’ve never owned an Xbox. Until recently.

Hello there, namesake. Used, on amazon, like new.

Sweet.

So on my day off, running errands had me passing by my previous job. I went in and visited the library and my former coworkers. There were previous visits, sure, but this day, I spent a considerable time talking to people and observing my former workplace in a different light- from a workplace to a patron.

And its as if nothing has changed. Well sure, it’s only been about 18 months, but I had expected to see something… more to be changed since I was laid off. It’s as if it lived in a snapshot of time, and I was simply revisiting the snapshot, looking into it as if I were Alice peering into the looking mirror.. It felt like I had been laid off only a few days beforehand. It felt eerie, in a sense, to see the regulars still visiting the library, the same people picking up books, reading magazines, or using the computers there. As if nothing happened recently.

Children I remember seeing had grown older- but the same patrons still were there, greeting me as if nothing had happened. I went back to visit a chapter of my life that never changed, or if it had, I couldn’t see it my brief time visiting there.

And I still don’t know how i feel about it, to be honest. It’s frustrating to see what was a huge part of my life stagnating, but at the same time, almost welcoming to see it never change. I went through the stacks I used to organize as a page, getting a sudden urge to organize a western book that had been placed in the fiction section. I ultimately did, out of courtesy, but it was ultimately my own mind reverting to a much quieter time in my life.

In the end, visiting the library so far out gave me closure.

I came into work the next day eager to tackle the day’s challenges, knowing that in some way, the previous chapter of my life will always be there in one form or another. Because, in the end, it’s rare for changes to occur in such a sleepy little place.

I’m working on a couple of long form blog posts, including one about my thoughts on the Mass Effect movie. I’ve had just a random assortment of things thrown my way as of late, but with some great news (I became full-time at my job! hooray!) I might finally be able to structure my time a bit more effectively to get things like my own site and writing (both screenwriting and blogging) done effectively.

Last but not least, I’d like to share a picture I have- my grandmother playing with my new ipad. She’s had two chances to use it so far- the first, she was beside herself laughing at Bebot, and the second, Garage Band. Getting used to the touch interface has been the biggest difficulty for her, but she’s been enjoying it so far.

Just seeing her smile like that made it worth it.

I stopped in my tracks after my coworker told me this after the fact- I couldn’t think of anything to say to that. It’s probably the best compliment I’ve ever received.

I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing still, but I’ll take it at face value and honor it nonetheless.

A picture of my car before I had it taken away by the tow truck from the charity. Used the AutoStitch app on my iPhone. I miss the car already- I’ll be writing a small retrospective of my time with my car.

Before that, I’ll be doing a writeup of my experiences at E3, 2011! I got in this year! Expect that next week.

As my life has found a sense of rhythm now, I figure it would be a good as time as any to retry to move into projects planned, personal and otherwise. My new job has opened up a whole new bag of opportunities- and finding a group of coworkers and people that motivate me and have become a great resource in of itself. Will this finally produce some content for me? Hopefully. Only time will tell.

I will be now participating, however, in something new for myself- Script Frenzy. It’s a competition for screenwriters to try and challenge themselves to try and write at least 100 pages of scripts in the month of April.

So in all sense of the word- write at least 3 pages of scripts a day for the next thirty days. I’ll post weekly updates for Script Frenzy here. I’ll be writing and starting multiple scripts and episodes of shows i’ve been jostling around in my head.

Wish me luck. I’m trying to be my old self again. Or as much as I can be.
EDIT: Shit i lied didn’t I? Anyways, I’ll be trying to get stuff written (or at least posted) bi-weekly here.

My current job, working as a library clerk, requires me to have a nametag on at all times. I try to keep it on, but I was having difficulty trying to figure out a way to customize it. After going to one of the theater-demos for Uncharted 2, I finally found a way. Now, I wear my nametag (not pictured) with this lanyard given to me at the demo. I've gotten compliments for it, oddly enough, including someone who works at Naughty Dog.

Posted via email from Daniel’s posterous

This is not one of those times, unfortunately. This is one of those stories that ends up on the opposite side of the spectrum.

I arrived at my friend Primo’s house one Saturday evening quite hungry, as i had not eaten anything that day. As I am inclined to do time and time again, I raided his fridge for food I came across about two and a half squares of brownies cooked by his girlfriend, Michelle- moist and very appealing brownies to my quite hungry eyes. I tore off the note she left on the note and- to put it simply- I “went to town” on the brownies, eating the baked goods in a slovenly manner. I didn’t care, I was famished.

Primo and another friend, Nick, watched with amusement in the kitchen as I ate the brownies. They waited for me to finish the brownies before laughing hysterically, leaving me quite puzzled as i started picking out small chunks of the brownies still in the inside of the pan. I questioned them on the reason of their laughter, so Primo showed me the note Michelle wrote. It read:

THESE ARE “MAGICAL” BROWNIES! ENJOY!

I froze in shock, looking to the obscene mount of brownies I ate, the pan hanging off of my fingers as my wrist went limp, eyes wide as I glanced back and forth between Primo and Nick in pure horror. Nick chortled and observed that, “Those brownies are going to hit you HARD”.

To say I had a bit of a freak out is putting it midly. I tensed, waiting for the brownies to hit me, to really be stoned for the first time. Primo and Nick took extra care to observe me that night- even going as far as to have Primo instructing Nick to watch me in the car as he went to the ATM so I “don’t have a freakout”.

I was tensing up a lot- sweating, clenching my fists and hyperventilating, waiting for (and I quote Primo on this) “the munchies to kick in”.

We decided to go to In and Out Burger, a popular fast food joint for dinner. Primo and Nick continued to watch as i ordered another obscene amount of food to eat for the coming munchies. I sat there as cars went past us to pick up the food. My palms were sweaty, i was trying to calm myself the best I could. I was going to enter an altered state of mind I hadn’t been to before.

Primo and Nick watched utterly amused, giggling. I stopped to look up to them and asked them what they were up to.

They giggled and waited for a few minutes before they told me that the pot brownies were a lie.

I ate regular brownies.

And I thought I was high.

No one at In and Out took a second glance as i started to choke Primo out.

Goddamn you, placebo effect.