Reading in Redondo

Let the banners fly and

Let the banners fly and the court jester cavort! I am once again fully employed, as a writer doing business proposal work for a local employment agency's corporate HQ. A fifteen-minute commute, and the pay is every bit as good as those west-LA jobs with the one-hour commute. Heh!

I was discussing it with Tina today during a long walk through the October chill to get candy for tomorrow's totling army, and I realized that I may actually now have that capital-C career that I've always wanted. I'm a freelance writer. If you look long and hard at my history for the last 7 years, that's been my most consistent and successful job description. I have a backlog of clients that have been thrilled/satisfied with my work, especially for the last three years. I have a reputation as an accurate and efficient wordsmith. I'm not a fantastic editor, but that's not necessary as long as you can find a gig with a real editor (I've been very fortunate with that this year). At the end of this employment agency gig (and they tell me it's limited, but unbounded), I'll be able to put together a new resume with a list of 7 or so clients that can attest to my writing chops, and reach for some other good-paying gig.

Or, hey, maybe the agency will find a permanent home for me. Basically, things are looking up, and I'm thrilled to be working in my home town again. West H'Wood/Beverly Hills is neat, but I'd had quite enough of La Cienega and the 405.

I succeeded in finding a

I succeeded in finding a new position yesterday! I'll be working on business proposals for an employment services company based right here in the good ol' South Bay. I couldn't be more thrilled, since this is local, it's full-time, AND I won't have to take a pay cut (in fact, since this is on an hourly basis, I'm actually making quite a bit more than at my last FT job)! I start next week.

Tina's game update: Since I

Tina's game update:

Since I finished Sly Cooper and the Thevious Racconus (great game, but short), it was time to focus on a new game. I tried Time Splitters 2, which is a FPS, but the easy levels are too easy, and the standard levels are difficult to finish due to the vagaries of the PS2 controller. (Damn helicopter!) Oh well. Time to pop in the PS2 magazine demo disk and see what else is out there. Turns out that the Dance Dance Revolution series has a new game coming out - DDRMax - at the end of October. You might be familiar with the DDR sensation if you've been to a video game arcade in the last few years. It's that machine that has the metal floor with the 4 directional arrows. You press the arrows with your feet in time to the patterns displayed on the screen. It's a big hit in Japan.

Now Brian and I tried the game in the arcade once. We didn't get more than 20 seconds into the game before we threw up our hands and fled. But the PS2 game caught my attention, because I really like the music and I'm pretty good at all those "press buttons in time to the music" games. Check out Space Channel Five for a good example of what I mean. So I went out to the store and bought an older game in the series - Dance Dance Revolution Konamix. And since I was there, I bought the dance pad too. The dance pad allows you to play like you do in the arcade, i.e., looking like a total dork. I played all weekend (quite a workout!) and I'm getting the hang of it. Brian, sad to say, is still working on the tutorial. Still, he's at a genetic disadvantage, being an average white guy alpha, while I'm an asian girl. It's pretty funny to watch us both dance to the same steps - we're synchronized dorks.

Unfortunately, we have broken our dance pad, so DDR is on hold until we can get our hands on a replacement. But as soon as we do, Brian will work on graduating to average white guy beta.

Numbers: A Journey through the

Numbers: A Journey through the Web

Today: 32

Title 32 of the Code of Federal Regulations concerns the National Guard. 32 Keys is a little self-help book on the net. 32bit.com is a server software directory for IT professionals. 32 Degrees is pretty darn cool; it's a paintball supply company. Beavis & Butthead moment: paintball companies use the term "barrel condom." (Oops, I just got filtered out of every library in middle America, didn't I?) A snowboard company also uses the number under discussion in their name. MAME 32, of course, will let you play old 70s & 80s arcade games on your home computer. Hmm. Too much commercial stuff for number 32, isn't there? I now picture number 32 as a huckster, standing on the street corner and calling people over to sell them real estate in a swamp.

I signed up for a

I signed up for a few volunteer opportunities today through VolunteerMatch, a neat little service on the web. We'll see if I get any calls. One's at the California Science Center, the other is a PR/marketing opportunity for a youth literacy program. Both are just perfect for me, so I'm kind of excited!

I have a cold this week, but I seem to be fighting it off quite well.