Well, this weekend was certainly one to remember…
First off, there was Friday, which was a very big day for two reasons. As much as I want to, I really can’t state the first, at least not just yet, even though this thing is basically 99.99% definite. And when it is final (I have told friends, but I don’t want to talk about it online until its 100%, as not to jinx anything), I’ll be making an announcement, which should later this week (though there’s also a chance that I may not want it to go through…I’m still negotiating you could say). But its also tied into reason number two, which is that Friday marked my 10 year anniversary of being in New York. And in a span of ten years, I’ve managed to do a lot, if I don’t say so myself… much as transpired since I first set foot on the Big Apple, and I could have never in a thousand years predicted that I would eventually become involved in video games as a writer, designer, or even a creator. The original plan was always to maybe makes comics, and I’m even doing that today, plus make movies, plus…. and tons of other stuff has happened along the way, far too much to go into right now (again, wait for the comic adaptation). So this new thing is simply a sweet cherry on the top of a pretty amazing decade.
But I was still pissed, due to a certain party not paying me on time as promised (I really can’t say who), so I’ve been really poor all last week, and will continue to be till everything gets worked out (which might be a while). So not only was I in a celebratory mood, but quite agitated, hence the desire for a drink or two.
On Friday night, after some birthday present shopping for our friend Andy in the city (in which we basically hit the usual cool spots, such as Giant Robot and Toy Tokyo… which is where we ran into Abby and Matt), MK & I met up with Morgan (her friend and Andy’s girlfriend) in Hoboken and drove down to Delaware. Dinner was had at Wawa of course, and we simply spent the rest of night drinking and watching television at the house of Dom and Elizabeth, who are friends of Andy and Morgan.
While watching Fear Factor, I’d like to think that I came up with a pretty brilliant idea for a reality show (well, at least everyone that night all said they’d all watch it). Basically, a guy would get 60 million dollars to smash one of his own testicles (preferably with a big hammer, Gallagher-style), eat it, then shit it out. And for an additional 40 million, he’d have to then eat the shit. Sounds awesome, right? Also, once he starts, he can’t stop, otherwise a huge 32 pound bag filled with puppies (just imagine a big netted bag with all these paws and wagging tails sticking out) would be submerged in water. If that doesn’t scream “good television”, then I don’t know what does.
The next day, for Andy’s birthday, him, Morgan, MK, and myself all went to a shooting range. It was actually more of something that I wanted to, but since Andy dabbles in guns, he was more than happy for the excuse to hit the range. So yeah, aside from my interest in pro wrestling, which I guess I’m now somewhat comfortable sharing, I guess my love of guns is my next big dirty secret. At least wrassin’ is something that’s somewhat easy to laugh at… firearms, not so much as so, at least not up here, in the very progressive northeast. I have a friend who’s an ex-NYPD officer and when I told him of my interest, he was pretty non-plussed, though I could hardly blame him; idiots with guns make everyone’s lives very difficult, but perhaps no one more so than cops. Guns are a very scary thing, but I’ve been fascinated with them for quite a while, yet really haven’t really told anybody, even my closest friends. But whenever I’d hang out with a group at Barnes & Noble, instead of sneaking off to checking out some nudie mag like many guys, it would be Guns & Ammo for me.
Anyway, it was simply awesome! At our disposal was Andy’s Glock, which is a semi-automatic handgun for those who don’t know, plus we rented another semi-automatic and a revolver, which was actually the girls’ suggestion. We shot at all sorts of targets, from simple bulls-eyes with point outlines, to a pic of a crazy disgruntled employee-type with a sawed-off shotgun (again, the ladies’ choice). The sights and sounds were straight out of a movie…I was half expected to see Robocop a few booths away from us… with the only annoying part being getting hit in the side of the head on occasion by random flying gun shells from booths next to us, which is still pretty rad in my book. And much to my surprise, I did quite well and was able to stay on target with relative ease and consistency (though I would hope so, given all the Virtua Cop I used to play). But MK blew everyone away with her mazing degree of accuracy. It just shows how much bottled up anger can translate to great shooting skills! The game that honed her skills, btw, was Lethal Enforcers. The semi-automatics were surprisingly easy to handle, even the Glock, which was rather large and intimidating. The pistol on the other hand was a real bitch; it had the power of Dirty Harry’s piece, but was far smaller and difficult to get a good grip on. It was so bad for me, that just a few shots in, because of the kickback and the flash from revolver’s chamber, my left thumb kept getting singed, and it wasn’t long till I was bleeding. But I stuck at it, even to point that I was getting blood all over the gun… I felt like real a man! Hey, when you hang out with mostly film, comic book, and video game geeks, and aren’t that into sports, you need an outlet.
About six or seven hours later, I found myself in a dark and crowded bar in the middle of downtown Philadelphia. And smokey too… it sorta made me appreciate the anti-smoking laws we have in NYC (I hate the smoke of cigarets all over my clothes… though I still say the law is pretty retarded). Unfortunately, the ride leading up to it was rather complicated and annoying, which left Andy a bit frustrated. So in an effort to make the guy laugh, plus the line to the bathroom was a bit long, I ended up peeing in a beer bottle in the corner of the place. And I was quite proud of myself; I only got a tiny drop or two on the hand holding the bottle and nowhere else, not on my clothes, nor the floor, or (thankfully) my cellphone, which I had been using as a source of light to help aim. When I was done, I held the bottle out triumphantly and implored everyone to feel it so see how warm it was and to prove that I wasn’t bullshitting. Andy was extremely impressed, and along with my resilience on the shooting range earlier in the day, despite a bloody, powder-burned hand, basically made me a hero to him for the night, which was quite flattering. What did I do with the piss-filled bottle of beer? Put it on the counter of course. Okay, that sounds like a really fucked up move, but A) I wasn’t drunk despite drinking three beers and taking two shot of rum in a short span of time, I was relatively sober thanks to the 1 liter bottle of water I chugged in its entirely upon entering the premises because I wasn’t allowed to bring any outside drinks in, and therefore knew what I was doing, plus B) the crowd was beyond annoying and obnoxious as all fuck. It was this really bad mish-mash of trendy emo kids, faux-punkers, creepy old rich business guys, and skin heads (the racist kinds). At one point a brief catfight broke out between two chicks in which one threw a drink at the other, but I’m certain that it wasn’t the bottle of piss beer since some folks we were with got hit and I believe it was a mixed drink. What a Saturday night!
The next day, MK & I had lunch at Wawa, and on-route back to Hoboken to drop me off, we stopped by her very favorite grocery store in the whole, wide world: Wegmans. I can’t even begin to tell you why it is indeed just as MK sayd, other than it will rest-assured redefine what you think a grocery store can and should be, as it has with me. Unfortunately, I had to deal with freaks and weirdos, this time a family’s worth in the bathroom: there was one stall with one adult and three little kids and the way it sounded, as well as what was said, seemed way too much like some man/boy love was going down (basically assorted grunting noises from the man, and a nervous “I love you daddy” from one of the kids). I almost got a manager because it did indeed sound like sexual abuse was happening, plus I really needed to use the bathroom!
Once that ordeal was done and over with, I finally got to Hoboken, hopped onto the PATH to midtown, then walked to Revival, and waited for the first person to show up for the latest Insert Credit NYC meet-up. The last time such a event was orchestrated, only two other guys ended up showing up, just Mike and Joe, but though thankfully both were super cool guys, and we’ve since become friends of sorts. Once Joe arrived and explained that a bunch of people who said they were going to come, but couldn’t due to “stuff” (gee, just like last time), I had a feeling it was just going to be us three again. But a few folks managed to trickle by, and eventually a party was formed. I had fun, though I must admit, I did feel old once again, especially when it same to offering sagely advice to those interested with getting into game writing professionally. That and the fact that most everyone was still in school and at one point, one tried being sneaky and getting another a beer since he was underage, but was soon caught, which lead to the bar tender to confront them and yell out, with a very think, yet hard to pin-down Euro accent “”Do you think I’m styupid?!” “
I tried my damnedest to stay away from certain topics of conversation… basically video games… because to talk about stuff that’s normally discussed online but in real life is, you know, kinda lame (also, it creates an opportunity for to witness someone’s internet personality manifest in real life, which can be scary). So instead of just talking about games, we goofed on furries and discussed how awesome North Korea is (you know, safe stuff), and avoiding any and all talk about Killer 7, which I’ve become notorious around IC for hating with a passion. I guess that’s another reason why I so looked forward to the meet-up; believe it or not, but for some reason, I manage to really piss a lot of people off. I don’t know why, but I just certain folks all worked up, and usually over stupid things. At one point, before a previously planned meet-up, one guy was so agitated by something I had said (and mind you, I never go after someone personally… I know damn well that its just plain reckless and stupid to engage in such shit… after-all, its due to what I’ve said online that I’ve managed to get work… don’t get me wrong, I get in stupid/petty arguments all the time, but I try to at least pick and choose my battles) that this person stated that we ever met in real life, he’d punch me in the face. And I found this fascinating; I wanted to meet this person whom I had I managed to get such a strong reaction from, and see if he’d actually do it! But alas, he’s been a no-show.
But yeah… the internet makes people fucking crazy, And Killer 7 does suck. So that was the weekend. As for today, it was the first day of school, I’ve had a hangover all throughout, and I think I might be coming down with that monster flu that everyone I know is getting…. Hence why this entry might have more misspellings and/or poor grammar than usual. Please forgive me.
