FORT90

Hey, even more random stuff, this time both general and video game happenings.

- For the past two days, SVA has been hosting Nintendo as it’s Street Team undergoes training. I was initially against the idea, but no one else saw the harm in it, hence the green light. I hate saying “I told you so”, but would end up hearing “you were right” by the end of it all.

Yesterday wasn’t so bad; the joke going around the office was that I was just pissed that the “team” didn’t have any free games on hand. I just have strong contempt for any company, even if it’s Nintendo, that uses hapless teenagers to peddle their wares (though it certainly is worse when it comes to video games). So their first day was without incident… at least while I was there. Turns out, after I went home for the day, they left a massive mess (comprised mostly of German potato salad) which my coworkers had to clean up. Also, they gave no indication that people were going to stop by late in the day to pick up packages (we had a list of everyone who was expected, and they weren’t on it) and a coworker also ended up getting tons of flak from security. And at some point, NY1 managed to sneak into the department.

This morning, I had to handle phone calls from numerous parents who had heard via the radio that Nintendo was at SVA and paying $300 to kids who like to play games. How they got SVA’s number is still a mystery; the theory that people just used directory assistance was debunked once multiple people within SVA, people who’s numbers are not publicly listed, also started getting calls. Most of them ended up getting transferred to me, and I had to tell these folks that there was no such deal going on (the training session was for those already chosen from an extensive search). But did these parents, who just wanted their kids to get paid tons of cash for playing games, want to hear this? Of course not, so everyone was extremely asshole-ish and wouldn’t take no for an answer. The guy handling the actual training was nice enough, but even his excuses was not enough for the P.R. firm’s massive fuck up (can’t see why anyone is actually surprised by this; it’s their job to generate buzz, no matter how false the information is).

Once the chair’s office got such a call, the assistant to the chair decided to voice her disapproval of the group’s disruptive behavior and antics, and in return got a ton of attitude from the P.R.’s rep. He was especially pissed at our school’s policy of not admitting members of the press on premises. Considering how much interaction I’ve had in the past with not only Nintendo themselves, but their P.R. firm, I was quite shocked by their actions and behavior, which went way beyond unprofessional. They really should be ashamed of themselves.

As they were wrapping things up, I let it be known that if one of the classrooms they were using was not cleaned up at a certain point (which happens to be the room in which I hold class), I would not hesitate in giving them a piece of my mind, but the guy running the event actually cleaned up this time around. He was also quite apologetic towards myself and the chair’s assistant, and very sincere about it to, but damage was done, and valuable time wasted.

- For lunch, I went to Wendy’s. Not only did I witness two crackheads get into a shouting match over fifteen cents, there was this guy in front of me who must have had torrets syndrome or something cuz he would violently snap his head and swing his arms about every half minute or so. Plus I’ve never heard such heavy breathing through the nose before. Also, he was filling out a application to Wendy’s which was plainly in Spanish, but this guy sure didn’t look like it. I so wanted to take a pic with my camera phone, but this guy seemed legitimately dangerous, so I didn’t bother.

- Found out that there’s going to be a Fight Club musical. I looked at various sources, and it seems totally legit thus far. Author Chuck Palahniuk is apparently cool with the idea since he always detaches himself from his books when they’re in the hands of others for reinterpretation in other forms of media (he’s gone on record by stating that he feels the Fight Club movie is better than the book). Plus he’s “getting his money” and that’s what’s important.

Word also has it both the film’s director, David Fincher, and Trent Reznor are both involved thus far. Interesting…

- Got to see some prototype designs of the Nintendo 64 (still the Ultra 64 at this point) and the Virtual Boy (seen in the pics as just Nintendo Virtual Reality). I really like seeing these kind of things, seeing how things looked right before, or in-between, the final product, even if they’re not from Nintendo themselves. The picture looks very similar to the mockup of the Nintendo PlayStation; I think they were both done by the same artist at Famitsu.

Of course, when it comes to prototypes, nothing ever beats the real thing.

- Came across a site that archives game covers and other stuff related to the Mega CD (the Sega CD as it was originally known in Japan). It’s actually rather old and seemingly abandoned, but there’s still some cool stuff to be found.

Back in the days of heavy Genesis gaming, I always wanted one, but the cost was a hurdle. That and common sense; there was always only two genuinely good games for the system, Sonic CD and Silpheed, and that fact still hasn’t hanged, even ten years later.

Problem was, we only got mostly full motion video crap in America, while in Japan, there was cool games like the one you seee to the right. Hopefully there’s no right wing conservatives reading this blog, otherwise that game could be used to cement Kerry’s defeat.

- In less than ten minutes, I have class. This past week I went to multiple 99 cent stores looking for little doodads and pieces of junk to use as pieces for an in-class game design assignment, but was not able to find anything remotely useful, so I’ve had to change my lesson plan a bit, which I did not like doing. Plus I’m massively tired (again)…. I just wish I could approach teaching class with having to deal with so much bullshit beforehand.

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INTRODUCTION: My friend Jessica recently moved out to Oregon (which is near my home turf) to work at Will Winton’s studio. Since there’s not much to do there except avoid bears, she asked me to help pass the time, which has led to me sending stories from my past for her amusement. Since I do this weekly, I figured I’d pass them along here as well.

So while I’m writing this week’s installment, here’s one from last Thursday. It’s about the time I got my wisdom teeth removed…

It was the summer of ’92 when I was told by my dentist that I needed to get them taken out. My father figured that the procedure might cause me to swell up and become incapacitated, so I had to do it ASAP, at least before school started.

I grew up in a military household, which meant that all medical procedures were done on base, and free of charge. But as we all know, what you get for free usually sucks. Even though I was 15, I was still was under 18, so I had to go to the pediatric ward for the procedure. For three hours, I sat in a loud waiting room of kids running around, screaming, with Barney in the background.

Eventually I saw a doctor, some young guy wearing two neck ties in an inane attempt to be funny. I was led to a room that was dark and dirty looking…. the kind they beat prisoners in. The dentist chair was pretty old looking, and once I sat down, I was literally strapped in, with my arms totally constrained (this was to prevent any “involuntary movement”).

Then he pulled out the longest fucking needle I had ever seen and stuck it right in my mouth. Hurt like hell, of course. He then left for about 20 minutes to allow the Novocain to work it’s way in my system. When he came back, he began to go to work, but told me that I should stop him if I felt something cold, which was a sign of the Novocain wearing off. And within a minute, I began to feel cold. So he stopped, shot me up, and left again. This all occurred about three more times, so after all was said and done, I had been four separate shots of the stuff.

Finally, when it seemed my body had enough, the procedure finally began. Using a special little hammer, he hit each tooth at just the right spot, breaking them down into easy to grab pieces. Well all except the last one, which he must have hit wrong, so it shattered into dozens of teeny tiny bits which took forever to collect. Did I also mention he had that Matthew Sweet song “Girlfriend” on repeat the whole time?

Afterwards, he sewed up the holes and sent me on my way. I had to get special medicine from the army hospital pharmacy, which takes about two hours to prepare. So to kill time, my dad and I went to the PX (the army base general store.)

Now here’s the thing…. when you get shot with Novocain, you produce saliva. So if you’re shot with it four times, you produce a LOT of saliva. Also, an interesting thing happens when just one tiny drop of blood touches saliva: it turns it all red, sorta like food color. So image what would happen if your producing a whole mouthful of spit every two minutes to the point that you’re drooling but don’t care cuz you’re so out of it and one of the holes in your mouth wasn’t closed properly, and thus leaking blood?

As I walked around the women’s department for no good reason, I kept getting funny looks (more so that usual). When I looked in a mirror at the make-up center, I noticed I had a ton of blood (actually, spittle-blood, but I didn’t know this at the time) running out of my mouth and getting all over my shirt. So I ran to the bathroom to spit into the sick, where bloody spit splashed all over the place. People in the john all freaked and they all ran out. One even yelled out “he’s fucking infected!!!” whatever that meant. My dad came rushing in, who had lost track of me, but I guess saw me run across the store. He was instantly pissed.

He took me back to the doctor’s office and demanded an explanation. The doc gave me a look and explained what the problem was and had a nurse fix the wound. Not once did he put down his sandwich. By the time the mess was resolved, the pain was finally kicking in, and the medicine was ready.

I went home with the very specific instruction to rinse my mouth out with salty WARM water. But my mom, being Korean, and not having a great grasp of the English language gave me salty HOT water. The instant it was in my mouth, the pain was so intense I passed out. So when I woke up, it wasn’t my cheeks that were swollen, just my forehead.

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