Adjusted Reality

While I can’t talk that much about the specifics of my company, I certainly can discuss certain aspects of my job and the industry as a whole.  And one of them is making sure that a team of 20+ people stay on schedule.  Sometimes it’s not so hard, but sometimes it’s like herding cats.  In the rain.  And I’m a scratching post.

Some of the stereotypical things about the gaming industry are super cool.  The casual attire is a plus – today I wore a blue hippie hat, a star trek shirt, a hoodie, and blue snowboarding pants – and I fit right in.  Everyone has toys on their desks (oh, sorry, action figures) and there are nerf gun fights.  There are many work-related interoffice discussions about dragons and magic.  There is often a lunch card game or roleplaying game going on.

However, one of the negative stereotypes of working in the games industry is crunch time, otherwise known as extended hours, overtime, death march, pulling all nighters, see your family when the milestone is reached, etc, etc.  I’ve been through some of the worst of it.  I’ve worked 24 hours straight before.  I’ve worked 6 months of 7 day weeks where I had to beg for a day off.  I went through a period where my downtime was working at home.  This industry LOVES my workaholic tendencies like peanut butter loves chocolate.

Now, everyone understands that sometimes you need to pull a long night to finish something up.  I’ve been ass deep in work before jammin’ to something great in my headphones, and have looked up and it’s way later than I should be at work, and I don’t mind that at all.   The problem is – it gets old.

Take my 7 day week for about 6 months.  The bonus there was that I was actually making overtime.  The not-so-bonus?  Overtime on 9 bucks per hour in San Diego isn’t really worth it.  It’s ramen when you’re working 40 hour weeks, it’s fancier ramen when you get a little extra, and the taxes really kill ya.  What happened was it stopped being productive after a while and people just started soaking up the hours and getting the same amount done, and since so many people were doing it, you stood out like a sore thumb if you, for heavens sake, worked a SIX day week or left early.  I moved on from that place after a year, and things got a little better at the next place, but it wasn’t for too long, and soon we lost the overtime pay when we made the change to salary.

There’s nothing like extra hours when you’re not paid for them.  Especially when it happens for an extended period of time.  Zliten worked crunch for about a year straight as his innauguration to game design.  His reward after shipping the game?  2 weeks added to his paid time off.  He probably worked that extra in the last 2 months.  I lead such a small team that I never was TOLD to crunch, but what does any dedicated young upstart trying to prove herself do?  I found myself still at work after midnight A LOT.  I’d wake up groggy, not be productive until after lunch, and then do it again.  It was much less fun that this.

The other thing they tried to pacify us with (well, not me so much, but Zliten) was food.  I gained my weight at the end of college about the same time I maxxed my credit card with bar tabs, but Zliten gained his during that year of crunch food.  Low quality, cheap, crappy, non-nutritious troughs of food.  I do believe they got the same thing over and over for that year.

I am a lucky duck now at my place of employment, and work with some amazing people.  Our studio philosophy is to really kick ass and focus while we’re there, and go home when it’s time to go home.  So while we’re a bit of a drag about people sitting there watching videos or playing games all day or being too rambunctious, it makes for very few long days.  We are currently working our first 50 hour week in a year.  It might last for 2 weeks.  We worked approximately 2 months worth of crunch (mostly just 5o hour weeks, I don’t think we ever worked both weekend days) in the last 2 years before we shipped our first title.

The best thing?  Individually ordered crunch food.  Except on pizza nights (where they know to also order me a salad), we can order whatever we want from the restaurant of the day and it’s delivered.  One day, I got a super healthified burrito (about 300 calories).  Yesterday, turkey no cheese no mayo with a side of veggies.  Tonight, I splurged and got meatloaf, and it was TOTALLY worth it, but I could have ordered chicken, rice, and veggies.

I have had the opportunity to sit in on a lot of interviews lately, and one of my favorite loaded questions to ask is “what is your philosophy on crunch?”.  I’ve heard some great horror stories, but one of the common themes is that having to crunch for extended periods of time is due to mismanaged products.  Which is totally true.  Like me, most managers in the game industry came up out of other departments.  We’re not MBAs.  We don’t have exceptional experience managing anything, we just were good at what we did.  Or in some companies, not so good at what we did but weren’t fireable.  Depends.  I’d like to think I’m the former, but whatevs.

That being said, I’ve learned some time saving tips in the last few years.  Let me share them with you:

-If you’re procrastinating, move onto something else if you can.  There is no use sitting and staring at something you’re supposed to be doing without making progress.  If you can put it off without repercussions, do it when you are motivated.  For example, if you’re supposed to grocery shop and then do laundry, and you’re putting off the shopping, just start the laundry instead.

-Figure out how you work best and encourage it.  If you’re a born multitasker, make sure to have a to do list with more than one thing on it and plan to have a bunch of things ready to go at once.  If you get easily distracted, make sure you have a closed-door office that’s tidied up before you start working.  If all you can think about is getting out of the house and you feel lonely, grab your laptop and hit the park or the coffee shop.

-There is no substitute for a To Do list.  Nothing kills productivity than forgetting what you’re supposed to do next and having to search around for what you’re supposed to do.

What’s your best tip for being productive?  Any funny/true stereotypes about your job or hobby?

So that was a little too mysterious.  Sorry.  Succintly put, there is just too much going on with work and life and the weather being beautiful and I just need to spend time living instead of talking about it.  Executing on plans instead of making tons of them.  Winging it.  Reveling in the moment.  And such.

This just means that instead of attempting to do 5 posts per week, I’m going to lower my expectations.  I would HIGHLY doubt I’ll not check in at least once a week.  Maybe even a few times a week.  I just definitely don’t have time to do 1k+ words every weekday.  So don’t worry, you’re not getting rid of me that easily.  You will just see a little less of my ugly mug, and I may not be able to make it to your blogs as often for now.  Deal?  Deal.

Down to business.  So, a short weekly update.

Last Week’s Workouts:

Monday: Hill repeats. 1 mile warmup, 400m @ 10 min miles uphill (2.0 to 4.5 on the treadmill), 400m recovery x7, then 1 mile cooldown. After that, some leg strength work. I hate hills but I need to get better at them.

Tuesday: 30 mins arc trainer, 45 mins arms + abs. Was just thinking “get through this as fast as possible so I can get home and play final fantasy, heh”.

Wednesday: All out-ish 5k in 26:15. I was mentally exhausted after a long day, so I’m pretty proud of this even if it wasn’t a PR. I’ll set the goal for next weekend as under 26. My heel was aching after this and hadn’t felt right all week, so I knew it was time for new shoes. Decided to hold off on more running until Monday.

Thursday: 30 mins of strength.  My heel was still thrashed so I stayed off it. Did my new resistance band circuit (6 arm and leg workouts) + some ab work x2.

Friday: 40 mins on the arc trainer.  Babying the hurty heel, did alright. Felt better today.

Sunday: Walked about 2 miles to and from the kite festival.  It counts, right?

This Week’s Workouts:

Monday: Gym circuits.  1 mile running, 4 arm exercises x3, 1 mile running, 4 ab exercises x3, 1 mile running, 4 leg exercises x3, stretch.  Breaking in the new shoes.

Tuesday: 45 mins arc trainer

Wednesday: 5k outside, resistance band workout (arms and legs)

Thursday: 30-45 mins arc trainer/DDR, abs

Saturday: 5k race

Yeah, it’s not my normal insanity but a) I’m working at least 10 hour days and b) I’m racing (a little unofficial one but still) a race this weekend.  So there.  If I don’t call it slacking you can’t either.

Food Consumption/Weight/Etc:

Last weekend was Zliten’s birthday.  We had steak and queso and chocobo cake and pretzels and cheese for breakfast… I’m thinking I didn’t go ridici-crazy, but it’s worth noting that there were things that did not go along with my normal eating plan, fo sho.  This week, it’s crunch week at work.  There has been junk food ALL OVER.  The people who order food know I am generally a healthy eater and ask me if what they’re ordering is ok or if I need anything special (it’s good to be boss), so like today, I had 2 slices of pizza and a GIGANTA-salad.  Considering I had a light lunch, and didn’t snack, it was perfect.

Now the baked cheetos and half slice of cake when I got home…not perfect.  We’ll have to work on that.  Generally I’ll be getting up and working out BEFORE work so it won’t be 9:30 and I come home again looking for noms, but, perhaps I should look into a late night snack option if it happens again.  Cuz I cannot come home from the gym after almost 1 1/2 hours and not ingest something.

Weight-wise?  Last week I was around 159-ish.  Not optimal, but not horrible.  I’m just having an issue getting really worked up about it, though I am finding I’m down 0n my appearance a bit internally lately.  Not good, but I understand I just don’t have the OOMPH to change it right now.  Soon.  But not now.

That’s about it.  Hopefully I can make it back to blather about more but for now – off to work and play and be outside when I can and dance and sing and be happy.  Enjoy your week!

First of all, let me say this.  It’s not you.  It’s me.

I know, it’s a horrible line, but it’s just true in this case.  Now, don’t start crying.  Don’t look at me like that.  I wish it didn’t have to be like this.

We’re just growing apart.  When I first started here, I found myself lost.  Confused.  In need of a creative outlet and feeling small, unimportant, and wanting to find my voice.  We were like peas and carrots.  You helped me get back into writing something more than whining drivel (debatable but I’ll count it, heh).  You helped me meet some pretty killer people.  We’ve had some really deep conversations.

You are just really crowding me though.  There’s the hour or two writing posts, then the time reading blogs, then the time thinking about what to write… I’m not saying I don’t love it, it’s just…

It’s about that time in my life, that time of year, where I just can’t be that exclusive.  I’m resenting the commitment.  I just can’t devote that much time to you anymore.  I’m sorry.  Like I said, it’s nothing you did.  You’ve  been wonderful.  It’s me.  I’ve changed.  I want to embrace the fact that I get into work, and most days, don’t come up for air until evening.  I want to never eschew beautiful days to sit inside and write about my frustrations with weight loss.  I just can’t do that with you.  I know, you promised never to do it again.  I just can’t trust myself around you.

It’s not that I want to leave you.  No way, baby.  I just need some space.  I’ll be around, I’d miss you too much to leave forever, but I just need some time.  We can see each other occasionally, and continue the great conversations and deep thought, but for a while, I just can’t be tied down to 4-5 posts a week.

Hopefully in time, things will work themselves out.  But I just can’t promise that.  Only time will tell.

Can we get together and do our normal weekly update about weight loss and fitness pursuits tomorrow?  Probably, but I just can’t be sure.  Hopefully this time apart will really help us appreciate what we have here.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder, they say.

Stop looking at me like that.  I have to leave now.  I’ll be in touch.

No, it’s not another blog, I promise.

So, as part of my birthday celebration happy fun time, we signed up for the Urban Dare in Austin.  I’ve wanted to do it the last few years, but it’s pretty expensive.  This year, I said, fuck it, it’s my birthday.  I’m not going on vacation, I’m not staying in a hotel, I’m going to do SOMETHING fun, so this was it.

The weather was perfect as we rolled up to Mother Egans Pub at around 11:30.  We got in line, signed our waver, changed into our spiffy shirts, and waited around a few minutes for noon to get there.  Finally, we were told to go down the block to a field, and we had to play multiple choice trivia until we got it right.  We happened to be in the right spot even though we didn’t know the answer, and we got our clue sheet and were off.

And by off, I mean to the parking lot in the field furiously getting through the clue sheet using our phones to google all the clues and find the most efficient way around.  Where we spent the first 20-30 minutes.  Next time, we might spend a little less time prepping and just run and google at the same time.  Once we had all but one mapped out, we set out for the furthest north, with a quick stop on the way that was right up the street.

Clue #11 – Who dat – who dat – who dat gonna beat dem Saints? Nobody this year. Get your picture with a VW that has been transformed into a Saints helmet. (That would be the Shoal Creek Saloon, a place we’ve actually always wanted to visit – they are supposed to have GREAT food).

Then, on the way, we ran into a woman with a puppy, so we knocked this one out.  This lady was nice enough to stop but her dog really didn’t want to cooperate with crazy strangers wanting him to shake!

#5a – Get your picture shaking hands with a dog.

Clue #3 – DOUBLE JEOPARDY – First, get your picture in front of the store that rhymes with Roy Boy, and has the same amount of letters. Second – you much purchase 1 item and bring it back to the end of the race with your receipt. We bought a pretty little 20 cent marble.

We purchased our marble, got our pic snapped, and were on our way.  This was about 2 1/4 miles from the start.  Next, we hit the nearest clue, just down the street.

Clue #8 – He first visited Yosemite National Park in 1916 with his family, where his father gave him his first camera, a Kodac Brownie Box Camera.  He is world renown for his black and white photos of Yosemite and other major parks of the west.  Go to the park with his last name for your golfing challenge.  Fore! (Adams Park)

Here, we had to throw these two golf ball things around hurdles.  We both sucked pretty hard at it, but I sucked less, so after about 10 minutes I finished and we moved on.  We took a bit of a detour getting there so it was about 3/4 mile here.  Then we headed to campus to get the next picture.

Clue #10 – She said, “Do not call for black power or green power. Call for brain power.” Get your picture with her statue (Barbara Jordan). Campus was WAY, WAY crowded that day with lots of kids, it was a lot of dodging and weaving because they were all taking their sweet time.

We continued around campus and finally found some people willing to help us with 5b:

#5b – get a picture of someone NOT in the race doing a cartwheel.  Someone we had asked before about signing a waiver or suing us if they got hurt or some crap.  Seriously people?  Thought I left California, ya know, the land of palm trees and frivolous litigation?

By the time we left campus we were closing in on 4.5 miles.  We had a crossroads – head southeast and hit the furthest east stuff first and backtrack a little north later when we headed west, or head straight south and have to backtrack a bit the other way.  We decided to head east, so off we went.  However, we had just gotten the 411 on the clue we couldn’t figure it out before (yay for nice people) so we stopped here:

Clue #7 – get your picture with the spirit of learning. Yeah, this one was freaking HARD to find.  It was in front of some teacher’s union building or something.  Did NOT show up on google at ALL.

We actually went a little too far east after that, and had to backtrack, but soon we appeared here:

Clue #1 – 59 year old Brent L. found a stash of dynamite in a shed on his 5000 acre ranch. Concerned for his family’s safety but not his own, the rancher removed the dynamite from the shed, placed it in a field of knee high grass, backed away about forty yards, and fired a shotgun at it. The dynamite blew up and the shrapnel hit the rancher in the head. The man was air lifted to the hospital, where he passed away. They give annual awards for this type of feat. Get your picture in front of the Pub that goes by this award’s name. (I did not even have to google this one thank you very much.)  I believe we were probably about 6 1/2 miles here.

Next we headed on to the Austin Music Hall to take care of the next task.  Clue #6 was… Go to Killer Riffs for your bubble dare.  We had envisioned something like having to get in those big plastic bubbles or blow big bubbles with those life sized wands…nope.  One of us just had to cover a piece of gum in whipped cream, get it out without using our hands, and blow a bubble.  I did it because after more than 7 miles – hey – a little sugar sounded good.  Whip cream nommed, bubble blown, we headed onto the last leg.

Clue #2 – go to city hall and get your picture with the stinger.  Didn’t have any clue what this was before we got there, but it was EXTREMELY apparent once we approached it.  We found some people on the way to our next dare that said they were taking it down soon so we decided to run the next leg – probably about a quarter of a mile.
Clue #4 – Go to Woolridge square where you must perform 2 dares.  Well, we found Woolridge square, but it had been FRESHLY MANURED that day so it stunk like no other.  I felt really sorry for the volunteers assigned to that station all day.  The first thing we had to do was a wheelbarrow course – I volunteered to be the wheelbarrow, and was very glad for all the arm and core strength I’ve been working on lately, I didn’t even have to stop.  Then, we had to run around and find little markers with letters and numbers on them, and had to find the ones that corresponded to the letters in our word.  We got that done and headed on our way, breathing a sigh of relief…and actually fully breathing again because it didn’t literally smell like shit.

We noticed it was getting close to 4pm – which was 4 hours in.  We decided we wanted to finish before 4 hours so we decided to run the last legs.  We ran about another quarter of a mile and hit up the last stop:

Clue #9 – ROMAN MATH TIME: Get your picture with the orange and purple sculpture at XXXIV times XXIV Congress Street. (816)  This is my yaaaaaay we finished pose.  No time to celebrate though- we commenced with the running, about another quarter mile, and rolled up at Mother Egan’s again with a finish time of 3:59 and some change.  Hooray!

Then, there may have been some hard cider and chips with curry.

Total miles walked/ran: 8.62

Fastest speed: 7.3 mph

It was a lot of fun, I do believe we are going to do it again next year, try to run more of it together, and come up with some creative costumes like these gals, who won the contest.

Next up for races – 5k up in Georgetown (the little local 1 dollar entry fee one) next Saturday, and then Warrior Dash May 2.  Yay for 3 races in a row WITH Zliten!  Have you ever done an adventure race?

…’kay, not short like that toe, but whatever.

Life:

Every spring, it seems like things get crazy busy, and this is no exception.  Work has been for working very dedicatedly (yes, I made up this word).  I now have main things that take up most of my time, secondary things to do if I have time, and now tertiary things that are not a huge priority, but definitely help me be better informed and a better boss and decision maker for the game in general.  Ya know, fun stuff like actually playing the game.  I know, my life is sooooo hard.  While I’m not working more hours per se, each hour is action packed, and I’m a bit more mentally wasted when I get home – hence, less posts.

Plus – in Austin, you gotta make the most of every sunny temperate day by playing vigorously outside.  So, I’m out living, and when things calm down and heat up, I’ll write about it more.  😉

Workouts:

I’ve been lacking a bit of enthusiasm with workouts, but I need to remember that’s normal after a race.  Today, I do believe I am going to attempt to do hill repeats on the treadmill – which is also contributing to my lack of enthusiasm because I hate the hell out of hills.  I’m certainly not finding that I want to just lounge on the couch (well, any more than normal at least), but maybe 15 miles on every short week is a little aggressive.  Everyone needs some downtime.  I just need to make sure it’s peppered with some long and fast runs too so those muscles don’t completely atrophy.

Plan for this week:

Monday – hill repeats (1 mile warmup, 400m uphill/400m flat cycles, 1 mile cooldown) and legs @ gym

Tuesday – 30 mins arc trainer, arms and abs @ gym

Wednesday – 10k run

Thursday – DDR circuits w/full body strength (been a while, sounds fun)

Friday – all out 5k

Weekend – Birthday celebrations!

This should net me about 13 miles running, (with a practice 5k for next weekend), two cross training sessions, and two weights sessions.  Looks good to me.

Weight Loss/Food:

I had super salty chinese food yesterday (extremely low on calories but way high on salt) so I didn’t even bother with the scale this morning.  I’ll try tomorrow.  This week – simply put – I splurged a little.  It was my birthday.  I actually didn’t go crazy, but definitely wasn’t my normal version of healthy eating.  During this week proper, I plan to be an angel again, and then Friday/Saturday we have Zliten and friends birthday plans, and I will be reasonable, but reasonably reasonable, if ya know what I mean.

I was a little disappointed in how some of my clothing is fitting when I was attempting to get gussied up for going out on Saturday, so I definitely need to be vigilant and nip this extra 5-ish lbs in the bud sooner than later.  March is always tricky, but as long as I’m making some progress, I’m not worried about how slow it is.  Once we are over the birthday celebration part of the month, I’m gunnin’ for the low 150’s!!!

Ok, must run away and be productive now.  If I haven’t been by your blog lately, I apologize, and assure you that I miss you and wish I had 30 hours in the day.  So, I ask – what’s your birthday celebration theory?  Go all out and indulge, reasonably indulge, or it’s just another day to you?