Bill's blog

WHAM!

Working on an indie zombie movie this weekend, and the actors got a little too rough as they fought. Thank goodness there's a Home Depot nearby..

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Going Home

Phantom was great, but I think the effects outshone the actors (which I suppose is standard for Vegas). We were pretty beat after that and went back to the hotel after that. We played some games today before we left the hotel, mostly in the arcade. Did you know that there's a Mario Kart Arcade?! There is. It is awesome. Now itls time for a quick (on time!) flight home, then Weekend part 2 ("Return of the More Weekend") begins. It was great to spend some time here, even it was short and relatively smokey. Jessica and I had a lot of fun, and we hope we can come back sometime soon.

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BEST. RESTAURANT. EVER.

My awesome boss surprised Jess and I with an all-expenses paid meal at Valentino's in the Venetian, which was the best restaurant experience we've ever had. Seriously, this food was amazing, and even though it was covered we left our own tip as a big thank you to our incredible wait staff. Now it's on to Phantom of the Opera!

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Get on the Boat

Yesterday involved a lot of walking, so we're taking it a little bit easier today. We're about to go on a gondola ride at the Venetian, then it's on to the Stratosphere, which sounds like it has some more adventurous kinds of rides. Then, with any luck, we'll be catching Phantom or Blue Man Group tonight...

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Liberty Takes Another Hit

We've seen Paris, New York City, and what I'm pretty sure was a Mexican city square. Our feet are aching, and now it's time to get some dinner. It's been a good day, but the night is still young.

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In Las Vegas drinking Coke

We made it to Vegas, and now we're checking out the Coke store. They have a tray with 8 different kinds of floats! Orange Fanta is Jessica's favorite, but you can't beat old fashioned root beer in my opinion. We're still trying to decide which is the worst: Mello Yello or Red Flash (which is bubble-gum flavored).

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Holiday Traditions...

I'm away from my family for the first time this Christmas, but I'm attempting to keep alive the family spirit in every way I can. Here are two Christmas sugar cookies Jessica and I made yesterday, which I finished decorating. They're both made from the same snowman shape, but as my brother will tell you that's never stopped our family from making it our own. Merry Christmas!

Snowman and Rudolph

Teenage Mutant Ninja Awesome

So, one of the perks of my job (and for me, there are many) is that I get to hang around people who draw cartoons for

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a living. I had lunch with one of those guys the other day, and I found out in our conversation that he worked on the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon. Trying not to gush, I told him how much I loved the show and went on to tell him that my brother actually got an original cel from the show. He responded to that fact by telling me he was the guy that drew the pictures on the packaging of those cels! I know that must not seem terribly exciting to any of you (except maybe my brother), but to me it was a high point. I am a huge nerd.

Also, on a related and equally-nerdy note, I found a bunch of Archie TMNT comics in a Santa Monica comic book shop and I just had to pick them up. They were marked down to $1.00 each, so I bought as many as I could find. I used to read that series ever since I picked up #9 as my "reading choice" (my mom would only give us one) for a trip to New York when I was 10. Now I have issues #1-3, which are pretty much the only issues I never read while I was collecting them. Nerd Power!

Five Reasons That Things Are Awesome

(with apologies and credit to Cherney)

1.) Both of sister-in-laws had a life-changing event this weekend: one moved into her own apartment and the other got the job of her dreams.

2.) My name appeared on the CW this weekend, credited with the title "Editor."

3.) After learning about an obscure game from a friend of mine almost a year ago, one of my daily webcomics writes a whole strip about it today. (I lost.)

4.) I finally won a game in my fantasy football league (thanks to the Eagles and Cowboys for contributing 100 of my 160 points)!

5.) I heard from Mat this morning and he wants to collaborate with me on a story via Google Docs. Writing a story with one of my best friends from halfway around the world? Technology rules!

Birth Day

So today's my 25th birthday, which means I'm a quarter-century old. Twenty-five years chock full o' Billness. Yessiree. Billitude to the MAX. Thanks goes to Mom, Dad, John, Katie, Jessica, and all my friends, family, and occasional bullies for making me who I am today. Couldn't have made it here without you guys. Now, finally, I can rent a car. Also, in D&D, I would get some sort of EXP boost for reaching this age, like extra points added to my PHP Coding skill roll or something. (Man, I am such a nerd.)

var Bill += 25;

Anyway, it's my birthday so Jessica and I are going to uWink, which is the restaurant of the future. Apparently every table has an LCD screen with the menu on it, and you can order (and make special orders) via the touchscreen. Then, while you wait, you can play games with your table mates or against other tables, BDubs-style. Sounds good to me, but it won't have the coolest part of all. Someday, I'm sure it will, though.

We also celebrated last weekend by having a bunch of LA friends over for a day of gaming. I set up the Gamecube and SNES on two separate TVs outside and Jessica got a ton of food and tables to play board games. It was a lot of work for Jessica and her family (who graciously allowed us to use their yard), but it was a lot of fun and (I think) totally worth it. I got to play some excellent games of Settlers of Catan and Saboteur, as well as attempting to figure out Order of the Stick, which Jarod got me as a gift. Mario DDR and Super Mario Kart + more pizza than anyone could eat? All in all, an awesome time.

So, since I'm 25 and all, I guess I should get a little contemplative here (I'll keep it short). I'd like to say that I had certain goals I was trying to meet by my 25th year, but I really haven't ever sat down and set out deadlines for things in the past. I still think I've been pretty successful despite that, yet there are a few things I'd like to do before I hit my golden birthday:

• Move to a neighborhood where cats don't pee on my car at night.
• Start a nest egg with Jessica.
• Have a child(ren?) with Jessica (who will promptly destroy our nest egg).
• Get something published in a magazine, or a book, or something not a blog.
• Complete a screenplay I like enough to show to people, and show it to people.
• Be an editor on a feature film.
• See another continent.

Not necessarily in that order, and obviously some are bigger deals than others. It looks like a scary list to me, and I think that's why I gotta do it. The last 5 years were pretty scary too, but I got a lot done there and I feel pretty good about it so why not keep going? Normally I'd say something like "You only live once, life is an adventure, take chances, etc." except that the clichè is just too much for me right now.

I'm 25. Good work, everybody. Now let's do the next 25 without any more screwups.