a new year
2005-01-14 - 9:09 p.m.

Conclusion, and a New Beginning
2004-11-06 - 1:54 p.m.

-
2004-09-01 - 6:19 p.m.

midnight
2004-08-23 - 5:24 p.m.

where I went, and where I'm going
2004-07-27 - 8:05 a.m.



cast of characters
2004-02-15 11:53 a.m.

So it's getting to the point where I'm losing track of people's abbreviations, and you're probably losing track of the people I talk about. Thus, I subject you to another diary staple: a cast of characters. Enjoy.


Hunter (a.k.a. Hunt, Hunthunt, F): My boyfriend of four years. We�ve lived together since May of 2002. We met during an audition for my college theatre troupe in January 1999, and we began dating in November 1999. He was a Creative Writing major with a double in HCI. After graduating, we both got accepted to the same grad school, and then we both got identical jobs at SimCompany for different teams. (Yeah, it�s a little freaky.) Now we live together and work at the same company in California. He likes anything related to anime, video games, and Pokemon. He's also very, very close to his family, which serves as an interesting contrast to my Prozac-indcing family ties. I love him very much. :) (Oh, and he does read this diary. Hellooooo!)


The Office Folks

VA: My boss at SimCompany. She�s been my boss since September, although not really officially my boss until December. She�s a fun combination of girly girl and hardass producer-type, which works well (as it turns out). We get along very well and work well together. Best boss ever.

Chris: VA�s boyfriend. Does not work at SimCompany.

BigT: Hunter�s boss. One of them, anyway. He�s one of the high-ranking producer-types on the SimSequel. Lots of fun, kind of kooky sometimes. But like many of the good producers, you DO NOT want to get on his bad side. Oh no.

Ray: A mutual friend of Hunter�s and mine from our grad program. He also works at SimCompany, but he�s an engineer.

Laura: Ray�s girlfriend. They live together nearby. Laura was born in the US but spent most of her childhood (12 years) in Egypt.

D: Hunter�s other boss. Ranks below BigT but above Hunter. Also a producer. It�s sort of hard to describe Destry without using inflammatory physical gestures. (He�s a class act. ;) )

Suz: D�s girlfriend. A nurse at a local hospital.

Amy: Was a fellow student in my grad program - but we discovered from reading each others' website bios that we were also alumni of the same high school, and grew up in the same town! She now also works for SimCompany (same level as Hunter and myself.) Survived Silicon Valley in the dotcom days and lived to tell about it.

Cort: SimCompany engineer on the Console team. Amy's ex-boyfriend. Also a fellow alum of the School of Computer Science at my alma mater, so we've got common ground there.


Friends

Vicki: My best friend since second grade. We went to CCD (sunday school) together, we went to the same middle school and high school. We still keep in touch - she's currently engaged to her long-time boyfriend Joe. Vicki is studying psychiatry and wants to be a counselor. (Her boyfriend works for a PGA golf tournament.)

Laklak: A dear friend from college. I met her shortly before Hunter and I started dating, but we bonded fiercely during my first summer away from my family and have been good friends since. Sort of grew apart in the last year due to crazy schedules and such, but we still did lots of couples board gaming to keep up. Going to grad school in Georgia currently. Sings a mean No Doubt song when drunk. Loves the color green.

M3: Laklak�s on-again, off-again boyfriend. Attends the same grad school as Laklak. [What can I say? Our generation studies together and sleeps together.] Obsessed with Farscape, Star Wars, Star Trek, and fantasy baseball. Laklak and M3 are both dear friends.

Larn: My best friend from my early college years. For better or for worse, she�s also the one who introduced me to alcohol (at the age of 18.) Many, many good memories, but we grew apart as I spent more time with my theatre troupe � and eventually an argument involving my roommate and her crack dealer best friend caused a friendship rift. Miraculously, we both ended up in the Bay Area and have since rekindled things a bit.

Obi: Larn�s boyfriend of 5 years and fianc�. They�re getting married in November 2004.

Ira: A fellow board game geek and alum. Hunter got Ira an internship at SimCompany but it didn�t work out so well. Currently finishing up studies at the grad program.


Family

Doug: The older of my two brothers. (20 years old.) Currently attending a prestigious school in Boston studying broadcast journalism. We�ve got a weird depressive psycho mutual support thing going on, and I�d be lost without him even though we don�t talk often. May be manic depressive. Very hard on himself. Has threatened suicide.

Kyle: My youngest brother. Currently a junior in high school. Wants to follow in my footsteps, for better or worse. 16 years old.

Mom: Intensely religious and somewhat superstitious. Believes the spirit of her father haunts our home and turns the lights on and off. Refuses to divorce my father despite his transgressions (see below.) Works as a fashion merchandiser for a major fashion company.

Dad: The Dad. Is manic depressive, and in his darker times has attempted to kill my brother, attempted suicide, and threatened to kill himself and my mother. Used to run three of his own businesses simultaneously, but went several hundred thousand dollars into debt and declared bankruptcy. Now works for his only friend (no, I'm not kidding) doing civil engineering for trains.


Places & Things

SimCompany: The videogame company I work for. We make simulation games.

SimParentCompany: The much bigger company that owns SimCompany.

Gin 'n' Tonic Theatre: The theatre group I sold my soul to during undergrad and grad school. I acted a whole lot and I served on their board, including a term as their President. Good times, bad times, and everything else in between.


Retired Regulars

Randy: The co-director of the grad school program I was in between 2002-2003. He once worked for Imagineering, so I always figured he'd be a good person to impress. Magically, in 2002 he hooked me up with an internship at Disney World - he didn't dissapoint! However, lots of my friends can't stand the guy (including Hunter) so he can be a little bit of a sore point. He has somehow managed to procure a sabbatical at SimParentCompany, of all places, so he might be headed back to the Regulars section...

Brenda: My advisor in the aforementioned grad school program. I can deal with her in normal social contexts (usually) but when she's my advisor, I find myself gripped with a desire to flay all of my skin off with a dull pencil. Not so much a gifted advisor, and probably a good part of the reason I didn't shed too many tears when I was denied extra loans for my second year of grad school.



playing:
Games of some sort

reading:
The paper

feeling:
Nostalgic

Cast of Characters

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