A few days ago, Hunter likened one of the senior producers on our big new game (the one that Hunter works on) to a certain Dennis Nedry from Jurassic Park.

And dammit, that analogy was just too apt. He's in my area talking to people often, and I'll be darned if I'm not worried that he's going to shut all of the power off and let the raptors in.

Sigh.

The countdown to the paycheck is excruciating. 3 more days...

But otherwise, work is progressing. I spent yesterday researching Tuscan furniture with a member of our art team. Today it's back to the fan sites until our production team meeting at 2,

when I just might get to own some of the game. (crossing fingers)

Last week, I had the revelation - thanks to Hunter - that when my mentor gave me an armload of all of the titles in this product line, she was giving *me* personal copies. They're now *my* copies of the game. W00t!

Of course, I don't need to install them on my machine at work - since all I have to do is update to the latest version of the as-yet-unreleased game - and so, like most people, I display them on my desk in a pretty rainbow. :)

---

Ironically, despite the fact that my team developed one of the top games out there right now, we meet on the floor in the hallway because there's no room for all of us anywhere else.

Funny, isn't it?

It does mean that we often get to watch a parade of interesting faces. Yesterday, the execs walked through, followed closely by Mr. Will Wright and some people with visitor badges on.

A few minutes later, someone again walked through the meeting, all crouched down and bent over and obviously trying to be as inobtrusive as possible.

That is, until my boss shouted out, "Will! You don't need to do that! You're...you!"

Silly famous game designers.

---

My guilty secret - that I sometimes watch those home shopping channels because I like the sparkly jewelry - has mildly paid off, because it made it impossibly easy for me to quickly find examples of "a stone that's purple AND gold colored" or "a cloudy, semi-transparent blue material".

(The answers are ametrine and rough aquamarine, with a bit of blue lace agate for good measure.)

As a final note, I have begun to notice a trend - everyone cool in my group grew up in Pennsylvania. This does not, in fact, imply a correlation between "coolness" and Pennsylvania.

Most people admit it sheepishly - first, a cautious question - "Did I hear you're one of the (my university) people?" Then, the release: "You know that area? I grew up there!!!!!" and proceed to list things that I should remember for 10 minutes or so. :)

It is indeed a small country after all.