Tag Archives: exhausted

Hey ho, let’s go

August 26, 2008 – 8:51 am

Back to work today. Wouldn’t be able to make it without you-know-what in you-know-where though.

Ah, that Moksha brew

Mmmm. Slept like the dead last night, as you might imagine, after having to stay awake an extra hour when I realised my MacBook was still set on German time - and that in fact it was an hour earlier than I thought. When I finally did hit the pillow I was out like a light. Anyone would think I was jetlagged. I guess it’s more like showlag. Better this morning, but it’ll take a few days to get back up to speed I expect.

Anyway! A heads-up here. First of all the first in a series of ‘behind the scenes’ posts is coming today regarding Quest for GC. Part One will magically appear this afternoon about 2pm. Second part in a couple of days, and so on. Should end up being five or so parts. I warn you in advance, the timeline on these is a bit screwed. I started writing them a month ago, trying to keep up with myself as we made the series, but then everything got too busy… so you’ll see the first three parts are sort-of contemporaneous and then the following three will probably be retrospective. You’ll get it….

What else do we have coming? Well, I need to finish off my post regarding the Aion casting process, which really more encapsulates casting as a whole. I also have (believe it or not) a near-finished recounting of the UK Games Expo (from back in June!). Last but not least on the video front I’ve actually been editing videos for Bristol Comics Expo (May!!) and I may also do one for the Games Expo, too. I know, we’re a bit late. This is what Leipzig does. It eats everything in its path.

Speaking of Leipzig, I’m not going to attempt to talk in detail about the show as it’d take way too long. I will probably work on some sort of summary post I guess. Main thing is, I survived.

So, what’s next?

By Rockjaw | Posted in Weird self portraits, Work-related | Also tagged , | Comments (1)

It’s over

August 25, 2008 – 8:20 am

So, Games Convention 2008 is done. I would say “We came, we saw, we kicked ass” but I’m too tired to muster the energy for that sort of hyperbole.

I’m tapping away in the hotel restaurant, picking away at breakfast while surrounded by a mix of American flight attendants, youth football teams, and hungover colleagues. Last night was, well, the last night - so there will probably be a few sore heads on the way home. The last thing I wanted was a hangover threading through a long trip home, so it was a relatively early - and booze-free - night for me.

In lieu of having much intelligent commentary at this point, here’s some lazy list writing.

Things I won’t miss about GC

  1. The people. Not the people of Leipzig, or Germany per se, but the sheer number of people at GC. I don’t mind crowds, but seriously.
  2. Late nights and early mornings. ‘Nuff said.
  3. A near-constant voice in my ear. Radios good. Near constant chatter bad.
  4. T-shirts. Getting rid of 20,000 was quite a chore, in so many ways.

Things I will miss about GC

  1. The people. Those around me right now.
  2. The coffee at the hotel in the morning. Was it the cream or the coffee? We may never know, but it was liquid gold every single time.
  3. The rush. When it’s good, it’s great.
  4. This moment, right now.
By Rockjaw | Posted in Events, Personal, Work-related | Also tagged , | Comments (1)

Phew.

August 13, 2008 – 9:30 pm

Pretty damn tired, although not as much as on Tuesday - you can probably guess why.

Leipzig/Games Convention is just a steamroller right now that’s crushing everything in its path. No-one can really think much beyond it. I know I can’t. There’s still loads to do, with the show doors opening in a week. I found out today, to my half-surprise, that I’m ‘Floor Manager’ for the main consumer stand. Which is… nice.

In the very back of my mind though, the wheels are slowly turning in regards to Memorabilia this year, and bigger than that, next year’s MiniCon 2… Electric Boogaloo, or whatever we’re going to call it. Plans. Ideas. Hopes.

That’s just events though. What I really want to figure out is all the other stuff. There’s plenty of product-related stuff going on right now, plenty to get our teeth into, to create new and exciting ‘things’ for. I’m kind of not sure what to tackle first. I expect they might tackle me first instead.

Er, what else. Oh yeah: exclusive costume pieces at conventions? Guys, listen to GhostRaptor. Of course they’ll be given away at other events. Leipzig was just the first one on the calendar. Let me also point out the bleeding obvious: we give cool stuff away at events because we think it’s worth coming to those events, and the cool stuff is just an extra sweetener. You can either come, or not. It’s binary.

Oh what the hell - finally…. Rumours are rumours. Not everyone knows everything, even ‘well-placed sources’, and sometimes - heck, often - people get confused. Chinese whispers occur. So in other words, don’t believe everything you read.

Except here of course. I only speak the truth. Except when I don’t.

By Rockjaw | Posted in Work-related | Also tagged , | Comments (1)

Escape from London

August 12, 2008 – 1:51 am

All time are approximate. Except for the ones that aren’t.

8:25am: In Moksha, getting scripts into a form Localisation can work with. Takes longer than expected. Notice ‘LU’ is twice as long as other scripts. Could be an issue.

10:30am: Baffled as to why video that took 20 minutes to render, and is apparently 94Mb in size, runs for 11 seconds instead of six minutes. And why eight of those 11 seconds are one image, frozen.

10:50am: Secure petty cash for London trip. Surely it will be enough to cover a few cabs.

12:15pm: Leave the office feeling like a Sherpa, with three bags slung over shoulders.

12:34pm: On train to Bedford… which I get off at Farringdon.

1:56pm: In Liverpool Street, having that “I’m over here under the big news screen… I’m the one carrying three bags… I have a beard” conversation that you tend to have with total strangers when rendevousing in public via mobile phone.

2:15pm: At costume designers, seeing things which just one week ago were outlines given shape and taken form. Impressed.

4:00pm: Have now seen what a woman painted grey-blue looks like. Life complete.

4:30pm: Making executive decision on length of hemline. In this case, has to be longer.

4:40pm: Swapping casting stories.

5:15pm: Watching costume people accomplish the impossible.

6:08pm: In Cab 2 of 2, en route to photo shoot. Grey-blue woman is in Cab 1 of 2.

7:15pm: Helping to move lights.

7:30pm: Eating chocolate and nuts.

7:45pm: Watching through a laptop attached to a camera. It’s like a live magazine spread. Except when it stops working.

8:37pm: Hurrying things along.

8:45pm: “Too… porno face.”

9:09pm: Seeing the pair together for the first time. Stunned.

9:50pm: Realising we have 25 minutes, not 40 minutes left. Chop chop!

10:05pm: Acting as impromptu wind generator.

10:07pm: Fired from above position.

10:15pm: “Less Bruce Lee hands.”

10:35pm: Ordering cabs.

11:15pm: Choosing best photos off on the way to Liverpool Street (via Brick Lane). Not so easy in the back of a cab, against the clock.

11:23pm: Saying goodbyes, see you next weeks.

11:45pm: Fending off Italian drunk kids with “I’m tired.” Reply: “I have worked eight hours in… [garbled name of shop.] I am tired too…” Check phone. “I’ve worked… fifteen hours right now.” He backs down.

11:53pm: Walking towards Victoria Line in Oxford Circus. Tannoy announcement: “Due to planned engineering works there will be no more Victoria Line services from this station tonight.” Wonder if the guy watching me on video somewhere can hear me swearing.

11:57pm: In cab on way to Victoria Station.

12:05am: On slow train home.

1:18am: Moaning aloud. Pain in calves is delaying progress home.

1:23am: Bed.

1:50am: Finish blog entry.

By Rockjaw | Posted in Day Today, Work-related | Also tagged , | Comments (5)

Post-casting day

June 30, 2008 – 9:47 pm

Ex-haus-ted.

Spent the day in London doing our casting. Saw 16 people - no wait, 17 - and gave the same little five-minute presentation explaining who we are, what we do, and why we want to cast people in these roles 17 times.

I think it was still pretty good, even on the 17th go-around….

Got a big post on the casting process coming, but I’m going to leave it until we officially announce why we’re casting, if that makes sense.

Being in London just reminds me why I left London. Also, got to say, the only thing worse than being stuck in a basement on a hot and sunny June day in London… is arriving and leaving during rush hour. Could have done without that.

Still, really useful and productive day. As always, all of prior expectations were overturned… but that’s a really good thing.

So what’s up with you guys? You’re quiet.

By Rockjaw | Posted in Work-related | Also tagged | Comments (6)

Saturday evening with my feet up

May 31, 2008 – 6:26 pm

Ye Gods, you have no idea how good it feels to be in a prone position with my feet up. Aaannd… relax.

Busy - and then quiet - first day at the show. As a result, looked like a blockbuster of a day first of all, then settled down so that it ended up in the ‘decent’ category. Still, if the same happens tomorrow I’ll be happy with the weekend as a whole.

Draw the World Together went really well it seemed; Karl Kopinski took to the process like a duck to water. Neil and Andrew both of course did great stuff too. Karl did a knockout sketch of Callista that I’ll share soon enough. Suffice to say it contains three figures… but simply looks amazing. We were all green with envy.

Right, now it’s time to get off to the curry house with artists and a few players in tow. (I can tell all the ‘regulars’ are here because my hits today are so low!!) I’ll leave you with me and a box of money.

DTWT cash

By Rockjaw | Posted in Day Today, Events, Weird self portraits, Work-related | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (4)

It’s just one of those days…

May 12, 2008 – 8:50 am

… when you roll out of bed first thing and realise that yes, you did buy a humongous mounted print of the Justice League over the weekend, and where are you gonna put it now, fanboy.

Also that today may be the perfect day to go see Speed Racer, while tired, uncaring and in need of laughs.

By Rockjaw | Posted in Personal | Comments (3)

Comic Expo Postblog!

May 12, 2008 – 12:03 am

Latest:

It’s not so hot now.

I’m going to sleep.

By Rockjaw | Posted in Day Today | Also tagged | Comments (0)

Oh yeah, it’s me

March 25, 2008 – 11:27 pm

Just in case you were wondering if I was an impostor or some crazy thing.

Me. Tired.

@ Home.

Also: tired.

Tomorrow: OMG, WTF, etc.

By Rockjaw | Posted in Weird self portraits | Also tagged , | Comments (0)

Cue Doctor Who music!

March 25, 2008 – 7:47 pm

Flip the switches! Run around like a madman! Push down a plunger! It’s time to de-materialise and go backwards over the last few days, before I can go forward. We’ll start with today, I guess.

  • It takes a major effort to just get out of bed, and Amanda wasn’t happy with me as I’d spent the night dreaming, twitching and snoring, apparently. This is how I get when I’m extremely tired.
  • Stumbling out of the door, I go to return our rented minibus. I always get paranoid there’s going to be some tiny thing wrong that’ll cost money… but Strafford are generally pretty good at not screwing us over.
  • Back in the office, the first order of business is to gather everything we rented for the weekend and put it all in a big pile to be collected Radios, lights and a PA system are all piled up near the door.
  • Next up: petty cash receipt count. I’ve done myself a favour this weekend and not obsessively counted and re-counted my receipts as I accumulate them; frankly I just didn’t have time. I manage to get pretty much the exact right amount, but then I have to go explain to accounts what certain things mean, and why I have receipts in some cases for double amounts (We only paid half of a train fare, for example, because it was for one person).
  • Next up… expenses. With one credit card swipe costing me £556 this weekend (the entire CrewNC food + drink tab for four days) it’s pretty urgently needed. Ends up well, well over four figures… but Mr Finance doesn’t blink. Phew.
  • After that, it’s clean-up time. Chris and I manage to do a pretty good count of our stock and clear space around our desks. By 12pm though we’re both ravenous and massively dehydrated.
  • Omega Sektor post-mortem mindmapOut to the coffee shop for lunch and the first event post-mortem. Over the next few hours we come up with dozens of ideas for a return to Omega Sektor. Lots of refinements, quite a few bits of new stuff. It’s really productive but eventually we have so much that the mindmap looks insane (see right) and the program I use to make it slow to a crawl!
  • Good time to return to the office… so off we go for, yes, more clean-up. Loading up trolleys with loads of stuff and rolling them between buildings is so fun.
  • In-between one run we sit and chat with the COH/V community team, just talking about the weekend and so on. Alex, AKA Ghost Raptor, has put together a spreadsheet with all the Task Force: Omega times in it, and has even done graphs. Mmmm. Crunchy.
  • Couple more trolley runs and I feel like I’ve been run over. This is officially The Wall. Both Chris and I are taking the rest of the week off, but we can now go home with a (relatively) clear conscience that there isn’t a load of stuff waiting for us when we go back.

So, now I intend to do a few things with the rest of my week…

  1. Rest.
  2. Write.
  3. Play.

Not in that order, mind.

By Rockjaw | Posted in Day Today, Work-related | Also tagged , | Comments (2)

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