So I’m just going to come right out and say it: I’m failing at this whole Quest 4000 initiative. It’s not really about updating more often, though given the rate I’m going, it’s going to take a half life of a batch of radiation for me to reach the goal of 4000. No, the issue is that I’m not really doing a good job pulling myself away from the virtual world. The whole point of Quest 4000 was to inspire me turn off my computer/console for a minute to enjoy the real world. I seem to be going in the opposite direction.

I’m sure it doesn’t help that I’m doing more work than ever. Though I hesitate to call it work because I enjoy it so much. But it’s like going to a chinese buffet with too small a plate. All of it is piling over, and you can only stack the crab legs up so high. So what am I juggling these days?

See this pic? If you watch America’s Got Talent then you would know who this is. It’s Grandma Lee! Some old lady that no matter what joke she tells, it’s hilarious because she’s that old. I happened to run into her in Vegas. My wife went gaga, and while it was risky interupting an old lady from her stiff drink and cheap cigs at the slots, we had to go for it.

I sorta hated myself to even recognizing her so quickly, and wanting to get a pic with her. I watch way too many America-thinks-it’s-got-top-talent-extreme shows.

Since this was the first time The Kartel Krew got to go to E3, one of the fun things we set out to do was play a scavenger hunt game while at the show. All of the ideas were submitted by The Kartel community, some of which were raunchy, others nearly impossible to pull off. Typical. But there was one that until now never crossed my mind as something someone would even care about. Specifically: Get a pic with Kojima.

This struck me as particularly amusing because I use to work at Konami and I would run into Kojima all the time. I never once thought of taking a picture of him.

I have been to E3 since the beginning of time. Sometimes, I had to work the booth. Other times I got to roam the show floor. Basically, I’ve seen it all. So the initial WOW isn’t there for me anymore. So what gets me excited about a show like E3? When I get to see fresh young faces go to the show for the first time. Most of the Kartel Krew have not been before. And here’s where it gets fun: we all decided to road trip down together.

Having a birthday in this day and age of internet access sure feels like an empty high. Like having sex with a rubber on. Or rather 2-3 rubbers, because then I’m pretty sure you’re just going through the motions, but aren’t feeling a thing.

Because of Facebook, random strangers suddenly remember to reach out and greet you warm wishes. I got at least a dozen shout outs from people that I don’t know, because at some point in time I joined a group to jack up my Mafia Wars friends. I wonder if they “think” they know me.

Like any diehard gamer, I got shelves of action figures, toys, and collectibles. I go through periods in life where I flaunt my goodies as much as I can. I’ll clutter my desk with toys, and showcase them in display cases around my house, as if they were rare pieces of museum art. And then sometimes, I’d look at myself and wonder if a grown man should still be hanging up posters of sexy video game characters he swiped from a magazine at the newstand.

I always had a fascination with words. Growing up, I would concoct wild stories, and design monsters and their bios (thanks to a unhealthy penchant for D&D.) I would create tombs of rather peculiar, if not silly poetry, not because I was romanticizing intellect, but because I found it funny how you make something like fart rhyme with heart. 

Over the years, I was getting some recognition for my writing. Back in 5th grade, when I created my first adventure game, I wrote a whole story on how you had to stop this time travelling assassin from killing Benjamin Franklin back in the colonial days. My school ended up buying the game so they could use it to teach a bit of history in a fun way. In college, I won a scholarship for some creative writing that I did. Ironic, because I just happened to slap together some work I did over the years that I wrote on a whim, and never thought much of it.