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I finally got around to setting up a LiveJournal account... Keep hearing about it from friends, and not one to buck technology trends, here I am...

Work is ramping up to be a long, hard summer. I'm working on an XBox title that is schedule to reach 'content/code-complete' in about 12 weeks. I've been doing mostly technology support programming until now, but I've been moved over to working on the game logic proper so I'm going to start feeling the heat as well. Of course, the real bottleneck is the level designer and the animators, so I doubt things will get quite as crazy for me.

On a personal note, I'm working on trying to get more friends in the area. Since moving up to Redmond about a year and a half ago, I've spent most of my free time visiting Portland to hang out with my (now ex-) girlfriend there, looking for work and then getting established at my new job, or keeping busy with gaming at local (and not so local) conventions. Since the girl gave up on the long-distance thing about 10 months ago and I'm feeling more secure my work, I'm trying to put more energy into being social outside of work and gaming. I still like the hobby, but its no substitute for a life.

Talked with my ex-wife (who still lives in Austin) today. She has applied to a graduate program in New Mexico and has heard she is getting an acceptance letter. She's been working essentially a secretarial job at Bat Conservation International for years, so I'm glad she is pursuing a career she'll get more out of in the long run. Angela and I have always been good friends, and I'm glad she's making such a bold move although I know it will be hard for her.

Otherwise, life is quiet as always. For the moment, that's OK.

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Lexa Doig, the girl that plays "Rommie" on Andromeda is in some silly Hong-Kong made movie being shown on Sci-FI channel today. Very amusing. Andromeda is a fun show, in the same vein as "Cleopatra 2525". Now that show was the purest expression of "girls kicking ass in skimpy outfits" ever made. Explosions, jumping, bikinis, and an hour-long plot compressed to 30 minutes of incoherent shots. In fact, the show stopped being quite as cool the moment it got a full hour of broadcast and they attempted to make it a serious story.

Seems like the model for a heroine these days is to take a beautiful woman, turn her into a combat monster, and then sprinkle in a lot of emotional damage: Xena, Aeryn Sun, 7 of 9, and the list goes on. Of course the model for heroes seems to be a strong man who treats everyone else with a violent non-nonsense temperament, but treats the leading lady like a queen. I guess its good that self-assertiveness is sexy in both men & women. Even the violence seems to accentuate the graceful beauty of martial arts and kick-boxing, although they manage to squeeze in plenty of things blowing up in the background.

Still, I wonder what kind of role-model those heroines really are for young girls. Does someone have to be totally self-sufficient and 'bad-ass' to be beautiful? Is emotional attachment only possible through high-drama and extreme personal pain? You're sure aren't going to see a heroine on one of these shows who is a little out of shape and curvy... even the 'geeky brain' heroine is always model beautiiful...

Things that make you go huh...