#Nerdsunite: Confessions of a Videogame Journalist (Being a professional and conquering a fear)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy John. We started talking on the twitter not too long ago, and then he reached out and asked if he could write for us regarding his journey through the nerdy realm. I was all DUDDEEE!! That's so raaaddd!! And now, here we are. Like right now, in real time, this is happening. Pretty cool huh? HIT IT JOHN!!! </editorsnote> 

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @JohnSollitto

So! Things are picking up! Couple of new experiences in the last couple of weeks, even DURING that last update I wrote.

Because I’ve been invited to E3, again thanks to Jen <3, I’ve been getting emails and all sorts of press releases. It’s CRAZY. I mean, half of my emails are all just news and invitations and all sorts of stuff.

It’s a little overwhelming actually. Being so professional all of the sudden, being in charge of my team from the Game Creators Vault. My team actually had the best idea ever of working with some of the indie developers. I’m really happy my partners are really reliable and creative guys.

Speaking of things I’ve been receiving, I got this awesome update from Sony Online Entertainment! Not sure if you’re familiar with online games but there’s a big one out called the “DC Universe Online.” You get to create a superhero in the DC Universe and fight alongside Superman, Wonder Woman and even Batman.

The game recently went free-to-play so if you don’t want to pay per-month, you can play the game after you buy it! You’ll have to buy certain pieces of content though if you go free-to-play, like the new update coming out called The Last Laugh! They’ve got a bunch of voice actors coming back like Mark Hamill doing the Joker, Arleen Sorkin doing Harley Quinn and Adam Baldwin doing Superman! It’s pretty awesome. Lots of new missions and even a new tool to use! I played the game when I was at G4 and honestly it’s a well put together game, and now that it’s free-to-play it might be well worth a look!

On a personal level, I conquered a personal fear about two weeks ago. I didn’t write about it in my last blog partially because I didn’t really realize it until the weekend afterwards. I conquered the fear while working on an installation down in Seal Beach, California.

We were installing two large sandblasted wooden signs on the roof of a new restaurant/bar that’s literally across the street from the beach. Seriously, he’s a picture from the top of the building.

It was a really beautiful day that day. Now, the story of how I got on that roof is where the conquering comes in. So, this building was about thirty or so feet tall. The height of a normal restaurant/bar, it was single story too so not that high. Now, one of my big fears is heights. I can go up to high places. I’ve been to the top of the Empire State building and Eiffel Tower, but I can’t go to the upper deck of the Honda Center for a Ducks game because there isn’t a lot between you and falling to the lower decks aside from a small railing. I’m not a fan of high places that don’t have a lot of safety measures to keep me from falling to my death. Call me old fashioned.

So to get on the top of the place, I had to go to the back and find that ladder to the roof. Now, in the sign business you climb a lot of ladders and I’ve been pretty good about it, mainly because the roof access ladders are encased in a metal cage to ensure that you don’t fall down and kill yourself. But this building has recently come under new management and at the time we were installing, they hadn’t gotten their cage or ladder installed yet. They still had to get to the roof though, so they put a painters ladder underneath a extension ladder bolted to the building. This ladder was tied together with a bungie cord so that it wouldn’t extend while you were on it. So a regular ladder wedged underneath a jury-rigged ladder to the top of the roof. MacGyver would be proud.

The first time I went up this ladder I had to go rung by rung because I could literally feel the ladder giving way, trying to extend as I climbed up it. I was freaking out. My dad just kept saying, “Don’t look down, don’t lean back, and go slow okay?” I did exactly what he said but my hands were so sweaty I was afraid I would fall off just based off on sheer bodily functions.

But I did it. I was happy, I was soooooo glad to be on top of that building you had no idea. But…then I had to go down. That was even worse, because now I was looking down and now I was seeing how high off the ground I was. I could still feel the ladder budging and clattering on me and I could hardly take it.

I had to go up and down that ladder 7 times that day. By the 6^th time? I was going up and down slowly and steadily without worry. It was a freaking miracle. We had to go back there this week and sure enough I had to go back up that ladder system, but this time I was eager to do it. To prove to myself that I wasn’t afraid. And I wasn’t.

I felt so happy to be rid of that fear. Sure, it’s not the Honda Center, but it’s a start and I’m looking forward to conquering the rest of it. Conquer your fears, nerds!

#nerdsunite

Words of Wisdom with @Jesus_m_christ

Fun with #OkCupid: A dude in the OKC corral (Date Night?)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Kenny. We e-met through OKC and although we've never gone out on a date, he was inspired by my documentation of my online search for love, that he wanted to come on board and provide male insight into OKC. So here you go ... and now we're here ... HIT IT KENNY!!</editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @KennethArthurS

Here we sit on the Eve of June and I can't remember the last time I actually went on a real date.  Well, that's probably not true.  I can remember a couple of months ago when a girl that I met on OkCupid asked if she could smoke speed at my house.  Now that's what I call "Speed Dating!"  (Hit the drum and the symbol.  Perfect, thanks.)

Before that I went out with a girl for the second time and she invited me over to her house to play Scene It!  Considering that I'm the master of movie trivia, I'm all for a good game of Scene It, but I hardly thought that all she wanted to do was play trivia.  I don't know, maybe don't invite a date over until you're ready to not put up the stop sign when I make a move? 

Needless to say, this hasn't exactly been how I'd plan my 2012 to go in the search for love.  So now that we're getting closer to the middle of the last year of the Mayan calendar and I get dangerously close to thirty, I figured it was about time to try it out again.  Last week, in a feeble attempt to run an experiment, I sent out a bunch of OkCupid messages.  These weren't copy/paste jobs like I did on my English papers in college.  I actually ran with the same tips that Jen Friel has consistently given on what kind of message to send an online dater, picking out a specific part of the profile and making the message short and sweet.  The results weren't good.

Not a single date or prospect came from that experiment and I was even more discouraged after I ran it than before, when my only discouragement came from actual in-person dating fails.  Now I had both offline and online fails to hang my head over!  Ya know, no big deal, I just kind of like to fail like a boss.

Finally, a few days after I ran through OkCupid like a rabbit in a carrot factory, I settled down and re-collected myself and my ego.  There wasn't necessarily anything wrong with me (at least no more than before) and we can't force the issue.  As I've been doing for the past year and a half, I had to remember to focus on myself and improve myself.  We can't control what others do but we can certainly control ourselves.  We can shape our present, improve our future, and learn from our past.  That's what I had to do.  That's what I have to do.

My experiment was a failure in finding love, or even a gosh-darn-date, but it wasn't a failure.  I learned that picking up a hundred darts and chucking them in the vicinity of a dart board is no way to become a dart champion on ESPN the Ocho.  The only way to win at a game like that is to master throwing just one and getting it right and then repeating.

I calmed myself and perused OkCupid again and sent out maybe one or two messages.  Shortly thereafter I got a reply and exchanged a few messages with this girl, who I will be meeting tonight for my first date in months.  I've buried myself in my writing and my work and ignored my dating life but I can't simply ignore it forever because what the hell do I have to write about if I'm not living?  Fashion?  I don't know anything about fashion! 

I have no idea if this girl will be someone I see again and I can't predict the future, but I can focus on today and at the very worst I'll learn something, just like how I learned that if you pick up a handful of darts at once you're bound to bleed.  You have to take it one throw at a time.

#thatisall

Want some more from Kenny? Follow him on twitter over yonder!

and don't forget to check out his blog!! <----- good shit!

#NerdsUnite: Comfort zone be gone!

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Chelsea. She's a newbie to our loverly state of California and is currently trying to find her own voice and find her own way. Gosh, aren't we all??? She's here today to talk about her journey in life, love, and all things nerd.  I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT CHELSEA!!</editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @chelofthesea

Hello everyone! I’m writing to you from sunny South Florida. While this vacation could not have come at a better time, I’m home for a reason. My little brother (not little at all, he’s almost 6’ and I’m barely 5’) is graduating from high school. One year ago, before I moved to Cali, I promised him I’d come home for this no matter where I was…. So here I am!

One weird thing about being home is that you start to remember people, events, etc. that you haven’t thought about in years! Just right now, sitting in my old room, I see: dried roses I saved from my ex-boyfriend, a photo taken when I was in 5^th grade with two friends I still consider sisters, and a shelf of miniatures my grandma moved into this room when I went away to college. 

All of this reminiscing is making me think of my own high school graduation and about the changes I’ve made in the last 4 years (almost to the day). But in order to process and actually learn from it, I need to write it out… so here I go!

Friends: My senior year of high school, I had a big falling out with the group of friends I spent most of my time with. Lucky for me, I’ve always had a core group of friends who are there no matter what, including my three best friends. These people are the ones who were there at my door the day after my mom died, the ones who I’ve gone months without speaking to only to hang out and feel like no time had passed, the ones who I know I will keep in touch with for the rest of my life. This other group of friends changed multiple times growing up, and were always considered temporary. Today I find myself still close with that core group of friends, more confident in our relationships than ever before. But I’ve also made some new, incredible friends who don’t feel as temporary as those in the past. In fact, I don’t feel I have any friends I’d be able to lose touch with and just move on without truly missing. Realizing that feels great… it means I’ve weeded out those who don’t matter and am only surrounding myself with people who add to my life. Score for you, 22-year-old Chelsea!

Family: As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve always been really close with my family. After years of struggles with my dad, by senior year of high school we had a great relationship. I went away to college and my relationships with my dad and brother just seemed to get stronger. As someone whose mom was sick for four years, only to pass away just before I turned 16, I’ve always understood the importance of family. The only big changes that happened in my family life over the past four years are that I’ve lost two of my grandparents, my dad now has a girlfriend, and I no longer fight with my brother about dumb shit. Oh, I also live on the opposite side of the country and therefore am constantly reminded of how much I love them.  

Romance: I imagine this to be pretty normal, but my 18-year-old romantic life is incredibly different than that of my 22-year-old self.  This time four years ago, I was head over heals in love with my high school sweetheart, who I’d been dating for over two years. The plan was to go away to college, do long distance, and then one-day end up together in the same city. What ended up happening was I went away to college and we “broke up” within a week, only to really break up eight months later. Today’s Chelsea is 100% single, and definitely ready to mingle. I’ve gone through some highs and lows in the last four years, and though single might not seem like progress from having been in a relationship four years ago, TRUST ME it is. Even though I would have told you I was independent then, I wasn’t. I was a girl whose emotions were so easily manipulated by a dude. I’d given so much of myself away; I often forgot exactly what I wanted. Or what I deserved, as a matter of fact. So while I would love to be in a relationship, or even see one of the horizon, I truly appreciate being single in this season of my life. And as tired as I am of online dating and asshole guys, I’m learning more about myself from each and every one!

Personal: Yes, I’m much happier with the person I am today than the person who walked across the stage four years ago. One of the most valuable things I’ve learned is what I want from life. Of course, this is always changing but as of right now I know I am exactly where I’m meant to be. I have a job I totally love. I know I am pushing myself out of my comfort zones as often as possible. I realize the importance of embracing different sides of myself. I no longer let the people I surround myself dictate what I do with my life. Of course, there are areas of my life that have not changed nearly as much as I’d like to. For example, my health. I’ve always wanted to lose weight but thanks to these last four years it’s no long motivated by an extrinsic desire. I now am focused on this because I want to get healthy and not be limited in what I can do with my life. But as far as confidence goes? I own my body and if people don’t like it, that’s their loss.

Writing this out has been cathartic for me. I hope you nerds take some time and look back at the one-week-ago, one-year-ago, and one-decade-ago “you.” I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at what you find.

Just remember: Change is inevitable, so we can either learn to embrace it or be left behind!

#nerdsunite

click here to follow Chelsea on twitter!

Weird Al Says: #WTF

The term "meme" is derived from the Greek word meaning "something imitated."

This has been a moment of ... WTF?!