What a difference two weeks makes!

Good lord, it's been a busy one. I pretty much hit rock bottom a few weeks ago. Work wasn't looking too solid, my cat ran away, June Gloom was raining over Los Angeles. Not the greatest feeling, ya know?

A few days after Qusay's disappearance, I hooked up with an old friend from Austin who is currently directing a movie here in Hollywood and landed myself a job as a Production Assistant. The pay isn't incredible, but I've made some pretty great contacts and I definitely have more work coming my way after this one wraps. Oh, and I never thought I'd be pulling 70+ hour weeks, but here I am.

This is the first "real" set I've been on. (I don't think short films at UT really count) It is really fascinating. I've learned more in two weeks than I learned in entire semesters at college.

One thing though, I really feel as though I should have been here years ago. Ah well. I'm here now.

Anyway, I've been killing myself during the week, and on this Saturday me and a couple of my roommates took a drive up to Santa Barbara. It's about two hours away from our place, and about 10 minutes away, I get a call from someone in Beverly Hills. They had got my number from Qusay's tag. She was alive and hanging out on their back porch!

So, I called up my buddy Daniel and he tried to get her. Well, that didn't go well and he has the cuts to prove it. So after a night of partying out by the beach, I came home and crashed, woke up the next morning and headed to Beverly Hills to reclaim my girl.

To make a long story short, I managed to coax her out from under a deck and get her in my car and in to Daniel's apartment, safe and happy.



Things are looking up.

Qusay's Day Out

So, California has been interesting.

E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo was a blast, I saw a bunch of cool games, a bunch of cool people and drank a lot of free alcohol. It was good times.

But like all things in my life, a series of ups is usually followed by a series of downs.

I had to find a place to move the cats to until I find my own pad, an apartment or whatever. And that's where things start to get crappy. I got the cats in to the car, Uday was pretty cool about it, Qusay caught me with a back foot and cut my ear. Ouch.

I drive the two of them out to Beverly Hills, call up my buddy Daniel, pick up Qusay and just as we're about to get in to the door of his building, she flips out, like, seriously nutzo, twists out of my arms, hits the ground and BOLTS. Like, full speed. I have no idea why she would have done that. I run after her, but she rounds two corners and loses me in an alley. Daniel and I spent the next hour wandering around looking for her, but who knows where she could have gone. She does have a collar with her name and my phone number on it, so here's hoping some nice Californian finds her and gives me a call.

As much shit as I talk about her, I do love her. Qusay and Uday have been with me for six years now and to lose one of them is pretty damn painful. Keep her in your hearts.



Hope to see you soon Qusay.

I'm here!

Good lord, what an exhausting few days.

My dad and I drove with two cats in the car from Austin to Los Angeles, in one straight shot. It actually was a pretty good drive. Wasn't too crazy and the cats were pretty awesome. Uday slept most of the way and Qusay kind of found her place after I smacked her a few times. Dad and I have a few cuts on our arms from her crawling around while we were driving though.

Anyway, I made it in to town, unloaded my stuff and started settling. The cats have settled pretty well too. Uday is walking around like he owns the place and Qusay is slowly learning to live with the other animals in the house. (There are two other cats and two dogs currently living here too.) Their food is inside and their litter box is actually outdoors. So the cats are getting used to that too.

As far as me, I'm going to be living on the couch for a little while until I figure out exactly where my head will rest full time. It's not so bad though, the weather here has been insane. We leave the door open and the cool air blows in and keeps me happy at night.

I've been here all of three days and I've already participated in a photo shoot, a massive party for King of Fighters 12 and I saw Paul Rudd at a bar. Not too shabby.

My dad is flying back home tomorrow, and at that point it will be official. I will be living in California. I'll let you know when it sinks in.

The Final Countdown

This is it.

I'm about to break down my computer and pack it away for the long trip out to California.

Holy shit.

I'm seriously about to move to California. Something I've thought about every since I was in high school and got the bug to get in to the movie industry. Now, I'm sitting here, my house almost completely empty (save for a few paintings and the stuff I'm moving) about to move to California. A decade after that bug hit, I'm making the move.

It's weird, I've seen people over the past few days and had drinks with them, dinner, movies, whatever, and it hasn't really struck me until just now that I won't be seeing these people again until I fly back. Or they fly out to Los Angeles. I'm going to miss my friends, but in the age of the internet I end up chatting via AIM or Skype anyway, so what does it matter that I'm a few states away?

I do love this city though. I'm going to miss lots of things, Austin things. The Drafthouse (which now is home to a few of my arcade machines), Threadgill's, 6th Street, Peter Pan Mini-Golf and so much more.

I'm going to miss my friends. I love all you guys and I'm going to be within a phone call away. That is of course until The Big One hits and California is swallowed by the Pacific Ocean. Until then though...give me a call.

Of course, I'm going to continue posting here. I've got lots of stuff already planned for Los Angeles and Uday is ready for his Hollywood debut. It should be a blast.

Austin, I love you, keep in touch.

Wow...

Tonight was perhaps the best night ever.

Of all times.

That is all.

I found Crash Override!

While at the post office I spotted one of the main characters from Hackers!

Well...his/her ride at least.

Last Day

Today was my last day at a job I've worked at for over three years. It was weird, I've read countless "last day" letters, and I had the chance to write my own. Here it is, in almost it's entirity:

Aspryians...Aspyrites...Aspyrons?

I come to you with a heavy heart as today is going to be my final day with the company...again.

I’ll be moving out to Los Angeles after working for over three years with you fine folks. I’m going to be launching a unique business opportunity. It involves getting two people to give you a bit of cash, and having those people find two more people a piece to give them cash, and so-forth and so on. I’ve been told it works excellently! And we will all get rich.

Anyway, thanks goes out to all of you that made my time here toiling behind the video camera a lot of fun. I’ll have fond memories of dressing Andy Messner up in a monkey suit and nearly killing him. Or the time we dressed up Andy Messner with a fanny pack and soaked him with water. Or the time we launched a skateboard into Andy Messner’s shin.

Or the time I brought my cat Uday up to the office after hours where we shot a video involving a wheel chair, a cat, a disco ball, karaoke and a girl in a bikini. (For reals.) Fond memories.

So, thanks for everything Aspyr, you have been interesting to say the least.

If you want to keep in touch, there are a few different ways, I’ve got a couple of blogs. For you cat lovers, you can follow the antics of my cat Uday on Uday a Day: http://udayaday.blogspot.com/ Or if you want to follow my antics in California, you can at http://jackincalifornia.blogspot.com/

For serious, I’m going to be living in Los Angeles working with I Am 8-Bit making some really cool stuff for the video game world to enjoy. If you are ever out in the area, let me know, I’ll let you buy me a beer or three.

Until then though, play me off keyboard cat! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0up6R3hrHaU

-Jack Pattillo

Insert tear here.