It has been a while since I last posted and a lot has happened since my rant about politics. On June 25th I got the chance to accompany Blizzard once again to the World Wide Invitational but instead of Seoul, South Korea it was held in Paris, France. I had never been to Europe so I jumped at the chance to go. Last year Blizzard announced StarCraft II and I was lucky enough to be able to work on the teaser cinematic for the announcement. This year was just as exciting because Blizzard announced Diablo III and not only did I get to work on the teaser cinematic, I was able to work on one of the coolest shots, Diablo roaring in slow motion! The reaction that we got from the crowd was amazing. I must admit I got a little choked up when I saw the teaser on the big screen and heard the reaction from the crowd.

    Since I had never been to Europe before I decided to extend my stay a bit and see more than just Paris. This time a had some great company, my sister (Kim) and colleague (Ronny). We decided to travel around and hit up not only Paris, but Brussels, Bruges, Amsterdam, and finally Frankfurt. Paris and Amsterdam were probably my favorite but for very different reasons.

    Paris was amazing and beautiful, I just wish I could speak French in order to better communicate with locals. Paris is probably the only city I could see myself living in. The architecture, the museums, the food...all wonderful. Definitely a place I will return to someday.

    Amsterdam was such a small place but very warm and welcoming and not what I was expecting. I was expecting it to be something like Las Vegas but much worse because of the Red Light District and the legal drugs. It was pretty much the opposite of all that. Yes some drugs are legal and the Red Light District is very real, but this has to be the most laid back place I have been to. No one really going crazy at night (except maybe tourists, but even if they go crazy they are usually just stoned, hence, just chilled out). We went to the Ann Frank house, the Van Gogh museum...and I did go to a live sex show (my sister’s idea) which was simultaneously both horrifying and hysterical (there was crowd participation). I must say I will never be able to un-see what I saw. But at the same time, I was laughing so hard at some of the “acts” in the show that I almost fell out of my chair.

    As for the mud run you might not believe this but my 62 year old mother actually placed 3rd in her age group! I was not so skilled and I also did not hit my goal time of under an hour. I missed it by only 9 seconds! Next year I will try and get a medal like my mother did...damn it, I want a medal. I did manage to place 9th in my age group...hopefully I will do better next year.