Actually, I did get up and haul myself to a yoga class. Now don't be scoffing at yoga, you rabble. I can hear you scoffing from here. But really, it's like aerobics for flexible hippies. Not that I'm one of those. I'm not. But everyone else in the class kinda was. Your humble blogger, meanwhile, was somewhere between an actual sweat and a flop sweat, as I continually failed to do a bunch of balance poses, like Tree, which require one to actually have a sense of balance, which I clearly don't, because I spent most of the class tumbling over like a drunk trying to walk a straight line. They say that yoga is good for the ego, but since I spent most of the class thinking to myself, "Wow, I really suck!", I'm gonna say this wasn't exactly the case for me, and to those who told me to do this so I'd feel better about myself, I have this to say: Fuck you! Just kidding. I love
yoga. Really. I think it was a combination of not being quite awake yet, possibly having alcohol lingering in my body still, and, well, sucking at yoga. I still love it though. After all, it enables me to get into positions just like this:
This, by the way, is another photo from my last day at 1up.com, which shows you just why it was so difficult to leave this job. I mean, seriously. Look at that. That's a work day. All I have to say is, if EA doesn't allow me the opportunity to sit in toy chopters now and then, I will have made a VERY BIG MISTAKE.
The rest of my day today was spent on various leisure activities: I plowed through Terry Pratchett's Mort (hilarious), went on a nice walk to an outdoor cafe with the wife and dog, and then went motorcycle shopping for my new bike (yay!) as a present to myself for the new job and a way to cope with the 70-mile-a-day commute--except that the motorcycle shop was closed today. So that part blew.
But now I am drinking coffee out of my Brodeo coffee mug, listening to Roxy Music's Avalon, and looking at ridiculous photos (like the one above) of my last day again, and I have to say: I have had much worse Mondays, after all.
65 comments:
I'm sure that the only one bad thing about today was hearing the news that Richard Wright of Pink Floyd passed away today.
I'm really going to miss him, and I'm sure you will too, Jeff.
FYI, I am GAMEMOOSE off of 1UP, the guy who asked you whether you liked Pink Floyd in your Q&A thread on the boards.
anyways, Cheers!
Yoga. It's all about the breathing. And the moving. The moving and breathing at the same time. I often wonder if the mild euphoria I get is just an oxygen high.
Please Flickr some pictures for us. I wanna party vicariously with Jeff Green.
Days off are gold. How long are you spending in between Ziff and EA?
Sweet. That *is* what yoga was invented for right? It's also useful for developing the ability to fold up just right to fit in the impossibly small piece of empty floor in front of my TV so I can play my 360.
Wow! now that picture is classic!..enjoy the time when theres nothing...finish off the pile'O shame. i wish there was a way to get a "Brodeo" Mug aswell!,but rest not IM drinking coffe now as i read this too!...
70 miles a day? That's a lot of gas money.
I just this morning heard your final farewell in the form of a, "Fuck," after choking down Toxic Waste. May that aftertaste of the 1up universe linger with your soul forever. ...or not.
Is yoga good for the, you know, "drive"? Inquiring minds wanna know.. As a man of 40, my gf is always trying to "add spice" to things.. You know...Like yummy cheeze dust on popcorn, gotta keep the juices flowin, so to speak..
ok TMI.. My apologies.
Have you read any Pratchett books with Sam Vimes yet? He's definitely my favorite character and is what sold the whole series for me (I started way out of order).
Mort was my first Terry Pratchett book, and is still probably my favourite- though I agree with nate, Sam Vimes is the bombe!
Hey, I loved the gog recommendation you made a couple of weeks ago on the Brodeo. I got fallout for $6 and fallout 2 for free (woo!)
Can't wait to hear your impressions of fallout 3 as a non-reviewer when it comes out next month!
Haha Jeff, nice pic. Sad to see you leave 1up and GFW Radio, hopefully the Brodeo lives on.
Anyways, hope you have good times at EA with the Sims like you did at 1up over the years, it's been quite a run.
Maybe this will bring back memories: The Shawn Elliot (GFW) Dido/Eminem Parody From An Old GFW Radio Ep (Or was it CGW Radio at that point?).
Epic last episode though. Cheers, drink to the Glory Days!
jeff i didnt know you rode! what bike are you looking at or planning to buy? im a motorcycle mechanic here in Milwaukee. sad to see you leave 1up jeff but you gotta do what you gotta do. ride safe. keep the shiny side up.
I think "Country Life" is my favourite Roxy album. It's the one with the risque pictures of the 2 women in lingerie. Pretty exciting for a sixteen year old(in 1974, that is). If you're actually listening to records(cds, whatever), give the live record "Viva" a try.
70 mile a day commute...damn!
Are they going to let you work from home some?
70 miles a day -- You better mean round-trip, because otherwise you've let yourself in for a real nightmare, especially if there's any traffic snarls between your home and work.
You might think you'll be okay with it, but remember the thing about bad commutes: it's the families that suffer most.
I firmly believe that if you can't squeeze your self into a coin-op ride designed for children and take a picture of yourself in said ride, then you don't truly know what it is to live.
70 mile round trip! (That's 35 each way, according to my slide rule.)
Right now I ride a '93 Yamaha Seca II, but I fear for its life on this long ride. So I'm kinda looking at the Yamaha VStar Silverado 750s right now...
And, shit, i didn't know about Richard Wright. :(
funny. i have an 81 yamaha xj750 seca. same exact engine if i believe. vstar is nice. ill tell you though if you can afford it ive been so impressed every time i work on a suzuki sv650. but yeah bikes blah blah blah.
i spent years listening to your podcasts and reading your magazines and this is the first (well technically second) time ive posted any sort of comment. youll be missed man. dont disappear.
enjoy your break Jeff. Also, why don't you go greener by getting a scooter instead? :p (green one)
That picture made me lawl.
Drive safely on that motorbike Jeff. Here's hoping riding one in real life isn't at all like riding one in GTAIV.
What kind of bike are you planning on getting? An old man bike with lots of chrome and shiny stuff, or something cool?
Man, I remember long commutes. When I worked for an OEM that was 40 miles or so both ways. From Danbury, CT. to Poughkeepsie, NY. But up until the final month where we started seeing the writing on the wall, and things got far too stressful, it was pretty fun there.
Somehow though, ever since Will Ferrell did that yoga sketch on SNL way back when I can't help but remember it whenever the subject of yoga comes up
Anyway, I hope EA lets you contort yourself into quarter ride vehicles from time to time!
Woot woot! Love Pratchett!
What kind of bike do you ride, American, or Japanese? (or European?)
I can totally imagine you looking like House on your bike. http://tinyurl.com/5kfm4f
Great pic :) I tried one of those myself and got a leg-cramp and the security had to carry me out of it and out off the mall.
Probably because I dont do yoga.
I have tried but it made me fart so much that I had to leave the class. My bowels didnt like all the weird anal-expanding positions...
...and by the way...
Discworld is great. Mort is fun, the apprentice of Death. Love the capital letters speach Death has.
NOW COME WITH ME
Its very final
Any chance of seeing more last day pics? It must've been a hell of a send-off!
I'll tell you this much Jeff (may I call you Jeff?): "I have loved your work on 1up, and you magazines. You make me feel okay for being 'old' (I'm 31), and loving games non the less. I wish I could still hear your rants, and info on GFW radio, but alas I'm also happy you moved on. When you mentioned that they did not look to fill in the position you had, when you left I was like wtf. Well I wish you the best. I hope to one day make a living out of gaming. But again. Good luck man."
enjoying the daily updates :D
I feel that I should leave some comment, but I can't think of what. Great blog post! Don't stop!
I didn't know how to send you a personal message here, so I will have to do it here.
I was wondering if you had any recommedations on Fantasy books. I mean really good ones. Like, what is the best Fantasy book you have other then the obvious ones like Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter(even though I hate harry potter).
So if you see this please answer me.
or email videogamewise@yahoo.com
What kinds of bikes do you like other than Yamahas? Follow any races or anything like that?
Be more eco friendly Mr. GREEN. Get a scooter!
What the hell was that Chopter?
70 miles round trip commute isn't bad. Mine is 60 miles and it's an hour and a half out of the day that's MY time. No job, no noise....just me and my tunes/podcasts.
Must get Brodeo Mug.... seriously, where can I get it?
Which WOW t-shirt did you dawn this time?
yeah 70 miles a day won't be so awful on the motorcycle--especially if I get a new one. :) It'll be good "me time"--and the ability to lanesplit in California makes it go quicker.
Favorite fantasy books other than the obvious: Oy, there's so many. Anything by Tim Powers. Stanislaw Lem has some awesome fantasy/sci-fi (The Cyberiad is my fave). Loved Scott Lynch's recent "Lies of Locke Lamora". This should be its own thread!
Bikes: It's all Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki for me basically. I can't afford a Harley, BMW, Triumph, or Ducati. :)
If you haven't read anything by Walter Jon Williams then you really should do. Start with "Hardwired".
Although Pratchett is also good. You can pick up just about any of his books and have a good time, but I think that I like "Reaper Man", "Guards! Guards!", "Witches Abroad", and "Good Omens" best. (the last being a collaboration with Neil Gaiman.)
Hey Jeff if you are looking for a way to pass the time between Ziff Davis and EA, might I suggest a blog post ranking the top 5 rock bands of all time? You have a great love of music, and I'd be curious to hear your take. Remember Rock bands, no solo artists.
ahh you gotta love those Mondays. not work not vacation..just doing stuff on your own schedule. love it.
anyhow i mentioned in before but you have got to give Vampire Weekend a try. based on your musical tastes i think you will like this new up and coming band....and if it means anything to you they were on Jimmy Kimmel!
http://www.starmotorcycles.com/star/products/modelhome/63/0/home.aspx
cant use html tags to save my life.
is that the one?
if you're looking for a cruiser why even mention ducatis? they ve got some great bikes but not for the everyday commute. unless you want to do 35 miles in 20 minutes :)
Sounds like a perfect monday to me :)
Glad to hear it.
Do you read a lot of pratchett? I heard you make at least one discworld reference on the brodeo.
Mort was a good book, any favorite passages you want to share?
BTW, have you tried Wii fit's yoga? My GF swears by it.
yeah that is the one, thany. However, the dealer (of course) is pushing the Vstar 1100s on me now. Says I'll be happier in the long run for the 70 miles a day. Hmmmm.....
Vstar 1100 is a nice looking bike...and comfortable looking for longer rides too.
I never understood how some riders could commute 60 miles a day with their Ninjas or equivalent...maybe if I was 20 years younger. lol
What are the odds of you doing an individual podcast where you just talk and rant about whatever you want (other than EA games of course). I'm sure there would plenty of people who would listen!
I guarantee you that noone at EA will be walking around with your face on their crotch...
http://photos-726.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v338/229/55/697075726/n697075726_4274680_6485.jpg
Sounds awesome Jeff. I really enjoy reading your blog.
Terry Pratchett, WOOOOO!!!
My word... what a celebration:
http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=8874678&publicUserId=4561231
I know what you mean! I just moved and got a new job about 4-5 months ago and had a few weeks off inbetween. Ok at first, but man! it gets boooring fast when your used to working :S It didnt help that I didnt know anyone either.
Good post and great photo. Btw, the last GFW was by far the best show you have done!
oh. Iam putting a link to your blog on my blog if ya dont mind :)
A Vstar would be great for that commute Jeff. I ride a gsxr 600 and 70 miles to and fro every day would break my wrists. oh and lol, I'm in Mississippi and if I'm alone and trying to lanesplit chances are im going to have someone open a door on me or try to head me off :(
Not a HUGE fan of Pratchett, bit pretentious and repetitive for my liking.
And I bet coffee tastes better out a Brodeo mug!
You should show up to your first day at EA with that Chopter, demanding at least 15 minutes a day to ride it.
http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/The_Book_of_Mazarbul
Just because you seemed bewildered by it :p
Off to a great start here, Jeff - there's some good solid stuff in these blogs.
But can you keep it up, that's the question?
I'm like this too - during my time off, when I'm not working, I can write forever. But catch me on a workday and you can just forget about it. At the end of a work day I have maybe a couple of hours of free time... and no way am I going to spend that free time writing nonsense on the internet.
I suspect that when you commence work we'll see a lot less of you in this space.
Anyhow, I've just found out that you've left Ziff Davis and 1up - I am SO GLAD that you got a job working at EA. I was worried that you were going to try to become a novelist or something.
But here's what I'm wondering? - has your spell of bad luck finally come to an end, or is this new gig at EA just a continuation of it?
I remember when you returned home from France, that you got sick almost immediately. This sickness developed into nemoni... pnumonoia... pnumonia.., congestion of the lungs, and almost as soon as you got over it you got sick again - this time with influenza. Then you passed out while fighting with your wife and ended up in the hospital and were branded a 'Fall Risk'. Then the family cat died. Then Ziff Davis pulled the plug on the magazine which you had been writing for for nearly 20 years.
For a while there I was visiting the 1up website almost exclusively to see how the Jeff Green Soap opera would unfold - and I think you might forgive me for expecting to see the words Jeff Green R.I.P. suddenly appear in one of those 1up news headlines
For a split second there I kind of did think that you had died on us when I saw the words: Jeff Green is leaving us. But no, you're not dying, you're just heading off to E.A. (and by the way, I hear that the hours are insane there - I suspect, however, that the candy is better.)
Anyhow, I hope that your luck has finally turned, and if it hasn't then I hope that your life insurance policy has been fully paid.
Also, I never got to write this, because I was too busy at the time - but that interview you did with Bill Roper... Roeper, was superb. Imagine it - a world wide exclusive! People don't understand just how rare those types of stories are - as a journalist, in order to break a story like that, you have to be in the right place at the right time, and often you have to know the right people too. It all has to come together, like a beautiful jigsaw, which is why those stories don't happen very often.
I'm sure that you'll remember that story in particular as being one of the last - if not THE last - important thing you did at Ziff.
Good luck with your new job... and as I said earlier, THANK GOD you didn't decide to try to become a novelist.
Your internet pal,
Wabe.
If you haven't read it already I very highly recommend Douglas Coupland's "jPod" - both the book and the short-lived CBC television show (available at a torrent site near you).
And I've been trying yoga for 2 weeks on Wii Fit. It's humbling, but only my wife sees and she's used to watching me flounder.
You are awesome
CEREALLY
If I was a woman I would want your bay-bays
I'm glad to see that you're actually posting in your blog. Too many times people just forget about them leaving those of us who want to read them wondering what happened.
That does kind of suck about the bike shop though. I hate when that sort of thing happens. You get all excited to go look for a new toy only to find the door locked.
I love Pratchett too... I just like the dry absurd british humor thing, I guess. It's a shame he was diagnosed with a rare type of Alzheimer's... last year I think it was. Bummer =/
Too funny...and a nice send off!
http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/21448
You're doing yoga too? You get cooler and cooler with every post!
Also, 70 mile commute! Good luck, I feel ya on long commutes.. only I don't have a bike :(
(says a long time reader who never commented at 1up)
Have you ready any other Terry Pratchett books besides 'Mort'? I think that any of the ones featuring 'Death' as a central character or great, but I have to recommend 'Interesting Times' as one of his finest books.
Love reading your blog Jeff, still can't believe you left 1Up.
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