Category: Uncategorized

I’m slowly making small changes on this blog to make it more to my liking and more importantly, easier and better for you to look at. You might notice a few changes here and there if you poke around. Obviously I haven’t changed the existing theme yet but that’s a much larger task that will require more planning. Thanks for your continued patience.

My first day with my new team was alright. It’s expected that the day is pretty unproductive as you discover what tools you need to install and what documents you need to read. In that respect, that was fine.

There was, however, one morale draining moment. The lead engineer in my area was nice enough to take me around the team to introduce me to everyone. He introduced me to a lot of people as “Erwin, the new front end engineer”. Now for those who aren’t familiar with game development, the traditional starting role for rookies is in the front end area. Keep in mind that I’ve been writing code professionally for five years and have shipped four titles. So one dude who I get introduced me to says:

“Oh, are you from Group X?”

Now Group X isn’t the real name of the internal EA work group he mentioned but I need to be tactful here. Group X was described to me earlier, and these are someone’s else words not mine, as a “farm team” for junior engineers trying to crack the big leagues and get work with a game team. So dude here thought I was some fresh n00b who was getting his first taste of playing with the big boys after clawing his way out of the minors. I really had to try very hard to stay polite in that moment. Taking a deep breath, I simply said:

“Ah no, I was a gameplay engineer for all three skate titles.”

I really wonder how many other people I met today thought I was some junior engineer with very little experience and skill. Wonderful.

After nearly six weeks off, I return to work tomorrow. This isn’t a normal return to work however. As many of you know, I was cast aside from Black Box in mid-March, with very few options given to me. After a stressful week and a half, I wound up on the Fight Night team. They needed people and were kind enough to take me on, without requiring me to take a pay cut.

I’ll be physically working in the same facility in Burnaby, just 200 ft. or so away from the desk I used to sit at. Though it would seem like these were small changes, I’m feeling this is starting a completely new job somewhere else for all practical purposes. Being on Fight Night means I’m now working for the Sports label, not the Games label. Though there is some sharing of code and tech, Sports rolls along in their own way and Games does things in their own style. There is indeed a difference in culture, even in how projects are managed. Even at the executive level, things are different. When skate used to get the once-over by the execs, a dude named Frank was the one who would give us the thumbs up or down. Now that I’m doing Sports, we all answer to a dude named Peter.

The most difficult thing about going back to work is the sense that I’m starting all over again. I was part of the skate team for nearly four years. I like to think that in that time I garnered the respect of many of my co-workers for the quality of my work and the way that I went about getting that work done. Though now I wonder if I really had the respect of any the people that held the real power since I was tossed aside as soon as skate 3 was done. In any case, on the Fight Night team, no one really knows me. I’ve never worked with any of those people before. No one really knows what I’ve done before. I’m going in as the “new guy” and they’ll be wondering if I’m some idiot. I’ll have to prove myself all over again. I have to show people that I can actually write some decent code. I kinda feel like some stray dog that’s been taken in by someone who feels sorry for me and now I have to show off all my tricks all over again to prove my worth. Roll over. Sit. Jump through that hoop. Beg for food. All that “workplace capital” that I built up in the last few years has gone.

I suppose that had I left on my own accord for another job I’d still have to prove myself again at another company but to me, that’s different. Leaving on your own terms gives you the feeling that you’re in control and that’s empowering. I never asked to be laid off and I never thought in a million years I’d wind up on Fight Night. To be fair, I’ve heard that team is a very good one, so I’m trying to keep an open mind about things. It’s just very unfortunate that I’ll have to show them I can fetch a damn ball when I’ve done that and so much more already.

After Friday, I won’t be able to publish this blog in the manner that I’ve been doing for about eight years now. Blogger is removing FTP publishing from their service. Though I’ve had about two months warning about this, I kinda sat on my ass and as the May 1st deadline approaches, I’m not entirely ready for the FTP service shutdown.

Until I get all the details worked out (of which there are many), this is where you should look for my blog going forward:

http://blog.erwintang.com

I’m hoping to get everything sorted out in a few weeks.

This is most likely where my blog will reside going forward. There are a lot of small things I still need to work out though. Also, there is no way I’m going to leave it looking like this. The standard WordPress theme is way too bland for me.

Thank you for your patience!

So my gum surgery was done almost a week ago now and recovery is going well I suppose. There isn’t any pain at all. There’s been very little residual bleeding. The only bad part is trying to keep all my food on the left side of my mouth.

The recovery is very much aided by the fact that there’s a large dressing over the surgical area. It’s a light coloured putty-like substance that’s been pressed around the gums. It’s been keeping the delicate area from being exposed to food and other things.

I’ve been instructed by the specialist to remove the dressing tomorrow if it hasn’t fallen off already (it’s still there). The last time I had this surgery, the dressing just fell of by itself. I’m kinda hesitant to rip it off myself. I hope I don’t rip out the stitches with it. I’m also a bit leery to see what’s underneath all that. What if I look like a monster now?

I went to renew my passport today. It expires next month after having it for five years. I just discovered today that it’s now a lot easier to get your passport application/renewal processed in person. While mail has always been an option, getting your forms done in person was a big hassle since there were only three passport locations in all of Vancouver (at least when I applied in 2005). Shortly after I made my application in 2005, the government of Canada opened up Service Offices across the nation. Rather than have distinct locations where you could only do one specific government service, these smaller offices now provide access to a whole host of services. I went to one such office today rather than needing to head downtown to the passport office. I only had to wait for one person in front of me.

As part of my renewal package, I had to surrender my current passport. I looked at the pages the night before and it was kinda sad. I had only one stamp in it. That doesn’t mean I only left the country once. In the five years I had my passport, I only went to the United States (Europe, I haven’t forgotten you). Every flight, except for one, I was cleared to enter the US before getting on the plane. In those cases, they don’t stamp your passport. The one lonely stamp I have states my port of entry was “NYC”.

I get my new passport in four to five weeks. In the meantime, I’m stuck in Canada.

Last week, track and field officials announced that American sprinter LaShawn Merritt had tested positive for steroids in three separate doping tests. Normally this isn’t notable news since athletes are caught with illegal substances in their bodies all the time. Merritt’s case, however, is somewhat different.

Merritt claims that the steroids, specifically DHEA, got into his body via a “male enhancement” drug named ExtenZe. Though the makers of the drug can’t legally say it, they strongly hint that the drug can make your penis larger. Merritt claims ignorance in that he didn’t know the drug contained a banned substance. Of course, excuses like that are not entertained by sport governing bodies. Athletes in the past have been suspended for taking the wrong cold medicine.

It’s interesting to note that Merritt, who is African-American, was taking a drug that he believed might make his penis larger. Now I dislike going to stereotypes, I myself have been subjected to a lot of Asian stereotypes, but it just seems odd that a dude of his racial background would need a drug to make his wiener bigger. Isn’t his wang supposed to be larger than average by default? Perhaps he was just being greedy and wanted something that could belong in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Last but certainly not least, Merritt himself has released a statement concerning his failed tests. These are his actual words:

“To know I have tested positive as a result of a product I used for personal reasons is extremely difficult to wrap my hands around.”

Really? I can’t believe he actually used those terms to describe the situation. On the contrary, I think he took the drug for express purpose of making it difficult to wrap his hands around it.

I’m here all week folks and remember to tip your waitress.

Last week I was one of the few people on this planet who still hadn’t seen the movie Avatar. With its release on home video on Thursday, I decided it was time to see this much talked about film. When I was at the video store, the clerk that processed my rental told me it deserved every bit of hype and all the accolades the movie had received. He really liked it. I just politely nodded. When I got home, I tried very hard not to think about what the clerk had said as I slid the VHS tape into my VCR. Oh, one more thing. The lady in front of me was asking the same clerk if from a picture quality standpoint there was anything difference between the DVD version and the Blu-ray version. The clerk said he thought the Blu-ray version might have had brighter colours but it was essentially the same. Really? Really dude? You might want to get your eyes checked if you can’t notice nearly triple the vertical resolution. Sorry, I’m going off on a tangent here.

So anyways, as the movie started, I tried to keep an open mind, free of any expectations for the next two and a half hours. When the movie ended, I noticed something quite interesting. I wasn’t really wowed by the experience of watching Avatar. This is noteworthy because everything I’ve read in the media points to this being a movie which belongs in the “epic” category.

That’s not to say I found the movie to be bad either. Avatar is a good film, there is no doubt about that. Unfortunately, I just didn’t feel it lived up to the hype that other epic films succeeded in doing so. For example, I found all three of the Lord of the Rings movies to be much more satisfying to watch. I remember sitting in the theatre after each one of those films and just being stunned at how awesome it was as a piece of epic of entertainment.

Even measured among Cameron’s own films, it’s my opinion that Avatar isn’t even his best work. I’d put Terminator 2 and Aliens far above Avatar. After I saw Terminator 2 for the first time, it was my belief that Cameron had redefined what an epic summer blockbuster movie should be. I was just so blown away that he had combined revolutionary CGI with a story that dared to be so audacious in nature. The whole movie worked so well in almost every way.

I did not get the same feeling with Avatar. Yes, the visuals were certainly breathtaking. There was a lot of crazy new stuff that went into making the movie from a technical point of view. It’s two and a half hours of pretty pictures. I think where I found the most fault was the plot. The story was, at points, somewhat predictable. It also borrowed from other movies. A lot of people have noticed the similarities between Avatar and FernGully, the animated movie from the 1992. Also,Giovanni Ribisi’s character as the on-site administrator for the mining company was essentially the same as Paul Reiser’s character, Burke (Carter J.), in Aliens.

While Avatar is the most commercially successful movie in the history of the film, I don’t think it’s critical acclaim will match its box office.

So I am back home from gum surgery. I’ll be honest and mention that I’ve had a few gin and tonics in the last several hours. You might be wondering who goes drinking after having gum surgery. Let me explain. The skate dev team decided this afternoon was a good time to celebrate a super-late St. Paddy’s Day or Skate Paddy’s Day if you will. The pub was just a few blocks from my periodontist’s office and it just happened that the shindig was starting right after my surgery. The drinks were also free! There was also free food! There were prizes too!

To make a long story short, I drank a bit and used my ice-chilled glass against my cheek. I also ate a bit of bite-sized calamari. I even won a baseball cap in a prize draw. I am now home and in no pain. I am currently on 600mg of ibuprofen every five hours. There is barely any swelling though I’ll expect that to change tomorrow. Beside some slight tiredness, I am doing fine. In my experience though, it isn’t today that I start feeling effects of surgery, it will be tomorrow when I start to get my ass kicked.