So I hadn't heard from anyone really about the Halo game, but we should really set one up.

Girls
I think I was in a very similar situation as Tony in terms of where I used to be. From 6th grade until Senior year of high school, I would say most of my really good friends/people I talked with a lot were girls. I don't know what happened in college, but I guess I found the closest thing which was Kevin.

Right now, I think I'm relatively friendly to any new person that I meet regardless of whether it's a boy or girl. For the most part, I like meeting new people, but as it stands right now, I barely see my good friends M - F, so taking the effort to get to know someone new is almost out of the question.

I think I essentially have the same outlook as Tony except I'm a little more political about it. Some jest that my most friendliest award in high school was a sham, which could be true, but the outside world never has to know who I really am! Essentially the differences with the situations below, I would most likely listen to the girl that was having problems even though I wouldn't necessarily want to, I wouldn't flip a girl that slapped me, and I wouldn't toss two girls around like rag dolls. The cool difference between me and Tony is that he has the balls to do something like that.

I hope this didn't start because Steve said he would fear introducing you to a girl more then any of us. haha

Brendan was always my first fear because I know the human psyche is kind of a game to him, so he just wants new people to play with. Unfortunately for me, my girls were always the pawns of his evil destruction. =)

I think a girl meeting us all together is the best way for them to find out if they want to stick around. We all have an interesting dynamic with each other - we can be offensive, sarcastic, rude when we're together. But once a person understands it's all in good fun and we're just that comfortable around each other, the sky's the limit. Imagine being in front of a girl while Brendan and Kevin are talking about playing with each other magic balls...if she sticks around, she's a keeper. haha or has some weird fetish....

Hope and Fate
You guys can call it bullshit, but I believe there is a reason for a lot of things that occur in our world that can't be explained. I like to think I have control of my life, but sometimes things happen so coincidentally that it just makes you wonder. Sometimes I think, what really drove me to choose this direction, was I meant to choose this route?

You can disregard this and call me crazy since I think more about random things and panic more then any of you combined minus Steve. =)

But seriously, there have been a lot of decisions that I've made, some good, some bad, but sometimes I just get that feeling inside that I was supposed to choose a path for a reason. Especially with all the pain I was in and have been in through out the years, those emotions were uncontrollable. All the hard work you do, all the pain you go through, all the trials that we go through in life have to be for some reason beyond just plain ol' happiness, right? haha

Why do I feel like there has to be a reason for it? Dunno, but perhaps I'll find out one day what all the pain I went through was for...

Motivation
What drives any of us to where we are today?

Sometimes I wonder what if I didn't hooked up at IBM? Where would I be? I made absolutely no effort to find another job once I found out I had IBM. Was I curious about what other opportunities were out there? Sure, but it wasn't enough to drive me away from the "easy" route.

Reading Brendan's post, I kind of wonder if I would be in the same rut if I had no idea where I want to go (granted I don't have his "talents" and "skills"), but I wonder if I would feel just as lost.

This kind of goes with the above about Fate, though I don't LOVE my job, I tolerate it and I tend to like it about 90% of the time. Some people were meant to have a desk job and I think I was definitely one of them.

So the creative juices ain't flowin' yet huh? My advice to someone is kind of a cliche. Go to a beach, watch a sunset, go to the top of a hill and watch the city at night, take a hike, go camping, go to Monterey again, go travel somewhere where you may get inspired. The things I described are everyday things in my life that I find beautiful and if I ever felt uninspired I would think about doing such things. Go see the beauty that life provides and hopefully something sparks in your head where you can put something down on paper. I don't know how your creativity worked before, if it does work by staying at home watching movies, playing videogames, etc. then keep at it. I understand creativity just doesn't grow on trees and takes some time.

Just know, I wouldn't worry about it. I think you know that all of us believe in you and for the most part, I think you know that we don't really worry about you in the sense that we all know that you'll be successful at whatever you do.

Am I still the house that gets the door to door salesmen? If so, that is awesome!