I don't want to toot my own horn....
But, today I pulled off a major Coupe-de-ta. So, yesterday, first day on the job, I show up and Jill tells me that the Magic the Gathering World Championships are going on at Fort Mason until Sunday. She had been invited down to a press luncheon, but declined due to the phenominal work load she'd been saddled with due to the former staff of the mag being out of town.
So, I called Laura Tomasetti, the owner of Tomasetti PR, the firm that handles all Wizards of the Coast PR, and asked if Richard Garfield was in town. It turns out that he was, and is. So i toddled on down there today at 3 and talked with the WotC crew as well as with Richard (the creator of that card game, Wallet: the Emptying). Throughout the meeting, Richard seemed quiet, overwhelmed, and bored. He kept looking around nervously, and trying to talk, but was interupted by the director of brands from WotC everytime he tried to talk.
Now, for those of you who don't know, Richard is a gaming GOD. The man knows more about games than anyone aside from, possibly, Steve Jackson. Richard is also unbeholden to any entity, as he sold the right to Magic: The Gathering many moons ago and made an absolute mint in the process. So here I am talking to a Marketing weenie, a game developer, and Richard, and Richard can't get a word in edgewise. I felt awkward and uncool.
So, the Marketing weasel and the game dude said thanks and bye. Richard stood and nodded, quietly, as the WotC folk vacated the premesis. But something in Richard's body-language told me he wanted to stay and chat. So I stood there, and he came up to me and began talking.
I am paraphrasing here... Richard says to me "I'm very interested in writing for you. I've wanted to start a blog or something online to talk about videogames, but I haven't done it yet." I said, "Well, what would you think of writing a collumn for our magazine or website?" He said he was very interested, and rattled off his email address, phone number, and a bunch of ideas for stories.
The upside: myself and Alex, the founder of my new magazine, are having lunch with Richard, and just Richard, tomorrow at 1 PM. Oh my god, I am so leet.
On the way home, I stopped at Van Kleefs. It's getting to the point that I can't stop in at any of the bars on my street because the owners will all insist on getting me blind stinking drunk for free... Is that a bad thing?
The worst part of all of this? Life is getting exponentially better thanks to that pig fucker Bush. Well, it may not be his doing... But fuck, I hate to think he's responsible.