I just got back from Los Angeles where I was attending the Electronic Entertainment Expo. It's my industries biggest get-together where all the companies show off their latest games and try to convince Wal-Mart and Best Buy to stock them. It was quite a big show for my company, since we just shipped our game a couple of weeks ago and we are the number one best selling PC game in the world right now. My job was to stand in front of one of the demo stations and show people how to play the game and explain how it's different and better than the competition. When I wasn't on duty, I was supposed to be checking out the competition and picking up on trends. This was good for me to do because my finger is no longer on the pulse of the industry like it used to be when I played games a lot. So I had fun wandering around and checking out the latest stuff, getting swag for my kids, and taking goofy pictures. These shows are always tiring, as I'm not used to being on my feet for more than an hour or so. Besides that the decibel level is like hanging out on an airport runway, as all the booths try to blast their music louder than the ones next to them. Then there is the constant sexual temptation to look at the 'booth babes'. (Women hired to stand around in bikinis or tight costumes to attract attention to products.) Most of the time I have a steely resolve not to even glance at them because I hate the injustice of life… just how much easier life is for beautiful people. I really don't want to inflate their egos any more by fawning all over them. Besides that inborn resistance, I get sickened by seeing the looks on men's faces when they stare at the women. The gross lusty smiles and glazed over eyes. And the fact that what I'm seeing in them is inside of me too gives me the creeps. Thank God for His deliverance from that bondage! But then, whenever I did happen to glance at a booth babe, my heart just ached for my girlfriend. I saw the empty shells of beauty, and that made me think of the deep, abiding character, integrity, and God-breathed Love inside the woman who was waiting for me at home. I thought about her constantly and missed her badly.
After the show wrapped up on Friday, I spent time hanging out with my Outrage buddies from my old job in Michigan. I was staying with one of them while I was down there. We all had a really special connection at Outrage, and for some reason none of us has really felt the same about any of the game companies we moved on to. (Outrage was closed, and we all had to find jobs elsewhere.) So I had a good time catching up with a bunch of them.
It was a great trip and I owe a big thank you to my mom who stayed with the boys all week, and my girlfriend who did a bunch of laundry and put my kids to bed a couple of nights. It's so wonderful to have supportive, loving people in my life!
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