The Misadventures of Ben Rosaschi

Back again.

2011-01-15T11:31:00.000-08:00

It's been a year since I'd left New York in order to pursue a future elsewhere. It's worked out well for me so far. I feel it's time to head back to New York, but this time I'd like to do so strictly for leisure. Enjoy the following posts and pictures.

Dec. 25: Santa Gave Me A Kidney Stone For Christmas

2007-12-25T10:19:00.001-08:00

Santa is a jerk. Regardless of my current poor health, I still want to wish everyone a merry Christmas.

Mom & Rick: Thanks for the pants and the rad hat and... well... the whole pile of gifts (a large amount of which I'm wearing now). The cocoa mentioned in the video above was actually provided by you, so... cheers! Love ya, mom!

Dad & Denise: Think you for the (much-needed) wallet. Although I got mine back in one piece (minus all of the cash and gift certificates), I've refused to use it. Stigma, I guess... Thanks for the clothes as well. It's all very nice... I love the Fender Guitars thermal. I'll purchase that coat as soon as the after-Christmas sales commence. Love you, dad. Denise, I haven't really had a chance to thank you for the cards you've sent me. I really do appreciate them. It's nice knowing that the first piece of mail I received in my new home was the "congrats" card from you. Thank you very, very much.

More thanks coming soon

Oct. 15 - Nov. 11: Week 5 (and then some)

2007-11-08T20:17:00.000-08:00

Okay. Hold it. This whole "weekly blog" thing? It's total bull. I'm not going to waste my time or yours. So, today, I'm going to quickly get you all up to date.

After the week from hell, things went a bit smoother. The pressure was still on, but it was far less nerve-wracking because we had sent out our first major update to headquarters. I worked normal hours (about 8 - 10 hours each day) and on Thursday, I moved from Brooklyn to Jersey City. That was an experience I won't forget.

I was a bit more prepared than my roomate, but I can understand why. When you live in a place for about two months, you seem to forget how much you've actually settled. He had far more crap to move than I did.

We didn't want to call a moving company to help up because a) it would have been pretty pricey, b) it was short notice, and c) it was Halloween. We ended up calling a "car service" and having them pick us up in a van. Dan and I chucked all of our belongings into the back, and rode to New Jersey. We were charged $200 for the commute, and I happily paid that amount. I know we got ripped-off, but I was just happy to be out of the house.

I've since settled into my home, although I still need to purchase some food and furniture and sundries. (Yes, "sundries".) My neighborhood is a bit on the rough side and I make it a point to take a taxi home from the train station when it's dark out because, as Whodini said, "the freaks come out at night". The train station is a mile away and I usually hoof it--- but I'm not going to risk getting shanked, you know?

When I got back to work the following Monday, the game designer who sat to my right was fired. I should probably also state that he was the game designer for the game that I had been working on, so I was more than a bit shook up. I was to begin work on a new project--- so my job is still secure. (Hooray!)

A little under a week ago, I left my wallet in a taxi and that kind of messed me up. I'm still waiting for my debit cards to come in the mail. It's weird having a decent amount of money sitting in an account that you can't touch, you know? I happened to have a spare wallet with an expired CA driver's license, so at least I have a form of ID for the time being.

I haven't done anything overly exciting yet; I'm going to a couple of symphonies with a girl from work (and a couple other co-workers). That should kick-start me into really experiencing New York life. I want to see a couple Broadway musicals in the next few months (specifically Les Miserables, Sweeney Todd, and my roomate really wants to see Wicked), so that should be fun.

I've eaten at several pretty great restaurants / diners / eateries, and my next post will be dedicated foodstuffs. It'll even have pictures! Stay tuned.

Oct. 8 - 14: Week 2.

2007-11-04T06:09:00.000-08:00

When I got back to work on Monday, I was told that by leaving work on time, I'd actually left "early". My team had been told on Friday that we'd need to have a major update for our game within a week. What followed was the most difficult week of work I'd ever had.

I was still feeling very new to the company. Monday was still only my 5th day working at this company, and I was already faced with a major deadline. I worked, I shit you not, a full week of 13 hour days, many of which did not include a lunch break. By the end of Friday, I had completed all of my artwork, and I could rest easy.

I ended my work-week with some cornbread muffins and fried chicken (courtesy of Live Bait). However, for the first time in a VERY long time, I couldn't finish my meal, and I grew tipsy after a single beer. I guess a week of starvation with little sleep will do that to a person. I stumbled onto the subway and headed home to fill my weekend with sleep and relaxation.

Oct. 2 - 7: My first week of work.

2007-10-27T21:16:00.001-07:00

Sorry, no pictures. On top of that, this will be a small (but important) post.

I started work on the 2nd of October. When I arrived at Gameloft, I was given the typical "new employee" run-around. I was given a tour (again) and met all of the employees (again). I was given the run-down concerning my benefits and what-not. About 4-hours into my day, I met my project manager. He wanted three screenshot mock-ups by the end of the day.

Rediculous. Three in one day? Good luck. On a good day, I could only produce one at the most. I worked as hard as I could using software that I'd never used for pixel art in an area wasn't too familiar with yet. I was told upon being hired that one of the requirements was to play at least 70% of the finished Gameloft titles before beginning to work on a project. Lies. LIES! Well, maybe not, but I certainly skipped that step.

I worked as hard as I could and only got about halfway through the first mock-up. I apologized to my project manager, headed outside, and called my mom in order to bitch and moan to someone. (My dad's phone wasn't working too well at this time.) Needless to say, I wasn't impressed with my new job at this point.

The rest of the week went about the same way. I worked hard every day and tried to produce as much art as possible. I should also point out that I was replacing an artist that was recently "let go", so I was having to create art for a project that was far from new and adhere to a style that wasn't mine. I was trying my best, and it wasn't working out too well. Towards the end of the week, I was working 9 hours a day (or, really, 10 hours a day if I include my lunch). When Friday finally came along, I made it a point to think of a potential exit strategy. I was frustrated, angry, and wanted to be anywhere else.

I wasn't homesick, really. I was just upset with my decision-making skills in that I thought that my decision to move to New York would be difficult, but at least the job would be easy and, perhaps, fun.

This post is a bit depressing, so I'll give you another post soon that describes my 2nd week on the job. It's not much better, but at least we can get the really bad times out of the way.

Day 6: Introduction's end.

2007-10-26T21:34:00.000-07:00

Day 6 Photos - Click me to view more

Day 6 was a pretty important day. I woke up that morning and slipped into my black t-shirt. It was around this point that I wish I'd purchased shirts that weren't so dark. It'd been hot all week and this day was no different. In fact, when I walked outside, my mom called me (on my new cell phone) and I did everything I could to stay in the shade.

You know, I figured that it would be cooler underground, so I was pretty excited when my dad and I ventured into the subway. Boy, I was so wrong. The subway was hot, humid, and smelled... weird. Really, it kind of smells like a hot jar of petroleum jelly. Along with the odd smell, you can always spot rats scurrying down by the tracks. Apparently, some poor city worker is paid to lay rat traps and poison ("rodenticide"). It obviously doesn't work as you can always see at least one rat when you peer down at the tracks.

We headed to Dan's place in Brooklyn. (This is where I'm currently staying, mind you. I had actually met him here on Day 5, though I forgot to mention it.) The place is pretty odd in terms of the furnishings. Still, it's location is amazing and the landlord is a fairly eccentric Irish guy. Really, really nice bloke. I almost wish that I wasn't moving to New Jersey. The unfortunate thing is that this place costs $2,500 per month. Ouch!

For evening entertainment, my dad and I headed to Bleecker St. (This is actually the same area we had ventured a few days ago when we first checked out Manhattan.) We ended up at a park filled with performers, tourists, and locals. Dan had told me before leaving the house that the squirrels in the parks aren't the least bit skittish. I felt the need to test this. He was right, and I have photographic proof!
That's actually where this day ends, but I feel the need to mention one final thing.

Live Bait. I may have mentioned it before, but I love this place. It's a creole/cajun/southern-themed restaurant and bar. It's located close to Gameloft, so I tend to show up there a couple days a week. The food is great, the customers are lively, and the beer selection doesn't suck. Good times.

Man... two days worth of 3-week old updates in a row? I'm awesome! From here on out, I'll be updating the blog every week (or sooner) as now that I'm working, I have less time to take pictures and have fun. Tomorrow, I'll post another blog with an update that spans from Day 7 - 14. Really, it's just going to cover my first week of work as I didn't do much else--- I'll tell you more tomorrow.

Day 5: I should be living in Hoboken.

2007-10-25T19:40:00.000-07:00

Day 5 Photos - Click me to view more

Apologies in advance for taking so long to update my blog. I didn't mean for this to happen. I hit a few snags--- I'll mention these in the next post. Please keep in mind that I'm writing this blog about events that happened some... what... 3 weeks ago? I'll try to be as accurate as possible, but expect me to miss important details. Day 6 will be posted tomorrow.

My dad and I drove out to Hoboken. Just in case you don't know, this is a fairly famous area. (Apparently, some famous singer was from around here. I think his name was Frank Sinatra.) This town was very fun. It reminded me of what Cotati would be like if it was larger, had less new-age hippies / potheads, and more tourists. On second thought, the place was nothing like Cotati. Regardless, it was a cool place filled with small shops and some real gems.
We ran around town until, famished, we strolled into an ancient diner. I loved it for it's authenticity; My dad didn't like it as much as I did though. He felt moderately creeped-out. Hey, to each his own. The food was cheap and great. Oh... and the regulars were AMAZING. Luckily, my dad was able to record a bit of our experience. Enjoy!

So cool...

After that fine, awkward meal, I we strolled over to an AT&T store and I finally picked up a cell phone. For all of you family member types that are in need of my phone number and don't already have it, let me know.

From here, we headed to Jersey City to meet up with my soon-to-be roomate, Dan, and my friend from back home, Gordon, in order to check out the new place. I'm fairly certain (although probably mistaken) I mentioned I'd be living in Brooklyn for a couple weeks before moving into the New Jersey house on November 1st. If not, now you know.

It took a while, but we finally met up and were able to check out the place. It was a pretty large house. In fact, larger than I had imagined. My only concerns were the locals and the general locale of the home. I'm still not too sure how much I like it, and it might just be a temporary stay...

Anyway, that's my home as of November. I'm sure you're all dying to see where I live currently; I'll provide that information in the next post.

Day 4: A Jackass In Times Square.

2007-10-07T20:09:00.000-07:00

Day 4 Photos - Click me to view more

On this particular day, I was to visit the Gameloft office so I could meet my fellow coworkers. We drove to (and parked on) 42nd Street in Manhattan only to find out that the office was located on 25th Street. Whoops! We had a bit of walking to do, but we managed to do it. On the way there, we saw Times Square off in the distance. It was something that we decided to check out later in the evening.

It was so hot and humid, and we'd walked so far that by the time we got near the office, I was completely soaked with sweat. We ducked into a corner pharmacy and I picked up a bag of white Hanes t-shirts. I quick-like changed shirts and we entered Gameloft.

When I entered, I was met by Dan and Priscilla. We briefly discussed housing financing (as Gameloft pays for my first month of rent) and afterwards, I was inroduced to several fellow pixel artists. I knew some of them already, although I only knew them by their online aliases. It was a fairly surreal moment. I was shown the office in greater detail; I was shown the break room which is filled with some great games. (I can't wait to kick someone's ass in Marvel vs Capcom 2.) Apparently, I'm supposed to play a certain percentage of Gameloft's games before I even start making an art. I'm okay with that. It's a great opportunity to study the art styles and palettes wanted by the company. It seems like a great place to work and I'm sure I'll enjoy it.

When we exited Gameloft, my dad and I headed for the Empire State Building. Yeah, it's a tourist-trap, but hey... we had to do it. The unfortunate thing is that the wait was pretty horrendous. The thing is that when you first walk in, it doesn't seem too bad. The problem arises when you turn the corner after purchasing your ticket. It's at that point that you get a better idea as to what you're in for.

After waiting patiently for quite a while, we were able to take an elevator to the 80th floor. After exiting the elevator, you're placed in line again. However, when you reach the halfway point, you're given the option to take an elevator past the remaining 6 floors or you can climb the stairs. We took the latter option. (Bad choice.) I would have to say that by about this point in the day, we'd already walked three miles--- Climbing these last six floors was a killer. Still, we made it to the top, although panting heavily, and were able to get some fairly nice shots of the city. The humidity limited our view a tad however.

When night finally settled upon the city, we headed back to Times Square to experience what it was like when it was lit up. It was pretty impressive, although not too different from San Francisco. We saw signs advertising several broadway shows and plenty of advertising. (Consumer whores and tourists as far as the eyes can see. Not a negative thing per se, just a fact.)

We walked from Times Square back to the car, and drove off back to our hotel. By now, our feet were aching. My dad and I agreed that it was the final trek up the six flights of stairs that did us in.

When we arrived at our hotel, my dad asked the hotel manager if there was anything to eat nearby. He told us that there was a place within walking distance of hotel. We both laughed.

Day 3: I Saw Miss America.

2007-10-06T19:39:00.000-07:00

Day 3 Photos - Click me to view more

First thing first; It was time to leave the Howard Johnson from hell. We did, and we never went back. The truth of the matter is that we wouldn't be able to find our way back even if we wanted to.

Just by chance, we ended up at Liberty Park. It had been humid, so our photos of the Statue of Liberty weren't as clear as we'd liked them to be, but we got some great shots of the train station. We visited at a perfect time it seems as the place was fairly deserted. In fact, the old train depot was completely empty, and we got some pretty awesome shots.
From here we headed to Jersey City to check out the area that would be, most likely, the area in which I'd be living. I didn't know the exact address of my house, so we just check out as much of the area as possible. The area seemed... okay... I was assured later that there were both good and bad areas, but I seemed to find more bad than good. (I'll assume that I'm just spoiled.)

Still, Jersey City has a damn fine diner named Miss America. Not only was the place completey nostalgic and awesome, but the food was excellent. I ordered a rueben sanwich that was easily the best sandwich I've ever eaten.
We found our next hotel, The Red Carpet Inn, along the 1-9. (It's one of the main roads here, and it seems to always take us where we don't want to go. It's basically hell's highway.) This new place was actually worse than the last. It was incredible. When we walked into the room, my dad made the comment "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone." One of the things we had really been looking out for was free internet access, but we couldn't even connect to the signal at this place. But hey, at least we were one block away from Manhattan (Avenue)!

Refueled, we headed to Brooklyn. Now, when I think of New York, I think of Brooklyn. The funny thing is, I didn't know this until now. I'd like to say that anything you previously thought about Brooklyn in terms of the stereotypes--- it's all true. There were people screaming at eachother in that thick accent, pizza places on every corner, and construction everywhere. Randomly, we walked into a Viennese bar for a drink. All of the beers were unknown to us, and the place looked completely authentic. (We may as well have been in Austria.) The bartender was a gorgeous, dark-haired russian girl. We drank, rested, and talked with her for a bit.

When we headed back to the hotel, I was contacted by my roomate, Dan. He gave me the news that my other roomate, Josh, had to leave, so we were in need of another roomate. He asked me if I knew of anyone that might want to move in. I told Dan that I'd call Gordon in the morning and see if it was something he wanted to do; It was time for bed.

Day 2: Don't Rent A Car.

2007-10-05T20:30:00.001-07:00

Day 2 Photos - Click me to view more

First thing the next morning, my dad and I headed to the car rental depot stationed at the Ramada Hotel. We asked the hotel shuttle driver at our hotel if he'd be able to drop us off at the Ramada. Luckily, he agreed to help us. Unfortunately, he missed. He ended up letting us off in the middle of the freeway. No big deal really...

We got the car which, we realised later, may not have been a great idea. I will say now that 1/3 of each day to date is spent searching for our location in a state of fear. Really, it's justified. The lights on some of these streets are completely ridiculous.

Exits come without warning, and almost half of the streets seem to be lacking any marking at all. As I'm acting as the navigator, this is completely obnoxious. Sometimes I know where I am on the map, and then all of a sudden, we're somewhere completely different. I wish I could explain how easy it is to end up where you DON'T want to be. You can say "I don't want to go to [blank]", but you're still going to end up there.

We spent the day driving around and just sort of checking out various cities. When night began to settle, we headed to lower Manhattan. The area we ended up in remind me of Haight St. in San Francisco; The shops were odd and the streets were packed. We parked across from a bar named "The Slaughtered Lamb". I loved the sign that was hanging above the building.

We strolled around and then decided to wander into what looked like a Greek food restaurant chain.

After eating what was easily the best Greek food I've had and placing my order with employees that were obviously Greek, I can safely say that this place isn't a chain. When we were given our food, they also gave us some extra stuff, and it was all amazingly good.

After our short Manhattan visit, we vowed to come back. For the time being however, it was time to struggle to find our way back to the hotel. After a good two hours or so, we were able to find the hotel again. I was, unfortunately, happy to see our hotel.

Day 1: Departure.

2007-10-04T07:23:00.001-07:00

Day 1 Photos - Click me to view more

I'm going to have to keep this first post short and sweet as I have some serious time constraints; I'm writing this from my hotel room and I need to be out of here in a couple of hours.
I woke up at 4:00am on the day of my departure. My dad and I would be hopping onto the airporter at 4:30, so this didn't leave us too much extra time. My mom, my sister, and my dad's girlfriend, Denise, headed to the Double Tree Hotel in Rohnert Park to await the airport shuttle.

I wish I would have woke up a bit earlier. We arrived at the hotel at the same time as the shuttle, so we didn't have more than a couple minutes for goodbyes. Needless to say, I cried a bit. In fact, I was holding back my tears for the entire duration of the bus ride. My sister had given me a piece of gum earlier that morning, and chewing it seemed to keep me relaxed; I chewed that gum for over four hours.
There seemed to be a theme to my first day. Those who are close to me may know that I'm not a big fan of small children. They seem to test my patience and as patient as I am, I do have my limits. The plane from SFO to Charlotte, had me seated in front of two children. (Seat-kickers. Crybabies. Demons.) I had a window seat, so I kept my mind at ease by staring at the land below and trying to guess what states we were flying over. After Colorado, I failed at this game.

We had a 3-hour layover in Charlotte, North Carolina and I must say that I want to head back there at some point. The airport was fantastic. The place seemed calm and everyone was relaxed. There were, I kid you not, rocking chairs in which one could sit down and escape the hustle and bustle--- maybe even sip some sweet tea.
I wasn't able to leave the airport sadly, but I tried to find a southern meal regardless. I ended up finding a place that sold sweat tea, fried ocra, fried pickles, hushpuppies, collard greens and pulled pork (with vinegar-based barbeque sauce; Keith says this is important).

After this fine meal, I head to the bathroom where the only open stall was right next to a father in the process of changing a baby's diaper. The smell was atrocious and it forced me to cut my business short.

The plane from Charlotte to Newark, New Jersey had me seated in behind two children and two negligent parents. Behind me, was another child. (Another kicker.) Luckily, the row of seats on the opposite side of the plane were empty and I could change seats when things got out of hand.

We took the gratuitous airport shuttle to the (sub-par) Howard Johnson at around 7:30pm (or is that 10:30pm). This place scared me a bit, really. I think I could compare it to staying at a hotel next to the Oakland Airport. The doors in the hallway had been knocked off of their hinges at some point recently. I found that there was a face print on the mirror in our room. I also noticed that there is a full length mirror on the bathroom door so I can watch myself deficate.