HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

This is a big Happy Father's Day out there to all you dad's, especially my own. You should all remember that a woman, no matter the age, will always be her daddy's little girl. Those of us lucky enough to have daddies such as you all are truly blessed. I mean, who else is gonna teach us how to make the best popcorn? Or that celery can be yummy, with enough peanut butter that is. Hehe.


On a less special note, I'm sorry that this email has taken so long to get out. I've been rather busy and a bit lazy as of late, and I just never found the time to sit down and write it. That's what happens when you're having fun.. time just flies.

Why has time gone so quickly this week? Well! I'll tell you. Last weekend a group of us went and saw Cars in theaters. I highly, highly recommend that movie to anyone that like the Incredibles. It's very cute, and very funny. After the movie we went to the mall and walked around a bit and grabbed a bite to eat. I ended up swinging into a bookstore (gasp!) and found a Learn-to-Knit kit for $5, so I bought it and have been knitting a bit before going to bed.

Sunday afternoon I discovered the wonders of this campus' swimming pool, Tuesday I did it again. We all went out to eat on Tuesday at a local Mexican place and then went grocery shopping. There's a very popular coffee shop near the store, so we all walked over and got milkshakes. I love the shop, it's called Jackson's Java, and it's really a smaller version of Alley Kat. That night we then went to Alex's place and played video games until around 1, at which time we realized how late it was and all went home and to bed.

Wednesday night we rented some movies and a projector and set up in a lounge here in the apartment video. Some people swung by and walked the movies with us, which was awesome cause we projected it on the wall. We ended watching a weird Japanese movie and then The Producers, which is a funny movie, though not something I'd recommend to anyone under 17.

Thursday night I decided to cook for everyone, so I made stuffed green peppers. Everyone was reluctant at first, but in the end they all loved them and now they want me to cook more often. Evie, one of my roommates, went out and bought a bunch of food in the hopes that I'd want to make something with it all and cook it for us to share. Oh how well she knows me.. But later that night had some ice cream, provided by Jordan, and watched another movie with the projector. Then we played video games on it till we couldn't stay awake.

Friday, nothing much happened as everyone had left to go visit their dad's. I'm the furthest from home here, and it's a bit tough to visit my dad, so I'm hanging out alone. Bekka, a girl in the hall we met at the cookout, called me yesterday to hang out, so we went to Goodwill and shopped for a long time. I got some awesome t-shirts and found a lacrosse stick for $5. It's not the best, but it's a decent stick so now I can get my friends to play with me too. That is, if I can get it home. If it comes down to it, I'll just take it apart to fit it in my suitcase.

If you wanna know what I did at work, go to http://bebopdevelopment.com/Charlotte/week3.php and read up. I just don't wanna retype it all, ya know?

Alright, last few things (cause I'm too lazy to send out emails separately).

- Dad, that number you sent me doesn't work in Skype. I don't have a phone card, so I can't call you any other way.

- Mom, I got you a UNCC hat. Since you aren't gonna come out here anymore, you want me to mail it to ya?

- To Dani, Catlin, and anyone else who wanted to send me mail: I really wish I could have you guys send me letters this summer, but for some reason, they're not delivering mail to the interns staying here. I guess they don't want to deal with the forwarding when we all move out. I still love to hear from people, so shoot me an email!


- To Ed and Gail: I'm gonna call you as soon as I send this, but I just wanna leave it in print. I'd love to see you guys sometime this summer and my weekends are pretty free. I'm not available on the 4th of July, and if you give me some weekends to chose from, I'm sure I can find a friend that's willing to drive me to visit.

Alright. That's it. I'm gonna go back to untangling my wad of yarn.

Love ya all.
Tar

I know, they just keep getting pushed back..

I know, I know, I'm sorry. I know I just keep pushing these emails back farther and farther, but I have a valid excuse. I do, I do. You see, I've been having too much fun working to remember to send this out. The only reason I really remembered this morning is because my mommy sent me an email a few days ago. That and I got some pictures last night from Lauren and I wanted to show them off.

Who's Lauren, you ask? Well, she's one of the girls working here in the Future Computing Lab with us. She's in the Visual Humans and Digital Environments department, but she's rooming with Paige, a girl in our gaming department. The other members of our little troop (we're becoming famous as a group, no surprise, I know) are Alex (the only guy), Jordan (crazy Korean roommate who can't remember where to park) and Evie (my musically endowed, hamster, anime loving roomie). Pictures are included.

To get down to the meat of what I've been doing this week, it's pretty much just been having fun. I finished a few games and you can download them at http://bebopdevelopment.com/Charlotte/week1.php and have a good time. The one RPG one doesn't do much. You can read that page if you want, it's my required site for the DMP program that sent me here.

Saturday we had our cookout and I think there's one picture in there from that. It was a great time, though only a few people showed up. I ran the grill and Evie the music, Paige and Lauren entertained our guests.

Monday night we went over to Dr. Barnes' house and started an addicting little (yeah right) game called Iron Dragon. We're still play the game, though it's currently paused. It's kinda a mix between Monopoly and.. just about every other game I've played. I would go further into it, but I dun wanna.

Wednesday we went back to Dr. Barnes' and continued our game, though we have yet to finish it. Thursday morning we participated in a low ropes course here on campus and I think we're all a bit sore this morning.

I'm currently in the middle of pitching a game idea for if/then loops and other conditionals. It's a racing game where you essentially program a car to automatically turn and avoid other cars, racing against other people or computer cars. Everyone's been working on it with me and we all like it, though we're having trouble fitting it into the StormHaven game, something that I really wish we could figure out.

In case you're wondering, my work day usually includes working on websites, playing games, building games, and storyboarding for more games. I know it's a crime to say, but I'm afraid I'm gonna be video gamed-out by the end of the summer. We'll see..

Love, Peace, and I Love My Job,
Tar

Nothing Like Humidity..

That title says it all, people. I mean, really. Who would have thought that the south-east could be so hot and humid? It's like.. it's like it's a whole other part of the world or something. Go figure.

Anyway, yes, I am in North Carolina. I made it on time and in one piece. I have successfully moved in to my apartment, met my roommates and advisers, and gotten to know a lot of new people. So far, I can tell that I'm going to have an awesome summer, so much better then working at Panera all summer.

I'm going to toss this out there, mainly as an excuse, but I'm kinda tired right now. So if there's any typos or terrible grammar, sue me. Actually, just ignore it. I'm too broke to get sued. Hehe.

Okay! Run through of what to tell you peeps: Nanny and Papaw Thomas are da best; Hamilton is the world's best English teacher, and cake is a great way to start a party.

First things first (even though they're the latest), why Nanny and Papaw are the bomb diggity. As some of you might know, Nanny and Papaw were at a concert this last week, up in this part of the country. They were awesome enough to swing by last night and take me out to dinner. The real kicker, though, is that they took me to the store and bought me much needed dishes. Because, you see, foolish me thought that the school would provide things like pots and pans for the students who had to travel here.. go figure. But yes, they allowed me to drive them to the store so I could pick up the goods, a huge help considering I don't have a car. It wouldn't be a big deal in Colorado, but here, the campus is a bit far from the stores. So yes, huge thanks to Nanny and Papaw. And, of course to Mary and.. shoot, I forgot her name!! Oh no! Well, to Mary and her friend who willingly came along for the ride.

As far as Hamilton being the best English teacher, he rose to the call a few weeks ago and sent me some reading suggestions. And I must say, I loved Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins. It's an interesting read, and I want to recommend it to people, but honestly, I don't know if any of you would like it very much. Robbins' writing style is a bit different, to say the least. But, yes, I just wanted to finally give a shout-out to Hamlar.

Now the cake story is of course, typical me. Some of the girl's that live down the hall from me and are working on this project baked a cake Monday night. My roommate and I smelled it while rollerblading down the hall, and swung in to have a piece. One thing lead to another and the next thing you know I'm knocking on every door in the hall, inviting people to come over and have some cake. I think in total we got about 12 people to come over and get some. We all talked about what we're doing here for the summer and decided we should all get together for a barbecue on the weekends, cause there is absolutely nothing else here to do then. So, yeah. First 2 days and I've already managed to organize something which involved the hall. That was the first sign that this is going to be an awesome summer.

The second sign was of course what I'm doing here. Basically, I'm making a computer game that teaches students how to use computers. And I get to design it however I want. So far I've built a few basic games, just trying to learn the editor, but hopefully my team and I plan on getting one or two teaching games started by the end of the week. We'll see how that goes...

I wish I had pictures to send to all of you, but I have yet to get a camera that will do justice to what I photograph. I may or may not get one while I'm here, we'll have to wait and see. But for now, I'll see if I can steal the photos my co-workers have taken.

As promised:

http://www.halfbyte.net/temp/bailey/P5270962%20(Large).JPG - Bailey in her pool

http://www.halfbyte.net/temp/landscaping/Day_13/P5290977%20(Large).JPG - Tom and Crystal in his new backyard

http://www.halfbyte.net/temp/landscaping/Day_13/P5290991%20(Large).JPG - The yard at night

Alright, catch you on the flip-side.
Tar