Welcome to Gaia! ::

That it's quite possibly the most ridiculous job I can imagine, and I work in a cool office with a great team and tons of other great people.


Easiest is when I get to work on fun projects, like the summer event. Hardest is when I work on something I don't really care about, like writing Facebook ads.


Don't have a very active one at the moment, but I like hanging out with my ladyfriend and enjoying the awesome majesty of the Great Outdoors whenever I can.


I suppose Jeff Goldblum for obvious reasons.


I have a love for hot dogs.


I'd like to spend a few days inside the CERN supercollider just smashing stuff together.


I listen to "Nite Flights" by Scott Walker about 10 times a day because I am mentally insane. My favorite film is "Apocalypse Now" because it is cheerful and pretty.


Probably Seattle or someplace like that, because it is a nice, fun city that is very close to awesome outdoors.


I have no talents to speak of, which is why I'm a writer.


Moved 900+ miles to work for a company that sells anime hats.


"Do the opposite of what you're going to do for the next 15 years." Then I'd punch them like 3 or 4 times. I wish somebody would have told me that back like fifteen years ago, minus the punching part.


My mornings are rushed and uninteresting, due to the fact I get out of bed at the last possible minute. In the evenings I set up a telescope and spy on my next-door neighbor.


I'm fortunate to work with a great writing team that currently includes Cashmere Cactus and a new part-time hire Meatless. Both of those guys are great, as are nearby Brunosmad and Ling. It's hard to pick a favorite though.


Probably President Obama, because that would mean I'm on Air Force One and that means I'm either super important or the world's most dangerous super villain. Either way I'd probably be a polite traveler and not bother him at all and mostly just listen to my iPod. But if he did strike up a conversation, such as "How did you get on my plane and what should I, the President of USA, do next?" I'd have no choice but to share my political views.

A brief overview of my political philosophy is as follows:

• Skateboarding ought to be criminalized.
  
• UFO documents should be declassified.
  
• We should put a moratorium on extremely small dogs, focusing instead on breeding increasingly larger dogs (I would of course correctly point out that this action would trigger a dog arms race with the Russians and Chinese. Naturally, I would also correctly point out that such competition would only help ensure that the dogs grow as big as possible).
  
• Let's build homes for the homeless that they can't get out of.
  
• It would be extremely beneficial to the health and morale of This Great Nation if we were to construct a nation-wide network of pneumatic tubes designed for the sole purpose of ferrying CostCo hot dogs to your home any time, day or night.
  
  

Needless to say, I think he'd be very impressed with me.




I'd like to update a whole bunch of stuff on the site, but we have a limited number of people and ongoing projects and economic concerns and such. As a writer, it's not like I can go and update houses. So that bums me out a bit, but it's just the way things go.


I'm pretty worried the world will be uninhabitable in a few decades and/or controlled by merciless robots. I've been burying canned goods in various secret locations throughout the west coast in preparation.


With the help of Ling I created the infamous "Get Fisted" MC ad that not only got approved, but ended up on the site for about 4 hours until the CEO saw it and wisely had it pulled. That remains my proudest work moment. I've done far more cool and important stuff working on events or tossing out story ideas and such, but I can't recall anything as memorable.

I also take full responsibility for making Faunzy the least pleasant character in the history of Gaia. The guilt of that keeps me up at night.


There are so many things I hate seeing in general:

• Evil babies.
  
• Small dogs that aren't puppies.
  
• Cashmere Cactus, who sits in front of me.
  
• A charlatan working his or her schemes on an innocent.
  
  

On Gaia:

• Dumb ads.
  
• "No, Gaia, Just No."
  
• "Seriously, Gaia?"
  
• "Really, Gaia? Really?"
  
  

I stumbled into writing when my chosen profession (graphic design) started becoming less fun and more stressful… probably because I never had a good graphic design job ever. As a result, I've been writing for the past 9 years, mostly out of convenience and me being too indecisive to figure out what I actually want to do. On the plus side it's pretty fun, so all is good. One day I will choose my real profession and hopefully it will not be something terrible.


I'm assuming we'll have lots of shiny new words, and hopefully a more extensive alphabet.


I sure hope so.


Worried genius, because then I could just invent some anti-worry machine or pill and switch to being a regular genius. After that I'd develop insane hubris and nobody in the world would ever be able to stop me ever.


Climb up into a tree and wait there until I'm not in trouble anymore.


The new user quest, which happened at a time when the company wasn't particularly efficient and there were way too many cooks in the kitchen. The end result was me re-writing some really boring copy about 50 times over the span of several months for the quest system, which was never ideal. Thankfully, the achievement system has axed the new user quest. I like the achievement system a lot.

The company is leaner and smarter about those kinds of things now and I haven't experienced any projects anywhere near as awful since then.


Got a total Garfield state of mind going on right now: hatin' on Mondays, but lovin' Lasagna.


I guess my girlfriend because otherwise she would be mad.


All sorts of stuff makes me laugh, and it'd be hard to narrow it down to anything in particular. I'm a cold cyborg in that I hate almost every internet meme and would gladly hurl all lolcats into a furnace.


Show up, check my email, do some work, eat lunch, do some more work, hang out with coworkers, engage in horseplay, do some work. Sometimes it's extra busy and sometimes it's super slow, which impacts the amount of hanging out and horseplay.


No -- thank you!!!

omg, I totally got a browser error after I tried to preview and lost all my answers D:<

and I typed long answers too sad

will redo later.... sad ((((

I've been working here since 2005, and there are two things that continue to be the reasons for me to get up and come to work every morning: my team of wonderful, hardworking sprite artists, and the dream of making Gaia wonderful for our community. ^O^


I have a somewhat complex answer to this question, because difficulty depends a little bit on the context. A project that may be challenging in terms of execution is actually easy if you have a clear understanding of what you're doing and a solid plan on how to get there. Conversely, a project that is supposed to be simple may become hard because of bottlenecks, conflicts, etc.

Lately I am also tasked to scope out more long-term projects or features. This is difficult sometimes because it's hard to predict how it would work, what functionalities we would need... but the biggest and most important question we ask ourselves is how it would affect and be utilized by the community.

Working with my team, however, is always smooth sailing <3



Honestly, not lately. I've recently been tasked with some larger responsibilities that require me to brainstorm and think on a higher level, and that takes up a lot of time. It's also something you can't just stop thinking about, even when you're not at work. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and my mind instantly picks up where it left off. sweatdrop My most frequent and constant social interaction is with my peers at Gaia HQ and my team, which is more than enough for me! There are many important things that need to be done, my social life can come second. 3nodding

When I *do* find a little bit of free time, I like to unwind, and either return to nature through gardening or hiking, or immerse myself in video games, read manga, or watch anime. I am also currently studying to be a personal trainer, so I'm at the gym pretty frequently. When I'm not doing these things, catching Z's is my next top priority. XD


When I was 10, I lived in a small town and found a private art teacher there, named Ms. Oh. My mom signed me up for Saturday lessons, and I attended Ms. Oh's classes for over a decade. I'd have to say that she was the most influential person in my life because I believe that her tutelage is what equipped me with the skills that I needed to be where I am today. I've long since moved away from my hometown, and it's been over 15 years since I've been able to go to her classes. Funny though, that every now and then, I still have dreams where I'm in her class on Saturday mornings. I wake up from these dreams with a very nostalgic and sad feeling.



My boyfriend and I have been together since 2005 - we feel virtually married at this point XD


I really wish I could fly, Superman-style. Does that count? Driving is such a drag. XD
Realistically speaking, I wish I could travel around the world more. I went to an international school for the last 2 years of my life, and my mom traveled a lot due to business so I've seen many parts of the world. I would like to continue traveling as often as I can.


My music tastes change pretty frequently, but lately I'm into Kings of Convenience and Jack Johnson. My favorite current movie is Toy Story 3 XD


I really love forests - the kind that are green and overgrown and feel ancient, if that makes sense. Whenever I'm hiking through a forest, sometimes I stop and stand very still so I can take in all the subtleties of the life around me - the smell of the earth, the breeze, the sound of little scuttling insects and chirping birds. I feel like everything is completely balanced, and feel comforted.


It turns out that I'm pretty efficient in the kitchen. I really enjoy cooking, and I like to try out new recipes and ingredients that I haven't used before. biggrin


Honestly, there haven't been many instances where I've been put in a dangerous situation that would warrant bravery, but there was one time I remember very clearly. Back in 5th grade, I lived in a house that had a very large hill in the backyard. There was a gate that separated the hill from my house. I had two dogs back then, and they were outside dogs so they lived in the backyard. One evening, I suddenly heard them barking incessantly, so I went outside to check on them... and in the dark I saw a wolf beyond the gate, pacing. I was so frightened for my dogs, but I didn't want to run and get someone in case something happened. I grabbed a broom that was nearby, and ran outside and started screaming at the wolf while swishing the broom through the gate. It eventually ran away, but I'd found that by the time it had gone I'd been crying the entire time. sweatdrop

In hindsight, there was probably no way the wolf could have gone past the gate, and I had nothing to worry about. It must have been really scary for me though. XD;;;


A good question... I've been working for such a long time, I don't actually remember what I had trouble with back when I started. sweatdrop I guess if anything, it would have been to try to keep things like emotion and work separate, and to always be confident in yourself and that overcoming mistakes make you stronger.


My mornings are hectic. I'm not the type to primp in the morning - I'm out the door within 15 minutes of waking up. I spend the rest of the morning either checking emails/messages, sending emails, being in meetings, or planning work with my team.

My evenings first begin with a trip to the gym, which helps me unwind. I turn pretty stupid after a hard workout though, so by the time I get home I'm either doing whatever work I can do in my current mental state, cooking, or watching TV/anime.



My sprite team <3 and pepper-tea and reapersun. We are a fantastic trio of energy and inspiration >:O


Boyfriend, of course biggrin


I answered this partially in a previous question, but basically the hardest challenge lately is to effectively plan ahead. It's important to prioritize the right projects and to ensure that they get finished.


Item glitches - I receive 30-40 a day! I am currently working on a better process for users to report issues.


Diabetes runs in my family, so sometimes I worry that I will be genetically prone to Type II as I get older. I also worry about my future sometimes - I would like to retire at a reasonable age so I can enjoy the rest of my life and catch up on all of those videogames I can't play at the moment.


"Rina's Dream" mini-event!


People who choose to be less than they are, both in how they say and act. I personally don't think it's that difficult for a person to be reasonably civil and polite, and to behave in a manner that isn't destructive to yourself and others around you. However, lately I seem to see it all the time, especially on the road. sweatdrop I just wish that people would take an extra moment to really think about what they say or do before actually taking action... I feel a lot of misunderstandings would be avoided this way.


I didn't exactly choose this profession - I was chosen to come on to the Gaia Team by VO back in 2005. If we're talking about art in general though, I've always had an innate interest in it, from a very young age. Though, when I think about it I think it still chose me! rofl


My responsibilities and experiences have actually expanded a great deal over the past few years, so now I'm not really sure. I would love to return to art a little more, and get into more illustration, but lately I am doing a lot of managing and planning so maybe that's what's in store for me in the future.


I'm a bit on the crass side. I guess it depends on what people think is funny razz


In a way, I was kinda both. When I was a kid, I didn't pay attention to politics or current events, for example - life was really simple then, and I had anime and art and the internet to engage me. Now that I'm older, I've delved into politics a bit and I also watch a lot of news and listen to NPR, and I find that it's actually pretty stressful to be aware about so many problems... especially when there's very little I can do to help. Getting into fitness has opened my eyes to a lot of health issues that many Americans face today. And then there are all the smaller mundane problems that all people face on a daily basis. However, I think it's better for a person to be aware of what's going on, even if he/she can't do much or even anything about it. I'd rather not live as an ignorant person. The stress and responsibility that comes with knowledge should be addressed and considered a responsibility of all citizens.


This is not an option. You stay up all night for as many nights as you can to catch up. This is also how I train my team. razz


Oh man... it's better if I don't answer this question. rofl


Yay, it's Friday! But I have a lot of work to do before my weekend can begin. sweatdrop


Boyfriend <3


I am graced by sitting next to our 3 writers, and they are full of hilarious shenanigans.


work-work-work-eat-work-meeting-work-meeting-work-work-meeting-meeting-work-go home razz



Thank you! <3

Getting to draw things that I like to do for a living~


Pleasing users...


I got an amazing BF who I love very much~ we do everything together heart My spare time we go to martial art classes, gym, play video games and eat.


Both my parents~ even though they were tough, I learned to get to where I am and be who I am today.


My Luv Bun~ who works as a sexy law enforcement officer~


Travel and eat all the different things the world has to offer!


Wow... I got a lot of music I listen to... I got to a ton of rock concerts but I love Linkin Park, Muse, and Offspring. My favorite song is actually the ballroom scene in the movie enchanted called "So Close" heart My favorite movie is the Sound of Music~


Haven't found the favorite favorite, but I do enjoy a little cafe in Santana Row and just people watch with my luv bun~


Kinda sore and stiff.. worked on shoulders yesterday at the gym and pretty sure my martial art class will kick my a** today...


Hrm... kinda stuck here.... rafting? eek


There is no such thing as a coincidence~


Wake up, go to work, check mail, eat, work and then either go to gym/class, eat + socialize and home to sleep~


My luv bun~ he is fun to beat up in class~


Haha.. um.. my bf again~ I am stuck to him like glue!!!


Moving forward in life financially, healthy and happy, I know I am still young but its a tough road ahead~


Trolls sweatdrop


A complete standstill in my life~


To be able to get a job doing what I love to do and get paid for it.


Scams and misleading information in our media that affects our society.


Anime and lots and lots of video games!!


I think someday I might move on and try something different.


I hope so rofl


I rather be a simple person that can just enjoy life.


Looks like I got to bring some work home eek

Figuring out how CIs worked in the beginning...


Lazy and envious of the amazing weather I see outside of my window..


My luv bun! heart He mine!


Just poking me makes me laugh.


Emails, eat, and work and some facebook~


Thanks again~ that was kind of fun~