You know that feeling when you're playing a game and you discover this room with lots of gold and ammo and cool items? That was what the past week was like for me. It was the first week at work in 2004 for many people in the office, so there was a lot of information on new projects and other changes. Although it will be a long time before I can say anything about the project I will be working on, there is some other news that I will be able to reveal quite soon.

I can say right now that I am going to the GDC, and will be spending time in the US both before and after with some friends (which, alas, means I will be missing the birthday party of another good friend of mine... it is not all good news).

I am also going to Imagina in Monaco, where I will be moderating a discussion on the future of AI in games with Doug Church and John Laird. I have known about this for a long time - the programme has been on the website for some time now - but this seems as good a time to mention it as any. After the conference I will travel around France for about a week and visit old friends.

Everyone in the company received huge bags with Rockstar clothes: T-shirts, sweaters, even socks. And although I am normally someone who scorns merchandising, I was quite glad to get my hands on the brushed steel Xbox lighter that, blinded by arrogance, I had completely missed at the Xbox Live launch event. That green flame is just too cool.

Privately, I received a very nice financial windfall, I found some items which I had lost (including some personal notes on game design), and I started wearing contact lenses. At first I couldn't quite put my finger on how one puts them in, but then it clicked, and it was quite an eye-opener. I am now perfectly capable of putting my finger on my eyeball. Hurrah!

Anyway. This is not the kind of blog where I regularly talk about what is happening to me, but this was just too much good news in one week :)