I screwed up my courage, zipped up my three best maps, and sent my resume off to the Unreal guys to see if maybe I could get a job working on Unreal 2 or maybe Unreal Tournament 2003. An anxious weekend followed.

Then, this morning, I got a phone call! I waited for the second ring -- you know, so I looked busy? -- and then picked up. "Hello, is this Jason 'HaXsl4ya' Beeterman?" a gruff voice asked. "Yes, yes it is!" I exclaimed.

I heard the muffle of a hand on the receiver, then the voice whispered to several others who were apparently in the same room: "It's him!" What followed was an outburst of howling laughter.

The laughter continued in gasping hoots and hollers for twenty unbroken minutes, with no pause, nor any attempt to elaborate on its cause. Several times the cacophony threatened to subside, only to suddenly ignite again in an uproarious tumult of weeping hysterics. At one point the laughter died down enough for me to ask, "Is this about my maps?" at which point, an explosive howl of unabashed mirth erupted forth and continued loudly for several more extremely awkward minutes.

At last the man with the gruff voice tried several times to say "Thank you" but was unable to speak through screaming fits of hilarity. I'm assuming that the loud thudding sound was one of the others hitting the man on the back as he tried to address me. At last, he gave up, and the phone simply went dead.