| Stuff |
[13 Jul 2009|06:48pm] |
First up, books:
Esquire Presents: What It Feels Like: edited by A.J. Jacobs
Very short and very riveting. It's a series of quick, 1-2 page personal stories from people that have experienced extraordinary things - including undergoing an exorcism, getting struck by lightning, performing an execution, and winning a Nobel Prize. The stories are not heavily edited for voice (not sure on content or grammar), which is nice, as you get the tiniest feel for the actual author. All of the experiences are things I've never gone through, and the writers did a really wonderful job on description. This is definitely up for a re-read.
It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita by Heather Armstrong (more commonly known by her web moniker, Dooce)
I love Dooce. She has a delightful sarcastic tone that has, at times, made me laugh until I cry. Most of her online updates these days revolve around her children, and despite the fact that child-centric updates don't (and likely never will) resonate with me, I still read everything she posts. That being said, I can't say that I enjoyed the book. It's a rehash and a slight re-edit of her posts just prior to and just post the birth of her first daughter, Leta. When I read them as she posted them, they were extremely heartfelt and meaningful; she wound up in a psychiatric hospital due to Post-Partum Depression. But through all of her public struggles, dealing both with the pitfalls in her own mind and with the trials and tribulations of a brand new daughter, it was always evident how much she loved Leta, and how much work she would do to be the best mother she could. In the book, the articles are juggled a little bit, and the timeframe is a bit confusing. Also, and this may be a product of reading them all at once instead of one post every few days, I didn't get that same sense of love. It felt so much more negative than I think it actually was. And I do appreciate mothers who don't sugarcoat the process; it's HARD, and I think that women who want to have children should know and understand what they're getting themselves into. But that undercurrent of love is what ultimately should make it all worth it, and I just didn't get that impression, exactly, from the book.
Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry Is Medicating a Nation by Charles Barber
A "smart" book, if you will (ie, not a zippy cute fantasy novel ;-) ). I highly recommend this. Barber tracks a ton of statistics, as well as offering up some insightful and valid opinions on the future of psychology. He discusses the use of psychiatric medications, including how much that use has jumped over the past few decades, he offers some numbers on Big Pharma and what role the FDA plays in releasing new medications, how mental illness has been treated throughout the ages, and what is, in fact, actually working. The United States guzzles a TON of Prozac and Xanax and Valium, all for (little-d)depression, which in many cases (and I do speak from experience) is nothing more than a little life dissatisfaction. He makes the case for Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, and how it has worked and continues to work so much better than popping a SSRI daily, but therapy takes a lot more WORK than taking a pill.
As someone who was prescribed Prozac (under its female-friendly name Sarafem) after a nasty breakup, and who did just fine after a little intensive therapy withOUT Prozac, this book fits in line with what I've experienced and what I've seen. As Barber says and as I of course know, there is (big-d)Depression (and OCD and schizophrenia etc etc), and these disorders do require medication and supervision. But I also think that there are a lot of people who have some general life dissatisfaction about something or other, that need to learn life skills to cope with it. Because that's life. Sometimes you do just have to suck it up :)
I've read more books this year than I have in probably the past 3 years combined!
Maine coming up soon - it is going to be a loooooooooong entry (I have it 3/4 typed up and my fingers are tired!)
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| [Do] Swimlane Flowcharts |
[13 Jul 2009|10:55am] |
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Anybody have examples of swim lane flow charts that look better than this?
I'm using a Swimlane structure for an overview of Do's turn order, but I can't find many references that don't either look barebones or garish.
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| I do things |
[13 Jul 2009|10:31am] |
First off, are there crafty people who want a box of miscellaneous yarns? I couldn't even begin to tell you what I've got - I used to crochet a teeny tiny bit - but now I have a bunch of balls of various yarns and nothing to do with them. They're probably not uber-high quality or anything but you can have them for free.
Things I need to do tonight:
1) Run I decline. It's hot and I'm a little on the tired side, thank you Miss Opal who decided her humans should be up at 5:30 AM.
2) Update teh elljay with some info about Maine and reviews for the recent books I've finished (all 3 of them)
3) Laundry (hi mom! Yes, I do laundry ALL THE TIME... if Aaron and I would just stop *sweating*, this wouldn't show up so often :) )
4) Finish unpacking half-empty box into plastic bin, move to basement -- Uuuuuuuuggggggggghhhhhhhhh half empty box has old altar stuff in it. NO clue what to do with it.
5) Put item I want to sell by purse so I can bring it in to work
6) Get measurements of filing cabinet that I want to sell to email to the one person who was interested
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| Tell me why; I don't like Mondays! |
[13 Jul 2009|08:53am] |
I took Wed through Fri off last week, so I'm coming back to work for the first time in 5 days.
I forgot to bring any cash.
I forgot my phone(!). I have the empty belt case though.
Someone swiped the coffee carafe ("air pot") from the coffee bar in my "module". I had to go reallocate a nearby unused air pot from another module. And get rid of the sticker on it that said "Decaffeinated".
Add to that all the typical stuff one has to deal with when one takes time off...
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| [Do] Archipela-Do: Destiny Points |
[13 Jul 2009|07:20am] |
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[This post is part of a series examining Archipelago 2 and what parts of that game might help solve some issues in Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple. Previously: Ritual Phrases]
Destiny Points
Archipelago: Destiny points are an end in your character's story that you will reach by the end of the game.You actually know how your story will end right from the start, so the rest of the session is about how those events come to pass. From the text, it sounds kind of like an in media res or "Coming up next, on Archipelago..." technique
Do: I've got something kind of like this in the current draft of Do.
A while back, I was trying to think of a way to reflect a pilgrim's adventures changing her a little bit at a time; growing into the adult she will become.
If you recall, the first word of your temple name is called your Banner and it represents how you get into trouble. The second word is your Avatar and it represents how you help people. At the end of each session, your little choices will culminate into one big change for your character: The Banner or the Avatar will change.
In other words, your character's experiences on each world will change how she helps people or how she gets into trouble. What that new word might be depends on what happened in the story. For example, let's say the following events occurred in the story.
Trouble: Pilgrim Liz the Little Bird is unconscious, probably something in the mysterious elixir she accepted from the spooky merchant.
Resolution: Pilgrim Daniel the Fluffy Curl uses his voluminous hair to lift Liz's body in the path of a lightning storm. The mystical powers of the storm flood her body with a powerful energy, resurrecting her!
New Trouble: The lightning and the elixir had an unexpected combined side effect. Pilgrim Liz the Little Bird is now a zombie with a thirst for living flesh. Yes, thirst. She prefers smoothies.
So those are the events that happen in the story. If in the course of the gameplay the player had chosen to keep more black stones than white stones, her character's Banner would change at the end of the session.
Pilgrim Liz the Little Bird becomes Pilgrim Liz the Zombie Bird. Instead of getting into trouble by being small, she now gets into trouble by being one of the living dead.
In Archipelago's destiny points, you know what will happen. In Do, you know you're going to change, but you don't quite know how. Is this is a specialized, dichotomous Destiny Point or something totally different?
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[12 Jul 2009|05:57pm] |
sometimes I get so mad..... I clean the house. o.O
aside from that, we got great thunder going on right now
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[12 Jul 2009|03:27pm] |
we just had people knock on our front door.
people who wanted to look at the house because someone online claiming to be the owner told them it is still for rent.
the dude had all the info about the realtors and all, so I think whoever it is stole the listing and is now trying to scam people.
aside from the asshattery of all that... seriously people, if the owner says he is in Nigeria and claims the realtor he is using in the US is having the wrong facts? do you really believe that?
but then, I am an online cynic and recieved to many scam emails in my life :)
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[12 Jul 2009|02:33pm] |
at least one of the Belgian movers was an idiot.
they packed my big ol' bottle of Crisco Vegetable Oil... wrapped in my bed linen and the curtains that belong on the 4 poster!!! on top of my raclette grill.
the whole box was soaked through with oil, say about half the bottle leaked out.
come on guys, packing liquid Niquil on top of Ken's keyboard wasn't bad enough???
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[12 Jul 2009|11:55am] |
I so had the weirdest dreams last night...
one was about us moving, and I got really mad and sad because Ken gave my cat away without asking! giving me a kitten at the new home didn't fix it...
the second was way weird...
it started at my parents last appartment, the place I lived in most of my teenage years. it's an upstairs apartment on a pretty busy small street, right on the top part of a T-junction too.
so traffic was heavy, I was standing in the street that makes the bottom of the T, looking at home, when a truck slammed into the furniture next to the appartment, the trailer smashing into the bank underneath the appartment. bricks crumbling everywhere.
another truck (coca cola... which was just down the road from us), barely made the corner of the T junction trying to avoid smaching into the other truck, ripping the corner of the building off and heading straight towards me.
I remember running like a crazy person and later trying to get my mum out of the apartment while the foundation of the place started to give way.... all of this then kind of turned into a stalking/running away/beating weird people dream.
Ken got punched in the arm when I woke up :)
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| [Do] Archipela-Do: Ritual Phrases |
[12 Jul 2009|08:06am] |
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[This post is part 1 of 4 in a series examining Archipelago 2 and what parts of that game might help solve some issues in Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple.]
Ritual Phrases
Archipelago: I like that there are ritual phrases that help create consistent scene-framing throughout the a session of Archipelago. I have a big list of tips and suggestions very similar to the "Important Techniques" section, but nothing really bringing them into play.
Do: If I apply ritual phrases to each of my tips, that might be that extra nudge needed to make sure players know that they're the referees for story style. For example, one of the tips is to conserve secondary characters. In other words, to not introduce a new secondary character when you could reasonably add more details to an existing character.
Let's say Luke Skywalker's father has not actually become present in the story. But we have this character named Darth Vader who we don't really know a whole lot about yet. You *could* keep the two as separate characters, but it makes a far more interesting story if you conserve characters and say that Darth Vader *is* Luke's father.
So what would the ritual phrase be to make that happen? I have no idea... It's a cool technique though. You can see the tips I've listed so far here under "Making Trouble" and "Telling Stories." Maybe you can think of some phrases?
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| [Do] Archipela-Do |
[12 Jul 2009|08:03am] |
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Remi pointed me to Archipelago 2 as a source of possible solutions to the creative exhaustion problem from the Dreamation playtests.
This is the sort of narrative, rules-light game that I was really into in college until I actually tried them out and realized just how much I needed structure in my play. I was skeptical about whether I'd find useful bits here, but only because I doubted whether I had the heart to potentially overhaul the whole game if the only solution was to make it more Norwegian.
Thankfully, I don't think that will be necessary. There are a lot of little gems to pluck from Archipelago without having to dye Do's hair blonde. ;)
There's a lot to talk about, so I will split these up into several blog posts to focus the comments on each subject:
Ritual Phrases
Destiny Points
Ownership (Tuesday)
Resolution (Wednesday)
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| Closed off |
[12 Jul 1999|12:28am] |
After all of these years I finally found the mass-security button.
Comment to be added.
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[11 Jul 2009|05:20pm] |
ABC, Wang Chung, Cutting Crew concert tonight. I've spent the last hour online trying to figure out how to determine which band is the biggest (is it US record sales, worldwide record sales, #1 hits, etc.?) Of those bands, only Cutting Crew had a #1 US single, but they are the openers. Missing Persons and Berlin is supposed to be there too, but then I just read that Heaven 17 would be there instead, and I have no idea who they are. The concert is at the pool, and I hope they allow swimming. It's 105 or 108 or something today. Tears For Fears is also tonight, at another pool, and I wish they were on the ABC bill instead. Darnit.
Glasses
All of my eyeglasses have arrived finally, and I am now that lady on "Criminal Minds" that matches her glasses with her outfits and scrunchies. I went crazy with the online $39 glasses, and now have the pink ones, purple ones, and blue ones. All 3 pairs cost less than one pair at the cheapest places in town - Wal-mart and EyeMasters. Oh and Eyeglass World, here in town, has a special where you get two complete pairs for $78. When I asked how much it would cost to bring my own frames, and get polycarbonate with anti-glare, the $78 turned into $300! Hello bait and switch. Lenscrafters and Pearle Vision had all sorts of sales - 50% frames, 50% off lenses, 30% off a complete pair with a AAA discount - all of which equaled $300 for one pair in the end.
I bought some frames for $1 from China on Ebay, and then sent them to 39dollarglasses.com, because that still cost 1/3 of what it would cost at Wal-Mart! 39 Dollar Glasses is in Ronkonkoma, NY, which is where I was when I went to my cousin's wedding in May! Ronkonkoma will be the new Franklin, TN (the town I heard about every day for months after visiting it). My other eyeglasses came from zennioptical.com, and goggles4u.com (which will send you a free pair of glasses if they mess up the first pair). Now you know how to save 80% on eyeglasses! And in the end, I am still an idiot because I went to the eye doctor 7 times in the last 2 months, ordered new contacts and 3 pairs of glasses, and it turns out my prescription is still not correct because I can't see that clearly. Maybe I will try a different Optometrist next year.
AC
The AC guy came out for like the 9th time this year yesterday to check the pressure, to confirm my AC is finally perfect. Guess what - he now found a leak outside! WTF. This is a new leak that was never there the first 8 times! So he's coming back next week to replace the coil. Thankfully he said I can get my wall patched up since there are currently no more leaks inside my wall!! For now! The one-year warranty is going to run out soon, and while extended warranties are usually scams, given that my AC unit is a piece of crap, I am debating if I should get it. The smart thing to do is buy good products so that you don't need a warranty, but I didn't have a choice because this is the AC that came with the house.
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| Cool, but... |
[11 Jul 2009|08:05pm] |
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...Eternal Moonwalk has made me realize that most people don't really know how to moonwalk and most of those who can, can only do it very very slowly.
(And I guess I lied when I said I'd only be making the one Michael Jackson post, but it's debatable whether or not this one counts. :oP)
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| [Do] What is actually coming with the game? |
[10 Jul 2009|10:38am] |
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The last post spurred some questions that I thought would be pertinent just to keep things clear.
The Standard Edition: The black and white book on its own.
The um... let's call it "Special" Edition: A short run of full-color, hardcover versions of the book on its own.
Evil Hat is handling the fulfillment/publication/businessy side of both the Standard and Special editions.
And then there is the Super-Duper Limited Edition: The color book plus props that include a pouch, stones, the game board, and some other trinkets.
Megan and I will be hand making and assembling four or five of these sets and selling them in-person or on Etsy. Evil Hat isn't handling that part except insofar as I need to get my hands on color versions of the books.
Of course, we'll also offer a PDF for the cost-conscious consumer.
All that make sense?
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| [Do] Mad Props |
[10 Jul 2009|06:04am] |
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Some items you'll need to play Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple:
A pouch, eight black stones, eight white stones, a cup or bowl for each player, and a small trinket for each player.
* Clarification: Only the limited edition of the game will come with a bag, stones, trinkets or cups. (Actually, the cups are kind of iffy, too.) Otherwise you'll have to provide your own props. The items pictured here are what we use for our playtests at home and are sort of an ideal set up.
And this is a quick pass at the character sheet. The main square area is what will be in the book. The top bit is something unique to the 8.5" x 11" PDF. Write your character's name there and fold the sheet so everyone else can see the name at a glance.
That's particularly important in play since people will be referencing your character's name a lot.
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