Time for a little reflection
Where are we at with things? If I could sum it up, it would be: tired. 2008 was an incredibly busy year for me, and the ride has indeed left me tired. I am glad it's a new year, as it is the proverbial way to start afresh, as we are all apt to do when given the chance by the start of a new calendar year. It also gives me an excuse to add to the blog again without feeling guilty that I really haven't paid it any mind in quite a while. So, here we go.
Professionally:
Things are going well enough on that side of my life. EndGame was down for the first time since I have been working in the store. A bummer, but on the plus side, it was only 4%. A majority of this money was in local gaming conventions. We saw every single one of those down pretty seriously for us in 2008. Not enough to stop doing them, but enough to reset expectations for 2009. As the economy gets a little/a lot worse, I think we will see those shows do even worse. The "trappings" surrounding them, IE Room Rates, food eaten while attended etc, don't seem to be getting any cheaper, while many people at least feel broker. It should prove an interesting year for the regionals.
I am starting to realize that I need to put a lot more of my brain back in the store. While I may be here physically a lot, I am not always here mentally. A lot of hat has to do with the fact that it is SUPER easy to let things run on auto pilot. Events are pretty self managing, and the day to day stuff doesn't require a lotta brain. It has allowed me to really put that brain into stuff that I am much more focused on,primarily personal stuff. I am going to endeavor to give a little bitta brain back to the store, which may not be a bad idea as the economy gets a lot more people on edge. While I don't have a lotta fear about that effecting us to the point where we are in trouble, there is no harm in being proactive about things.
Where I failed pretty miserably this year was in my "side projects." I don't really know where to find the time to contribute more, which mentally makes me disengage. If I could get over anything, it would be my "all or nothing" mentality. Hopefully I will have more brain for IPR and One Bad Egg. I am mainly pissed at myself because these are all people I REALLY wanted to work with. I haven't felt good all year about my lack of involvement, and hopefully I can free more brain up there for those deserving entities.
Personally:
I think this might be the area that got most of my brain this year. I had a total of five out-patient surgeries under full anesthetic from March to December. I won't go into details, but it hasn't been fun, and there have been some things associated that have constantly left me in some form of discomfort pretty much 100% of the time. I think that is where a lot of my brain has been lingering....trying to cope with that discomfort while juggling the rest of life. I am 100% committed to being done with this in 2009, for both my sanity, and for my overall health.
Health crap did take up a lotta my personal life, but that certainly wasn't all that happened in 2008. My kids are doing great. The older one is starting to get on course in school, even if it requires a lotta work on my wife and my part. The little one thrives off of school and his after-school program, so that is going even better than expected. We also did a fair amount of traveling this year. A Caribbean Cruise, a trip to Las Vegas for work, Gencon, several trips to Napa, and even a little more than that. It was all very satisfying for a number of different reasons, and I look forward to more of the same in 2009. We also managed to get our house in really good order this year. Projects that were started and never finished got checked off, with several others well on their way there. It's a much more comfortable place to be, and since we spend so much time there....that is a good thing.
Gaming:
For many people this would be a part of the "personal" category, but I always see it as having such an influential power over me, that I will send it some love at let it live out here on it's own. I am very torn here to go with this. I had some very good gaming in 2008, but I would say as a whole, it was a very love-hate relationship. I think this was the year I finally allowed business to ruin pleasure, which to an effect, really quashed my desire to both game and to evangelize for gaming. I suppose you could safely say, running a game store with oodles of play space, and hosting the types of events we do is probably being enough of an evangelist. Up until this year, that wasn't enough for me. I watched an aweful lotta bad decisions come out of the "industry" this year, from the same dipshits who have been making those bad decisions for years now...and better yet, people keep listening to those same dipshits. So, essentially, I retreated. I don't go to forums (aside from the stores own forums) anymore. I don't engage in discussion or theory in gaming retail anymore. I don't spend much of any time even reading as much news on the "industry" anymore...and I am not sure if I am scared or happy about the fact that I don't miss it. It has allowed me to try and find my way home, as they say, to the types of gaming I care about for me. Even though there were highs and lows, I am going to say it was mainly positive in getting my hobby back. I had a mech named after me this year in TRO 3075. Probably the single best thing that has happened in my gaming life. To follow it up, my friend Chris scratch built that mech for me to use during play...maybe the second single best thing to ever happen in my gaming career. I ran a BUNCH of D&D 4e this year, with even more coming up in 2009. I played in some GREAT RPGs with people like Carl Rigney. I played more board games in 2008 than any year previously. All pretty positive, if you ask me...I think the one area that I haven't been able to get back, and as I type this it still manages to stress me out, is my minis gaming. We packed up my painting table at one point to do a big remodel of the room. Once I put it back up several months later, I couldn't get back in the habit of sitting down and doing it. Some of this has to do with the medical crap you heard referenced above. A LOT of it had to do with time. Whatever the reasons, I haven't actively sat down and painted in months now. And it makes me sad, but manages to be reality none the less. I am not convinced 2009 will change this, as my schedule hasn't really freed up any at all, and there isn't much left to drop in it's place. I suppose, time will tell.
Podcasting.
I feel like this deserves it's own category as well, though, I think it could have lived under any one of these other categories. I am thrilled at how many people listen to 2d6 Feet in a Random Direction. I was also thrilled to be part of a panel hosted by Daniel Perez this year at Gencon. Due to the lack of brain, Podcasting seriously suffered in my life in 2008. We have always tried to get a couple shows out in a month, and my schedule and lack of brain made that pretty impossible this past year. I wonder if for me, at least, some of this has to do with my lack of interest in gaming evangelism, but I am pretty sure it doesn't. It's something I realllly enjoy doing. It helps me stay connected with an awful lotta people I really like, and like to hear from. If I can manage to squeeze more time outta my brain, this is one area of things I can see getting better in 2009...but as James Bond once said, Never say Never. (Wait...)
Yeah, ok. So this was actually pretty helpful. I am sure almost any "let's reflect" post you see on the Tubes is all about getting your head back on straight once a year. I think doing this has had that effect on me, for at least today. So, thanks for putting up with it. I will catch you guys on the other side of this thing.
Professionally:
Things are going well enough on that side of my life. EndGame was down for the first time since I have been working in the store. A bummer, but on the plus side, it was only 4%. A majority of this money was in local gaming conventions. We saw every single one of those down pretty seriously for us in 2008. Not enough to stop doing them, but enough to reset expectations for 2009. As the economy gets a little/a lot worse, I think we will see those shows do even worse. The "trappings" surrounding them, IE Room Rates, food eaten while attended etc, don't seem to be getting any cheaper, while many people at least feel broker. It should prove an interesting year for the regionals.
I am starting to realize that I need to put a lot more of my brain back in the store. While I may be here physically a lot, I am not always here mentally. A lot of hat has to do with the fact that it is SUPER easy to let things run on auto pilot. Events are pretty self managing, and the day to day stuff doesn't require a lotta brain. It has allowed me to really put that brain into stuff that I am much more focused on,primarily personal stuff. I am going to endeavor to give a little bitta brain back to the store, which may not be a bad idea as the economy gets a lot more people on edge. While I don't have a lotta fear about that effecting us to the point where we are in trouble, there is no harm in being proactive about things.
Where I failed pretty miserably this year was in my "side projects." I don't really know where to find the time to contribute more, which mentally makes me disengage. If I could get over anything, it would be my "all or nothing" mentality. Hopefully I will have more brain for IPR and One Bad Egg. I am mainly pissed at myself because these are all people I REALLY wanted to work with. I haven't felt good all year about my lack of involvement, and hopefully I can free more brain up there for those deserving entities.
Personally:
I think this might be the area that got most of my brain this year. I had a total of five out-patient surgeries under full anesthetic from March to December. I won't go into details, but it hasn't been fun, and there have been some things associated that have constantly left me in some form of discomfort pretty much 100% of the time. I think that is where a lot of my brain has been lingering....trying to cope with that discomfort while juggling the rest of life. I am 100% committed to being done with this in 2009, for both my sanity, and for my overall health.
Health crap did take up a lotta my personal life, but that certainly wasn't all that happened in 2008. My kids are doing great. The older one is starting to get on course in school, even if it requires a lotta work on my wife and my part. The little one thrives off of school and his after-school program, so that is going even better than expected. We also did a fair amount of traveling this year. A Caribbean Cruise, a trip to Las Vegas for work, Gencon, several trips to Napa, and even a little more than that. It was all very satisfying for a number of different reasons, and I look forward to more of the same in 2009. We also managed to get our house in really good order this year. Projects that were started and never finished got checked off, with several others well on their way there. It's a much more comfortable place to be, and since we spend so much time there....that is a good thing.
Gaming:
For many people this would be a part of the "personal" category, but I always see it as having such an influential power over me, that I will send it some love at let it live out here on it's own. I am very torn here to go with this. I had some very good gaming in 2008, but I would say as a whole, it was a very love-hate relationship. I think this was the year I finally allowed business to ruin pleasure, which to an effect, really quashed my desire to both game and to evangelize for gaming. I suppose you could safely say, running a game store with oodles of play space, and hosting the types of events we do is probably being enough of an evangelist. Up until this year, that wasn't enough for me. I watched an aweful lotta bad decisions come out of the "industry" this year, from the same dipshits who have been making those bad decisions for years now...and better yet, people keep listening to those same dipshits. So, essentially, I retreated. I don't go to forums (aside from the stores own forums) anymore. I don't engage in discussion or theory in gaming retail anymore. I don't spend much of any time even reading as much news on the "industry" anymore...and I am not sure if I am scared or happy about the fact that I don't miss it. It has allowed me to try and find my way home, as they say, to the types of gaming I care about for me. Even though there were highs and lows, I am going to say it was mainly positive in getting my hobby back. I had a mech named after me this year in TRO 3075. Probably the single best thing that has happened in my gaming life. To follow it up, my friend Chris scratch built that mech for me to use during play...maybe the second single best thing to ever happen in my gaming career. I ran a BUNCH of D&D 4e this year, with even more coming up in 2009. I played in some GREAT RPGs with people like Carl Rigney. I played more board games in 2008 than any year previously. All pretty positive, if you ask me...I think the one area that I haven't been able to get back, and as I type this it still manages to stress me out, is my minis gaming. We packed up my painting table at one point to do a big remodel of the room. Once I put it back up several months later, I couldn't get back in the habit of sitting down and doing it. Some of this has to do with the medical crap you heard referenced above. A LOT of it had to do with time. Whatever the reasons, I haven't actively sat down and painted in months now. And it makes me sad, but manages to be reality none the less. I am not convinced 2009 will change this, as my schedule hasn't really freed up any at all, and there isn't much left to drop in it's place. I suppose, time will tell.
Podcasting.
I feel like this deserves it's own category as well, though, I think it could have lived under any one of these other categories. I am thrilled at how many people listen to 2d6 Feet in a Random Direction. I was also thrilled to be part of a panel hosted by Daniel Perez this year at Gencon. Due to the lack of brain, Podcasting seriously suffered in my life in 2008. We have always tried to get a couple shows out in a month, and my schedule and lack of brain made that pretty impossible this past year. I wonder if for me, at least, some of this has to do with my lack of interest in gaming evangelism, but I am pretty sure it doesn't. It's something I realllly enjoy doing. It helps me stay connected with an awful lotta people I really like, and like to hear from. If I can manage to squeeze more time outta my brain, this is one area of things I can see getting better in 2009...but as James Bond once said, Never say Never. (Wait...)
Yeah, ok. So this was actually pretty helpful. I am sure almost any "let's reflect" post you see on the Tubes is all about getting your head back on straight once a year. I think doing this has had that effect on me, for at least today. So, thanks for putting up with it. I will catch you guys on the other side of this thing.