Busy
I have been so busy lately. Too busy to write, anyways.
I ended up not going into lab on MLK Day, which made me feel guilty, but only somewhat. Instead I cooked like, all day, while listening to the excellent "Wives of March" podcast by RPPR. It was weird and creepy and, I think, at least partly inspired me to step up my game for future Cthulhu games.
I think horror straddles a fairly delicate line in that it addresses a lot of uncomfortable and potentially uncomfortable subject matter, and it takes the proper touch to keep it from being skeezy or creepy or just insensitive. "Wives of March" is one of the few adventures I've seen that is set in the 1930s and deliberately chooses to make race matter (it's set in the South). But it feels respectful of the history and determined not to pass over the very prevalent racism of the time.
Listening to a couple of these has really driven home how some of the best Trail of Cthulhu mechanics - the drives, the sources of stability, and the stability/sanity death spiral- are meant to work.
The combination of the genius of Breaking Bad and enjoying some travel/food shows and podcasts like this have me itching to do a non-fantasy game in the not-so-distant future. I would like to do another short sampler sort of thing - trying a few games and even mixing new people into game nights. I do want to finish up Pirates, first - not out of a need to finish things*, but because - more than anything else - I want to see how it ends, too.
* though sometimes I get that too.
I worked out Wednesday morning. Not because I sprung out of bed, bright-eyed, but because Goblin wouldn't shut up and I figured I might as well do something. I didn't do the full set of squats, but I did do the overhead press and Yates rows. I am trying to avoid getting so caught up in the idea of the workout rewards again; it worked really poorly last year. I also feel like I want less things than last year, though part of this may be due to feathering my RPG nest with various bundles.
I am trying to avoid going too strongly with a theme for workouts, whether related to rewards or playlists. I just get tired of the theme and make it another excuse to blow off the workout. The workouts have to go back to being "a thing you just do" instead of some special occasion with bells and whistles.
Listening to podcasts makes it a lot easier for me to do some tedious things, like clean, or bottle beer, or do yardwork. The caveat to this is that the boredom (that comes from mental downtime like tedious jobs) is the fertilizer for creativity as well. I've seen articles to that effect; I think it's true but sometimes I have trouble staying that disciplined. (And I really want the house cleaner even if it costs some creativity.)
This week I have backslid pretty hard on forums. I have to keep coming back to the fact that those little 5-20 minute blocks are whittling away my time - time to read, write, or brainstorm for RPGs. Part of the reason that other creators I admire have time to do their thing is because they control those time-wasting impulses.
I ended up not going into lab on MLK Day, which made me feel guilty, but only somewhat. Instead I cooked like, all day, while listening to the excellent "Wives of March" podcast by RPPR. It was weird and creepy and, I think, at least partly inspired me to step up my game for future Cthulhu games.
I think horror straddles a fairly delicate line in that it addresses a lot of uncomfortable and potentially uncomfortable subject matter, and it takes the proper touch to keep it from being skeezy or creepy or just insensitive. "Wives of March" is one of the few adventures I've seen that is set in the 1930s and deliberately chooses to make race matter (it's set in the South). But it feels respectful of the history and determined not to pass over the very prevalent racism of the time.
Listening to a couple of these has really driven home how some of the best Trail of Cthulhu mechanics - the drives, the sources of stability, and the stability/sanity death spiral- are meant to work.
The combination of the genius of Breaking Bad and enjoying some travel/food shows and podcasts like this have me itching to do a non-fantasy game in the not-so-distant future. I would like to do another short sampler sort of thing - trying a few games and even mixing new people into game nights. I do want to finish up Pirates, first - not out of a need to finish things*, but because - more than anything else - I want to see how it ends, too.
* though sometimes I get that too.
I worked out Wednesday morning. Not because I sprung out of bed, bright-eyed, but because Goblin wouldn't shut up and I figured I might as well do something. I didn't do the full set of squats, but I did do the overhead press and Yates rows. I am trying to avoid getting so caught up in the idea of the workout rewards again; it worked really poorly last year. I also feel like I want less things than last year, though part of this may be due to feathering my RPG nest with various bundles.
I am trying to avoid going too strongly with a theme for workouts, whether related to rewards or playlists. I just get tired of the theme and make it another excuse to blow off the workout. The workouts have to go back to being "a thing you just do" instead of some special occasion with bells and whistles.
Listening to podcasts makes it a lot easier for me to do some tedious things, like clean, or bottle beer, or do yardwork. The caveat to this is that the boredom (that comes from mental downtime like tedious jobs) is the fertilizer for creativity as well. I've seen articles to that effect; I think it's true but sometimes I have trouble staying that disciplined. (And I really want the house cleaner even if it costs some creativity.)
This week I have backslid pretty hard on forums. I have to keep coming back to the fact that those little 5-20 minute blocks are whittling away my time - time to read, write, or brainstorm for RPGs. Part of the reason that other creators I admire have time to do their thing is because they control those time-wasting impulses.