Quotes - Plato

Quotes - Plato

Any one who has common sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eye are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light, which is true of the mind's eye, quite as much as of the bodily eye. - Plato

Play - Fluxx

Play - Fluxx

I once was taking care of a 7 year old, for like 15-20 minutes while her aunt cooked something in the kitchen. There was a Chinese checkers board, so we played that.

It wasn't feasible to play Chinese checkers properly, so I just let her dictate the rules. "Let's say you can jump like this". Okay fine. I followed the 'rules' and moved my marbles around the board according to her rules. I tried to get my marbles on the other end of the board, she just randomly moved the marbles around, sometimes playing my pieces.

Then she said "Lets throw the marbles at the board and try to get them to land in places". Okay, we did that for a while. So we did that. Then we made pictures with the marbles for a bit. I think even was able to add 'rules' of my own, like "bounce the marbles once before they land".

It was sort of an epiphany moment for me though. Because even though we played a lot of different games with the board, not once did we have a score, or a way to "Win". When kid's play with each other, they don't win or lose. They just play.

Don't play fluxx like it's a way to "beat" people, or even like it's a skill. Fluxx is a different sort of game. It's a Game that you just play. Bring to a restaurant with a friend. Have a conversation while you play. Don't try to win. Don't try to lose. Just play.

It's more like having a Frisbee or hacky sack with a circle of friends. No you don't get any points for doing tricks. There's no way to win. You can try to do tricks if you want. You can just pass it if you want. You can purposely throw the Frisbee poorly so your friend has to reach too far. You can try to land it on their head.

Whatever.

Play Fluxx like that.

Sometimes, for a bit, I might I try to make it so the rules are super complicated. Then maybe on a whim I'll make it simple. Then if I get bored I'll try to end the game. Or maybe I'll try to extend it. Maybe I'll try to get all food keepers. Maybe I'll try to get all the creepers. Maybe I'll try to give my friend all the creepers. Maybe I'll almost win, and then purposely not win.

Whatever.

It's just a way for you to interact with you're friends. Don't think too much about it. Don't try to win. Don't force anything. Just play.

Thoughts - Justice

Thoughts - Justice

We do not just defend the meek, the weak, or the disenfranchised.  We should strive to empower them that they might discern right from wrong, rise up and defend themselves from bullies, and take a controlling interest in their own destinies.

If we are forever defending, and not educating, are they not just trading one slavemaster for another?

Quotes - Martha Graham - Doubt

Quotes - Martha Graham - Doubt

"There is no place for arrogance in the arts, but neither is there room for doubt or a perpetual need for affirmation. If you come to me with doubts about a particular move in a piece, or if you come to me and ask if what you've written has truth and power in it, these are doubts I can handle and respect. But if you come to me and moan about whether or not you really have a place in the dance or the theatre or in film, I'll be the first person to pack your bags and walk you to the door. You are either admitting that you lack the talent and the will, or you are just looking for some easy attention. I don't have time for that. The world doesn't have time for that. Believe in your worth and work with a will so that others will see it. That's how it is done; that's how it was always done." --Martha Graham

Writing - Dogs Don't Die

Writing - Dogs Don't Die

Some of you, particularly those who think they have recently lost a dog to “death”, don’t really understand this. I’ve had no desire to explain, but won’t be around forever and must. 

Dogs never die. 

They don’t know how to. They get tired, and very old, and their bones hurt. Of course they don’t die. If they did they would not want to always go for a walk, even long after their old bones say:” No, no, not a good idea. Let’s not go for a walk.” Nope, dogs always want to go for a walk. They might get one step before their aging tendons collapse them into a heap on the floor, but that’s what dogs are. They walk. 

It’s not that they dislike your company. On the contrary, a walk with you is all there is. Their boss, and the cacaphonic symphony of odor that the world is. Cat poop, another dog’s mark, a rotting chicken bone ( exultation), and you. That’s what makes their world perfect, and in a perfect world death has no place. 

However, dogs get very very sleepy. That’s the thing, you see. They don’t teach you that at the fancy university where they explain about quarks, gluons, and Keynesian economics. They know so much they forget that dogs never die. It’s a shame, really. Dogs have so much to offer and people just talk a lot. When you think your dog has died, it has just fallen asleep in your heart. And by the way, it is wagging it’s tail madly, you see, and that’s why your chest hurts so much and you cry all the time. Who would not cry with a happy dog wagging its tail in their chest. Ouch! Wap wap wap wap wap, that hurts. But they only wag when they wake up. That’s when they say: “Thanks Boss! Thanks for a warm place to sleep and always next to your heart, the best place.” 

When they first fall asleep, they wake up all the time, and that’s why, of course, you cry all the time. Wap, wap, wap. After a while they sleep more. (remember, a dog while is not a human while. You take your dog for walk, it’s a day full of adventure in an hour. Then you come home and it’s a week, well one of your days, but a week, really, before the dog gets another walk. No WONDER they love walks.) 

Anyway, like I was saying, they fall asleep in your heart, and when they wake up, they wag their tail. After a few dog years, they sleep for longer naps, and you would too. They were a GOOD DOG all their life, and you both know it. It gets tiring being a good dog all the time, particularly when you get old and your bones hurt and you fall on your face and don’t want to go outside to pee when it is raining but do anyway, because you are a good dog. 

So understand, after they have been sleeping in your heart, they will sleep longer and longer. But don’t get fooled. They are not “dead.” There’s no such thing, really. They are sleeping in your heart, and they will wake up, usually when you’re not expecting it. It’s just who they are. I feel sorry for people who don’t have dogs sleeping in their heart. 

You’ve missed so much.

Poetry - Dark Sonnet - By Neil Gaiman

Poetry - Dark Sonnet - By Neil Gaiman

Dark Sonnet by Neil Gaiman

I don’t think that I’ve been in love as such,
although I liked a few folk pretty well.
Love must be vaster than my smiles or touch, for brave men died and empires rose and fell.
For love, girls follow boys to foreign lands, and men have followed women into hell.
In plays and poems someone understands, there’s something makes us more than blood and bone.
And more than biological demands for me love’s like the wind unseen, unknown.
I see the trees are bending where it’s been.
I know that it leaves wreckage where it’s blown.
I really don’t know what "I love you" means.
I think it means don’t leave me here alone...

Game Design - Ludum Dare 48

Game Design - Ludum Dare 48

Quick sample of the writing I've been working on for Ludum Dare this weekend:

In darkness and silence,
A splintered faith moves without direction.

There, a ruin of stone and metal,
...and death.

Time drags eternal, and the rain stops
The land runs over, green to grey
and grey to black.

And the splintered faith cares not,
for worldly matters.
Deep beneath the nowhere.

Until it found a breath...