"And then, of course, there is the possibility that, though we can change the game infinitely, what we need to be doing is something else altogether." --Bernard DeKoven, "Changing the Game."
All right, it's been a slow post week. Usually, that means one of two things:
1) it's been a really busy week, and I don't have time to post
2) it's been a really boring week, and there's nothing worth posting.
This would be the latter of the two. I'm waiting on my supervisor for progress on a few projects, and while it's been nice to be in a situation where I don't have constant, gnawing guilt for for not working full throttle on the dissertation, it is a little dull. Currently, I've been dealing with the boredom by, well, doing something that's arguably even more boring: throwing myself into the videogame research with even greater intensity. Specifically, I've been reading 100+ pages of a day of the massive 900 page tome, Salen and Zimmerman's Game Design Reader. I've been devoting 4 to 7 hours a day to it, and it's starting to show; I ran into a friend the other day, and I actually couldn't think of a single topic that didn't relate to it. Remember the post a little while back when I claimed I was a little too wrapped up in games? Well, as of the past few nights, I've been dreaming in video games too. Enough's enough.
In other words, as soon as I finish this colossal codex, I'm taking a week off. Not a vacation, no; for once in my life, I've got some good momentum going work-wise, and I don't want it to go entirely to waste. Rather, I'm going to redirect my efforts. I'll focus on outlining my course in the fall (Introduction to Digital Media Studies) and redirect my research attention from video games to another area. Derrida and the archive? Maybe some Benjamin? Perhaps I'll even get to that McLuhan study I've always meant to do. Something different, but useful. Any interesting suggestions will be appreciated.
Later Days.
Showing posts with label resolutions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label resolutions. Show all posts
Friday, July 8, 2011
Thursday, August 5, 2010
The Birthday Post
I gotta admit, I really wanted to do another review here before I did this post. I've been watching movies--Steve Martin's "The Jerk," the quintessential "funny hats" movie, according to Roger Ebert (Not a good thing). I've been playing games--Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box. It's a point-and-click based game for the DS that takes place in an alternate universe where currency appears to have given up on that silly bill system and been replaced by a puzzle-based economy. (Actually, the idea of a society where wealth and prominence is predicated directly on a subset of intellectual skills is kind of interesting, in a survival-of-the-Sudokuist kind of way.) And books--HaveMercy, which is a steampunk fantasy novel about dragons, Dragon Keeper, which is a gothic fantasy novel about dragons, and White Teeth, a slice-of-life story about Londoner families and immigrants from WWII into the turn of century. (Which of these things is not like the other?) But instead, we're doing the birthday post.
Last year's Birthday post was spent on reviewing how last year's New Year Resolutions went. Can't quite do that this year, since I spent the 2010 New Year Resolutions on a list of things I'm thankful for, as I apparently mixed up New Years with Thanksgiving. Take out the turkey, and they're the same, really. Generally, they cater to different overindulgences, but the similarities are there. Anyway, let's check in on the 2009 resolutions:
1. Find an agent for the novel. Status: no progress.
2. Stringent exercising. Status: sporadic.
3. Romantic conquests. Status: Reading more Mauve Binchy novels. Depressing.
4. Watch More TV. Status: exponential successes.
Well, to continue the tradition of mix-matching holidays, let's make some new resolutions for the birthday. Add these to the permanent list:
5. Let it go. Those that know me can attest that I have a tendency to overanalyze. Of course, they probably wouldn't say that unless prompted, which makes me question their motives. Anyway, it's fairly common for me, especially in situations that I'm not sure of, to apologize to someone afterwards. Then apologize for thinking the apology was necessary. And then apologizing for overapologizing. And so forth. And that's the best case scenario. More often, I don't get to the apologizing stage, and just stew endlessly. So I'm going to stop making a big deal about some things that don't require that much attention, and see where it gets me.
6. Chase after it. My first response when dealing with the unexpected is to wipe my hands of the matter. It's instinctual--the unplanned for is the unwelcomed, because how could I welcome it if I didn't know it was coming? Well, I think it's time to foster a spirit of... general welcomeness. Like the shaking of the hands ceremony we used to do at my church before the whole "Sars" thing.
7. Watch the Scott Pilgrim movie. OMG, I just read book six and it was soooo good and I went back and read them over again and it's amazing how O'Malley has evolved, not just in terms of the story, but in terms of art and artistry and the movie looks like it's going to be really awesome, I've got my doubts about Michael Cera, because he's usually pretty typecast and Scott kind of breaks from the norm but it's directed by Edgar Wright, who did Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead and they were cool, and I think his action/comedy sensibilities will really serve him well here and it's out August 13th, and everyone should go see it, ok?
Yeah, those seems like some good additions.
ASIDE: I'm typing this post from a university public computer. The individual who had this computer before me left her resume open, and apparently, her first name is Sunday. That is an awesome first name. It also has her email address, last name, phone number and personal address, and was probably not a wise document to leave open on a public computer. It leaves her open to all sorts of weird people. Like me, for example, since I just sent her an email suggesting a few improvements she could make. Don't look at me like that. I'm an English grad student. I HAVE RESPONSIBILITIES. These include correcting people's grammar, providing nonsequitor literary references to show how educated I am, and proofreading resumes I find on computers. It's all in the grad student handbook. At the very least, someone should tell her she needs to say "2008 to present" rather than "2008 to preset." And now I'm realizing I should have led with the Sunday story, because it's far more interesting than the main event. Ah well.
Later Days.
Last year's Birthday post was spent on reviewing how last year's New Year Resolutions went. Can't quite do that this year, since I spent the 2010 New Year Resolutions on a list of things I'm thankful for, as I apparently mixed up New Years with Thanksgiving. Take out the turkey, and they're the same, really. Generally, they cater to different overindulgences, but the similarities are there. Anyway, let's check in on the 2009 resolutions:
1. Find an agent for the novel. Status: no progress.
2. Stringent exercising. Status: sporadic.
3. Romantic conquests. Status: Reading more Mauve Binchy novels. Depressing.
4. Watch More TV. Status: exponential successes.
Well, to continue the tradition of mix-matching holidays, let's make some new resolutions for the birthday. Add these to the permanent list:
5. Let it go. Those that know me can attest that I have a tendency to overanalyze. Of course, they probably wouldn't say that unless prompted, which makes me question their motives. Anyway, it's fairly common for me, especially in situations that I'm not sure of, to apologize to someone afterwards. Then apologize for thinking the apology was necessary. And then apologizing for overapologizing. And so forth. And that's the best case scenario. More often, I don't get to the apologizing stage, and just stew endlessly. So I'm going to stop making a big deal about some things that don't require that much attention, and see where it gets me.
6. Chase after it. My first response when dealing with the unexpected is to wipe my hands of the matter. It's instinctual--the unplanned for is the unwelcomed, because how could I welcome it if I didn't know it was coming? Well, I think it's time to foster a spirit of... general welcomeness. Like the shaking of the hands ceremony we used to do at my church before the whole "Sars" thing.
7. Watch the Scott Pilgrim movie. OMG, I just read book six and it was soooo good and I went back and read them over again and it's amazing how O'Malley has evolved, not just in terms of the story, but in terms of art and artistry and the movie looks like it's going to be really awesome, I've got my doubts about Michael Cera, because he's usually pretty typecast and Scott kind of breaks from the norm but it's directed by Edgar Wright, who did Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead and they were cool, and I think his action/comedy sensibilities will really serve him well here and it's out August 13th, and everyone should go see it, ok?
Yeah, those seems like some good additions.
ASIDE: I'm typing this post from a university public computer. The individual who had this computer before me left her resume open, and apparently, her first name is Sunday. That is an awesome first name. It also has her email address, last name, phone number and personal address, and was probably not a wise document to leave open on a public computer. It leaves her open to all sorts of weird people. Like me, for example, since I just sent her an email suggesting a few improvements she could make. Don't look at me like that. I'm an English grad student. I HAVE RESPONSIBILITIES. These include correcting people's grammar, providing nonsequitor literary references to show how educated I am, and proofreading resumes I find on computers. It's all in the grad student handbook. At the very least, someone should tell her she needs to say "2008 to present" rather than "2008 to preset." And now I'm realizing I should have led with the Sunday story, because it's far more interesting than the main event. Ah well.
Later Days.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Give me a head with LESS hair
It's a momentous day--26 years ago, a Baby of Consequence was born. How am I celebrating, you may ask? Well, I got a haircut. My family has been politely suggesting--and loudly insisting--that I do something about my shaggy dog look, and I have. No more goatee, scraggly facial hair, dangling forehead locks, and oh-so-delightful sideburns. We're back to the clean cut look, a perfect way of saying look out world, I've got a new haircut.
Beyond that, I turned in my Art and Persuasion paper and took out the first four books on my comprehensive exam, Lit Theory. Not a one of them was written in the last millennium, so this should be some fun reading. (I'm not even sure myself whether I intend for that to be sarcastic or not. I love me a good Greek/Roman legend, but after Timeaus, I know that reading Plato sometimes means 40 straight pages of "the third thing which is like unto a field, but neither one nor the other."
This seems like a good a time as any for a status check on my New Years resolutions. Let's see...
--I want to find an agent for my novel. I've been sitting on it for nearly two years now; enough's enough. It's time to get that masterpiece out there. Well, I've got a lovely collection of email rejection notes. Perhaps I may be one of those artists whose genius is never recognized in its own time. I'll keep trying, though!
--I'm going to try to stick to my exercise routine a little more stringently. I had been planning on starting this one in December, but considering that most of December in my home province averaged at about -27 degrees, there was a minimum amount of running accomplished. Well, you can hardly jog with lots of snow around, so really, I couldn't get started until March. Then it was the end of term in April, so that was a wash. Classes started in May again, so I wanted to get into the swing of things before adding more to the routine. And then it was June, and I didn't want to start anything before my trip home. Then it was end of the Spring/Summer term... All right: bottom line, I've gone jogging and done my exercises for every day so far in August. We'll see where we go from there.
--More romantic conquests! Hey, gotta start at some point, right?
Ha. Ha, ha, ha. This involves a series of stories that are not getting broadcast over the internet. Suffice to say, the last few months have shown the most effort I've ever put into this area to date (pun intended). And results have been mixed. By which I mean entirely negative. But now I've got a sexy new haircut, so look out, ladies.
--I want to watch more TV. Because there needs to be something on this list I'm actually going to do.
Done, and done. Go Team Person!
So that's 1 for 4. But hey, there's five months left. Plenty of time to turn things around. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some birthday reading to do, concerning a certain Longinus fellow and his thoughts on the Sublime.
Later Days.
Beyond that, I turned in my Art and Persuasion paper and took out the first four books on my comprehensive exam, Lit Theory. Not a one of them was written in the last millennium, so this should be some fun reading. (I'm not even sure myself whether I intend for that to be sarcastic or not. I love me a good Greek/Roman legend, but after Timeaus, I know that reading Plato sometimes means 40 straight pages of "the third thing which is like unto a field, but neither one nor the other."
This seems like a good a time as any for a status check on my New Years resolutions. Let's see...
--I want to find an agent for my novel. I've been sitting on it for nearly two years now; enough's enough. It's time to get that masterpiece out there. Well, I've got a lovely collection of email rejection notes. Perhaps I may be one of those artists whose genius is never recognized in its own time. I'll keep trying, though!
--I'm going to try to stick to my exercise routine a little more stringently. I had been planning on starting this one in December, but considering that most of December in my home province averaged at about -27 degrees, there was a minimum amount of running accomplished. Well, you can hardly jog with lots of snow around, so really, I couldn't get started until March. Then it was the end of term in April, so that was a wash. Classes started in May again, so I wanted to get into the swing of things before adding more to the routine. And then it was June, and I didn't want to start anything before my trip home. Then it was end of the Spring/Summer term... All right: bottom line, I've gone jogging and done my exercises for every day so far in August. We'll see where we go from there.
--More romantic conquests! Hey, gotta start at some point, right?
Ha. Ha, ha, ha. This involves a series of stories that are not getting broadcast over the internet. Suffice to say, the last few months have shown the most effort I've ever put into this area to date (pun intended). And results have been mixed. By which I mean entirely negative. But now I've got a sexy new haircut, so look out, ladies.
--I want to watch more TV. Because there needs to be something on this list I'm actually going to do.
Done, and done. Go Team Person!
So that's 1 for 4. But hey, there's five months left. Plenty of time to turn things around. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some birthday reading to do, concerning a certain Longinus fellow and his thoughts on the Sublime.
Later Days.
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