Grumble grumble...

Today, the internet made me feel like a sexist.

I really don't think I'm sexist.

That is all.

Game Auction on BGG

I have posted a Game Auction on BGG, selling off pretty much every game I own (save a few that I actually expect to play soon or often).

Some of my favorite games are on that list, but I figure if it hasn't hit the table in over a year, it's hard to argue that I need to keep it!

So take a look, and if there's something you like, feel free to bid!

Somebody asked me about donations. I hate the thought of asking for handouts, which is why I thought it was better to sell off these games, but if you are so inclined I suppose I wouldn't turn it down. Maybe the best way to handle that is with the donation link at the Board Game Designer's Forum. I pay for that every month, so any donations there will help me directly and would be much appreciated!

Thanks everyone for your support. I feel kinda like a jerk complaining about my robbery when other people have real problems (like when their house got destroyed by a natural disaster, or their child died). But I appreciate the help all the same!

Positivity

I think I'm going to try a new thing where I concentrate on the good aspect of things rather than the bad all the time.

So what's new?

Might as well post a blog update...

Not terribly much is new I guess - still playing and designing games, working as a Structural Engineer, playing frisbee, etc, etc. A couple notable items that have popped up recently:

* I have been traveling a bit, and will be doing some more this year - I bought 6 plane tickets in 1 day a couple weeks ago. Here's a brief list of all of my 2011 trips, both done and planned:

-- Lei-Out beach frisbee tournament in L.A. in January
-- Strategicon (OrcCon) game convention in L.A. in February
-- GAMA trade show in Las Vegas in March
-- One Love, one Beach beach frisbee tournament in San Diego in April
-- Spielbany game design gathering in Albany in April
-- KublaCon game convention in San Francisco in May
-- Solstice frisbee tournament in Eugene June
-- Potlatch frisbee tournament in Seattle in July
-- Protospiel game design convention in Ann Arbor July
-- GenCon game convention in Indianapolis August
-- Strategicon (Gateway) game convention in L.A. in September
-- BGG.con game convention in November in Dallas
And it's not unlikely I'll be going to frisbee sectionals and regionals in September/October as well. I don't plan on going to Essen, Germany this year, but there's a decent chance I'll try to go to that next October for Tasty Minstrel Games.

That's a lot of travel! And it doesn't include short trips up to Phoenix, or frisbee tournaments or game events here in Tucson.

* I sprained my ankle at frisbee league - about 4 hours after purchasing plane tickets for the Eugene tournament. I think I have decided to go anyway and hang out with my teammates (not play). I am hopeful that my ankle will be in decent working order by July 1st for Potlatch!

* An old friend I hadn't heard from in a while sent me a FaceBook message out of the blue. He wanted to set me up with a tennis buddy of his, thought she and I would get along. I went to dinner and a laser show with her (unfortunately right after spraining my ankle, so I was on crutches), and she was pretty cool, but I don't really think she's what I'm looking for. This makes me feel shallow to say, but she's older than me which is a turn off, and she has a 12 year old kid which is also a turn off. I kind of want a kid, but I'd want my OWN kid - not someone else's... and I'm kind of afraid I'm getting too old to be starting that project now - I think that's one reason I'm not interested in women my age or older than me. Is that wrong? Also, how do I know relate this information to her without sounding like a jerk, and without just ignoring calls or emails?

* My new game Eminent Domain is being printed right now,  and while we initially ordered 5,000 copies, apparently we've already sold 6,000, so we've ordered another 5,000 copies as well. I'm looking forward to finally having it arrive next month! There's a contest on BoardGameGeek right now to win all of the summer Tasty Minstrel titles (note the snazzy new website!) - 15 great grand prizes! Lots of interest in that so far :)

* More good news about my new game - a Japanese company has licensed it and is printing 1000 copies in Japanese! That's pretty cool!

* I had hired someone to paint my house, and I had 2 options at the time: an expensive one and a cheap one. I have been getting sick of making what seems to be the wrong decision in these cases, and I felt like I normally choose the less expensive option. In this case, the more expensive one was WAY more expensive (fully 2x as much), but they seemed like they were very professional and would do a much more thorough job, so I decided to go with them. I figured that at the very worst, I'd be out a little bit of money - not much in the grand scheme of things, and I'd have a nicely painted house. Weeks later, after paying a hefty deposit, I have decided that I in fact made the wrong decision again. Not only was the cost fully double the other guy (the other guy being a client's painter guy), but it was going to go up about 25% because of some BS about having to dispose of lead based paint or something - something I'm pretty sure painters don't really do. Furthermore, the way that company operates, they schedule jobs in the spring to be done in the summer, so I would have to wait until late May at the earliest to get the job done. I'd already procrastinated - I should have had this done about two weeks after getting stucco repairs! Well, it's June 7, and my house is still not painted, so I left a text message and a voice mail with the guy I'd contracted with that I'd like to cancel and would like my deposit back (seeing as how they have not held up their end of the deal). The other painter would have been done two months ago, and for less than 1/2 the price. I figure if I don't get the deposit back, I'm actually still saving money on the project, but I am kicking myself for having chosen poorly.

* I'm formulating a plan which would allow me to spend a good 2-3 months in Seattle each summer. I guess by "formulating a plan" I really just mean "I would like to do this" and I'm now just waiting for an excuse or justification. I'm hoping that Tasty Minstrel / game design will factor in - if I didn't have to be an engineer anymore, or if I could move to a schedule where I could work as an engineer for 8 months out of the year and concentrate on game stuff over the summer, then I could realistically (and even productively) bring my plan to fruition! I already go to Seattle for about 11 days every year over the 4th of July. So how much different would it be, really to extend that to 2-3 months? All I'd need is a place to stay and an internet connection, and I can work on game design there. In fact, the gaming community is so much bigger up there I could probably get a lot more design work done there than I can in Tucson. I could even drive up there so I'd have a car the whole time as well. Maybe I'll look into that for next year - maybe drive up to KublaCon for Memorial Day weekend, continue up to Seattle for June, July, and into August, then maybe drive to Gen Con (assuming we go again next year), then drive back to Tucson.

That's about it for now...

The Plan

I just posted this as a bullet point in a life update post, and I thought I'd break it out - mostly so I could find it again. I like the sound of this more and more, and I don't see why I couldn't implement it next year.

I'm formulating a plan which would allow me to spend a good 2-3 months in Seattle each summer. I guess by "formulating a plan" I really just mean "I would like to do this" and I'm now just waiting for an excuse or justification. I'm hoping that Tasty Minstrel / game design will factor in - if I didn't have to be an engineer anymore, or if I could move to a schedule where I could work as an engineer for 8 months out of the year and concentrate on game stuff over the summer, then I could realistically (and even productively) bring my plan to fruition! I already go to Seattle for about 11 days every year over the 4th of July. So how much different would it be, really to extend that to 2-3 months? All I'd need is a place to stay and an internet connection, and I can work on game design there. In fact, the gaming community is so much bigger up there I could probably get a lot more design work done there than I can in Tucson. I could even drive up there so I'd have a car the whole time as well. Maybe I'll look into that for next year - maybe drive up to KublaCon for Memorial Day weekend, continue up to Seattle for June, July, and into August, then maybe drive to Gen Con (assuming we go again next year), then drive back to Tucson.

Stuff I want to do, revisited

1 month ago today I posted about a few things I would like to do. Time to check in and see how that's going:

* I would like to go back to Acapulco for frisbee again next January.

Well, I WOULD like to return to Acapulco, but next month I have decided to go to Lei-Out. a beach frisbee tournament in L.A. instead. I've gone the last 2 years and had a great time on both occasions.

* I would like to go to Protospiel in Ann Arbor next July. I've never gone because it generally occurs too close to my annual pilgrimage to Seattle for the 4th of July and Potlatch. Maybe I should just go anyway.

This is still a possibility.

* I want to go back to New York again, I think in April. My Uruguayan friend Ariel will be back in he states at that time, and there'll be another Spielbany gathering going on. I'd also like to see my cousin Rachel again now that she's a big star! That is, if she has time...

This too is still a possibility, and I'd really like to pursue it!

* I'm going to BGG.con in a couple of weeks, and while I'm in Dallas for that, Bo Burnham is having a show at the Palladium. I'd like to go see that show.

I had a GREAT time at BGG.con this year. I got to hang out with Brian, I got a lot of recognition on my new game, and we sold 70+ copies of Train of Thought. However, when it came time to go to the comedy show, Brian and I decided to just hang out at the convention and play games. Hopefully I'll b able to see Bo Burnham's comedy on Comedy Central or something.

Criticism, how not to do it?

A friend of mine reads a blog by a guy named Seth Godin. I haven't read too much of it, occasional posts which my friend links to. I don't know much about Mr. Godin or where he's coming from, but he's got a blog, and people read it, and that's cool. I read a post just now (which my friend had linked, and which I've linked above) in which Godin warns off of criticizing the choices people make. Specifically he seems to be talking about criticizing the past choices a prospective client or prospective employee has made.

I looked around the post for a while and could not find a "comment" button, which I found a little odd (isn't 1/2 of blogging all about getting and responding to comments?), so I decided to post here in my blog to as a question which came up in my mind:

If criticizing someone's choices will make them less likely to trust my judgment because I just questioned theirs (that's Godin's assertion) - How do you approach someone who is contemplating a choice you think is bad? Maybe this is your spouse about to spend too much money on an unnecessary novelty for example, or a business partner about to make a business deal you think is bad. Or just a friend who tells you he's got this great idea which you think would turn out terribly?

Godin suggests that instead of criticizing past choices, the prospective employer (or whoever) would be better off complementing the bad-choice-maker for making what at the time must have been exactly the right choice. I can't really argue with that, people like to be placated and complemented. But outside the narrow circumstance he's discussing, where it's helpful from a marketing perspective for the placatee to think highly of you, I don't find that advice very helpful. I'll certainly keep it in mind for when I'm in that circumstance, because I agree that's a diplomatic and polite way to behave, but more often (especially recently) I find myself in different circumstances than that.

Anyone have thoughts on that?

Stuff I want to do

Here are somethings I'd like to do, list-style, so I can encourage myself to just do them already:

* I would like to go back to Acapulco for frisbee again next January.

* I would like to go to Protospiel in Ann Arbor next July. I've never gone because it generally occurs too close to my annual pilgrimage to Seattle for the 4th of July and Potlatch. Maybe I should just go anyway.

* I want to go back to New York again, I think in April. My Uruguayan friend Ariel will be back in he states at that time, and there'll be another Spielbany gathering going on. I'd also like to see my cousin Rachel again now that she's a big star! That is, if she has time...

* I'm going to BGG.con in a couple of weeks, and while I'm in Dallas for that, Bo Burnham is having a show at the Palladium. I'd like to go see that show.

Would you help a stranger?

I was at Wal-Mart just now, because there's a Subway in there, and as I was eating I saw some large woman sort of lose her balance and fall over. An employee who saw this start to happen was on the ball - he rushed over and sort of caught her, probably saving her a lot of pain and suffering, though she did bump her head on a shopping cart (better than smashing it against the cart and/or ground). After a few minutes some paramedics arrived, and from the sound of things her blood sugar was low.

I was close enough to maybe help too, but I didn't happen to be looking the right direction when she started to fall. By the time I could do anything to help, there were already more than enough people crowded around, so I just kept at my lunch and minded my own business. It got me wondering though, would I have helped this woman, if others weren't already? In what case would I go out of my way to help someone like that?

I will note that, though I did nothing to help in this situation, I did feel a desire to help out. I suppose that's better (morally) than not wanting to help at all. I also wanted to congratulate or thank the employee who was on the ball.

The other day I fell - twisted my ankle as my foot slipped off the side of some pavement. It was embarrassing, and I'm very annoyed that it happened, but I didn't need assistance in any way. I don't know how I feel about this topic, nor how I really want to feel about it.

Everyone's a critic.

You've heard this old adage time and time again - what does it mean exactly? Another version you might have heard is a little more biting:

"Opinions are like assholes... everybody's got one, and they all stink!"
When writing in your own voice, on a Blog or in an essay for example where you are the narrator, it's not only reasonable to have an opinion, but good form to assert your opinion. I learned in school that there's no need to preface every comment with "I think..." or "In my opinion..." because I'm the one talking; of COURSE the words coming out of my mouth are my opinion! Timidly stating "your mileage might vary" or "that's just my opinion" makes for a weak sounding argument - those things are supposed to go without saying.

That said, it's easy for a critic to spew whatever assertions they want, no matter how unfounded, to their audience with little or no consideration to the repercussions. Is this OK? Well, it's a free country - who am I to say what your opinion should be? But it could be argued that a formal critic - the guy who reviews movies for the local paper for example, who has thousands of readers who faithfully take his word for gospel - that guy might have more responsibility or moral obligation to temper his reviews.

I watched a movie the other night called Heckler. From IMDB:
HECKLER is a comedic feature documentary exploring the increasingly critical world we live in. After starring in a film that was critically bashed, Jamie Kennedy takes on hecklers and critics and ask some interesting questions of people such as George Lucas, Bill Maher, Mike Ditka, Rob Zombie, Howie Mandel and many more. This fast moving, hilarious documentary pulls no punches as you see an uncensored look at just how nasty and mean the fight is between those in the spotlight and those in the dark.

To be perfectly fair, the critically bashed film starring Jamie Kennedy - Son of the Mask - was pretty terrible. I say this because I was a fan of The Mask, the original movie to which this one was a knock-off/sequel, and this movie really shared nothing with the original. Also, it's possible the target audience for the movie was not the same as the target audience for the original Jim Carey movie, and that's just begging for failure right there. Here's a review comment pasted directly from IMDB:
"This is without a doubt the worst movie I have ever seen. I say this without hyperbole, and believe me, I've seen a lot of bad movies. It's embarrassing and annoying that millions of dollars went into this film and that hundreds (thousands?) of craftspeople spent so much time working on what the writers and producers MUST have known would be a colossal failure.

When a 90 minute film feels this long, drawn out, boring, and incomprehensible, you know that something went wrong somewhere. Also, Jamie Kennedy (whose work I've enjoyed elsewhere) is simply terrible in this role; he was obviously never given a screen test, because no producer in their right mind would consider him entertaining in any way, especially in the guise of The Mask. Simply awful.

Personally, I can't wait to see the reviews by the major film critics, because I know they're do a better job than me at tearing this train wreck to shreds.

The producers of this film should be embarrassed, and more importantly, NEVER be allowed to make theatrical films again. "

As entertaining as that review is to read (indeed, it's more succinct, better written, and provided a much higher laugh/minute ratio than the movie did), it's really very brutal. And this is nothing compared to some of the stuff Jamie Kennedy read in the documentary! So what's the big deal? Why should I care what other people say about other people, and how they feel about it? As you can see I've peppered this blog post with plenty of my own opinions as well. Here's why I care...

As has been mentioned, everyone's a critic. I'm no exception. I have my opinions about movies I've seen and books I've read just like everybody else does. However, Gene Siskel I aint. When I post in my blog:

"I was initially (and still am a little) disappointed in the process Jones took finding Aketor. While he did do some figuring and a (very little) research, he followed a clue to Peru, and another to the tomb of the conquistador explorer, sort of followed a clue to find the city of gold, and all the while had a back and forth fight with a ceaseless opponent. However, it seemed like this movie rushed that process compared to Raiders and Last Crusade, and the back and forth with the Russians seemed a lot less epic. In Raiders Indy and Marion were captured, escaped, captured again, rescued, etc. In the Last Crusade there was a constant struggle between Jones and the Nazis in which they key to the movie - information about the grail- was being passed back and forth. In KotCS, the entirety of the conflict was a game of keep away."

or

"Yesterday I went and saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with my parents. It was almost 3 hours long, and while it wasn't boring or bad perse, I don't feel like it really had much of a point. The most descriptive thing I can say about the movie was that I liked it better the first time I saw it, when it was called Forrest Gump."

It's not going to have a big effect on the overall viewership of the Indiana Jones or Benjamin Button movies, and will not have any effect whatsoever on Harrison Ford or Brad Pitt. In addition, as I'm not an actor or a director myself, my opinions are clearly from the perspective of the audience - all I can speak to is what I would have liked to see. I can in no way really say "I could have done better."

On the other hand, I do have something of a voice in the board game community. This wasn't always the case, and I'm not certain how big this voice really is or how much weight it carries... but it's certainly more substantial than my voice in Hollywood. So when I read a 3 year old post from BGG in which I said "I proposed some revisions based mostly on some ideas from Kinizia's new Genesis (which isn't amazing by the way) to try and get more player decisions going on," I cringe a little bit. Reiner Knizia is a very prolific, very well respected game designer. Who am I, with no support whatsoever, to wave off one of his games as lousy - especially when saying that I'd basically copied part of it?!?

This has not been an isolated incident. I have posted negative reviews or comments on many games, even SdJ winners such as Zooloretto and Keltis. Even positive reviews of games such as Warrior Knights contain some form of criticism (that particular thread blew up into a perfectly good example). The other day I tried to think of a game I really enjoy for which I haven't got some type of criticism, and it was tough. Most of the games I really love have something about them that could probably be better - and the kicker is that the thing which could be better isn't necessarily the same from one player to the next!

While I was just a gamer who liked to post on BGG it was more OK, I thought, for me to take up positions against games or game mechanics I didn't like, calling them bad, lame, dumb, or flawed. I'm sure the internet is riddled with posts in which I say fairly brashly that such and such a game could really have used more development. Even if true, one could ask what gives me the right to say such things? After all, what do I know about developing board games? Had I gone through the trouble and effort of getting a game published?

Well, now I have, and that brings the entire situation into a whole new light. I have gone through the effort, not just of designing games, but through the process of publication. To an extent, I do know what I'm talking about. However, these credentials also come with a healthy dose of perspective. Now that I have created something that is up for public consumption (and criticism), I can get a glimpse of what Jamie Kennedy was talking about. Here are some things people have said about my board game Terra Prime:

• "Unplayed and I have no interest in trying. The theme is a minus in my book, the gameplay does not excite me from what I've read about it, and it'll take a good 30+ minutes to use an exacto knife and punch all the pieces that were adequately perforated."
  
• "Absolutely awful. Long. Seemed like a bunch of trekking back and forth. Nit-picky rules regarding Planet placement. Seemed like work rather than fun. Worst game played in 3 years. "
  
• "A bit harsh and not that fun. And the production values are a little embarassing. "

These are all valid criticisms, and frankly, looking through all the comments on BGG, it could be a lot worse. In my case, many hard feelings came from the crappy production from china (thank you manufacturer! Why couldn't our games have come out as nice as others you produced?) - which isn't really the game's fault, and our customers have been very understanding of that. The point is though, how would I feel if someone like me played Terra Prime and said "economic strategies seem too weak, rewards are not well balanced" (oh wait, they did!)? I would probably get defensive and say

"The "economic strategies" (by which I can only assume you mean making deliveries) aren't supposed to beat out exploring and colonizing, because the game is about exploring and colonizing!"

or "I spent a lot of time and effort making sure the rewards were as balanced as possible, and I'm actually pretty proud of how well balanced the game has proven to be!"

or simply "I've played 83+ games (since I started counting), you've played maybe 2. I simply don't think you are correct."

But it doesn't matter really, as those are just some ratings comments. What would matter more is if these comments came straight from the horses mouth - if Tom Vasel did a video review of Terra Prime enumerating how awful the game balance was or how annoying it was to do 3 quick actions then have to wait for everyone else to go before doing just 3 more little actions (both complaints I've read online), that could be a death knell for me and my first publishing outing because a lot of people listen to him. On the other hand, that video review could just as easily extol the virtues of the game balance and the small downtime as turns are snappy and move around the table quickly (both praises I've read online).

The point is that critics have a lot of power to sway people's opinions. Some critics do a good job informing the public about the subject they are reviewing, giving factual information which consumers would find useful. Other critics, as Jamie Kennedy's documentary points out, aren't concerned with any kind of obligation to report any sort of facts, but rather they assert their opinion "because they said so," and hey - a humorous, negative criticism gets more laughs and more attention than either a supportive review or a constructive negative one!

The moral of the story is this: I do not want to be the type of critic who will make an assertion, waving my hands and assuming my word is gospel because I'm the one who said it. This is more true now that I apparently have some semblance of public voice on BGG. I'll stand by my assertions, but I'll have reasoning behind each one, and I'll freely admit when I make a mistake or am proven wrong. One thing I could improve on perhaps is not looking for something to "fix" in every game I play (or movie I watch, or book I read). Nothing is perfect, and even the best games will have something "wrong" with them... I have a tendency to go seeking that out and bringing it to the fore. Perhaps I could do that more judiciously.

Diet stuff, redux

So it's been 2 weeks, and I've faithfully consumed a total of 35 pills, of 3 different types, as directed by Jillian Michaels on the back of the box...

In addition to this I've been counting calories as I had mentioned. Sadly, frisbee league has been canceled on account of rain the last 3 weeks in a row - so I haven't been exercising as much as I'd like. That will be picking up now though, I should be playing frisbee 3 days a week now, and that will move to 4 in a couple of months.

So what's the verdict? Well, since I began my diet on Feb 1, I have lost about 5 pounds - I'm hovering around 177 rather than hovering around 182. Would this have been the case without Jillian Michaels' help? Honestly I think it would. I haven't noticed anything in particular the diet pills have done - which doesn't mean they've done nothing I guess, but frankly I don't feel like they've had any effect.

So the verdict? Waste of $30.

The good news is that I'm doing a decent job of not overeating, and once the exercise picks up I fully expect to lose a few more pounds. I hope to meet my goal of 170 by March 25th!

The Squeaky Wheel

There's a cliche I'm sure you're familiar with... It is the squeaky wheel that gets the oil. It refers to the dynamic by which the most noticeable problem is the one which gets attention. There's truth to that, of course... things don't become cliche because they're bullshit. In professional society I've seen this dynamic take effect time and time again. I've had clients call asking me to expedite a particular project because of their timeline, expecting it to happen despite what other clients' work might be in front of them in line. And you know what? If they call often enough, and make their situation sound urgent enough, often times it works. This says nothing of the respectful clients who understand the dynamics of a schedule, and don't call early asking (or demanding) to be bumped to the front of the line. My manager at my last job was especially susceptible to this kind of behavior, so much so that he would frequently give me a project priority list one day, then completely change the priorities the very next day based mostly on a phone call merely stating "when do you think this will be done?" He read that as the client getting antsy, and he constantly feared that if he didn't keep the clients happy they would jump ship and find another engineer.

As you can probably tell, I'm not fond of this behavior at all. At my first job we had a much more structured scheduling system, with things written right into the contract such as "we will begin work on this project within 3 weeks of receiving complete information, and the project will be completed within 2 weeks of that date." Then when someone called to ask when they were likely to get their project, the schedule could be referenced and an answer given. In the event a project was done early, of course it was given to the client early, and in the event of an actual urgency the schedule could be adjusted for a client, but not at the expense of other clients. This did not eliminate the Squeaky Wheel from, well, squeaking, but it gave some recourse and allowed the firm to operate without constantly jumping though hoops for the inevitably ungrateful clients.

Oh, didn't I mention that often times the Squeaky Wheel clients are also the clients who argue fees and are slow to pay?

Now don't get me wrong - not all clients are ungrateful, or difficult when it comes to payment... even some Squeaky Wheels. I know that some companies hire a specific individual to hold the Squeaky Wheel position - their whole job is to make sure things stay on track, and I've seen it done in a reasonable and respectful way. But I've also witnessed the annoying, unfortunate type of Squeaky Wheel, who wants everything done right away, and for free, and those people have spoiled the entire dynamic for everyone else.

So why do I bring this up? Well, recently Tasty Minstrel games sent out review copies of Terra prime and Homesteaders. It's been almost 2 months, and thus far I've seen only 1 written review of Homesteaders, none of Terra Prime, and no video reviews of either. Now I understand that reviewers have a stack of games waiting for reviews to be done, and I also understand that video reviews especially are not something you can just crap out on a moments notice. They are work, and they take time. I had simply hoped more of them would surface to coincide with the first shipment of TMG's games that hit the stores. Now I'm in the awkward position (awkward for me anyway) - do I simply wait for these reviews to surface in their own time? Or do I employ the Squeaky Wheel, emailing the reviewers to ask if they've had a chance to play the games, what they thought of them, and whether their review is forthcoming. I hate the thought of it, but in the end there's truth to the saying, it's the squeaky wheel that gets the oil.

So I decided to squeak, at least a little bit. I sent some emails to some reviewers, trying to sound as little as possible like a dick who wants preferential treatment simply because I have the gall to ask for it, just making sure that they got the games we sent, if they had all the right bits (we've had some manufacturing issues), and if they got a chance to play them. I didn't specifically ask if their reviews were coming, but I'm pretty sure they can figure out that was implied.

Maybe I've got it wrong, and this kind of behavior isn't as abhorrent as I think. I rather hope that's the case, because I feel really bad about "sinking to this level" as it were. It wouldn't surprise me terribly if some of the reviewers I emailed actually read this blog, in which case I say to them "sorry, I wasn't trying to be a dick!"

But I do kinda feel like a jerk.

Setting goals

I made a new years resolution to lose weight, but that vague statement isn't as exacting an incentive as a specific goal. So today I decided to choose a target weight, as well as a target date:

I want to weigh 170 or less by the time my 35th birthday rolls around. That gives me about 7.5 weeks to lose about 12 pounds. I'll be playing 7 or 8 hours of frisbee a week for the time being, which isn't all that much so I plan to try and eat less. I found a website called Calorie Count which helps you find out how many calories are in various foods, and keep track of how much you've eaten and how many calories you've burned. I am going to try recording my meals on that and see if it helps me maintain a decent calorie intake per day.

So there it is... in writing. Let's see if I can make it come true!

A really good weekend

I went to BGG.con last week, and I had an absolutely great time.

Tasty Minstrel's shipment arrived at the hotel at 6pm Thursday, just a couple hours later than I really would have liked. I had to postpone the launch event, but there were still about 30 people who participated in it. Everyone who played the games seemed to like them a lot! It felt really good to hear people discuss how fun my game was, and people were coming up to me at the con just to tell me how much they liked Terra Prime!

It is SO NICE to feel like I've finally accomplished something. People say it's an accomplishment to finish college, or to buy a house... but as far as I'm concerned, anyone who starts college should be able to finish - it's just a process. You sit through the process, and at the end you graduate. In this case the process is "go to class, lean stuff." Similarly, I don't feel it's much of an accomplishment to buy a house. Anyone can buy a house, it just takes money. And actually, since there exists credit, you don't really need all that much money to do it.

But publishing a game really feels like I've accomplished something. I could easily have spent years working on a creative project only to never finish - indeed I feel I've done that in the past: Never learned to play an instrument, never played on a competitive basketball, volleyball, or ultimate team, never got on the Pro Tour for Magic... etc. Having accomplished this feels good!

Clothes that fit

For a long time I've been wearing clothes that are too big for me. In particular, I always wear Large T-shirts as opposed to Medium ones. I also have some sweatshirts that are way too big for me, and they just don't look right.

Recently, when thinking about losing weight, I decided to start wearing clothes that fit. I think it's better that way. Maybe it will also help me keep from getting fatter, because the clothes will start to feel tight rather than just be baggy all the time.

Accomplishment

On a small scale, I feel like I accomplished something today. I had a to-do list with some items on it such as finishing taxes, make a shirt design for my frisbee tournament next weekend, and prepare several things for the trade show I'm heading to Vegas for tomorrow. I never thought I'd get any of it done, because the more time went by, the more things seemed to pile up.

Well, I did manage to get the design done for the shirts, and since I'm a complete photoshop amateur I also asked my sister to help make it look better. She did an AWESOME job, and with her help I think we'll actually have a really nice shirt this time!

I also finished my taxes and got them sent off electronically. I actually started them a few months ago and got most of the way through, it was just a matter of making sure I'd put everything in, which I think I did correctly. I'm getting another big chunk of money back again, not quite as big as last year, because after being laid off my withholding stopped. Still, since I never got around to changing my W-4 after last year, I'm still getting a big refund this year :)

On a larger scale, the reason I'm heading to Las Vegas tomorrow is to attend the GAMA trade show. It's a trade show for the game industry, not like one of the game conventions I normally go to. One of my oldest friends has decided to start a company to publish board games. It's something he's wanted to do for some time now, and I guess he's decided he's in a good position to do it at this time. This works out for me because for some time now I've wanted to get a board game published! I'm trying to do my best to help Mike with his company, Tasty Minstrel Games, which is starting out by publishing my space game Terra Prime, and another game I helped develop called Homesteaders.

If things go well with Tasty Minstrel Games, I believe the plan is for me to be the in-house developer. I've wanted to do game development for several years now, and I've actually been doing it already, just not getting paid (or published). I like designing games, but my strongest suit is really identifying good ideas and developing them. A year or two ago, if someone asked me to identify my dream job I probably would have said "finding good new games for a publisher and helping develop them to be published," and lo and behold, that's just what I'll be doing!

It's no engineering job, but frankly, right now those appear few and far between anyway. I would never have quit my day job to be a game designer, or a developer, or least of all a publisher, but since the recession took care of my day job for me, I'm excited to be a part of this new endeavor which I've wanted to try for so long.

I really feel like I'm on the verge of accomplishing something here - I've wanted to see my name on a game box on store shelves (and by extension, hear that people are playing and liking my games) for so long, it feels weird to finally be on the verge of having that happen. And if all goes well, I might very well get to try what might be my dream job, at least for a little while! So far it's been fun communicating with the artist on one of the games, getting to decide how I want the finished product to look.

Pretty soon (i.e. I'll be typing up info for it in the car tomorrow) Tasty Minstrel will have a website and I'll be able to direct you to it, so my faithful readers (both of them... I'm talking to you Mom and Dad!) can support us! :)

It's like work only I'm not getting paid...

I still haven't got a job, so I'm helping my friend start a publishing company to publish board games. This is good news for me, as the first games on the list are my game about space exploration and another game I helped develop as well. In an effort to prepare my game for publication I spent a lot of time this weekend testing, tweaking, updating, and otherwise polishing. And there's still more work to do!

The cool thing is that it doesn't feel like work. Which is good, because I'm not getting paid for it (not yet at least). I've never believed in the idea of people really loving their job - I've always believed that if you had to do something then you would stop loving it. Part of the loving to do things is that you're doing it of your own volition. Take that away and I don't think it's possible to really love what you do.

Hopefully this endeavor will prove me wrong!

The name "Seth"

I've noticed the name "Seth" being used a lot more lately - on TV, advertising, movies, etc. It may just be a perception thing, like maybe the name is as common as ever, and I'm only noticing it more often. Or perhaps it's being used more than it used to. I'm not sure.

One thing I've noticed about the name is the type of person Hollywood is assigning it to. Just two off the cuff examples:

Ad for cell phone company: Seth is the fat kid who the pimply kid settles for (for his "circle") when he's told the hot chick is unlisted.

Main character in Superbad: unpopular deviant - the one that didn't even get into a good school like his two loser friends, and gets spit on by other kids. On the up-side, he and his friend Evan DID end up getting together with the girls they liked, but I think the character isn't the kind of guy people aspire to be like.

I don't know where I'm going with this observation... I'd like to think I'm not like the type of person that would be named Seth in a TV show or movie.

Christmas

I'm sure there are some who wonder what a Jew does on Christmas. There's not a lot to do, if all your friends are out of town or spending time with their families.

Most years on Christmas morning there's a frisbee game, and often I recall commenting "It's December 25th, and we're out here in shorts and a T-shirt!" But this year that didn't happen. It's pretty nice outside, if a bit cool, but nobody was at the park.

I usually have a big holiday game party, as I've posted about before. This year several of my friends will have left town already, or never came in the first place. So I don't think any formal party will be happening this year. It's too bad, because with Christmas on a Thursday the timing is great for it :/

Last night was quiet. Everyone I know was at home with their family. I watched some movies and TV with Evie.

There's a stereotype about Christmas day for Jews involving movies and Chinese food which is strikingly accurate, They don't call them stereotypes for nothing! That's what I am doing with my parents today. In a couple of hours my Mom and Dad are coming over, we're going to go see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and then we're going to go to a Chinese restaurant near my house for dinner.

Sounds pretty uneventful, but I guess that's not unusual. I am noticing that I feel more lonely this time of year. Maybe the holiday season more than the rest of the year I lament not having a girlfriend. Sigh.

Happy holidays everyone!

Selfish

I've been feeling very selfish lately. Maybe that's something I can work on, or make a resolution about.

Just a small note to myself... didn't mean to get your hopes up.