Oh, my God, did I love Toy Story 3. I saw it with Matt and Bernie last night and it was wonderful. You need to all go out and see it immediately, because it is at least as good as the first two and maybe even better. (CAUTION: SPOILERS AHEAD.)
Toy Story has always really appealed to me because I was one of those kids who was sure that her toys came to life when she wasn't looking. My favorite kind of toy was stuffed animals, and I had a ton of them that I assigned all different personalities to and though I had favorites, I tried to give equal attention to all of them so none of them would feel jealous or unloved. I recall that was one of the greater preoccupations of my early life. ;-) Most of my once enormous collection I donated over the years, though there are still a handful on the top shelf of my bedroom closet at home. I imagine I get their hopes up every time I visit and go into that closet for clothes.
It is amazingly tightly written. The writers of those comic book movies who pack their films full of recognizable characters they have no time to deal with should take a leaf out of this movie's book, which brilliantly managed and balanced the screen time of its enormous cast. None of our favorite characters were allowed to fall to the wayside, and it managed to incorporate a ton of new ones as well. It's also quite an impressive caper movie, with operations carried out with incredible precision and attention to detail; whoever planned out the various escapes and gambits in the film is a strategic as well as cinematic genius.
Also, did anyone else find "Mr. Tortilla Head" to be unspeakably creepy? Jesus. And I totally didn't pick up on the fact that Sid was the garbage man. Thanks to lightgamer for pointing that out to me.
I have always loved Pixar's villain characters. Sid wasn't deep but he was fun, though the primary antagonist through most of that movie was Buzz and the conflict between him and Woody provided the most interesting struggle. I loved the Prospector in the second movie, how he infected Woody with his insidious cynicism and the way he used a deceptively logical and sympathetic argument to convince Woody that Andy didn't need him any more, and that he'd be better off in a museum under glass. And then Lotso in the third movie, with his affable facade masking his bitterness and trying to protect himself against any further rejection or loss. I love that the Prospector and Lotso acted the way they did because they were hurt-- the former because no child had ever loved him, and Lotso because he thought he'd been special to a child and was then replaced.
Lotso's story I found shockingly familiar. There was one I had one since I was a baby, a Swiftheart Rabbit Care Bear stuffed animal that was my favorite. Then I left him at my aunt's house and she gave him away to charity. Saddened, I found a new Swiftheart on eBay, a nicer one in much better condition than mine was, and loved him instead. But I remember feeling slightly guilty about it; I was old enough by that point that I was no longer worried that my stuffed animals got sad or jealous, but the thought did occur to me-- would it hurt my old Swiftheart's feelings that I replaced him with a newer model? I am not nearly as disturbed as I acted for humor's sake, but it was pretty surprising to see that as a plot element in the movie. I wonder if that happens often. And I must not wonder if my poor lost Swiftheart became an embittered prison warden ruling other toys with an iron fist.
I have very few criticisms. I dislike how frequently the character of Buzz is lost by "resetting him" to his Space Ranger defaults or whatever. Spanish mode was funny, but I wanted to see a little bit more of the dynamic between Woody and Buzz, one of my favorite elements of the series. They didn't have as much interplay as I would have hoped. But besides that and a few other tiny details, I was incredibly pleased and greatly enjoyed the film.
Go out and see this movie. It really does complete the natural arc of the story. And It says something about this movie that a person like me who hates attachment to physical things can sympathize with it all so deeply. :-)
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sometimes, Hazel speaks for me. ;-)
I love Girls with Slingshots; it's funny, the storylines tend to be pretty good, and the characters grow and change in interesting, believable ways. I recently got Bernie into reading it as well, and I told him I liked it because in a weird way I relate to it. Bernie said to me, "Oh, I know why you relate to it. Hazel is you if you were an alcoholic charicature of yourself." That is so true. Hazel is grouchy, Hazel is judgmental, Hazel doesn't understand why the world can just do things the way she thinks it should. Not to mention a number of other side traits we have in common. ;-) I relate to her because she lets herself be the way I want to when I'm feeling especially like a big bitchy baby and the world has become utterly un-dealable. ;-)
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Brain leaking out ears
God, my brain feels like a motor that's been running too hard and is smoking a little. I just ran the most intense session of Burn Notice due to its complicated, multi-faceted plot and large number of active characters. I was pleased with the scheme I devised ahead of time, but I was thrown many curves due to surprises from the players that I had to wrack my brain to react to on the fly, not to mention keep of track of everything that was going on. I think I did a good job with the stuff I came up with off the top of my head, but gosh, it was work. I had no idea running a campaign could be so much work.
It was a good session, though, and wrapped up a Gwen-centric episode that now gives her character an ongoing plot. I baked a loaf of cornbread that had to be put back in the oven for a few extra minutes due to a squashy center, but it tasted very nice; I served it with a nice pot of my special tea during the game. I think the next storyline will revolve around Riker. Since there are no more dangling plot threads, I'll have to make this one up out of whole cloth. That will take work, and if things go as planned, I'll need to have it ready by next Saturday.
For now, my brain is tired. I kind of wish I didn't have to go to rehearsal tonight due to mental exhaustion, but I have a duty. I am downing the last of my miso soup and trying to regather my faculties before I have to run.
It was a good session, though, and wrapped up a Gwen-centric episode that now gives her character an ongoing plot. I baked a loaf of cornbread that had to be put back in the oven for a few extra minutes due to a squashy center, but it tasted very nice; I served it with a nice pot of my special tea during the game. I think the next storyline will revolve around Riker. Since there are no more dangling plot threads, I'll have to make this one up out of whole cloth. That will take work, and if things go as planned, I'll need to have it ready by next Saturday.
For now, my brain is tired. I kind of wish I didn't have to go to rehearsal tonight due to mental exhaustion, but I have a duty. I am downing the last of my miso soup and trying to regather my faculties before I have to run.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Cooking experiment: miso soup
So on a whim today I decided to try to make myself some miso soup. I've never attempted any Asian cuisine before, but I happened to stumble upon an episode of Good Eats teaching how to make it. Normally I despise soy for being tasteless squashy muck, but this is one of the few tofu dishes I actively enjoy. I also thought it might be good for me to add a cheap and nutritious protein dish into my So, just for the hell of it, I thought I'd give it a try. I used Alton Brown's recipe, included here for your reference in case you know anything about this:
Ingredients
12-ounce block firm silken tofu
2 quarts dashi
6 tablespoons dark or red miso
2 tablespoons light or white miso
4 scallions, thinly sliced
Directions
Wrap the block of tofu in 2 layers of paper towels and lay on a plate. Invert a second plate on top of the tofu and weigh down with a 28-ounce can. Leave for 20 minutes then cut the tofu into 1/4 to 1/2-inch cubes.
Heat the dashi in a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. When the dashi reaches 100 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, ladle 1 cup into a small bowl. Add the miso, and whisk until smooth.
Bring the remaining dashi to a bare simmer, approximately 10 minutes. Add the miso mixture and whisk to combine. Return to a slight simmer, being careful not to boil the mixture. Add the tofu and scallions and cook for another minute or until heated through. Remove from the heat, ladle into soup bowls and serve immediately.
For these unusual ingredients, I went to the little Asian market off to one side of Waltham Commons. I ran into two small issues right away. First I was unable to identify anything that might have been white miso. I found red miso easily enough, and the white very well may have been there, but there were very few English words on any of the labels and I couldn't see anything that indicated another kind. Second, the recipe called for "dashi," a stock made from treated dried tuna and seaweed, and the store only had dried powdered dashi that had to be combined with water. The assembly of all the ingredients was easy enough, though with my big spoon I was starting to long for the spoon rest that Charlotte said she would make for me at camp. Don't forget, honey, I'm really looking forward to it! As for the soup, I was worried about keeping it at the right temperature, and when I tasted the miso on its own I didn't like it. I started to worry it would come out yucky.
Well, I finished it and tried it and the verdict is... huh. It's kind of bland. Certainly not yucky, but there's not much flavor here. Heh, given that it's primary made of bean curd mush, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. But the miso I'm used to is a lot richer. I wonder whether it's because the dashi powder didn't make the stock strong enough, or if it's the lack of white miso, though I think that's supposed to be milder in flavor than red. Since this is an experiment anyway, I tried throwing in some extra dashi powder to see if that helps. If it ruins it, what the hell, it was an experiment anyway. If anyone who makes miso soup regularly wants to give an opinion, I'd welcome the suggestion for improvement.
Ingredients
12-ounce block firm silken tofu
2 quarts dashi
6 tablespoons dark or red miso
2 tablespoons light or white miso
4 scallions, thinly sliced
Directions
Wrap the block of tofu in 2 layers of paper towels and lay on a plate. Invert a second plate on top of the tofu and weigh down with a 28-ounce can. Leave for 20 minutes then cut the tofu into 1/4 to 1/2-inch cubes.
Heat the dashi in a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. When the dashi reaches 100 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, ladle 1 cup into a small bowl. Add the miso, and whisk until smooth.
Bring the remaining dashi to a bare simmer, approximately 10 minutes. Add the miso mixture and whisk to combine. Return to a slight simmer, being careful not to boil the mixture. Add the tofu and scallions and cook for another minute or until heated through. Remove from the heat, ladle into soup bowls and serve immediately.
For these unusual ingredients, I went to the little Asian market off to one side of Waltham Commons. I ran into two small issues right away. First I was unable to identify anything that might have been white miso. I found red miso easily enough, and the white very well may have been there, but there were very few English words on any of the labels and I couldn't see anything that indicated another kind. Second, the recipe called for "dashi," a stock made from treated dried tuna and seaweed, and the store only had dried powdered dashi that had to be combined with water. The assembly of all the ingredients was easy enough, though with my big spoon I was starting to long for the spoon rest that Charlotte said she would make for me at camp. Don't forget, honey, I'm really looking forward to it! As for the soup, I was worried about keeping it at the right temperature, and when I tasted the miso on its own I didn't like it. I started to worry it would come out yucky.
Well, I finished it and tried it and the verdict is... huh. It's kind of bland. Certainly not yucky, but there's not much flavor here. Heh, given that it's primary made of bean curd mush, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. But the miso I'm used to is a lot richer. I wonder whether it's because the dashi powder didn't make the stock strong enough, or if it's the lack of white miso, though I think that's supposed to be milder in flavor than red. Since this is an experiment anyway, I tried throwing in some extra dashi powder to see if that helps. If it ruins it, what the hell, it was an experiment anyway. If anyone who makes miso soup regularly wants to give an opinion, I'd welcome the suggestion for improvement.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Slutty clothes + slutty clothes = not-slutty outfit!
Okay, I just did something really cool-- at least, I think so. I was digging through my closet, trying to get my seasonally-appropriate stuff into the places of easiest access. In the course of digging I pulled out my "dress hanger," the large sturdy fancy hanger on which I hang my very few nice dresses. It holds the sparkly blue dress that I am grateful to Steph and Charlotte for convincing me to buy, the flame-orange dress that Frances wore in To Think of Nothing, and my black cocktail dress.
Just for fun I put on the cocktail dress just to admire how good it looks on me. What I like about it is that the front is simple and fairly modest, with a square neckline and a hem that ends a handsbreadth above my knees, but it is backless to my tailbone, with just two thin strings stretching across that bare expanse. I have always found backless styles to be the epitome of sexiness, and that works for me, since I have, if you'll excuse my saying, a very sexy back. I started thinking to myself what a shame it was that I don't often get a chance to wear it.
Then something occurred to me. On a whim, I dug out my new red blouse with the very low neckline that I just got at the Garment District and pulled it on over the dress. My reflection pleased me to no end. Each piece is lovely, in my opinion, on its own. But how many occasions do I have to wear a cocktail dress or a plunging neckline? But together, the blouse and the dress made each other more appropriate for regular wear. The blouse covered the open back of the dress, and the dress filled in the empty neckline of the blouse. And low and behold, they look very cute together! I am so pleased with myself for discovering this. Who would have imagined that two slutty articles of clothing when worn together make for a non-slutty outfit! I may prefer the look of a little more skin, but when that's not possible, now I have an adorable dressy option that isn't quite so daring! Yay!
Just for fun I put on the cocktail dress just to admire how good it looks on me. What I like about it is that the front is simple and fairly modest, with a square neckline and a hem that ends a handsbreadth above my knees, but it is backless to my tailbone, with just two thin strings stretching across that bare expanse. I have always found backless styles to be the epitome of sexiness, and that works for me, since I have, if you'll excuse my saying, a very sexy back. I started thinking to myself what a shame it was that I don't often get a chance to wear it.
Then something occurred to me. On a whim, I dug out my new red blouse with the very low neckline that I just got at the Garment District and pulled it on over the dress. My reflection pleased me to no end. Each piece is lovely, in my opinion, on its own. But how many occasions do I have to wear a cocktail dress or a plunging neckline? But together, the blouse and the dress made each other more appropriate for regular wear. The blouse covered the open back of the dress, and the dress filled in the empty neckline of the blouse. And low and behold, they look very cute together! I am so pleased with myself for discovering this. Who would have imagined that two slutty articles of clothing when worn together make for a non-slutty outfit! I may prefer the look of a little more skin, but when that's not possible, now I have an adorable dressy option that isn't quite so daring! Yay!
Garment District, and heat exhaustion
Had a fun time combing through the stuff at the Garment District on Wednesday with contradictacat* and ninja_report*. I've had the Groupon from there for several months now, and I noticed it was about to expire next month, so I figured I should get some use out of it. My favorite thing I picked up was an adorable suit skirt with a neat cross-hatching pattern with patches of houndstooth and big black buttons. It's dressy enough to look professional but cute enough for regular wear. I also got a replacement pair of black thigh-highs, and a fun red top with flutter sleeves and a low enough neckline to give even me some cleavage. Heh, that's pretty damn low. The only problem was it so was hot in the store that trying stuff on got to be more and more of a pain. Still, I'm very grateful to contradictacat* for suggesting it, since I had a very fun time and am pleased with the pieces I found. And, because of the Groupon certificate, they were already paid for months ago! Yay!
Yesterday was a rough day physically. Normally I can take the heat pretty well, but yesterday it was just too much for me. I spent most of it headachey, naseous, and drifting in and out of naps that were not at all restful. To top it all off, my left arm started bothering me. I think I just hurt it during my workout, and I'm not sure whether to call the sensation soreness or numbness or what, but it's quite unpleasant, though better today than it was yesterday. I'll have to be careful with it. I think the worst part of it all is that for some reason only God knows, I rarely if ever feel thirsty and so often go ridiculously long before it occurs to me to drink something. I think I dehydrated myself pretty badly yesterday because of this. That's incredibly weird, I know, but that's how I am. I think I need to add making sure I drink a full bottle of water to my daily self-care routine, but history has shown that I'm not going to do it on my own.
Yesterday was a rough day physically. Normally I can take the heat pretty well, but yesterday it was just too much for me. I spent most of it headachey, naseous, and drifting in and out of naps that were not at all restful. To top it all off, my left arm started bothering me. I think I just hurt it during my workout, and I'm not sure whether to call the sensation soreness or numbness or what, but it's quite unpleasant, though better today than it was yesterday. I'll have to be careful with it. I think the worst part of it all is that for some reason only God knows, I rarely if ever feel thirsty and so often go ridiculously long before it occurs to me to drink something. I think I dehydrated myself pretty badly yesterday because of this. That's incredibly weird, I know, but that's how I am. I think I need to add making sure I drink a full bottle of water to my daily self-care routine, but history has shown that I'm not going to do it on my own.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Self-care progress report
One of my goals for the summer has been to work at taking better physical care of myself. It has been tough keeping up healthy habits when feeling so drained, so overwhelmed, and so depressed as I frequently have. So I have been taking advantage of having more free time to devote some of it to establishing healthier habits in the hopes of easing some of that bad feeling. Here's how that has been going so far.
Nutrition:
For a long time being busy and weary kept me buying easily accessible junk food. I am blaming the extra weight around my midsection to the frequent lunches I made out of a block of gruyere and a sleeve of Ritz crackers. I am working much harder to cook for myself on a regular basis, rather than just when I have dinner parties. In fact, my next week-long challenge to myself may be to prepare all meals at home. I have started making myself simple four-ingredient salads for lunches and sometimes dinners, which I am finding a lot more satisfying than I thought I would. I've also started trying to make a habit out of having breakfast by buying yogurts in bulk and keeping them in the fridge at work. Coke remains my lingering indulgence; it may be wiser to just cut it out.
Verdict: Much better, but not totally there yet.
Sleep:
Tough to say. Recently I've had a lot of problems sleeping through the night, leaving me not feeling rested in the mornings and crashing into bed stupid-early at night. I've experienced some small improvement not waking up during the night, perhaps because of the better eating and exercising. I'd like to be able to stay up a little later at night-- Jared and I have a deal that I'll try to stay up later and he'll try to go to bed earlier to mesh our schedules more --while still getting a full night's sleep. I think since I haven't been waking up so much I've been better able to get up and haven't felt so badly-rested, but it's still not perfect.
Verdict: somewhat better, and every little bit helps.
Skin:
Ah, in this department things have gotten better lots and gotten better fast. I switched to a nightly apricot facial scrub and an oil-free moisturizer, and my facial skin is doing better than it has in ages; I am looking so much clearer and more even-toned. I still have a lot of micro-zits on my forehead (tiny little acne bumps that are tough to see except up close) but as I said, I have also been taking care to moisturize the rest of my skin, and I was shocked at how quickly it got so soft. On my legs, it even makes it so I have to shave less often before the hair is visible. I also was trying to keep my nails in better condition, and I was mostly succeeding until the intensity of Labor Wars
Verdict: vast, immediate improvement.
Fitness:
This is the category that I have made the least progress in. My goal is to do either an abdominal or a cardio workout six days a week, and for a couple of weeks I was pretty good about it. Then this past week game, with all the gaming and the preparation for Labor Wars, and it went to hell. I don't feel like I've lost any weight yet, which disappoints me; I really want to sleek my tummy back out. I just got to buckle back down. It's a tough habit for me to get in because I don't enjoy it at all, except for the shape it gives me. But until I do this regularly for a reasonable period of time, I am not going to get rid of this little pooch on my gut.
Verdict: disappointing, must establish good habits for extended period of time.
So, small improvement, not enough to satisfy me yet. The only thing to do is keep with it, because that's the only way I'll get the results I want.
Nutrition:
For a long time being busy and weary kept me buying easily accessible junk food. I am blaming the extra weight around my midsection to the frequent lunches I made out of a block of gruyere and a sleeve of Ritz crackers. I am working much harder to cook for myself on a regular basis, rather than just when I have dinner parties. In fact, my next week-long challenge to myself may be to prepare all meals at home. I have started making myself simple four-ingredient salads for lunches and sometimes dinners, which I am finding a lot more satisfying than I thought I would. I've also started trying to make a habit out of having breakfast by buying yogurts in bulk and keeping them in the fridge at work. Coke remains my lingering indulgence; it may be wiser to just cut it out.
Verdict: Much better, but not totally there yet.
Sleep:
Tough to say. Recently I've had a lot of problems sleeping through the night, leaving me not feeling rested in the mornings and crashing into bed stupid-early at night. I've experienced some small improvement not waking up during the night, perhaps because of the better eating and exercising. I'd like to be able to stay up a little later at night-- Jared and I have a deal that I'll try to stay up later and he'll try to go to bed earlier to mesh our schedules more --while still getting a full night's sleep. I think since I haven't been waking up so much I've been better able to get up and haven't felt so badly-rested, but it's still not perfect.
Verdict: somewhat better, and every little bit helps.
Skin:
Ah, in this department things have gotten better lots and gotten better fast. I switched to a nightly apricot facial scrub and an oil-free moisturizer, and my facial skin is doing better than it has in ages; I am looking so much clearer and more even-toned. I still have a lot of micro-zits on my forehead (tiny little acne bumps that are tough to see except up close) but as I said, I have also been taking care to moisturize the rest of my skin, and I was shocked at how quickly it got so soft. On my legs, it even makes it so I have to shave less often before the hair is visible. I also was trying to keep my nails in better condition, and I was mostly succeeding until the intensity of Labor Wars
Verdict: vast, immediate improvement.
Fitness:
This is the category that I have made the least progress in. My goal is to do either an abdominal or a cardio workout six days a week, and for a couple of weeks I was pretty good about it. Then this past week game, with all the gaming and the preparation for Labor Wars, and it went to hell. I don't feel like I've lost any weight yet, which disappoints me; I really want to sleek my tummy back out. I just got to buckle back down. It's a tough habit for me to get in because I don't enjoy it at all, except for the shape it gives me. But until I do this regularly for a reasonable period of time, I am not going to get rid of this little pooch on my gut.
Verdict: disappointing, must establish good habits for extended period of time.
So, small improvement, not enough to satisfy me yet. The only thing to do is keep with it, because that's the only way I'll get the results I want.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Larp brain dump
There is something on my mind right now that I do not feel comfortable talking about, but am feeling very anxious to deal with with the person in question. But I'm not sure what the most appropriate way to do it is. Phone, IM, in person? I don't know yet. At the very least, I must set up an appointment of some kind to do so, and soon. So you get random thoughts from a slightly distracted brain.
I'm so honored to have been asked by Nat, Susan, and Vito to help write the first Alleged Entertainment weekend-long game. I am now officially a member of Alleged Entertainment. I feel good about that.
I now have four games to my credit. Alice and Oz, both four-hours, I wrote by myself, under my own banner, Breaking Light. Paranoia: Research and Dismemberment, another four-hour, was written with Bernie Gabin, Joe Gabin, Matt Kamm, and Mac Magruder, under the banner of Will Not Be Denied, a reference I commend you if you get. And now one weekend-long with Alleged. I am proud of this.
I am surprised to find that in Labor Wars I was actually hoping that some of the replacement characters would be needed. I never felt that way before.
We had some fantastic players in this run. I am amused at how frequently in larps bronzite* is either the one holding back the oncoming tide of darkness, or the one bringing it. I thought londo* was going to be screwed, but he ended up more successful than almost anyone. One person I met this weekend, Shoshana, was a last-minute drop replacement who turned out to be fantastic in the part. I was so pleased with so many.
There are pictures of varying quality now up on Facebook. We should be having another run this coming fall, for those of you interested in playing.
Now I want to write another game. :-)
I'm so honored to have been asked by Nat, Susan, and Vito to help write the first Alleged Entertainment weekend-long game. I am now officially a member of Alleged Entertainment. I feel good about that.
I now have four games to my credit. Alice and Oz, both four-hours, I wrote by myself, under my own banner, Breaking Light. Paranoia: Research and Dismemberment, another four-hour, was written with Bernie Gabin, Joe Gabin, Matt Kamm, and Mac Magruder, under the banner of Will Not Be Denied, a reference I commend you if you get. And now one weekend-long with Alleged. I am proud of this.
I am surprised to find that in Labor Wars I was actually hoping that some of the replacement characters would be needed. I never felt that way before.
We had some fantastic players in this run. I am amused at how frequently in larps bronzite* is either the one holding back the oncoming tide of darkness, or the one bringing it. I thought londo* was going to be screwed, but he ended up more successful than almost anyone. One person I met this weekend, Shoshana, was a last-minute drop replacement who turned out to be fantastic in the part. I was so pleased with so many.
There are pictures of varying quality now up on Facebook. We should be having another run this coming fall, for those of you interested in playing.
Now I want to write another game. :-)
How I do and do not do right by the environment
A little while back, usernamenumber* posted a fantastic entry musing about what we can do in this day and age to live a litlte more environmentally responsibly by taking into account small things that make a big difference. I really admired how thoroughly he thought the idea through and he gave me lots of things to think about regarding my own level of environmentally-conscious effort.
Ways I Do Well:
- I'm very conscientious about recycling. All my discarded paper or cardboard, any piece of garbage plastic, every shard of scrap metal or glass. I have been known to hold onto my soda bottle or cardboard snack box for hours after I'm finished with it until I see a place to recycle it.
- I stopped buying bottled water years ago. When I need to have water with me, I use my Brandeis-issue metal water bottle.
- I reuse paper compulsively. Whenever I print something out and it has extra space remaining on it, I put it in a box I have under my printer, either for scribbling on or printing on the other side. I have a folder full of directions I printed out in case I ever need the hard copy again so I don't need to make another. At work, when asked to make a copy to keep a record of something, I scan it and save it as a PDF in an organized folder rather than copy it to paper.
- I am working to minimize my use of disposable things. Since I live in a house without a dishwasher it can be very tempting, but generally I use real dishware that I wash rather than plastic that I throw away. And on the occasion that I do use plastic, I make certain to recycle all the pieces. Also, it's a small thing, but in the last month I had made sure to keep at work a ceramic mug, a metal tea ball, a metal spoon, and a canister of loose-leaf tea. Everything is washable and since I quit using the disposable cups and plastic stirrers, the only thing that gets thrown away is the packet the sugar comes in. Perhaps I should start bringing my own sugar (or even better, honey) in a plastic container. Honey is tougher to transport without another eventually disposable container, but at least that container is recyclable.
- I keep four reusable shopping bags in my car so I don't have to remember to bring them along and have been making a real effort to use them every time I go to the market. I am also training myself into the habit of saying "No bag, please," when I buy things I can carry in my hands.
- I make an effort to walk places rather than drive whenever possible. I like getting the exercise, but honestly if I'm short on time I am more inclined to save the travel minutes and just go by car.
Ways I Don't Do Well and Will Try to Work On:
- Other than paper, I am not so good about reusing. Reuse, I know, is superior on the hierarchy to recycling, but I dislike keeping anything that looks like trash around, so I am unlikely to ever be able to do things like turn plastic vessels into planters or anything like that.
- I often forget to use those reuseable shopping bags, even when I bring them with me in my car. :-P There are about ten trillion plastic bags stashed away in my house. I reuse them as trash bags for wastebaskets, but there come in faster than they go out. Also, there are often items in the grocery store like produce that are hard to bring home unless you put them in a little plastic bag. I am considering getting myself some resuable produce bags, but many of the ones I've seen seem ridiculously expensive, so I think I will hold off until I see a reasonably priced option.
- I don't know if I'm terribly responsible with electricity. I dislike waiting for my computer to boot, so I usually leave it running with the screen off when I'm not using it. Still, I try to turn off lights and other eletronics when they're not needed, I never use an air conditioner, and I only turn on a fan or a heater in really extreme situations. This is necessary for my pocketbook as well as for the earth.
- I eat a lot of meat. I don't have any ethical issues with this, but I know that the meat growing industry is tough on the environment. I would probably do better to cut down to eating meat only a few times a week, but I crave protein in the worst way, and non-flesh sources of it never really seem to satisfy it. So while I could stand to reduce my meat consumption somewhat, I doubt I will feel all right if I do it too drastically.
- I feel like even though I do recycle very carefully, I generate a lot of material to recycle. I love bottled drinks like Coke and Snapple. I line pans and cover things with aluminum foil. In general I prefer using ziploc bags to awkward, space-claiming Tupperware. My penchant for clean, contained, managable things in my life leads me to use stuff that I can get rid of when I am finished with it. I should look into reducing just how much garbage my habits produce.
So that is where I stand. I am planning on making a conscious effort to improve a lot of these things. Every litlte bit helps, right?
Ways I Do Well:
- I'm very conscientious about recycling. All my discarded paper or cardboard, any piece of garbage plastic, every shard of scrap metal or glass. I have been known to hold onto my soda bottle or cardboard snack box for hours after I'm finished with it until I see a place to recycle it.
- I stopped buying bottled water years ago. When I need to have water with me, I use my Brandeis-issue metal water bottle.
- I reuse paper compulsively. Whenever I print something out and it has extra space remaining on it, I put it in a box I have under my printer, either for scribbling on or printing on the other side. I have a folder full of directions I printed out in case I ever need the hard copy again so I don't need to make another. At work, when asked to make a copy to keep a record of something, I scan it and save it as a PDF in an organized folder rather than copy it to paper.
- I am working to minimize my use of disposable things. Since I live in a house without a dishwasher it can be very tempting, but generally I use real dishware that I wash rather than plastic that I throw away. And on the occasion that I do use plastic, I make certain to recycle all the pieces. Also, it's a small thing, but in the last month I had made sure to keep at work a ceramic mug, a metal tea ball, a metal spoon, and a canister of loose-leaf tea. Everything is washable and since I quit using the disposable cups and plastic stirrers, the only thing that gets thrown away is the packet the sugar comes in. Perhaps I should start bringing my own sugar (or even better, honey) in a plastic container. Honey is tougher to transport without another eventually disposable container, but at least that container is recyclable.
- I keep four reusable shopping bags in my car so I don't have to remember to bring them along and have been making a real effort to use them every time I go to the market. I am also training myself into the habit of saying "No bag, please," when I buy things I can carry in my hands.
- I make an effort to walk places rather than drive whenever possible. I like getting the exercise, but honestly if I'm short on time I am more inclined to save the travel minutes and just go by car.
Ways I Don't Do Well and Will Try to Work On:
- Other than paper, I am not so good about reusing. Reuse, I know, is superior on the hierarchy to recycling, but I dislike keeping anything that looks like trash around, so I am unlikely to ever be able to do things like turn plastic vessels into planters or anything like that.
- I often forget to use those reuseable shopping bags, even when I bring them with me in my car. :-P There are about ten trillion plastic bags stashed away in my house. I reuse them as trash bags for wastebaskets, but there come in faster than they go out. Also, there are often items in the grocery store like produce that are hard to bring home unless you put them in a little plastic bag. I am considering getting myself some resuable produce bags, but many of the ones I've seen seem ridiculously expensive, so I think I will hold off until I see a reasonably priced option.
- I don't know if I'm terribly responsible with electricity. I dislike waiting for my computer to boot, so I usually leave it running with the screen off when I'm not using it. Still, I try to turn off lights and other eletronics when they're not needed, I never use an air conditioner, and I only turn on a fan or a heater in really extreme situations. This is necessary for my pocketbook as well as for the earth.
- I eat a lot of meat. I don't have any ethical issues with this, but I know that the meat growing industry is tough on the environment. I would probably do better to cut down to eating meat only a few times a week, but I crave protein in the worst way, and non-flesh sources of it never really seem to satisfy it. So while I could stand to reduce my meat consumption somewhat, I doubt I will feel all right if I do it too drastically.
- I feel like even though I do recycle very carefully, I generate a lot of material to recycle. I love bottled drinks like Coke and Snapple. I line pans and cover things with aluminum foil. In general I prefer using ziploc bags to awkward, space-claiming Tupperware. My penchant for clean, contained, managable things in my life leads me to use stuff that I can get rid of when I am finished with it. I should look into reducing just how much garbage my habits produce.
So that is where I stand. I am planning on making a conscious effort to improve a lot of these things. Every litlte bit helps, right?
Sunday, June 20, 2010
The Labor Wars, accomplished
At long last, The Labor Wars has come into being as a game. The journey from Nat asking me in Chad’s kitchen if I wanted to help write a game has culminated in a satisfactory run this past weekend.
Overall, I feel the game went well. Players enjoyed it on the whole, and the concepts we put into place worked fairly well. If there was a major issue, it was that conflict was dealt with too easily. We wanted a major source of it to be with people with different interests, alliances, and prejudices wrangling over a limited pool of economic resources/. I believe we established proof of concept by the fact that the mechanic for determining the workings of it was very functional, but we are going to have to make some adjustments to the amount of accessible resources. It was too easy for everyone to secure exactly what they wanted, without having to fight for it with other factions or make compromises in order to gain anything. Also, I was surprised at how much players were willing to work together to come up with arrangements that were agreeable to everyone. I walked around muttering, “Fuckin’ Brandeisians,” given our circle’s tendency toward such kind and gentle play style, but then I noticed there wasn’t any actual Brandeisian in the game! Still, they were mostly part of the extended Brandeis larp circle, and they very much had that kind of larp culture. Indeed, zrealm* coined the term “to Brandeis” a game, meaning to neutralize all the conflict through a tendency to compromise and work together.
We compensated for the lower than expected amount of conflict by throwing lots of events in the world that the players could affect and be affected by. I was actually extremely proud of our GM team for handling this; we came up with a lot of really good material, totally on the fly, that not only amped up the in-game struggle, it gelled with the direction that the players were taking the story, AND it felt like there was a living complete outside world that was active and reactive, and not just a series of crises that the GMs were throwing to trip up the players. They actually really surprised us with the direction they took things, necessitating us to make up so much on the fly, but we rolled with it and generated a series of events that remained true to the spirit while still meeting the players halfway.
We’ll need to make some edits, that’s for sure. Resources definitely need to be scarer. Anything to ramp up the conflict. One character may need to be completely overhauled. But we wrote a brand-new weekend long game, one of the first in this area in ten years, and it didn’t run half badly. I’m incredibly grateful to Nat, Susan, and Vito for inviting me to be part of this really cool project that they came up with.
We’ll have to get it in shape for a second run!
Overall, I feel the game went well. Players enjoyed it on the whole, and the concepts we put into place worked fairly well. If there was a major issue, it was that conflict was dealt with too easily. We wanted a major source of it to be with people with different interests, alliances, and prejudices wrangling over a limited pool of economic resources/. I believe we established proof of concept by the fact that the mechanic for determining the workings of it was very functional, but we are going to have to make some adjustments to the amount of accessible resources. It was too easy for everyone to secure exactly what they wanted, without having to fight for it with other factions or make compromises in order to gain anything. Also, I was surprised at how much players were willing to work together to come up with arrangements that were agreeable to everyone. I walked around muttering, “Fuckin’ Brandeisians,” given our circle’s tendency toward such kind and gentle play style, but then I noticed there wasn’t any actual Brandeisian in the game! Still, they were mostly part of the extended Brandeis larp circle, and they very much had that kind of larp culture. Indeed, zrealm* coined the term “to Brandeis” a game, meaning to neutralize all the conflict through a tendency to compromise and work together.
We compensated for the lower than expected amount of conflict by throwing lots of events in the world that the players could affect and be affected by. I was actually extremely proud of our GM team for handling this; we came up with a lot of really good material, totally on the fly, that not only amped up the in-game struggle, it gelled with the direction that the players were taking the story, AND it felt like there was a living complete outside world that was active and reactive, and not just a series of crises that the GMs were throwing to trip up the players. They actually really surprised us with the direction they took things, necessitating us to make up so much on the fly, but we rolled with it and generated a series of events that remained true to the spirit while still meeting the players halfway.
We’ll need to make some edits, that’s for sure. Resources definitely need to be scarer. Anything to ramp up the conflict. One character may need to be completely overhauled. But we wrote a brand-new weekend long game, one of the first in this area in ten years, and it didn’t run half badly. I’m incredibly grateful to Nat, Susan, and Vito for inviting me to be part of this really cool project that they came up with.
We’ll have to get it in shape for a second run!
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