Dave: The Game

Wisdom teeth are out. I’m on vicodin (just like Dr. House.) Tough to swallow. I’m mostly communicating with my family via text messages.

The headache is flaring up big time, which I’m hoping means that it really did have something to do with the wisdom teeth, and when all of that heals it’ll go away. I think it’s a positive sign, at least.

I realized today that one of the main reasons I started a Bank of America account was because I wanted a checking and savings account, and their “Keep the Change” program was the most game-like.

Also, I have Batman checks.

“Tasing ends in death”

When I was a student there, there were several riots in nearby Cincinnati after the police ended up killing black men they were pursuing. (I’ll have to dig up the exact details.) There was a huge outcry, and many statistics were brought up about what a large percentage of the police force was white, whereas Cincinnati is primarily black. The Sheriff’s Office response? Not to hire more black officers or train the officers differently, but to equip them with tasers/stun guns to reduce the risk of accidentally gunning someone down.

Now, this clearly is a bit different. This was a Miami U cop (which I had nothing but bad experiences with) tasering a belligerent drunk white kid. Now, I’ve been to Brick Street. It’s on one of the main drags in Uptown Miami. It’s nothing compared to what happens routinely in College Park. I have a hard time believing that tasering was warranted. But I wasn’t there, so all I can do is be sad.

(Of course, cue someone saying “you’re not a cop, you don’t know what it’s like, etc etc”)

School, at least, is almost done. I’ve gotten past the worst of it. I have two revisions to hand in for Magazine Writing, one minor assignment left for Publications Management, and then the Publications Management final exam (which I’m not worried about, considering I got 100% on the mid-term.) It helps that my Editorial Style class has completely dropped an assignment off the schedule, and I will probably not have to attend class next week.

Next Monday, I’m getting my Wisdom Teeth out, which I’m dearly hoping fixes the other medical complaints I’ve had lately- they’re really annoying and worrying. Then I’m hoping I can concentrate on work, the secret projects, and wrapping up my D&D game (and planning the next one.)

(embedded video, click here if viewing through feed)

Vampire Weekend, A-Punk, doing a video not too far off from the Don’t Let Start video.

I separate my clothes into darks, colors, and whites, as I have been instructed to do.

I then proceed to use the exact same settings and detergent for each load.

I bought an iMac yesterday with my tax refund. (Bought outright, even, no financing… possibly the largest single purchase I’ve ever made without loans.) I found out that there was an Apple Store roughly on my way home from class in Columbia.

So far, pretty happy with it. One refreshing difference is how much Apple includes. New Dells include all sorts of crap-ware that take forever to uninstall, and often will not be uninstalled because of the hoops you have to jump through. Right away, the performance is impacted. Meanwhile, the iMac came with a pile of useful software (including the not-quite-working-yet-but-handy Time Machine) and extra hardware things like bluetooth, webcam, and microphone.

I have managed to lock up the iMac a few times now, but then again, I am an expert.

Back from Ohio. Lots happened, some I can talk about, some I can’t. Here’s a bulleted list, with some opportunities disguised by secret project names until such time that I can.

• Played many games. Still many more that I wanted to play but never got a chance to (as usual.) For the record, all my favorite games were prototypes, but not just ones that people I know designed!
• Secret writing project TOTAN (due at end of April.)
• Other secret project TGFL.
• Possible internship opportunity for the Fall.
• Big job offer that I can’t take.
• Worked on Holy Grail Dungeon Prototype with James, and actually got to play (twice!)
• Put some games in publishers’ hands. This normally is my top agenda, but it took a back seat this year. Even the ones who did take it I don’t have high hopes for, but I’m glad I did it anyway.
• Lost Loopin’ Louie (I tried listening to the theme from “Rocky” while playing- it didn’t help.) Lost Poker. Lost many other games.
• Designed a kick-ass party game which can never be published. (I’ll post the rules when I’m done with them.) Worked on Kory’s kick-ass party game that can never be published.
• I have a few new goals for this year, many of which involve development work instead of design work. Hopefully some new game designs come to me as well.