So it's no secret I play a LOT of games - I started the experiment just to see what kinds of games I found myself playing more than others, hoping it might inform decision on what types of games I should look for in the future. A lot of it is also market research, given that I design games. I played 472 games in total in 2010, a bit short of my goal (500).
So without further ado, here's the list sorted in decending order, with some comments:
1. Magic: The Gathering - 155 (89 in person, 66 online)
This was interesting, as I "quit" late last year, getting rid of most of my cards. It became a time sink with keeping up on all the new cards and strategies that were being released. I still enjoy playing once in a while with my friends who still play. Like a bad habit, I still got the urge to play once in a while, and Magic:Online is a great way to scratch the itch without having to go out and buy cards again. For those that care, I counted a best 2-out-of-3 match as a single game play
2. Exigo - 72
Exigo is the initial release of Masquerade Games, the game design company I co-started 2 years ago. These are all play testing games. I've only counted play test games for games that are near completion, not rough shells of games.
3. Carcassone - 33 (20 in person, 13 online)
This number is conceiving, and doesn't include the 50+ games I played against the computer on my iPod. This is a great gateway game, so I end up playing it more than other games just to give gaming neophytes a taste of what a good game is like. I play the game online once in a while on BrettSpielWelt, a germany-based online board gaming community.
4. Dominion - 30 (22 in person, 8 online)
I really wish this number were much higher - but it's a very tough game to teach non-gaming types. This one I've also played a few games in BSW, but I prefer playing with real humans.
5. Masq Games Proto - 22
This is an un-released prototype that I can't really talk about, but I'm hoping to perfect this game in 2011, then I can talk about it.
6. Telestrations - 18
This was the sleeper hit on 2010. I've gotten 4 people to buy this game on a single play experience. It's the telephone game with sketching - the perfect game to play when you want to relax, drink some booze and have a good time without getting into "hardcore" gaming.
7. Chess - 16
I ended up playing quite a bit of chess int he last 2 months of the year, much to my surprise. I'm a halfway decent player, and since I actually beat my father once this year, I can consider 2010 a big success on the chess front :)
8. Kill Dr. Lucky - 9
It's rare to find good games that support 7 people, which is part of the reason this awesome game saw the table as much as it did.
9. Blokus 3D - 9
A great 15 minute filler game that people seemed to enjoy. I got it for $4 on clearance, talk about value!
10. Dixit - 8
Completely deserving of the 2010 Spiel des Jahres award it received, an absolutely beautiful looking game, and allows people to be creative while they have fun.
11. Masquerade Games Proto - 7
Another game I can't talk about yet, but it's a mercantile game that we've been tinkering with on and off for 2 years now.
12. Settlers From Catan - 7
THE gateway game, I have to admit I tired of this game near the middle of the year, but I'm getting back to the point where I'd like to play again. An amazing game, but it does have a tendency to get a little old for me.
13. Smallworld - 6
I love this game. It's got a hilarious theme, awesome mechanics, and great art.
14. Forbidden Island - 5
Matt Leacocks' new twist on his hit Pandemic is a great looking package. For only $17, you get some nice plastic statues, high quality tiles and cards. A very solid co-op game that plays quick enough to not get tedious.
15. Rummikub - 5
The Rest of the games:
Ticket To Ride 4
Thurn and Taxis 4
Werewolf / Mafia 4
Gheos 4
Atlantis 3
Scrabble 3
Lost Cities 3
Incan Gold 3
Bananagrams 3
Blokus 3
Alea Iacta Est 3
Bocce 3
Bohnanza 3
Leaping Lemmings 3
Revolution! 3
Stone Age 3
Blokus Trigon 2
Hangman 2
Betrayal at House on the Hill 2
Triple Triad 2
Fluxx 2
Castle Panic 2
Atomic 2
Infernal Contraption 2
Fresco 1
Shootin' Ladders 1
Uno 1
Mystery At Hogwarts 1
Tri-Cross 1
Thunderstone 1
Power Grid 1
SORRY! 1
Friday, December 31, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
December Reading
I got on quite a reading kick in December, thanks for some extra downtime. Instead of writing at length about all the books, here's some mini-reports on what I was reading:
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
I originally read this classic back in high school, but on a whim I picked it up for a reread, as I feel a bit wiser to deeper meanings in things than I was when I was 16. The book has great pace to it, and the eloquent discriptions really allowed me to visuallize the characters, the island, and all of the events in vivid detail. The book is a giant allegorical saga that focuses on the dark side of human nature. I thought this was the perfect book to read along with my recent readings - as it really highlights the battle between Idealism vs. Materialism (under the guise of the Nature of Man vs. Structured Society, of course).
Siddhartha - Herman Hesse
In college I was in a very focused Engineering and German program, which didn't allow me the opportunity to read classics such as this. Hesse's brilliant book really resonated with my own journey of seeking - seeking truth, happiness, and the pitfalls inherint in such a journey. It's also an eloquent discourse on the beauty of nature - and in the quiet power gained by truly absorbing it - becoming it and of letting go of the self. This was a very powerful book for me, and I would reccomend it to anyone - not just those interested in Buddhism or Eastern Philosophy.
Mostly Harmless - Douglas Adams
I've always loved Douglas Adams and read most of his work - so in the mood for some fun sci-fi, I picked this book off my bookshelf for a reread. This is the 5th book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, and is more a stand-alone book than a continuation of the first 4 books. The characters are (mostly) the same quirky ones from the series, but the book is a fun romp through infinately parallel and probable universes. The book is full of quirky humor, but as is typical of Adams' brilliance, there's moment of deep meaning tucked between the whirlwind of amusement. What I love most about his work is how honest they are - of both the fantastic and the mundane, he always calls a spade a spade, in his own brilliant and unique style.
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
I originally read this classic back in high school, but on a whim I picked it up for a reread, as I feel a bit wiser to deeper meanings in things than I was when I was 16. The book has great pace to it, and the eloquent discriptions really allowed me to visuallize the characters, the island, and all of the events in vivid detail. The book is a giant allegorical saga that focuses on the dark side of human nature. I thought this was the perfect book to read along with my recent readings - as it really highlights the battle between Idealism vs. Materialism (under the guise of the Nature of Man vs. Structured Society, of course).
Siddhartha - Herman Hesse
In college I was in a very focused Engineering and German program, which didn't allow me the opportunity to read classics such as this. Hesse's brilliant book really resonated with my own journey of seeking - seeking truth, happiness, and the pitfalls inherint in such a journey. It's also an eloquent discourse on the beauty of nature - and in the quiet power gained by truly absorbing it - becoming it and of letting go of the self. This was a very powerful book for me, and I would reccomend it to anyone - not just those interested in Buddhism or Eastern Philosophy.
Mostly Harmless - Douglas Adams
I've always loved Douglas Adams and read most of his work - so in the mood for some fun sci-fi, I picked this book off my bookshelf for a reread. This is the 5th book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, and is more a stand-alone book than a continuation of the first 4 books. The characters are (mostly) the same quirky ones from the series, but the book is a fun romp through infinately parallel and probable universes. The book is full of quirky humor, but as is typical of Adams' brilliance, there's moment of deep meaning tucked between the whirlwind of amusement. What I love most about his work is how honest they are - of both the fantastic and the mundane, he always calls a spade a spade, in his own brilliant and unique style.
The Great Holiday Blizzard of 2010
It was the day after Christmas, and Alexandra and I had a rental car for the day, with nowhere to go until a 7pm Islanders game with friends out on Long Island. We've been talking about going to the IKEA in Brooklyn for a long time now - so we headed down for a day of shopping and Swedish meatballs.
IKEA was a blast - we had some great Swedish food and got some excellent home furnishings (including a big tropical palm tree - which play a role much later in my mini-saga). It was slowing lightly when we left for IKEA, and it seemed to pick up a bit while we rummaged around the store for a few hours - but after packing the car the roads were still in pretty good condition. This is about the time when I found out we were expecting a blizzard.
I decided to go to the Islanders game, as the roads were still drivable, and it took us a little over 2 hours to make the trek from Brooklyn to Uniondale. By the time we got to the stadium, the roads were pretty bleak - but since we were there we decided to enjoy the game and deal with the consequences later. The game was a lot of fun, more for the friends we enjoyed it with. There were only about 3,100 people who came to the game (instead of the 17,000 or so the stadium fits), and over 90% of them were fans who came down from Montreal to root for their Canadiens. The Canadiens put in a lackluster performance, and the Islanders made them pay with a 4-1 victory.
We all said our goodbyes, and left for the long trek home. The snow really fell during the 3 hour game, and we were faced with bleak prospects of getting home in a reasonable amount of time. The winds had actually blown most of the snow off the car, and after 5 minutes of chipping ice we were good to leave the parking lot. I pressed the gas pedal, and was greeted with the sound of spinning tires. Alexandra hopped in the driver's seat and I proceeded to spend the next 45 minutes alternating between digging with the heel of my sneakers and pushing the car. The bus loads of French Canadiens waiting to leave had quite a few laughs at the expense of the silly Americans and their exploits in the snow.
When we got to the exit of the parking lot, I was about to get back into the car when I had the presence of mind to check for my house keys, which were supposed to be in my pocket. They were gone. They must had fallen out while pushing, and now I was about to freak out. I walked a few steps back and with an amazing stroke of luck, they were lying right there in the snow! Buoyed by this incredible stroke of luck, I hopped in the car hoping that the luck would see me home.
We got on the Meadowbrook Parkway heading North, and there was one lane of very light traffic moving along at about 20 mph, and things were looking pretty good. I was fairly sure the LIE would be in similar condition and we could manage back to the city. As we got close to the road, however, we were brought to a dead stop by an accident with all sorts of flashing lights a few hundred feet ahead. the line of cars brought to a stop sat there for about 30 minutes, as the roads proceeded to get really bad since there was nobody driving on them...many people started backing up to the exit we just passed to divert around the accident, and eventually we had no other choice than to follow them.
I got to the top of the on ramp, and made a left. We proceeded to drive up the road a few hundred feet, and realized there was nothing to get us where we needed to go in that direction. The "main" road we were on was in very rough shape, and we pulled off into a pristine plowed shopping center full of closed stores. It was around 11pm at this point, and after a brief discussion we agreed this was stupid and we should just find a hotel and bunker down. Since we were without GPS, we teamed up on our blackberries to figure out where we were, and googled the nearest hotel. With luck (here I go using that word again), there was a Holiday Inn only a half mile back the way we came, and they had open rooms!). How hard could that last half mile be?
We headed out from the shopping center (no joke there were 3 plows in action in that parking lot), and BAM we get stuck in the median b/w the east and west lanes of the main road. This side of the road was in horrific condition, and the Hyundai Elantra was too low of a car to deal well with the height of the snow in some spots. With Alexandra behind the wheel, I got back out and we proceeded to dig, push, dig, push, shovel snow from tires by hand, push, rock the car, shove the car sideways, etc... for the next 40 minutes - going about 10-30 feet for every 5 minutes of effort. the real killer was the inconsistent road clearings, making it hard to pick the most effective path to put the car on.
The winds were about 50 mph and constant, and the visibility was horrible. Knowing warmth was a mere half mile away, I persisted. A cop car came by, and while they are not allowed to actively help dig out people (unless of a medical emergency) - he called a tow truck to help us out of a really bad rut. I got into this rut b/c we had to stop the car to avoid hitting an equally-stuck minivan in front of us. While waiting for the tow, I helped the mini-van get back on the road, and the guy there was nice enough to give me his extra pair of gloves (did I mention I didn't have any gloves up until this point?) Thank the gods I had my excellent, spanking-new North Face winter coat courtesy of Alexandra. :)
At this point I told Alexandra that if she got any momentum to not stop and let me in the car. Momentum is key in these situations, so I told her to just drive as far as she could and I'd catch up on foot. Right about the time the tow truck came, there were about 7 or 8 other cars nearby that were all in the same situation I was in. One family stopped and loaned me a shovel for a few minutes, which was a huge help as I was in a major snowbank at the time. The tow truck that showed up got stock about 100 feet away, and I was starting to consider the real possibility we would spend the night in the car. Thankfully we had a lot of water and a tank full of gas.
However, when things looked at their worst, I gave a hard shove and zoom! Alexandra had some speed and off she went!
I was so exhilarated that I just started to run as fast as I could. I could barely feel my legs and feet, I was covered in snow, my ears were frozen - but I ran anyway. I was hopped up on adrenaline and was very much "in the moment". Alexandra and I were the only 2 things moving on that road, and we sped past quite a few other stranded vehicles - including a NYC Bus that was stretched across 80% of the street (which Alexandra deftly avoided as she was speeding away from me). The car got stuck again about 150 yards (a football field and a half) from where I freed her loose, and I climbed into the passenger seat - panting and starting to feel exhausted. After a few minutes of catching my breath and sucking down some water - I noticed another car stuck in front of us. It was the family that stopped earlier and loaned me the shovel. I took another sip of water, and threw my gloves back on and headed out to help them. It was the right thing to do after they helped me. during the 20 minutes I spent helping them dig out their car, a plow came by and cleared a nice swath for people to filter out!
I got the family free, and it took only about 10 more minutes to get our own car onto the newly plowed path. This time, Alexandra stopped and get me into the car and we got the rest of the way to the hotel without getting stuck! We arrived at the hotel at a quarter to 1am - and got ourselves a nice warm room. My frozen feet and legs took a long, very painful time to thaw out. It was the worst pins and needles feeling constantly for about 15 minutes. We quickly passed out and woke up again around 8 the next morning. I was quite a bit sore, but overall I felt pretty good and we went down for some breakfast.
The roads were in rough but manageable shape, and an hour or so later we headed back out to get ourselves home. We did pretty good to get back into Manhattan, and it would be reasonable to assume my story would end here - but this time I'm not that lucky!
Manhattan was a complete and utter MESS. We got up 1st avenue all right, but quickly realized that turning up 89th street to our apartment was out of the question - as it hadn't been plowed yet. So with Alex holding down the fort, I proceeded to carry all of the fruits of our IKEA adventure from the day before a block and a half through icy sidewalks, snow banks and grey slushy goo to our apartment. I got quite a few weird looks as I carried the tropical palm tree down the street. After 3 trips of this, we were ready to drive the car one last measly block to the AVIS rent a car on 90th Street. Seeing that 90th street was in just as rough shape as 89th, I decided to drive around the block to hit the road with some momentum. After going up to 95th street, over to 2nd avenue, back down to 90th street and back east to the intersection of 90th and 1st, we were ready to plow down towards York and give back the car. The light turned green and then some stupid Manhattanite walked in front of the car, killing all of our momentum and we hit the snowbank at the east side of 1st avenue with a slow, not-so-glorious thud. Ultimately it wouldn't matter as the street had just too much snow.
I left Alex with the car and walked down to the end of the block and told Avis my situation. I was greeted with "well you just have to bring the car back somehow". After giving my license as collateral, I was "lucky" enough to be given a small metal hand shovel with which to achieve the task at hand. I went through another round of shovel, shovel, dig, push, rock, push, move 20 feet forward, repeat for the next 2 hours. In the middle of it all, a few other people nearby were digging out their parked car, and were nice enough to dump all of the extra snow in the middle of the street, just to move their car FIVE F-ING FEET into a garage - because they didn't want it on the street. As they walked away, they did not register me at all and walked away. The final insult was when Avis couldn't even dig a pathway to their entrance, which I had to do on my own. I got the car into the garage, and was given one last kick in the pants with a $13 gas charge because the tank wasn't full due to the 2 hours it was travelling at 0.001 miles per hour as I self-plowed 90th street.
Through the entire ordeal, I kind of surprised myself with how present I was in the situation, how I was able to cultivate a positive mindset, and got what needed to be done - done. I didn't complain or whine or panic, I just took responsibility and took care of my situation as best as I could. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and kick some ass.
- Chris
IKEA was a blast - we had some great Swedish food and got some excellent home furnishings (including a big tropical palm tree - which play a role much later in my mini-saga). It was slowing lightly when we left for IKEA, and it seemed to pick up a bit while we rummaged around the store for a few hours - but after packing the car the roads were still in pretty good condition. This is about the time when I found out we were expecting a blizzard.
I decided to go to the Islanders game, as the roads were still drivable, and it took us a little over 2 hours to make the trek from Brooklyn to Uniondale. By the time we got to the stadium, the roads were pretty bleak - but since we were there we decided to enjoy the game and deal with the consequences later. The game was a lot of fun, more for the friends we enjoyed it with. There were only about 3,100 people who came to the game (instead of the 17,000 or so the stadium fits), and over 90% of them were fans who came down from Montreal to root for their Canadiens. The Canadiens put in a lackluster performance, and the Islanders made them pay with a 4-1 victory.
We all said our goodbyes, and left for the long trek home. The snow really fell during the 3 hour game, and we were faced with bleak prospects of getting home in a reasonable amount of time. The winds had actually blown most of the snow off the car, and after 5 minutes of chipping ice we were good to leave the parking lot. I pressed the gas pedal, and was greeted with the sound of spinning tires. Alexandra hopped in the driver's seat and I proceeded to spend the next 45 minutes alternating between digging with the heel of my sneakers and pushing the car. The bus loads of French Canadiens waiting to leave had quite a few laughs at the expense of the silly Americans and their exploits in the snow.
When we got to the exit of the parking lot, I was about to get back into the car when I had the presence of mind to check for my house keys, which were supposed to be in my pocket. They were gone. They must had fallen out while pushing, and now I was about to freak out. I walked a few steps back and with an amazing stroke of luck, they were lying right there in the snow! Buoyed by this incredible stroke of luck, I hopped in the car hoping that the luck would see me home.
We got on the Meadowbrook Parkway heading North, and there was one lane of very light traffic moving along at about 20 mph, and things were looking pretty good. I was fairly sure the LIE would be in similar condition and we could manage back to the city. As we got close to the road, however, we were brought to a dead stop by an accident with all sorts of flashing lights a few hundred feet ahead. the line of cars brought to a stop sat there for about 30 minutes, as the roads proceeded to get really bad since there was nobody driving on them...many people started backing up to the exit we just passed to divert around the accident, and eventually we had no other choice than to follow them.
I got to the top of the on ramp, and made a left. We proceeded to drive up the road a few hundred feet, and realized there was nothing to get us where we needed to go in that direction. The "main" road we were on was in very rough shape, and we pulled off into a pristine plowed shopping center full of closed stores. It was around 11pm at this point, and after a brief discussion we agreed this was stupid and we should just find a hotel and bunker down. Since we were without GPS, we teamed up on our blackberries to figure out where we were, and googled the nearest hotel. With luck (here I go using that word again), there was a Holiday Inn only a half mile back the way we came, and they had open rooms!). How hard could that last half mile be?
We headed out from the shopping center (no joke there were 3 plows in action in that parking lot), and BAM we get stuck in the median b/w the east and west lanes of the main road. This side of the road was in horrific condition, and the Hyundai Elantra was too low of a car to deal well with the height of the snow in some spots. With Alexandra behind the wheel, I got back out and we proceeded to dig, push, dig, push, shovel snow from tires by hand, push, rock the car, shove the car sideways, etc... for the next 40 minutes - going about 10-30 feet for every 5 minutes of effort. the real killer was the inconsistent road clearings, making it hard to pick the most effective path to put the car on.
The winds were about 50 mph and constant, and the visibility was horrible. Knowing warmth was a mere half mile away, I persisted. A cop car came by, and while they are not allowed to actively help dig out people (unless of a medical emergency) - he called a tow truck to help us out of a really bad rut. I got into this rut b/c we had to stop the car to avoid hitting an equally-stuck minivan in front of us. While waiting for the tow, I helped the mini-van get back on the road, and the guy there was nice enough to give me his extra pair of gloves (did I mention I didn't have any gloves up until this point?) Thank the gods I had my excellent, spanking-new North Face winter coat courtesy of Alexandra. :)
At this point I told Alexandra that if she got any momentum to not stop and let me in the car. Momentum is key in these situations, so I told her to just drive as far as she could and I'd catch up on foot. Right about the time the tow truck came, there were about 7 or 8 other cars nearby that were all in the same situation I was in. One family stopped and loaned me a shovel for a few minutes, which was a huge help as I was in a major snowbank at the time. The tow truck that showed up got stock about 100 feet away, and I was starting to consider the real possibility we would spend the night in the car. Thankfully we had a lot of water and a tank full of gas.
However, when things looked at their worst, I gave a hard shove and zoom! Alexandra had some speed and off she went!
I was so exhilarated that I just started to run as fast as I could. I could barely feel my legs and feet, I was covered in snow, my ears were frozen - but I ran anyway. I was hopped up on adrenaline and was very much "in the moment". Alexandra and I were the only 2 things moving on that road, and we sped past quite a few other stranded vehicles - including a NYC Bus that was stretched across 80% of the street (which Alexandra deftly avoided as she was speeding away from me). The car got stuck again about 150 yards (a football field and a half) from where I freed her loose, and I climbed into the passenger seat - panting and starting to feel exhausted. After a few minutes of catching my breath and sucking down some water - I noticed another car stuck in front of us. It was the family that stopped earlier and loaned me the shovel. I took another sip of water, and threw my gloves back on and headed out to help them. It was the right thing to do after they helped me. during the 20 minutes I spent helping them dig out their car, a plow came by and cleared a nice swath for people to filter out!
I got the family free, and it took only about 10 more minutes to get our own car onto the newly plowed path. This time, Alexandra stopped and get me into the car and we got the rest of the way to the hotel without getting stuck! We arrived at the hotel at a quarter to 1am - and got ourselves a nice warm room. My frozen feet and legs took a long, very painful time to thaw out. It was the worst pins and needles feeling constantly for about 15 minutes. We quickly passed out and woke up again around 8 the next morning. I was quite a bit sore, but overall I felt pretty good and we went down for some breakfast.
The roads were in rough but manageable shape, and an hour or so later we headed back out to get ourselves home. We did pretty good to get back into Manhattan, and it would be reasonable to assume my story would end here - but this time I'm not that lucky!
Manhattan was a complete and utter MESS. We got up 1st avenue all right, but quickly realized that turning up 89th street to our apartment was out of the question - as it hadn't been plowed yet. So with Alex holding down the fort, I proceeded to carry all of the fruits of our IKEA adventure from the day before a block and a half through icy sidewalks, snow banks and grey slushy goo to our apartment. I got quite a few weird looks as I carried the tropical palm tree down the street. After 3 trips of this, we were ready to drive the car one last measly block to the AVIS rent a car on 90th Street. Seeing that 90th street was in just as rough shape as 89th, I decided to drive around the block to hit the road with some momentum. After going up to 95th street, over to 2nd avenue, back down to 90th street and back east to the intersection of 90th and 1st, we were ready to plow down towards York and give back the car. The light turned green and then some stupid Manhattanite walked in front of the car, killing all of our momentum and we hit the snowbank at the east side of 1st avenue with a slow, not-so-glorious thud. Ultimately it wouldn't matter as the street had just too much snow.
I left Alex with the car and walked down to the end of the block and told Avis my situation. I was greeted with "well you just have to bring the car back somehow". After giving my license as collateral, I was "lucky" enough to be given a small metal hand shovel with which to achieve the task at hand. I went through another round of shovel, shovel, dig, push, rock, push, move 20 feet forward, repeat for the next 2 hours. In the middle of it all, a few other people nearby were digging out their parked car, and were nice enough to dump all of the extra snow in the middle of the street, just to move their car FIVE F-ING FEET into a garage - because they didn't want it on the street. As they walked away, they did not register me at all and walked away. The final insult was when Avis couldn't even dig a pathway to their entrance, which I had to do on my own. I got the car into the garage, and was given one last kick in the pants with a $13 gas charge because the tank wasn't full due to the 2 hours it was travelling at 0.001 miles per hour as I self-plowed 90th street.
Through the entire ordeal, I kind of surprised myself with how present I was in the situation, how I was able to cultivate a positive mindset, and got what needed to be done - done. I didn't complain or whine or panic, I just took responsibility and took care of my situation as best as I could. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and kick some ass.
- Chris
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Bar Mitzvah Speech
My brother recently became a Bar Mitzvah, a very important achievement in his life - and many family and friends gathered to celebrate with him. As the oldest brother, I felt a strong obligation to give a speech at the event. I gave the speech with some reservations, being that I'm not Jewish - but I felt the message was too important to hold back based on those grounds. The speech seemed to really strike people, and I'm glad to have had the opportunity. For posterity and without further comment, my unabridged speech:
First and foremost, Mazal Tov on your Bar Mitzvah! Like everyone else, I'm very proud of the effort you've put in over the past few years to prepare for this day. Now, take a second to look around you. You've managed to get about a hundred people gathered in a room, celebrating in your honor. On top of that, you've managed to separate all of them from some of their hard earned cash! Sure makes up for the ritual circumcision and years of Hebrew school, doesn't it?
I know it’s been tricky for us to build our relationship as brothers, since you're more than half my age and I left home ten years ago. However, I'm sure our relationship will get a lot better in the all too near future when I'm going through my mid-life crisis and I start calling you at college begging to hang out. Nowadays, the time we get to spend together is a lot of fun, but it's rare we get the opportunity to talk about the heavy stuff. Matters of the spirit like religion, faith, and philosophy. I know when I was thirteen, I never talked about these things at all. That's why I've insisted on standing here tonight, to provide some words of caution and words of encouragement, and forgoing the golden opportunity to embarrass you in front of all your friends.
When I was about your age, I performed the Catholic Rite of Confirmation. I did this less out of choice, than out of obligation…it was what you were supposed to do. While I had to do a bit of work to prepare for the occasion, it was nowhere near the commitment needed to prepare for a Bar Mitzvah. I did it in a catholic school gym with a bunch of other kids, and we all got to it all in English! For all of its supposed significance, my Confirmation was pretty much void of honest spirituality. I felt no connection to the beliefs of the religion I was "confirming", and it was after that day I made the decision that it wasn't for me. With the benefit of hindsight I realize how it was a big mistake to shut myself off from spirituality with that decision. It was more than a dozen years after that Confirmation when I discovered religions and philosophies that deeply resonated with me, inspired me and drove me to focus much of my thoughts and energies on such matters, and to do so passionately. I say all of this to give you perspective on why I must caution you to not spend the next decade ignoring spirituality like I did.
In many ways I envy you and the opportunity you have before you. It's my hope that you are encouraged by all of your studies and this event to never stop investigating the deeper matters. Don't let the many wonders and wisdoms of spirituality and philosophy become part-time endeavors, as things to lean on during difficult or convenient times. Don't look upon your Bar Mitzvah as a destination, as an end to a long period of intense study. Look on it as a celebration of your faith, on becoming morally and ethically responsible for your actions. I encourage you to use today as a springboard into a life of seeking. Seeking to understand yourself, seeking to understand Judaism, seeking the answers to those really big questions that all too often go unasked.
Your Proud Brother, Chris
First and foremost, Mazal Tov on your Bar Mitzvah! Like everyone else, I'm very proud of the effort you've put in over the past few years to prepare for this day. Now, take a second to look around you. You've managed to get about a hundred people gathered in a room, celebrating in your honor. On top of that, you've managed to separate all of them from some of their hard earned cash! Sure makes up for the ritual circumcision and years of Hebrew school, doesn't it?
I know it’s been tricky for us to build our relationship as brothers, since you're more than half my age and I left home ten years ago. However, I'm sure our relationship will get a lot better in the all too near future when I'm going through my mid-life crisis and I start calling you at college begging to hang out. Nowadays, the time we get to spend together is a lot of fun, but it's rare we get the opportunity to talk about the heavy stuff. Matters of the spirit like religion, faith, and philosophy. I know when I was thirteen, I never talked about these things at all. That's why I've insisted on standing here tonight, to provide some words of caution and words of encouragement, and forgoing the golden opportunity to embarrass you in front of all your friends.
When I was about your age, I performed the Catholic Rite of Confirmation. I did this less out of choice, than out of obligation…it was what you were supposed to do. While I had to do a bit of work to prepare for the occasion, it was nowhere near the commitment needed to prepare for a Bar Mitzvah. I did it in a catholic school gym with a bunch of other kids, and we all got to it all in English! For all of its supposed significance, my Confirmation was pretty much void of honest spirituality. I felt no connection to the beliefs of the religion I was "confirming", and it was after that day I made the decision that it wasn't for me. With the benefit of hindsight I realize how it was a big mistake to shut myself off from spirituality with that decision. It was more than a dozen years after that Confirmation when I discovered religions and philosophies that deeply resonated with me, inspired me and drove me to focus much of my thoughts and energies on such matters, and to do so passionately. I say all of this to give you perspective on why I must caution you to not spend the next decade ignoring spirituality like I did.
In many ways I envy you and the opportunity you have before you. It's my hope that you are encouraged by all of your studies and this event to never stop investigating the deeper matters. Don't let the many wonders and wisdoms of spirituality and philosophy become part-time endeavors, as things to lean on during difficult or convenient times. Don't look upon your Bar Mitzvah as a destination, as an end to a long period of intense study. Look on it as a celebration of your faith, on becoming morally and ethically responsible for your actions. I encourage you to use today as a springboard into a life of seeking. Seeking to understand yourself, seeking to understand Judaism, seeking the answers to those really big questions that all too often go unasked.
Your Proud Brother, Chris
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Book Review: Sex, Sin & Zen
I heard of this book through a Buddhist blog I casually read - and thought the concept was very interesting. Brad Warner, an ordained Soto Zen Priest, promises to provide, "A Buddhist exploration of sex, from celibacy to poluamory and Everything in Between". I gave the book a casual scan in the bookstore - seeing the title next to some other of his books, and it seemed to ask some interesting questions; for example: can monks masturbate?, what is the buddhist attitudes towards abortion?, is pornography a bad thing?
I picked it up based more out of curiosity than anything else - and it would be nice to get back on a Buddhist reading kick. Lately I've found myself heavily entwined with taoism and varying philosophical works by the likes of David Foster Wallace and Henry David Thoreau.
This book blew away every expectation I had of it right from the start. Throughout the book, Brad discusses the heart of buddhist philosophy and history with amazing clarity. His approach is very honest, and he does not separate his discussions from own history and feelings. Throughout the book you get a very lucid taste of his view on things - and he does not abuse this by saying you should believe him. I guess in a way you can call this a sneaky book at times - it uses sex more as a tool in order to discuss much more poignant spiritual and philosophical matters, for example:
The idea of avoiding preferences doesn't mean that we need to be complacent and leave even the worst situations in life just as they are. The first step in effectively changing something that clearly needs to be changed is accepting the way it actually is. Then we can do what needs doing to make things different without wasting a lot of energy wishing things already were different. - Pg. 201
This book not only made me consider aspects of sexuality and relationships, but really helped clear up a lot of spiritual misconceptions and issues I had with my prior inquiries into Buddhism and Zen. Brad does a fantastic job of distilling extremely complex issues in such a way that the reader can come to their own conclusions and be okay with them. I didn't agree with everything he writes in the book, but the honesty of the discussions in the book provided a framework for me to understand other sides of the issues and philosophies.
I am very thankful I picked this book up off the shelf...I feel that it's helped me put a lot of complicated issues from my own light into a very manageable perspective. It's allowed me to be more open and honest with my own thoughts and emotions - and not just in regards to sex, but with religion, philosophical inquiry, relationships, politics, social constructs, and living compassionately.
All that being said, I don't think I'd recommend this book to anybody. People need to come to this book with a very open mind - and be comfortable going into some really heavy subjects like abortion, homosexuality, celibacy and polyamory. I do think it's a fantastic book for someone interested in sexuality and Buddhism. I was very intrigued at how Brad writes in such a way that you don't need to have studied tons of Buddhist texts to understand the keys of the philosophy. It's a far better starting point than many of the books on Buddhism I've already read.
- Chris
Political Compass
I was doing some research for a project via the all-knowing Wikipedia, and came across something called a political compass.
I'm sure this isn't anything new for most people, but for someone who tends to keep his neck far clear from anything overtly political - it was interesting. I read into it, and took a "where do you stand" test HERE.
Anyway, the test is awkwardly written, with lots of negative clauses thrown in there to keep you on your toes. I'm sure those that aren't paying attention may answer the opposite of their intent...so I was a bit skeptical to say the least. Regardless, I slogged through the questions out of sheer procrastanistic curiosity. The conclusion of the test shows where some "popular" political figures would fall in this chart:
And then, my results:
While I find it hard to argue that this is pretty accurate, no test or chart can speak for what you believe in. I think it's tests like this that give tools to shape their egos, and lead to close-mindedness...and that's dangerous. In one year or ten, I could take this same test, and I have to keep open-minded enough to realize that it may change. People too often get comfortable being in a particular "camp", and this prevents them from seeing the perspectives of those on the other side of the fence. Maybe this just shows my weak knowledge of the subject, but it was certainly an interesting exercise regardless.
I'm sure this isn't anything new for most people, but for someone who tends to keep his neck far clear from anything overtly political - it was interesting. I read into it, and took a "where do you stand" test HERE.
Anyway, the test is awkwardly written, with lots of negative clauses thrown in there to keep you on your toes. I'm sure those that aren't paying attention may answer the opposite of their intent...so I was a bit skeptical to say the least. Regardless, I slogged through the questions out of sheer procrastanistic curiosity. The conclusion of the test shows where some "popular" political figures would fall in this chart:
And then, my results:
While I find it hard to argue that this is pretty accurate, no test or chart can speak for what you believe in. I think it's tests like this that give tools to shape their egos, and lead to close-mindedness...and that's dangerous. In one year or ten, I could take this same test, and I have to keep open-minded enough to realize that it may change. People too often get comfortable being in a particular "camp", and this prevents them from seeing the perspectives of those on the other side of the fence. Maybe this just shows my weak knowledge of the subject, but it was certainly an interesting exercise regardless.
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