I haven't blogged in quite some time, but it's not for lack of things to blog about...so instead of sitting here for hours recapping the past month or so, I'm going to just do one massive catch-up blog - for the 4 of you out there that care :)
Books
- I've managed to polish off 2 amazing books to start off 2011, mostly reading on trains and subways here and there:
The Essential Gandhi: Once I saw this book, my long-held-but-never-cultivated interest in the man demanded I read it. The book was a fantastic compilation of some of Gandhi's writings with regards to himself, early 20th century politics, non-violent resistance, race issues, and general philosophy. The book was nothing short of a revelation of a man. The book itself was compiled a bit too much, in my opinion - with paragraphs written years apart weaved together with narrated touches throughout. It was really interesting how many of his thoughts resonate with more modern works I've read. For example, the following quote could have come from Ethan Nichtern himself:
Interdependence is and ought to be as much an ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being. Without inter-relation with society he cannot realize his oneness with the universe or suppress his egotism. His social interdependence enables him to test his faith and to prove himself on the touchstone of reality.
A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson: I've never read or heard anything about Bryson before Mike "Phattire" O'Hara thrust a copy into my hands one night on the way to BKB. To say I tore through this book would be an understatement. Bryson is the type of writer whose cunning narratives just make pages breeze past. The book is part narrative on his quest to hike the Appalachian Trail, and part historical background about the trail - interspersed with commentary about American's approach towards the outdoors. I felt like I was part of the journey, and the book really brought forth my desire to be spending more and more of my time outdoors. Simply put, this book was awesome.
- I'm currently reading Vector Basic Training by Von Glitschka - which is helping to teach me the finer points of vector graphics - of which I find myself using more and more.
GAMES
- It's no secret I've been busting my ass late at night and on weekends to get mine and Chris' game company up and running - with our first release due to hit shelves in July. It's crunch time for us, and to say there's a lot to do would be a gross understatement. I'm not really at liberty to go into a lot of detail right now, but the update's coming, I promise.
- I was in Toronto two weeks ago, and I got to check out Snakes and Lattes, a board game cafe on Bloor Street. The place was completely and utterly fantastic in every way. I got to play some games with welcoming Toronto locals, and enjoy some hot chocolate. The place has a chill atmosphere, is open all kinds of late hours, and has a wall of 1,500 games!
- Civilization 5 is simply amazing...even though my productivity took a hit when it first came out.
CLIMBING
- On that same Toronto trip, I was able to get my first climbs in another country, courtesy of Boulderz. This place was a small gym focused mainly on intermediate to expert bouldering. The routes were FANTASTIC, and for $14 I got to climb as long as I wanted and they loaned me a chalk bag (not something I was going to put in my carry on bag through the airport). For its small size, there was certainly plenty of challenges. They features some awesome traverse work (something I've been hankering for), a great inverted cave area (with a V2 that was quite simply the more fantastic bouldering route I've done yet), and the main wall featured lots of interesting angles, and allowed you to "top out", something I haven't encountered in a climbing gym. The people were very laid back, and the tunes were fantastic. Next time I'm in Toronto, I'm headed back there.
- Mike and I have been doing some amazing climbing lately, which is great because we're preparing to take on a lot of rock this outdoor season. In the 2 1/2 months I've been back climbing since I had a nasty shoulder separation, we've gone from 5.8's to regularly topping out on 5.10a's. V2's are being hit with alarming success, and we're toying with V2+ and V3 routes. I also completed a V3+ mantle problem on the first, second and third tries.
MMA
- I've been training pretty well, although the aforementioned shoulder injury keeps rearing its ugly head, especially when I'm grappling. I hate using as an excuse not to be able to do some things - but I tend to have my good and bad days with it. Injuries suck.
ENTERTAINMENT
- A few songs I've been hooked on lately:
Defend Atlantis - Flobots
1940 - The Submarines
Kara Remembers - Bear McCreary (from Battlestar Galactica Season 4 soundtrack)
- I'll just come right out and say it, True Grit was only okay. I love Jeff Bridges, but his character just felt really forced, and Matt Damon was not very good at all. The story was good enough, and I was entertained - but it just felt...flat to me.
NYC
- For a few short days, it feels like spring...and not a moment too soon. The city has just felt really gritty, grimy and slightly depressing lately. It's amazing how winter can just grow irritating by January/February.
- There seems to be a Complete Failure of Etiquette plague setting into this city. Nobody seems to give a sh*t anymore, and it's getting to a tipping point for me....I feel a cartooning project coming on...look out for it :)
- Chris
Showing posts with label Games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Games. Show all posts
Friday, February 18, 2011
Monday, August 30, 2010
A Weekend in Rhode Island
"There are a thousand reasons for failure, but not a single excuse." - Rudyard Kipling
It had certainly been a strange couple of weeks leading up to this past weekend. Something was most certainly off - and I found myself becoming more and more disconnected, regardless of what I tried to do to "jump start" myself. While I was certainly being very productive, I was finding myself being very insular and at times short with people. I get like that sometimes, but never really for a protracted period of time.
Anyway, I took this "funk" (for lack of a better term) with me on a road trip to Rhode Island - to visit with friends. After a brutal 5 1/2 hour bus ride to New London, CT (thanks to traffic on I-95, it wasn't Greyhound's fault) - I met up with Gabe, who had a softball game. I started watching the game, and then some friends met up with me to take me to go play some beach volleyball - which was completely unexpected. I hadn't played since goofing around in college, but it's one of those sports I seem to play pretty well. I think it's got a lot to do with my willingness to flail myself at any ball within a 100 foot radius without any permanent damage.
It was perfect weather that night, and we had a blast. Gabe and I went back to play plenty of board games - and went to bed knowing we were going to go climbing @ Lantern Hill the next morning! We met up with Eli early in the morning, and you couldn't have asked for better weather to climb - maybe 80 degrees, a slight breeze, not a cloud in the sky...yet I was still feeling...off.
The view from the top of Lantern Hill is amazing, albeit there's a few man-made eyesores. The hawks and vultures soaring right around you makes up for it though. We setup top ropes and began climbing. For all the reasons mentioned earlier, I just kept freezing on the wall. I found myself coming up with so many lame excuses for barely being able to stay on the wall - simply put, I felt weak.
Typical of my feelings then: The heights are causing me to feel sick to my stomach, my fingers scream in agony just placing them on rocks, I'm not comfortable with the ropes, my shoes aren't sticking very well, my shoulder's bothering me, I don't want to look like a schmuck, I climbed this rock better in sneakers 3 months ago!
I was so down on myself then, but I kept trying to hack away at the frustration and just fucking enjoy myself. The company was good enough (another group joined up with us), and then I just got on the easy wall - and was urged on by Gabe and Eli to get to the top of the wall come hell of high water. I got setup at the bottom of the wall and just said to myself "Stop feeling fucking sorry for yourself and get your ass up that wall"
So I started to climb. I took a slightly awkward route, which was proving to be pretty fun for the first 40-feet or so, till I got to a point where I had to navigate a traverse that earlier in the day I bailed on because it was making me feel very vulnerable to the heights. Eli continued to urge me on while belaying for me - and the confidence he showed in my ability (which I didn't feel was warranted by my previous attempts to ascend the wall) pushed me right through the traverse! This put me on a very large comfy ledge about 75% up the climb, where I took a minute, turned around and sat on a rock outcrop and took in the view. A peaceful calm washed over my body - and for the first time in weeks I felt simple and at peace. At that moment, a hawk flew past very majestically. It's just one of those moments that will always stay with me.
It didn't matter that this was the "easy" climb, or that I was struggling and needed prodding to get to this point - I was just present in the place I found myself - connected to the reality of it in a way I'd missed lately. I was happy.
Eli urged me to continue the climb, and to my surprise I finished it strong and came back down. I proceeded to climb pretty well the rest of the day - with my mind and body much more co-ordinated and elated. The rest of the weekend was awesome, and I got home feeling much more at peace with things.
I'm pretty grateful I've got friends who push me to always get better - and the ability to kick my own ass when I truly need it.
- Chris
It had certainly been a strange couple of weeks leading up to this past weekend. Something was most certainly off - and I found myself becoming more and more disconnected, regardless of what I tried to do to "jump start" myself. While I was certainly being very productive, I was finding myself being very insular and at times short with people. I get like that sometimes, but never really for a protracted period of time.
Anyway, I took this "funk" (for lack of a better term) with me on a road trip to Rhode Island - to visit with friends. After a brutal 5 1/2 hour bus ride to New London, CT (thanks to traffic on I-95, it wasn't Greyhound's fault) - I met up with Gabe, who had a softball game. I started watching the game, and then some friends met up with me to take me to go play some beach volleyball - which was completely unexpected. I hadn't played since goofing around in college, but it's one of those sports I seem to play pretty well. I think it's got a lot to do with my willingness to flail myself at any ball within a 100 foot radius without any permanent damage.
It was perfect weather that night, and we had a blast. Gabe and I went back to play plenty of board games - and went to bed knowing we were going to go climbing @ Lantern Hill the next morning! We met up with Eli early in the morning, and you couldn't have asked for better weather to climb - maybe 80 degrees, a slight breeze, not a cloud in the sky...yet I was still feeling...off.
The view from the top of Lantern Hill is amazing, albeit there's a few man-made eyesores. The hawks and vultures soaring right around you makes up for it though. We setup top ropes and began climbing. For all the reasons mentioned earlier, I just kept freezing on the wall. I found myself coming up with so many lame excuses for barely being able to stay on the wall - simply put, I felt weak.
Typical of my feelings then: The heights are causing me to feel sick to my stomach, my fingers scream in agony just placing them on rocks, I'm not comfortable with the ropes, my shoes aren't sticking very well, my shoulder's bothering me, I don't want to look like a schmuck, I climbed this rock better in sneakers 3 months ago!
I was so down on myself then, but I kept trying to hack away at the frustration and just fucking enjoy myself. The company was good enough (another group joined up with us), and then I just got on the easy wall - and was urged on by Gabe and Eli to get to the top of the wall come hell of high water. I got setup at the bottom of the wall and just said to myself "Stop feeling fucking sorry for yourself and get your ass up that wall"
So I started to climb. I took a slightly awkward route, which was proving to be pretty fun for the first 40-feet or so, till I got to a point where I had to navigate a traverse that earlier in the day I bailed on because it was making me feel very vulnerable to the heights. Eli continued to urge me on while belaying for me - and the confidence he showed in my ability (which I didn't feel was warranted by my previous attempts to ascend the wall) pushed me right through the traverse! This put me on a very large comfy ledge about 75% up the climb, where I took a minute, turned around and sat on a rock outcrop and took in the view. A peaceful calm washed over my body - and for the first time in weeks I felt simple and at peace. At that moment, a hawk flew past very majestically. It's just one of those moments that will always stay with me.
It didn't matter that this was the "easy" climb, or that I was struggling and needed prodding to get to this point - I was just present in the place I found myself - connected to the reality of it in a way I'd missed lately. I was happy.
Eli urged me to continue the climb, and to my surprise I finished it strong and came back down. I proceeded to climb pretty well the rest of the day - with my mind and body much more co-ordinated and elated. The rest of the weekend was awesome, and I got home feeling much more at peace with things.
I'm pretty grateful I've got friends who push me to always get better - and the ability to kick my own ass when I truly need it.
- Chris
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Caviar into Steroids
If you've never played the hit new game Telestrations, you're doing yourself a disservice. I picked up in anticipation of Game Night @ Gabe & Auren's place in Rhode Island this past weekend. It ended up being played pretty much throughout the day, and near the end of the night it started getting particularly hilarious.
For those who've never played, the premise is everyone draws a card with 6 possible words, and a die roll decides which word everyone draws on their multi-paged whiteboard book. Then you pass the sketches to your left/right, and those players write a guess as to what the drawing depicts (not knowing the original word). Then players pass the word guess and have to sketch that. Then the books get passed, and another guess..etc until the book gets back to its original owner.
We decided to play one last game at the end of the night, and Lisa draw the word "Caviar". Without further ado, I present a perfectly fine sketch to represent Caviar:
Lisa passed her book to Eli, who started chuckling - writes a word - and then passes the book to Gabe, trying not to burst out in laughter. His guess: Menopause
Gabe gets the book, and starts bursting out in laughter and was joined by Eli to the point where Eli fell off the couch in tears...and nobody really knew wise. So Gabe did his best to convey the word:
I am the lucky soul to get this hilarious sketch, and now I start laughing to the point of tears, and I end up with barely enough sand left in the timer to make a guess. While I think I could have come up with a much better guess, I was laughing so hard and in a rush, so my guess was Female Hormone Suppressant
Alexandra gets the book, laughter naturally ensues and she sketches the following:
Alex passed the book to Nate (laughter of course ensues), who guesses Testosterone, and chuckles profusely as he hands the book to his wife Beth. Beth does her best to contain herself as she sketches this gem:
Yes, that is an injection directly into a penis...
Mike then gets the book, practically wets himself with laughter and makes the final guess: Steroids
Upon Lisa's revealing of the book, we were all in stiches as everyone was in on the whole joke. The quote of the night came from Gabe to Eli: "You made me draw menopause!!!"
What a fun time, and the closing game was absolutely epic.
- Chris
For those who've never played, the premise is everyone draws a card with 6 possible words, and a die roll decides which word everyone draws on their multi-paged whiteboard book. Then you pass the sketches to your left/right, and those players write a guess as to what the drawing depicts (not knowing the original word). Then players pass the word guess and have to sketch that. Then the books get passed, and another guess..etc until the book gets back to its original owner.
We decided to play one last game at the end of the night, and Lisa draw the word "Caviar". Without further ado, I present a perfectly fine sketch to represent Caviar:
Lisa passed her book to Eli, who started chuckling - writes a word - and then passes the book to Gabe, trying not to burst out in laughter. His guess: Menopause
Gabe gets the book, and starts bursting out in laughter and was joined by Eli to the point where Eli fell off the couch in tears...and nobody really knew wise. So Gabe did his best to convey the word:
I am the lucky soul to get this hilarious sketch, and now I start laughing to the point of tears, and I end up with barely enough sand left in the timer to make a guess. While I think I could have come up with a much better guess, I was laughing so hard and in a rush, so my guess was Female Hormone Suppressant
Alexandra gets the book, laughter naturally ensues and she sketches the following:
Alex passed the book to Nate (laughter of course ensues), who guesses Testosterone, and chuckles profusely as he hands the book to his wife Beth. Beth does her best to contain herself as she sketches this gem:
Yes, that is an injection directly into a penis...
Mike then gets the book, practically wets himself with laughter and makes the final guess: Steroids
Upon Lisa's revealing of the book, we were all in stiches as everyone was in on the whole joke. The quote of the night came from Gabe to Eli: "You made me draw menopause!!!"
What a fun time, and the closing game was absolutely epic.
- Chris
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
