Eyes > Stomach

Breaking point. The summer heat creeps in my stress points and pushes out. I am all nerve and sweat, a twitching engine bundled in fits of hairy twine and sputtering pleas while sleek, electric futures buzz about my pistons, flashing their microchips and carbon fiber confidence in winks of flaunt and condescension. They marvel at the antique suffering, priceless and worn in all the right places.

Haiku of the Day:

Blink! Itching eyeballs

Tense, in focus, gazing out

Fogs are lifting soon

Today's Drawing (inspired by "Pointy" spoken by Emily Kuehn)

Today "365" Project (Make something with the first fruit you encounter)

"Pearson of Interest"

Home?

Returned to Boston. As uneventful as days go. Tried an Aperol Spritzer, finished a book, discovered bug bites and sunburns and ate one of the best berry muffins I've ever had. First week has been a tough one. Noticing a fatiguing of the will and I'm approaching an edge. I like it. Danger is good. Looking forward to sleep and a new day.

Haiku of the Day:

Wheezing lightning strikes

and sizzles the marrow of

my thick bone hallows

Today's Drawing (inspired by the word "Smelling" spoken by William Chodos)

Today's "365" Project (Make a piece with something you collect)
"Glasses' Graveyard Mosaic"

I had a falafel po' boy today...

Tired from a day of lazy activity, enjoying the sunshine and scant noise pollution. I saw three garter snakes, a harpist and an accordionist, and ate at a wonderful New Orleans sandwich shop, (yup, in Maine.) The rest of the day was cats, sleeping on the lawn, running past yard sales and a delicious summer meal with family. 

Oh and one of the most glorious liquor stores I have ever set foot in.

Haiku of the Day:

Paint lines wavering

where the ceiling meets the wall.

I notice these things.

Today's Drawing (inspired by the word "Hand" spoken by Susan Cook)

Today's "365" Project (Go on a ten-minute walk and make something with what you find at the end of it.)
"Dusk Invasion"

Travel Day - Maine!

Got on bus to Portland, ME today to visit my aunt, uncle and grandfather. It's always such a great thing to see the city peel away so quickly and be faced with wilderness again. It's hard to remember how much of it there is when you're in the heart of things.

Not going to say much today due to the lack of free time, but I must say I got a call from an old high school friend today that I wasn't expecting...and it was one of the best gifts I could have received.

Also halfway through The Four Agreements and I know it's an older, hippy-dippy sort of book, but I'm loving where it's putting me mentally. I guess that's the point.

Here's to new beginnings and a sense of peace and cleansing!

Haiku of the Day:

Northeastern sunset

Golds and purples over bay

Sailboats glide shining

Today's Drawing (inspired by the word "Rancid" spoken by Mindy Matz)

Today's 365 Project (Do something with JUST paper...no ripping, drawing etc.)
"Slef Protriat"

Ambition Hangover

Oh man...what did I DO last night?

It seems like I've committed myself to not only writing in this space everyday, but also to drawing a picture for the same space and doing a "365" project that involves a theme or something.

Good lord. I just looked at my Google docs. It's worse than we thought.

I'm going to go the the bathroom and rethink my life while you read this list of things I said I would do:

-Run 1,000 miles by the end of the year. I tried this last year...got about 600 miles in and then Boston happened.
-Do 10,000 push-ups and sit-ups over the course of the year. I did the math on this and it's really only 27ish a day. but that's EVERY day.
-Write 100,000 words. Not bad actually. 274 a day. Doable. I mean these words I'm typing are all words that count. So I can keep writing and every thought I have counts. Right? RIGHT? Oh dear god that was only 35 words.
- Read 25 books. Ugh. Reading.
-100 days of abstinence (not in a row, thank goodness) of each of these:
  ~Internet (junk sites)
  ~Meat
  ~Junk Food (anything processed)
  ~Gaming (you'd be surprised at how hard this is to kick for me. Minecraft is a glorious time-suck))
  ~Alcohol (also a potential problem)
  ~TV (Yeah...my {fiance's parents'} Netflix account is 80-90% traffic from me)
- 200 days of Duolingo*

Whew. That was brutal. We'll have to see how it goes. I'll post my standings every Wednesday to keep me honest. Maybe I'll fashion some sort of reward? I hope it's clear how little I've thought this out. The universe is a cold dark place.

Haiku of Day:

Stirring in the dark

I throw the sheets off and sweat

Summer has begun

Today's Drawing, inspired by the word "Garden" spoken by Erin O'Conner:

Today's "365" Project (Do something that deals with a favorite animal):
"Scurry, the wire-rimmed elephant mouse"

Still haven't decided on a theme, so I made sure to use post-its and the colors pink and blue to at least keep consistent.


PS - I never came back from the bathroom, did I?

*Duolingo is an amazing language learning program brought to you by the guy that invented capcha. It's pretty great, and I recommend it highly for anyone looking to get into learning a new language for free. Friend me if you get into it!

First Flinching Forward Fast For Foreseeable Futures

Welcome. It is my birthday. I have made a habit of starting extensive projects/self-improvement agendas on my birthday. This is part of that.

I will try to post everyday. I will probably fail. But, by-gummit, I will try. I also have a series of goals on top of this one, involving exercise, book-readin', language learning and generalized health objectives. I may write about them from time to time, or I may I write about other things. Quite often, I imagine, I will write complete beautiful gibberish. I do love writing gibberish.

Today I want to write about a game I founded with a good friend of mine while I was in Baltimore. I worked at a restaurant called The Owl Bar, where I functioned as a busser, barback and food runner. There I met a blazing young scientist by day, server by night whose name was also Mike. During a rather dull shift one Friday night, I was trying to find an activity that we could partake in that didn't involve too much time or require full attendance and Mike and I started playing, (better name pending) Characterischtick. 

THE RULES:

To play Characterischtick, all you need is a pen and a piece of paper and at least two people.

To start, number the paper from one to 20, leaving space at the top. Like this:

________________________________________________________
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6. 
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.

 We found that twenty was just the right number, but it can easily be played with more or less, depending on how complex you want your character to get. After your basic set-up, one player starts by writing a trait or aspect of an imagined character. This can vary from simple, (e.g. "Parisian") to complex (e.g. "Got to third base with Chelsea Clinton") the only rule after the first trait is written is that no trait can be repeated or contradict an earlier trait. Players are encouraged to create a person that is fully realized, while still conforming to line restrictions. 

Once all the traits have been written, the final task is to name your character, which is also done in turns for each word in the name. For example, player 1 writes "Barry," player 2 writes "Harris." At this point the name can be complete, or player 1 can chose to write "Jr." or assume Harris is a middle name and give a new last name. It's pretty open.

The game is the most fun when you can find ways to incorporate past postings into new aspects of traits. I've found that playing with more than 4 people can get a bit chaotic and you feel like you have less agency over the character, but I can bet it can be done in a way that gets everyone on board.

After a few rounds try to incorporate rules for each round. Some examples:
- Avoid gendering the character until the naming stage...or even keep it a mystery then!
- Try to do a whole round with only using single word traits
- "Never have I ever rules" - each player takes turns putting down a trait that is a true about themselves to create a composite character. Try to pick out traits that are unusual or unknown!
- Work on having characters in the same town/place and have their traits reflect that.
- Make a superhero team (Start with one character who has at least one trait that could be considered a power, and then have the other characters made based off of that one!)
- Create a family. This can be immediate, or can span the course of a dynasty.

What made this such a great game for the work environment is that you can take turns without any other players present, and you have the freedom to take as long as you want to come up with your trait!

Here's an example game that I played with my co-worker just yesterday:

Adelina Rochleau_____________________________________
1. Has never been past the third story of any building
2. Dromophobic
3. Bastard child of a magician and his assistant
4. Hobby - Taxidermy
5. French
6. Left-Handed
7. Only stuffs what she has personally killed
8. Vegetarian
9. Son was a Nebraskan State Senator in late 90's
10. Knows all the words to every Rogers and Hammerstein musical
11. Secretary of the Septuagenarian Synchronized Swimming Association
12. Has IBS
13. Named her children after famous hockey players
14. Is an Empath
15. but only after about 3 drinks
16. and on Tuesdays when its the last of the month
17. Owns a small fortune in extinct bird feathers
18. Crochets doilies for presents
19. Never stopped loving her first boyfriend
20. Plans on skydiving next Saturday

Notes on this game: 
- Keeping in mind that the name was entered last, notice how it wasn't until line 7 that the character was gendered, and that it was an active choice. Also notice how her having a son that was a senator in the 90's limits her age.
- There's almost a conversation in lines 14-16. This can happen as long as it informs the previous entry. NEVER DENY ANYONE'S TRAIT! If someone makes the character a robot, or very sick, or a Nazi, you must accept it. Try to avoid having a specific agenda...if you want to make your very own person, then just play by yourself. (Don't be that guy.)
- I also like how this character begins with a limitation and ends with it being overcome in a way. I'd say you can do this with a final entry, but don't force it...sometimes there is no resolution.

Anywho, that's Characterischtick, (the name's growing on me.) I'm not really sure how this blogger program works yet, but if you do try out the "game", please comment about it below or contact me via other messaging apparatuses.

Here's to the next 365 days!!

Haiku of the Day:

27 years

old, I find myself wanting

good beer and nachos

Today's Drawing (inspired by the word Shoe by Katie Lehigh):

Today's "365" Project (Make something that fits in your hand):

"Bloodshed and Release at the Hawthorne Hotel"

I have to come up with a potential theme for the project. The options I have right now are:
-Post-its: Use at least one post-it in every project
-His and Hers: Involve Pink and blue/a boy and a girl in every project
-Marry, Do, Kill: Include a murder, marriage and/or sexytime in every project. 

Tell me what you think!