Before it all gets too stale

Monshu and I went to ArtChicago yesterday and spent $120,000. Hah! What I mean is that we would've spent that much if we had had that much to toss away on art. Being more frugal, we managed to whittle it down to between $20-30 thousand, depending on the exact price for the tagless Frank Tam and Cai Xiaoli lotus paintings. sigh It was one of the best shows ever, probably because several European galleries stayed away and their slots were taken by Asians, predominately Koreans. There were five galleries there from Seoul!

Saturday, we had the game. I was looking forward to being in the big front room as the storm struck and instead it was all warmth and sunlight, which made me long to be outside instead of in, rolling dice (badly; spookyfruit demanded I reroll two skill checks on account of getting 1's). But dinner out at Sabor Peruano with the gang was fun, even if I was a bit tired and there was a lot of talk about a movie I haven't even seen. bunj and I also started on my minotaur character for his PBE. On the bus, I got an inspiration for his personality and staging and then the storm hit and distracted me. Lightning over Graceland. WOO!

Friday was drinks and dinner with the long lost Rubeus and ottr4bear. Unfortunately, I hardly spoke with the latter since I was trying to distract the former, so he wouldn't annoy Monshu too much with his incessant chatter. (He and I have been compared to two Furbies when we get going.) I gave him a lot of ribbing about Rubeana, the world strangely like ours and yet wildly different that exists in his darling little head. ("Are there bears in India?" "Yes, there are. They have bear trainers there." "They have bears in Japan, don't they? How do you know the bear trainers in India don't import the bears from Japan?")

Bricoleur text

I'm not sure if anyone's attempted to write a definitive account of the "gamer mindset", but I think one of the defining characteristics would have to be an affection for bricolage. It seems I don't ever read or see anything interesting without thinking about how I could incorporate it into a game scenario.

Case in point: I'm currently reading Faulkner's If I forget thee, Jerusalem, which is a fascinating and masterful novel. Actually, it's two novellas in alternating chapters; they don't appear to interlock in any way, but I'm sure voluminous texts have been written on the way on story can be seen to comment on the other. For a long time, I found the one story, "The Wild Palms", the more fascinating. It's forced me to reconsider what it means to love another and to commit yourself to that love. The second, "Old Man", takes place during the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. The chief character (only referred to as "the tall convict") is sent to rescue a woman who gets washed downriver and then pigheadedly fights his way back.

The description is the second narrative is so vivid and overwhelming, I remember thinking to myself I can use this in something while reading it. Then I would catch myself and say, This is high literature! I can't believe I'm considering how to adapt it for use in an RPG. Besides, I couldn't really think of any way to fit it in.
( Then inspiration found me... )