• On Life and Love

    Lonely Games Are (Kinda) Less Fun

    I’ve resumed playing Galactic Civilizations II (GalCiv II), which I haven’t played since the olden days when the mornings were light and the afternoons long. Back in that long, long ago, I played on less-than-normal enemy intelligence and experimented with extending my reach through cultural influence and economic power. I read no manuals. I read no strategy guides. I micromanaged no economy. Why bother? The enemies were dumber than a box of rocks. Just play like it’s Civ 4, and be done. Returning to it, I (unsurprisingly) find myself wanting more challenge. I fired up an easy game and did a quick military conquest, my first. Not boring… exactly. But,…

  • On Life and Love

    A New Home for Children: A Tri-Stat dX One-Shot

    I had two hours to run a one-shot full of people who’ve never held dice outside of a Monopoly game. It started with the possibility of 7 players, but two had conflicts and one decided to just skip out. For some ungodly reason—when I thought I had 7 players—I picked Tri-Stat dX as the roleplaying system. I started a campaign in it a few years ago, and the flexibility of the system appealed for a high-powered fantasy game, like I was trying to do here. I wanted to play upon their interests in fashion, fame, and shiny things (and all the players were women), so I crafted a ladies-only party…

  • On Life and Love

    Showing Support: Where’s the Money?

    I find myself saying things like, “I support the alternative fuel (particularly electric) car movement. I’d love to test drive a Volt, or own a Prius. Some day, when they’re cheaper, I will.” (Or, in a variation: “No way would I pay $35k for a car, but I mos def support the move away from gasoline.”) But what’s the point of believing I support the direction of the industry (despite its flaws) if I’m not putting money into it to actually support it? It won’t go anywhere if people don’t spend money on the things. Fer skerious, though, there’s no way I’m spending $35k on a car. Not sure what…

  • On Life and Love

    Actually Kinda Clever

    Upon reading “The Biggest Stock Scams of All Time” (an ambitious title, perhaps), I decided to update my non-existent knowledge of these scams and failures—including the 2008 business failures. Holy crap. I know, I’m so late to the party. I get the housing market failure. As Elf says, it’s not rocket science. But when Enron occurred (2001), I was a junior in high school, immersed in the IB program, and only cared about grades and college, not about the business/financial world. Reading up on Enron and WorldCom/MCI (who blatantly put expenses on the books as income) was only the start. (MCI was taken down by a little team of auditors…

  • On Life and Love

    Wednesday Weekly Winkage

    Not, of course, limited to Wednesdays. Today just happens to be one. …Barely. I shall open with a video of Nayna, my belly dance instructor, from a couple of months ago: I’m somewhere off to the left, wishing I’d brought my own camera. This was after class, so I don’t feel bad about watching my instructor dance instead of dancing myself. Posie Gets Cozy: Well, Things Fell Apart – Sadness.”For six days, as we waited for the results of the DNA test, we loved her with our whole hearts…” 10 things the iPhone Siri will help you get instead of an abortion | The Raw Story – “Ask in New…