He is officially my favorite Twins player these days. He plays the kind of game that connects with me, the kind I wanted to emulate growing up. A true utility player with a great intuition at the plate, he plays smart, and quietly does his job correctly.
A New Chapter Among Friends
My best man got married (kind of secretly) the other month, and another groomsman of mine just got married last night. With my wedding coming up in a few months, we’ve entered a new chapter in our friend group. While in some sense, getting married doesn’t change much when we’ve all been with our partners for eight or more years, it is a significant step in life.
I’m excited for my friends, and for myself, as we all support each other with our changes in life. I’m incredibly fortunate to have an excellent group of people around me, and going to a lovely wedding like the one last night helps me remember that.
Baseball Virus
I joined a city softball league with some people in Erin’s program (along with some free agent strangers) this past month. It’s been fun getting out and competing again, playing a version of the game that I love. However, it’s caused a problem. After years of not playing baseball (or softball) at all, I fooled myself into thinking I’d “replaced” it with other athletic activities. I assumed the personal challenge of disc golf, for example, would fill the gap left when I stopped playing baseball after high school.
I was incredibly wrong.
Continue reading “Baseball Virus”Planning Leisure
It turns out that juggling leisure time can be as complicated as juggling projects. Deciding both how much time to spend, and what to spend it on, has been difficult for me this year. There’s a long list of shows I’d like to take the time to watch, yet any given moment it doesn’t feel “worthwhile” in some way.
Part of it is a value judgement, similar to my approach to reading old or new books, fiction or nonfiction. I need to work on striking a balance, while acknowledging that I won’t keep up with everything. If leisure is work, then it’s not leisure. While that’s an obvious statement once spoken, I have a hard time fully internalizing its truth. I want to keep working at arranging my life so that I make good use of my time, where “good” is defined by how I feel about time spent.
One improvement is the creation of a shared watchlist with Erin. We have a better sense of what we want to watch when we decide to make the time. Perhaps it would also be beneficial to make these “events”, something that we plan out ahead of time and commit to in the same way we’d go to the theater. It’s something to keep toying with.
Last Question Update
Two months ago I revisited The Last Question, a basic RPG I wrote at the start of the pandemic. A group of friends has agreed to start an actual campaign with me later this year — we’ve had trouble finding a good time to get started — so I decided to retool the game itself. I wasn’t happy with the initial set of mechanics; it didn’t seem to mesh with the intent of the game.
After some research, I settled on the Motif system, which focuses on asking questions. A natural fit. I wrote a gameplay guide in Affinity Publisher1I learned InDesign at work, but am certainly not in a position to subscribe to the Adobe Suite, so Publisher was a great option. that I’m pretty proud of, and will provide below.
I’m excited to play this game with some friends. It’s a creative outlet just for us. There’s no spinning this into an actual-play podcast. There is a lot to be said for having fun in a way that isn’t performative for someone else.
- 1I learned InDesign at work, but am certainly not in a position to subscribe to the Adobe Suite, so Publisher was a great option.
Peanut Butter Jelly Time
I finished Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut last week. It can be modestly described as post-apocalyptic. In a scene set in a run-down Manhattan, there’s mention of making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I was curious when this modern staple became exactly that.
I left it at a quick dive into the Wikipedia article, and figured it would be good to report here. It seems the first reasonable description of something adjacent to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich comes from a 1901 issue of the Boston Cooking School Magazine. Twenty years later, when sliced bread came out and peanut butter became more of an economical staple, it became something kids could make themselves. By the second World War, both peanut butter and jelly have been on US military ration lists.
This was fascinating. It’s not as recent as I would have guessed.
A Project Doomed to Fail
I’ve dabbled with various programming projects over the years. Building a tool to add MP3 chapters to podcast episodes, creating a website using Python, Advent of Code, and creating video games. The list goes on. Nearly all of them were left incomplete.1I’d say the MP3 tool is the only one that could be considered complete, but even then I’m pretty unhappy with it. In no way could it be considered elegant, or even particularly usable.
So, as I toy with the idea of yet another programming project, I’m faced with the reality that it is unlikely to succeed.
Continue reading “A Project Doomed to Fail”- 1I’d say the MP3 tool is the only one that could be considered complete, but even then I’m pretty unhappy with it. In no way could it be considered elegant, or even particularly usable.
The Spirit of Competition
Competition is a slippery idea. In both professional and casual interactions, people often walk a fine line when showing a desire to compete. It can be fun and humorous to have a friendly intensity, but there’s always a tipping point where it becomes uncomfortable for those involved. Competition is one of the most natural things in the world, but needing to play out the act of competition in society muddies the waters.
Continue reading “The Spirit of Competition”