Taven Moore's Blog, page 29

[Perry] Christmas

A simple title, I know.

But it’s a simple topic.

Today is Christmas. All religious connotations aside, I think…that I don’t much like what Christmas has become, now that I’ve grown older.

When I was younger, man, Christmas was something magical and wondrous, you know? The little sparkling lights went up all around the house. We had a Christmas tree…true, it was that plastic-y one that you get from the store and shove into storage for most of the year, but when Christmas time came around, that sucker did its duty.

Lights all around the tree as well, along with all of the sparkly, shiny decorations that a kid could hope for. Not to mention, there were candy canes of various types hung all around the tree that an enterprising child could filch whenever he felt like some sweets.

And presents? Hell yeah there were presents. All wrapped up in glittering paper with a bow on top, no less. A big, pile of them with little tags and cards attached to em.

Family would come over for the day and pile their own presents under the tree and the unwrapping and the gift giving was this huge, family affair, full of yelling and laughing and…just…fucking Christmas magic, you know?

My family…they did a lot to make sure that us kids didn’t go clueless on the western Christmas traditions. There were gingerbread houses (though we only made them to have the cookie) and eggnog (even though nobody really liked it), and just…the whole nine yards.

Christmas has become something a little different for me, now that I’m grown.

It still tends to be a big family get together, for sure…but it’s less magical. Less magical and more practical.

The kids have taken over food duties, to give the moms and adults a break. We’re grown now…we all bring a dish or two in a potluck fashion. There’s a lot more alcohol involved, whether its beer, wine, or other. There’s less in the way of gifts being exchanged and more…just a big old family dinner round a huge table heaped with food.

We don’t really do the tree anymore. Don’t do much in the way of decorations and sparkling lights. There’s no big pile of gifts under the tree and more…the kids of the family (“kids” in this case being grown ass men and women in the mid-20′s to early 30′s range) have sort of taken on the responsibility of taking care of the gift exchange in smaller, less showy ways.

Christmas is still good and it’s still a big family time but…it’s kind of lost its magic. It’s still Christmas, but it just isn’t what it used to be.

One way to put it is that it’s become more grounded.

Less magical, more practical.

Sadness abounds for the little kid that still lives somewhere in the corner of my heart but…for the grown me? Maybe it’s for the best.

Maybe it’s like when I revisit the books I enjoyed so much as a kid now that I’m older and find myself almost invariably disappointed in them.

Maybe if I had that childhood Christmas again now, I would think it largely a cheap and tawdry affair, full of pageantry and show but less heart.

Maybe Christmas has changed as I’ve grown…

…and maybe?

Maybe that’s not a bad thing at all…

Related posts:

Christmas Music
Holiday Traditions
[Perry] I Met Her Last Christmas

Pokemon X Y Nuzlocke Challenge

So, I finally beat Pokemon X a while back and although there are a lot of things to do post-game, I read about something called a Nuzlocke Run and I’m incredibly intrigued.

Enough so that I’m going to start a new game (which deletes the old one, I’m told) and start afresh in something called the Nuzlocke Challenge.

The idea behind the Nuzlocke Challenge is to revisit old games and make them FRESH again. Pokemon is not a difficult game (though one could heavily argue that the UI is bad enough that it counts as infuriating enough) so only self-imposed rules turn the game into something that matters.

Most of this came up from Perry talking about his XCOM game, where if his characters died, they died forever, and how much that made him play differently and grieve when a pixel soldier named after a friend would die.

The Nuzlocke challenge is like that, with a few extra caveats (some of which I made up while chatting with Perry).

January 1st, I’m going to begin my Nuzlocke Run. The rules are as follows:

A fainted pokemon is “dead”. No takebacksies. Doesn’t matter if they’ve been with you since the very first forest and now they’re level 80. Dead. You may either release them or put them in a special memory box on the computer, but you can’t use them any more.

You have the opportunity to capture ONLY the first pokemon you encounter in a zone. If it faints or runs away, you have lost your chance. The first one you see is the only one that you can catch. This is done deliberately, to force you to use pokemon you might otherwise ignore. Really sick of Bunnelby? Too bad, he’s the only pokemon you’re getting from this zone. Do not pass go, do not sob quietly after that elusive Pikachu hiding in the bushes.

You must nickname every pokemon you capture.

You may use any pokemon gifted to you by an NPC, as well as any legendaries that cross your path. You can NOT, however, trade with friends.

WONDERTRADE RULE. Wondertrading is new in Pokemon XY, and I like the concept but don’t want to overdo it. Thus, my personal rule is that IMMEDIATELY after defeating a gym and getting a new badge, you may wondertrade ONE pokemon (captured using the Nuzlocke rules). Wondertrade is as close to gambling as this game gets. Most of the time, you get a useless pokemon, but every once in a while you catch someone breeding powerful pokemon and you get something INCREDIBLE. This gives you 8 lottery tickets during this game (nine if you count the final four, which I think is fair). If you choose not to wondertrade after getting a badge, you lose the chance to buy that lottery ticket forever.

If you black out, all pokemon in your party are “dead” but you may continue the game if you have any surviving pokemon in your box. (If you blacked out as a result of a sky battle, only the flying pokemon in your team are “dead”)

You may use both potions/item and Poke centers.

You may not reload a save game to try and rescue a now-dead pokemon.

You are allowed to run from battles.

No using the daycare to level up pokemon, but you CAN use the Exp Share.

Related posts:

Morality and Pokemon
Missing Pokemon? Meet Mino Monsters!
[Perry] The Bad Writing Challenge

[Steven] Videorama – Music Series Part 1 – Stay Crunchy

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[Steven] Videorama – Ron Burgundy in Boise
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[Steven] Videorama – Fanmade Trailers

Saucy Ink: Water Worlds

Perry: Posting on behalf of our dear Authoress.

I’m not in this one, but it’s still chock-full of saucy goodness. The theme this time was amorphous — Water. True to their subject material, the stories in this collection range from traditional fantasy (and a murder plot!), urban fantasy (with a lonely kelpie), through comedy (a fish in love!), dark horror (shadows in the water) … okay, you get the idea. (and no, I didn’t cherry-pick my favorites for that list.)

The book is priced at $2.49, but our Fearless Editor has also lowered the price on Volumes 1 and 2 to $0.99 and $1.49, respectively.

Also, he’s enrolled all three volumes in the Kindle Match program: if someone buys a print copy, the cost for the Kindle copies of Volumes 1, 2, and 3 is FREE, $0.99, and $0.99, respectively.

Can I get an exclamation point?

!!!! YEAH!

You can find it on Amazon for the Kindle here.

 

Related posts:

Changes In Choose
Choose Omnibus NOW AVAILABLE!
When Worlds Collide

[Perry] An Ode to Shovelling Snow

Okay, so I lied.

There totally isn’t going to be any odes being sung here today. But I will say that it is snowing a hell of a lot here in the Toronto area the past week or so and it shows no sign of letting up anytime soon.

But that’s alright.

You see, I want to admit to you guys that I love shoveling the driveway clear of snow.

I mean, yeah, it can totally be a pain in the ass at times. There’s nothing contradictory about admitting that, though. Family members can be huge pains in asses, but we still love em, right?

It’s the same way with this.

Thing is…I get a sense of community when it comes to clearing the driveway.

I don’t talk much with my neighbors. Don’t go over to chat them up or throw presents at them during the holidays (save for the old chinese couple who live next door) so by and large, though I live pretty close to neighbours all around me, we rarely interact save for a wave hello now and again.

But when it’s winter?

The synchronicity amuses me.

See, when the snow finally lets up a bit after a heavy fall, or when I feel like it’s about time I get out there to clear what’s there to make the morning shoveling easier on the back, other people tend to be out there too.

We have the same thoughts. If the snowfall stops, it’s time to clear what’s there before it has time to settle. Or if there’s a break in the snowfall with more to come, it’s generally time to clear it out so that you don’t make your job harder later on.

But when I have that thought? So does everyone else.

So when I get out there and start shoveling, I can hear the echoing scratching and scraping of other shovels on other driveways. I can look up and down the street and always see a handful of people doing the same thing.

There’s a weird sense of community when no one’s talking, but everyone’s doing the same activity, you know? You can see it pretty clearly here and there too.

There are moments when I’d stand up straight to stretch my aching back and meet the eyes of someone across the street or next to me who’s doing the same thing. There’s a brief little nod, maybe a roll of the eyes and we get back to work.

It’s nice. It’s a pleasant form of interaction for me, a guy who has a few introverted and antisocial tendencies.

Every now and then, I’ll think about…like, grabbing a bunch of disposable cups and an electric kettle. I could use an extension cord and set up a little hot chocolate/coffee station at the end of my driveway and offer free hot drinks as respite to my fellow, neighborly shovellers.

A couple things prevent anything like this from happening.

One, I honestly don’t think anyone would actually walk up to my little drink dispensing station, and then I’ll look like a lonely idiot, sitting there at a table with a sign offering free hot drinks and nobody availing themselves of my hospitality.

Two, I doubt people would be comfortable taking free hot drinks from a grown ass man. Maybe if I was still 7 years old, gap-toothed and goofy, I could get away with randomly strolling up to strange neighbors and offering them a free drink and look all cute…but now? Now I’d look a little creepy, I think.

“Would you like a hot drink?” *Evil grin*.

So…that’s just not happening.

Still, when I look out into the lovely fluffy flakes of snow falling, I think about doing something like that.

I have that at least…the thought of that.

And it makes me warm.

 

Related posts:

Snow!
Of Cars and Snow
[Perry] Not Everything Needs to Make Sense

Feminist Self-Criticism

I saw an image, and I knew I wanted to blog it. Then I found all the images, and knew they MUST be blogged.

Then I saw a blog post that so eloquently summed up what I wanted to say that I can do little more than just say :

CLICK THIS LINK

This link explains why I rarely talk about feminism.

This link explains why I rarely talk about reverse feminism, and how men are portrayed.

This link explains why I rarely talk about SO MANY HOT TOPICS.

Not just because I worry that someone will disagree, or maliciously try to back me into a corner or repaint my words with meanings I did not intend, but because the debate inside my OWN head is so rampant that I often end up with blog posts that chase their own tail in a useless, uncertain sort of way and I delete them.

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[Perry] Podcastle and Criticism
Negative Self-Talk
Time

[Steven] Videorama – Pillow Fight

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Art – Fox Cutout Style

Quick gift to “tip” someone on Flight Rising for nabbing discount scrolls for me. I decided to try something different with the shading. I liked it better before adding the weird dark blotches — overall, this may be something I try to incorporate aspects of into other works. Each part of the body was done in different shades of the white/gray color for the character, adding depth without real shading. I also skipped doing lineart for this one (partially because my inking pens are dead. More on the way, but this was my way of turning misfortune into practice).

Related posts:

Not Gonna
Art : Eddy Lurves Squirrels
Art: Dinosaur Book Plate

[Perry] Juggling to Avoid Guilt

This post isn’t exactly what the title might make you think…though that would be a fun image to contemplate, wouldn’t it?

Grab some random household objects and start juggling for a while anytime you feel guilty. It sounds like a plan to me. How about one or two of you go check that out and report back to the rest of us?

But no, that wasn’t exactly what I meant.

This post is about dealing with the guilt of not being productive.

I’m sure that a lot of us, especially those of us who pursue various creative activities, have felt this specific brand of guilt before.

It’s a low and sneaking sort of guilt. One that brings you down for the times when you’re feeling a little lazy or don’t feel like pushing against your boundaries and limits quite that hard today.

I feel it on a regular basis.

I consider myself a writer and therefore, I should be writing, right? I usually have a project that could use some work, whether it’s writing something new, editing a finished work, or finding some sort of writing activity to hone my skills to a razor sharp point.

Though some days? I’m just not feeling it.

I’ll get home from work and the LAST thing I want to do is rake my fingers over the coals of my keyboard. The LAST thing I want to do is rake over the dying embers of my inspiration and see if I can maybe find something within that still has some fire in its heart, something that can be salvaged.

Oftentimes, writing can feel a lot like work.

So what do I do?

I could take the night off. Argue and rationalize it all to myself that I totally deserve it and that everyone gets a break once in a while.

But the problem with that is that the break grows longer and longer. The longer I stay away from it, the less inclined I am to start again. The more I dwell on the hard work aspects of it instead of the fun and creative fire bits of it.

Next thing you know? Three months have passed and in literary terms, I’ve grown fat and dirty, slouched on the couch watching tv shows for days at a time in a daze.

This happened to me on a fairly regular basis.

I’d go through a period of frantic creativity…then slouch in the doldrums for a period of time that was almost but not quite too long.

I have found a personal cure for this cycle and I’m sharing it with you now in the hopes that maybe, it’ll help some of you too.

I still write these days…and I still occasionally feel the need to slouch on creative couch and brush off the hard work for a while, but I approach it differently now.

Now?

I procrastinate by pursuing a second creative hobby.

I’m slowly learning to play the guitar. And progress is…phenomenally slow. I actually despair of ever really learning to play with any kind of proficiency…but there’s a guitar in my room and I’ll be goddamned if I can’t at least play a couple songs from start to finish.

So I write until I feel the urge to slouch or take a break or just plain DON’T want to write anymore…and on the days I don’t write? I force myself to pick up the guitar for at least an hour and practice.

It’s one or the other.

I give myself the weekends off, but during the weekdays? It’s either spend at least an hour writing, or spend at least an hour playing guitar.

And maybe this doesn’t really help. Maybe the split focus is hurting both crafts instead of helping either…but you know what?

For me? It works.

Most weeks, I’ll alternate.

Some weeks, I’ll spend the entire week on one thing before getting tired of bashing my head into a wall with it and switching to the other.

The important thing for me is that it alleviates the intense GUILT that I used to be saddled with when I took a day off from writing.

Now, even if I’m not writing, I feel the satisfaction of at least improving myself in another way.

I get tired of writing and play the guitar.

I get tired of playing the guitar and start writing.

That’s my system and it works for me and every day, in one way or another, I improve and expand my skills.

This is what works for me…but what works for you? How do you avoid the guilt of not being productive?

Do you dance? Do you sing? Do you maybe work-out?

What do you juggle?

 

 

Related posts:

One Thing At A Time
Giving Myself Permission
The Art of Juggling Flaming Bears

Massage Yourself

Massages are awesome. I say this as someone who has a history of terrible tension headaches that were misdiagnosed for about four years before I took it upon myself to buy one massage a month, where I learned the ACTUAL source of my headache was actually somewhere in my back, and the fantastic masseuse taught me how to take care of myself and stop my headaches BEFORE they get so bad I can’t function.

Yes, massages are expensive. Yes, they are completely worth it. Even without NEEDING them any more, I sometimes still want them just for the peace they bring.

Moving on.

Foam roller

This guy? This guy is gonna be your new best friend.

18″ Foam Roller from Walmart (approx $11)

You can get a bigger one, or a harder one, or a nobbly one. Doesn’t matter. This cheapy from Walmart (which we named Sarah after our favorite masseuse) is more than enough for me.

Me? I position it in the small of my back and lay over it (then usually lay there for a few seconds while my body freaks out about the weird position) then slowly use my legs to roll my body down it, keeping as much of my weight ON the roller as possible. My back typically cracks and pops like crazy when I do this, and if I feel a twinge in my shoulder, I shift a little and really BORE down on the pain spot for a while.

Same with muscle aches from working out. If it hurts-like-muscle-pain, I probably need to keep doing it. (this is different from hurts-like-bone-crunching or hurts-like-skin-ow, which mean it’s being done wrong.)

I typically visit Sarah once every other day, or more often if I’m having headaches. She keeps them at bay, and can minimize the effects of a bad headache before it gets too awful.

Tennis ball

Yup, that thing you throw to a dog and it comes back all slobbery. (Um. Use one minus the slobber).

Two things you can do with this guy.

1) Apply bare foot, roll around, grunt and groan in both agony and ecstasy. Easy self-applied foot massage.

2) Find a wall (preferably somewhere nobody can see you, because you’re gonna look like Baloo). Trap the ball between said wall and your back. Roll around until the ball finds the hurts-like-muscle areas, then really bore into it and work the pain out.

Doorway

Find a doorway (open the door first, please).

Put your hands at about shoulder height on the door frame.

LEAN INTO THE DOOR. You’re using your hands to support yourself, and you should feel tension along your shoulders and back. Hold at a moderately-uncomfortable stage for a count of something, then release.

Do that three times.

You can shift the height of your hands to change which muscle groups you’re stretching.

Don’t hurt yourself, don’t FALL through the door, and try not to get seen. Or run into.

(not that … um. Not that I’ve ever done any of those things.)

This one’s not entirely massage-y? But it feels awfully nice.

Computer Chair

Slouch down in your computer chair so that the back of your neck/scalp comes in contact with the top (typically hard plastic) of your computer chair headrest-area-thing.

Roll your head around, applying pressure where needed. You’ll be surprised how much tension you’re carrying back there, and this can help when a headache is starting and you’re at work and nowhere near your foam roller.

Related posts:

Headache Go Poof
Combating Tension Headaches Through Posture and Stretching
My Office Chair is a Bouncy Ball