Creativity Meme

From the altfriday5:

1. What creative things are you doing?
Right now, most of my creative energy has been going into a new game design on urban counterinsurgency called "Virtualia". See following post.

2. What motivates or enables you to get them done?
Sometimes, it's time. I had to get the game ready for the symposium, that was a definite deadline. Other times, I don't have the time pressure, and I have found these things don't come along very well if you try to force them. Every idea has its time.

3. What creative things do you want to be doing, but aren't?
Visual art - I haven't done any visual stuff in a long time. I'd like to do some artist trading cards again, or use some of that printmaking stuff I have sitting in the garage.

Casting - if it ever warms up and stops raining I want to get out and melt some metal! I promised Nadine I would make her a Buddha, and haven't been able to work on that.

Writing - I have two games being published in October and November of 2009, and I have to write 4-5,000 word lead articles on their subjects (Spanish Civil War and Sino-Japanese War) by the end of the year.

Music - I wanna do improv noise and things with shadesofwinter, but we never seem to get it together to do that.

Game design - I've got lots of ideas for new things but no time to make them jell.

4. What stops you from doing them?
Time. Never enough, when I'm working full time. Weekend time is at a premium.

Space. Got lots of stuff, but little space in which to manipulate it.

Life. Things like cooking and cleaning and such.

Work. Eats into time available of course, and makes me tired.

Other people. Time spent dealing with other humans = less time doing creative stuff. But if I didn't do the first, I wouldn't do much of the second either.

Moods. Sometimes I feel so dull and uncreative/unmotivated, especially in the winter. Sometimes I feel that I am wasting my time making trivial stupid things.

5. Are you distressed at the thought of the things you aren't doing? Why or why not? If yes, how do you deal with this distress?
Well, I do get annoyed about it, but I try to feel good that at least I have a choice about how to spend my spare time, or that I even have spare time in the first place! If I go long periods without being able to make or do anything it bothers me more.

Go East, Middle-aged Man

I will be gone all next week, not that you'd notice.

On Sunday I am leaving for the Military Operations Research Society (MORS) annual symposium in New London, CT to show a game design I've been working on to some Pentagon folks who could be interested, and to take part in at least some of the symposium (I can't take part in everything, as it is a classified event and requires US citizenship. This is a sore point with many members and they may be changing the rules about it soon. I wrote a letter to the editor of their magazine an' everything.)

The game is called "Virtualia" (an unfortunate choice as it turns out, as it appears there is a series of cartoon computer porn DVDs featuring a character of this name). I got the idea for it at the MORS meeting in December (http://ltmurnau.livejournal.com/169938.html). Just to give it a framework, it's a thinly fictionalized treatment of what might come to pass in Venezuela, though the parameters of the game could be adjusted to reflect almost any situation. I've been working on it for the last two months or more and it is one of the most ambitious designs I've done yet. It's intricate but it came together well, and now it's time to stick a fork in it, it's done!

This could be just a waste of my time, hopefully not as there is a MORS meeting on Irregular Warfare in Tampa FL in February 2009 at which presenting this design would be very appropriate - that is, if there is any interest advanced in it at all. I'd like to show a digitized version there, unfortunately that's probably going to involve learning Visual Basic. I got one of those teach-yourself books, but I also want to look at some software that has been developed just for playing wargames over the Internet: there is one called VASSAL that seems good. Been no time to check it out though.

Anyway, I am leaving early Sunday morning, arriving in New York City late the same day. I will be staying with my friend Bill in Manhattan - we lived in the same town in Japan in 1991 (17 years ago!) and since then we've stayed in touch, though that's mostly been limited to a one-hour visit each year at Burning Man.

[By the way, I should mention that I am not going to BM this year. Time to take a year off I think. Also, if I were to put Akito on a flight on 22 August, the date he would have to leave for us to get down to Nevada, it would cost $4,500 !!! Instead, I will have a few extra days with him, he will leave in the middle of the week at a more reasonable price ($1,750, still a lot more than last year, travel agent told me Air Canada slapped a $450 "fuel surcharge" on all their transoceanic flights), and hopefully my summer will not be as stressed. I did sell my tickets, in case you were wondering.]

Early Monday morning I will take the Amtrak train to Mystic, Connecticut, and check into the hotel in time to make it for the afternoon on tutorial sessions. That is, provided they let me past the gate at the US Coast Guard Academy, which is where the symposium is being held. That night my editor/gamer/designer friend Joe is showing up, and during the time of the symposium proper (Tuesday and half Wednesday) we will look around Mystic, New London and Groton (I want to see the submarine museum up there, with the restored USS Nautilus on display so folks can walk around inside an early nuclear submarine). Tuesday and Wednesday night there are mixers and dinners, so I can drop cards around and meet people. Thursday there is a special unclassified session on wargaming, to establish a "community of practice" I hope Joe and I can contribute to. Friday we have some more discussions, and I will go back midday. I leave New York Saturday afternoon and will get home late that night.

All other things being equal, of course. I'm definitely packing a toothbrush and a change of clothes in my carry-on, in case anything gets lost, and extra Cliff Bars in anticipation of the inevitable delays! I have to pack food anyway, since cheapo Air Canada won't feed you anymore - no way am I paying $6 for a dried-out sandwich. Not looking forward to the stupid security either - every time I fly, I promise myself I will never do it again.

I've never been to New York City, or anywhere on the Eastern seaboard south of Halifax. I won't be spending much time in the city itself, but I have no idea what to do there besides visit a game store I've heard a lot about. It feels like going to Ali Baba's cave and coming out with a spice rack.

Anyway, here's hoping there will be some follow-on and benefit out of this!

Garden Update

Everything in my garden has sprouted quite nicely!

The potatoes aren't out yet, but the broccoli sprouted first, followed by the zucchini and corn (shoots are now 2 inches tall). Then the peas and cucumbers, sunflowers and watermelon. Carrots and spinach last. I scattered handfuls of poppy seed and parsley around between the rows and they are sprouting nicely too.

I sowed a lot of seed because I wanted to get rid of the leftover seeds from the last 2-3 plantings, mixed them in with this year's seed. I will thin the plants week after next when I get back. Just hope they stay watered, as I've asked!

Meanwhile, the deer have to cooperate by staying the hell out. I put up the deer fence, it's about four feet high which may or may not stop them but I didn't have any poles that were taller. Come to think of it, I haven't seen any deer around the neighbourhood lately....