2021-05-08 No programming
Itās weird. Right now I donāt feel much like programming in my free time. None of my projects feel too exciting, nothing seems to need my immediate attention. I donāt feel like working on C code because itās hard. I donāt feel like working on Perl code for my wikis (Oddmuse and Phoebe) because there are no feature I feel I need right now. I donāt feel like writing random tables for my Hex Describe random generator, and I donāt feel like tinkering with the map generation algorithms of Text Mapper. My heartās not into drawing more elements for the Face Generator.
Today we tried to make a backup and pluged the laptop power supply (19V, 3.42A) into the external backup disk (12V, 2A), and now it no longer works. I took it out of the enclosure but I have no other enclosure, so I canāt tell if thereās a way to keep using it. I tried an old disc I still have with the enclosure and that didnāt work so perhaps itās just the enclosure thatās fried. The drive in question is a Samsung HD154UI disk (1.5TB), apparently from 2010. When I got new backup disks for my wife, I kept these for myself, as a replacement for the old pair of Western Digital MyBook Essential disks (1TB), apparently from 2009. Well, so what was I going to do? I dug up one of those old WD disks and used it instead. After a few hours the backup was made and both my external backup and my wifeās external backup are ready to be taken to the office, where weāll pick up the other set of external backups to bring back home. That felt like enough computering for the whole weekend, to be honest.
Iām not sure why Iām somewhat disinterested in programming right now. My hands need more rest, I think. Less typing. When I get up in the morning, I often feel like somebody stepped on them. It takes a minute or two for me to get full motor control back. Thatās not good. Itās also why Iām going to keep the update short.
If youāre looking for short updates, you can always check my fediverse account, @kensanata. I sometimes post pictures there, too. Thereās a feed, too.
We recently went out and bought a jÅ staff and now Iām teaching her the ā20 Jo Suburi by Morihiro Saito Senseiā (youāll find them on YouTube and elsewhere, Iām sure). And weāre also practicing the āTada Sensei jo exercisesā, a video by Video Aikikai Italia (La Spezia 2006). Iām trying hard to spend a few minutes doing them every day, believing that if you do something every day (or at least: very often!), no matter for how much time you spend on it, a habit starts forming.
This is how I learned to run. Start running, for ten minutes, a quarter of an hour, twenty minutes, half an hour, keep at it. Go even if the weather is a bit colder than youād like, or a bit windier than youād like, or a bit rainier than youād like. Just focus on āI have to run every opportunity I getā. Do it two or three times a week. And in a year, youāll get nervous when the sun is shining and youāre sitting inside, thinking: I was *born to run* ā I really need to get out, right now! And when you do, itās a glorious thing.
In that year, your body will have changed. There are now muscles, and tendons, and lung volume, and reserves, that you did not have when you started. Slowly, bit by bit, you rebuilt your body. It is now fit for what you are doing.
Sure, you probably wonāt be running a marathon. But when my wife started running, she could barely go those 10 minutes around the block, huffing and puffing, red in the face. And two years later she was going to races for 10km, and a year or two later, she was going for the half-marathon. It takes time, and dedication, no doubt. But it also starts in very small steps. Steps that are easy to do. Steps that help you build a habit. Steps that allow you to change yourself. Bit by bit.
Anyway, we also got our first COVID-19 shots yesterday (Moderna) and now our left shoulders hurt and we canāt run and we canāt lift the jÅ above our heads, and that already makes us sad. But I still take the staff every day and practice just a few swings, and Iām telling myself: it doesnāt matter if my training looks like Iām 80 years old. If Iām lucky I will be doing this when Iām 80 years old! You can do this, even if youāre 80 years old. And thus, you can do it now, even if you feel like your left arm is 80 years old.
And with that, I have to go. My hands hurt.
ā#RSI ā#Life ā#Backup ā#Aikido ā#Running ā#Corona
Comments
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Iām glad to hear you got your vaccines!
Iāve found that when I lose interest in a hobby or habit or anything else, it helps to do just a tiny bit every day, kind of like what you said about building a habit. It wonāt get you out of the funk any faster, but it lets you know exactly when you start regaining interest, and helps to keep momentum for when you return to it. (Of course, thatās easier said than done. My desktop, both physical and virtual, is cluttered with abandoned projects - but almost all the ones I have finished faced a period of disinterest and survived, so I guess the rule works when I manage to follow it.)
ā Malcolm 2021-05-09 07:56 UTC
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Interesting corollary, haha!
A related post: Momentum Has a Quality All of Its Own where noism argues for āweekly sessions that you run come hell or high waterā.
Momentum Has a Quality All of Its Own
ā Alex 2021-05-10 07:44 UTC
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How about a village generator? With *everyone* in it? Some inspiration:
- https://wanderinggamist.blogspot.com/2021/03/chocolate-hammers-boot-hill-campaign.html ā linking to this instead of the original post since the quote here starts with the relevant bit (the first two paragraphs)
- https://tabletopcuriositycabinet.blogspot.com/2021/05/project-social-making-community.html ā mostly that relationship table at the beginning
- https://dndborderlands.blogspot.com/2018/11/medieval-demographics-made-easy-pdf.html
https://wanderinggamist.blogspot.com/2021/03/chocolate-hammers-boot-hill-campaign.html
https://tabletopcuriositycabinet.blogspot.com/2021/05/project-social-making-community.html
https://dndborderlands.blogspot.com/2018/11/medieval-demographics-made-easy-pdf.html
ā Bjƶrn Buckwalter 2021-05-14 16:50 UTC
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Itās an interesting idea. At the same time, however, how would that ever be relevant at the table? I donāt think I hardly ever need four or five non-player characters per settlement. Itās a bit like a movie: sure, there are a ton of nameless faces in the background, but how many of them have a name the protagonists remember, a face the protagonists can recall? A handful, Iād wager. And Iām suspecting that this might be true for settlements as well.
To put it another way: if the players need a blacksmith, and it isnāt important, then there is one, nameless, and the interaction is quick, pay the money, get the goods, done. If there is dramatic tension to be had, then itās different, of course. Iād say this should be rare: does the blacksmith guild hate you? Are orcs the best blacksmiths there are? If so, perhaps the scene can be tense, and perhaps the blacksmith needs a name after all.
I fear my own generator doesnāt live up to these principles, unfortunately. If you check out the village generator, it generates:
- a number of people in case thereās mass combat
- some guard animals in case thereās a smaller fight
- some powerful people with levels (in the one Iām looking at: a level 10 warrior, a level 8 sorcerer, a level 2 wizard
- a dragon hunter who happens to be a level 8 warrior who wants the party to come slay a dragon with him
All non-player characters generated with levels have names, a portrait, treasure, sometimes with a mission.
The generator can also produce the leaders of the local branches of secret societies, the members of a travelling circus, war veterans, and so on.
Sometimes, I think itās a bit much. Itās so long! Then again, I often thing: every one of these villages could be a starting village. To be really good starting villages, however, there should be more missions. Iām not sure whether adding a named blacksmith, a named rope maker, a named baker, or any of the other jobs would help.
Perhaps I need to see or hear of an example of play where all the data actually made the game better. If I as the referee have to sit down and prep the town for half an hour with a highlighter, then Iād say Iād rather spend that half an hour adding the two or three people I know my players will look for by myself. At least that seems like a more enjoyable way to spend my time.
As an example, I offer the town table. The town generator generates two kinds of towns. The one Iām referring to contains the phrase āprotected by a large keepā. Itās modelled after the classic keep on the borderlands. I think looking at the ten towns it produces per page is an interesting exercise: what do you like about it, and why? Right now, I think I like the village generator above the best: itās limited in scope. What do you think?
ā Alex 2021-05-14 18:16 UTC