The rules are simple. No Facebook games.

I’ve only been playing three anyway, but they are all three of the click and hope variety. They are significantly less click happy than, say, Mafia Wars, and they do involve some sorts of decision making, but really, it’s [...]]]> I’m on my third day of a Facebook game related detox.

The rules are simple. No Facebook games.

I’ve only been playing three anyway, but they are all three of the click and hope variety. They are significantly less click happy than, say, Mafia Wars, and they do involve some sorts of decision making, but really, it’s just clicking and hoping.

What kind of game play is that anyway?

I got to a point in all three where I had accomplished what I wanted. (As if it can really be called an accomplishment… It’s just an accumulation of clicks over time.) And so I felt like I could let go.

The first day was a breeze, the second a little challenging, but today is not going so great. I apparently need those little dopamine squirts that come when I click my little rat brain buttons. I’ve also never had Facebook game-related nightmares until last night (although I think that might have been significantly influenced by a pair of Doctor Who episodes that I watched earlier in the evening with a similar character.)

In other news, I found a downloadable version of Race for the Galaxy, a board game I have recently been playing in real life. I’m using it to try to improve my understanding of how the game works, and it involves very complex decision making, so that’s good, right? I don’t get as much dopamine but I am improving actual skills (for example, evaluating trade offs, developing and deploying strategy, attempting to learn what

Also, my kitchen is approaching a clean state.

Amazing what a little less MouseHunt can do for you.

Anyone else have any experience with electronic detox? Do you know how long I have until the shakes start in?

Last week, I did the final workout of week 6. I repeated several weeks. I haven’t tried the final test yet. I don’t think I’m really ready for 100 pushups, I think I could use one more week. [...]]]> I thought I should probably post a really quick update on my 100 pushups challenge status.

Last week, I did the final workout of week 6. I repeated several weeks. I haven’t tried the final test yet. I don’t think I’m really ready for 100 pushups, I think I could use one more week. So far this week hasn’t been a pushups kind of week for me. This daylight savings time change is supposed to be the easy one, but I’ve been struggling all week to adjust.

So there you have it. I didn’t quite make my goal, timing wise. But that’s ok, because I consistently put the effort into the goal, I just didn’t gain strength as fast as the program suggested I might. Perfectly acceptable, because I can now do 45+ pushups at the end of a workout that includes more than 140 pushups. I couldn’t have said that 8 weeks ago.

I’ll keep you posted as to when I actually get to 100 pushups.

It turns out it’s only been around since 1996, but still, that’s 13 whole years when I could have been celebrating an obscure and arbitrary holiday, and I wasn’t.

It’s time to change that.

Here’s how I propose to do it:

Write Poetry.

Pretty simple actually, but here’s [...]]]>
April is National Poetry Month. I didn’t know. No idea!

It turns out it’s only been around since 1996, but still, that’s 13 whole years when I could have been celebrating an obscure and arbitrary holiday, and I wasn’t.

It’s time to change that.

Here’s how I propose to do it:

Write Poetry.

Pretty simple actually, but here’s what that means. I will write poetry during NPM, but I also want you to write poetry this month. After all, it’s not really a celebration if I’m the only one that shows up to the party. Know what I mean?

It’s April 13th already, so there’s still plenty of time, but remember, April is one of those tricky months with only 30 days in them. I invite you (if you are reading this, that means you’re invited) to write a poem, short or long, rhyming or not, iambic pentameter or free verse, and post it in the comments or post it on your blog. I’m also carrying around my fake Moleskine a lot lately, and if you want, you can write your poem in that, which I will scan and put up on my writing blog as bonus material. I’ll try to sum everything up here at the end of the month.

I’ve been writing and reading poetry for most of my life. Here are some things that I’ve learned about writing poetry:
1) Writing poetry is manly.
2) Writing poetry is fun.
3) Poetry doesn’t have to mean anything.
4) Poetry means so much more than just what you wrote down.
5) Poetry doesn’t have to be about serious subjects.
6) Poetry heals the soul.
7) Poetry doesn’t have to rhyme.
Poetry doesn’t have to be hard to write.
9) Poetry doesn’t have to be good.

There are exactly zero excuses for you not to write a poem this month. Zero! So do it. Invite others to do it. To get you started, here are all of the poems that I’ve written so far this year. I’m sure that I I’ll be adding a few more. Added bonus: I just dug up an old account I had on allpoetry.com. Here are some vintage 2006 poems.

So go! Write Poetry! Breathe air! Live!