Under no circumstances should you EVER have sex with the bartender unless:
1. You never plan to visit that bar again.
OR
2. You plan to marry that girl.
I stand by this statement.
All posts by Ro
First 15
If you like to play games, check out this web series.
Deep down, we all love games in some respect but it’s easy to get lost in the frills of lights, color, marketing! From sports jerseys to quarters in a pool table, money spent on fun is often intrinsically linked to a game in some way. And money is only the surface cost of the recreational aids we choose. There’s the time and energy devoted to pastimes once considered only for “kids”. When MMORPGs emerged, full-grown adults lost jobs due to the siren’s call of DING. Games make us feel rewarded and satisfied with ourselves. Tangible goals and achievements used to brighten the barren landscape of daily living.
Most of what I understand of gaming as an industry is tempered through the lens of Tycho Brahe of Penny Arcade, an unconventional think tank of creativity and marketing based in Redmond, WA. Tycho’s way of phrasing things generally blows my mind about once or twice a year, on average. He provides consistently incisive perspectives that target the human element of gaming and amplify it for effect. Tycho, joined by his heterosexual life partner Gabe, also regularly appears in a PATV series called First 15 which I directed you to earlier.
Video games come in so many different formats it’s hard to like them all and yet Penny Arcade manages to play all the fields. Marketers of the marketers, they provide an environment that filters through all the nonsense and reduces all gaming to the fundamental question – is is fun? From innocent, easy games developed to help children with learning disabilities communicate are weighed on the same scale as the most recent megacorporate flagship release part IV. It’s a refreshing oasis in a world that is literally dedicated to horsing around.
If you don’t believe me, just watch this one video. It’s the First 15 for Crypt of the Necrodancer – a game I would never even glance at before but now I’m interested in playing. During the video you get to watch Gabe face something he admittedly sucks at and by the end he’s at least given it a fair chance. It blows my mind to watch human nature unfold like that. At the end, Gabe an Tycho summarize their opinions thusly:
“I think that’s something from a nightmare realm” – Gabe
“I want to invest some time in playing co-op by myself.” -Tycho
And yet the game itself is not crucified for not pleasing everybody. And trust me, some of the games they play are put on a cross and left to die – justly.
Why I Don’t Teach Iyengar Yoga
In about 3 hours I’m going to teach a small group of friends some yoga. It’s part of a resolution I made around this time last year. I never expected it to take this long. Continue reading Why I Don’t Teach Iyengar Yoga
LattIce
I have a vision.
An art project involving ice.
Using special pans made by me.
Filled and left in the freezer.
An indeterminate amount of time later, turn out the pan onto a solid background.
The molds create shadows and the ice has striations.
Patterns form and change as time passes.
Pictures in different light.
So many angles.
Time lapse video of melting process.
Large scale projects possible.
Sunlight moving across the structure.
People come for miles to watch.A tribute to entropy.
Nothing but a pile of mud.
Surrounded by footprints.
Bedtime
Sometimes I get home from work and all I want to do is put on pajamas, order Chinese food and watch TV until I fall asleep.
And then I remember I’m a hard-working, single adult. So that’s what I do.
Freedom means going to bed early when you really want to.
Yogcrastination
I need to clean the floor. That’s when I notice how much floor I have. Finally unloaded some ancient cardboard boxes full of books, tapes and crinkled memories. Each Disney animated movie released in the 90s holds a gift basket of connotations and aspirations in my heart. At this point, I have them committed to memory. Clam cases are destined for kitschier art than mine.
The floor is dry. It turns out the best way to start a home practice is try and plan a yoga lesson. Every day of that week you will do at least one of the poses you look at. Or maybe it’s another one of my nervous tics – like singing along to country music. That said, I will teach a group of people what I do to keep myself feeling good. Standing in front of people and asking for their attention is scarier than skydiving. This might be the only time I ever do it.
Honestly, it’s hard being alone with myself. I won’t keep my hands off me. Last month, I started to worry about other people’s opinions. I’m not really sure why, but a few swift kicks to the metaphorical groin fixed that. Freedom is a little too fresh to start playing with social pressures. All my gauges are level. A rare moment of stillness before the challenges of 2016 crash down. Enjoying the view in both directions.
Home Practice
I just want everyone to know. I’ve done yoga for myself nearly every day this month. It’s how I keep making such good decisions for my future.
-Ro
Strongly Worded Poem to Steve Cohen
Dear Congressman
Driving down the street
I witnessed a most horrific thing.
Not sure if you know about this,
Given the ails of our once great nation.
A small trifle, about some lost souls.
Pardon my shock
I believed the barbaric ritual
Of vigilante dissatisfaction
Fell out of style, like
Wife-beating and electroshock therapy.
Needlessly inflammatory attacks
Implying terrible things
At the entrance of businesses.
dedicated to the care of ladies
and all their parts.
(I’ll remind you, son
All women are ladies.)
The words they use
In the clever URLs
Or loosely rhymed phrases
MURDER
WRONG
KILLER
I don’t blame the words. Never do.
I’m concerned for these poor zealots
Standing in the cold
In the heat
In the wind
In the rain
Not in the snow.
Memphis shuts down when it snows.
As a registered voter, I wonder
Isn’t there something we can do?
Let’s do them a favor. Be humane.
Help end a pointless poster board vigil
Come up with some legalese way
To curb this stark blind spot
In the tentative American agreement
To agree to disagree.
Frankly
I’m appalled that we still ALLOW
This sort of bullying in the streets
of this once-beautiful city.
I, like King, have a dream that one day
Intolerant people will shut the fuck up
And mind their own damn business.
Judged on content of character
and found lacking
In public decency, at least.
I apologize.
My opinions don’t fit into a #.
As a life-long citizen, I’m concerned.
What if a child passing by sees these gangs
Of pamphlet-weilding soul sucking saviors
And accidentally believes them?
Don’t go in there Mommy. They are murderers.
It’s okay. I’m here for a yearly checkup with a doctor to make sure I stay healthy.
No murderers?
No dear.
Why did that sign say the doctors are murderers?
Because freedom of speech is legal.
So, I get to say whatever I want?
No, dear.
Why not?
You have a sense of empathy.
Oh, good.
Packing
It feels like I’ve been packing ever since college. Boxes of things sitting in corners my whole life. Why can’t I throw things away? What am I saving an old hummingbird feeder for? Sure I like hummingbirds. That’s why I have the feeder. But I don’t unpack it or hang it up or put sugar water in it, so my affection for hummingbirds is a moot point. Instead I’m gradually accepting that precious things are just garbage sitting in boxes. Boxed belongings are a sure sign of greed.
So each day I’m packing a box of things I want to take with me and unpacking a box of things I don’t need anymore. I’d like to say I’m throwing away a box of things I don’t need. In reality, I sift through each time capsule agonizing over some trinket or other. Digesting my past with the four stomachs of a cow, I sometimes need to ruminate over a memory before passing it. Some items survive 3 or 4 boxes before I fully detach.
When people see the things I throw out they exclaim, “You’re gonna want to keep THAT!” I tell them I did. Now I’m done keeping it. “Would you like to keep it?”
“Well… no.”