Steps

Steps

Monday, September 15, 2014

Am I bringing anything of value to the table?

It has been way too long since I last posted, but I have been very, very busy and often productive.
I have learned a very important lesson:  STRUCTURE CAN BE YOUR FRIEND.  I have always thought that structure was the bane of creativity, and have fought the lists and priorities that lurk around whatever I am trying to do.  But then, structure slipped in the back door of my creative process.













Well, maybe it wasn't structure, maybe it was the need to stop revolving in the creative process and finally get SOMETHING done!  I have been paralyzed by an overwhelmingly cluttered table, a host of items all needing attention in the rest of my glorious and busy life, and an unhealthy belief that I am bringing nothing of value to the table.  Perhaps I have been in the middle of some kind of pity party extraordinaire.

But, then, my friend Jean got killed.  Jean was the loveliest of people--kind, interested, good people.  She was a dog owner, which is how I originally met her, and had the opportunity to hang out and chat so many times.  Since moving from the neighborhood, the opportunities to run into Jean had dried up to the occasional serendipitous moment.

Then, while giving an architectural Q&A in my building a dog walker who I had known as long as Jean told me the bad news:  she had been killed by a motorist while walking across the street.  She was walking across the same street she had been crossing for years, at probably the same time to do  the same thing.

Was she bringing anything of value to the table?  I do not know; I thought she was valuable, period.  And, in a flash--game over.  So, on some deep cosmic level it occurred to me that I should stop worrying about bringing value to the table, and start bring something to it.  In fact, how about a little decluttering?

And, I realized that I had been doing some things.  I have written a draft manual for Enter the Cave.

In August, I had a preliminary Face Time conversation with someone from the Emergent Media Center at Champlain College.  I unearthed the non-disclosure agreement I had paid a lawyer to write for me.  I had another conversation with the business manager at the EMC, who told me there was some value going on here.  I am working on a board game prototype for Risk It, and have spoken with a peach of a guy who does packaging.  I need some people to check out the game's playability.  What am I afraid of?  Maybe I should call this board game "Bring Some Value to the Table!!"


BONUS NAKED ROOMMATE VIDEO!!!