At Right Angles to Everything

I really haven't been updating.

Been playing a lot of games on BrettSpielWelt.de - a site for playing European style board and card games against real people.

For those people i have been saying hi to, and given this livejournal page - here is also a place to see some of my art:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26403318@N02/sets/72157605954585111/

there is also a little pic of my face, so you can get a general idea what i look like.

(run away! run away!)

As you might guess, I am not actually a robot, with a phosporic green glow around her. I'm not that skinny-looking either :)

For this entry I'll use one that looks a litte more like me - the one of the woman in blue looking out a spaceport window :).

ciao for now!

Kerinbot

Will I start updating my LJ more often this year?

It could happen.

I wouldn't take odds on it though.

I live too much inside my own head. I find it a pretty interesting place in here, and I'm probably happier rooting around in here on my own that I really should be.

For whatever reason lately, I've found it difficult to extract those thoughts and externalize them.

I don't really feel the need to post my ideas for the world to read. What I actually would like to do is keep the thread of my thoughts and perspectives over time - so that /I/ can go back and read them, and compare who I once was, with who I've become, over time. I could just keep a personal journal (not hand-written, of course - if you'd ever seen my handwriting, you'd know why).

But somehow the idea of posting something here for others to (very) occasionally see and comment on makes me slightly more likely to do this than if I just kept some kind of journal or letter file to myself on my computer.

I wonder why that is?

Kerin

But everytime i think i might just be done with the idea of livejournal... something comes along and sparks my interest in it again.

This time it is the quest of a fellow gamer and geek looking for - well - what we all hope for really. A true meeting of minds, a resonant experience of the heart, maybe even some kind of soulmate? It's a big risk to put enough of yourself out there to really find the right person.

You put yourself out there like that and you become vulnerable - exposed. But if you don't express who you really are and what you really want, how can you find what you really want? You might find someone, but you'd be finding someone for the person you were pretending to be, not yourself.

I respect this quest and am a bit envious of the bravery it takes to embark on it. I've considered doing something like it, but being female, in my forties, and not much of a hot commodity, physically, have repeatedly opted to skip the stress and negative feedback. But I did answer Sean's post.

I guess that's enough bravery for me for now. In any case, i wish him the best of luck, and plan to root for him. And I suppose, enjoy vicariously the process of his search.

I know a few "doublegeek" couples and have long envied them. All of them seem to enjoy the twin comforts of having both a lover and best friend forever living right there with them. Interestingly, many of them seem to have started as friends, even just roommates, that slowly blossomed into much more. At least one couple aren't even actually married - but yet have lived together 3 times the length of time that most marriages last.

Imagine always having someone around for at least a game of 2-player Starfarers, or Lost Cities. All it takes is one gamer friend to drop by, and you've got enough for Puerto Rico. Another couple, and you've got a game of Tichu or practically anything in the gamewall, from a pickup game of Munchkin to Age of Empire II.

Plus 'benefits.' What's not to like?

Best of luck, Sean - I'm rooting for ya!

I have to admit I'm rather entranced by all these concepts - pages unbound, the spread of free content - that still manages to support their creators.

I was surfing around the web, following up on some of these memes. I ran across something that really dovetails with some of Alexandra Erin's posts about web novels. The author brings up the simple facts that the web as it now it exists is essentially a way to copy, distribute, and share almost any media (not discussed, but the truth is that this is a fact - legal or otherwise).

When copies are super abundant, they become worthless.
When copies are super abundant, stuff which can't be copied becomes scarce and valuable.

When copies are free, you need to sell things which can not be copied.

Well, what can't be copied?

The author goes on to make some suggestions - and how all this can be a great thing for creators and even distrubutors, if approached properly:

http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/01/better_than_fre.php

If you read nothing else on that page, I suggest scrolling down a bit, and reading the the part about the "Eight things that are BETTER than 'free'"

This piece is all about how you can offer free content and yet make money - and it takes a really close and brilliant look at WHY this works. I think you'll like it.


... of course... first i have to actually WRITE something....





And another doodle, for your enjoyment:
Witch Doctor

So. Been reading a lot of web novels lately - starting to feel that urge again. And there's a real appeal to the instant gratification that writing installments and posting them immediately has. Alexandra Erin's Tales of Mu, (and now MOAR MU) , For Want of a Physicist, Gloria Fidelis... and a number of others that I've begun to discover on Pages Unbound... are all starting to really pique my interest.

If i do do this, I going to see if I can get at least two weeks worth of posts ahead before i even sign up, though. I want a backlog before I post the first installment.

I'll keep ya posted...


Oh, and here's another from the doodle notebooks. Been awhile since I posted a markerdoodle. Enjoy.

Guru

Can only take so many days off for sick days. And at least I'm feeling a bit better.

In other news:

Been reading a very interesting LJ story...

http://fwoap.livejournal.com/

very Heinleinian - think "Time enough for Love" or "Number of the Beast" meets sliders.

Haven't updated much... ended up deciding to express myself in some other ways, but I reserve the right to come back to this, and don't want to see the options go away, or for it to fall apart just as things are getting interesting. Which is why I bothered to vote today for our LJ rep...

If you haven't voted, go do it now. If you refuse to be a part of the process, you lose the right to complain or the ability to defend what you care about.

I really like the voting process they're going with here. Wouldn't it be cool if we could all (dems, anyway) vote for BOTH Clinton and Obama, and then keep narrowing the field until finally the person the most people could live with was chosen?

I bet there's a number of Republicans who would like to see either the first woman or first Black president (some of the more progressive Republicans anyway - I know there's at least four or five out there). But whichever way the nomination goes - and it's looking like Obama has it pretty solid by now - we're going to lose half of that extra percentage. Unless they can put their differences aside and team up. I'd like to see Clinton at least go in as Vice President. But at this point, would Obama be able to work with her?

I know Gore and Clinton (the ex-prez, that is) didn't get on that well, but they actually made a pretty good team.

Anyway, that's all I've got the patience to post right now - i've had the flu for 5 days...

Strange Monkey Strange doodle for the day - Monkey Doodle