Everlasting, Neverending Game Night

game therapy

Hi Reader, Welcome! Please, come in. Have some fizzy water. It's so hot outside. A neighbor gave me a bouquet of zinnias—they're in a jam jar on the table. Do you ever check out—dissociate—when you should be concentrating? Time you urgently need tickscdcr5t by and by. And then you realize you're doing it, and you feel like you're falling into quicksand? No? Just me? Then have you ever felt the opposite? You suddenly find yourself dialed in, not just mentally but emotionally? And something...

about 2 months ago • 1 min read

back to origins

Hi Reader, Welcome! Please come in. It's been raining out, and the air smells clean. Here on the table, a tall glass bottle has a stalk of creeping bellflower. Apparently it's a noxious weed, but I admire weeds. They just don't care where you think they're supposed to be. They're irrepressible. Last week, Thursday through Sunday, I exhibited at Origins Game Fair. And I have to say, I love this con so much. The people, the vibe. Everyone’s excited to be there. I met tons of new queer people....

3 months ago • 1 min read

become who you pretend to be.

Hi Reader, Welcome! Please, come in. Our dogwood is finally blooming, so I put some of its flowers in a bowl of water. Back in high school, I was a theater kid. Mostly tech, but on stage a few times. I hadn't decided if I was there to hide myself or show it. One day after school, I wandered past the auditorium’s stage door. On the door-glass, someone had taped a sign. In a high school student’s scrawl, the sign said: WE, the Bavarian Illuminati—WHO CONTROL EVERYTHING—issue you this warning:...

3 months ago • 2 min read

MegaXP

Hi Reader, Welcome, please come in. This week, we're meeting a little, sun-baked apartment in Mexico City. A glass tumbler has some purple jacaranda flowers. I came down to Mexico to visit family, but I also bought a ticket to a great games convention here called MegaXP. ¡Bienvenidos! Although I don’t know much Spanish, my phone does get internet, and it was easy enough to take an Uber to the World Trade Center Ciudad de México. Inside, I had to ask the person at the Registration desk if they...

3 months ago • 1 min read

stunning enough

Hi Reader, Welcome! Please, come in. It’s raining a lot lately here—I'll take your coat. I found some white starflowers in the woods, and I put them in a vase on the table. I love science fiction. I especially love “space opera”—that is, interstellar adventure. (No actual opera in it.) This genre gives me a sense of possibility that I need. I don’t care how realistic it is, so long as the writers sell me on it. And I'm an easy sell. For years, I needed to believe I could be an alien. Or a...

4 months ago • 3 min read

and I was doing so well

Hi Reader, Welcome! Please, come in. On the table, we have irrepressible daisies, rather hastily stuck in a jam jar. No, don’t go in the kitchen. If you want some water, I can get it for you. Just. Stay here. The thing is, in our house, M does all the cooking. I should cook more, but I keep passing up opportunities to learn. So, yesterday evening, when M was headed out for a work-related event, I said, “I’m going to step up. I’m not getting take-out. No. I’m going to broil salmon.” I...

4 months ago • 2 min read

a.i. is getting in our business

Hi Reader, Welcome! Please, come in. Make yourself at home. It's so good to see you. I brought in some wild violets and dandelion flowers from the back yard and put them in a bowl of water. I’ve been reading up on A.I. It’s mind-boggling what it can do—and how fast it's changing. It can write and draw things that look like a person made them. But it's not great on factual accuracy or single-point perspective. The thing is, it's always "hallucinating"—fumbling blindly, algorithmically, for...

5 months ago • 2 min read

sproing

Hi Reader, Welcome! Please, come in. Help yourself to snacks. I cut some daffodils and put them in a mason jar with clean water. I think daffs like a simple presentation, don't you? Guess what. The number of guests at our house has increased recently. Spring has sprung. Three days ago, Udo (our aging husky) found tiny rabbits. a tiny cottontail bun, going back in the nest They're cottontails. Just three days old at the time, I'm guessing. They're snug in a hole Udo dug under our back deck....

5 months ago • 2 min read

oops! all eclipses

Hi Reader, Welcome! Please, come sit by the fire. Tonight, we’re at a campground in the path of the solar eclipse. We have a picnic table to game on. After the game, we can sleep in tents under the stars. In the cool morning, a drop of royal dew will crown each blade of grass. I brought food we can cook over the fire, trail mix, and some black-and-white cookies. They seemed appropriate. I also brought all the eclipse-themed RPGs I could find. Let's see: The Dark Sun setting for Dungeons &...

5 months ago • 2 min read

A small box, its lid slightly open, with golden light pouring out

is “wonder” just oil on the cogs?

Hi Reader, Welcome! Please, come in and sit down. Tonight, I have cookies. You deserve a cookie. On the table, I have a few purple vinca flowers. I'm not gonna lie, I'm feeling pretty heavy tonight. If you're not up for that, maybe skip this week's game night. You're always welcome back. The thing is, I talk a lot about wonder. For me, "wonder" means a sense of possibility, in its purest, most kid-like form. It keeps me going. But to get real for a minute? In our world, wonder often has a job...

6 months ago • 2 min read