Something new… yet something often done

Hello :)

I don’t have much to present in today’s session. Ever since my ‘Mistaken Ideals of the Anglos’ post I haven’t been able to pull up anything of real importance or concrete interest to blog about. Essentially, I’ve been on a bit of a writer’s block in the past few days. So instead, I’m going to do, just once, what many other blogs do: ramble about what their writers have been spending their recent time on. I never intended my blog to be a shitty blog, that’s why I’ve never done it. But I have a feeling I can make this usually pointless activity interesting.

1. I’ve been spending time playing a very old game called Dungeon Keeper. It’s a very old game, made by a production studio called Bullfrog, where instead of being a goodly hero and attacking dungeons, you create the dungeon, populate it with an army of evil creatures who work for you (but they still need a home, food, and wages!), and destroy the heroes who attack you. You can slap your creatures to make them work faster. You can torture heroes to force them to convert to your side. And best of all, epic battles occur between armies of creatures like dragons and bile demons and masochistic mistresses against heroic knights, fairies, wizards, and even their Samurai allies (who happen to be one of the strongest heroes in the game). For those old school gamers out there, the final boss happens to be the Avatar from Ultima, a tribute to that most classic game.

DK is the only game I have ever been actively addicted to, and with what I call my Holy Trinity of computer games (Dungeon Keeper, Populous: The Beginning, and Dungeon Keeper 2), I don’t need any others. Ironically these three games are all rather old (1997, 1998, and 1999 respectively) yet I’ve spent more time replaying them than any other game that’s come after them. I would recommend all three – if you can still find them (chances are it will be near impossible). Dungeon Keeper is the only game I ever got in trouble with my parents for playing it too much in junior high (they grounded me from playing it for about a semester or two), something I hold with great pride as a testament to the awesomeness that is DUNGEON KEEPER.

2. I don’t think I fit in with my friend’s social group that is one year younger than me. It’s strange – one year should not much of a difference (although we all know how much can happen in a year to change a person). I went bowling with them today. It was alright, but also became a bit old. I am glad I have made many different circles of friends throughout Brisbane and Hong Kong or else I would be in a straitjacket locked up in a cream-white room, mumbling to myself.

3. I am a social leader. Not as in I am the leader of a lot of people, but I initiate and organize social events for different groups. When you are organizing social activities you have to find some way to deal with the probability of rejection. If you invite a friend or a romantic partner somewhere, expect 50% likelihood (as a default). Invite a small group, and be prepared to have an even smaller group (2 – 3 people), or even have to fall back on one person. Embarrassingly, the safest way is to organize an event for a large group because of the social dynamic of the large group. It makes a lot of sense to have a large group because of the higher probability of an increased diversity of people to interact with and the prospect of meeting new acquaintances. Furthermore, a larger group requires fairly coordinated organization, meaning that participants are more likely to commit to coming instead of brokering for another date or refusing outright. The bigger the event, the more it tips in the organizer’s favour.

I sound a bit pragmatic as an organizer, but it’s my way of being prepared for the people who inevitably might not be able to attend. Some people become upset/disappointed when the turnout is poor. But if you look at it from different angles like the psychological, collective and the temporal, you will be ready for, or even be able to avoid, a high rejection rate altogether.