On Draining and Refilling the Brain

Where the author does the dance one last time, but leaves you with something that should generate lots of theta waves

And, once more—because this is the thing no one likes to speak of, but is the thing one must do with all the grace one can muster—we shall speak of the DOOM + MADNESS Kickstarter. It has funded—ya!—but in its final hours, we are close to reaching that final stretch goal and unlocking the extra content for In the Mansion of Madness. I believe we can make it. I believe we can—and I'm going to channel Jeff Probst for a second like this is the final Survivor challenge—because that's how's we do it here on, uh, Kickstarter Island! 

You do have to dig deep and summon the wherewithal to throw one more cheer squad into the bottomless maw of Gorghifferax the Ginorminous in order to eke that last erg of effort. Sorry, Baxter & Drake & Buffy. You did well at Nationals, but now you have to feed the monster. Keep smiling. Keep shaking those pom-poms. We can do it! Go team! 

I'd like to report that there has been other creative efforts in the past few days, but it's been <waves hands at Kickstarter>. I managed a trip to Powell's, where I traded in two boxes of Books That Were Never Going to Be Read for the full set of the Trophy RPG books, which was an absolute score. 

I'm slowly (not so slowly?) turning into that hermit who sits in his cave all day, paging through TTRPGs and doodling on scraps of old manuscript pages. Whatever. 

And speaking of TTPRG settings, there's a package deal on Luka Rejec's The Ultraviolet Grasslands over at Bundle of Holding. I mean, you should buy the book because it is a fabulous campaign setting, and the book is profusely illustrated in a gorgeously illustrated dying earth style world (think the Moebius and Druillet days of Heavy Metal). And you should back the campaign for Our Golden Age, the sequel to UVG. But, if you have a stronger hold on your wallet than me, the Bundle of Holding offering is a ridiculous deal. 

One of the things that stuck from a read-through of Cal Newport's Deep Work was being conscious of the framework of the Time Block Session. You need to figure out how to minimize distractions during these 3 - 4 blocks where you can actually GET SHIT DONE. For me, one of the distractions is having to get up and flip the damn record over. I do love vinyl, but having to do something about that needle bumping along the lock groove every twenty minutes isn't conducive to long thoughts. I put together a few playlists of old FAX Label records that run a few hours. Even went to so far as to call them "Bollingen Tapes," a nod to old Carl Gustav's hideaway where he went off and did his deep work. 

Last week, I stumbled upon The Deep Ark, which is both a fabulously designed website and an 8-hour playlist. Heavily annotated (as it should be), but so deliciously immersive. You're welcome.