My first smartphone.

As a person using a smartphone for the first time, I can't help but do everything possible on it.  Therefore I am writing this post on my phone using the S Pen's handwriting Software.  I am stunned at how accurate it is.  I am also tired of how slow it is.

Swiping on the other hand is stupid fast and eerily accurate.  The tech is far beyond that which I care to comprehend, but I can't help but use it as it is nothing short of fantastic.  I hope everyone's experience with smartphones is as eye opening and exciting as mine. In the meantime I with continue doing completely unnecessary things on my phone.  I do it only because I can.

What's my Most Important?

I have been elbow deep in talking about game design for the last several months.  I have literally written five high level design documents(plans for games) and spent hours(many, many hours) editing them and Rachel, my wife, has done a wonderful job of not letting it get to her.  She has asked me nicely on occasion to talk about something other than games for a while, but she lets me play out my rants and my thought sessions in silent understanding.

The thing is, she likes games.  I thank God that she likes games.  If she didn't, life would be quite difficult right now.  I really do spend a lot of time talking about the minutia of games and game design and balance and blah, blah, blah.  It has to be getting to her...

We went out to dinner the other night and I straight up apologized for my recent preoccupation.  Even if I were getting paid to make games or play games, I shouldn't talk about it as much as I do now.  I explained that I don't want to continue highlighting the differences between us because it makes each of us feel alone.  I went on to make defenses, but she had one line, that she didn't say in any kind of argumentative tone or back lashing rudeness.

"You talk about games like our parents say we should talk about Christ"

That line was huge.

"Took my breath away" huge.

I spent some time in prayer this morning and will continue as I work through this.  If I can talk about games like this, why can't I talk about the saving grace that I have received from the father of the universe through his Son's death.

My life reflects my most important.  My heart is in sin.

My Man-Purse and an Argument for Day-Drinking

So I finally broke down and got a man-purse.  Commuting forty-five minutes two ways every weekday was getting old I needed the ability to stash stuff and carry things with me.  Every day I was carrying my lunch, a school book, some book called Tinkers that some guy named Michael gave me, my wallet, MP3 player, keys and phone.

About day four of making this drive, I knew I had to do something.  I haven't looked back since.

It's a tiny little bag.  Just big enough to hold things, not big enough to lug around.  I'll never hurt myself carrying it, I'll never lose anything in it.  It literally holds my programming text, Tinkers, and what usually is held in my pockets.  I never realized how much I prefer to have my pockets free.  I don't have to dig around in my pants to get my keys or anything for that matter.  When I sit, I don't sit unevenly because of my wallet.  I don't have the awkward bunching of material and massive lumps in my pants from keys and a phone.  It is, essentially, the most liberating thing I've experienced since I worked my way out of indentured servitude. (seven years I'll never get back, stupid Rifle Shot game at the carnival . . . I know I hit that person balancing on the beach ball and I knew I could do it again.)(I didn't)

Deuteronomy and Day-Drinking make me more excited than I thought they would.  See my church is going through Deuteronomy this year.  I havn't read Deuteronomy since I got it in my head that I had to read every book of the Bible at least once a year.  That was in 2002; I only ever read them all once and it took longer than a year.  With Larry Trotter at the helm, I'm confident that I will enjoy this series, I just struggle with the juxtaposition of the Old Testament judgmental creator vs the New Testament graceful savior.  I know that God is the same and that the story being told is on purpose, but it is hard to validate the laws in Deuteronomy(bury your feces outside the camp, dammit!  I'm walking here!) in the light of, let's say, Romans.

Day-Drinking is my pet elephant in the room.  My brother and I started drinking at 10:30 AM on Thanksgiving, and now we kind of do it all the time.  Weekends, my sister-in-law's wedding, any day we have free time always turn into this slow creeping drinking fest that leaves us appropriately comfortable with ourselves and those around us.  The joy of the Day-Drinking is this: we don't get hammered or have hangovers.  We drink until we have a sustainable buzz and then nurse two or three beers or sip some bourbon after that.  It's amazing.  We never have to worry about what day we're drinking on in case we work the next day, we never wake up not knowing what happened the night before(looking right into your red-bearded face, Michael) and, truthfully, the tasty things we drink never lose flavor, because we never get that far.  It's just nice to drink without getting drunk . . .