As promised ode to rocks...

As promised Ode to Rocks

Thinking about the Rock in Ann Arbor.

 On its own it was a pretty cool big rock.  But through the years it has become so much more.

It is covered with layers of paint.  So many events and reasons that people paint the rock.

Like brains are apt to do, mine made a connection between the rock and my blog (note my mind also connected my work to Michelangelo’s so it has an uncanny to bridge and connect things that would seem impossible to bridge). 

So I was thinking a blog kind of starts off like the rock in Ann Arbor, cool for its own merit but just a rock or idea at first. 

Each layer of paint on the rock tells a story, shares memories, and affects the viewers. 

It has become a legend because of those layers, even though some layers were downright ugly:

whereas others were incredibly beautiful:

I see my blog with each article being a layer of paint, not impressive on its own for the most part, but with each layer a little more value is created, it becomes something greater than what it started. Each article is like a layer of paint. 

Together those articles become something much greater than the rock.  Each layer has a story.  Some layers might be a little lame, but have an awesome story behind it, create an amazing memory, or change the writer/painter in some way...

So like giving a mouse a cookie, if you give Karen a blog, she’s going to want to write about rocks and if she starts writing about rocks she’s is going to talk about rock camp.

So one time at Rock Camp… (yeah that’s right I did go to rock camp)

As a child, we would go on family walks.  A few blocks away there was a rock.  What we used to call the big rock.

I loved that big rock.  I would stand on it and imagine things and feel

Interesting how when I see that big rock, how small it looks.  I try to imagine how I saw it with such wonder.

 

 

 

 

 

It’s crazy how awareness and perspective change.  How easy it is to lose that sense of wonder.

My perhaps alltime favorite movie character: The Rockman 

Because of his kindness, and his vulnerability, and of course his big strong hands. “These looked like such bring strong hands.

As they would say in Tonga, fakaofa, fakaofa aupitoL

Note: Hidden agenda: making my blogs overly flowery so guest bloggers will be forced to volunteer awesome content to make me stop.

Bab’s Corner

Literal v. Figurative I absolutely love overhearing someone use literally blatantly wrong over and over.

Not a judgey person, at least I hope not, but that always makes me laugh and become a little smug (although I have no room to be smug due to my background where phrases like “I says to the guy” were acceptable. And an inability to appropriately determine if I’m doing good or well ((I do know good is an adjective and if I logically think about it I can get there, but it takes a while and I appear even slower if I cannot respond to a how are you within a minute…) As well as a habit of starting sentences with And, but.

Soooo I discussed some literal rocks and now for a figurative rock.   My mother.  Who is such a lovely strong woman.  She literally is the kindest person I have ever met.  Never speaking poorly about anyone and always caring too much.  I did have an interview and ridiculously answered one of my weaknesses is that I care too much.  It slipped out and is blatantly untrue.  But my mother does care too much.

 She is a kindergarten teacher.  I subbed for her class for one week and literally would have died if I subbed more, it is a heroing job not for the weak!

She recently tore something in her knee that will require surgery.

But she is not a complainer.  She limps from place to place (fakaofa aupito) with a smile on her face.

And on occasion she gets to use a cart.  Bab's at Costco  (Fellow shoppers be warned!)

 

 

 

Coco properly uses a hash tag + geopopper still going through apple's review process + Google crush

First things first: I have started a twitter account and hashtag:( no followers)

I believe I have correctly used a hashtag.

Now onto other matters:

I always rave about google and what i usually am most impressed by is their ability to think ahead. when they gave their employees one day to work on personal projects they were not concerned about the loss of productivity that might initially lead to. they had faith that setting this up would allow great things to happen. 

 

 

 

Google reminds me of a fly. They are seeing things at a faster rate and able to be one step ahead. 

How do they do it?

Are the google people smarter?

Definite, definite possibility

However, I think the employees at google are extremely interested in what they do.

I think they ask the fun, out there questions

And

I think they are extremely focused
Focus is crucial

As seen by my next post (ode to rocks for all you geophiles) and previous posts i lack a laser like focus and might be a little too scattered to reach google status.

Like the Dog in  UP I worry I get distracted by every new idea/squirrel that comes my way.

On the other hand I do notice a more focus than previously before and if I focus on just getting 1% everyday :
http://blog.thinkhuge.info/2010/12/one-percent-better.html
my progress, our company, our game has the potential to:

 

Also we need some interns.  There are a few interns at where I work and they are great.  Super, super hard working dilligent people, youthful enthusiasm and optimism.  And basically because we have a Kramer on our team and run our office like Kramerica...

 

Letters from KDOGG/COCO + Special Acclaimed Guest Writer

 

I was thinking about Letters from a Nut  as I often do on Tuesday mornings.

It is a book filled with hilarious laugh out loud random, random letters from an interesting, dillusional/interesting character.  

Jerry Seinfeld wrote the forward and I have a feeling it could be Larry David who is the anonymous writer.

I was a Peace Corp volunteer in the Kingdom of Tonga, and especially appreciate the nut’s final letter  asking the king if he mistakenly picked up his sword because he saw a picture of the king holding a sword with striking  resemblance to a sword he lost.  (Side note, I never got to meet the king because he died before I arrived, but I did buy a great deal of black clothing because of the Tonga custom to wear only black for two years after a king’s death)

I love the book so much I have decided we will be switching up the blog format to include multimedia.  I believe I have already added in Zorro’s correspondence (See past article when he was upset about genre of mushrooms species received : different than the catalog picture)

Readers you may be in for a treat, no newcomer to the writing world, Stephen C. may be submitting his guest blog.  To ensure this happens I have written a letter:

Dear Stephen,

I am writing in regards to the Christmas coupon generously given and received 12-25-12.

The coupon a guest writing spot on the prestigious Game On!!! Blog.

I see it has not yet been redeemed.  Although there is no expiration date, the writer is on a spree, so you might want to redeem while you still have a chance.

I thought I would provide some guidelines and clarity of what is expected:

See previous blog posts for rules aka there are no rules

See previous blogs for quality aka not that high of a standard

See previous blogs for content aka whatever suits your fancy

No heed can be given to grammar and spelling.  They don’t own you.

The more exclamation points the better.

Suggestions for content:

Your take on the formation and evolution of Geopopper

A dissection of any current game

Your favorite Seinfeld episode with a play by play of what went down (King of Queens, Arrested Development…)

maybe a contest?

Games you like to play

Knowledge about award systems

The future of Playcadia

What’s the deal with a company with three employees requiring a newsletter

A corner of some sort (see Bab’s corner following this letter).  It would be great if we could track down the clip of Mr. Rodgers learning to skate or a new delightful Koko the gorilla story.

CDogg mentioned talk that this blog’s overall purpose is to market, bring awareness to Geopopper and Playcadia and not just my own personal diary… So um yeah that would be great if you could make references to Social gaming, GeoPopper, and whatever else the kids are talking about these days.

Thanks!!!!

P.S. 701-1205 words please

P.P.S. 11 Font

 

Geo Popper gets a new, improved, revamped name: GeoPopper!!!! Also...

 

For those readers who just tune into the blogs: Here is the game overview: 

 

Welcome to the world of GeoPopper!

The outside video game that merges an app on your phone with the real world.

 Geocaching meets competitive racing meets Easter egg hunt.  GeoPopper allows players to play video games that merge the actual physical environment with their mobile devices.  Players create arenas in places like parks, determine the location and number of balloons, and then run, walk, sprint, meander to the location of balloons to pop them. Geopopper uses your phone's GPS to determine your proximity to a balloon.  Once you are close enough to a balloon, the balloon will pop.

Create arenas around the world (note if you create an arena in Spain, you will have to go to Spain to play. So maybe creating arenas at a nearby park is a good start)

Play by yourself in solo mode and see how quickly you can pop all of the balloons in the arena.

Play against friends in group mode and see who can pop the most balloons.

Share your best arenas with your friends.  If enough people like your arena, your arena becomes viewed by the world.

Arena Builder
To create new arenas, tap the arena builder on the bottom of your screen.
A map will appear and your current location will be showed by a blue dot.
You create the location of where you are going to play and set up the arena by zooming into that location on the map.
Next you determine the number and location of balloons in your arena by dropping green pins.   You drop these pins by touching the screen for 2 to 3 seconds or hitting the pin icon (note if you hit the pin icon, the pin will drop in your current location).

After you have 3 - 1,000,000 green pins placed you will name your arena.
You can view the new arena by going to GROUP or SOLO.  It will appear in the my arenas tab at the top left,  symbolized by a red balloon.
If there is more than one arena in an area, there will be a bunch of balloons.  Zoom in to see the individual arenas.

Solo Play
Choose an arena and try to pop all the balloons as fast as you can by going to the location of the arena and moving to the location of the balloons on the map.   Your location will be shown as a blue dot.


Group Play
Choose an arena, invite Facebook friends, and try to pop more balloons than they can.


Arena and Game Safety
You're not on your couch playing a game, you're interacting with the real world.  That means you have to use more caution when playing this game.  Arenas are created by users like you, but the real world changes.  If an Arena contains dangerous locations or if conditions change, it could make a previously safe arena unsafe.
Use common sense when playing: Call it a day if there is an alligator, crocodile, unsavory character or anything you do not feel comfortable with near a balloon
Use caution and think about unique environmental factors that could possibly make your arena unsafe.  Do not create arenas near cliffs, bodies of waters…
Some arenas might be safe in the summer but hazardous in the winter.  Think about this before playing and creating arenas. An arena that is safe during the daytime, might be dangerous at night.  An arena that is safe in summer might become dangerous in winter.
Don't build Arenas that require a user to cross a road.  Roads are dangerous and require your full attention when crossing.  Don't build arenas near natural hazards (cliffs, lakes, etc).  Because accuracy isn't very good, even marking a location within 10 meters is dangerous.
GPS accuracy in mobile devices is not very good - we're limited to the hardware we're using and the best we can get is within about 10 meters accuracy (and sometimes that even seems like a stretch!).  That means you may be trying to get to a balloon to pop but your dot isn't in the right spot.  Be aware of your surroundings.

Geo popper: the beginning. A mixture between geocaching, Easter egg hunting, and racing. Overlapping a game onto real world.

In my novel writing attempts I used to picture my main character being a bit disillusioned with life and then one day this main character enters an alternate universe where her life becomes a fascinating game. Instead of falling down a rabbit hole the game is overlaid onto her world but no one else can see it.

She would be walking down the street and need to hop from one to brightly colored circle like a board game, there would of course be a mission and adversaries.

As seen by this blog and my other blog how I wrote a novel in one month (with two posts and zero novels) novel writing isn't my thang.

But the tiny idea of overlapping a game onto the natural environment resonated with me.

I pictured Mario brothers and how fun it would be to be Mario and leap up for coins and get items that could help you on your mission.


Side note growing up I remember having 3 great debates
1. Was Santa real? He had to be. we would go to visit Ohio on Christmas Eve and when we returned Christmas morning, there would be presents under the tree. Explain that if Santa isn't real.
2. Were the singers of Mary Mo singing Mary mo or Mary moon (clearly Mary mo)
3. could mario jump over the castle flag in Mario bros 1?

i knew the answers for 1 and 2, but if i hadnt seen it with my own eyes i would always have an inkling of doubt on 3. If nothing else I hope readers of this blog view me as a credible source (I kid, I see nothing in these blog posts that would convince anyone of my credibility or saneness), but I tell you with complete certainty that Mario can jump over the flag pole.


Hmmmm where was I? (Please picture me with a pipe, suit coat w courdoroy patches while I tell this story)

Ahh yes, I was telling how geo popper, a mixture between geocaching and road rallies came to be.

I pictured tomb runner and how much more fun it would be to be the tomb runner. With google glasses this is a near possibility.

Think of how much more fun running would be if you were picking up coins along the way. Or if you were running on a track and through your google glasses you would see a game. Different scenery, different obstacles.

Balloons, enough said

Morgan Freeman was on the Daily Show and discussing how he gets to hang out with steven hawking and other top notch physicists because he is the voice for a universe documentary.

I could keep up because I watch the Big Bang Theory and am pretty well aware of the hadron collider and the like and so on and so forth.

Morgan Freeman mentioned how you could use balloons to show principals of multiple universes.

Moments later he mentioned how another physics principal could be described by using balloons.

Jon Stewart stopped him and asked if the whole science was based on balloons.

It was pretty funny and would be to you too if you watched it rather than read it.

My point in telling this story is that balloons are pretty awesome.

They can be used to explain crazy principals of physics

They can be used to entertain and inspire audiences watching up

They can be used in a fun and somewhat dangerous game where each contestant has balloons tied around their ankles and you try to stomp on everyone else's balloons without getting your own popped.

99 Red ones can be used in a catchy catchy song

Lastly they can be used in an awesome app that is going to add quite a twist to the gaming world.

Are caution signs getting a little alarmist? + Hashtag Monsters Inc Principal or Principle, who really knows

This blog is clearly not going to be as dangerous as walking on a wet floor at MCDs (do you see that guys arms flailing? That is dramatic!)   However a caution is necessary before reading this blog because dududum
There will be some hotsy totsy words used including but not limited to:

1.Paradigm shift
2. hotsy totsy (the hotsiest totsiest word of them all)
3. Sturgeon's Law

The Monsters Inc Principle
Another warning, I am basing my entire argument off of what I like to call the Monsters Inc Principle:
In the movie, the Monsters did not get their energy from coal, wind, water...
Their energy source came from scaring kids.
Each time a child was scared by a monster, energy was produced.
At the end of the movie, they serendipitously realized that energy could be produced from making kids laugh.
Not less energy, not the same amount of energy, but MORE energy.
So...
Laughter = crazy high amount of energy
Scares=minor amount of energy
Laughing=delightful
Being scared=the worst
After this realization, monsters who would continue to scare children rather than attempting to make them laugh to get energy=idiots, masochists

I am afraid that we humans are doing the same thing in schools, in jobs, in life.

By being so serious, I think we are missing the possibility that we could get a heck of a lot more done playing than working.

By leaving the playing for the kids (and in some unfortunate instances not even leaving the playing for the kids)  we are throwing away what we do best and doing what we do with mediocrity.

A huge paradigm shift occurred in Monsters Inc (Paradigm shift =CHANGE IN BELIEFS/IDEAS ABOUT THE WAY THINGS ARE)

I believe we NEED that huge paradigm shift.

KAREN's KEY ASSUMPTIONS
People who are happy and like what they do are better at what they do and offer more to the world
People let responsibilities/fears/limiting believes limit their output
People create value when they are in their flow
*I use flow interchangeably with play and will take future blogs to explore this idea
*What I mean by flow: being completely engaged in an activity, synapses firing
Many people are in jobs where they do not get to experience flow
We can design jobs, situations that allow people to play/flow



Sturgeons Law: 90% of everything is crap
(See this article for more clarity: http://m.guardiannews.com/books/2013/may/19/daniel-dennett-intuition-pumps-thinking-extract)
We are absolutely inundated with crap,
questions, ideas, art...
Time is too limited to focus on crap, but I feel that's all that people focus on.  There are thoughts to be had and we putz around in the mundane.  Ahhhh I can't do it, we gots to play more.  However, because it is such a foreign concept, takes creativity and questioning, we actually have to work really hard to become deliberate to play more.

Getting ready for Playvolution! Much better than the Industrial, Agricultural, and Information combined

There have been dramatic shifts in what people spend their time doing, how they work, how they spend their leisure time, their core beliefs.

Sometimes these dramatic shifts are labeled revolutions,
like the good old Agricultural Revolution that allowed people to stay in one place for a long time, build permanent home sites, and

I think that next revolution that totally transforms the way we do things could be the
the PLAYVOLUTION (even the name beats the others)

When we have a huge cultural shift that play is the way to go.

Life is tough, it is filled with
war, inequality, famine, death...

But by focusing on how bad everything is and focusing on the questions that don't take curiosity, out of the box thinking we are totally wasting our focus and energy.


Not avoided, not made worse,
but when framed in a way so people (not just a few enlightened ones, but the vast majority of people) are able to tackle these problems with hopeless optimisim, watch out, the positive effects are immeasurable.

Right now I will bet the million dollars I plan on having in 2014 that if people went to play instead of work, that if they played complex interesting games rather than conduct mundane, routine tasks the world would have less war, less hunger, less all of the crap.

These guys say it much better than I can and what if they're right? Hash tag goodbye childhood obesity, spelling tests, and TGIF:

"It is paradoxical that many educators and parents still differentiate between a time for learning and a time for play without seeing the vital connection between them.” -Leo F. Buscaglia

We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” -George Bernard Shaw

"Play is the beginning of knowledge.” -George Dorsey

“Play is so integral to childhood that a child who does not have the opportunities to play is cut off from a major portion of childhood.” -Musselwhite

“Necessity may be the mother of invention, but play is certainly the father.” -Roger

"We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing.”

"Play is our brain’s favorite way of learning.” -Diane Ackerman

"Almost all creativity involves purposeful play.” Abraham Maslow

Karen's corner
At work today I received a message saying I came highly recommended (I began to have an inkling this call was not for me) and a question about refinancing for a lower interest rate (the inkling was confirmed, I am not a mortgage banker). When I called the man back to see if I could point him in the right direction, he gave me the name of who he was trying to contact. I found her extension and realized it was one small digit away from mine. So of course I immediately consider what Kramer did when his phone number was one digit off from moviephone. "Why don't you just tell me the movie you'd like to see?" The scary thing was when I received the message I was so excited to tell the man about how much he could save if he refinanced and ask him about his financial goals and play nortgage banker.

Kindergarten Engineers What the What?

Ahhhhh I wrote an article that I can now safely call my best piece of writing ever (I can only say that because I somehow did not save it, and that is how I will choose to remember it)  Because I don't have the heart right now, I am going to just write out a skeleton, a thin shell of that masterpiece.

There was some lovely, flowery writing about a To Sir With Love esque kindergarten teachers, there were some solid comparisons to Michelangelo, and there was a cautionary tale about, a chimp, a hula hoop, and youthful optimism.

I'll see what I can recreate, but no promises.

I was once again thinking about the importance of engagement in learning and once again thinking that the same principles that hold true for the classroom, hold true for the workplace, life...

So I attended this conference and was so inspired by what is happening in some classrooms.

Lots of teachers are incorporating Project Based Learning and  Learning by Design.

What the teacher did:

1. Noticed her kids were extremely interested in a type of toy, it wasn't GI Joes or legos, but some specific brand that alludes me now.

2. Had them play on the playground

3. Wrote a letter (likely on fancy official paper) from the toy company asking for the kids help.  She sat the kids down and read this very official letter that asked the kids to design a playground for these toy people. 

The letter had guidelines but limited

4.  Supported the children by future exploration opportunities, time, and material supplies 

5.  Supported the children with opportunities to test their buildings, showed the children a structure for testing their designs and for recording their findings

4. Gaped open mouthed at the amazing things the children created

In other words the teacher:

1. PAID ATTENTION TO WHAT THE KIDS WERE INTERESTED IN

2. SET UP EXPERIENCES FOR THEM TO OBSERVE/GAIN EXPERIENCE

3. DESIGNED AN ENGAGING, CHALLENGING PROJECT THAT ALLOWS FREEDOM and CREATIVITY and  INCORPORATES WHAT THEY ARE INTERESTED IN  

4. OFFERED SUPPORT AND GUIDANCE, but LET THE STUDENTS DO THE HEAVY LIFTING

THESE PRINCIPLES SHOULD BE THE STANDARD WAY OF DOING THINGS:

If we want to reach optimum potential of human capital

The current situation in many schools and workplaces remind me of Monsters Inc.  The monsters scared children to generate power.  The crazy thing was it was way more fun to make children laugh than cry and it produced a heck of a lot more power.

"More gold has been mined from the thoughts of men than has been taken from the earth."

Napoleon Hill

Hashtag, you rock Napoleon Hill Hashtage pure gold (yeah, yeah, yeah I realize I am not using the hashtag properly but I like it)

Learning by design, working by design, kindergarten engineers

Argument:
It's all about the framing, engagement, and scaffolding.

The ideas that the good teachers use in school should be pushed further and used to design jobs.

By good teachers, I mean the ones that design the learning experiences that the children will have.

Teachers, leaders, and bosses with enhanced awareness have the potential to build, frame, and implement situations to get students, indiviuals, and workers to higher and higher levels of potential.

This week, I will be painting some pictures to elaborate on what I mean

Tuesday: Kindergarten engineers what the what???
Wednesday: It's not your Grandma's math lab
Thursday: Ahhhhh, so that's why the formula for area is 1/2bh, what happens when teachers are deliberate
Side notes
1.  To not slide my credibility any further, I must set the record straight.  I was not told to scram off the set of Ryan Gosling's new movie, but rather told to scram off the set of a tv show that is being filmed in
2. My current small game of Assasins (see ) has had its first victim taken out by mwah.  It happened at Buffalo Wild Wings and it happened with bubbles.  Pretty exciting.

Hashtag Awestome Hashtag Engagement

Need some laughs? Paul Tompkins, Nick Swardson, Jim Gaffigan, Elegant balloons, moist cake, and squirreladors

Gots to get my blog on.  I have some momentum and I like it.  Sure this all might be jibber jabber, but maybe its not and because I have been posting everyday, I am going to continue on.

And because we could all laugh more (note there are laughing clubs designed based on the entire idea that laughter heals everything)

So while I get my blog on, please get your laugh on with these comedians:

1. Paul Tompkins
Paul discusses the best store name he has run across: Elegant balloons.  He then does a lovely little reenactment of a pompous man hosting a dinner party calling into a balloon store. 
Pompous man: "aaah yes I am hosting a dinner party at my mansion. I'll be entertaining some foreign dignitaries, heads of the state and the like, we're going to spruce the place up a bit, what do you have in the way of balloons?
Balloon Salesman: "Well sir we have this model here, also comes in blue."
Pompous man: "Those balloons are gauche, I am not hosting a free for all for a bunch of hill people that are going to eat with there hands.  Where are your elegant balloons?"


2. Nicholas Swardson Click here
Nick discusses how great it is to hang out with his grandma because she is so impressed by his strength.  When she asks him to pick up the groceries he can and she tells him, "Oh Nicholas you're so strong, you should be a super hero."  When she asks him to pick up a gallon of milk, he says in a very confident super hero esque voice, oh you mean this milk?

Also check out these gems:

Dan Cummins take on the Squirrelador
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiUhAGcsenM

Jim Gaffigan's view on why male seahorses have the babies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujRwl6dL9go

Paul Foot's questioning of why we always have to describe a piece of cake as moist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBk9DD84fdY

You go Eric Thomas, you go!/Don't linger on set of Ryan Gosling's new movie

Ahhh the next Tony Robbins=Eric Thomas.

Very, very motivational speaker, check him out!!! http://www.youtube.com/user/etthehiphoppreacher

Learning to say  "I'll pass" = so very important!!!

I was in a dark haze for a while when I didn't see opportunities and options.

Not a great place to be in

Luckily, I had a shift and began to see all my options and the world as full of endless possibilities.

The problem was I felt overwhelmed with the opportunities available and unable to put my full passion into anything because I was scattered and drifting and alllllllllll over the place.

Eric Thomas hits upon several key ideas for where I am at in my journey:

1. Not every opportunity is for you.

2. Learn how to say, "I'll Pass."

I am finally honing in on what I am passionate about and feel a huge depth to what I can produce and give to the world.  It is important to not get wrapped up in other people's ideas of what you should be doing or where your value lies, when you intuitively know when you are in your zone and doing what you should be doing.

Eric painted two pictures, one of a forest and one of a garden.  The forest was unintentional, seeds scattered everywhere.  The garden was designed with intent. 

Our life, time, and focus are like seeds, we can let them scatter or we can intentionally place them and nurture them.  (side note, forests are lovely and I do kind of have a problem with this metaphor because who is to say that a man made garden is any more valueable than a wild forest).



However, life is short and you might not be scattering your seeds on soil that will allow anything to grow, so I suggest and intend to practice some intent and deliberateness today.

Karen's Corner
On my walk into work, I passed by people filming a movie (guessing it's Ryans Gosling's filming in Detroit although he was not there).  It was difficult not to want to watch, so I passed where they were doing the work and took a moment to check it out and promptly got told Miss and then was given a gesture of walking along.  So basically told to scram.  Still pretty pretty cool and a fun way to start the day!

Threads intertwining, reporters being silly

Thinking about the tv shows, books, and games I love most and have noticed certain similarities.

Holes
Tale of despereax
Game of thrones
The eight

Different storylines that intertwine in a lovely, surprising way.

The authors designed them with intent and used skill to weave the different parts together creating an intricate piece of artwork.

Goal: designing a game that brings that richness, that connectedness, and delights players.

As well as one day turning this blog itself into a complex piece of artwork with designed threads interweaving.

Karen's Corner:

Watching a Daily Show from last week and two Fox news reporters were reporting on a split screen from what was supposed to be remote locations but turned out to be the same parking lot. Jon Stewart pointed out the bus and cars in the background and showed how they passed in each screen at nearly the same moment.  It turns out Nancy Grace and Ashleigh Banfield were in the same parking lot, just 6 spots away.  Pretty, pretty funny:)

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-sheffield/2013/05/10/cnn-anchors-nancy-grace-and-ashleigh-banfield-interview-each-othe

Playvolution? Making the World Your Playground. Got Play? Play on Playas. Recess: It's Not for Kids

Get Excited!

T-shirt time!

What makes a good t-shirt? One that grabs the eye, looks awesome...

I was thinking a twist of got milk? But Got Play?

And then a character with a mustache, but instead of a milk mustache a play mustache and by that I was thinking symbols of play: sports balls, tetris, playground equipment...

CDogg was having none of that.

I like: Making the World Your Playground and then having a character slide down a slide that is colored like the world.

Check back to see what we come up with.

Hunger Games in the park and absolute loveliness in Boston pre marathon

I was in Boston for the marathon.  I don't think I'm ready to tackle the entirety of the situation, but prior to the tragedy, I had a chance to see a wonderful city and interact with such lovely people, making the future events  a stark contrast.

You know sometimes when you are just in the right mindset to enjoy life? That Sunday, I was in that mindset.  Taking it all in, walking around with a content smile.  There were swing dancers in the park, families picnicing, skateboarders hitching rides from duck tour busses, and Kelsey Grammar at the Cheers Bar.

I walked by a baseball field and saw a flurry of activity and went to investigate and to my absolute delight people were playing Hunger Games!  The players were students from Emerson.

In case you have some people and want to set up your own game:
There were two people from each district (shown by number on their white t-shirt)
Many players were armed with pizza box shields.
All players had a sharpie in their hand, a balloon taped to their backs, and a flag tied around their waist.
Like the real Hunger Games, the goal was to be the last person standing.
To be eliminated from the game three things must occur:

1. A player must be marked by a sharpie somewhere on the t-shirt
2. A player's balloon must be popped
3. A player's flag must be grabbed.

It was awesome.

During the race,  I so much support and passion and goodness and humor.  Just a reminder of how humans have such possiblity of goodness and kindness and of being their best possible self and there is also such potential for such terribleness.



Side note: so many of the lovely people I met were from Canada, reaffirming my belief that Canadians are the best.

Get some everyday balloons! and How are you going to play today?

How are you going to play today?

Today I am not just going to work to complete tasks.  I am starting my playing, ready to make some solid moves.

While at work, I'm going to pretend that I am collecting things in my backpack like Mario in Mario 3.

Instead of P-wings and flower power and that elusive and amazing Hammer thrower, I will be collecting stories and ideas and putting them in my backpack for my quest.

Oh and Tanooki, how did I forget about Tanooki (although for the record, I think he did me more harm than good)

 

 

 

Why do adults become so serious?

By being so serious and having such responsibilities and bills to pay and yada yada, are we bringing more to the world.  Are we handling our responsibilities better because we attach such a great weight to them?

Or could we handle our responsibilities better and give more to the world if we were less serious and more light hearted.

How do we change?

1. Get everyday balloons (see below, Kramer and Jerry were discussing Newmanium and Kramer asked Jerry to hold on to his balloons.  Jerry told him there was no way the balloons would last until the New Year and Kramer said," they're not for the new year, these are every day balloons)

 

 



2.  Work at a job where making moves/trying/taking risks are rewarded. (More talk of this in future blogs)

3. Design jobs that are like games

Attitude/Mindset shift enough or does there need to be more? Hopeless Optimism!

Thinking about this transforming work into a game bizness.

Is a simple attitude shift enough?

If you get up each day and say I am going to play, would that be enough to make it more engaging?

If you went into work each with the attitude that it was a game and you got to make moves rather than perform tasks, what would be the effect?

I think this shift, this simple shift could have an enormous benefit for me and probably a few others like me.

In my life, I am most ineffective when I am procrastinating or worrying about things.  I put all my energy into these thoughts rather than getting things done. 

For instance,
Debts and student loans and yada yada.  In the past I have avoided them because they seemed so monumental and daunting.  However, if I turn my debts into a game of monopoly, they could be handled.  If I looked at my finances like a game, I could have fun trying to get the lowest interest rates, making the best moves to handle these.

I talked about the TED talk of how gaming could change the world in a previous blog.  The speaker mentioned while playing games, gamers have HOPELESS OPTIMISM.  They have the belief that they can have an actual effect on the game.   Their mind is completely engaged in problem solving.

How do we encourage that hopeless optimism in our life?

The author of Icarus Deception also talked about this principal of life as a game and becoming a player. And as another layer, he discussed looking at life as being an infinite game rather than finite. 

With a finite game, there is stress and pressure and winners and losers.  In an infinite game, the playing is the goal.

The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct.

Carl Jung
Swiss psychoanalyst
1875–1961

No time!

This work business, or biznis is really time consuming.  I feel like Michael Scott in the Office when he is over rushed due to a crisis and a perfect "that's what she said" opportunity comes up:
"No, I need two men on this! That's what she said! No time! But she did! No time!"

I don't have all day to write a blog article, only a tiny little lunch break, so I gots to step up my game!

Again reading Icarus Deception and again loving it and guess what?  Convictions are once again being firmed up.

The author said we need to play at work, bam!!!! 

If there is a way to shift the attitude of work to one of play, people think about it totally differently.  Instead of completing tasks, they are making moves in a game.  (This idea is going to be followed up on in future blogs, going to paint some pictures really think this one out)

Also noted that art takes time and most blogs need a year before they hit their stride, so keep coming back.

Zorro's corner
Okay so when Zorro started wearing the black leggings without proper jeans or khakis over the them,  I immediately took a picture and sent it to my brother and sister so they could cringe and laugh at his latest antics.  This was months ago. Apparently my sister did not receive the picture because when she saw my dad wearing his "work uniform" as he calls it, she immediately asked,"What the hell are you wearing?"  and shortly later called me to find out if I knew about this situation.


Popper invasion!!!  These little guys may or may not be the face of Geo Popper.  Check out those hands, such strong hands, good for balloon popping!

Contest on! How many exclamation points are there in all my blog posts?

Okay, so I noticed I use an insane amount of exclamation points.

Instead of this being an "issue"

I'm turning it into our very first contest

What: Be the first reader to respond with which blog post uses the most exclamation points and if you think this is
a. too many
b. too few (yeahhh!!!!!!!)
c. a lame contest
d. an appropriate amount of exclamation points
e. other



Winner  will receive the high quality, very clever Playcadia t-shirt.

Flying a little too close to the sun, better than not flying at all

Just beginning Icarus Deception and it = awesome!!! (Sidenote hashtag icarausdeception awesome) (Sidenote, okay so I'm 29 going on 80 and dont really understand hashtag usage but like the way it sounds so watch out for plenty of hashtagging).

What's I.D. all about?

The author discusses how the story of Icarus plays into limiting beliefs. Icarus and his father were stuck on the island of Crete. To escape, the father made wings out of wax. They began flying and Icarus loved the feeling. His father warned him not too fly so high, so close to the sun, but in Icarus's wonder with the feeling of flying, he ignored his father's advice and flew higher and higher. The sun's rays became warmer and warmer and began to melt his wax wings. Icarus fell to his death.

The main moral that people tend to reach=don't fly to close to sun or else you'll die

play it safe, listen to parents, the man and yada yada

Author thinks this is dangerous message!!!!! Sure Icarus ended up plunging to an early death, but what about those glorious moments before, when Icarus was living, truly living?

Instead of flying high, and living and breathing and leaping, people fly too low, much to low.

Become cogs in wheel.

What then is the point of living???

So how do we fly close to the sun? The author believes each person is an artist, but not the artist in the conventional sense.

He believes an artist is someone who creates connections.

By creating anything that connects to others, that resonates with others, art is made.

I love that idea that you don't have to wear hipster clothing or try to mimic someone elses idea of art.

Take away points:

Opposite of coherence is interesting (love this! and logically these blogs = opposite of coherence, ergo these blogs=interesting)

Art doesn't fit in a narrow defenition, it is doing when you feel alive

pain=growth

 

 hashtag buster hashtag flying too close to the sun hashtag awesome!!!

Game on!!!!!! Geo Popper Happening, C-Dogg Attending Apple Conference, Things are Happening!

 

 

Suprise, suprise. Life got in the way and Game On once again went by the wayside.

I blame this entirely on working a full time job, how anyone gets absolutely anything done while working 9-5 is completely beyond me!

However, this daily grind even more so firms up my convictions that work has to be more like play if we are spending our entire lives there!!!

You might be thinking, "Same old story Coco, you are writing the same blog over and over and over again, I have little interest in your convictions, when praytell is there going to be a game????"

Well I just recieved an extremely exciting email from CDogg. C-Dogg is a veteran in the workforce and is able to juggle other things as well as work (although he does send his laundry out, if I find a pattern of such behaviors, I am considering changing his nickname to C-princess, your highness, Sir Chris).

Let's just say I felt like Kramer when he heard the 10 year bagel strike was over and he once again would be gainfully employed. We're back!

CDogg will be attending the June Apple conference.

What does that mean????

Game on of course!

We are using this date as our app roll out date, so my role:

1. Start creating a buzz for the game (this means blogs, tons of blogs, wooohooo)

2. Design a t-shirt that C-Dogg will actually wear

3. Hunker down for the madness that is going to ensue when Geo Popper hits the app store!!!!

 

What's Zorro's role? 

 

Good question, I'll update when I find out:)

Update:
C-Dogg decided Zorro is NOT to be in charge of t-shirts.  In his words, he will only wear Playcadia t-shirt that is high quality and clever. Snap.