good thing I broke it

I made a second video today for my art and afterschool students. unfortunately, after the video uploaded I realized that my tone was a little cavalier in encouraging small children to climb to the tops of trees. fortunately, before anyone could complain, I tried to fix the video and ended up breaking it for hours. it was unwatchable. so anyone who disapproved it would discover that it didn't work anymore anyway. problem solved. then I realized that it was broken and edited it to be less controversial (even though it really wasn't controversial to begin with) and now it's watchable and safe! hooray!

I also had a workout today that went really really well. The two really good parts of it were that

1) it felt great from the beginning to run fast. I felt controlled and fast and good right away and I stayed in control and fast and ran really hard at the end

2) when it was over, I didn't feel exhausted. I felt energized. I felt good. Like I hadn't beaten myself into the ground. and as I'm recovering better and resting more and running better I'm realizing just how tired I was and the hole I had dug myself into over the course of this year.

I hope I carry that positivity and enthusiasm into future workouts and they keep getting better! that would be nice.

running for the week

I'm really happy with how last week went for running. I think writing down what I wanted to accomplish made it easier to push myself.

yesterday I did 70 minutes on the trails pretty easy.

today I did 82 minutes pretty easy again.

Tues- 80-90 minutes. park at Purcell. warm up over to the Arboretum. run 4 loops and make each one faster than the last. cool down back to Purcell and finish with 6-8 barefoot strides.

Wed- easy 80 minutes

Thursday- 3x6x400 at 75 seconds on the track. 1 minute rest between reps. 2:30 rest between sets. maybe cut down on the last set if feeling good. big volume to make 5 min pace feel good. should be a really fun one.

Friday- easy volume. 70-80.

Saturday- 2 hours w/ some hill surges but otherwise moderate. 

should be a good week!!

D&D alignment chart: different ways to write your name

I know things are hard

I believe in you

to take these struggles

and draw strength to meet them. 

we take the world

and bring about change

as it changes us. 

happy birthday dad

today, or technically yesterday, is my dad's birthday. 

he's now only twice as old as me. meaning when I turn 29 in a month, I'll be the age he was when I was born. crazy to think about.

ideas:

-a series of 10 videos that show what fruits would be like as kings and queens. this idea was so funny to me that I almost came to a complete stop on my run when I thought of it

-a series of drawings where I use 50 little templates and draw different things inside them 

- series of drawings featuring animals

-a series of drawings using people's selfies as reference

-a large abstract drawing using tall paper and a sharpie

yeah!

Catching up

I had a great run yesterday. It was just a regular run but I felt good enough to want to run fast. That's always a good sign and usually means I'm recovering properly and fitness is headed in the right direction. So that was very exciting.

I've been drawing for hours since yesterday. Like, that's all I do when I'm not running. Which I don't mind at all. I did about 5 or 6 drawings yesterday and I could tell with each one I was getting better and getting back into it. So I'm really happy with what I've been making.

I did the 10x 1k workout today. It went okay. I psyched myself out and didn't look at my watch because I wanted to focus on the feeling. I thought if I looked at the watch and it wasn't going well that I would want to bail. What I take away from it was that

1) I was actually feeling really good and could've pushed myself harder

2) I still got in a very good effort

3) if I try this workout again, I will check my watch and not be afraid of utterly failing.

the splits were 3:18, 3:20. 3:22, 3:22, 3:25. long rest. 3:17, 3:23, 3:27, 3:18, 3:27.

so, understandably, since I wasn't looking at the watch, I didn't push as hard and the splits crept up over time. but that's okay. It's really a negligible difference between what I ran and hitting the exact splits that I intended. And I did a trick (not looking at the watch) that got me going. So I think it's fine.

Having said all that, I know workouts go better when I run with other people. So I'm going to reach out and try to do that more often. I know a guy in Harrisonburg and also a guy in Staunton who would be great to run with.

Tonight I'm going to draw more and tomorrow I'm going to draw more. And once I get 10 drawings I'm going to post them on Instagram. And then I'll be like, hahaha, I'm so clever. Or something.

the drawings are all about needing to protect ourselves from exposure and all of our interaction being mediated by technology.

tough workout. GOBLINS!

I went to the EMU track today and did a really good warm up and my legs were feeling surprisingly good.

The first set was a 200 then 3 min rest, 300 then 3:30 rest, 400 and 5 minutes rest.

200- 30. felt good. 300- 47. still felt good. 400- 66 felt pretty solid. it was windy.

and then I just didn't recover after the 400. I took 5 minutes standing rest and I knew I was more tired than I should be. The goal with this kind of workout is to hurt a lot and run fast. I felt like I couldn't run hard enough to hurt. There wasn't any drive and if I pushed it felt like I was running into the ground.

Second set

200- 32. 3 min rest. 300- 50. 3 min rest. 400- 73 (although I'm calling it a 72 because with 5 meters left, a woman ran across the track chasing after her dog and I had to come to almost a complete stop to avoid stepping on a corgi).

If I was in the shape I would like to be in, and the shape I think I should be in, I should've been able to run that second set faster than the first one. I'm not too discouraged though. It was a bit cold and windy to be trying to run fast 400s. And maybe my body is catching up after the increase in volume. I think if I were to try this workout in two weeks or a week and a half on a warmer day, it would go much better across the board.

Tomorrow is just a regular run and I'll be seeing if my legs feel up for a workout the next day.

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Anyway, I have a basic structure for my game set up but I don't have anyone to test it out on. Really I would want the kids I teach to try it because it was made with them in mind. But I won't be able to see them for...who knows how long. So I've decided to adapt the game into a comic and then I want to create short videos of those comics.

-GOBLINS!

-starring

-DIRTBAG. "disappointing things come in disappointing packages"

-JAMBOREEF- "not even close"

-BUCKLES- "thinks he's trying his best. but he is not."

-FLEM- "the worm that is caught by the early bird."

- Dirtbag: alright, you guys. the boss says we need to go in this dungeon and get all the treasure and bring it back to him.

-Dirtbag: I'm not gonna lie to you. at least a few of you are not going to survive this thing. this dungeon is full of traps and monsters.

Jamboreef: But, Dirtbag, are we not ourselves traps and monsters?

Dirtbag: What? No. We're goblins. The only trap you are is the trap of anyone believing that you'll ever do anything right.

Jamboreef: aren't goblins technically a kind of--

Dirtbag: Hush up, geekwater. The only chance we have is to be clever and think two steps ahead. Now, this floor is really easy. It's just a straight hallway and then we drop down to the next floor.

-the group walks past some graffiti on the wall that says, "GOBLINS R DUM"

-Buckles: hey, dirtbag! what's this say on the wall.

-Dirtbag thinks for a moment. Intelligence check: 6 is next to his head.

-Dirtbag: it's obvious what it says! it says quit wasting my time and keep walking!

-Buckles: oh. How'd you learn to read so good?

-Dirtbag: by not asking silly questions, that's how.

we see more graffiti that says, "BEWARE THE COLOR RED!"

end

readjusting

I think I'm slowly getting into a routine. I realized on my run today that I actually have a lot of time to get in some really good training. So maybe I'll draw up a schedule or something but I think I've gotten good at planning the week in my head.

Sun- Speed work. fast 200s, 300s, and 400s. maybe just two sets of 200, 300, 400. close to all out.
Mon- volume. 80-90 minutes.
Tues- if legs are feeling good- 10x 1k. 200m jog rest. all at 3:20. that would be a really good session.
Wed- easy volume.
Thur- probably another easy day. maybe with some strides.
Fri- hills.
Sat- LONG. 2 hours.

I might push Tuesday's workout back to Wednesday if I feel like I need another day.

I want to keep working on my game. I've very slowly been making space to work on it and also reached out to Justin this evening to get some help with it. I think the big thing I want to do is start play testing it or showing it to people and getting their reactions. I think that would give me a lot of motivation but that's kinda hard to do with everyone in quarantine.

I'm getting a decent amount of drawing in. I have another very large drawing that I'm almost done with. I also have some ideas for art videos that I would like to make for my art class. Short, silly videos that feature a drawing and talk about them a little bit. That could be fun.

It feels good to write this. I think I needed to write a lot of this out and was just feeling a lot of inertia today. Tomorrow will be more productive and I'll be in more of a routine.
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You find yourself in a small room. There's a trickle of water coming down from the ceiling in the corner to your left. In front of you is a locked door. There are no other entrances or exits. You notice in the corner with the water that some green mossy substance has formed on the floor, apparently being fed by the water.

-the players can try to listen to the other side of the door and they will hear deep menacing growling. they'll have to attempt to pick the lock of the door. if they take too long, they'll realize the green moss is spreading rapidly and trying to consume them. it's carnivorous! if they open the door they'll face a giant hog that will chase them around. the hog can only move in a straight line though. because hog mechanics.

what I worked on

made like 11 barriers for the game. didn't paint them. will go get paint tomorrow. 

I feel good. I feel rested. I feel productive but also not pushing myself. I think I've been pushing myself for a while and am enjoying doing relatively little. 

coronavirus closed schools

I've felt so much better on my runs after really resting the past few days. Kind of made me aware of how much less rest I'm getting this year. I'm more tired and I'm doing a lot more. I guess that's good in some ways. I think sometimes I just forget how my situation has changed and think 'oh I'm getting old, I'm washed up, it's not how it used to be." And then today I was reminded of how good running can feel when I'm rested.

Anyway, I'd like to use the time off to make this game that I thought up. It's what the last post was about. I think I've already written about it on here.

today I thought a lot about different things I could do with the game and different levels and things. I also cut a lot of cardboard pieces for the walls. Tomorrow I'd like to assemble the pieces and paint them and also cut some more. I'm not exactly sure how many I'll need. I guess I want to start by just making a bunch and then seeing what I need from there. I might also have to go to my classroom to get the board and start playing around with it.

I have three walls made and I just cut the materials for about 6 more walls. I guess if I had twelve pieces ready to go by the end of tomorrow that would be pretty productive.

Goblin Golf Level One

You find yourself in a dungeon. A small, dark, stone room with bare walls and a hallway that leads into a deeper darkness. There is a lit torch on each of the walls in the room. You hear the sound of water running in the distance. You look around and there is no apparent entrance. You do not remember how you got here. Your options are to stay put or go down the corridor shrouded in shadow. You look down and see that you are standing on a large stone circle with mysterious markings and swirls carved into it. There are no discernible letters or forms among the intricate lines that flow and writhe.

"Spooky" you think.

it's so nice

to be sitting here outside Guadalajara while it's sunny and warm with a light breeze. it's so nice. 

goblin golf

I was thinking about trying to make a game that combined like, mini-table top golf and Dungeons and Dragons. Because, all I ever do is combine some other type of game with Dungeons and Dragons.

But my middle-schoolers are making games in art and one student left behind a cardboard sheet with a bunch of popsicle sticks hot glued to it. He intended it as a marble run, where you hold it up vertically and watch the marble fall down the path of the craft sticks. But looking at it horizontally I thought it would be fun if you used a stick to knock some kind of puck or marble through the course and tried to get it in a hole in as few hits as possible.

And then I've also been watching this channel on youtube with this guy who teaches a media class at a high school and he films students playing DnD to teach show production and he also has a lot of tutorials on how to build modular sets for playing DnD. 

So I guess I was thinking of those two things and I thought it would be kinda fun if you had a big grid board or something and you planned out all these holes or courses that would kind of function the same way as rooms in Dungeons and Dragons. But I guess instead of being purely narrative or numbers based, you would also interact with the room through flicking the puck or marble or whatever. So there could be like visible enemies on the course and you could choose to try to sneak past them or try to attack them by flicking your piece at them. And they could also have a way of attacking you. You could also have traps and pieces that players should avoid using or touching.

My first idea was to construct a lot of different courses on many different boards but then I realized it would be a lot more efficient to create one board and then created different walls and elements that you could rearrange and reset after each hole. 

You could also keep the narrative/role-playing aspect if you wanted. I think it would be more fun that way. Ideally it would be a nice balance of skill with using the puck or piece or whatever and imagination and making stories out of what happens on the board. I could definitely build it. It wouldn't be that hard. So maybe that's something I'll start working on.

a plan I had

I finished a really big drawing the other day. Like the biggest drawing I think I've done. In terms of density of detail. This is it.

so what I'd like to do is print it out with poster mode, so that it's multiple sheets of paper large and then attach those to cardboard or something and have these large, DIY poster things. and then maybe try to sell those for like 5 bucks a pop or something. Maybe. I put enough hours in this that I'm willing to ask for money for it. we'll see.