funontheupfield

I've gotten back into table-top role playing. Its was something I enjoyed at uni, gave up for most of my 30s and got back into last year.

Once a fortnight on a Wednesday after work I've been visiting A* place to catch up, to binge on greasy take away and tell a story with friends using dice. It's been fun, and we've been trying a bunch of new games that didn't exist back in the day.

The table top role playing games I played in the 80s and 90swere epic, complicated and took up many hours a week, every week for months at a time. (Does anyone remember Rolemaster?) I fell out of the hobby when I got busy and meeting every Saturday for a regular campaign felt like a big commitment.

Of the newer games FATE and Fiasco are my current favourites. They have simple rules that are quick to learn, quick to get started and help tell great stories. Both allow for short format (one - three sessions) storytelling) and look like great fun. I've played FATE (in an adventure were we played magic using cats), and I've read the rules to Fiasco and am inspired to give it a go.

Fiasco is a game inspired by Cohen Brothers movies and improvisational theatre. Each gaming session tells a complete story and can be thought of as a two act movie with a closing credits montage. It looks like a lot of fun.

The Fiasco Companion also has tips to running a game via video conferencing. I'm keen to try it out. I'll keep you posted with the results.

It's been a good week.

On the grand final weekend we went to Sydney. It was a bit of an impulse decision. M'Lady is in studying and at that point where all the assignments are getting close to the due dates. She's been spending all of her time in her study nook and going a little stir crazy. She still spent most of the weekend studying, but this time her view was of Sydney Harbour. I spend the weekend 'riding the trolleys', exploring Sydney's public transport network, comparing how their system against Melbourne's. Its a rare city gets public transport 100% right, but I found a lot to like in Sydney's PT network.

Work keeps me busy organising a community breakfast event in to support Ride to Work Day. I really like these events (The event is happens in the morning of Wednesday 12 October). I really like these events. They are a chance to meet the people who use the bike paths and other stuff my colleagues build. We hand out food, people are happy to see us and most of the feedback is positive. Getting a 'well done' from the public means a lot to me and helps recharge the batteries. So thanks everyone who comes along.

Outside of work I'm making slow progress with German DuoLingo. I've completed about a third of the lessons but my comprehension is still pretty bad. I've hit that difficult spot in the middle of a course; too far in to quit, to far away from the end to be excited about completing the program. I also need to revisit the question "What am I learning German for?", at the moment I don't have a good answer.

I commenced learning German because I harboured a fantasy of using my British citizenry and thus EU membership to migrate. Germany is a fascinating federation of places and to paraphrase Hegel always seems to be the embodiment of global historical trends. It has socialised medicine, affordable housing and car-free university towns. Its a place I could see myself living in.

The Brexit referendum has complicated that fantasy. My British passport is no longer a gateway to permanent residency in European nations. Soon it will be no better than my Australian passport, which is to say I'll need a professional sponsor who can offer reliable employment before I can seriously entertain migrating there. Seeking professional sponsorship means answering the question 'what kind of work could I do in Germany (better than a local) and who might be interested in hiring me'. Accepting professional sponsorship would also put me in a rather vulnerable position if the employer turns out to be .... difficult. Brexit didn't kill the idea of migration, but it does make pursuing it more complicated.

All in all I'm too far in and have too far to go (before I can listen to and understand conversational German) for "Let's learn German because its a nice to imagine maybe living there" to be a motivating factor. I need a new source of motivation - possibly a binge of German Language films.

So if I start developing an interest in DDR nostalgia, submarines, the surveillance state, 1970s revolutionaries or running around Berlin you'll know I've been keeping myself inspired watching classic German films with the subtitles off.

I'm having difficulty rejoining city life after my big bike ride. It's a problem I was aware of - and had hoped to address by keeping myself busy with some professional development activities. I've made a start, but it's too early to have a satisfying emotional pay off. Meanwhile my travelling partner has really thrown herself into her project and it's occupying most of her time. It's a little embarrassing to admit, but I'm feeling a bit left out.

Borrowing from Abraham Maslow I find myself worried about my sense of belonging, longing for community, and asking 'who is my tribe?' These concerns are distracting me from my personal improvement projects. Developing confidence from proficiency in new skills is a great long term goal but in the meantime I need to work on strengthening my circle of friends.

I was recently listening to a Future Tense podcast that discussed some of the shortcomings of using on-line socialising as a proxy for face to face contact. It resonated with me. Internet contact with friends was great on my travels - and really the only option available - but now I'm back I'm finding the medium doesn't have what it takes to be my main source of social contact.

One creative solution I really liked was the 1000+ coffees project . Matt Kulesza is guy who has set himself the goal of arranging a one on one, face to face meet up over a cup of coffee with each of his 1000+ Facebook friends. I think it is a cool idea. I'm going to shamelessly copy it.

Anyone for coffee?