Well first, the bad news. I finished the first blueprint of the my game. Before play testing it with others, my wife and I play tested it.
It took too much math. Nothing against math, but a game has to have a flow to it.
The way the first blueprint worked, players had to keep stopping to see if they could complete their tasks. That made the game stall.
So, I revised it entirely. Took out that component and replaced it with a faster system. Now, the game should flow more smoothly.
I’m almost done with the art. Allie and I have two more pieces to go. Of course, I’m doing the art and she’s modeling. Roxy modeled for a few of the pieces, but it’s mostly Allie and two male friends of mine, including a fellow musician.
Don’t worry, by the time it’s in the stores, it’s going to be so play tested that it will be a solid game. I want my first game to be fun. Decent is not acceptable. It needs to flow well and it needs to be re-playable.
I’m very pro-coffee
For some, their most important thing is their body. More power to them.
For me, it’s my mind. My mind has to be sharp and it has to stay sharp.
My biggest fear is losing my mind, aka, senility. I fear that more than anything else.
So I’ve done my research. I’ve studied studies. And I’ve also worked in retirement homes so I not only know who lives and who dies, but also who keeps their mind the longest.
I’ve said many, many times that I want to live to be one hundred. But it’s with a caveat – I have my mind intact.
If it’s not intact, then forget it. That’s the whole point of living that long – to really get the most out of this life.
So enter the wonder drug – coffee.
And enter the enemy – refined sugar.
The studies I’ve studied showed that folks who are drinking copious amounts of coffee, meaning 5+ cups a day, have significantly lower chances of developing degenerative brain diseases. As a gambler, I’ll play the odds. That means 6+ cups of coffee a day for me.
But black. Black as Elizabeth Bathory’s soul.
Sugar on the other hand is the enemy. I’m not talking about naturally occurring sugars like in apples and oranges. I’m talking about processed sugars.
I used to love sugar. I used to drink coffee with two teaspoons of sugar and a little bit of cream or half and half.
It took me three whole months to drink my coffee black. I did that simply by cutting down the sugar and cream little by little.
I also cut out Starbucks coffee too. That stuff is garbage anyways.
So first thing in the morning, I do my 50 push-ups, drink some water with a little bit of salt and lemon, pour myself a few cups of coffee, then do my Romanian lessons. I want to be trilingual by the end of this decade.
I drink coffee throughout the morning and by noon, I’ve already had six cups of coffee. After lunch, I don’t drink coffee though since it starts to interfere with my sleep patterns. I’ve learned this the hard way. I’m already an insomniac and don’t need to make it worse.
Grandma
Grandma lived to be almost 102. Her brain was still very sharp until the second half of her nineties.
She didn’t have senility when she died. She just lost that edge. She no longer was kicking everyone’s ass at bridge and it took her longer to think.
When I was growing up, Grandma and I drove across half the country together twice. At the time, she drank 10-12 cups of coffee a day. Even at night, she still drank coffee.
At 95, she cut down to 6 cups of coffee a day.
I know you’re not supposed to base a study off of one person. But she’s one of my real life mentors. I saw how she lived. She didn’t sweat the small stuff but when she wanted something done her way, it had to be done her way. There were certain things that she committed to and those things, she didn’t waver on.
That’s important. Very important. A lot of things, you have to let go because they’re simply not that important. But what is important, you don’t waver on.
I learned that from her. I think that’s one of the reasons she lived to be over 100. I noticed that too in the retirement homes. The people who were too nice died sooner. The people who stood their ground for certain things? They lived longer. Huge lesson in there.
But most of all – the excessive coffee consumption. Since I do both Classical composition and fantasy pinup art, I need my brain to last as long as possible.
Enjoy your coffee without apologies. It’s good for you.
Babes
I’m blessed. Every week, I get to work with two beautiful women. They’re also two of my closest friends.
I have several friends that I consider my closest. Some from high school. Some from college. Allie and Roxy are my newest.
We can talk about anything and everything. Anything goes. I like hanging out with people you don’t have to censor yourself with. They’re the best.
The ones I have to worry about offending? I don’t keep those.
Allie and Roxy both value their looks. They realize how important it is for women to look their best.
I can’t stand the “all bodies are beautiful” bullshit. That stuff is garbage. It’s not just bad for aesthetics, it’s bad for our collective wallets.
Also, fit people are happier. So many people get offended by me saying that but we all know it’s true.
A lot of people get offended by the truth. It hurts because you have to face it. A lot of people will either run from it or deny it. They don’t want to deal with it. They’re the ones kicking and screaming from reality. They simply can’t face it and they’re mad at you for being real.
Staying fit is one of the best things you can do for yourself. Anyone with any brains knows this.
Life is often a numbers game. Allie and Roxy both turn heads. Sometimes, I wonder if they’re going to give some poor chap whiplash. Back to numbers though, they attract more men. They weed out the weak ones. Only the most confident men approach them.
It simply makes sense for a woman to look her best. Relatively speaking, it’s easy for the average woman to be a babe. Simply watch your diet and exercise. And smile. Nobody likes bitchy faces. Bitchy faces even scare away children.
You don’t even have to be pretty. Only 5% of the population is naturally pretty anyways. Just have a smoking hot bod and you’ll turn heads.
Anyways, I’m working on another big painting. This one will be a close up where I really get to work faces.
I’m experimenting with a new type of shadowing too. If it turns out good, I’m going to keep this method. If not, I’ll revert. We’ll see.
