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6 January, 2009

blue dots  What to do with my winter break?

Facing five weeks or so of down time, I'm weighing my options:

I could buy Warcraft 3, because I have a number of friends playing it and it's another burgeoning social game experiment. Or I could buy Half-Life 2, because that will be modded and I could learn the game and maybe the game architecture for future collaborations. Or I could work on learning Panda3D and maybe learn to make a game that way.

I could work on writing: plan out some articles about gaming, or mobile devices. Or maybe try to sell an article about my experience as a first-year interactive media student. Or instead of hustling for that work, I could just write - fill up all the blogs I have access to with stories and photos. Or I could write offline: expand my brain through the keys to see what's on my mind.

I could read some books - learn some things I don't know about and don't have time to explore during the semester: linguistics, water-usage laws, phrenology, pheromones, body language. I could explore Los Angeles! Learn about the layout and culture of one of the world's great cities. Re-read City of Quartz.

I could paint. I could cultivate friendships, go out to bars, maybe even dancing some. I could take swing dancing lessons.

Maybe I might balance a few of these things against each other - the choice seems important when I stand in the software store, holding Half Life 2 in my hands, or contemplating a copy of Grand Theft Auto - if I buy either of those games, I'm essentially saying that I want to spend many of the next two dozen empty days in front of my machines. Then I think, if I'm going to be in front of my machines, shouldn't I be deliberate about it?

Probably what I'll end up doing is just about everything, a little bit. My goal is to make a decent DVD of my first semester student work by next week. I should come up with another goal or two for this break so I don't just putter along. Wait - is that what some people call relaxing?

Posted by justin at December 15, 2004 2:44 PM

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