tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44918727172666111762024-03-05T18:56:59.685+07:00The Glorious Empire of SnellopySomeday I'll be famous. Or all powerful. All y'all'll be under my sway. Don't fear... I'll be a benevolently lazy dictator - once I shake my crippling addiction to commas.Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.comBlogger113125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4491872717266611176.post-4299188417481319992015-09-27T06:25:00.000+07:002015-09-27T06:25:53.973+07:00Habitica's Back to School Advice ChallengeMy back to school challenge addresses a group that's often forgotten about in these lists of things to do: the humble chalkie. Yes, some of the more generic lists and how to tips can apply to us, but not everything translates across perfectly when you're the one up the front out-numbered.<br />
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<b><u><span style="color: #674ea7;">Selective Gamification</span></u></b><br />
People often talk about life-long learning, making education fun and self-motivated, but rain down ire if you're not intently focused on each special snowflake's intrinsic needs every moment. The huge cachet of respect and the massive pay packet we educators get is meant to cancel out our need for fun and self-motivation.<br />
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In this regard, gamification can be a blessing and a curse. Long ago I went through and changed all my tasks into gamified ones, but soon saw the error of my ways. I would recommend leaving some obviously work related activities in their natural state, prominently displayed up the top (or use the tagging system meticulously on them) so you can demonstrate that no, really, Habitica IS a productivity website. Perfect obvious examples are taking the roll, marking homework, organising daily jobs like choosing a line leader etc. I rarely gamify my To-Dos since they are so ephemeral, and generally push the school based ones to the top as well.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">OK, so the fully focused one is semi-gamified</td></tr>
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I also have some school based activities gamified but with no reminder note for plausible deniability - such as holding off the zombie horde (being at staff meetings on time), slaying the giant (handing in my lesson plans by the due date), plucking the harpy (dealing with that parent). These have a separate, gamified tag, so that at the end of the day I can tick off those as appropriate.<br />
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<span style="color: #674ea7;"><b><u>Yesterdailies</u></b></span><br />
Another tag group I have is Yesterdailies. These are not merely school related (depending on your dedication and how much marking you take home it may be more useful for you), but there are some that are linked to my productiveness at school and could end up being self-defeating if I did them that day, such as being in bed by 10 and shutting off all electronic devices before that. I mark them off retroactively, talking about yesterday, not today.<br />
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<b><u><span style="color: #674ea7;">Checkboxes for weeklies</span></u></b><br />
You probably have a spread of subjects, grade levels or both. A grey checkbox daily that falls due on a Friday (though if you're running more than one of these for something, I would have them fall due on different days so you're not run ragged by perfectionist tendencies if you have them) is a good way of keeping track of them all across the board. These help to make sure that no area is being neglected because of a more enjoyable focus elsewhere. If you abhor marking and paperwork like I do, then a Meta one is a good way to make sure that all facets are being covered.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One student isn't much, but it's a baby step</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A meta one so I don't fall too far behind in any one area</td></tr>
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<b><u><span style="color: #674ea7;">Double dipping</span></u></b><br />
If you need extra carroting for something (like I do with marking), there's nothing wrong with motivating yourself using both a habit and a daily for it, or even a graduated daily. I make sure to strip the streaks off graduated dailies if I just did a tokenstic amount, otherwise I'll think I'm keeping up with everything when it's really not the case. I have a generic catch-all for annoying paperwork. For those "important" bits that are due weekly, they have an individual daily that lights up on the day it is due, but you better believe I also click on the generic habit as well.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlJM0zNjvIi9OPzj8pLlfUzUwBYF30F8qCgdPzxUgWDN7bLx3lIem2wJSyV3224fuX2u3iXl50RQr_vffnIeGYUKebFFYcb-75SPYrHRO5A9blVZopjP2MtbKtjGCJcklEnr0NaSOpSvY/s1600/more+marking.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlJM0zNjvIi9OPzj8pLlfUzUwBYF30F8qCgdPzxUgWDN7bLx3lIem2wJSyV3224fuX2u3iXl50RQr_vffnIeGYUKebFFYcb-75SPYrHRO5A9blVZopjP2MtbKtjGCJcklEnr0NaSOpSvY/s320/more+marking.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some days I am hammering on that daily like a rat in a Skinner Box</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #674ea7;"><b><u>Banked To-Do's</u></b></span><br />
I'm hoping that your school is less of a cowboy operation than mine, so maybe you won't need this one. Often at work I get blindsided suddenly by things that need to be done right now, whether that'd be new paperwork (needed yesterday), or my students haven't grasped what should have been a simple concept and I have to scramble to make resources to support them. Many of these things tend to be complicated and stressful, so to make sure that the payout is commensurate with the work put in, I have a couple of spare To-Dos that are a ripe, rich dark red. Instead of making a new To-Do and ticking it off instantly (which only gives a minimal amount of XP and gold), these elder ones help to adequately compensate for the running around with my hair on fire that is situation normal here.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Because I deserve it</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #674ea7;"><b><u>Clickable tags</u></b></span><br />
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This isn't just related to school work, but that is the main time I take advantage of this. Each of my tags has a perma grey daily which I click on when it has been a hectic, over the top day for it End of school concert, parent teacher meetings, sports days, marking semester exams, all those sort of things qualify. It also acts as a header, with most of the dailies or habits for that tag filed directly underneath it.</div>
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Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4491872717266611176.post-65339524908247651602015-05-25T14:24:00.004+07:002015-05-25T14:25:25.367+07:00Paint Chip PoetryRuth Long, that wonderful innovator who also goes by <a href="http://bullishink.com/" target="_blank">Bullish Ink</a> had a great idea for a more visual poetry month: <a href="http://bullishink.com/2015/04/01/the-color-of-poetry/" target="_blank">Paint Chip Poetry</a> and was kind enough to list the tools she used to make them all.<br />
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She also did a post working with kids, and I thought I could steal that idea too (though I now can't find it to link to it). I did something sort of similar with my first graders, but it didn't run as smoothly as I hoped it would. A fair few typos, and a couple of practice goes later, and we get some results that I can post (the delay was due to end of term insanity).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsmj6iaWvKujXQaHnf0gUt710C1a4d89V4xEZ6MMiMCOd-T3bpYf_6KXSJ-f7LaxEcKEWyAck-HpAQXU9QquQJPAxcGfpnaNUABJVFR5Rw5rB6mdXKc926_JjE_qTltZXDrASyDjJ_yBc/s1600/pcp+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsmj6iaWvKujXQaHnf0gUt710C1a4d89V4xEZ6MMiMCOd-T3bpYf_6KXSJ-f7LaxEcKEWyAck-HpAQXU9QquQJPAxcGfpnaNUABJVFR5Rw5rB6mdXKc926_JjE_qTltZXDrASyDjJ_yBc/s320/pcp+02.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yellow is the colour of the SUN!<br />
Yellow makes me feel HOT!<br />
Yellow is beautiful.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAXL61KtUpXvwW3JESqS4P7VdqPgXW2cysTKY4wDH1v5o44ARFsefn5zbkxnkwSynANZaOjyHv8_umt_7sfPDu0OjxuHyI6nZFPB-piIupUytYywbJ0LxecTIC0AeBZO5zgrhWs_7irKw/s1600/pcp+03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAXL61KtUpXvwW3JESqS4P7VdqPgXW2cysTKY4wDH1v5o44ARFsefn5zbkxnkwSynANZaOjyHv8_umt_7sfPDu0OjxuHyI6nZFPB-piIupUytYywbJ0LxecTIC0AeBZO5zgrhWs_7irKw/s320/pcp+03.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red can be lava and hot.<br />
Red can be the sun.<br />
The sun can be very hot.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirxs87aaVd6ehu1DPsS5cDG-lMFqui34zEojEn6IW_r6XmZU_wezzoPx5bSITwAL6IqpMqBGN0mAE0-c-HW5OHQiw_yRUSyc1MvWiEp1WZf-G7FU35J-tO5FTFgdCVG7-kdC27lBKBoYg/s1600/pcp+04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirxs87aaVd6ehu1DPsS5cDG-lMFqui34zEojEn6IW_r6XmZU_wezzoPx5bSITwAL6IqpMqBGN0mAE0-c-HW5OHQiw_yRUSyc1MvWiEp1WZf-G7FU35J-tO5FTFgdCVG7-kdC27lBKBoYg/s320/pcp+04.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Orange paint is the colour of orange. I am painting.<br />
Orange our uniform is when it is P.E. time.<br />
Oranges, are a fruit. We can eat that fruit. It is so... yummy.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhorB5n76oR69KovX7Re-NUKt3DYCWoE8rICmKQFvPbi1kQOec_VPVnrRCRXicAPqss8-3oLnwUYbd9Fz6-NzYMD3JTXa2GHZWQbqI4t0nM6w6U06ZNV7CNeCSBqmMCdn7qIdBT8m_tm1Q/s1600/pcp+05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhorB5n76oR69KovX7Re-NUKt3DYCWoE8rICmKQFvPbi1kQOec_VPVnrRCRXicAPqss8-3oLnwUYbd9Fz6-NzYMD3JTXa2GHZWQbqI4t0nM6w6U06ZNV7CNeCSBqmMCdn7qIdBT8m_tm1Q/s320/pcp+05.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red is a fire<br />
Red is Iron Man.<br />
Red is an apple.<br />
Red is dangerous.<br />
Red makes us burn.<br />
Red is a fire truck.<br />
Red is cool.<br />
Red is a mask.<br />
Red is a toy.<br />
Red is a car red is a ball.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVZ9EFT9dxwC8rXKhH8mVnhHFUoy58SY3jorqxyF8B-SvXNNyCaWvm4rWZPjcyLI3RDBt9F4wjdIp2mA2hRVtilrjjHyV-uHIJuXAaM_bg1uHKOEaQSo9tiZTCScrFePodhnyUwo7YlhQ/s1600/pcp+07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVZ9EFT9dxwC8rXKhH8mVnhHFUoy58SY3jorqxyF8B-SvXNNyCaWvm4rWZPjcyLI3RDBt9F4wjdIp2mA2hRVtilrjjHyV-uHIJuXAaM_bg1uHKOEaQSo9tiZTCScrFePodhnyUwo7YlhQ/s320/pcp+07.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Light yellow is the colour of the sun and a lemon.<br />
Yellow is like a banana to eat and lemons.<br />
Dark yellow is fun like sand and dirt to play.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizE6G31Wq3RPmuNUG1xFrx0IOMQFnPSdfdjKeYAHIgD60rsNaq-1cxUyskFNxu2kPiO9wP3hS4qjoq3l5e5mysWny5qmOvGwByjHvW2ZhF5HhyphenhyphenhtcUex-rlSBjPVAmv8vX76MZR8vj0w0/s1600/pcp+08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizE6G31Wq3RPmuNUG1xFrx0IOMQFnPSdfdjKeYAHIgD60rsNaq-1cxUyskFNxu2kPiO9wP3hS4qjoq3l5e5mysWny5qmOvGwByjHvW2ZhF5HhyphenhyphenhtcUex-rlSBjPVAmv8vX76MZR8vj0w0/s320/pcp+08.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Orange is like an orange bright school hat, and an orange truck.<br />
Orange is like the sun in the sky, and a P.E. shirt.<br />
Orange is like Aja's bottle.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxijSRSX7E5zoHakcPBwyZXDNAKk4W1eBdYmR3bU4_ogT9PNZ6LNR2_4CN0lbkawtj2LUX1YlzS72YWOlcYjpFZ9-OqChxEzyOLOmgoNgagyK2Ns8zgcTdUE1GeVYVQt8-fO7emPGb8hs/s1600/pcp+09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxijSRSX7E5zoHakcPBwyZXDNAKk4W1eBdYmR3bU4_ogT9PNZ6LNR2_4CN0lbkawtj2LUX1YlzS72YWOlcYjpFZ9-OqChxEzyOLOmgoNgagyK2Ns8zgcTdUE1GeVYVQt8-fO7emPGb8hs/s320/pcp+09.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Green is the colour of grass.<br />
An alligator's colour is green and alligators are dangerous.<br />
The grasshoppers are also green.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZsnQeru_RnLh9_qwzXeCVCBPEqJ_2suu1bX1OgS8cciJAVPNA-3PQ7HECqgjZTGxx6fBG0TN72I31NMN92DQFZzkG9JhKP30-wJddDdRU3sDS-YuUnvsma82JUycm3phkt9jrJjvkeiQ/s1600/pcp+10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZsnQeru_RnLh9_qwzXeCVCBPEqJ_2suu1bX1OgS8cciJAVPNA-3PQ7HECqgjZTGxx6fBG0TN72I31NMN92DQFZzkG9JhKP30-wJddDdRU3sDS-YuUnvsma82JUycm3phkt9jrJjvkeiQ/s320/pcp+10.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Once there was a girl that loved red.<br />
So she went to have a picnic<br />
and with everything she loved that was red.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkWU_cJtSg1XOsq1AaaLjUlRlxKjTqsdgfjSnX7bY73xsQtFoUKvq5fJK1G6BQ-J7rOMauQ78LgIswteDUc4u_oFgtjZw4nos_bwAoBaBur6SGLgZzGf3NLD2eNFoPcrUyTNtz8QF67t0/s1600/pcp+11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkWU_cJtSg1XOsq1AaaLjUlRlxKjTqsdgfjSnX7bY73xsQtFoUKvq5fJK1G6BQ-J7rOMauQ78LgIswteDUc4u_oFgtjZw4nos_bwAoBaBur6SGLgZzGf3NLD2eNFoPcrUyTNtz8QF67t0/s320/pcp+11.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I like green. My favourite colour, the green is like the grass.<br />
Green is like an apple.<br />
Green is like I live.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk_ikoFfH5LEbwnL_Z8doX3SvzRS4Jtj0uCZgG91bRep7pjgx1MiRwpwAWC6G-bEOKfW32IiCVUrystekBjcqrLNprqc3QCNsSrcGwqm7EAuXyz3DTf9KwQz29UJcvgnmUU4zE3fdViJQ/s1600/pcp+12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk_ikoFfH5LEbwnL_Z8doX3SvzRS4Jtj0uCZgG91bRep7pjgx1MiRwpwAWC6G-bEOKfW32IiCVUrystekBjcqrLNprqc3QCNsSrcGwqm7EAuXyz3DTf9KwQz29UJcvgnmUU4zE3fdViJQ/s320/pcp+12.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My dress is yellow.<br />
My book is yellow and brown!<br />
I like my yellow star.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih_sAdVBynRh_NpwT6IHP4V5jQVunI4piOtnjFi4QRIXG37XoLmaRTXbhHj9Kne1T7e5icPIM7eyS3nk2QfogjjiQuPXYq-xbHRugyYqbfqqyRtjVmmmXFJjYRwrgFSARtAJKRVkmCWo8/s1600/pcp+13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih_sAdVBynRh_NpwT6IHP4V5jQVunI4piOtnjFi4QRIXG37XoLmaRTXbhHj9Kne1T7e5icPIM7eyS3nk2QfogjjiQuPXYq-xbHRugyYqbfqqyRtjVmmmXFJjYRwrgFSARtAJKRVkmCWo8/s320/pcp+13.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yellow is like lemon that we eat.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqyxpng14uCkMxy8aZ8BYhkKHrXeq0EohH7jTYxEg0vf5pJkMJWwDXeOYjdTpEi69aZNIQrKJ7Yt8k_4tglYzh9x1McBBngAwGYrLFcGsqAtsBXMYaNbDhyJe80lcAHZNxolMUyQO3YZs/s1600/pcp+14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqyxpng14uCkMxy8aZ8BYhkKHrXeq0EohH7jTYxEg0vf5pJkMJWwDXeOYjdTpEi69aZNIQrKJ7Yt8k_4tglYzh9x1McBBngAwGYrLFcGsqAtsBXMYaNbDhyJe80lcAHZNxolMUyQO3YZs/s320/pcp+14.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Purple is like Rarity's hair and Twilight.<br />
Purple is Rainbow Dash's hair and Spike.<br />
Purple is Sofa and Rapunzel.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3DCOMRBi5cO1OO5PMcvpnIf44v9qTJri7h6t2nxj9fiH76APWo4_5cEMyhDqE_ZINXqwYj6FQginDQmgprpgOIpY9Dit-H-12SupIRPDw-xwGwglS7dunhh48KBXkqIAtxjwZ8Ji2vAA/s1600/pcp+15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3DCOMRBi5cO1OO5PMcvpnIf44v9qTJri7h6t2nxj9fiH76APWo4_5cEMyhDqE_ZINXqwYj6FQginDQmgprpgOIpY9Dit-H-12SupIRPDw-xwGwglS7dunhh48KBXkqIAtxjwZ8Ji2vAA/s320/pcp+15.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The fire is burning.<br />
Volcanoes are red.<br />
The flower is pink.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiR5CEN_Q5Vbh8rJZEjJdWpxmroapZOr1xB_lCClYPoIRcXUfpzKXzXS_xQ_yBlGO93UGAZbB3KZp1ugjNdhbHRBVJf1eGQpRk3JkwbaTt-sV_wVv9NUVatCEQo1Q_WYvXHlxKHOPZ10w/s1600/pcp+16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiR5CEN_Q5Vbh8rJZEjJdWpxmroapZOr1xB_lCClYPoIRcXUfpzKXzXS_xQ_yBlGO93UGAZbB3KZp1ugjNdhbHRBVJf1eGQpRk3JkwbaTt-sV_wVv9NUVatCEQo1Q_WYvXHlxKHOPZ10w/s320/pcp+16.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The tree trunk is brown<br />
A school hat is orange<br />
Skin colour is light orange</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Ne-2-uz1BeUUCOBm9lzKBKl3J2zX_-JDyfHX0-TS3G-foWmhBfhUUG3Ugd6J5lUL5j7f6uglJRw3FKQmt1-AQ6vWBSfgNnpqmie3eQN1y6IW1iNeOa_2byeT4q7R0Dv3Z4bvCjASQhU/s1600/pcp+17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Ne-2-uz1BeUUCOBm9lzKBKl3J2zX_-JDyfHX0-TS3G-foWmhBfhUUG3Ugd6J5lUL5j7f6uglJRw3FKQmt1-AQ6vWBSfgNnpqmie3eQN1y6IW1iNeOa_2byeT4q7R0Dv3Z4bvCjASQhU/s320/pcp+17.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red is the colour of a fresh apple.<br />
Red is part of the rainbow<br />
Pink is the colour of a princess</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4491872717266611176.post-30383161680546505082015-04-20T13:42:00.001+07:002015-10-28T17:00:55.745+07:00Using SuperBetter and HabitRPG in tandem<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I like SuperBetter and HabitRPG for organising myself. I’ve talked in the past about them (<a href="http://snellopy.blogspot.com/2014/01/habitually-super-better.html" target="_blank">here’s the first time</a>, a compare and contrast between the two an</span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">d an explanation of <a href="http://snellopy.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-habit-of-excellence.html" target="_blank">how I used Habit</a> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(though it’s changed somewhat since then). I’ve known people on both platforms interested in using the other, so I thought I’d make a post about how the two can be used in conjunction most effectively. It does mean that I’ve summarised parts of both of them here, so that people unfamiliar with one will go into the other with at least some knowledge.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This has ended up a lot longer than I thought it would be, so if you want the TL;DR version: </span><span style="color: #222222; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Use Hyperlinks in your task descriptions on Habit that point to specific tasks in SB. Click them off in Habit, open them in SB then comment on them and wait for ally comments.</b></span><span style="color: #222222; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Both SuperBetter and HabitRPG can be "played" in a range of ways. The way I've used them has varied over time, as my familiarity and engagement with them and other users has waxed and waned. In my opinion, there's more of a recovery mindset with SB users, and more of an improvement mindset with Habit, but they're not exclusive. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It seems to me that there's more people who need to make big sweeping changes - possibly involving a lot of real small steps at the beginning - in SB. If you've already got a lot of plates spinning in the air and handling it reasonably well, then selecting similar sorts of allies in SB might be more effective. However, I've had allies from all walks of life, countries, beliefs etc, and while sometimes I might roll my eyes and wonder what I've let myself into at first, they've all provided different insights and points of view that I hadn't expected and so I've learned from them, even if their suggestion was not something I followed up.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The way I am suggesting using these two sites in tandem is like so:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">SB for the deep, personal connections allies provide, focused on </span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">one</span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> facet that's important to me (in the past I tended to use a multi-pronged approach, but I am shunting the bulk of that stuff over to Habit). Habit for the normal day to day stuff (though I'll be winnowing that down), reminders, to-do list.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">New to Habit?</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Start slow (you can always add more). Use emoji and tags to help easily identify things. Set alarms, change your homepage, shortcut/favourite/bookmark the link so you visit</span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> at least</span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> once a day until the habit of Habit sticks.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">New to SB?</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Decide how much you're willing/comfortable with sharing. Prepare a summary of what you're up against, what you want to achieve, and what things you're looking for in an ally and send this as an email when you ally up. That way, they're not going in cold, and can start making a connection. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">New to both?</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Congratulations! You've got no prior baggage or expectations getting in the way. I really do think that both running in tandem in a focused, thought out program will be the most effective, and will be starting this myself real soon.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">When I first started using SB, and also when I started with Habit, I had no ideas what to list at first, then it exploded. I trimmed it down, but eventually it keeps creeping back up again, and you'll find things in multiple columns or listed in different ways all clamouring to be checked off. Scheduling a monthly/quarterly overhaul to cut down on feature creep is a great idea. Even if you find you're able to deal with more, you probably can condense, refine (or even remove) to make your lists more effective.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This post is part thinking aloud my overhaul, and partially signposting what I think would work well.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiliFlHsp_L8aiTRGr7tHy_pvFkp5kJm47JmBIVsHgV0SYksBBeRpXXHXhB2-wTgv0i9QW6hoL3uSqW0NKEx74tGqRDCaWGHqAuUZa3wsgFes_ZxT02ZR6HZwUbHQu8a5FKCes9ewXznGA/s1600/SB+logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiliFlHsp_L8aiTRGr7tHy_pvFkp5kJm47JmBIVsHgV0SYksBBeRpXXHXhB2-wTgv0i9QW6hoL3uSqW0NKEx74tGqRDCaWGHqAuUZa3wsgFes_ZxT02ZR6HZwUbHQu8a5FKCes9ewXznGA/s1600/SB+logo.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>For my SB setup:</b></span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I'm going to strip it bare of everything but the biggest issues I am struggling with, and largely try and stay focused on my big ticket item - writing - where ally support will be most beneficial. For me, that means some family items will remain as bad guys, but the bulk of my powerups, quests and Bad Guys are to do with typing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">On my first run through, most of my names tended to be flippant, but I made sure to give them detailed descriptions of what each one is, so that my allies know what it entails. If it's a Bad Guy, I liked to list in its descriptions some Power-Ups or Quests I can use to defeat it, or at least lessen the loss. I've seen allies doing it the other way too, but for me that seems overkill - it's more a case when I'm sucking at something I need a reminder of how to do better. This time round, they’re far more descriptive.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">To a large degree, I use Quests and Power-Ups largely interchangeably. Short, quick things I tend to put in Power-Ups, and most of the time I made recurring Quests, though I pretty much ignored the which day it falls due section. The way SB highlights that wasn't too effective for me.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir880_BgscdflX5cxBSm18Y0knZ-8Dugv1X1S3l6AKuhjfFC3nbb953x3dC-Firvw-VvEl1GfO6h48IAX2k7dhwOMjb3NuB0s6jRmj50ae9Hnn2gkFvsqhmOIrobnhqSzGWuYPu96CSq4/s1600/seneca+dailySB.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir880_BgscdflX5cxBSm18Y0knZ-8Dugv1X1S3l6AKuhjfFC3nbb953x3dC-Firvw-VvEl1GfO6h48IAX2k7dhwOMjb3NuB0s6jRmj50ae9Hnn2gkFvsqhmOIrobnhqSzGWuYPu96CSq4/s1600/seneca+dailySB.png" width="318" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Turn it on here...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP5z99kC86AsIVDcMkqbgGqidFgc8TINyzLDtPw1BkIRDxdnthIyeA_yCpyg5LYTRy4G3qHuiYRExfrMN4yqAvLK0guKUCTFBfXeL313N8di9cq5KP1Pho3lnqunuDQPoOQefpR7EIKZE/s1600/seneca+dailySB+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP5z99kC86AsIVDcMkqbgGqidFgc8TINyzLDtPw1BkIRDxdnthIyeA_yCpyg5LYTRy4G3qHuiYRExfrMN4yqAvLK0guKUCTFBfXeL313N8di9cq5KP1Pho3lnqunuDQPoOQefpR7EIKZE/s1600/seneca+dailySB+2.png" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And it pops up over here, on the right hand column, right where some websites have ads.<br />I'm so used to blanking that out that I never see it.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Allies: a summary</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Allies, and my interactions with them are my main focus of SuperBetter. Their different points of view, kind words and suggestions will all go towards encouraging me and making myself accountable to both myself and them. The more details I provide, the more help they can provide, and the stronger bond we form. This is the same whether I interact with them on my page, their page, or elsewhere. It makes a tighter bond and a more effective feedback loop. I've found this to be effective even after we stopped using SB. If you're both comfortable with it, would recommend in allying up in other ways too: emails, follow their blogs, friends them on other social media it can all help (so long as you trust them, and they trust you).</span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">While I want the bulk of my SB use to be on issues I'm dealing with and writing (my main focus at the moment for me), it's important to also add some things you feel good about and want to celebrate. All doom and gloom can be hard going for allies. Even if it's something as simple and small as three daily </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.7000007629395px; white-space: pre-wrap;">gratitudes</span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (which seems to be a very popular option, even if the daily bit isn't always daily), some silver lining will help.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">When you check stuff off, some explanation towards why you lost, or what you achieved, or your mindset that helped you win will help keep your allies informed and engaged, and spur conversation. Worst comes to worst, you've got a safe place to rant and rave about your <b>boss/customers/spouse/kid/neighbour/insert anger inducing thing</b> with a sympathetic audience.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Allies - give and take </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is nothing wrong with </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.7000007629395px; white-space: pre-wrap;">asymmetrical</span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"> alliances. I have posted lengthy, detailed accounts of all sorts of things, but I'm comfortable doing so. I've posted links to photos of my family and other things that could be used to identify me. I've shared Facebook details with some allies. I love having long, rambling conversations with allies where we solve all the worlds problems and then some. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">But that's not for all my allies, and that's fine. There's some I don't know if they're a bloke or a chick, and it doesn't matter to me if their either, neither or some other option I'm unaware of and have just unwittingly insulted. There's some who only interact with me on their activity feed, because they're still in the small step stages, and seeing me clicking things off in a frenzy depresses them, but they're up for having a yarn where they're comfortable, or in an email discussion, and that's fine too. </span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">There's some that type nary a character, but have gone through and liked just about every comment and click I've done, no matter how deep it's nested, and that's fine too (I'm assuming they're reading them as well, and even if they're not, I'm </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.7000007629395px; white-space: pre-wrap;">narcissistic</span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"> enough to enjoy having an imaginary audience hanging on my every word).</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">There are some that are kicking goals one month, and then struggling the next, that's perfectly OK as well, we all have ebb and flow in our abilities, interests and output. The only sort of ally doing it wrong is the one pointing at someone and saying they're doing it wrong (I'm whistling innocently now I've realised I've just done that).</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLIu-5v5dK3O_Kx7XJ5LeEinS-UoR1b-r_I1xpbe0P5kyXj-AnCXWBwoCwJ06U4_CqLvAC8980Qyjbbc1S4YjQUsfVmHvCESBotr0k9hxTtvvmo6c3gZvDTyCevVkuxmViMdOlzYUt5ZI/s1600/Habit+logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="105" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLIu-5v5dK3O_Kx7XJ5LeEinS-UoR1b-r_I1xpbe0P5kyXj-AnCXWBwoCwJ06U4_CqLvAC8980Qyjbbc1S4YjQUsfVmHvCESBotr0k9hxTtvvmo6c3gZvDTyCevVkuxmViMdOlzYUt5ZI/s1600/Habit+logo.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>My Habit setup:</b> I find the social side of Habit to be far more tenuous - the groups are larger, you can't see what people are working on, there's not as much interaction. This can be both a good and a bad thing. If I look at my guild lists with an unbiased eye, there's some that are fairly inactive, some that I don't really interact with and just skim comments, and some that are purely social, not productive (but that's not neccessarily a bad thing). I could streamline it by leaving a bunch, but it's not hurting me, and occasionally I pick up a good challenge, or some ideas, or drop a few words in a bit of banter.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I find that the daily little things that I need reminders of or some sort of gamification to encourage me to do (or not do as the case may be) go perfectly here. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Case in point, not checking my email on my phone when I get up in the night for a slash. It's a tiny tiny thing that you'd think I could brute self control my way into doing... wrong! Once I added it as a daily (really a yesterdaily, I check it off if and only if I didn't do it last night) it dried up. When I deleted it because I had racked up a streak and so obviously had it under control it came roaring back that very night... some adult I am huh? So I added it back in and now it's subsided again, mostly.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Unlike SB dailies, I find Habit Dailies effective in prompting me for the things I need to do on a regular basis effective as there is some penalty for not doing them (but as a high level cleric that tends to be losing my perfect day buff not the threat of death. I may have to look at my play style to bring that back in perhaps).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have some Dailies that are eternally grey. They work as master tags and bonus modifiers. I have a lot of habits that are also repeated some way in the Dailies column, because often the things I do are not things that </span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">must be done</span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> today right now. For me its frequently I have a smorgasbord of things: I could be doing any of these three things. Having extra tasks I can tick off help me to prioritize (sometimes with questionable logic) and escape the inertia in of making a decision because I am spoiled for choice. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.7000007629395px; white-space: pre-wrap;">A while back I gamified everything, to make it more immersive, but I've since moved away from that stance, just for convenience. Some things still keep their names, but I've largely been adding them as what they are.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>A hypothetical blank slate on both sites:</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Here's some screenshots I put together for a mate who tried Habit recently. He was interested in improving his drawing, effective studying, getting more exercise, and dancing</span></span></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTYjzB0eBRukJulNnXzlB5q_MS0PFw3CpkDxyQmVIx0xKtc6IOfFDZm7rhyWclH6zCHpB4QY4kxfZncYA3JISANITqD7FH1ONGaX2f1pbu4Gja8Kb1wo_f44VeyrBJc9olfs-gLsEX4lc/s1600/Everything.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTYjzB0eBRukJulNnXzlB5q_MS0PFw3CpkDxyQmVIx0xKtc6IOfFDZm7rhyWclH6zCHpB4QY4kxfZncYA3JISANITqD7FH1ONGaX2f1pbu4Gja8Kb1wo_f44VeyrBJc9olfs-gLsEX4lc/s1600/Everything.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">All the things!</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLqdMOEvBJ0A-tPnwsev-VoVwivn2pf4me6ApNZDDF-zL3AcxDszPT6s6a2lFLxEyQXqjXEjAKKhK_jvM8j_6bwuxm796ruUX15xkx-V43LF-saOUdeBJfDUtzqh6AZmh8ppK78mpsci8/s1600/just+school.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLqdMOEvBJ0A-tPnwsev-VoVwivn2pf4me6ApNZDDF-zL3AcxDszPT6s6a2lFLxEyQXqjXEjAKKhK_jvM8j_6bwuxm796ruUX15xkx-V43LF-saOUdeBJfDUtzqh6AZmh8ppK78mpsci8/s1600/just+school.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Just school</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji9VwxorsJO_GpcYrPv48ydHRtJV26599I8_44SQTTa1wQwqGohFgiaJf3KFsOWQLr6E2hfJfdX06_Up8ukmHf_N0A_zglndqx3w8O5Fijf97M2avrC0AE9nBii8104BB3K-eYAfBUcNU/s1600/just+art.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji9VwxorsJO_GpcYrPv48ydHRtJV26599I8_44SQTTa1wQwqGohFgiaJf3KFsOWQLr6E2hfJfdX06_Up8ukmHf_N0A_zglndqx3w8O5Fijf97M2avrC0AE9nBii8104BB3K-eYAfBUcNU/s1600/just+art.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Just Art</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1epbnysYBN92R4zN9lFss4zkiyozxx-LAYqpNRTcLyXTItG3_cGeCGgA0xwOTWGfK20vubIpNWp17Z0wgyPFumrlu9_AfZJP9Zu_C8gypOKrbYzrh6nl3LC8uXjJ6aFAP-NJBhBOXi4c/s1600/just+dance.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1epbnysYBN92R4zN9lFss4zkiyozxx-LAYqpNRTcLyXTItG3_cGeCGgA0xwOTWGfK20vubIpNWp17Z0wgyPFumrlu9_AfZJP9Zu_C8gypOKrbYzrh6nl3LC8uXjJ6aFAP-NJBhBOXi4c/s1600/just+dance.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Just Dance</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgadxkdWkiriCslc3OpZFZM3uu5Dkynplol5Bd5AlhPjhXvBcr3gK_vsgT63rjpxuDuf8m3N3zK5KfD7jlDYdpiNwZ5ttA_Q3w1DxmGrWLiUxQRaTu4ibNrEVXNCkOe7J5T8Uai4Vv2hPU/s1600/just+exercise.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgadxkdWkiriCslc3OpZFZM3uu5Dkynplol5Bd5AlhPjhXvBcr3gK_vsgT63rjpxuDuf8m3N3zK5KfD7jlDYdpiNwZ5ttA_Q3w1DxmGrWLiUxQRaTu4ibNrEVXNCkOe7J5T8Uai4Vv2hPU/s1600/just+exercise.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Just Exercise</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first: An overview of everything. I made everything tagged, emojied, weighted (some hard, some easy) some greyed out completely or due on certain days. The one's following: clicking on the various tags brings up only those entries.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Over the years I tried to get him on SB too, but I didn't have any luck. Here's a quick mock-up for SB I've just made. Much of it is condensed down: instead of the different types of exercise, there's just exercise - the breakdown would be added in a note he'd type in, and if he added some more detail then his allies could interact with him apart from just "Way to go mate." There is also some double up: <b>Stayed Up Too Late</b> is a Bad Guy that you can lose to, <b>OR</b> you could win it, <b>OR</b> you could click on the Power Up <b>Went to Bed on Time</b>. Why yes, I <i>do</i> work at the department of redunancy department, redundancy division, why do you ask? The reason for this is so that we have positive things to help guide positive thoughts, and also because there's a difference in my mind from actively going to bed early, and happening to notice just in time that it's nearly my assigned sleep time and making a mad scramble for bed. Having different ways of recording it does allow for some nuance. This was also a quick 20 minute example, and the real deal would be modified as needed, so take it with a bit of a grain of salt.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkXY3kjJXhnRbxFGnPEbftgeYnFpLmxgD-THQ2itWyZU3r9viIPyDUVlI7X-bkmUmdIvMkcrbKhW91pAr4SQbOI-3208K3e1zxa3ahJTjeW4ERQAEpVjgw2uw7pHVrbxLFPYRIUYRG9PA/s1600/bg1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkXY3kjJXhnRbxFGnPEbftgeYnFpLmxgD-THQ2itWyZU3r9viIPyDUVlI7X-bkmUmdIvMkcrbKhW91pAr4SQbOI-3208K3e1zxa3ahJTjeW4ERQAEpVjgw2uw7pHVrbxLFPYRIUYRG9PA/s1600/bg1.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Bad Guys</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5F7ucqPFFQyn1wU-LQCoyumewgvCDboCK09pl74hdgX05k2j8n03agIesFkJ3xtucx4uW1b28VdFKhJR7TWtuBCWOJORzK9EDKM8PLMEr04lYsQ81Yos7zuKSKixVCxApEo47VIq1Pkw/s1600/pa1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5F7ucqPFFQyn1wU-LQCoyumewgvCDboCK09pl74hdgX05k2j8n03agIesFkJ3xtucx4uW1b28VdFKhJR7TWtuBCWOJORzK9EDKM8PLMEr04lYsQ81Yos7zuKSKixVCxApEo47VIq1Pkw/s1600/pa1.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Power Ups</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg11Van8wdIBCZElqUvnVS5oZObWGtUc4zNJjipD1-ZHpxAYZnE8H9TVd-2jRuM878-6SffxjpeRn6xQQBb_ksRt0rABxAkDImZs6-JBAuOg_hcP9Y2sfZUJa2UsAfCy4go1jjn01ZSYVk/s1600/q1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg11Van8wdIBCZElqUvnVS5oZObWGtUc4zNJjipD1-ZHpxAYZnE8H9TVd-2jRuM878-6SffxjpeRn6xQQBb_ksRt0rABxAkDImZs6-JBAuOg_hcP9Y2sfZUJa2UsAfCy4go1jjn01ZSYVk/s1600/q1.png" width="295" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Quests page 1</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkZZ2oL9LwGjcO808dyYEibtXyV4UDpdrWGtvFe3a-YYKLc4QJt-NKoJtPHvgx7XFPwTy74sLH3G2iXNX3qMOafEDbVao7Fec4vhWAAsIvDCGK-4vVzo9dTRLssEtanUeRD3bT4vfVMJk/s1600/q2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkZZ2oL9LwGjcO808dyYEibtXyV4UDpdrWGtvFe3a-YYKLc4QJt-NKoJtPHvgx7XFPwTy74sLH3G2iXNX3qMOafEDbVao7Fec4vhWAAsIvDCGK-4vVzo9dTRLssEtanUeRD3bT4vfVMJk/s1600/q2.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Quests page 2</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">There's a lot more clicking around to get things ticked off (Quests, Bad Guys and Power-Ups are all on different pages, and then you need to select the one you want, then if you did it (possibly also picking the difficulty level as well) so if time is of the essence, recording victories and losses elsewhere then entering them when you can also add the comments to explain them to your allies would be my recommendation. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Also to be added would be assignments/exams as once off quests. In SB, they'd be in the To-Do column, but I'd be recording the due date somewhere else, as neither site fills me with confidence for reminders of when things are due on time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>How to use them together:</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now that everyone has an understanding of how to use the two sites and a quick example of what a starter set would look like in both, it's time to get all synergistic up in this place. The way I would suggest this is to use Habit as your main site of data entry, using the magic of clickable links in your titles thusly [Name of the clicky bit you're clicking on](actual link) in your actual naming of tasks, like so. That means that after you click on the plus you did it, you click on the link, and it takes you directly to where you mark it off on SB.</span></div>
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This from my artistic friend:</div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfcIPqBYN5yXRlMsqbpt4msNQbn8U7QoUZ3LoC01qF6g7a6Pg04oOJo6HvNt1UeUj89Wzz-OBEktV9-1fiqbRNpOjdBo5MWcNATYwi9xHzj5iQpVTGC24W1jeed4eOuMwgf5m8mLNlkRU/s1600/post+to+gallery.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfcIPqBYN5yXRlMsqbpt4msNQbn8U7QoUZ3LoC01qF6g7a6Pg04oOJo6HvNt1UeUj89Wzz-OBEktV9-1fiqbRNpOjdBo5MWcNATYwi9xHzj5iQpVTGC24W1jeed4eOuMwgf5m8mLNlkRU/s1600/post+to+gallery.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">From the Habit column in Habit</td></tr>
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Would go directly to this:</div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Wnr-w3Q-90kyoERnkxpB5Fti-ezCSK9Kw_G92YjeqGbCo2h0bnI8s_izkrVwoEZ_zGNn3kkJVxZq-ea7OfZDJsEKPN9E1Vhh4yfd4aAMpXMlHDbKBaOYNfPY9-Pf5fto9SL1NTkWLck/s1600/post+to+gallery+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Wnr-w3Q-90kyoERnkxpB5Fti-ezCSK9Kw_G92YjeqGbCo2h0bnI8s_izkrVwoEZ_zGNn3kkJVxZq-ea7OfZDJsEKPN9E1Vhh4yfd4aAMpXMlHDbKBaOYNfPY9-Pf5fto9SL1NTkWLck/s1600/post+to+gallery+2.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">The Posted some art quest page, ready to check off</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">After clicking everything off in SB, go back to your activity feed and write your notes to keep your allies informed, and bask in the feedback they provide.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">For battling Bad Guys, you could even make separate Habits for them at different difficulty settings (that was often something I forgot to adjust when clicking it off). This would especially make sense if you're a subscriber in Habit, as the data retention would possibly give you more info (I'm not too sure about that, graphs don't really do it for me and I barely glance at them).</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Enough of the Hypotheticals, let's get back to <u>me</u>:</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was planning on visiting Dr. Meta soon (a cull and overhaul of Habit) and so I guess no time like the present. A before screenshot of EVERYTHING before I started culling:</span></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH-RWDYuQ4kYWsNvMlWfn3rSZAqGNeYknQ0tsvqB52Ql4Pp1fBMpYuNsaQfOBrqIZT7RehcwmFPfNR6z-1MkNoDtW7l_nVs-RAUNm2NXra5sEizPC9uCUaWyWjHmEHpAaqzzLKAT12u1k/s1600/All+the+things.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH-RWDYuQ4kYWsNvMlWfn3rSZAqGNeYknQ0tsvqB52Ql4Pp1fBMpYuNsaQfOBrqIZT7RehcwmFPfNR6z-1MkNoDtW7l_nVs-RAUNm2NXra5sEizPC9uCUaWyWjHmEHpAaqzzLKAT12u1k/s1600/All+the+things.jpg" width="113" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">A lot of those To-Do's got added and never looked at again</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I then went into SB, and stripped out all my old stuff (even the ones that I am still going to keep) so that it reset the counters. I thought about what I wanted to add back in, and how it would relate to Habit. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Here's my new, improved Habit everything screenshot.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6R3MKiOLKscshHTiinsL8KvwRbxtgMUTak80qXQw6_WcX1qofNYlEnHEqWVfvstXwyE9spTnsh1ysEluLxoFmv0wKVQUIEbUxKeoxWht49miu5tP3ojj3A25VCMFqgBdOFEmy9dd1wAU/s1600/new+all.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6R3MKiOLKscshHTiinsL8KvwRbxtgMUTak80qXQw6_WcX1qofNYlEnHEqWVfvstXwyE9spTnsh1ysEluLxoFmv0wKVQUIEbUxKeoxWht49miu5tP3ojj3A25VCMFqgBdOFEmy9dd1wAU/s1600/new+all.jpg" width="179" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Possibly there's still too much going on?</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">NOTE: I'm not a productive dynamo and powered through a ton of To-Do's, instead I weeded out things that had become too much of a "some day, one day" thing instead and ditched a couple of challenges I made for myself in my private guild because I'm not focused on them at the moment, they were just cluttering up things.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicobf9k_WIJElDjouJjG6HeZochPydprxRg66IXJsvJek_QDPP3XOD7MD_yHodmF6N3nqieJJCSoaeSAnHoT-Pl6VF5xqw76sYdB-Zodh3akIjY8LmDoVhYpaGcuCtRdO8jbNyxw4WSDE/s1600/justSB.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicobf9k_WIJElDjouJjG6HeZochPydprxRg66IXJsvJek_QDPP3XOD7MD_yHodmF6N3nqieJJCSoaeSAnHoT-Pl6VF5xqw76sYdB-Zodh3akIjY8LmDoVhYpaGcuCtRdO8jbNyxw4WSDE/s1600/justSB.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Here's a list of things that have the SB tag, the ones under the SB headings with extra emoji are purely related to SB (I use a tag separator for every tag grouping I have, even if they're not always filed under it because of reasons). You see that most of the others have the hyperlinks set up, so when I tick them off in Habit, I can tick them off here too. For the visiting the ally Daily (greyed out at the moment as I have no active allies), I'll add a check box for each ally. They will likely only be ticked when I've posted a few comments on their pages (I'm quite an active and chatty ally), and the comment-storm Habit will be for the long rambling discussions that I love. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">After swapping between the three groups in SuperBetter (Quests, Power-Ups and Bad Guys), this is the lists I've ended up with:</span></span></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPWJF7INebB_Goy8TGOXIavP949XxCTMFmpP1D3scnvLDtZuYpTSjR89f8fMjUyc40VFds89GVqEltKLPyO4EX73Q-85yxLxQPQ3oe__I_Mhd1zXQs-je-Eqkw71_O6fTfdtcWCMtCuro/s1600/my+quests.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPWJF7INebB_Goy8TGOXIavP949XxCTMFmpP1D3scnvLDtZuYpTSjR89f8fMjUyc40VFds89GVqEltKLPyO4EX73Q-85yxLxQPQ3oe__I_Mhd1zXQs-je-Eqkw71_O6fTfdtcWCMtCuro/s1600/my+quests.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Quests</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3MqrNGyF0ypwjFAiH5XpVuSBdgnkYBLqfOMu8nVfHQuH6w56k0_ruWpVNq_QlwEQ2iXIKN6BIxfPM17mBRo_s8X69zIV4VG0L1_kmr2qk9XgnSiTdsYsXu0pxLL1qU1lv5kg6XjyMB8s/s1600/my+power+ups.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3MqrNGyF0ypwjFAiH5XpVuSBdgnkYBLqfOMu8nVfHQuH6w56k0_ruWpVNq_QlwEQ2iXIKN6BIxfPM17mBRo_s8X69zIV4VG0L1_kmr2qk9XgnSiTdsYsXu0pxLL1qU1lv5kg6XjyMB8s/s1600/my+power+ups.png" width="279" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Power Ups</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Bad Guys (there was too many for one screen so I zoomed out a bit)</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">It's much smaller than my lists from Habit, but that's because these are the things I am focused on, and don't want to distract my allies with other things. Allies can click on them, see my track record, and my detailed description so they know what's going on. In my first email with them where I give them a summary, I will be describing what I am doing in relation to each one, and some ideas of what I'm looking for from teaming up with them. </span>Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4491872717266611176.post-56466758624244131732015-03-09T13:29:00.005+07:002015-03-09T13:29:59.924+07:00State of the Empire<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
I've been a slackard in regards to posting here, but that's because I am in the process of reinventing myself. Of course I'll still be me - I'm not <i>that</i> imaginative when it comes to these sorts of changes, you just have to look at how many dwarven clerics I've been in various games over the years. But I have been getting gradually more focused in writing. I know it doesn't look that way here, but that's because I've been trying my hand in a few other writing sites as many of the competitions I've followed and participated in for a while have either folded or I'm having trouble hitting the word count in the assigned time due to either perennial laziness or trying to put together a book. That's not moving as fast as I would like it to, but it is progressing a lot better since I decided that novels aren't for me (just yet) and hit upon the idea of a collection of short stories. With my attention span, that's far more doable.</div>
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I did work out though that just putting a book out there is not enough, it is going to need some other support from me as well, so I have been brainstorming on that front too. Obviously I won't be able to publish as Snellopy, so this brings us circuitously to the reinventing of myself. There's already a famous David Ashton writing books so I am going to run with Dave James Ashton. So to that end, I am largely going to be focusing on that site now, at least in regard to fiction. That means that this website will be.... I'm not quite sure at the moment, but it has been wanting for content for a long time. Posts about <a href="http://superbetter.com/" target="_blank">SuperBetter</a> and <a href="http://habitrpg.com/" target="_blank">HabitRPG</a> are about all I can think of off the top of my head. </div>
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I am not convinced that I hare many/any followers here, but on the off chance I'm not just talking to myself I would be grateful if you join me over at my new home: <a href="http://davejamesashton.com/">davejamesashton.com</a></div>
Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4491872717266611176.post-9750962799519531522014-09-16T17:12:00.002+07:002014-09-17T11:04:54.680+07:00GrowthShe was, yet was not.<br />
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A scion of the sprawling and stately Viridian-bound-by-Sienna.Mere potential, not yet her own entity. She waited. Impatient to be... powerless to begin.<br />
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Finally released with the rest of her cohort, they lay abandoned. Some were snatched up by a night forager, the excitement palpable as they were jostled and shoved. Her excesses stripped from her, she rolled into a shallow indentation - one of the lucky ones. Discarded and abandoned, she lay nestled amongst the leaf litter and other detritus of the forest floor. Near her, less fortunate kin wasted away before even coming into the birthright of their names.<br />
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At first she believed a similar fate was in store for her. But as the days lengthened and warmed, she felt the fabled stirrings and realised the time of portents was nigh. A new fear gripped her, the uncertainty of the unknown. Good or ill, it would have to be better than longing for change - a beginning. Unsure of what to do, she sent out tendrils seeking for support and nurturing. Although tentative, she was successful and this gave her the confidence to try something even more daring. Gathering her courage she fought to grow and rise above all that was concealing her and keeping her down. Hard though it was, finally she surfaced from the soil. Basking in the warm glow of evening sunlight, she experimented with unfurling her newly crafted leaves. And so it was in the way of her kind that she finally came into her name. "I am Jade-superceding-Blue!" she declared, thrusting her stem towards the vault of the heavens. The forest was impassive in the face of this announcement, for the emergence of yet another sapling is a common occurrence, one that happens frequently every day. Undeterred by the apathy, Jade-superceding-Blue knew eventually the rest of the forest would indeed take note.<br />
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<i>The passage of years is erratic for trees. Often characterized as timeless and wise in fiction, this is not always the case. To them the march of days can blur together… one sunset after another, though they acknowledge each has a mystery and splendour all its own. Seasons pass in a companionable, complacent silence with only the susurration of their leaves in wind and the ceaseless chant of sap marking time’s progress. Yet other moments can feel drawn out, their consciousness crystallized and concentrated in an instant. This deep introspection for the trees can be triggered by almost anything and they become lost in wonder for what feels like an eternity then transcribe their emotions in a flurry of activity. Though few humans can interpret their messages, their ways of communicating are of great interest to their own kind and many creatures of the woodlands as well.</i></blockquote>
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It was not long until Jade-superceding-Blue made her first expressive artwork: the interplay of dappled shadows cast by her branches upon the ground. As she was new, there was little recognition for her. Her next attempt - the the creaking of her boughs in the strong gusts that heralded the arrival of plump raindrops - caused a sensation. Soon those elderly trees that surrounded her began to seek out her insights which were vibrant compared to their own tired discourses. As she grew out of her awkward sapling stage, Jade-superceding-Blue vowed to never ossify as they had done, instead to always be reinventing herself and following her passions wherever they lead.<br />
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Deciding such a stand should not be made in secret, Jade-superceding-Blue announced it to the forest in an ostentatious riot of blossoms that shocked the deadwoods. Her audacity caused many more to champion and flock to her, but her statement was not for their benefit. Instead it was her attempt to stay true to herself. Before suitors could even begin to curry her favor Jade-superceding-Blue caused the bulk of them to recoil in horror when she developed a knot in her bole, which was her moving portrayal of a butterfly eaten while concealed within its chrysalis.The rest of her coterie abandoned her as she spent the better part of a decade considering the first frost of the season in silence. Intertwined new growth which was the result of her meditations upon it received a response that was muted at best. Jade-superceding-Blue followed it up a few months later with a sprinkling of leaves that was a joyous paean to clouds. While she was happy with her creation, many thought it was passé and overdone. Their opinions did not worry her, uninterested as she was in accolades. She garnered notoriety once more with a niggardly fruiting, which encapsulated her disdain for the abundant and unbridled fecundity of her peers: plenty of words, but little substance. After a period of contemplation, she next set forth a torrent of pollen which was meant to be symbolic of the deluge of ideas she felt swamped with and her inability to choose which one to commit to. Many took it as an apology for her previous work, and derided her for selling out and going mainstream.<br />
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So it goes even now, the slow sonorous cycle of the changing seasons aped in miniature... her tenuous new growth reaching ever skyward derided as immature posturing, the folly of a washed up artiste seeking the limelight again; then her foray into peeling bark marking her as a feted celebrity. Loved or loathed, through it all Jade-superceding-Blue remains immune, happy in doing what she enjoys, secure in the knowledge that hers is a name of renown.<br />
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*****<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was a special one off piece, with a prompt given to me by a great mate who saw me say a while back that I should do more writing, and came up with the idea. She even took a screenie, including a typo (so much for proofreading on my part):</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Though it can hardly be considered as <i>flash</i> fiction, seeing as how it’s taken more than six weeks to get around to posting it. Some of that was because I was trying something new: writing it solely on my new (well, new back when I started) phone - a Galaxy Note 2 that Tho got me specifically for the stylus for writing. While the handwriting is faster than pecking away at tiny keys, it does occasionally do some weird stuff, and I tend to play with silly writing styles to see how good its recognition abilities are. Madeline is also a fan of presumptuously ordering I hand over the pen and the phone. Editing wasn’t done on it though, as that’d be a painful.The piece in general was an interesting exercise. I did a lot more passes in the editing of it, trying to weed out repetitive word use and to live up to the high opinion I have of my friend. It also makes me wonder if for my normal pieces do I do enough of that - I will have to go over older pieces and see how they hold up with a more critical eye to editing. I was hoping to make it to the botanical gardens and take a picture of the banyan tree there as it is the largest, most impressive tree hereabouts but getting there is not as easy these days as it should be. I did manage to get a picture of a new seedling on the family farm in Dong Anh though, so that is at least something. </span><br />
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Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4491872717266611176.post-71169649189528124112014-08-28T17:05:00.000+07:002014-08-28T17:05:30.864+07:00Five Sentence Fiction - Waiting<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just scraping in before the cutoff for the topic of <a href="http://lilliemcferrin.com/five-sentence-fiction-waiting/" target="_blank">waiting</a> for <a href="http://lilliemcferrin.com/" target="_blank">Five Sentence Fiction</a>. It's not autobiographical... I think >.></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Aspiring Author</span></u></b></div>
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Things are too busy at the moment so I'll wait till they slow down to start writing. Wonder what's on T.V. tonight? Nano isn't really for me, I'm more of a planner. Where's my muse when I need her?<div>
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Epitaph: Wish I'd written a book.</div>
Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4491872717266611176.post-61095683979575379262014-08-15T14:20:00.000+07:002014-08-15T14:23:00.852+07:00State of the Empire Address<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">Well, it's been quite a while since I've done one of these, and I've been dormant for ages so it seems appropriate to do it now. The new school year is about to kick off, and I am at a new campus (with the same company) so while a lot of my old complaints will still hold true, but there will also be a delightful newness, helped in no small part by swapping to Year 1 International (so that means I have the same class for the whole day, and have finally ditched the third grade text books which were <b>horrible</b>). I will have a lot less typing time as it will be a more hands on, but I'll also have less marking too - something that makes me very happy. That will just mean I will have to be more focused in my free time. They do like their forms and paperwork here, but I guess it is only fair that I atone for previous years by submitting it all on time.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">I went on a short hiatus here while I was working on a project I have been referring to as the <b><span style="font-size: large;">Honkin' Big Book Project</span></b>. But "working" should be in air quotes, as the end of the school year with a newborn at home wasn't quite the best time to choose. I do have plans of working on it, especially now that I am largely waking up around 5 o'clock or so most days due to one daughter or the other. I have slowly been weaning myself off my early morning clickbait feast, and by small steps I'm becoming more productive then - so long as neither Madeline nor Rosalyn wake up again. I intend to go back to posting more regularly here, even if it is just something short. I have however also found <a href="http://imythess.com/" target="_blank">a nice new place to play on</a>, so I will have to do my best not to spend all my free time there</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">To aid with all this I have just recently finished a rather drastic overhaul of <a href="http://habitrpg.com/" target="_blank">HabitRPG</a>, coughed up for a subscription and used another orb of rebirth. I still hadn't hit level 100, but once again standards were slipping a bit. I also hadn't really been using the Habits column much, relying instead on Dailies and To-Do's. I've pulled a lot of no-core activities that I've either mastered, are too easy or aren't what I want to focus on, and dropped some challenges that were equally distracting. I'm excited for the new start of the school year, and new focus that I've got... we'll just have to see how long that lasts.</span></span>Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4491872717266611176.post-45348373199758057502014-05-14T15:34:00.002+07:002014-05-14T15:35:10.195+07:00Zoinks and Jinkies<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This week's entry for <a href="http://lilliemcferrin.com/" target="_blank">Five Sentence Fiction</a>. The topic is <a href="http://lilliemcferrin.com/five-sentence-fiction-doors/" target="_blank">Doors</a>.</span><br />
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As a kid I'd always loved Scooby Doo, the chase scenes especially. In one door then out another, on and on. Running away from different monsters (back then they were <i>scary</i>). It's not so great, now that I'm dead. It's the best explanation of the afterlife I've ever seen.<br />
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<br />Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4491872717266611176.post-55598722587685793262014-05-13T16:08:00.001+07:002014-05-13T16:08:34.673+07:00The Clockwork Thurmaturgist<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is my entry in the <a href="http://ruth-long.com/?p=481" target="_blank">Dirty Goggles</a> <a href="http://brewedbohemian.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Stempunk/Dieselpunk</a> flash fiction challenge. You’ve got till May 18th to get your entry in in, so there’s still time if you hurry. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Title: <b>The Clockwork Thurmaturgist</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Word Count: <b>795</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Name/Twitter Handle: <b>Snellopy</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Category: <b>Steampunk</b></span><br />
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<b><u><span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">The Clockwork Thurmaturgist</span></u></b></h2>
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Satiated after a sumptuous repast, the members of the Xerxes Club repaired to the smoking room for postprandial brandies. After some appreciative murmurs about the quality of the liquor, there was a lull in the conversation. “That was a passable tale you told over the roast Higginson old chap, yet you’ll not win the bet. Not by a long shot!”<br />
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“Years ago when I was just starting out in the business, I went through a period of following up all sorts of unlikely leads, on the chance that there was something there that most sensible people would ignore. I was reading a poor translation of a familiar Babylonian tract looking for any inconsistencies. The dashed thing was full of them, and the script was abominable! I was about ready to throw it away in disgust when I noticed a whole page where the scribe was blathering on about a key with peculiar qualities. Completely unrelated to the text. You have heard all this recent faff about a blind watchmaker? Well, think of this key as crafted by a blind locksmith. No lock, shackle nor bond was able to resist it. I at first wrote it off as poppycock, but as a lark decided to run it by a technomancer I’d recently heard about who was billing herself as the Clockwork Thaumaturgist.”<br />
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“When I got to her abode I nearly turned round then and there. Not out of fear mind you, but because the shingle above her door was so plain and shoddy it could have been that of a drunken cobbler. Upon seeing her man who opened the door however, I felt much more inspired. His livery was spotless and presentable, but he himself seemed not all there. He gave me a quick apology about difficulties with phase shifting, and led me in fits and starts to an audience chamber. Once again, my spirits sank, for the room was crammed with gewgaws and cheap gimcrackery such as mechanical nightingales wittering away and crystalline perpetual motion machines.”<br />
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“After a short wait, I was received by a mere slip of a girl that I took to be yet another servant, till she turned her head and I saw a flywheel where her cheek should be. She gave me a frank glance then had the temerity to ask me if I was sure I was wanted to engage her services for something as venal as pecuniary affairs! Wanting to hide my disdain - just in case there was something to her powers - I merely nodded. ‘Very well,’ said she ‘the price will be your shadow and all that it entails and implies!’”<br />
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Without hesitation I reached out and shook her hand. For a moment the very air glowed with opalescence of a multitude of colours, then things… changed. Her hand, which had first been lithe and pleasant to grasp, now felt cold and grainy. The tuneful warbling of the birds had become harsh and jarring. Nowadays I’m am used to these minor adjustments, and prefer it, but at the time it was most vexing.<br />
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Offering me a small smile, and bade me follow. Down a short hallway we came to a nondescript door which she flung open. The room - if indeed room it was - was cavernous, the walls distant and shrouded in writhing shadows. Suspended from an unglimpsed ceiling was a large orrey of astounding detail. Walking to a summoning circle that was currently overshadowed by mighty Jove much as Damocles by his fabled sword, she set about inscribing it with sigils and equations. From a nearby tool rack she selected a range of parts, pipes and tubing of copper, glass and some that had definitely been organic. After tightening the last screw, the Phillips head in her hand served double duty as a wand and she did an admirable job of Bartholomew's invocation in Old Eldritch.<br />
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The creature she summoned was all horned and befanged - a denizen of the ninth netherhell if I’m not mistaken. I knew not what dialect they communed in, but after a heated discussion it disappeared in an actinic flare. A mere moment later it did return, yet breathing heavily and with one arm hanging useless and bloody. ‘Here is your prize, wrested by my minion from Raoul Ibn Wazarik... the Djinn of the Trackless Namib. Yours now and fear ye no repercussions, this is not the first time that he has held something of interest to me.’<br />
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She escorted me back to the door which this time opened upon the street and sent me on my way, before I had uttered a single word in her presence. The key has served me well, and not just in the telling of simple wagers such as this!”<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://31.media.tumblr.com/4b1857273f6f4f0dd832af8959ae3dc1/tumblr_n278qzauE51roez34o1_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://31.media.tumblr.com/4b1857273f6f4f0dd832af8959ae3dc1/tumblr_n278qzauE51roez34o1_1280.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://oldfridgescankill.tumblr.com/image/82980708674" target="_blank">Picture source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4491872717266611176.post-91006794139434121132014-04-16T16:57:00.001+07:002014-04-16T16:57:03.977+07:00Scientific Discourse<div class="MsoNormal">
"Scales? Oh, my goodness no! Such a miss-informed opinion
only hangs on in ‘popular’ culture my friend. You see, further research has shown that velociraptors are
actually covered in feat-"</div>
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"Shut it and ruuuun, Doc!"</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXY76ZVl114ftP-Yc3juqzrbzgKjKHFMGtMMo8qXU-iFw3NLuNc8iUucxg-XA2M_vd40zGVhdufMN846Zpz0K8ZK1isCxzEHIPoluQTqbkxi5_gBJJmgmCtqiJM-dL-w9L77hJuP4remU/s1600/FSF.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXY76ZVl114ftP-Yc3juqzrbzgKjKHFMGtMMo8qXU-iFw3NLuNc8iUucxg-XA2M_vd40zGVhdufMN846Zpz0K8ZK1isCxzEHIPoluQTqbkxi5_gBJJmgmCtqiJM-dL-w9L77hJuP4remU/s1600/FSF.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been lax at joining in at <a href="http://lilliemcferrin.com/" target="_blank">Five Sentence Fiction</a> the past few weeks. Does just what it says on the tin, though I do my best to pare down my normal meandering sentences (unless it's for character). The topic this week is <a href="http://lilliemcferrin.com/five-sentence-fiction-feathers/" target="_blank">feathers</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I couldn't resist a scaled - <b>and</b> feathered - Velociraptor for an illustration.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYiHnwzA0eXQA4gprS_M3UXNLT0K5qaWmBMUYzR2uynw8Vl23HImPFwbeTPSIJp8lB-7v3ucs3c7DxsjXqQDANOXqo8tmUkZTHYmYs_CAzlWqWuH1EWTMR_Dv6aYaVFNpnd_YeLp7UdIA/s1600/raar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYiHnwzA0eXQA4gprS_M3UXNLT0K5qaWmBMUYzR2uynw8Vl23HImPFwbeTPSIJp8lB-7v3ucs3c7DxsjXqQDANOXqo8tmUkZTHYmYs_CAzlWqWuH1EWTMR_Dv6aYaVFNpnd_YeLp7UdIA/s1600/raar.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fantastic picture found <a href="http://adventureswithben.com/destinations/north-america/united-states-north-america/canada/calgary-airport-yyc-arrival-halls-world/" target="_blank">here</a>.</td></tr>
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Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4491872717266611176.post-8662387775181659872014-04-16T16:46:00.001+07:002014-04-16T16:46:38.217+07:00Ik-Naa<div class="MsoNormal">
With every prod the fire crackled and danced, illuminating
the night with vermillion flames. Nictitating membranes closed to guard against
errant sparks, the Kthakii scanned the slumped corpses. Beardlings. Their
watchfire had been ineffective for none of the lesser beings could make out the
form of a Kthakii as it hunted silently on moonless nights such as this. </div>
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Ik-Naa reached out a dactyl and traced the hair that
sprouted from the slain dwarf. Plaited together with the others, it would have
made a decent first offer for a seat at the upcoming ritual. In hindsight it
seemed that dismembering the delicately fingered Woodlander in a fit of pique
had been… unwise. Severing the heads, Ik-Naa drew the sigil to create a niche
Beyond, and placed them there for storage. Not deigning to taint its palate
with such a lowly meat, the Kthakii vaulted to the air, wings flung wide.</div>
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Back at the colony Ik-Naa was unable to sleep, even long
after the Sky Fire had driven all others deep underground. Reveling in the
unfamiliar tingling on its scales, the Kthakii felt invigorated. Before long,
Ik-Naa came to a solution that made it hiss with delight. It would summon a
host of new prey, from other continuums, times and places. Tonight’s haul could
still be put to good effect as a pitiful opening gambit, making the final offer
even more striking. Truly, this would ensure a victory that would garner
immense prestige.</div>
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Reaching into the space carved in No-Space, Ik-Naa roughly
sheared the fibres from the trophy heads with a talon. Then - as an added
insult to the other competitors - Ik-Naa wove the rope itself, rather than
commanding a lesser race to do so. Next the Kthakii prepared a flayed hide with
incantations and unguents. These ensured that the message would be translated
and propagated to many worlds. When read, they would capture the entity’s
essence, adding it to Ik-Naa’s collection. It paused for a moment, then began
to write... With every prod the fire crackled and danced, illuminating the
night with vermillion flames...</div>
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<a href="http://alissaleonard.blogspot.com/2014/04/finish-that-thought-41.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDj9j29k6psaAof-_2germo4DDb96WwOOeQSGqdJwkAV0m_HFOsqhmG8UDdIFEWe6fzkJn06vd3mVrYCe3BBT8QFYdg3qzH_pzejnxrWEEkittzDhQQ6WWXU8tbsFNG5n2B6GKZtJYAo4/s1600/FTTLogo4.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://alissaleonard.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">For Finish that Thought</a>, you get the first sentence, and away you go. Just a day to write it, that's all. I didn't think I'd be able to play often, but such a short time frame does wonders for my attention span - or at least it has for the past two weeks. This time, the bonus challenge was to make it a cliff hanger. At first I thought yes, but now I'm thinking no. </span></div>
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Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4491872717266611176.post-39879165242917550962014-04-14T11:17:00.001+07:002014-04-14T11:33:41.268+07:00Do you see her much?<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Do I see her much?" </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Only every time I close my eyes. When I blink. When I stare into space. When I can't sleep. In my dreams. Out the corner of my eye. Always.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Nah, not really. We just drifted, you know?"</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://yeahwrite.me/gargleblaster-157/"><img src="http://yeahwrite.me/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/gargle157.png" /></a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">I've found a new lightning fast place to find prompts: </span><a href="http://www.yeahwrite.me/" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Yeah Write</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is an entry for their <a href="http://yeahwrite.me/faq/gargleblaster-faq/" target="_blank">Gargleblaster</a> Challenge - it has to be 42 words on the dot, and open to the first 42 people. <a href="http://yeahwrite.me/gargleblaster-157/" target="_blank">This week (#157)</a>, the prompt is <b>Do you see her much?</b></span>Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4491872717266611176.post-43411677047566559392014-04-10T16:13:00.002+07:002014-04-10T16:13:54.993+07:00Way Up HighShe stood in the doorway, unable to believe what she saw. A trail of clothes, leading erratically from the hallway to the chair to the wall and finally ending at the bed. The covers were in a crumpled pile that was lurching spasmodically, threatening at any minute to cascade over the edge of the bed. A rhythmic creaking was emanating from the mass, with an occasional grunt or squeal providing some variation to the beat. Sighing, Janice quickly strode over and whipped the blanket off.<br />
<br />
Surprised by the light, the twins looked up and started giggling. Sue, her skirt demurely tucked under her armpits squealed "Mummy! Jump with us!"<br />
Clad only in a shoe (with the sock inexplicably on the opposite foot) Sam clapped happily nodding all the while.<br />
Biting back a smile at the way her daughter’s curls were escaping the hairband, Janice reached up to undo her necklace. “Let me just take this off, so it doesn’t hit me in the face,”<br />
She placed the ruby necklace down on the bedside table. “But I think I’ll keep the rest of my clothes on.”<br />
The pair started to pout, so she took off her rings. “But you two can wear these, if you want…”<br />
After a ragged cheer and some time to admire their new finery, the children ‘helped’ her onto the bed.<br />
<br />
While still bouncing, Sam said in a small voice “I wish daddy was here, too.”<br />
The levity of the moment gone all too soon, Janice knew she had to do something to rekindle the fun. She grabbed the photo next to her discarded necklace and held it close.<br />
“He is, children. He is.”<br />
All smiles once more, they started jumping. Sam started singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow and the others soon joined in. They bounced unsteadily to the beat.<br />
“Mummy, if we jump really high will we be up with Daddy?”<br />
Unsure of her voice, Janice paused for a moment and ran her hands through her daughters’ curls. They were so evocative of her late husband. “No, sweetie, you still have a lot of jumping to do before you get to visit daddy again.”<br />
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<a href="http://alissaleonard.blogspot.com/2014/04/finish-that-thought-40.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXcu8gOCbHdy4SDuYFnBlNn0sGlA1yweiV7nBwooPlRKLImQc9rZIZ8PXPIML9D2vOl7iD2ThID7lMSMrsy5wX2BawP7jbVaZxL0eMKXcjGMSP8N6IbT5DTk5KGT-m1Zn4G5-vmhPJykk/s1600/FTTLogo4.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was my first try at the <a href="http://alissaleonard.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Finish That Thought</a> flash fiction prompt <a href="http://alissaleonard.blogspot.com/2014/04/finish-that-thought-40.html" target="_blank">week 40</a>. You only have a day once the prompt goes live to finish a story, so I'm not sure how often I'll get to play along. I did get it entered on time, but posting it here took a bit longer. You get a starting sentence, and a challenge to throw in. This time it was a gemstone. Mine was a tad tokenistic this time round. Given a re-edit, I think I'd have spent some time tying it to a present from the husband. Originally I wasn't going to have him dead, just a workaholic, and have him burst in roaring like a dinosaur, having come to an epiphany about spending time with family, but I'm a tad glum at the moment.</span>Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4491872717266611176.post-1273890636930304692014-03-17T12:23:00.000+07:002014-03-17T12:23:06.059+07:00In Memoriam<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I posted this for the Mid-Week Blue-Buster's anniversary <a href="http://thetsuruokafiles.wordpress.com/2014/03/11/mid-week-blues-buster-week-52/" target="_blank">last week</a> but didn't have time to put it up here until today. It was originally a lot longer, but I had to cut the first few opening paragraphs, and condense all the activities together. First time I've ever really banged into the word cap for any flash fiction. And happily, it placed second.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/c0NRrBNMpFM?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Tramping in to do their filial duty, the visitors looked anywhere but at his face or the frail hands that gripped the blanket. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“I’d dearly like to spend today talking to my grandson, Michael,” George Weiland said, gesturing for the rest of them to leave. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“He’s becoming a fine young man. I want to give him some pointers for the future.”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Giving an audible sigh, Michael pulled one headphone out and rolled his eyes. Fan-fucking-tastic. “Hello Grandpa! HOW is the FOOD?” thumbs still busy on his tablet, the teenager nodded his head a few times, a tokenistic smile plastered to his face.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“At the moment, you stand to inherit the bulk of my fortune, so long as you help me with my… what’s it called… bucketlist.”George held his hand up. “I don’t expect friendship, but I do want a modicum of respect - even though the things will be downright childish. Let’s start again shall we?”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“You serious? What do you want to do?”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“For now? Get here early tomorrow, with a backpack. While the nurse who gives me a sponge bath has a good figure, I most definitely do not. And I’m sure you don’t want to see me semi-naked.”</span></span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-2bc6e6ec-ce7d-c023-86bc-46425d12935e" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Michael knocked on the door frame, worried he was late. George waved him in. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Load all that stuff in your bag, and then load me in that,” he said pointing at the wheelchair. “We’ll need to see Tallulah. I hate that bitch, but your grandmother loved her.” </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“What about the nurses?”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“They’re in on it.”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Still expecting to be stopped every step of the way, Michael pushed the old man out of the hospital. After the wheelchair was loaded into a taxi, George gave an address and leaned back, eyes closed. Left with nothing else to do, Michael pulled out his iPad.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“So can you drive stick?”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“What? Why?”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">George smiled. “Better hope there’s an app for that.”</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">They stopped at parking garage. Waving away the wheelchair for now, George walked slowly over. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Mr. Weiland! Everything is as you asked. Right this way, sir.” A short distance away was a pristine Oldsmobile, in mint condition. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Hello, Tallulah, “ George said, hand on the bonnet, eyes misting. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“I’m doing this for Cynthia.” He hobbled into the passenger seat and threw the key to Michael. Engine purring, they drove sedately out of the parking lot.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">”Let her off the rein, I’ve got my seat belt on. To the funfair!” The speedometer leapt and the tyres squealed, and once again George closed his eyes.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.lasalleclassiccars.com/pics/db/image_2584.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.lasalleclassiccars.com/pics/db/image_2584.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picture from <a href="http://www.lasalleclassiccars.com/pics/db/image_2584.jpg" target="_blank">her</a>e</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">The rest of the day passed in a blur - a pastiche of childhood joys. Toffee apples and paper planes, jumping castles and blowing bubbles, swings and balloon animals, paddle boats and ice-cream vans. They watched the sun setting over a sandcastle they’d been constructing on the tide line, and once again George closed his eyes and sighed. Thinking their adventure over, Michael stood up,dusting sand off his knees. </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Back to the hospital Grandfather?”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Nonsense! We’re just getting started! Time to change into something more suitable, then hit the town.”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Are you sure? We don’t want to over do it. Maybe tomorrow would be better?”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“For a long time I’ve known there might not be a tomorrow, but this is the first time I’ve actually acted that way.”</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">After belting out a few tunes at a karaoke joint, they grabbed a cab to another address George rattled off from memory. The neon was garish and the place was packed. After looking around for a while, George made his way slowly to the bar, placing an order that made the barman laugh. He pointed to a raucous table that was strewn with many empty pitchers before paying and heading over. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Gentlemen,” he said, “May I invite you to join me in multiple screaming orgasms?”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Frowns. Laughter. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“The fuck did you say, old man?”</span></span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“My wife had a rather coarse sense of humour and she loved approaching strangers and making that offer before buying them a round of drinks. It would have been our anniversary today, so please - these cocktails are on me.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4491872717266611176.post-42715186973923684172014-03-06T16:58:00.000+07:002014-03-06T17:00:01.577+07:00All Ye Sinners<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is only the second time (I think?) that I've managed to participate in the <a href="http://thetsuruokafiles.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Midweek Bluesbuster</a>. The idea for this prompt is always a song, but you can use anything about it - lyrics, pictures, the vibe of it - for the kernel of your story. It's also got a very forgiving word limit, which makes me surprised I haven't attempted it more often. Even the times I've not had a stab at it, I've often listened to the song a fair few times.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thetsuruokafiles.wordpress.com/2014/03/04/mid-week-blues-buster-week-51/" target="_blank">For this week</a>, the song was Put Your Lights On by Santana, featuring Everlast.</span><br />
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The tavern was on the disreputable side of run-down. That was to be expected since it was so far from the major trade routes. Aithan didn’t mind though, he felt more at home ministering here than in the lavish marble palaces of the cities. He had been doing the work of the Gods for the best part of a century, and it certainly showed. Only a few whipsy tufts clung to his pate and his right eye was milky with cataracts. The other was disconcertingly blue, like a nostalgic summer sky from your childhood. They were deeply entrenched within wrinkles, paradoxically carved by both a stern visage and frequent laughter. He smiled to himself as he finished the bowl of broth before him, and then called for another beer. Mean as this inn was, it would be a fine place to serve Tai, the God of Remorse.<br />
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As the evening wore on and the other patrons became more raucous, Aithan decided it was time to start the service. Doddering over to settle his bill, he fumbled his purse before staring myopically at the coins within. He tapped his way out of the bar leaning heavily on his staff.. He’d barely gone a dozen paces when he heard the door slam behind him. A couple of the surlier patrons quickly caught up to him, smiling in a way that carried no warmth.<br />
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“Father, a moment of your time, please!” one said, taking hold of his arm.<br />
“Mmmm… a moment, mmmm...” Aithan said, nodding his head a few times. He stopped walking, and turned slightly towards the fellow on his left. Cupping his hand round his ear, he spoke again. “Mmm… speak up, my son! What ails you?”<br />
“We’re poor, father. Mighty poor! Perhaps you’d be kind enough to give us alms?” he said, fingering his dagger meaningfully.<br />
A snigger behind him.<br />
“Yeh father, mighty poor! I’m guessing a man of the Gods like yerself would feel right blessed giving us all your money as alms. A blessing for all of us, and best all round.”<br />
“Mmm… blessings…” Aithan began. Then in an instant his visage flipped from that of a kindly old fool to a rictus of fury. His raised arm scythed in a vicious arc, catching the would-be brigand in the temple. The man reeled away cursing extravagantly. Aithan spun round, his staff sweeping the legs out from first one then the other, their knives clattering away. A few quick blows to the pair of them and the were cowed and bloody.<br />
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Reaching into his robes, the priest produced a small pouch. He took a pinch of incense and smeared it liberally on a potsherd before flinging it on the ground and invoking Tai’s name. The cries of his “assailants” now magically muffled, Aithan set to work. Methodically he hit them with his staff, smashing finger bones and causing multiple fractures in their legs. When he was satisfied the damage would be beyond the healing even of an acolyte of Tuan, Aithan ceased the sermon. His Lord’s work done, Aithan wiped the blood off his steel shod staff and set it ringing against the cobblestones in counterpoint to the psalm he was belting out in closing. Let them in the cities have their indulgences and silks. He served the Lord of Remorse by being the cause, not remedy.<br />
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Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4491872717266611176.post-10477001867677915542014-03-04T16:33:00.001+07:002014-03-04T16:33:56.808+07:00Dealing with Corporate OfficeWhat do you mean the it's too late?<br />
<br />
The paperwork has already been processed?<br />
<br />
I've already been <b>replaced?</b><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">THIS SENTENCE REDACTED TO KEEP THE STORY PG </span><br />
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For future reference, re-sign and resign don't mean the same thing!<br />
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*****<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Happily they haven't been that incompetent yet. But there's always the fear lurking at the back of my mind when dealing with them (and my contract is up for renewal soon). Usually my sentences are crazy long, full of comma splices and parentheses but in <a href="http://lilliemcferrin.com/" target="_blank">Five Sentence Fiction</a> I try and make it as short and to the point as possible. This week's topic is <a href="http://lilliemcferrin.com/five-sentence-fiction-misunderstanding/" target="_blank">misunderstanding</a>. The sentence wasn't really replaced, as I'm quite an accomplished swearer, and there's no way I could limit such a tirade to five paragraphs, let alone one sentence.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVIHhJs8N7KJDbHM_yPrut474WEQt3xStjfdBiHSR8QSVLRx2LKl7LmXufY5KNnXR3ua02we65_iiDCl8sXWqMMWVhQKQoBR4ZF_Dz0FKkAtljdKvB79WImJPe8Zemx1Ase56VEd4f_wY/s1600/FSF.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVIHhJs8N7KJDbHM_yPrut474WEQt3xStjfdBiHSR8QSVLRx2LKl7LmXufY5KNnXR3ua02we65_iiDCl8sXWqMMWVhQKQoBR4ZF_Dz0FKkAtljdKvB79WImJPe8Zemx1Ase56VEd4f_wY/s1600/FSF.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4491872717266611176.post-54225855049719827432014-02-25T13:18:00.002+07:002014-02-25T13:18:46.874+07:00SunshineWarm white sand. The muted susurration of the roiling ocean. A hammock with just the right ratio of sun to dappled shade. A good book - your choice of thought provoker, page turner, or trashy novel. Time enough to evaluate the age old question: do cocktails taste better out of a coconut or a pineapple?<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="http://www.tropicalbeachgetaways.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/tropical-beach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.tropicalbeachgetaways.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/tropical-beach.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Picture sourced from <a href="http://www.tropicalbeachgetaways.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/tropical-beach.jpg" target="_blank">here</a><br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">OK so that's not really a story but more of a setting, but with the manky weather we're going through, can you blame me for fond memories of our Christmas holiday.<a href="http://snellopy.blogspot.com/2012/01/cocktails.html" target="_blank"> This is also not the first time I've used this picture before</a>, because it so perfectly encapsulates my thinking of holidays on the beach. The topic for this week's <a href="http://lilliemcferrin.com/five-sentence-fiction-sunshine/" target="_blank">Five Sentence Fiction</a> was Sunshine. My answer to the question is: I need government funding to explore this complex issue in enough detail to be sure.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVIHhJs8N7KJDbHM_yPrut474WEQt3xStjfdBiHSR8QSVLRx2LKl7LmXufY5KNnXR3ua02we65_iiDCl8sXWqMMWVhQKQoBR4ZF_Dz0FKkAtljdKvB79WImJPe8Zemx1Ase56VEd4f_wY/s1600/FSF.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVIHhJs8N7KJDbHM_yPrut474WEQt3xStjfdBiHSR8QSVLRx2LKl7LmXufY5KNnXR3ua02we65_iiDCl8sXWqMMWVhQKQoBR4ZF_Dz0FKkAtljdKvB79WImJPe8Zemx1Ase56VEd4f_wY/s1600/FSF.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4491872717266611176.post-32391766444104540962014-01-21T11:35:00.000+07:002014-01-21T11:35:18.485+07:00A certain charmI still don't know why Maude enjoyed coming here. "It's got a certain charm," she'd say, waving an arm around in a feeble attempt to highlight what it was about the run-down stone walls or some other small elements that drew her - us - back to this boring backwater again and again.<br />
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"I just like it," she would say, and that smile of hers would break on through and because of that, I tried to like it too. I did like it in a way, because of her. For her. We always intended on moving here, but you know how it is. Next year. Life always gets in the way.<br />
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Some day one day just never seems to happen. You plan for it, but then without warning, it can’t. A wonderful shared dream together doesn’t work so well when there’s just the one of you. At least she didn’t suffer. I stayed away for a long time, hating this place that reminded me of Maude. Why did this town bring her joy when my joy is now gone forever? But because it reminded me of her, I eventually was drawn back here, and now I’m part of the ‘quaint local colour’ she loved so much. What’s a country pub without a maudlin drunk?<br />
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*****<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's been ages since I've done any writing, time to get back in the saddle and try and make it a more consistent habit. This is my entry for <a href="http://www.trifectawritingchallenge.com/2014/01/trifecta-week-110.html" target="_blank">Trifecta's 110th week</a>, we have to use the word quaint somewhere in the Story. A distinct lack of magic, aliens, happiness and humour in this one, so quite out of character for me, but it tied in so well with <a href="http://snellopy.blogspot.com/2012/09/five-sentence-fiction-memories.html" target="_blank">this</a> previous piece from long ago that I had to make it a closer match.</span>Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4491872717266611176.post-80925665031680001942014-01-16T16:47:00.000+07:002015-10-28T17:02:02.034+07:00A Habit of Excellence<a href="http://www.habitrpg.com/" target="_blank">HabitRPG</a> is my latest productivity kick, from my opinion it's got me going gangbusters. I just did a quick breakdown comparing it to my other self-improvement tool/website, but I want to go over it at length on its own as well.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLIu-5v5dK3O_Kx7XJ5LeEinS-UoR1b-r_I1xpbe0P5kyXj-AnCXWBwoCwJ06U4_CqLvAC8980Qyjbbc1S4YjQUsfVmHvCESBotr0k9hxTtvvmo6c3gZvDTyCevVkuxmViMdOlzYUt5ZI/s1600/Habit+logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="105" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLIu-5v5dK3O_Kx7XJ5LeEinS-UoR1b-r_I1xpbe0P5kyXj-AnCXWBwoCwJ06U4_CqLvAC8980Qyjbbc1S4YjQUsfVmHvCESBotr0k9hxTtvvmo6c3gZvDTyCevVkuxmViMdOlzYUt5ZI/s1600/Habit+logo.png" width="320" /></a></div>
In HabitRPG you get a little avatar that you have to level up and keep alive by completing your tasks. The word avatar has been debased in recent times, nowadays it can mean something as minor as an icon that represents you in a chat forum. But it used to mean a vessel of a divine being - ole JC hisself, or Vishnu come to put the smack down, or Zeus to get it on with the ladies. That's how I feel with my 8 bit sprite, filled with even more potential than when I last had an alter-ego me who journeyed through Azeroth (though that could be because while I enjoy those sorts of games, I am terrible at them, and largely looked at WoW as a prettier IRC client with things I could poke with axes when there was no-one to talk to).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh58kcxAAAL4vXaEMSvzK5FsnxyeFzgJ61VF2xuIuG6-VQ8XC75FIkRlGeXPzShsS4g3zj_N65UmixyqLgjnNulNS0I7yOZP7BXHQt_hEG83kX_wrys9h_imFs5RkEhhESLa-5eWrGkc5w/s1600/Habitme.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh58kcxAAAL4vXaEMSvzK5FsnxyeFzgJ61VF2xuIuG6-VQ8XC75FIkRlGeXPzShsS4g3zj_N65UmixyqLgjnNulNS0I7yOZP7BXHQt_hEG83kX_wrys9h_imFs5RkEhhESLa-5eWrGkc5w/s1600/Habitme.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's a me, <strike>Mario</strike> Snellopy!</td></tr>
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As you tick things off, you're awarded gold and experience. After level 2, you're able to buy things (armour, swords) for your avatar, and you can also set up custom rewards too - though I don't find these as useful. For certain activities, not doing the task (or doing a bad task) inflicts damage on your little avatar, and you either need a cleric to heal you, level up for an XP refill, or spend your hoarded gold on a healing potion.<br />
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Since no-one else sees your list (except for specific ones that are added to challenges) you're free to list anything down without fear of judgment. Since you don't have to explain your ideas to others, it's also possible to gamify everything, which is what I've done. I also added a little icon emoji next to each one, to help me find things faster, and there's mouse over text explaining what each one is just in case I forget (like after my holiday).<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">Habits</span><br />
Habits are best thought of as things that you do either more than once a day, or every now and then. They come in three different types: positive only, positive or negative, negative only. Each suit a particular situation. Writing an email is just a positive one. Having one too many beers is a positive/negative one... I click on the minus when I have an extra one and take damage, and click on the plus when I've been all saintly. Sitting for a whole period is just a negative one. I could make it so that it went both ways, but since I count even the most tokenistic foray from my computer chair, I don't think it'd be fair.<br />
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The vast majority of mine are plus only, but I do have a couple of each of the other types.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXvBnCH14Ba1AL1OoyELdLDK3nMVksgbHURpChUJNkSrxKpXb2CzTmaDuLeqVUiE_KXjTxh-X7XDSmwmi_4z5Sx_LakaWsXkTUEOf8v_oVDpX_1vwMpnLrrKaB0tUMR21ommWVtHF77eo/s1600/Habits.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXvBnCH14Ba1AL1OoyELdLDK3nMVksgbHURpChUJNkSrxKpXb2CzTmaDuLeqVUiE_KXjTxh-X7XDSmwmi_4z5Sx_LakaWsXkTUEOf8v_oVDpX_1vwMpnLrrKaB0tUMR21ommWVtHF77eo/s1600/Habits.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I didn't realise I had so many until I screenshotted them all.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Here's a screenie of all my non-challenge habits (I took this at the end of the day, that's why they're pretty much uniform in colour). Normally they're in one single big scrolling column, but I figure this way they're easier to see. Some of them map obviously to what they are - tome of knowledge is reading a self help book, Soulbond is spending time with Tho. Flash of Magic is posting flash fiction. Some of them are more fictionalised like regaling over ale (forum interaction) and dented shield (too much internetting).<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">Dailies</span><br />
Dailies are things that you want to do on specific days every week. Most of mine I have set up to only be active on Monday to Friday, because they're school based. I do have a few for weekends as well, but if we go away for the weekend and we have no internet, then my little guy is going to take damage.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyFsS8DEDXeYjkHx_gHLiTYKbqOKw2wcZi-dagH328KgiPrCY4mIDFzH5pWA1NtoZIAfxmaG6ThmN08d13DSvu5fRLls2HiE1sCuto2EJOqYFKIEyfPTyU-yAPBUbfEKF3xrtzDMq56H8/s1600/Dailies.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyFsS8DEDXeYjkHx_gHLiTYKbqOKw2wcZi-dagH328KgiPrCY4mIDFzH5pWA1NtoZIAfxmaG6ThmN08d13DSvu5fRLls2HiE1sCuto2EJOqYFKIEyfPTyU-yAPBUbfEKF3xrtzDMq56H8/s1600/Dailies.png" /></a></div>
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I have my dailies set up in five main groups. Everything is gamified with a dwarven or cleric bent.<br />
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Clan and Kin, Forge and Foundry, Axe and Anvil, Mine and Mountain, Beer and Beards. These headers are always grey because they're inactive. This means I never take damage from them. They're also set to hard, because when I've had a crazy productive day in that area, then I can tick it off for an extra payout. All my habits are tagged with at least one of them too, so even if there's not a lot sitting in the list under dailies, there might be other things causing the free points. I like this idea because often they're pulling me in different directions, so it is really hard with the way I have set it up to get a clean sweep of all my dailies.<br />
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<b>Clan and Kin</b> is stuff to do with family. Vespers with the Novitiate is playing with Madeline, Circle of protection is cleaning up the house.<br />
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<b>Forge and Foundry</b> is works stuff as you might guess by the mark roll online. Goblin warband is homework and the Slay an Ogre is my weekly plan (they're grey at the moment as they're not due every day)<br />
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<b>Axe and Anvil</b> is self improvement stuff. Kern is mentioned in a few places, I made that my dwarf's deity's name. Communing with Kern is meditating (which I suck at). Hang up my axe is a productive day in general.<br />
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<b>Mine and Mountain</b> is writing or other creative pursuits. Sellsword and Swordplay have tomato icons as they are pomorodos for work and fun respectively. I have different variant of the pomodoro system that is tailor made to me. When I was at uni, I was a terrible slacker, leaving all my essays till the last minute. When it was time to write them, I'd put on Cotton Eye Joe (the most annoying song I could find) on repeat until it was done. I wasn't allowed to turn it off when I slept (if I needed to sleep) and I took it with me on an mp3 player if I left my room. My mates all knew if that song was playing it was pointless trying to talk me into anything. Even now if I hear that song playing anywhere, my fingers start twitching and I feel all jittery if I am not typing, have a pen in my hand or looking at papers/books. Possibly I should be kinder to myself, but it is working so far.<br />
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<b>Beer and Beards</b> is the generic catch all/misc category. Wordstorm is always greyed out, it for an extended amount of typing in a day. Does that mean that I sometimes double/triple dip, if I've done some flash fiction while listening to Cotton Eye Joe? Yes, but again, we have to use whatever motivates us, and I don't consider that cheating.<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">To-Do's</span><br />
In association with the android app, the To-Do column is really useful, especially because I have such a piss-poor memory. If I think of something late at night that I have to do tomorrow, I just jot it down, and it's right in front of me when I open the website at either work or home.<br />
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Because of this improved organisation, this list as got very long very fast. I think I'm adding to it faster than I am knocking tasks off, but that can't be helped. I don't bother gamifying the to-Do's I add, because they're all one shot things, and hopefully knocked on the head quite quickly. But I do have headings for sorting them too.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1SpoKFeMiaYKdyDUp20APv0xhEZToO1Z9TGnCwAZdhY0kPWVSLnSozGC3wR0G9A3B8ZC8EH2t-7kiP_6-WIBhZEGfL2k-ECP-zeCIImHlPLNGROtjjxKB6Arpl4ax6WSGCrdBSSVg7mI/s1600/To-Dos.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1SpoKFeMiaYKdyDUp20APv0xhEZToO1Z9TGnCwAZdhY0kPWVSLnSozGC3wR0G9A3B8ZC8EH2t-7kiP_6-WIBhZEGfL2k-ECP-zeCIImHlPLNGROtjjxKB6Arpl4ax6WSGCrdBSSVg7mI/s1600/To-Dos.png" /></a></div>
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<b>Hack and Slash</b> is the 2 things I plan to focus on the head today.<br />
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<b>King's Sovereign</b> is normally kept empty. It's for sudden, bullshittedly important things that get dropped on you and were due yesterday.<br />
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<b>Caravan Guard</b> is for things coming up in the next week or so.<br />
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<b>Crows Nest</b> is further down the line, sometime this term.<br />
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<b>Scribing Spells </b>emails to write to people<br />
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<b>Flash of Magic c</b>reative writing or reviews I want to do.<br />
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<b>Bag of Holding </b>someday one day stuff. Some of it likely will never get done, some of it just takes a minute but there's too many other fires to put out.<br />
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<b>Hired Blade</b> is where I shove all the Challenge To-Do's so they don't clutter up my stuff.<br />
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The other reason for having headings like this is they slowly ripen for more gold and XP over time, so if something <i>REALLY</i> big comes up and I think I haven't got a decent reward that is commensurate to the effort and/or stress involved, I can click on a couple of these and cash them in for something more appropriate.<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">Rewards</span><br />
There's two sorts of rewards in the game - one's that you make yourself, and ones that are gear for your avatar. The latter are far more effective for me.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9mv5jYRXfiiAYw1oahqBqNCTpRwpgqkqNbu0zQ2oAiZMWtDnEzdUhTnTiqbMfR9L9HM860kzYXJdQuHASIFNetxcJ0gTPBASE5J_zkU3xsZtQPziKwa9XV0P3ieB7Ks62AmKT37dUMYc/s1600/Rewards.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9mv5jYRXfiiAYw1oahqBqNCTpRwpgqkqNbu0zQ2oAiZMWtDnEzdUhTnTiqbMfR9L9HM860kzYXJdQuHASIFNetxcJ0gTPBASE5J_zkU3xsZtQPziKwa9XV0P3ieB7Ks62AmKT37dUMYc/s1600/Rewards.png" /></a></div>
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All but the starting gear has various stats that help out your avatar and change the gameplay mechanics. But since the introduction of the inventory, you can be waving around something big and stat-heavy but be wearing something else as a costume.<br />
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I recently restarted my character, so instead of the avatar of me at the top of the page, I currently look like this:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip5NwOnaK2sUgmyvW_dCdtAGm70de2E9-wJkisT5nekbbwC-k5m6_rviYxUO-1pN1XkAds7Emx0cxHXZFt43TdlTNAkhcZDUSc4q5RsVDznTc3bfn1Cs5wGywX6Uct2HblXFQ7qiyoEgk/s1600/Painter+me.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip5NwOnaK2sUgmyvW_dCdtAGm70de2E9-wJkisT5nekbbwC-k5m6_rviYxUO-1pN1XkAds7Emx0cxHXZFt43TdlTNAkhcZDUSc4q5RsVDznTc3bfn1Cs5wGywX6Uct2HblXFQ7qiyoEgk/s1600/Painter+me.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: start;">I think I look a bit like Van Gough, with a yeti-hair paintbrush and a blue paint palette</span></td></tr>
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I am frantically trying to save up for the last bits of the cleric winter gear, before they disappear on the 31st. So extra motivation there! And much as it pains me to do so, I won't just wave my axe and horned helmet round, though I will have a soft spot for them. I guess I could set up my custom rewards as negative habits, and take a health hit each time I clicked on them, but that would make it more likely I would die, so I'd be less likely to actually click on them and just ignore them instead. With the way it is set up, they appear next to my to-do list, right next to my hack and slash and King's Sovereign headings, so it helps decide if I really do have time to slack off. They're also above the armour and weapons, so I have to consider how close I am to buying a new sexy piece of gear and if going to chase links for a moment overrides my desire for better equipment. After I've bought ALL the things, and my gold just starts stockpiling with nothing else to spend it on, I ratchet up the prices on each of my time wasters to compensate.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuax8bTpttjdTm_9Xb0EweI2EFEBN3vzExzNUtTpVK0wPPY3bylvwmjRweqyJgjfrD-fDk3FIYiN8hfT4CE0JYe5uRNXUnRkv23xzJnpFeuWRXOTqLGQcloqydYt40V15bEmgHU1YXPHg/s1600/Habitme.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuax8bTpttjdTm_9Xb0EweI2EFEBN3vzExzNUtTpVK0wPPY3bylvwmjRweqyJgjfrD-fDk3FIYiN8hfT4CE0JYe5uRNXUnRkv23xzJnpFeuWRXOTqLGQcloqydYt40V15bEmgHU1YXPHg/s1600/Habitme.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The old me</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip5NwOnaK2sUgmyvW_dCdtAGm70de2E9-wJkisT5nekbbwC-k5m6_rviYxUO-1pN1XkAds7Emx0cxHXZFt43TdlTNAkhcZDUSc4q5RsVDznTc3bfn1Cs5wGywX6Uct2HblXFQ7qiyoEgk/s1600/Painter+me.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip5NwOnaK2sUgmyvW_dCdtAGm70de2E9-wJkisT5nekbbwC-k5m6_rviYxUO-1pN1XkAds7Emx0cxHXZFt43TdlTNAkhcZDUSc4q5RsVDznTc3bfn1Cs5wGywX6Uct2HblXFQ7qiyoEgk/s1600/Painter+me.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The new me. See how this me looks far more honest and trustworthy?</td></tr>
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I recently restarted my character, as I was a dirty no good cheat (but I reformed). It's the second time I've restarted, for exactly the same reason. On my first run through, I was still working out the mechanics of everything. I saw a lot of people had an achievement for Ultimate gear, but that meant they all looked the same. So I zipped through, collecting ALL the things, and deciding on what I was going to use so I looked different. I've always been a fan of customisation, and that was the only way to know what was available. I've also clicked I've done stuff when I haven't really to keep a streak alive (doing things for more than 21 days), to keep my avatar alive (no way am I dying again!) and just on the off chance I got a drop, because today was rough and I wanted a prize. Yeah, yeah, you're cheating no-one but yourself. But that's OK, I <i>do</i> cheat sometimes in single player games. But with the advent of classes and the inventory, I instantly became way more attached to my avatar. My party is doing the occasional bit of RP (I haven't joined in yet, as I would feel silly doing so as a cleric with no healing spells, but I only have one more level to go and I have them all), and I want my little guy growing up properly, that's why I reset him. Will I stick to this new improved Snellopy? Only time will tell, but it is looking promising so far, especially as I'm idly telling myself stories about him, inventing a pantheon for him, and other facets that make him more interesting and appealing to me. Whatever works, right?<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">Interaction with others</span><br />
There's a few different ways you can interact with others if you choose to. You can form a party that is supposed to help you be more accountable, especially if you're doing quests, as any dailies you don't complete while questing (if it's a boss battle) will injure your party members. I'm not sure if that's going to make me accountable, or more prone to cheat, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. My current plan is to be able to heal my party members for more damage than I inflict on them, so hopefully that will work out OK.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMtV_5NTgGOD735Q870fgZWNMF8MfeXXrfMx6j3HmolDxOi8Kgo3Uj6tvMcRCYG5-yGOlgJmVeKzABAVq2ORMbztU5GCxRYyknUaDY_eP1hVqfqVsTTW9aJFRl3qauRb3cuxfcdIrhFNs/s1600/Us.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMtV_5NTgGOD735Q870fgZWNMF8MfeXXrfMx6j3HmolDxOi8Kgo3Uj6tvMcRCYG5-yGOlgJmVeKzABAVq2ORMbztU5GCxRYyknUaDY_eP1hVqfqVsTTW9aJFRl3qauRb3cuxfcdIrhFNs/s1600/Us.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our party: Snellopy (me), Questing Orc, Raymond Luk, Retridemption, aiseant, littleleez</td></tr>
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We can cast buffs on each other, and we have our own chat section, and as I mentioned, we're even doing a bit of Role-play in there too.<br />
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There's guilds, which are larger groupings (where you can't buff each other) that are aligned more along the lines of interest groups - writing ones, parents, dancers etc. Some of them are a lot more active than others.<br />
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Finally there's the Tavern, the chat room for everyone who wants to hold forth. All these chat sections are ephemeral, storing only the last 200 lines of conversation, so during busy periods there's going to be things that you never see. As much as I like lurking and reading what people say, I find this a very good middle ground so it doesn't become a horrible time sink.<br />
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At all these grouping levels, players can set up challenges. This is a set of habits/dailies/to-do's that work towards a particular goal. There can be gem prizes for winning, and whoever wins the challenge also has it listed as their achievement. But even if you don't snag the top spot (if like me, you can't often do things on a weekend, or perhaps you start a challenge late) it's still worthwhile participating, as you're still working on forming habits that you want to instill in yourself. Though when challenges first came out, I did go overboard and took on too many, killing my avatar again because I had too many dailies that I couldn't complete. Now I'm more circumspect, and sometimes steal the ideas I see in challenges and add parts of them as habits instead, so they won't damage me if I don't get around to them.<br />
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There's plenty of friendly camaraderie at all three levels, with things to stimulate your creativity or some other facet of your life. And the conversations are often fun to join in, too. If someone strikes you as interesting you can look up their character description by clicking on their name. A lot of people list blogs, twitter accounts or other places you can see their output. A nice way of grabbing new, interesting sources of distraction.<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">Contributing</span><br />
If you're really enjoying Habit, there's two main ways you can help out - one is by throwing money at them (always appreciated) by buying gems, and the other is by doing something that moves the project forward: pixel art, coding, or writing stuff up on the wiki. Do enough of it, and you'll be acknowledged by a different colour name for your chat messages, and an achievement listed. I've done a tokenistic amount on the wiki, just enough to stand out from the normal run of the mill folk. I plan on doing more, but life tends to get in the way, you know how it is. It's nice that they acknowledge you for your efforts, in a way that everyone can see. Depending on how much you do, you also can unlock special gear for your avatar. Gems can be used for buying customisation stuff for your character - it's important to note that no-one of it has buffs or stats, it's purely cosmetic. There's no pay to win or play to pay here, it's merely for the fashion conscious. Beards are one example of that. It also allows you to put up a challenge in the tavern and form guilds, or skip the randomness of waiting for a drop if you just have to buy a golden hatching potion.<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">Drops and Streaks</span><br />
Two ways they try and motivate you (on top of the buying of armour and weapons) is by a chance of drops when you click on tasks. These can be eggs, hatching potions or food to feed the pets (that hatch out of the eggs). They give no boost apart from cuteness to your avatar, and if you give them enough to eat they can grow up and be ridden (again no bonus except for customisation, which is something I love).<br />
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Streaks are when you've completed a daily 21 times in a row (not necessarily 21 days in succession, for example if you have one for taking out the rubbish which only falls due on a Friday). I'm a bit ambivalent about these myself, as I have in the past ticked off some when I didn't really do much if anything towards them. For a while there I had a couple of rewards which for a hefty slug of gold I could tick stuff off that I hadn't done. That system didn't really work for me, so I've discontinued it.<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">Insomniapp</span><br />
What is really great about Habit is there's an app you can use to check off things while you're doing them. But far more useful for me is to list down things that I think of (usually while in bed) that I need to do tomorrow or in the near future. Grab my phone, pencil it in, then it is in front of me the next morning at work. Much better than writing it down on a piece of paper I will lose or leave at home, and streets in front of trying to hold it in my head until I need to do it. I've had a couple of nights where I haven't been able to sleep, so I have just lain there brainstorming things I need to do and entering them in. Good for productivity, and eventually I get tired enough that I can put my phone down and sleep, so win-win.<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">What are you playing?</span><br />
Another serious advantage to Habit is both my students and my wife have glanced at the screen and asked me what game I'm playing (it was a bit more accusatory in the latter case, until I explained how it's been so useful for me, though I don't think I've convinced her of the need). The game elements are fun and not too distracting, the same as the chat functions. I have just added a fee in gold if I spend too long in any of the chat areas, especially if I am not posting and merely lurking. It's a great way of hooking you in and making dreary, boring jobs that you have to, should, or want to do more appealing.<br />
<br />Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4491872717266611176.post-20775845492240976122014-01-16T16:44:00.002+07:002015-10-28T17:01:25.261+07:00Habitually Super BetterFor the past few years now, I've been slowly shaking off my slovenly ways in the name of self-improvement. Mainly due to the gentle insistence of my good natured and long suffering wife, but more recently I've taken it somewhat upon myself to take an interest in it too. I've been using two websites to help do that, and I thought I'd do a bit of a compare and contrast here, since they're both about gamifying your tasks in the name of self improvement.<br />
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I've been using Super Better for longer (I'm not good with time, but it's nearly three years). I picked up quite a number of allies over that time, though a large percentage have stopped playing. I have had a couple of them come back to the game though, as they've seen the difference it has made to them. I like the depth of connection you can make with allies, and greatly value their feedback, insights and witticisms. I'm a better person due to my interactions with them. I've talked a few times previously here to my imaginary audience about Super Better, so I'll just skim it quickly now:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihK5-q1kvzEUSWjCVS6E1FtAmUJWHpVxsEuqAkukHsa3da-MoVULDowK9LjT6Ee9lZEoetIVWJosuwcPWbiHw23iD9juUCVFpuyRQhzJuLVciweHc_LNdBIo25eGGK3zlN5CgXSnwPINI/s1600/SB+logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihK5-q1kvzEUSWjCVS6E1FtAmUJWHpVxsEuqAkukHsa3da-MoVULDowK9LjT6Ee9lZEoetIVWJosuwcPWbiHw23iD9juUCVFpuyRQhzJuLVciweHc_LNdBIo25eGGK3zlN5CgXSnwPINI/s1600/SB+logo.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: start;">In the rainbow corner, Super Better</span></td></tr>
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<a href="http://www.superbetter.com/" target="_blank">Super Better</a> is designed mainly with healing from injury or quitting bad habits. There's a range of users who are battling a diverse array of problems. While you can play it solo, I don't really see the point of that, as the interactions and feedback you get from allies takes it to a whole new level, and is the game for me. You take on as many allies as you feel you're able to support (I've got quite a large stable of allies, because I like the interaction, but there's nothing wrong with a handful, or even none). It's a good idea to pick your allies carefully, because if you're using it to your full potential, then you're baring your soul to random weirdos on the internet. A couple of times I've picked up a new ally, and had raised eyebrows as I've read over some of their custom made quests or powerups, but the way I look at it is they're providing me a point of view from somewhere that's completely different to what I'm used to, so that might be of great value.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Quests, Powerups, Badguys</span></b><br />
These are the three main groupings of "things to click on" in Super Better. Quests can be repeatable or once off. Powerups are more designed for quick hits. With bad guys, you choose if you win or lose, and the severity of the battle (was it just a little un, or was it a great big challenge)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFZSOBonZPf7GCANqtU5MDl80AGZzW6B6Lb6fLH95GSMLtLckxvi_5HelnK_Dk07SE4YqF8TssrXi5w1vipP6D0emwV0icX9WKRaDHpd537-jlKPl7omz4DsxNbfNgNvQGBIqnF9nMiZ8/s1600/Habit+logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="105" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFZSOBonZPf7GCANqtU5MDl80AGZzW6B6Lb6fLH95GSMLtLckxvi_5HelnK_Dk07SE4YqF8TssrXi5w1vipP6D0emwV0icX9WKRaDHpd537-jlKPl7omz4DsxNbfNgNvQGBIqnF9nMiZ8/s1600/Habit+logo.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rocking it old school in 8-bit glory, HabitRPG</td></tr>
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I've had a <a href="http://www.habitrpg.com/" target="_blank">HabitRPG</a> account for a year now, but only really seriously started using it maybe six months ago (when Super Better was having some hiccups). For little things, I find it is very valuable. I've seen quite a few places mention if you just start something for 5 minutes and tell yourself you're free to stop after that, quite often you're in the swing of things and can't be arsed to stop (even though you had to cajole yourself in the beginning). Well, Habit is <b>perfect</b> for this sort of impetus. Your party members and guild mates can't see what you are working on improving (unless you join a challenge), so it is better for those concerned about privacy. This does mean that you're not as closely connected to them, but idle chatting in guild/party/tavern still means you can make a rapport. Habit gives you an avatar that represents you, that you buy weapons and armour for, and find pets that you can raise into mounts. It's not just for fun, they're tapping into extrinsic rewards that you work towards and those that happen randomly, so there's science behind it too.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Habits, Dailies, To-Do's</span><br />
Habits are things that you want to improve at, and may do more than once a day, or not at all. They can be positive (give you gold and XP), negative (take health) or go both ways. I have a range of all three listed. Dailies damage you if you don't check them off on the day you've got them active. To-do's are a once off, and don't damage you. I've been using To-do's more and more, relying on Habit instead of my faulty memory for storing my ever expanding list of what I should be doing. They also have a rewards column, where you can add real life things if you want (though these don't generally work for me, but some people like them) and the aforementioned armour and weapons. I've added the three main distractions at work - feedly (my RSS aggregator), Facebook and Reddit, but the price is low (well, it's low when I'm not trying to buy new equipment) but just having it there next to a list of things I should be doing instead is working well for me.<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">Speed of Data Entry:</span><br />
Habit has it hands down over Super Better. My work computer, home computer, tablet and phone all remember my login, and as soon as you load it, you're presented with everything you have to do:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some habits (first column), dailies (second column) to-do's (third column) and rewards (fourth column). My party members are the avatars up the top of my screen, to the right of my health bar.</td></tr>
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Mine are gamified, so while it doesn't seem like it's work, they are (the breakdown for the Skeletal army gives it away that its marking)<br />
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I have to log in on Super Better each day on each device (more than once if I close the browser).<br />
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I have to select the correct group on the left hand list, then I have to find it in the list<br />
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Then view it, then click I did this.<br />
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I normally right click and open everything I want to check off (sometimes multiple copies of each). Even if I am only doing one or two, I still right click, as that was faster when we were fighting the Oops Monster (may it never darken our halls again).<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">Feedback/Graphing:</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Graphs. Yay, I guess. I don't do maths, and I so I don't really care</td></tr>
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Habit has a graph on your dailies and habits that you can click on to look at, but I don't really care so I hadn't actually done it before this (I've just come back from holidays, that's why I'm sucking at a lot of mine). You can also export your information as a CSV file if you want, but again, facts and figures don't do it for me<br />
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SB lists the number of times you've clicked on it, in reverse chronological order. If it's a bad guy battle, it also lists if it was a win or a loss, and what difficulty setting it was on.<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">Staff involvement:</span><br />
Once again, a clear winner in Habit. The tavern is jumping with commentary from staff, and knowledgeable normal users. If it's more along the lines of bug reports or updating new features, it has them in spades as well. And since it's open source, we're all welcomed along if we want to help. I've been acknowledged for puttering around on the wiki for example. I forget the last time we had any official word from Super Better staff, even when it looked iffy and there was rumours on their forums of insolvency, spammers running riot etc, we didn't hear a peep out of them. It's a bit disconcerting, and is the reason I searched out other similar sites, in case it died and left me high and dry.<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">Community:</span><br />
Super Better has forums and groups, but apart from the Cozy Circle and the newer Bunker of Badarsery, they're pretty deserted. Most users come in, say they're new, pick up a few allies and then never return to the forums.<br />
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Habit has a jumping Tavern - with the latest influx of users from Tumblr it often scrolls past the 200 line limit overnight or on weekends. There's plenty of special interest guilds, some of which are quite chatty.<br />
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Super Better's strength in this regard is the deep ties you form with your allies. Part psychotherapists couch, part happy hour with your mates having a whinge, it's a great format to blow off steam. Habit's Tavern gives you a more ephemeral and tenuous connection with a larger number of people, which is equally good but in a different way. Parties are similar to, but a pale comparison of the camaraderie of SB allies.<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">Accountability/Cheating:</span><br />
This is a tricky call, I think SB wins it slightly, because there's no pay-out apart from the input of your allies, so making up stuff is pointless there. In fact, you're more likely to not list losses when you've battled a bad guy, as you're often not at a computer when you do, and you likely don't want to revisit while you type it up again, even if they give you good advice. Because of buying gear/getting drops/wanting health/leveling up/keeping streaks there's sometimes the motivation to cheat in Habit. Yeah yeah, you're only cheating yourself, but it's just a little tick mark, so what's it hurt?<br />
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Unless they click on something or make a comment, there's no way to tell if an ally has logged in on SB. If you don't hear from them for a week, you don't know if they're busy, on holidays, or have stopped playing. When you click on someone's name in Habit, it shows you the last time they logged in, and some Zzz's if they're staying in the inn (often done when you're on holidays or sick), so you do have some feedback there if they're around and about.<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">Level of Detail:</span><br />
Super Better wins this - and I'm not talking graphics.<br />
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Super Better wins this, so long as you put in the work and explain what you're doing. All my Quests, Powerups and Badguys have detailed descriptions and customised icons.<br />
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Here's an example. This one doesn't have much of a description, but you get the idea.<br />
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On top of that, I also often give a write-up of why or how something happened/went, and my allies will chime in on that.<br />
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This sort of sharing isn't really common in Habit, though I'm starting to see more of it, particularly in guilds where people are grouped by interest in a common cause. It may come with time with party members, but we'd have to be a lot more open about what we're doing and why.<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">Customisation:</span><br />
I reckon this one is a tie. Like I said in the previous part, you can do icons and detailed descriptions on Super Better. Habit's aren't in such depth, but you've got your avatar you can play dress up with, and because your list of things that you're doing, you can be brutally honest (or whimsical and silly) in your descriptions. I've gamified all my dailies, habits and to-do headers, which I quite enjoy.<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">Support Network:</span><br />
Again, the depth of your relationship with your allies means that Super Better has this one in the bag. In both places I've had people asking me about my recent holiday, and I've seen people in both places mention concern about users whose loved ones were in a recent car accident, there's the extra feeling closeness with SB.<br />
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For example, I had three long term allies, who I've chatted with extensively disappear from SB at the same time (one on an extended holiday, one other decided it was no longer for her, but she's changed her mind and returned, and the third was going to have a bit of a hiatus but again, it didn't last as long as she thought it would). For the next couple of days I was walking about, zombie-like. I felt dazed, and had quite a few people ask me if I was OK.<br />
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We had two members of our party leave in quick succession in Habit, and it had nowhere near the impact - though to be fair, we'd only been together about a month or so, and I still chat to them in guilds and the tavern, but still, the depth of the association is not there.<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">Fun:</span><br />
Habit wins this, because they're always adding new features and you've got the avatar you can play dress-up with. I think not knowing each other's tasks helps for this too. It can be hard to be lighthearted if your allies are having a rough time of it.<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">Funding:</span><br />
Habit wins by a country mile. They had a kickstarter at the beginning, and now you can buy gems (used for some customisation things, challenge rewards, starting guilds). They don't come begging or badgering emails ala happify and some other self improvement sites I've tried, and you could play happily and never need a gem. You can also earn them by contributing towards it by making pixel art, writing code or other things (I've picked up some like I said for working on the wiki).<br />
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There's not even an option to throw money at Super Better no matter how badly I want to support them. Madness! When the Oops Monster has come rampaging, we always worry it's because funds are drying up. When there was the rumour of they were out of dough, there was still no way to throw money at them. There's talk of an android app someday, which I'd gladly break Tho's rule of no paid apps for, but I can't until they release the damn thing. It drives me bonkers.<br />
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They haven't worked out how to monetize SB, which is why there was the worry that they were going to shutter. But they won't hand it back to Jane McGonigal, who created it, as they reckon it'll be a financial loss to them. At least with Habit, if it goes tits up because it's open source, I could pull down my own copy (and after a bunch of swearing) install it locally and keep using it. But let's hope it never comes to that.<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">Ease of Navigation:</span><br />
Habit. Big time. Occasionally I forget where a certain setting is, but there's not that many tabs to flail around on. I've already said about the list I have to go through to check stuff off with SB, then add in visiting allies on top of that and it starts taking forever if there's been lots of updates, especially if they need thoughtful replies.<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">Privacy and Trolling Potential:</span><br />
You could play both games completely ignoring everyone else, and you'd be right as rain. I'm really glad that neither network seems to be hit by griefers or trolls, but SB in particular. In the forums, it seems like a lot of people are battling some real nasty inner demons, and I don't reckon it'd be too much of a stretch to imagine someone offing themselves if a particularly malicious person became their ally. Especially if they waited at first getting their trust. with Habit, annoying people aren't that serious, it's just forum spam that makes your eyes glaze over, that's all.<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">Gamification:</span><br />
Since my list is just for me, I've really done a number of Habit. Our party is also talking about doing some RP as well (I haven't joined in yet, as I restarted my character, and I would feel silly since I'm a cleric and haven't unlocked any healing spells yet). For SB, I try and make my icons, titles and descriptions interesting for my allies, but that's about as far as it goes.<br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-size: large;">The Dweller in the Darkness</span><br />
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A good way to give an insight into the two different games is with the Dweller in the Darkness. This started off as a badguy in Super Better:<br />
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Petty Retaliation and Pointless Bickering are two other badguys that can trigger or be triggered by it. THey have their own writeups as well.<br />
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I added it as a +/- habit, and wrote it up for the inaugural Tales of Uncommon Valour (it won!)<br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The unhallowed hall was a jumble of haphazard pillars and jutting furniture (the use of which was best not imagined). Torchlight felt especially feeble here, but that was no great loss, as the graphic frescoes were disconcerting to say the least. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gripping the haft of his axe with clammy hands, the dwarf strained to see true movement amongst the flickering shadows. At the edge of hearing, there was a seething scrabbling and susurration. With a click of its chitinous carapace and scrape of scale on stone the horror left a moist trail within its enclosure. Tentacles writhing, pincers reaching, slavering maw gaping - it was an abomination that surely belonged only in the deepest pits. “By Kern’s Forge!” Behind him, the dwarf heard one of his comrades being noisily sick. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Grimly they advanced on the flailing form as it threw itself at the wards that were barely holding it in check. A pseudopod lashed out, escaping the constraints of the circle, and the dwarf hacked at it savagely. A meagre flow of ichor dripped from the creature as the axe head bit deep, but once it was removed the pulsating wound closed over and hardened spines formed where before there had been only putrid flesh. The beast roared its defiance at the party. Almost as one, they broke and ran for the stairs and the faint smudge of daylight that it promised.</span><br />
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So that's how the same task in both of them stacks up but the SB one is far more effective, as I can list what set me off, what I did to try and combat it, and my allies can give me feedback, support, or just listen to me whinge. If I click on it in Habit, no-one's the wiser.<br />
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This cuts both ways though, my allies don't really need to be informed that I took the stairs an extra time today, it dilutes the usefulness of Super Better for me - so Habit is the perfect place for me to get some sort of internal recognition of those tasks.<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">Overhauling and Refocusing</span><br />
I've been playing on both sites for long enough that they've had to be overhauled a couple of times each, as I've either changed focus or become more familiar with their workings. Because everything is on one screen for Habit, it's by far the easiest to tweak (either for minor things, or really big changes).<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">Connecting in other places</span><br />
To join up with allies, you need to exchange email addresses, so even if SB died suddenly, I'd still be able to get in contact with the people I've been talking to and seek out their opinion. A lot of them write or post stuff elsewhere, and they've given me links when I've expressed an interest (unless it's been stuff that's just for them). A few of us have also hooked up on Facebook, too (though we haven't interacted much there - but I don't really do much on facebook anyway, so that could be my fault). There's also the Private Messaging system on the forums as another way to talk to people that you aren't directly allied with.<br />
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For Habit, you have the option of linking your various sites under your profile, and so if someone has done that, it makes it a lot easier to follow them. You can also holler at them across the tavern (or a mutual guild) but since the chats there are limited to displaying the first 200 lines, there's no guarantee they will see it. If they don't list some website or way of getting in contact with them (twitter handle for example) then you're out of luck.<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">What worked well:</span><br />
For Super Better - opening up to the idea of good positive changes, because they're good and I can instigate them, rather than just when Tho suggested them. Cutting down on drinking. Starting to mark and do paperwork more frequently. Fighting less. Learning the candle song. Giving reading self-help books a chance. Cutting down on swearing in the beginning.<br />
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For Habit: Marking a lot more (but this was also building on the original gains from Super Better). Going some days without drinking at all (again, building on previous gains). Writing more. Exercise. Now that I've got swearing largely down t acceptable levels, Habit is where I track losses there.<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">What doesn't work well:</span><br />
For Habit: The sort of things where SB excels at - the deep thinking things where input from others is helpful. Occasionally clicking on stuff saying it was done so my avatar didn't die, or so a streak wouldn't be broken, or just because I wanted gold for a new item or a potential drop.<br />
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SB: not always logging losses, especially over the weekend or an extended break away from a computer, as I tend to rationalise that it's not that bad really. Sometimes the outlay into finding a new ally, explaining to them where I'm at and what I'm doing and getting familiar with what they're trying to do - and then they stop playing really annoys me. But that's on me, not them. For Super Better, the quality (and how active) your allies are affects what you get out of it. Waning interest in a few allies at the same time tends to have a domino effect on me - I've been under this for quite some time now. Even this week, I haven't really got back into it, instead I have been busy writing this comparison (and my next post, which is just about Habit).<br />
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Neither of them have been effective at motivating me to learn Vietnamese consistently (I'm still trying to work out a good system for that, on top of the million and one other things I want to do), nor for creative writing <b>every</b> day. I do have general writing ones on both, and specific ones relating to longer pieces and flash fiction, but I'm still not seeing me push out any consistent word count every day.<br />
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Also, both have <b>completely failed</b> at making me rich and/or famous, no matter how many things I click on. Same with getting me into space.<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">Overall:</span><br />
Which one is best? I don't think we have to declare a champion - this isn't a zero sum game, both are helpful in different ways. It's like saying which do you want, a dinosaur or a unicorn for a pet. The obvious answer is both! They're complimentary, and can utilize each other’s synergy or some other buzzwords. Try one, try both, or better yet try them in tandem. I've slowly been won over by Habit, but I would really like to cultivate the habit of using both, because they scratch different itches. But there's only so much time in a day.<br />
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Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4491872717266611176.post-58769791582916704792013-12-20T12:18:00.000+07:002015-10-28T17:04:14.336+07:00How to Participate in the Inner Child for the Outer Adult Challenge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOZomSGtT28p9yZvg1-bY-zu51mmtir0LpKgXeP1P5pgOJM08udfc1lSaTmMADc4h2IGCP-1rBsx9MoOsP1eXI04WGBGx3sQZ-JvU3BCGbfUn3lboNKnHme32Hb7c7TCJFYM5XBX9AQl0/s1600/innerchild.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOZomSGtT28p9yZvg1-bY-zu51mmtir0LpKgXeP1P5pgOJM08udfc1lSaTmMADc4h2IGCP-1rBsx9MoOsP1eXI04WGBGx3sQZ-JvU3BCGbfUn3lboNKnHme32Hb7c7TCJFYM5XBX9AQl0/s320/innerchild.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.habitrpg.com/">HabitRPG</a> is all about self improvement. So are New Year’s Resolutions, too. But life isn’t </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">just</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> about hard work. Sometimes you should stop and smell the flowers. But why leave it at that? Make a daisy chain, or braid them into your hair (or beard) or infuse them in vodka… the options are endless! This challenge is called the</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b> Inner Child for the Outer Adult</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and I’ve made it to help you take time to have fun like a kid. To be honest, I don’t spend much time with my outer adult… he mainly just buys me booze</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, so this list was </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>really</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> easy for me to make. You don’t have to use HabitRPG to participate, but I find it is really helping me with my productivity (I plan to wax lyrical about it for my non-existent audience after the Christmas holidays). </span></span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-1acbadbf-0df0-dbe4-39ab-7123e41bf55c" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While there can only be one official winner of the challenge, the touchy-feely feel-good </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>real</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> answer is you’re all winners if you’re participating. And there’s a second bounty of winning for us all if there are players that are willing to fill in the cells of the spreadsheet with - </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Wait, what? Spreadsheet?” </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Relax</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and bear with me a while. If people are kind enough to fill in the spreadsheet with their opinions, feedback, thoughts, pictures, etc then we can vicariously enjoy their fun too. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Speaking of which, here's the link to the spreadsheet:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://goo.gl/euHnBM" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">Inner</span><span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: orange;">Child</span><span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: yellow;">for</span><span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: lime;">the</span><span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: cyan;">Outer</span><span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: blue;">Adult</span><span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: purple;">Spreadsheet</span></a> </span></span></span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It is the heart, soul and core component of the challenge. I've bookmarked it, as that's faster than fishing it out of my Google Drive. If you just want to play along at home and don't care about audience involvement, then the Master List page is the only one you have to bother with, and you can stop reading now. If however, you want to let others see your antics (or see what they are up to) then keep reading. If you're participating in the challenge in conjunction with Habit, please use your username, so I can pick a winner. But if you're in it for the prize, I'd suggest that buying gems would be a <b>much</b> easier and faster way to get 20 gems.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<b style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><u>Instructions to participate in the challenge/share your activities and opinions with the world:</u></b></div>
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<span style="line-height: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="color: purple; font-size: large;">Step 1:</span></b><span style="font-size: 15px;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">Open the spreadsheet in the above link</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Step 2:</b></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWSePi0ciT-pbeQF5qtnKCWvNOzrKE4HVFnF_ZrCyTLZRzlmWDjwKsWzkndwM7EpaTQyKNEfTDo0vS76JVaKLvrX4DzWqBxOQNdmMl9TYEilIHee58eZ_1-VutjYuYd1SYfffOZdfJRng/s1600/01+master.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="85" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWSePi0ciT-pbeQF5qtnKCWvNOzrKE4HVFnF_ZrCyTLZRzlmWDjwKsWzkndwM7EpaTQyKNEfTDo0vS76JVaKLvrX4DzWqBxOQNdmMl9TYEilIHee58eZ_1-VutjYuYd1SYfffOZdfJRng/s320/01+master.png" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Click on the Master List tab down the bottom of the spreadsheet.</span></div>
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Step 3:</b></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDdqpSIHPiYUyjIdJLrCTuAD7OLSIeH_DJfJwlecDsjcOeSo9_EX7PAgZL0mL8SRZ0GMhV4x_ooA-EveGgpNRnkAhd-Rd3xL8ZWNZoqNoAjvee3jfoEVxE5VFGcCTlru3xNINAaQC2vGk/s1600/02+Duplicate.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDdqpSIHPiYUyjIdJLrCTuAD7OLSIeH_DJfJwlecDsjcOeSo9_EX7PAgZL0mL8SRZ0GMhV4x_ooA-EveGgpNRnkAhd-Rd3xL8ZWNZoqNoAjvee3jfoEVxE5VFGcCTlru3xNINAaQC2vGk/s320/02+Duplicate.png" width="270" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Choose Duplicate</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Step 4:</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8vwFQBOnBHJIAkydHpq8-rfrYgGbqS3vVBBE5dxRbfRPJEFx_lTMQ5A-8mZ6jTYLHkSK4S9lPFY3tDfm_f-k075R3FbzmZOZ5Y6_9qrNPZJL_UJHjdfh4ioV_8EuO5DwaWa7s65-P6cU/s1600/03+Rename.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8vwFQBOnBHJIAkydHpq8-rfrYgGbqS3vVBBE5dxRbfRPJEFx_lTMQ5A-8mZ6jTYLHkSK4S9lPFY3tDfm_f-k075R3FbzmZOZ5Y6_9qrNPZJL_UJHjdfh4ioV_8EuO5DwaWa7s65-P6cU/s320/03+Rename.png" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">On the Copy of the Master List tab that you just created, choose Rename...</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Step 5:</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeryDUaUj59xCBAd55lyTXeIqIic_J9dz1eaK_3WERRL_B4B2c8P9f-E7VNX7PIHNOPR1QtzbXwxB4EVt_lLUcFIgtxlSBsS-m7JgHBAuw59PoCiNhUCqwP3Wfpd4452VWAvlRqof2uAY/s1600/04+Your+comment.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="117" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeryDUaUj59xCBAd55lyTXeIqIic_J9dz1eaK_3WERRL_B4B2c8P9f-E7VNX7PIHNOPR1QtzbXwxB4EVt_lLUcFIgtxlSBsS-m7JgHBAuw59PoCiNhUCqwP3Wfpd4452VWAvlRqof2uAY/s320/04+Your+comment.png" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> When you do something, go to your tab and fill it in.</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Step 6:</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgegCS78Wcs7rBUjcTmWdMv_c02tZLLE5UdVaEpFKqkaZKMImnjxt04s5n-GCJrKFx-o2_iETVKi-dGoFRID6qMSKYBo79RbCojLGdMyaW6QXAoqdYoWXjiYpsOq_cM-8pLfUAL4fjipvo/s1600/05+my+comment.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="119" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgegCS78Wcs7rBUjcTmWdMv_c02tZLLE5UdVaEpFKqkaZKMImnjxt04s5n-GCJrKFx-o2_iETVKi-dGoFRID6qMSKYBo79RbCojLGdMyaW6QXAoqdYoWXjiYpsOq_cM-8pLfUAL4fjipvo/s320/05+my+comment.png" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To see what other people have been doing, go to their page and have a gander.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">There's 42 different things listed, and since it officially starts on the 1st of January, it has a soft end of the 11th of February. That works out perfectly for me, since I am in Vietnam and the Tết holidays will have just finished. Depending on how many entries there are, it might take me a while through to go through them all and pick a winner to throw gems at, but like I said previously, that shouldn't be your main focus.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><u>Some preemptive troubleshooting and imaginary question and answers:</u></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do I have to post about the stuff I do?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Nope. It'd be nice if you do, as you'll be sharing your joy, but it's not compulsory.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do I have to post for every activity to be in the running to win the challenge?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">No of course not. I (along with some other judges if there's a lot of entries) will be deciding it based on a whole bunch of things but quality, humour, imagination, originality, etc will certainly be beating out quantity especially if it's got attributes diametrically opposed to ones in that previous list.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What's stopping someone from deleting/copying/defacing my entries?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Nothing. That's why you should back up your data. There's a slim chance that we'll get hit by someone who is in touch with an inner child who is mean spirited and petty, and derives fun from pissing on the parades of others, but that's just a risk we'll have to take. If it does become a serious issue, I'll think of a plan B, and post it here and on the master list tab.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Help! I can't find my tab!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmupQ_COuuJwScFNoo3Jv5vq5nUnSaSIRWi4A_F_2ZLjIqd4Gu49njtFn8DK5Am2EI1lU6KQ04roapAehnz0KJ6jMRNjbQ1oXLQfrgNv08wmuEaiBAKCsdoOxVK55l66Ry6h8EmNy044c/s1600/06+Pushed+down+the+line.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="73" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmupQ_COuuJwScFNoo3Jv5vq5nUnSaSIRWi4A_F_2ZLjIqd4Gu49njtFn8DK5Am2EI1lU6KQ04roapAehnz0KJ6jMRNjbQ1oXLQfrgNv08wmuEaiBAKCsdoOxVK55l66Ry6h8EmNy044c/s320/06+Pushed+down+the+line.png" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yeah, as new tabs are added to the spreadsheet, older ones get pushed further along. Try clicking on the three horizontal lines and finding your name in the popup window, I think that might be easier.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why did you include X activity? It's lame/boring/embarrassing/I do it all the time?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I tried to pick a range of different things, and since I can't please everyone, I chose to please myself. There's a fair chunk of this list that I do frequently myself, or I've wanted to do for a long time, or just stumbled on and thought it sounded great.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why didn't you include X activity? It's so much better than some of the ones on your list!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There's nothing stopping you from doing it at any time mate. These are just suggestions. Feel free to swap something out. Or post it in the comments, because someone else might think it's a grand idea too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do I need to have a kid with me to do them?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">No, but if you've got children of your own or nieces/nephews or friends with kids and you have the patience, you could involve them too, especially if you're shy and want protective camouflage. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Can I send this list to other people?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Of course, the more the merrier! Ideally, I'd love to have so many entries that I get RSI from scrolling through them all. They don't have to play HabitRPG either. I'm sending this to a few mates that I think would enjoy it. The short link for these instructions is: </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">http://goo.gl/vBWSna and the short link for the spreadsheet is: http://goo.gl/euHnBM</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Can I do the activities with friends?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Definitely</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">! I'm sure that will make a lot of the activities even more fun. I'm going to do a bunch with my wife and daughter, and some with my students. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Will you run it again sometime with different activities?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If people like doing it in a codified way like this, then sure. But like one of the answers above, there's nothing stopping you brainstorming your own list and doing it at any time you please.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">A final word...</span></b><br />
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I haven't asked you to use your imagination too much in the actual challenge, that's because I want you to do it right now. Imagine that some of the standard boilerplate legalese* is here along the lines of :<br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>I am not officially affiliated with HabitRPG and my (or other entrants in the challenge) views, opinions and choice of language is no way a reflection on those fine folks. If you get hurt or in trouble doing any of this stuff it is just like when you were a kid: it's your own fault, you should jolly well know better. If everyone else was jumping off a cliff, would you?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*You Seppos with your litigious culture would be a grave disappointment to your founding fathers I reckon. </span><br />
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Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4491872717266611176.post-15291797865927496972013-11-29T16:14:00.000+07:002013-11-29T16:14:11.563+07:00The Forest Road<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The less said about November the better, in my book. Nano falls at a terrible time, I can only imagine how busy it must be for Americans who also have Thanksgiving piled on top of their to-do lists. Finally a chance to do some creative writing, Chuck Wendig's <a href="http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/11/22/flash-fiction-challenge-200-words-at-a-time-part-one/">200 words, Part One.</a> The idea here is to start a story, and next week pick someone else's beginning to follow on from. And so on for the next few weeks. </span><br />
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<b><u><span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">The Forest Road</span></u></b></div>
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“Blades out lads it’ll be wet work with this lot, no doubt about that.” Some faces showed smiles, others grimaced but nowhere was fear to be seen. Eagerly they watched the carriage as it moved unsuspectingly into their ambush.<br />
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An arrow thunked into the throat of the coachman and the band flung themselves at the road with an animalistic scream. The horses, rearing in fright had their throats slashed – although they were valuable beasts, it would be too long before they could sell them and make a profit. Flintlocks poked through the windows and a few ineffective shots did little more than fill the carriage with smoke before they were torn from their owner’s hands. The door was wrenched from the hinges and the attackers leaned in, keen to ascertain the nature of their spoils.<br />
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“God’s teeth!” swore the leader, and he reeled back in shock, for one of the passengers was not human. Large yellow eyes nictitating wildly in the sudden clamour stared back at them from the being trussed up on the floor of the carriage. Green, scaly skin covered its hide, and the other passengers were torn between watching their charge and dealing with the bandits that now milled in confusion on the road.<br />
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Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4491872717266611176.post-91229393699864205612013-10-20T14:03:00.002+07:002013-10-20T14:04:02.265+07:00Trifextra scaredWhen young, I knew that a sense of wonder was a magical thing. I hoped to never to lose it - the world would become grey. So far, I still live happily ever after.<br />
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I've meant to participate in a lot of the <a href="http://www.trifectawritingchallenge.com/">Trifecta</a> writing challenges, but every time something crops up. Even though the Trifextra ones on the weekend are shorter, I haven't normally been able to play as weekends are family time. But everyone else is asleep, so here's my entry on something that scares me from long ago.Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4491872717266611176.post-42542618892399218172013-09-10T11:21:00.003+07:002013-09-10T11:25:28.943+07:00A wee dram<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was meant to be an entry for <a href="http://www.jeffreyhollar.com/">Jeffrey Hollar's</a> <a href="http://www.jeffreyhollar.com/p/monday-mixer.html">Monday Mixer</a>, but I cut it too fine, as a colleague came in for a chinwag and that pushed me behind schedule. Oh well, there's always next week. Happily, this isn't an autobiographical account.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If this animation doesn't loop endlessly, go watch it in all its glory <a href="http://i.imgur.com/TtYVO.gif">here</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><u>A wee dram</u></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Just like the first rains enjoy their own special scent, the first drink has an emotional <b>petrichor</b>. The tempting nectar isn't the only thing to <b>emanate</b> from the bottle. It also emits a <b>broth</b>… a silent <b>susurrus</b> of <b>castigation</b>, self-flagellation and defiance.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">As the level in the bottle quickly sinks, the murmurs become more <b>vexing</b> and you can't hide from the <b>specious</b> rumours running midst your mind. To combat it, the allure of conversation raises its head. You become expansive and liberal with libations for others - anything to capture their ear and drown out the sounds in your own head.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">But by the end of the evening once more you're alone and <b>maudlin</b> drunk. If the demon drink hadn't seduced you out of all your ducats, perhaps there'd be the option of some <b>meretricious</b> company for the evening.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">But booze is a harsh mistress and will brook no opposition.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4491872717266611176.post-12135262146776439912013-08-27T10:03:00.000+07:002013-08-27T10:03:41.767+07:00True Wisdom<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wow, it is good to be writing again after an enjoyable holiday. Here's my entry in the <a href="http://www.jeffreyhollar.com/p/monday-mixer.html">Monday Mixer</a>, Jeffrey Hollar's weekly challenge over at the <a href="http://www.jeffreyhollar.com/">Latinum Vault</a>.We need at least three of the nine prompt words, but I chose five (luminary, compendium, chirrups, slapdash, ethereal), so I am shooting for the overachiever.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picture from <a href="http://glenrock.tipsfromtown.com/2013/07/20/sand-castle-battles/#.UhwU6tLrybI">here</a>, they have a lot more cool images and some good advice for making castles</td></tr>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><u>True Wisdom</u></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Once his litter was carried down to the beach, His Holiness seemed to get a second wind. The wizened, pain-wracked face was suffused with childish glee... tongue poking out of the side of his mouth, his breath came in whistling chirrups past his few remaining teeth. Patiently the luminary shaped the sand into ethereal turrets and dug a moat. Not a childish slapdash castle, it was a work of art that was a joy to behold. The senior monks stood to one side, watching with puzzled frowns. They were listening for any gems of wisdom to add to his compendium of sayings. Finally, one cleared his voice and asked "Master, what lesson do you wish to show us?" </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">His Holiness sighed. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"I am truly sorry. I have failed you all in your teachings. Sometimes, a sandcastle is just a sandcastle." </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">With a final smile, His Holiness left this plane.</span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-7fec8753-bdba-59a6-e079-91192d077646"><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span>Snellopyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07558997593849775847noreply@blogger.com2