Discovering the right exercise game

People have been making exercise games for centuries, frequently referred to as “sports”. As we moved away from hunter/gatherer societies, the skills that were once essential eventually became entertainment, frequently with a competitive edge. For those of us not making a living from sports, our more sedentary lifestyles necessitates seeking out fitness opportunities, whether at a gym, a dojang, online workouts, or virtual walking challenges (which can be stacked with Pokemon Go or similar games)… we are fortunate to have so many options.

A couple months ago, a friend mentioned the Oculus Quest 2, a virtual reality headset, and I had absolutely no interest in it… until a couple weeks later, when a co-worker regaled us with tales of his weekly virtual reality boxing matches. As it happens, that weekend I was shopping at Costco and realized they sell the system, and it was something I could use my annual credit card rebate (which is tied to my Costco membership) towards.

It’s essentially a gaming console, and priced accordingly, so it wasn’t something I wanted to buy without trying it. I reached out to the friend who initially mentioned the system and invited myself over to try it. His system is set up to cast to his television, so I was able to watch what he was doing, and then work through the First Steps app that trains users on the Oculus. He didn’t have a boxing app that worked (the one that was installed wanted a subscription), but he introduced me to Beat Saber.

Waving my arms around wildly with a virtual reality headset

I can’t begin to tell you how dangerously addictive Beat Saber is. The basic solo game has you holding two lightsabers – different colors – and slicing “notes” that come towards you as the song plays. Most notes have arrows indicating which direction you need to slice them, and all of them match the color of one of your sabers; it counts as a miss if you slice with the wrong color or in the wrong direction. There are also blocks that you need to avoid by stepping to a side or ducking, so you’re constantly moving and hoping the cats don’t pick that moment to walk between your feet. And bombs… just don’t touch those at all.

In addition to the albums included with the app purchases, Beat Saber has additional songs and albums that can be purchased, including partnering with some big names like Lady Gaga and Imagine Dragons. Songs can be purchased individually or at a discount album price. I haven’t reached that point yet, as I’m still playing with the various difficulty settings and optional features like the smaller notes and 360 degree play.

I also installed the boxing game my coworker recommended, along with a perennial favorite, Fruit Ninja, and while they’re fun, Beat Saber holds my attention more while giving me a good workout.

Beginning a new adventure in the Avatar Legends RPG

Last summer, Avatar Legends: the Roleplaying Game appeared on Kickstarter and was well received – to the tune of 81,567 backers. Not surprisingly, I was one of them, and that was before my gamemaster announced her intention of running a game in that world. It raised over $9 million (which sounded amazing until Brandon Sanderson started his Kickstarter).

Using the Quickstart guide, we each picked a playbook and designed our characters, knowing that some adjustments might be needed once the full book was released. We discussed when to set our adventure, deciding to avoid the well explored time periods surrounding Avatar: the Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, settling instead for the era when Aang has disappeared and the Fire Nation has just unleashed war on the other nations.

My character, Yeshe, is a traveling bard and storyteller, so I decided to write her background into a letter to her mentor. 

Hitomi Nakai
Mistress of Word and Song
Iron Brew Tea House
Ba Sing Se

Day of the Comet
To the noble and esteemed Hitomi,

I hope you continue in good health in Ba Sing Se, and I appreciate your understanding of my reluctance to return to that city which generates the mixed emotions of meeting you and my abandonment, albeit accidental, by the monks of the Air Temple on that oddly fated field trip.  As you instructed, I have set out to gather stories across the Kingdoms, and have landed myself in the middle of what may be a momentous historical event. 

Per your recommendation, upon arriving in Piper Tower I immediately sought out a prominent Tea House.  I had been chatting with the locals at the Mud Pearl, mainly about the occasional difficulties in dealing with stubborn Fire Nation merchants that frequent these docks, when an exceedingly pregnant Air Nomad waddled in.  She had barely settled in on a sturdy bench when the skies began to darken as the hundred year comet approached.  I was gathering my belongings, anticipating watching the comet’s crossing from the docks, remembering how special an event you said this would be for all of you firebenders, when a young firebender burst into the Mud Pearl, shouting that the Fire Nation was attacking.  This was followed immediately by a plop of water hitting the dirt floor; the Air Nomad’s birthing process had begun at a most difficult time, and she yelled repeated about waiting for her young boyfriend, Tora. 

I followed several people, including the young firebender who had brought the news, outside, and heard others bar the door behind us to protect the woman’s childbirth.  In the ensuing chaos, the others fought off Fire Nation soldiers who were actively destroying buildings and harassing people.  I ran up to the less involved, the idle soldiers, asking for the missing Tora.  I began to despair for the young woman’s loved one when a soldier responded “You mean General Tora?”  Now, instead, I despair for the young woman. 

With her infant son in her arms, the young woman fled with several followers from the Mud Pearl, myself included, to her air bison, waiting just outside of town.  En route, we encountered none other than the General himself, who offered to keep the woman, named Bindi, safe from the fate of her fellow Airbenders if she goes with him.  Another fight might have ensued had it not been for a hapless melon merchant, rushing through the street with his cart, who crashed into the General, allowing us to escape.

As we were traveling on her air bison, Rini, Bindi shared the news that she seeks her nephew, who may be the next Avatar.  Good Hitomi, I hope you are able to discover what General Tora meant regarding the fate of the Airbenders, as his statement was most ominous.  I shall travel with these people as far as I am able to see how this story progress, writing always with the turtleduck quills you so generously provided.  

Your loyal student,
Yeshe

Are you playing Avatar Legends? I don’t say this often, but… tell me about your character.

Living through yet another historic event

The last couple years have certainly been memorable around the world, and not in a good way. We’ve lost friends and family to a global pandemic that has killed almost six million people (and counting). In the United States, we’ve seen an armed insurrection against a co-equal branch of government inspired by a failed president who refused to acknowledge he’d lost the election by both millions of votes (again) and the Electoral College count, and subsequent voter suppression laws across the country. Now we’re watching Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, desperately hoping that the Russian government will come their senses and withdraw rather than risk starting World War III.

In the midst of these historic events, it can be hard to sort through all the various media, whether audio, video, or written, and recognize which are accurate, and which are presenting facts versus opinions. (Just for clarity, this blog features my opinion; get your news from professionals.) In many cases, it’s a fine line because facts are presented from someone’s perspective, such as referring to the current conflict as an “invasion”; presumably in Russia, it’s being worded differently, I’d guess with some hogwash like “liberating” specific areas while targeting the entire country. (For example, using “hogwash” is an example of deliberate phrasing to push my opinion along with the information.)

Assuming all news is biased one way or another – because we’re all people with opinions – I’d recommend finding news sources that present a mix of opinions, or multiple reliable sources. The All Sides website features a Media Bias Chart categorizing various news sources based on their leanings on US politics, and let you follow current news by presenting it from multiple sources. If you read another language, find at least one source in that language, preferably from a different country.

Personally, other than glancing at CNN and BBC as needed (at least for English), I’m a fan of Heather Cox Richardson’s daily letters, which summarize significant news items and explain historical context of some, providing an analysis of current events. I can’t begin to fathom how many different sources she sorts through on a daily basis – she includes links to sources relevant to the day’s letter – though I appreciate her hard work.

A look at some Wordle variants

As mentioned recently, Wordle has taken the online world by storm, drawing people in with the once-a-day challenge. Like many popular games, it has spawned variants, some keeping the challenge related to language(s), and others branching out into other subjects.

There are, apparently, variants for specific fandoms, such as Lord of the Rings, Star Wars (includes dashes so you can guess droids), Taylor Swift, and Pokémon; I only recently learned of those, and would probably struggle with them. I had heard of Lewdle (the name says it all) and apparently there’s also a Sweardle (also fairly obvious). I’m not particularly good at trivia, even for fandoms I enjoy, and my usual vocabulary doesn’t seem to work well for those last two. In addition to the original game, I am enjoying these variants:

Globle, a geography game where you try to guess today’s country. The color of the guessed country indicates proximity to today’s answer. There is no limit to the number of guesses, I’ve ranged anywhere from three (on a lucky day) to twenty guesses so far.

Nerdle, a math game with a calculation to determine. There are only eight spaces, and one of them is always an equals sign, so they’re fairly simple calculations.

WordleGame, not for their English remake – I like this one for the selection of foreign languages. I occasionally remember to visit it and try the Spanish puzzle for the day.

The big one… and I mean that literally, is Quordle:

Quordle image showing 4 squares of completed word puzzles

Instead of one word, you’re trying to match four. The difficulty is that all of your guesses apply to all four quadrants, so a guess that helps you on the first word may give you no new letters on the fourth one. To balance out the increased difficulty, you have nine guesses instead of Wordle’s standard six.

Which, if any, is your favorite Wordle variant?

Thoughts on An Unintended Voyage

I’ve mentioned Marshall Ryan Maresca’s books before, specifically in this post about The Velocity of Revolution, so it’s safe to assume I was excited to receive another of his books, An Unintended Voyage, to review. This novel picks up from a plot hook left hanging in Maresca’s Streets of Maradaine series, and is a great starting point for new readers. This review was originally published in the November 1, 2021 issue of Booklist.

During Marshall Ryan Maresca’s Maradaine Saga, Sergeant Corrie Wellington was abducted along with assorted children and put on a slave ship bound for places unknown. An Unintended Voyage reveals Corrie’s plight, landing her at a debtors’ house in Mocassa working to pay off an unintended debt accrued after the slave ship. Raised believing that Maradaine was the center of the world, Corrie experiences all of the culture shock inherent in being dumped in another country and interacting with people from nations she hadn’t heard of before. Her protective streak quickly extends from her shipmate Eana and the women they share a house with to victims of random violence on the unpatrolled streets, which ultimately leads to meeting a language tutor and securing a steady job as a bodyguard. Eventually she finds herself protecting other foreigners against religious fanatics who predict – and encourage – impending doom, coinciding with a solar eclipse which will enhance magical abilities. An Unintended Voyage is another delightful read for all ages, expanding on Maresca’s worldbuilding with hints of future adventures spread across the world.

Wordle Microfiction

By now, you’ve probably heard of Wordle, a daily word game reminiscent of the classic board game Mastermind, where you use logic to determine what the hidden code is. Wordle locks you into six guesses to reach a five-letter word in English. Many variants are already available online, including some other languages, an equation option, and a rather educational geography one.

You may have heard of microfiction, which is a subcategory of flash fiction – microfiction stories cap out at one hundred words. Wordle Microfiction combines those by using your Wordle guesses as story prompts, which gives you anywhere from one (if you’re really lucky) to seven (if you fail the day’s Wordle) five-letter words to use in a story.

From this example, you could write something like this using the day’s Wordle as a prompt:

That loser was sadly mistaken if he thought I’d relinquish my seat just because he’s my elder. He should have watched where he was walking instead of bumping into me just as the train approached. He wasn’t even on the train long enough to justify a seat, on at one stop and off at the next. Lazy old fart. Wait… where’s my wallet?

For an extra challenge, you restrict yourself to only using the words in the order they were entered on Wordle.

Feel free to share your Wordle microfiction in the comments!

The Paramount Theatre Presents Groundhog Day: the Musical

It seems like just yesterday that Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell, was released in theaters. Alas, yesterday was closer to thirty years ago in this case. The basic premise, as described on IMDB.com is “A self-centered Pittsburgh weatherman finds himself inexplicably trapped in a small town as he lives the same day over and over again.” Needless to say, hijinks ensue as he moves through shock and denial to some extreme actions, followed eventually by making the most of it.

Broadway took what’s already an entertaining concept and added music to it, and the Paramount Theatre in Aurora included it in their Broadway series this year. Weatherman Phil sets the mood in the prelude with a handful of snarky comments, movie references, and swearing that he will never take the Punxsutawney assignment again. He doubles down on this attitude in his first song, singing about how much he hates Small Town USA.

The musical proceeds as expected given that it’s based on a movie many of us already know and love. Where the Paramount excels, as always, is some great stage effects, like watching Phil drive drunk in a snow storm pursued by a police car. Why yes, of course they crash… you could almost feel it.

As with previous shows this season, proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test is required to attend (and they’ve partnered with a local place for the test), and you’re expected to wear a mask the entire time expect when taking a sip of your drink. Unless you’re the idiots behind our subscription seats, who thought they were exempt from the rule. (I’m sure there are others, those were just the ones we could see. Sat down, took off their masks. Put them on again when the usher reminded them of the rule, but they were off again at intermission, and during the second half when there was a brief pause to resolve technical issues on stage.)

All in all, another fantastic show at the Paramount. Go see it if you can.

Quest Calendar’s diverse characters

I wrote extensively about the Quest Calendar last year, keeping a journal of my character’s adventure (starting here) throughout the year. I’m not doing that this year. In fact, I didn’t expect to be posting about the Quest Calendar at all, but I wanted to highlight some of the enhancements they included in their 2022 product.

Like last year, all of the character sheets are available as PDFs on their website. In addition to a new set of characters, they made last year’s characters available on a re-designed character sheet, as well as equipment and inventory sheets. These will be incredibly useful on this year’s adventure.

Six Quest Calendar characters with background and portrait

But this post isn’t about inventory or equipment, it’s about the diversity of characters they chose to include. Last year, they hit most of the main character classes you would expect in a fantasy setting, plus a few extras (with some duplicates due to Kickstarter options, I believe). You pick your character a couple weeks into the year, after working through the mechanics with a sample adventure.

Look at this year’s selection: Machine Artificer (robot? droid?), Half-Demon Swashbuckler, Human Cleric (there wasn’t actually a straight up cleric in last year’s selection), Feline Monk, Draakon Elementalist, and Avian Necromancer. My goodness, what an interesting selection!

Last year, I chose to play the half-elf druid, and Cassandra picked the gnome thief. This year, it was a tough choice. I briefly considered the cleric, and of course contemplated the feline monk, but the final selection actually came down to the avian necromancer and the half-demon swashbuckler. Both of them are entirely different from last year’s druid, and after some consideration, I opted for the half-demon swashbuckler.

I’m not planning to keep a character journal this year, so if you want to follow the story, I’d check their website to see if calendars are still available. If you’ll excuse me, I have to follow some children down a dry well to see where they’ve wandered off to. Their parents are worried.

My Three Names in Triple Vision

My exciting moment yesterday was holding a copy of Triple Vision in my hands, which includes my short story, My Three Names. Having edited both of Cassandra’s published books, it’s delightful to have made it through the creation and editing process with The Writing Journey to see my own story in print. I read some of the other stories during the critique phase; I’m looking forward to reading all of them now. If you’re wondering about the title, every story had something to do with the number three.

But really, I’m so very excited. I love how the story evolved from my first draft, improving because of the feedback from other writers. The creative process benefits from constructive criticism and different perspectives, revealing where something that was clearly set in your mind didn’t make it onto the page or specific parts of your story make other readers laugh.

Frances holding a copy of Triple Vision, an anthology of stories and poems from The Writing Journey

My five pages (in lieu of minutes) of fame being with this paragraph:

“Like most fae-blessed, I have three names. The first two are just what normal people have. Let’s call them legal names, one of which is probably what’s on your birth certificate, and a nickname or preferred name. In my case, my legal name is Margherita Phang. No, I’m not part Italian. My Chinese-American father indulged my Irish-American mother’s decision to name me after the pizza. Yes, really.”

You’ll have to read the book to find out where it goes from there.

Thoughts on Wish You Were Here

I have several things I’d like to share about Wish You Were Here, a recent novel by Jodi Picoult. Unfortunately, some of those are spoilers that are better suited for a book club discussion, and I wouldn’t want to ruin it for anybody.

The premise of the story is that Diana O’Toole and her boyfriend, Finn, are supposed to leave for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Galápagos just as the Covid pandemic is picking up. Finn, a surgical resident in New York City, makes the difficult decision to stay behind, but encourages Diana to go without him. Diana immediately encounters problems: her luggage gets lost, there’s barely functioning Wi-Fi on Isabela Island, her Spanish is minimal (she was counting on Finn for that), and to top it off, the island and her hotel close as she arrives. Stranded until the island’s quarantine lifts, she finds herself rescued by a woman who introduces herself as “abuela” (grandmother) and develops a friendship with her family.

The intermittent Wi-Fi connection allows the occasional e-mail from Finn to get through, detailing all the weirdness and stress that we heard about hospitals experiencing in the news in the early days – and now, with the Omicron surge – of this pandemic. The isolation allows Diana to rediscover herself and explore the beautiful island she’s stranded on. Picoult perfectly captures both the isolation and the terrifying effects of Covid on our lives, yet somehow does it in an uplifting way.