Average score:
?.??/10

Freedom ain't cheap

The most pressing concern for the first half of the month is The Importance of Being Earnest, in which I'm playing Jack. It is going to be a very good show, and I will do what I can to that end. After that, my first priority will be finding ways of making money. I have enough money to live modestly for several months, but that money will run out if I don't replenish it quickly. I need a bare minimum of 2,500 shekels a month (preferably more) to live here. Until I have a comfortable way of reaching that consistently, I can't focus on all the many things that really matter.
First activity:
Jack is a fascinating character to me. He seems at first glance to be stiff and serious, but for half his life he's not shy about revealing his desire for excitement. And yet, he doesn't really know how to do that right. He's made a few lies to start him on his way, but he doesn't know how "fun" works. He is attracted to people who are contrary -Algernon, Gwendolyn- while pretending to be irritated by contrariness. Quite a contradiction, this Jack. And I need to get that across to the audience. How?
Time allocation: The Importance of Being Earnest 6:30
Mundane activities 5:50
The Musician says I'm just "not myself" today. But I think it's simpler than that: the play is actually working pretty well, and that's without me putting in such an effort. When I try to figure out what I'm doing on stage in the rehearsals, the director tells me it's coming across as the character's uncertainty and that it's working. I feel so guilty for thinking that that's enough. It isn't enough, the character would be much better served by really studying him and living and breathing him and figuring out what makes him tick that's different from the other characters I've played. I've grown too complacent. If the Explorer or the Thinker or even the Musician get days in the next week, could you come up with some cool new twists? Every little bit helps give the character more life. This was the best chance, and I blew it. Sorry, Jack.
Performance review:
Really the biggest problem was just not ending the day after the rehearsal. Even going to sleep then would have been fine. It would have been a six-point day, which is an above-average score. There is no need to wait until the last minute.
Score:
First activity: Looking around with Google Maps 0:45
It's about time I got to know the area.
Time allocation: The Importance of Being Earnest 4:02
Talking with Yardena 2:43
Mundane activities 1:47
Walking around Jerusalem 1:14
Reading comics 1:07
Reading a blog 0:29
Singing 0:03
I love being in a city, where it seems like I can pick any direction, walk in it, and see infinite detail which I could never in a million years get to know. Come to think of it, it would be nicer if I could get to know some of it. But for now, I'll settle for being able to lie on my back by a tree in a grassy field and stare at the sky. I'm not alone in this, either - when I left my spot (next to the stair sculpture) and started walking back home, I passed by someone else doing the same thing very near there.

I'm starting to get really comfortable with the play, to the point where my acting just seems obvious and I don't need to think about it at all. The scenes really work, and it's lots of fun to see the other actors acting in the whole "theater in the round" setup we've got going on. Everything's a little bit messy and real, compared to other plays. It's going to be a cool show. Wow, just a few days away! Makes sense that we'd be so far along, then. But amateur theater doesn't generally work out this well.

Someone who calls themself "Muflax" commented on Gamer Mom, which tipped me off about their existence. And now I'm seeing his personal site, and it's kind of brilliant. There's so much there that I don't know whether I could ever read it all (though I'd like to try), arranged in a random order; rather like my blog really. There's something cool he does, which is that he writes ridiculously ambitious posts in little bits at a time. Throughout the (published) posts there are points which say "TODO", and those parts will get filled in eventually. I read through half of an article about antinatalism, a concept I had never heard of which is really quite fascinating.

There was a Marvel comic this week which had a rather brilliant plot twist. What made it even cooler than it otherwise would have been was that the writers had planted a red herring plot twist, to divert people's imaginations from the actual idea. I noticed (and fell for) the red herring just a few pages before the real twist, and I thought to myself (or I may have yelled it out loud, I'm not sure): "That's awesome! They'd do that?". And then the real twist happened, and it was twice as cool as that. Marvel Comics knows what they're doing.
Performance review:
The balance is a little bit off, which is the only thing keeping me from 100% believing the passion in the closing statement. Keep an eye on the time allocation tables. But otherwise, this was fun.
Score:
First activity: Lode Runner 0:36
Sly Cooper 2, Zelda, and the play (which I will approach as a game where I am trying to get a high score).
Time allocation: The Importance of Being Earnest 2:13
Wii Sports Resort 1:38
Mundane activities 1:18
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story 0:35
Say what you will about Nintendo, but they know how to do game controls better than anyone. In Wii Sports Resort Ping Pong, the controls are really intuitive, and yet they have so much depth. I'm not sure how much of what I'm doing is just ignored by the program, and how much is actually helping me, but it's really easy to get a lot better and shift from thinking about hitting the ball to thinking about aiming the ball and then eventually thinking about tactics. I'm sure there's a more advanced level to this gameplay that I'd be able to utilize if I understood the controls more intellectually, but I feel like I might get there anyway, even without understanding everything on a conscious level.
Performance review:
Not a huge amount of progress, but decent focus.
Score:
First activity (Before sleeping): Watching TV with Yardena 4:37
First activity (Fri.): Cleaning up my room 0:10
First activity (Sat.): Finding clothes 0:15
Sometimes Yardena gets angry and there's a good reason for it, and I need to figure out what that is and adapt. But sometimes she's angry just because of external factors, and I can't find anything I did that's even remotely objectionable. I don't think she likes me very much, is the problem. Me being me irritates her, and she's tolerant and occasionally amused but not more than that.
Time allocation: Mundane activities 7:07
Hanging out with Yardena 3:03
Washing dishes 0:27
Reading blogs 0:26
D&D-stuff 0:16
Yardena does like me a good deal, which is good because I like her a good deal. Just maybe don't talk to her at 2:30 in the morning; the miscommunications (which are inevitable at any time of day) can be too much of a problem then.
Notes: I transcribed a blog post for Yardena, since her dyslexia makes writing very difficult for her and she's a good storyteller who deserves to be heard. Breaking up the day was Shabbat, of course, which was spent in Beit Shemesh with no energy at all. Beit Shemesh will do that.
Performance review:
I think we should avoid Beit Shemesh from now on. It doesn't seem to ever lead to good Friday/Saturday sessions.
Score:
Continue going over lines from the play until 17:25.
17:25 - Write the next page of the blog post.
18:10 - Supper
18:30 - wash dishes
18:40 - Shower
18:45 - go to rehersal
23:00 - hang out with Yardena
1:00 - continue blog post
2:20 - bed
10:50 - up
11:15 - start by finishing blog post
13:15 - lunch
13:40 - buy fan
That'll take however long it'll take, then I'll come home and score.

I'm not good enough, but today is going to be perfect.
Notes: I don't see the point in writing up the whole time allocation table, because it's clearly a zero-pointer. I went to the rehearsal, and I hung out with Yardena, and I bought a fan, but the rest of the time was spent on web-browsing and there was little order to any of it.
Score:
First activity: Reflecting on the month so far 0:07
I am getting more rigid in my ways. One day is much like another, and I am being too passive to be willing to change this. Something must be done.
Time allocation: Mundane activities 2:31
The Importance of Being Earnest 1:08
The blog 0:59
Thinking about gender representations in media 0:59
Reading superhero comics 0:52
Reading 0:38
My next adventure game will be called "Untitled". It will be a short-ish scene (in real time) with minimal context, and it will concern a piano duet. There will be no dialogue. The point is to show how we form incomplete pictures of other people in our heads, which seem to get more focused or more blurry, or in any event different, as we get opportunities to interact with them. There will also be the idea, as I am writing it, that the same is going the other way. The things the character will play will make a lot of sense to the player, who knows what the character is feeling, but it may or may not make sense to the other player. The game will have moments of transcendence, and moments of tremendous awkwardness. There will need to be a short animation at the end of it.

Some people are going to hate me for this game. They'll say that I'm only showing one half of the story. But isn't that always the case?
Performance review:
It's good to have a direction.
Score:
 
Time allocation: Mundane activities 3:15
The show 2:51
Practicing 2:03
Preparation 1:07
It went very well.
Performance review:
Hm. Maybe the show should have been considered outside the game, being a pre-scheduled social event.
Score:
First activity: Lunch and planning 0:25
15:45 - wash dishes
15:56 - Check the situation with the MIDI keyboard. If it works, don't play on it; if it doesn't work, don't try to fix it. Those are for the Musician and the Programmer to deal with, respectively.
16:16 - The blog
18:25 - Comics
19:15 - Score.

I'm not good enough, but today is going to be perfect.
Time allocation: The blog 1:25
Mundane activities 0:44
Editing comics 0:43
Washing dishes 0:19
Checking the state of the MIDI keyboard 0:11
Going to buy gnocchi for Yardena 0:03
I finished and posted the blog post I was working on.
I started organizing Avengers vs. X-Men properly.
Notes: The MIDI keyboard works, despite having reinstalled the operating system.
Performance review:
Short and good.
Score:
First activity: Letting Yardena buy a Dragon Age 2 expansion with my credit card
 
Time allocation: Watching Yardena play Dragon Age 2 3:09
Mundane activities 1:43
Watching The Legend of Korra with Yardena 0:27
A phone call 0:04
 
Performance review:
You don't seem to be taking the game very seriously.
Score:
First activity (Sun.): Buying drinks 0:06
First activity (Mon.): Putting in a load of laundry 0:04
15:00 - lunch (I should have done it earlier, but...)
15:30 - go over lines
16:20 - shower, apply contact lenses
16:50 - have a nice, big dinner
17:30 - wash dishes
17:45 - show
0:30 - sleep.
9:00 - wake up.
9:30 - go to work
Whenever I get home - score.

I'm not good enough, but today is going to be perfect.
Time allocation: Data entry work 9:13
The Importance of Being Earnest 5:33
Mundane activities 4:22
Washing dishes 0:15
I had another excellent performance.
I finished entering four patients' data (each one being around 130 pages).
Performance review:
Reliable.
Score:
I have an opportunity to hang out with Yardena, and I'm not going to squander it.
Notes: I didn't record the details, because I was too busy interacting with people to care. If that makes me lose points, then there's something seriously wrong with this system. This is who I am and how I think, and I wouldn't be able to do what I do as well if I were tied to some ridiculous bureaucratic thinking. I've also decided that I'm sick of being so goddamned honest all the time. I deserve some privacy, and so do the people I hang out with. I'm just going to say that this was a fantastic series of days, that we had some excellent shows, and that I made one or two little social mistakes but nothing that bothers me too much. If you want more than that, tough luck.
I like hanging out with Yardena. I'll have to do more of that.
Performance review:
Your attitude is challenging, and I think a lot of what you're arguing is very compelling. My custom of giving zero points for days with insufficient data is in error, it is not mandated by the Rules (which do not specify exactly how many points should be taken off for breaking rules or principles), and I will not do you that indignity again. You will receive the score that you deserve for this day, and if you do not want to allow an explanation of the day's events I will not force the matter.
Score:
First activity ():
First activity ():
The Worker is Mory 2.0. The Person is Mory 1.0. For a few months the Worker was dominant, and we reverted to how we thought before I vs, I. Now the Person has become dominant, and we are reverting to how we thought before the blog. Just as the Worker is better-developed than Mory 2.0, and we have many more opporutinities for productivity now, so too is the Person in better shape than I ever was as a teenager. Again I'm watching TV and playing games, but now I'm watching TV with Yardena and playing games with Yardena.
 
Notes: The time allocation was not filled out properly, because I switched to the Person and the Person didn't care. It was a worthwhile choice regardless, since Yardena started playing Ocarina of Time (Yay!), but I wish the Person would respect my wishes a little bit more. We'll need to talk about this. Activities during the day included catching up on Phineas and Ferb, reading, planning out a blog post, talking to my sister Dena (who unexpectedly stopped by), going on a contemplative walk, and playing the somewhat-terrible browser game Run.
Performance review:
I think these elements could have resulted in an excellent day, but all I'm left with are fragments of thoughts.
Score:
I didn't sleep well last night, so this may be difficult.
8:15 - Data entry work
19:30 - Buy bagels and drinks
19:45 - Take a nap
21:15 - Hang out with Yardena
23:30 - Comics
1:50 - score.
Time allocation: Data entry work 8:47
Hanging out with Yardena 3:20
Mundane activities 2:48
Comics 0:45
Shopping 0:31
I finished the current data entry project.
Notes: I set an easy plan, because I was too tired to do any more.
Performance review:
Considering the lack of sleep, not bad.
Score:
Oh my god these old posts of mine are brilliant. What happened to me?
Time allocation: Mundane activities ?
Socializing ?
General reflection ?
Thinking about "In Darkness" ?
Reading my posts out loud ?
Brainstorming ?
Advanced Freecell ?
 
Score:
First activity:
The Rules made sense in principle, but there are lots of problems with them in practice. For instance, all eight characters are required to fill out time allocation tables, even though it only really makes sense for myself and possibly the Addict. To start with, I'd like to figure out how the Worker should work. The basic idea is to reduce the time allocation table to a checklist of things from the schedule.
Time allocation:
 Performance review:
Score: