01 July 2010

Time allocation:	Mundane activities	4:13
	The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time	4:00
	Games night	3:59
	Gamer Mom	1:07
	Comics	1:07
	Wii Fit	0:25
	The blog	0:05
Notes:	It was my intention to spend a clear majority of the day in Ocarina of Time, to start the month off on a strange note. But in my planning it had slipped my mind that Avri had moved games night to today because we'd all been fasting on Tuesday. Games night always takes up many hours, and if I'd remembered I would surely have changed my plans and moved my trip to the land of Hyrule to a different day. I remembered games night 37 minutes after it had started. I had already spent the time in Hyrule, switching between several diverse activities. I spent around an hour and a half each on the main quest and random exploring, and in the other hour I practiced playing the ocarina as a musical instrument. In the main quest I tried to do things out of the proper order, to to see the logic behind the design from other angles, and I continued writing down detailed notes about my observations and experiences. When I went exploring I tried (and in fact succeeded) to find things in the game I'd never seen before, while playing out the specific side quest that would get me access to more secrets. Practicing the ocarina is self-explanatory. I'm getting to be pretty decent at it. At the end of the night I spent my remaining time continuing the script for my upcoming game Gamer Mom, which is moving along quite nicely.
Performance review:	The creative uses of time so perfectly match the more ordinary activities, though that was not deliberate. That's just bizarre, and it highlights how strange a day this really was. No one but Mory Buckman would ever choose to have a day quite like this, and so the character comes through clearly, which is the entire point of this constant scrutiny. A very strong start to the month, and let's hope the rest follows suit.
Score:	10/10

02-03 July 2010

Time allocation:	Mundane activities	8:15
	Comics	1:17
	Gamer Mom	1:07
	Composing	1:04
	TV	0:53
	Cleaning out the hard drive	0:45
Notes:	I was able to free up nearly 6 GB of space, just by going through my comics download folder and deleting the things there's not much chance I'll ever read.
Performance review:	Wake me when something happens.
Score:	5/10

04 July 2010

Time allocation:	Mundane activities	5:21
	Starting to learn Flash programming	1:41
	Practicing monologues	1:37
	Installing and uninstalling software	1:32
	Listening to a podcast	1:31
	Wii Fit	0:51
	Angles and Circles	0:38
	Gamer Mom	0:21
	Composing	0:18
Notes:	There's nothing in the Gamer Mom concept (or the script, so far) that calls for a full-screen display or any of complicated programming, so rather than sticking to what's comfortable and writing it in BlitzMax I'm planning to make it in Flash. This is also because moreso than my previous games, this is going to be a kind of game with broad and easily-understood appeal. Having it play in a standard web browser (as opposed to requiring a download and a Windows computer) could get it played by a much larger group of people. So I installed a trial version of the Flash development environment, it barely ran on my computer, I uninstalled it, and then I learned that I didn't actually need the whole development environment anyway. So I started learning up on how to do it. I'm not counting this as Gamer Mom because I'm still in the design phase of the game and this didn't move that along at all. I also worked on my other upcoming game, Angles and Circles. I haven't yet decided what language that one will be in. I'm hoping to meet up with Erika, the director of the last play I was in, in a few days so that she can help me improve my audition technique. So I've memorized two monologues, one comedic and one dramatic. I listened to a podcast on GameCritics.com, which was interesting: I haven't been exposed to such joy-crushing quantities of cynicism in years. A lot of what they said made me cringe (for instance, they seemed surprised and outraged that Portal 2 looks unfocused), but I'm glad I listened.
Performance review:	Not much of what you'd consider conventional "fun" here, which is okay because this person evidently doesn't need it. Various kinds of productivity and lots of personal quirkiness are apparently enough. That's not a very relatable sentiment, but this is definitely the character the blog has been describing.
Score:	10/10

05 July 2010

Time allocation:	Mundane activities	4:29
	The blog	2:46
	TV	1:54
	Comics	1:23
	IM chat with Benjy	1:05
	Angles and Circles	0:51
	Wii Fit	0:39
	Considering a job offer	0:29
	Practicing monologues	0:26
Notes:	I've come across a possible short-term game design job. I'm approaching it very cautiously, trying to make sure it's something that makes sense for me to do before committing to it. Unfortunately the person I've been in contact with has been less than forthcoming with details, and is not prompt in returning letters even though the project would be expected to be finished quickly. So most likely this is not going anywhere. But I'm keeping my mind open for the time being.
Performance review:	Not particularly interesting or surprising, but not bad. Angles and Circles finally makes a reasonable appearance, but it still doesn't feel like enough. I want to see it get a bit of momentum, like Gamer Mom had right out of the gate.
Score:	8/10

06 July 2010

Time allocation:	Games night	5:27
	Mundane activities	3:54
	The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time	2:57
	The blog	2:35
	Calling Erika	0:06
Notes:	In case you're wondering, the job offer is off the table. They wanted someone with experience making games for iPhone, and that's not me. I didn't mention this yesterday, but yes, that is a new blog post I'm working on. It may take a little while. Erika hadn't gotten back to me with the details on when we'd meet up, so I called her by phone. (Something I tend to avoid, when possible- I find it awkward.) It turns out she hadn't written because a relative of hers had just died and she was in a weird state of mind, but we'll meet on Sunday, in Rehovot. In Zelda I completed the entire Fire Temple before the two dungeons that are meant to precede it. I always thought the game was more rigidly linear than that, but apparently it isn't. In writing down my usual detailed notes and analyses, I came to realize that the Fire Temple is a much more brilliant piece of game design than I'd ever given it credit for. It's downright beautiful, and I never noticed until now. I also continued to improve my ocarina-playing, and tried to play the Water Temple out of the expected order. (With that one I actually couldn't.)
Performance review:	I'd be happier if some of the usual routine were in here. There's no game-design progress, and no Wii Fit. It's not that these things are qualitatively better than how I spent my time today, because it really was a good day, but a token amount of time would have been nice. Say, 20 minutes on exercising and 20 minutes on Gamer Mom. That would have been an extra point, right there. Otherwise this is a very interesting day, focused but not obsessively so and dealing with interesting projects. What the numbers don't adequately capture is that both the blogging and the gaming were very interesting and worthwhile, each in its own ways. They hit that sweet spot between dedication and obsessiveness, where I end the day satisfied but not burnt out.
Score:	9/10

07 July 2010

Time allocation:	Mundane activities	4:40
	The blog	4:33
	Comics	4:32
	Art Style: light trax	0:52
	Wii Fit	0:39
Notes:	I somehow got the idea in my head to reread the entire Scott Pilgrim series of graphic novels in one sitting. This took much longer than I thought it would. I had already put 2:14 into the blog post at that point, and though I hadn't intended to do any more of that today I found that with the time left to me it was the only activity which I could possibly push past the comics. So I spent the rest of the day continuing the blog post, and the point at which I felt burnt out thankfully happened to be exactly one minute past catching up with the reading time.
Performance review:	Reading through an entire series in one sitting was a bad move. I had miscalculated the amount of time it would take, but when I saw how late it was getting I should have stopped immediately and come back another day. I did not, and as a result my options were limited for the rest of the day. The recovery was as decent as could be hoped for under the circumstances, and displayed remarkable endurance, but didn't leave any time for game design work. This is especially frustrating because it makes this the second day in a row where this is the case. And this day seems even less interesting when put up against the last one.
Score:	6/10

08 July 2010

Time allocation:	Mundane activities	4:41
	Gamer Mom	2:08
	TV	2:07
	Comics	2:06
	Art Style: light trax	1:53
	The blog	1:28
	Punch-Out! (with Balance Board)	0:29
	Wii Fit	0:26
	Chatting with Avri	0:10
Notes:	The 2:08 of progress on Gamer Mom was a deliberate effort to get past the other two (passive) activities. I finished Art Style: light trax, which is a very good game (though maybe not in the same league as some of the other Art Style games). I had gotten good enough at the game that when I finally took on the final challenge of the game (playing through the entire game, in order, having only one shot at each level), it wasn't much of a challenge at all.
Performance review:	Unimaginative but competent.
Score:	7/10

09-10 July 2010

Time allocation:	Mundane activities	7:43
	Installing and messing around with Adobe Illustrator	1:55
	Trying to install Linux on a virtual machine	1:30
	Sending The March of Bulk around	0:50
	Answering a survey	0:47
	Learning Flash	0:15
Notes:	Adobe Illustrator is going to be where I spend much of my time developing Angles and Circles. I've never used Adobe Illustrator before, but I know of it by reputation and I know exactly what I'm going to be doing with my game, so I know that Adobe Illustrator is the tool I need. I installed Adobe Illustrator CS3, and it wouldn't run on my computer, so I installed Adobe Illustrator 10. And then I played around with it, read a tutorial, played around some more, and played with settings to make myself more comfortable in it. It's a very old-fashioned program, but it'll do. And on the subject of the inadequacies of my computer, I tried and failed to install Ubuntu on a virtual machine, so that I could compile Linux versions of all my games. I couldn't even get into the installation program because I don't have nearly enough RAM for anything like this. I sent links to The March of Bulk to a bunch of places where I thought people might appreciate it: blogs, forums, etc.. Not much point making a game and not making at least some effort to get people to play it. I answered a survey that Telltale Games put up about their upcoming Back to the Future adventure games, because it was there. I took some time pondering each question. The time I didn't spend on activities, I spent pacing around the house letting my mind wander, about current games and future games and other game-related things.
Performance review:	Most of activities are either failures or too insubstantial to have any clear value at the moment. There's no back-up plan here, no work on the games or the blog. There isn't even exercise or entertainment. But what ultimately matters is the question: "Can I tell that this person is Mory the gamist?" And I think the answer is an emphatic yes. This day is weird, it's 100% themed (activities revolving around my games indirectly), it's unexpected and it has a very different sort of energy to most days. I'm seeing a person who is absent-minded, who is stubbornly holding on to old-fashioned technology to his own detriment, who is unfocused. But also a person who cares more than anything about gamism, who doesn't feel the need to do anything else but think about games all day. I would not feel comfortable calling such a unique and distinctive day a total failure, even though in practical terms that's what it was. It's a messy day, but there's something to it.
Score:	6/10

11 July 2010

Time allocation:	My Audition-Technique Adventure	6:04
	Mundane activities	3:26
	Watching soccer	2:14
	Blogging about watching soccer	2:02
	Practice and preparations for my Audition-Technique Adventure	0:43
	Wii Fit	0:28
Notes:	I went to Rehovot (by train) to meet Erika. She showed me how to improve my auditioning technique, and then I hung out with her and her boyfriend for another hour before going back home. Later, I watched the World Cup championship soccer game, whose final score was 1-0.
Performance review:	Downright invigorating. What a flexible actor! The soccer is dangerously close to breaking character, but the blogging lets there be no doubt that this is the same person underneath the performance.
Score:	10/10

12 July 2010

Time allocation:	Mundane activities	5:54
	My Audition Adventure	4:23
	TV	1:42
	Comics	1:16
	Practicing my monologue for the Audition Adventure	0:34
	Gamer Mom	0:30
Notes:	Following up on yesterday, today I went to Jerusalem to try out for the play Barefoot in the Park. There aren't many parts available so I knew going in that it was a long shot. But when it went badly, it still felt pretty bad. It's not that I was particularly expecting to land this part, it's more that I didn't pull off most of what Erika taught me yesterday. I didn't do the monologue slowly, I wasn't careful about my diction, and I didn't keep my focus on a particular spot (which would have made it feel less rambly). I actually think my biggest mistake, though, was not requesting five minutes to try to understand the character I was being asked to read for before coming back. That turned out to be a huge misstep, and not one I was ready for. I'll know better next time- I just can't rush into performances, or they will turn out terribly.
Performance review:	There was an exciting adventure, and I didn't screw up the rest of the day. Well done.
Score:	9/10

13 July 2010

Time allocation:	Mundane activities	5:35
	The blog	2:44
	Art Style: Rotozoa	1:22
	Installing games onto the Wii	1:18
	Cave Story	1:16
	TV	1:16
	Gamer Mom	0:43
	Wii Fit	0:27
	Being called about the play, and subsequently calling Erika	0:11
Notes:	Having made my peace with Nintendo locking me out of the Wii Shop Channel, I finally got around to figuring out how to install downloadable games without paying for them. It turns out it's really easy. Much of the time allocated to this activity was just searching through the house for the SD card adapter Miriam had taken, in order to transfer the files from my computer to the Wii. Beyond that, it all went smoothly. So now I'm playing the same games I'd intended to buy (Rotozoa and Cave Story), and the only difference Nintendo's anti-piracy policy has made is that they're not getting my money. I think I'm okay with that. Apparently yesterday's audition didn't go as badly as I'd thought, because I've been invited to callbacks this Sunday, where I get another chance at getting the lead character in Barefoot in the Park.
Performance review:	New experiences, some solid productivity, and this whole acting subplot is very engaging. This feels in all respects like the middle of a bigger story, and as such its potential to impress is limited. But it's a good middle.
Score:	9/10

14 July 2010

Time allocation:	Mundane activities	5:44
	TV	2:56
	Hanging out with Eli	1:57
	Comics	1:30
	Art Style: Rotozoa	1:16
	Recording	1:14
	Wii Fit	0:50
Notes:	Someone started a thread on the Adventure Gamers forum where people can share little musical ideas and have them be played around with by others. There's no way this thread can stay alive for long, but I showed my support for the idea by recording a little bit of improvised singing based on a bass line he'd posted. The comics time was as much fighting with our new (and even crappier) modem to try to download the comics as it was reading them.
Performance review:	Oy. The one redeeming feature of this day is the recording, and that's really not much. But with the recording narrowly passed by Rotozoa, the day doesn't really even have that going for it. And it's not like I got so far in Rotozoa. When a day seems like if it never happened I'd barely notice the difference, that's a sign that I have totally lost sight of my character.
Score:	1/10

15 July 2010

Time allocation:	Mundane activities	4:30
	The blog	2:35
	Comics	2:09
	Watching the movie Tron	1:42
	Gamer Mom	1:08
	Looking over scripts for Sunday's callbacks	0:45
	Composing	0:38
	Watching a YouTube video of a game	0:27
	Wii Fit	0:14
Notes:	I had never seen the movie Tron before. I'd heard people talk about it lately due to the upcoming sequel, but usually it was in embarrassed tones. I watched the movie because I was curious to know what they were talking about, and was pleased to discover that it's a very fun (though simple) movie. An old musical theme which never went anywhere started moving along, likely given a little push by the atmosphere of Tron's soundtrack. This past Sunday, Erika's boyfriend (Actually, is he her fiancée? Now that I think of it, I'm not sure.) reacted to me talking about wanting to make an adventure game by reminiscing about an old adventure game called Heart of China. I don't have time to play through an entire game for such a small reference, but what I did do is check YouTube, and I found a complete playthrough of the game on there. I skimmed through it to get a sense of what he'd been talking about. It got me thinking about how what I'm doing is different, and how I can possibly emphasize that a bit. The blog post I've been working on is moving along nicely; it should be ready in another ten hours or so of work.
Performance review:	I'm seeing a character who always wants to be "in the know", who is always curious about random things people say. The comics here are all the most recent comics, downloaded as soon as they were made available, so that too indicates a curiosity about what's being talked about now. But that curiosity ultimately leads into creativity, as the productivity overtook the other activities on three fronts. Even though this day wasn't planned out at all, and even though it doesn't stand out at first glance, I find the accidental narrative here to be very compelling. I don't want to see another day exactly like this, but I do want to see more done with this interpretation of the character.
Score:	10/10

16-17 July 2010

Time allocation:	Comics	5:59
	Mundane activities	4:42
	Blog work	1:13
	Composing	0:59
	Playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii with my cousins	0:44
	Wii Fit	0:34
	Reading an article online	0:29
Notes:	I read some new comics, some old comics, edited my collection... lots of comics stuff.
Performance review:	What a lopsided day. I don't care for it. The six hours on comics show that this is a character who does not learn from his mistakes (03 June 2010). Unlike that day, there's no game work and little other entertainment here. The day is made of comics and not much else. And to repeat what I said in that earlier post: comics are something to be spread out, not something to do all at once.
Score:	2/10

18 July 2010

Time allocation:	Going to Jerusalem for callbacks	6:58
	Mundane activities	3:43
	Comics	1:28
	Gamer Mom	0:47
	Behind-the-scenes blog work	0:35
	Going over the scripts for the callbacks	0:35
	Watching TV	0:29
	Wii Fit	0:12
Notes:	I started the day by picking up the comics-organizing where I left off yesterday. Then I tackled a tricky problem with my blog, and after searching the web for technical gimmicks I found a much better out-of-the-box kind of solution which would work better without requiring any technical expertise at all. I practiced the scripts that they'd given us for the callbacks, and I was off. I didn't get food before going to the callbacks, so I wasn't in the best state when I did them. Regardless, I think I did as well as I could have. I have no major regrets, and most of the awkwardness of the evening came from mismanagement on the part of the directors. (I was asked to do one scene four times so that I could act alongside each female actor, while I'd practiced a scene that I didn't have the opportunity to do.) It was a weird kind of callback in general, because the characters we were playing weren't much like the characters in the play. I'm more of a character actor, and if I got into the head of the lead of this play I'd be doing something very different to what I was doing on stage today. But like I said, no major regrets. I did well. The only problem is that there was another guy who did better. He's got more experience, he's less awkward, and he was just downright funnier. If I were the director I'd give the part to him, not me. But I won't know for sure for a few days.
Performance review:	Not bad at all. I don't think going to callbacks is quite as interesting as, say, going to Rehovot to practice audition technique was. It's the expected next step, there's nothing that really stands out about it except for how long it takes. With a full half of the day taken up by that, the cues were still hit (however briefly). There's no overall narrative here, it's just a competent piece of work.
Score:	9/10

19 July 2010

Time allocation:	Mundane activities	5:09
	The blog	2:21
	The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time	2:06
	Learning Flash (well, Flex really)	1:54
	Going to shul (9th of Av)	1:19
	Angles and Circles	1:00
	Reading comics	0:41
	Wii Fit	0:39
	The Legend of Zelda	0:28
Notes:	I planned out the day as soon as I woke up, but I'd forgotten that tonight is the start of the 9th of Av fast day. The only activity I'd planned on but didn't do was Eric the Unready. The mundane activities involved a lot of eating. I analyzed Ocarina of Time a little more, after playing the original NES Zelda a little for perspective. In the N64 game I jumped from dungeon to dungeon, going only as far as getting their items so that I could move on. I am starting to really love Flex, now that it's apparent it won't be too different in implementation from the sort of things I've done on this blog many times. Speaking of which, the new post is taking frigging forever. There are still hours of work left on it.
Performance review:	The blog has been going for a bit too long without visible progress. I think it should have been a little bit longer, so that we can move on to other things. Three hours would have been enough. The double-Zelda is a bit interesting. Angles and Circles finally takes the spotlight from Gamer Mom, though with the Flash studying that game isn't far from mind. In the general absence of passivity here, I'll let the slow blogging slide. I do want to see some progress soon, however.
Score:	9/10

20 July 2010

This was a religious fast day. Like the fast day I went through last month, I did nothing of interest. Also like that day, I did not write sufficient notes to adequately represent the day's activities. I am going to stand by my decision in June that such days deserve scores of 0/10. Yes, it's hard to find motivation without the energy one gets from food and drink. But I don't want to hear about it. The point of these posts is to be the character I'm supposed to be, not the character it's easy and convenient to be. And every time I fall victim to my natural limitations like this, the "self-cracks" get a little bit wider. No points!

21 July 2010

Time allocation:	Mundane activities	6:02
	The blog	5:22
	Comics	2:55
	Composing	0:43
	Cleaning the desk next to my computer	0:14
	IM chat with Benjy	0:10
Notes:	The blog post I've been working on is still hours away from completion, so apparently I greatly underestimated the amount of work it would require. Realizing this, I quickly wrote a new post (which I would have eventually gotten to anyway) so that regular readers of the blog should have something to read in the meantime. (By "quickly" I mean two and a half hours.) This post led to two other activities: I needed to talk to Benjy to ask for permission to quote an earlier chat with him. And I wanted to find the piece of paper I mention in the post, so I went through the big mess next to my computer, and since I was already picking everything up I went ahead and dusted it. It turns out the paper was somewhere else. But it'll be easier to find things next to my computer now. My god, I'm actually rationalizing this. Why am I rationalizing it? Anyway. The final volume of the Scott Pilgrim comic was just scanned, much sooner than I thought it would be, so I read through it. I also read some other new comics, and organized my collection a bit more.
Performance review:	An unusually focused day, and since that focus is aimed at something I've been wanting to see continued (the blog), that's perfectly fine with me. The cleaning is weird, but that's just 14 minutes and otherwise the day is exactly what you'd expect. There is significant progress here with no missteps, and the more involving activities easily surpass the passivity. But still, there's not much of a spark here.
Score:	8/10

22 July 2010

Time allocation:	Mundane activities	4:26
	The blog	3:50
	Comics	3:14
	Gamer Mom	1:13
	Composing	1:10
	Writing e-mail	0:28
	Wii Fit	0:17
Notes:	I finished the blog post I've been working on all this time, and wrote another post explaining why I can't make it public. In writing the big post, I ran into a little technical difficulty that I got out of effortlessly by using a tip that Avri had given me. So I sent him a letter thanking him. I also sent a letter to Erika, letting her know the result of the callbacks on Sunday: I did not get the lead (nor did the guy who was funnier), but I have accepted a tiny role (because I miss acting) for which I'll only need to be at a few rehearsals. They're also thinking about doing another play later where I'd be one of only three actors. I don't know if that's actually going to happen, but we'll see. I did a lot of organizing with my comics collection, including assembling the recent Hulk crossover and burning a CD of some comics which had been sitting on my hard drive literally for years. (I also read some new comics, which were quite good.) I pushed myself to compose music for a little bit longer than I otherwise would have, so that Gamer Mom would need to be longer to pass it.
Performance review:	This day is satisfying on so many levels. First off, my patience with the blog post is finally paid off. Secondly, we've got the double-pass which makes this different from yesterday, even though this is obviously a direct continuation. Gamer Mom returns after three days' absence. And the two major activities were diverse enough that even though there's lots of progress, it ends up feeling like simple fun. It's days like these that reassure me that yes, this person knows what he's doing.
Score:	10/10

23-24 July 2010

Time allocation:	Mundane activities	9:31
	Gamer Mom	1:18
	Art Style: Rotozoa	1:16
	Watching TV	1:04
	Reading comics	0:57
	Composing	0:22
Performance review:	I have set the precedent, at this stage of the performance reviews, of ignoring entirely those activities which I consider unimportant. But when they take up seven times as much time as the next item on the list, I am tempted to reconsider. Instead, I will criticize this day for a lack of energy, a lack of originality, and a lack of character. Also, what happened to Wii Fit? It's not a good idea to let one's muscles atrophy from a complete lack of use.
Score:	3/10

25 July 2010

Time allocation:	Mundane activities	6:26
	Blogging	3:39
	The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time	2:14
	Gamer Mom	0:59
	Art Style: Rotozoa	0:51
	Art Style: light trax	0:33
Notes:	I wrote half a new blog post. Most of the Zelda time wasn't spent playing the game, but rather writing the introduction to the thing I've been writing down the notes for while playing earlier. It's essentially going to be a book. I've been thinking a lot about the wording of the introduction lately, so I figured, why wait until I'm ready to write the whole book? Why not write it now? So I did, and it turned out rather strange but I'm a rather strange guy so I like it. I finished Rotozoa, which isn't bad but doesn't have a heck of a lot of content (as evidenced by how quickly I beat it) because there's just not much you can do to expand on the concept.
Performance review:	Not bad. Just finished a massive blog post, and right back for more. I like that enthusiasm. I also absolutely adore this "Why not now?" attitude. More of that, please.
Score:	9/10

26 July 2010

Time allocation:	Blogging	3:39
	Mundane activities	3:26
	Writing down random notes for future game projects	2:14
	Watching TV	1:55
	Gamer Mom	0:59
	The Legend of Zelda	0:51
	The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time	0:31
	Wii Fit	0:27
	Getting information about a group of Asperger people in Jerusalem	0:14
Notes:	I continued the blog post I started yesterday. I pulled out my old notes for the five games, and wrote in some of the new ideas that I've had in the years since writing those documents. I also worked out some story problems I've been having for a long time. It always helps to get your ideas onto paper (or computer screen, as the case may be). I watched the first episode of Sherlock, BBC's modernized version of Sherlock Holmes, and it was fantastic. It's actually only an hour and a half long, but Holmes talks so fast that at first I was watching scenes over and over again to understand what he was saying, and then I went and got subtitles.
Performance review:	Ah, I see what you did there. Very clever, and entirely arbitrary. Obviously this is getting a 10, how could it not when an entire day is constructed just to encourage comparison to yesterday's numbers? That's exactly the sort of zaniness I've been expecting all along.
Score:	10/10

27 July 2010

Time allocation:	Games night	5:34
	Mundane activities	4:41
	Blogging	1:54
	Watching TV	1:33
	Recording	0:40
	Composing	0:22
Notes:	Games night was at Richie's house in Ramat Beit Shemesh. Miriam drove me there, David drove me back. I recorded another little thing for that musical forum game, and I recorded an audition file for another character in Deirdra Kiai's game. I don't expect any response from either.
Performance review:	Blogging is above TV, that's something. But there's no game work here, and nothing very interesting.
Score:	6/10

28 July 2010

Time allocation:	Mundane activities	7:18
	Gamer Mom	2:22
	Blogging	2:20
	Watching TV	2:19
	Reading comics	1:01
	Art Style: light trax	0:35
Notes:	The battery in my watch died. It turns out much of my perception of time comes from being able to look at my watch. For instance, it seems that the only reason I always wake up around 11:30 is because between dreams I glance at my watch and see how much time I have left. This morning I woke up at 10:40, having gone to sleep at 4:00 the previous night. I took a one-hour nap later in the day. For a vast majority of the day I simply had no energy.
Performance review:	I was afraid this would be the fourth day in a row where blogging ends up on top, which would have started to be monotonous and dull. The three activities, one on top of the other, with Gamer Mom on top, is a nice way to get in the blogging he obviously wants to do, but also demonstrate his priorities.
Score:	7/10

29 July 2010

Time allocation:	Rehearsal for Barefoot in the Park	4:51
	Games night	3:17
	Blogging	2:23
	Mundane activities	2:15
	Reading comics	1:08
	Hanging out with Avri	0:57
Notes:	Avri had moved games night to today, because he was busy on Tuesday. He's all alone in the house now, because Lorien and their kids have flown to Canada. Anyway, I had to be in Jerusalem at 7 for rehearsals of my new play. When I was there, I saw the script for the first time and discovered just how insignificant my role was. I thought, in a play with only six parts, each one is sure to have some value to it, no? Well, no. No value. I had two lines: "Lord and Taylor.", and "Argh, argh.". Riveting stuff. And for this I took two hours to get there by bus? For this I put so much effort into the audition process? I sat there, playing on my DS while everyone else attempted to act, and the whole time I was just thinking to myself "Why am I not the lead? I could do the lead so much better than this guy.". Finally the director told me there was no reason for me to stick around, so I left. I immediately called my mother, because I was kind of lost and needed to talk to someone. She immediately said I should quit the play, and I knew she was right. So when I finally got home I called the director and told him I quit. Then it occurred to me that games night was still going on, so I went next door to Avri's house. A few minutes later my mother showed up, saying that my computer was making strange sounds and she didn't know what to do. I ran back home, and I'm very thankful my mother told me because it was making clicking sounds like the hard drive was malfunctioning. The computer had already crashed, so I just shut it off. Then I went back and played Jet Set, eventually winning on a tiebreaker. Then I took advantage of the fact that Avri didn't need to be asleep at any particular time, because I really needed the company. We just sat around trading YouTube videos and talking about comics. Okay, mostly it was me talking about comics. When I went back home, I turned my computer on and started copying folders to the girls' backup drive. Time to get off this sinking ship.
Performance review:	Well, I can't claim the day wasn't interesting. A lot of the day was spent out of the house little time was wasted, a blog post was completed. With so much going on, it barely even matters that there's no game work here. I think even on a higher level of performance reviews this would be a high-scoring day.
Score:	10/10

30-31 July 2010

Time allocation:	Mundane activities	6:39
	Hanging out with Moshe	5:44
	Reading comics	1:29
	Blog work	0:14
Notes:	I used my computer sparingly, because I didn't want to tax the dying hard drive too much. Moshe came over; he played Phoenix Wright while I watched.
Performance review:	Socializing is well and good, but there's got to be more to the day than that! The computer malfunctioning is no excuse for this behavior. There is absolutely no balance here; this is Mory 1.0, through and through.
Score:	1/10

July 2010

Average score:	7.08/10
The month in review:	Plenty of interesting stories this month, including the play subplot which started with preparation and ended with quitting. That's some real character growth, right there. But I'm also seeing a lot of regressive behavior: days with no energy, days with no clear goals, a general lack of imagination. There's a lot of potential here, but it will take a lot more effort to really bring that out. The average score passes the 7/10 threshold by a tiny margin, and a higher standard will be expected in the future.
Verdict:	LEVEL UP