Bat Country

So this is a story about hidden treasure (see the post before this one.) Not.

But sometimes I am curious about what runs through people's heads during the day. I usually enjoy it when they give me a glimpse, like gerbeans. And while gerbean's head is probably the most alien terrain within light-years of planet earth, I don't have much luck with others' headspaces either. Maybe my sample population is skewed.

Here is a snapshot from my own stream, for entertainment purposes only. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. Ask your doctor if you should be reading what follows.

Few days past we had a one of those warm dinners out with old friends, joined by another friend, a Japanese monk who has been living out in LA trying to get a temple in order there. He asked about Sonic and Mew and we talked about them for a while, over indian curries, okra, creamed spinach and endless refills of chai. They all had known the munchkins since they were wee. The monk lives a life dedicated to his spiritual path, but at 57 has been experiencing, not a loss of faith, but a kind of depression. We talked about those spaces of discontent and angst, displaced from our comfort zones, that presage periods of growth and deepening ---sometimes. Usually when we start to question things we never questioned before, or begin to realize implications of our assumptions we never thought of, or suppressed. But I don't know all the reasons, triggers or motivations that cause a person to stop and take stock of their lives, I just know in general it's a good thing, in spite of the pain that usually attends that type of housekeeping. The conversation wasn't as somber as I'm presenting though, and we left in good cheer.

It's a theme I've been thinking about recently. Not the questioning assumptions and such, that has been ongoing since as long as I can remember. But this idea of shifting phases that flashes back to early times in life when I would push everything off the table and say, ok... now where do I want to go. Someplace I can create and explore this creative process a little more deeply. I don't mean crafts and hobbies...but that place where we dream, molten fire, that lies beneath all the bramble of routines and work and social adaptations. I have been observing, lately, and finding these little shooting stars above the light-pollution of civilization, that illuminate shapes which my mind doesn't have much experience in containing. Yet. The forms are alien, but familiar, like an ancestral memory. They've been calling me forever, but only recently have I started listening to them again.

Watched Gonzo last night, a documentary about the life of Hunter Thompson. He was a personal hero of mine in high school. His book, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" was the funniest thing I had ever read. The protagonists walked at the edges of chaos and order where there was no question of control, just navigation. Thompson lived here in Colorado. I've actually known his only son, Juan, for many years and was surprised to see Juan's mug pop up in the video talking about his Dad. Small world.

R. had, hopefully, her last round of eye surgery. She's recuperating at home. Seeing her eyes right after surgery made me wince; they made cuts above both eyes to lift the lids so she can see better. It's ok for her to read during recovery and I have her stocked up with De Lint books. I think she has just about everything he has published now, except what is out of print.

So today's agenda is continuing exploration of telling stories with micro-content on the Internet, leveraging it as a way to generate income. I've been curious about whether and how this works, and testing it out for use by relatives as an option to get them off the treadmills of working for da man. So far the results are encouraging, and I hope to be able to work with a few of 'em over xmass to show how it's done. There are so many "schemes" out there for working at home that are based on information that is no longer accurate, or based on a single technique that worked once due to some unique conditions. There are boring techniques that are focused around "selling" and "leads" and "conversions", blech. What I'm exploring is something that's more fun. It does use some more advanced techniques of market research, but primarily as just a way to hone free traffic to something you develop that's entertaining for you. And some of the cool new ways to tell stories with montages of text, images, media, links, tags and other relata. This is a very enjoyable path for those who find themselves researching odd things anyway, and requires about the same effort as a single post to a blog to launch a new PIG (passive income generator.)

But I also may be playing more with the dynamics of game making today. Something very challenging and satisfying about boiling play down to the minimum number of visual and interactive elements that make something engaging; and I'm working to make my skills in developing this interactivity more like playing a keyboard instrument, and knowing the notes by heart, so I can focus more on the expression and less on the execution.