Jeopardy

I wasn’t going to use this title.  I thought about a play on another well known show.  I thought of some ways to reflect a less sinister title.

Knock on the pentiums … baby.

In two stretches in apartments in Shanghai, I learned something rather late in life.  I would imagine I already mentioned this, but whatever.  No individual TV show means anything.  What is critically important is comfort entertainment.  A feeling of not being isolated is, shockingly, better than the average nature’s loser.  And, background sound is useful for that.  Mild brain stimulation through images and noises is useful for that.

I watch a lot of sports highlights.  A lot of sports talk.  If I can’t find anything else, over to NBA TV, then Golf Channel when there’s nothing on NBA TV.  Sure, I can’t watch college sports or poker (anymore).  But, it ambientizes some sound.

It has been jaw-aching to discover how few options for anything entertaining there are.  Now, sure, I can rarely watch movies, have little interest in mysteries, aren’t interested in more recent kids’ shows, etc.

What happened to Scooby Doo, Where Are You?  Is it a Netflix thing (of course I’ve never watched Netflix – I keep it real and be illin’ not chillin’) to find some Super Friends, Hogan’s Heroes, or Get Smart?

I have seen more South Park episodes than in a long time – almost all episodes I’ve already seen.  Watched Simpsons for a while, more episodes I’ve seen.  Good Eats.  Eventually sickened of news.  Watched some Magnum P.I.

And, a lot of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.  My family is quite fond of Jeopardy.  I ignore it when I’m with them as Jeopardy only works when you are the only one calling out answers and everyone else just basks in your geniusness, even if the everyone else is the cat.

I eventually went with the post title because of the derivation of the word jeopardy.  An even chance.  All the world’s a stage N pandemic and the wheel hasn’t come to a stop.  No, I’m not being morose.

What I’m getting at are a couple observations.  One, there’s no planning for the future.  Like, none.  It’s interesting to think about what I want to do and remind myself that I’ll just have to wait.

How can we blow out inability to predict or plan into a 1000 word blog post?

There are games where you can’t make plans, and I vaguely recall not being interested in them.  I’m not talking about common party games but, uh, uncommon party games like Munchkin or Talisman.  I hate both of those, much more the latter.  Randomfest of randomness = lack of interest in what’s going on at all times.

Two, perception of passing of time.  Time is passing extremely slowly for me.  Going to Fresno was slightly more than three weeks ago and feels like some distant event.  I’ve been home since 3/18 and that feels … similarly distant.  Days are … long isn’t so much the word because I spend so much time resting … slow.

Combine the two elements of time and you get a hyperfocus on the moment.  This is what it must have been like for so many people back before figuring out logistics of Gen Con or waiting on Kickstarter rewards.

And, yet, much of the time that I’m not horizontal, I whip out a d-eck and get some 77-7 on.  I tried other solitaire play, blackjack hands, Hold ’em hands, but I keep going back to 77-7 even though it’s harder than I want it to be.  More deterministic than I want it to be, where you can give up really fast much of the time.  Truly inspired plays … and I don’t care about correct plays but inspired plays, thus why I suck at chess … are rare.

My concentration is shot, so I don’t work on any projects.  I can’t even generate enthusiasm for Shadowfist deckbuilding let alone figuring out why my Frogcatcher adventure will make any sense.

I wanted to check out some other RPG material as overfocus on L5R is not actually terribly stimulating.  I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to peruse.  Read some Legends, Lies & Cherished Myths of American History and found it disappointing in that Cracked.com’s history articles are often far more compelling.  I went back to reading some Cracked.com.  I’ve watched a lot of Weird Al videos, which leads you to Garfunkel and Oates.  Talent show auditions.  Read lists ranking various stuff just to have some analysis even if most of it is just opinions unsupported by compelling argument.

Read some bread recipes to see about using up flour.  Don’t have any yeast that I know of.  Not up for making anything besides taco salad and burgers at moment even though have baking powder and baking soda and am interested in using up some curry paste and garlic with a rice recipe I found.  Just not desperate enough.  Actually, much easier to extend food than to extend drink.

What is the point of all of this?

Life is a game.  Hopefully, it’s a better than jeu parti for everyone.  It’s a game of struggling against boredom while somehow dealing with all of the logistics of survival (finances, health, interpersonal relationships).

When TV doesn’t cut it, radio might.  Yes, FM radio because I embrace the halcyon days before the Flood.  Shogi puzzles (I don’t hate chess puzzles as much as I hate chess and I don’t hate playing shogi, anyway, … yet).

Mostly, it’s a bunch of 77-7 while wondering how much better the air quality is in different places in the world.

So, to inspire the legions who somehow have enough time to get to the end of one of my blog posts, I’ll find some other trivial activities to amuse myself and maybe mention them, as well – where, if I can relieve boredom, I’m sure other people can, too.  Of course, we can all hope there’s more significant gaming-related [sic] material to cover in the next installment.