FYI: For this and all future blog posts, the layout will be divided by sections, each with a kitschy heading insinuating a game mechanism.
.....As this is the first post of what I hope will be a ongoing endeavor with frequent additions, it only makes sense to describe who the writer is (me) [i.e., Storytelling] and the blog's purpose (however perfunctorily contrived) [i.e., Route Building].
Storytelling
.....At the time of this writing, I am a second-year medical student living in Washington, D.C. I was introduced to the board gaming hobby roughly 4 years ago when some friends showed me The Settlers of Catan. From there, I was led down the rabbit hole of Wil Wheaton's TableTop YouTube series and local board game Meetups, which drew me deeper into the hobby. As with many things in my life, I became enthusiastically consumed with learning everything there was to learn about the hobby and proceeded to binge-watch YouTube video reviews and playthroughs, which, let's face it, I still do to this day. I spent the better part of 3 years playing and learning about all of the games that were most popular with the people around me, as well as trigger purchasing games that I thought looked cool or had cool titles. This led to me picking up some good games that I mostly still enjoy to this day like Lords of Waterdeep, Takenoko, Small World, Munchkin, King of New York, and Pandemic.
.....Last year, however, my perspective on gaming took a dramatic turn when I attended the 3rd annual HeavyCon. Though I'd been to some local conventions before, this was the first convention I'd been to where I could actually play the heavy games for which my ever-active brain had always craved. It was here that I finally got the chance to sit down and enjoy titles like Pax Renaissance, Arkwright, Three Kingdoms Redux, 1889: History of Shikoku Railways, Food Chain Magnate, Lignum (second edition), and The Great Zimbabwe. I also made several friends at HeavyCon whom I ended up getting to game with at other conventions over the summer; during one of these conventions, they introduced me to my first true Winsome Games title Iberian Gauge. The combination of the experiences at HeavyCon at this introduction to the strange world of Winsome Games pretty much solidified my new perspective on the board gaming hobby: I have developed a strong taste for the heavy, the unusual, the brain-melting, and the locomotive.
Route Building
.....So, why a blog? As a medical student, you wouldn't think that I have a lot of free time, and you'd be right. Or at least you should be. The truth is that I don't study nearly as much as I should, and I let my attention be drawn to everything else in the world, taking my focus away from my studies - one of which is board gaming. I do not see this particular distraction as one that is incredibly detrimental, though, as there are many times when I use board gaming as a way to decompress from the stresses of medical student life. I do, however, find myself absent-mindedly scrolling through BGG on occasion when I could be studying. I do this also with TV series-watching, YouTube binging, video gaming, and more. I've come to the conclusion (and I could be wrong) that the reason I let myself get distracted with these other interests is not largely due to boredom with schoolwork, because I definitely find the content of my studies to be fascinating (for the most part). But rather, I think all of the YouTube and Hulu watching, board game news consumption, and random internet browsing is a way for my ever-active brain to satisfy its thirst for creativity by consuming the creativity of others in small doses. These small doses are not nearly enough, however, to easily satisfy its cravings, so I oftentimes end up spiraling down internet blackholes for hours on end without even a hint of studying. Thus, I've decided that I might benefit from finding a way that I can channel this creative energy into something more mentally stimulating (and hopefully more adequately satisfying creative cravings).
Enter blogging. I hope to use this blog as a creative outlet of sorts and a way to productively channel my need for periodic distraction while studying. I plan to write about my recent board game plays and ponderings, as well as my introspective thoughts on the hobby as it applies to my personal life and professional aspirations.
.....In addition to the reasons above, I'm hoping that managing a blog without the obligation of posting will prove more manageable than a year-long Geeklist that requires continual updating. I have attempted such geeklists in the past to catalogue plays of games and recent acquisitions, all of which fell to non-completion and somehow eat away at the OCD completionist in me for this reason. Some such Geeklists I've failed on are: JA's 2017 "Play Friday Every Friday" Challenge, JA's 2017 "Magic Number Challege", JA's 2017 Owned and Unplayed Games, JA's 2017 Board Gaming Acquisitions and Purchases, and JA's 2017 "New to Me" Games.
.....Finally, on a personal note, I hope writing this blog will force me to reflect on my personal thoughts, life aspirations, and my life in general. By writing about the things I'm doing or to which I'm looking forward, I hope to gain a better perspective on what I believe is or should be important in my life and what things I might do better without for the time-being.
Simultaneous Action Selection
.....At the time I'm writing this post, I'm in the middle of studying for my two mid-term examinations in neuropathology. Although I should probably be studying and not writing this blog entry, I am finding the writing to be somewhat cathartic, and I'm already feeling as though the writing is satisfying that need for creative and productive distraction, which I intimated at above.
.....In the broader sense, I am juggling the following hobby and life endeavors at the moment, keeping me quite busy: Actively attempting to study for my USMLE national licensing exams; scheduling Meetups for certain games; reading and editing various rulebooks; playtesting/translating a prototype game for a designer whose work I enjoy; actively contributing to the What Did You Play This Week Podcast Thing; and trying to be the best husband to my wife that I can be.
Memory
(i.e., Recent plays with current ratings)
[bgcolor=#33CC99]|9.0|[/bgcolor] Last Will (3 all-time)
[bgcolor=#66FF99]-8.5-[/bgcolor] Viticulture Essential Edition (6 all-time)
[bgcolor=#66FF99]-8.5-[/bgcolor] Feudum: The Queen's ArmyNEW!
[bgcolor=#66FF99]-8.0-[/bgcolor] Captive x2 NEW!
[bgcolor=#99FFFF]-7.5-[/bgcolor] Feudum x2 (2 all-time) NEW!
[bgcolor=#99FFFF]-7.0-[/bgcolor] T.I.M.E StoriesNEW!
[bgcolor=#99FFFF]-7.0-[/bgcolor] Bohnanza: The DuelNEW!
[bgcolor=#9999FF]-6.0-[/bgcolor] Sheriff of Nottingham (4 all-time)
[bgcolor=#FF66CC]-4.5-[/bgcolor] Lemonade StandNEW!
Pool Building
This is the section wherein I will describe the recent state of my collection in each blog post.
Additions:
Obviously, recent additions to my collection.
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Discards:
Games I've recently sold, traded, or given away.
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Futures Market
Games I've recently Kickstarted/Preordered, or for which I've otherwise recently placed an order and am awaiting on receiving in the mail.
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Cooperative Play:
The section where I list my current non-board game-related entertainment selection.
Audio: Asking Alexandria (self-titled album)
Visual: A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar
On a side note: does it bother anyone else that there is no way to justify the text alignment in a post on BGG, or is it just me?
.....As this is the first post of what I hope will be a ongoing endeavor with frequent additions, it only makes sense to describe who the writer is (me) [i.e., Storytelling] and the blog's purpose (however perfunctorily contrived) [i.e., Route Building].
Storytelling
.....At the time of this writing, I am a second-year medical student living in Washington, D.C. I was introduced to the board gaming hobby roughly 4 years ago when some friends showed me The Settlers of Catan. From there, I was led down the rabbit hole of Wil Wheaton's TableTop YouTube series and local board game Meetups, which drew me deeper into the hobby. As with many things in my life, I became enthusiastically consumed with learning everything there was to learn about the hobby and proceeded to binge-watch YouTube video reviews and playthroughs, which, let's face it, I still do to this day. I spent the better part of 3 years playing and learning about all of the games that were most popular with the people around me, as well as trigger purchasing games that I thought looked cool or had cool titles. This led to me picking up some good games that I mostly still enjoy to this day like Lords of Waterdeep, Takenoko, Small World, Munchkin, King of New York, and Pandemic.
.....Last year, however, my perspective on gaming took a dramatic turn when I attended the 3rd annual HeavyCon. Though I'd been to some local conventions before, this was the first convention I'd been to where I could actually play the heavy games for which my ever-active brain had always craved. It was here that I finally got the chance to sit down and enjoy titles like Pax Renaissance, Arkwright, Three Kingdoms Redux, 1889: History of Shikoku Railways, Food Chain Magnate, Lignum (second edition), and The Great Zimbabwe. I also made several friends at HeavyCon whom I ended up getting to game with at other conventions over the summer; during one of these conventions, they introduced me to my first true Winsome Games title Iberian Gauge. The combination of the experiences at HeavyCon at this introduction to the strange world of Winsome Games pretty much solidified my new perspective on the board gaming hobby: I have developed a strong taste for the heavy, the unusual, the brain-melting, and the locomotive.
Route Building
.....So, why a blog? As a medical student, you wouldn't think that I have a lot of free time, and you'd be right. Or at least you should be. The truth is that I don't study nearly as much as I should, and I let my attention be drawn to everything else in the world, taking my focus away from my studies - one of which is board gaming. I do not see this particular distraction as one that is incredibly detrimental, though, as there are many times when I use board gaming as a way to decompress from the stresses of medical student life. I do, however, find myself absent-mindedly scrolling through BGG on occasion when I could be studying. I do this also with TV series-watching, YouTube binging, video gaming, and more. I've come to the conclusion (and I could be wrong) that the reason I let myself get distracted with these other interests is not largely due to boredom with schoolwork, because I definitely find the content of my studies to be fascinating (for the most part). But rather, I think all of the YouTube and Hulu watching, board game news consumption, and random internet browsing is a way for my ever-active brain to satisfy its thirst for creativity by consuming the creativity of others in small doses. These small doses are not nearly enough, however, to easily satisfy its cravings, so I oftentimes end up spiraling down internet blackholes for hours on end without even a hint of studying. Thus, I've decided that I might benefit from finding a way that I can channel this creative energy into something more mentally stimulating (and hopefully more adequately satisfying creative cravings).
Enter blogging. I hope to use this blog as a creative outlet of sorts and a way to productively channel my need for periodic distraction while studying. I plan to write about my recent board game plays and ponderings, as well as my introspective thoughts on the hobby as it applies to my personal life and professional aspirations.
.....In addition to the reasons above, I'm hoping that managing a blog without the obligation of posting will prove more manageable than a year-long Geeklist that requires continual updating. I have attempted such geeklists in the past to catalogue plays of games and recent acquisitions, all of which fell to non-completion and somehow eat away at the OCD completionist in me for this reason. Some such Geeklists I've failed on are: JA's 2017 "Play Friday Every Friday" Challenge, JA's 2017 "Magic Number Challege", JA's 2017 Owned and Unplayed Games, JA's 2017 Board Gaming Acquisitions and Purchases, and JA's 2017 "New to Me" Games.
.....Finally, on a personal note, I hope writing this blog will force me to reflect on my personal thoughts, life aspirations, and my life in general. By writing about the things I'm doing or to which I'm looking forward, I hope to gain a better perspective on what I believe is or should be important in my life and what things I might do better without for the time-being.
Simultaneous Action Selection
.....At the time I'm writing this post, I'm in the middle of studying for my two mid-term examinations in neuropathology. Although I should probably be studying and not writing this blog entry, I am finding the writing to be somewhat cathartic, and I'm already feeling as though the writing is satisfying that need for creative and productive distraction, which I intimated at above.
.....In the broader sense, I am juggling the following hobby and life endeavors at the moment, keeping me quite busy: Actively attempting to study for my USMLE national licensing exams; scheduling Meetups for certain games; reading and editing various rulebooks; playtesting/translating a prototype game for a designer whose work I enjoy; actively contributing to the What Did You Play This Week Podcast Thing; and trying to be the best husband to my wife that I can be.
Memory
(i.e., Recent plays with current ratings)
[bgcolor=#33CC99]|9.0|[/bgcolor] Last Will (3 all-time)
[bgcolor=#66FF99]-8.5-[/bgcolor] Viticulture Essential Edition (6 all-time)
[bgcolor=#66FF99]-8.5-[/bgcolor] Feudum: The Queen's ArmyNEW!
[bgcolor=#66FF99]-8.0-[/bgcolor] Captive x2 NEW!
[bgcolor=#99FFFF]-7.5-[/bgcolor] Feudum x2 (2 all-time) NEW!
[bgcolor=#99FFFF]-7.0-[/bgcolor] T.I.M.E StoriesNEW!
[bgcolor=#99FFFF]-7.0-[/bgcolor] Bohnanza: The DuelNEW!
[bgcolor=#9999FF]-6.0-[/bgcolor] Sheriff of Nottingham (4 all-time)
[bgcolor=#FF66CC]-4.5-[/bgcolor] Lemonade StandNEW!
Pool Building
This is the section wherein I will describe the recent state of my collection in each blog post.
Additions:
Obviously, recent additions to my collection.
Discards:
Games I've recently sold, traded, or given away.
Futures Market
Games I've recently Kickstarted/Preordered, or for which I've otherwise recently placed an order and am awaiting on receiving in the mail.
Cooperative Play:
The section where I list my current non-board game-related entertainment selection.
Audio: Asking Alexandria (self-titled album)
Visual: A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar
On a side note: does it bother anyone else that there is no way to justify the text alignment in a post on BGG, or is it just me?