Two Years Later

Holy crap on a crap stick, two years already. Well damn.

I said I’d get back when things are stabilized and here I am. Although I’m going to go about it a bit differently. Sure I’ll still look into games and politics and things like that, but I want writing to be a habit for me. Or more importantly, I want creating to be a habit for me. Voice, Vids, Text, Pics, doesn’t matter. I’m going to do whatever I really can and just try to make it consistent. But I don’t want to stress myself out either. Things happen in life. I know it happens. So I’m going to do what is interesting to me. I’m going to include the people I love or people who are interesting to me. I want it to be less stress. So don’t worry if you hear or see or read other people on here than me. Don’t worry if it sounds like a different voice but see my name or face on it. I’m the only one with admin power. Both of me. I’m not going to just drop the Actively Nerdy contributor, but I may expand out and use it for more things. I’m still active. I’m still political. I’m still nerdy. I’m still everything I was before just getting older.

If you want to know why it took so long, I’m not sure either. Atrophy. Exhaustion. Writer’s block. Could really be anything, or everything. Getting out of the habit is easy, getting back in is hard.

What brought me back? I’m 25. And I heard a song that made me cry. Or more accurately, one lyric. The title of it.

“Who lives, Who dies, Who tells Your Story?”

Me. I do. I don’t know why I ever stopped.

No more stress, no self-imposed deadlines. I’m doing this for me.

We’ll live, We’ll die, I’ll tell my Story.

How Actively Nerdy is Made: Panic Mode Edition

Hey everybody! This week has not been one of the best for productive creativity. And while there were many noteworthy things that happened this week(*cough* INDIANA *cough cough*), writers block and I were on very close terms. I am really sorry about that, but then I realized that this happens surprisingly often to me. I’ve also gotten random questions from friends as to how I actually do Actively Nerdy and choose what I write. So I figure, this might answer some questions and help you all understand my process.

HOW A BLOG POST GETS MADE: Worst Case Scenario

Now as a habit, I never write on the days I work. It’s weird, but when I get an idea it’s usually on the clock and by the time I get home my brain is, well….

So to combat this, I bring a notebook to work and write down the ideas I have in it when I have them, so I can write them when I have time. Sometimes these are very good ideas. These usually get written up very very late Friday night/ technically Saturday morning with no issues.

But sometimes, it just doesn’t work like that. Saturdays are my “I’m writing, do not disturb” days most days, and that chosen isolation time can extend pretty far into the day. This is a timeline of days like this.

Saturday Morning. Post Status: Not even a topic decided

10:00 AM: Wake up. Proceed to freak out that I’m late for work. Realize it’s Saturday. Fall back asleep.

12:00 PM: Wake up for the second time. Refuse to leave bed, but get out notebook full of blog ideas if I haven’t done it already. Start going through ideas. If lucky, find one that I had forgotten about, get some inspiration, and start writing. Most of the time, not so much.

12:08: Consider doing a Lets Play. Decide against it because voice is currently choosing to perfect its Christian Bale Batman impression.

12:37: Desperately begin search of Kindle Library and bookshelves for a good idea or a good topic.

12:52: Stop search to nurse new papercut

1:02 Find “Best Idea Ever” Post-it written some time during the night. Proceed to spend next half hour determining exactly how little sleep the previous week had seen and any new diet changes that could have caused the level of insanity written on said Post-it.

Disclaimer: I do not do drugs, but sometimes I wonder...

1:30: Realize the creative process might go better if food is acquired. Immediately forget that when an idea pops into head and begins writing.

4:30: Discover that post idea does not translate well to text format whatsoever, keeps all the notes for next week, eats lunch in disappointment.

But it was such a good idea!

5:00 Figure that doing some tasks that are notoriously boring may inspire some “creative procrastination”.

7:00 Finishes Taxes, two loads of laundry, and has sorted out entire budget and created a student loan payment schedule optimum strategy. Still no freaking clue on what to write about.

....maybe clean my bathroom next?

7:02: Starts asking advice of friends on Facebook. Gets distracted by funny videos and actually good topics. Realizes that there is nowhere near enough time to give each topic the research it deserves, writes them all down, and promises to do the research during next week’s lunch breaks.

8:00 Family Dinner. Brother and Sister team up to explain to Dad why Taco Bell is not “food”.

"I didn't want to touch anything in there." "Gee, maybe the nickname Taco Hell was a clue?"

8:45: Begins to freewrite post.

8:47 Crippling Self-doubt

10:00 Finish post and edit it a bit. Show to one or two friends minus images. Hope they don’t think it’s half-assed, because it’s too late to turn back now

10:15: Image hunt.

10:49: Upload into Blogger. Fiddle with the settings and formatting. Re-write some jokes.

10:54: Pray to the internet gods and offer suitable sacrifice that the post will upload with no problems. Also for no router issues. Or internet crashes. This is a job for Mountain Dew Sacrifice.

Until now, I had to sacrifice Doritos and Mtn Dew separately to the Internet Gods. Thank you, freakish soda flavors!

11pm-Midnight: Fret over the preview page until post actually launches, wondering if you’re doing the right topic. More self doubt. Finally post article in hopes it’s not terrible. Fall asleep from mentally-induced exhaustion.

So that’s it. That’s how a typical post under the worst conditions gets made. I’m sure there’s way more efficient ways to do this, and that’s because I’ve actually done them before. But when all else fails, this usually gets it done.

I’ll be working on some of those said good topics over the next few weeks, and hopefully the panic-writing doesn’t happen anytime soon.

Sorry if you consider this filler, I at least hope this was entertaining in some way.

(Oh, and if you want my thoughts on Indiana’s most recent….legislative decision, I’ll put it very simply. I don’t think I’ve seen a state choose the “nuke state economy from orbit and negatively impact reputation” option with policy before quite so efficiently. The intention was vaguely worded and with the Governor's reputation, I'm not surprised as to what had happened.)

Something Nerdy next time Everyone! And something near and dear to my heart. Be ready to Roll for Initiative.

I'm Back, and living in Town of Salem!

And now, your regularly(?) scheduled written post....

*In the Beginning of March*

“Huh, someone sent me a video….Oh, that looks fun! I should check it out. $5 on Steam is a pretty good deal. I’ll just buy it and let it download for a bit, get some lunch, and I’ll stop when I get hungry for dinner later. Should be good for a quick game, right?”

MANY HOURS LATER

“Ooooh...hungry. I better log off. Why am I so sleepy? It can’t be much past dinner yet.”

“Why is it still light outside? What time is it?”

...

...

...

..!

“9 IN THE MORNING?!?!”

So yes, This is a thing that has happened.

Town of Salem is just like the game Mafia...except online with set time-frames. It’s incredibly intense!

So how Town of Salem works is pretty simple. Someone usually dies every night. Usually. In the day, you discuss who you think is a killer, and get the chance to kill them if there’s a majority vote. They are then lynched, and night falls again. The goal of the game really depends on what team you’re on.

There’s three teams, and they each want different things. If you’re town, you want to lynch everyone who wants to kill town. Pretty self explanatory right? Within that, you’ve got investigative roles, support roles, killing roles, and protective roles. They pretty much explain themselves as well. Killing roles kill, and usually there’s some drawback so that you don’t just go on a murdering rampage. Take the Veteran, who only has 3 chances to kill, and it’s everyone who visits their house when they choose to activate their power regardless of intent. If you don’t think that can backfire, lets just say the odds aren't quite in their favor. And they only get 3 chances.

Mafia wants all of town dead, plus some of the neutrals. As long as anyone that could kill them is dead, they win. There’s usually a lot less mafia though, and they can only kill one person a night. They also have support roles, and one special class. The Godfather. He’s the only mafia member who is immune at night, comes up innocent if a sheriff looks at him, and command his men to kill a certain person without actually visiting them himself. It’s powerful, but there can be only one.

And that list is "Everyone Not Us"

Then there’s Neutral types. Those are a bit more tricky. There are good neutral characters, like the Survivor. They just want to live to the end. Then there’s the tricky ones who have to do with daytime lynchings. Jesters WANT to be lynched, and Executioners just want to make a certain person die in the daytime. If an Executioner’s target gets killed in the night, they become a Jester and if a Jester dies at night, they lose.

Then there’s the Killing Classes. Serial Killer just wants to kill everyone. Just everyone. But there’s a weird thing where if both a Survivor and a Serial Killer make it to the end, they both win. It’s sort of contradictory.
Arsonist just wants the world to burn. They douse people in gas overnight, and then once they feel the time is right, they can set everything they doused on fire. Hard to win, but so satisfying to do.

Amnesiacs can basically choose which side they want to be on, depending on if they want to win. As long as a role has died and wasn’t a unique, one per town role, they can have it. They just stare at a grave overnight, and “Oh yeah, I was a lot like THIS person! I must have the same job!”. Simple as that. They can turn games on their heads with just a click of the button.

Then there’s Werewolves and Witches. Oh yes, we’ve got supernatural elements up in here. Werewolves transform every other day, in which they are invincible for the night and kill absolutely freaking everything in the house they visit. They’re one of the Witch’s favorite toys.

Artist's Rendition of COMPLETELY screwing with Town's collective gameplan.

You know in a game named after Salem, Witches are special. They can’t kill anyone directly, but they can take control of another player and make them target another one. Sometimes they find a doctor and make it heal them. Other times, they find a Town Vigilante and make them shoot another town member, causing their death a day later. They make Jailors execute their prisoners, and Werewolves decide to go to a house of their choice. They can be killed at night, but if the Mafia is smart, they get her on their side, because she just wants town members to die.

Welcome Home

15 Houses in a Circle. 15 Townspeople going back to their homes, still alive. Night falls, and people start dying. Will Mafia Triumph? Will the Town have another night of peace again? Will the poor survivor of a horrible time actually be able to stay alive again? Will Wolves rise and Witches take their revenge? Or will the killings never end until they’re all dead?

Whatever happens, I’ll see you in Salem.

Town of Salem is made by BlankMediaGames, and there is both a browser version and a Steam Version! It’s Free to Play, and the Steam Version automatically gives you coins for customization. You can of course earn coins as well.
The browser version can be found here: http://www.blankmediagames.com/

I’ll be posting more videos of my sessions, and if you want to play WITH me, comment below or give me some sort of heads up! You know you can always reach me at activelynerdy@gmail.com

Actively Nerdy Schedule Change

Hey everyone! So something very exciting happened recently, which is going to cause a few changes to how I update. I got hired!

Yes, I have found full time employment! Which means the usual posting time of "Noon or pretty close to it" isn't going to work anymore.

I'll still be posting once a week, but here's how this is going to work. While I'm still playing around with my own schedule and getting into a routine, it may not always be Wednesday. I'll be playing around and trying to figure out what the best day for it is, and I'll announce it as soon as I can. However, I will be posting each day to launch at 12AM, and giving a heads up on Facebook the night before and an official announcement when I get the chance after work.

Things are going to get a bit hectic for a while, but there's no way I'm going to stop Actively Nerdy. As I enter this new chapter in my life, all I ask is for is your patience while I try and normalize the schedule. Thank you all for reading, and wish me luck!

Sorry Guys, no post this week.

Actively Ren is actively ill this week. To help hold you over, here's a sketch of a T-Rex trying to eat a burger. I'll be back next week, hopefully a lot less sick.

Lets Get Started

Welcome to Actively Nerdy. I’m Ren and I’ll be your tour guide through the recesses of my mind and interests.  For those of you who do not like political or feminist views mixed into your light reading, this is your chance to turn back. The same is true if you do not appreciate philosophical musings over movies, video games, comics, manga, graphic novels, books, and television shows. Otherwise, we should have a good time.

A little background, just for everyone to know just what they’re getting into. I’m a recent graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, and I majored in Politics and Government. My specialties were in the judicial system and I was particularly gifted at deciphering legal documents. Other notable traits are my D&D skills, love of Japanese RPGs, encyclopedic knowledge of characters in the Law and Order franchise, specialized experience in costuming techniques, love of Victorian and Renaissance fashions, and proficiency in medieval weaponry.  That last one is not an exaggeration. I was president of the campus’s medieval combat group and was active all four years of my tenure.  Oh, and my intense love and devotion for all things squirrel.  

My mind bounces around a lot, but here’s what to expect at the very least as repeat topics:

• ·         The [BLANK]s That Made Me     A look into the media that changed how I looked at the world from a young age,  and re-experiencing it now as a young adult to see if it aged well.  I’ll try to go chronologically, but sometimes that just doesn’t work out.
• ·         Plain English, Please?    If something important politically comes up, I know a lot of people don’t exactly know how to understand legalese. So I’ll translate. I’ll try and stay as unbiased as possible, while explaining the real world effects.
• ·         Political Player                 Political issues in modern gaming. Hopefully giving a perspective of the industry from someone caught in the middle of her love of games and politics.  Neither system is perfect, and there are so many ways to improve both.
• ·         Reviews               Entertainment may not always be influential, but still worth talking about. I don’t do rating scales, but I can recommend things.
• ·         Random Fiction                                I've been playing Dungeons and Dragons since high school. Sometimes the characters don’t want to leave their stories just at the table. The same goes for if I've been absorbed into the world of a book or game.  These may be a bit more sporadic, but it could be fun.

Of course, there will be other things I’ll write about, but these topics are sure to come up a lot. But I do have some surprises in the works that I hope you’ll all like.

It may take me a while to get into the best schedule, but expect posts on Wednesdays. I appreciate all feedback or recommendations for things to watch, read, or play. It may take me a while, but I’ll try to get to them all! Please feel free to leave comments, but I will not tolerate hatred or bile here. It should be a safe, open environment for everyone.

So if you’re still with me, welcome. Welcome to my mind, my passions, and my life. Things are going to get hectic in these next few months, and I’m never sure what is going to happen next. Life after college changes so fast. But I’m always willing to share.

This is Actively Nerdy. Let’s get active.