100Words
Yup, it’s been a long time since the last post. Life has given me one of those moments where, having acknowledged it, all other bets are either off or up for renegotiating.
The first part of the process was realizing how close I am to retirement age and then how little I have to retire with. OK, I never saw myself as a “retiree”, so not having anything saved up for the future isn’t a surprise. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any other plan either. My friend, Gretchen, helped me out by smacking me (figuratively) upside the head until I got Me in focus. Funny to find out that role playing games (RPGs) is what matters to me the most.
Seriously. Hey, stop laughing. I mean it.
It started when I realized that the world I had begun building for my own characters could be used to learn real life things. That was confirmed when, after I told a friend and her daughter my idea, they both said “Charter School!” I still don’t know what a “charter school” is, but their enthusiasm was encouraging.
I’m not the first person to think that an RPG is a good way to bring subjects to life, of course. So, I’m not in a hurry to work up that idea. I need to build the world of the story first, and I’m doing that through my NaNoWriMo novels. The last one of the quintet gets made this year. Then I will focus on the editing part of the process.
And there you have it. Me and RPGs. Only that’s not where it ended.
When Gretchen got me focused on seeing how important the concept was to me, other things started to fall into place under that banner. We can see how writing does. Writing stories based on the world is a way for me to not only build it but demonstrate how it’s principles work. Heck, just writing challenges me to integrate ideas by putting them into a “what if” context and that leads to better learning.
Something else came out of the RPG idea though. The world is based on fiber arts. Think the Silk Road and all the activities surrounding the silk trade. Seeing that the RPG itself was the guiding light, I realized how important fabric is to me and decided to do something about it. So, with the introduction of Spoonflower, I gathered up some old interests and started building a business idea. If that’s not using the RPG in real life, I don’t know what is.
Wait! There’s another element to this bit.
The retirement plan isn’t the fabric design on its own. Another element showed up. Psychology. I decided to get an advanced degree in psychology. Answering “Why?”, would take a short book. Let’s just say it’s another of those things that seems to have been waiting for a bunch of other stuff to get lined up. That’s how it seems to have happened, this decision. One minute I was following a Twitter link and the next I was declaring my intention to get my PhD in psychology. Me, with no formal history in it at all. Formal is the key word, by the way. I realized that I had a lot of informal experience and that I was only planning to get better at it.
And, no, I haven’t forgotten the RPG thing.
I wrote one day on Twitter that I was living an RPG life. And that started me thinking about why the RPG concept–concept and not the details of any one system or game–appealed to me so much. It’s an effective box to put things into. Thinking of myself as a character that I’ve created is amazingly empowering. I’m sure there are lots of other ways of saying the same thing and lots of people have made lots of money doing it. But are they fun? That’s the difference I feel between “The Secret” say, and the RPG. Another difference? I don’t have to feel responsible for all the events of the game! That’s the DM/GMs (Dungeon or Game Master) headache! I know that the choices I make, given what is handed to me, may or may not work in my favor, but that’s the way things are. And since my experience tells me that my DM is amenable to my ideas, I do have some say in how the game is laid out for me. Challenging, but along the lines of say, haveing to make new career plans based on not having a traditional retirement plan. Make sense?
The cool thing for me? All the stuff I’ve done before now is still in play. I just need to put it into categories that make sense in my version of the game. And of course, Gretchen, you were right! That day spent virtually head banging is still the best advice I’ve had.
So, the pens and needles are still with me in the Garden. I now get to build the Garden so that it is a proper respite from all my adventures, and a place to let you all know what I’ve been up to!
Happy Trails!
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