I'm going to take you back in time several days and give you a nifty new job. You're in charge of the news at NBC, and you receive the package with the video footage mailed by Cho Seung-Hui, the guy who recently killed a large number of people at Virginia Tech. So do you put any of this on the air?
Well, there's no question that it's newsworthy. It's one of the biggest stories in the country right now, people are very interested in knowing why, and some of the answers to that question are in your hands at this very moment. Ratings will be good if you show it, and they say the public has a right to know.
On the other hand, by showing it, you're enabling him to achieve one of the main things he set out to do, which was to get his ideas out into the public eye on a national scale.
Apparently, just about everybody who runs television news would show it, because that's exactly what they did.
Now I'm going to give you a not-so-nifty job. You're a troubled individual with an agenda, and you don't much care whether you live or die anymore, but you've got something to say that you want the whole country to hear. You make a video of yourself stating your case, mail it to a major TV news outlet, and gather your guns and ammo. You can get on national television. All you need to do is kill enough people before they take you down or you have to kill yourself. After all, it worked for somebody else before.
The quality of the ideas is irrelevant as long as the troubled individual believes in them. I know that the people at NBC turned the footage over to the authorities first, as was appropriate, but they could've just broadcast a story about the contents without actually showing it. But hey, it wouldn't have been nearly as dramatic and visually interesting, which is true. Sleep well, those of you who made a decision to show the footage, because I'm sure you're going to have an incident to answer for down the line.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Brainstorm
I've had a couple of ideas all gel together over the last two weeks or so. I've never felt a need to design my own game system, and yet that's exactly what I now find myself doing. I'd read a couple of things that led me to question what I really want in a game system, and realized that what I've been doing for many years is bending existing systems into something workable for me, but not necessarily optimal for my purpose.
I started with an existing system, and thought I could get what I needed by modifying it only slightly. Then I thought what I had was a combination of three different systems, but realized that I was actually incorporating elements of several others as I continued beyond character generation and into how the players would function together. I won't really know how good or how original this is until I try it with some players, but I'm excited by what I have so far. My Firefly campaign group seems to be willing, and we can always go back to GURPS if it doesn't work out, so I should be finding out soon enough.
I started with an existing system, and thought I could get what I needed by modifying it only slightly. Then I thought what I had was a combination of three different systems, but realized that I was actually incorporating elements of several others as I continued beyond character generation and into how the players would function together. I won't really know how good or how original this is until I try it with some players, but I'm excited by what I have so far. My Firefly campaign group seems to be willing, and we can always go back to GURPS if it doesn't work out, so I should be finding out soon enough.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Lamps and More Lamps!
I dream of them now... Pairs of them, matching! Free standing lamps! Table lamps! Brass lamps! And I remember how it all started...
My wife and I plan to move, and she's introducing me to the concept of "staging". Apparently you can't just clean the place up and fix a few things to sell your house anymore; you have to market it. She's been doing her homework, as she usually does, and has learned that you can't expect people to use any imagination when they look at your home. You're supposed to remove anything distinctive and make the place look fairly bland so potential buyers can imagine themselves living in it. I'm willing to take her word for it, since she's usually right about these things.
And so she's been plotting out sufficiently bland furnishings to buy and uses for them once we've moved into the new place, so they're not a waste after they've served the initial purpose. She came home late last week with two new matching lamps and explained where she plans to put them during the staging process and where they're going to go in the new house we'll eventually buy. We don't really have room for them now, so they've been occupying space on our couch some of the time, and the kitchen table the rest of the time. It's mildly inconvenient, but no big deal.
Then early this week, we came home from work and there was a box on the porch, which turned out to be another lamp, and my wife was very angry about this. Why? Because there were supposed to be two of them. I asked her about what we were going to do with these lamps, and she did in fact have answers. A day or two later, the other lamp showed up. These new lamps went immediately to their designated positions, but the ones they replaced now occupy a small additional table in the living room that my wife assures me is temporary. We have a bit less room now, but again, it's not so much a problem as to be any real issue.
I was working on Good Friday, but my wife wasn't. I came home to find a new mat out in front of the door, so I knew she'd been shopping, and immediately realized that this was likely to be trouble. I came in the house and observed that the room had, in fact, been changed in several ways. Perhaps unsurprisingly, one of the ways in which the room was different was that there were several more lamps. There was a new free standing floor lamp by the temporary table, and two more new lamps in boxes on the couch, next to the first two additions that were still sitting there. There was a new small table near the front window, but that was the only new thing in the room other than more lamps. I didn't say a word, but looked at my wife, who looked a little defensive and said "Well, two of them are for Dad's place".
She claims that it's merely a coincidence that she's been finding all of these lamps that fit into her plans at a good price over a short period, and that she has a lot of other plans for the staging process. I'm going to have to take her word for it and hope that this isn't some unique form of insanity. At least our house will be well lit...
My wife and I plan to move, and she's introducing me to the concept of "staging". Apparently you can't just clean the place up and fix a few things to sell your house anymore; you have to market it. She's been doing her homework, as she usually does, and has learned that you can't expect people to use any imagination when they look at your home. You're supposed to remove anything distinctive and make the place look fairly bland so potential buyers can imagine themselves living in it. I'm willing to take her word for it, since she's usually right about these things.
And so she's been plotting out sufficiently bland furnishings to buy and uses for them once we've moved into the new place, so they're not a waste after they've served the initial purpose. She came home late last week with two new matching lamps and explained where she plans to put them during the staging process and where they're going to go in the new house we'll eventually buy. We don't really have room for them now, so they've been occupying space on our couch some of the time, and the kitchen table the rest of the time. It's mildly inconvenient, but no big deal.
Then early this week, we came home from work and there was a box on the porch, which turned out to be another lamp, and my wife was very angry about this. Why? Because there were supposed to be two of them. I asked her about what we were going to do with these lamps, and she did in fact have answers. A day or two later, the other lamp showed up. These new lamps went immediately to their designated positions, but the ones they replaced now occupy a small additional table in the living room that my wife assures me is temporary. We have a bit less room now, but again, it's not so much a problem as to be any real issue.
I was working on Good Friday, but my wife wasn't. I came home to find a new mat out in front of the door, so I knew she'd been shopping, and immediately realized that this was likely to be trouble. I came in the house and observed that the room had, in fact, been changed in several ways. Perhaps unsurprisingly, one of the ways in which the room was different was that there were several more lamps. There was a new free standing floor lamp by the temporary table, and two more new lamps in boxes on the couch, next to the first two additions that were still sitting there. There was a new small table near the front window, but that was the only new thing in the room other than more lamps. I didn't say a word, but looked at my wife, who looked a little defensive and said "Well, two of them are for Dad's place".
She claims that it's merely a coincidence that she's been finding all of these lamps that fit into her plans at a good price over a short period, and that she has a lot of other plans for the staging process. I'm going to have to take her word for it and hope that this isn't some unique form of insanity. At least our house will be well lit...
Monday, April 02, 2007
PoliCon
For those who don't already know what it is, PoliCon is a nifty idea. It started out as a birthday gift from one friend (Don Corcoran) to another (Joe Poli, thus PoliCon), and has become an annual event. It's been a little different every year, but essentially what happens is that Don contacts the best GMs and roleplayers he knows and puts them all in one place for a couple of days. Because it's invitational, the quality of GMing and playing tends to be a higher level than most conventions, and everybody wants to bring their best to the party. There are no bad GMs or players, because if there are, they probably won't be there next year. Tastes tend toward indie games, but there are no hard and fast rules about what the GMs can bring to the table.
I usually offer In Nomine (though last year it was GURPS Dimension Travel), and that's what I brought again this year. Unfortunately for me, the con was smaller than usual this year, which meant that more events failed to run, and mine was one of them. I'll probably shake things up next year and bring "Dance of Pairs" for Sorcerer. I suspect choosing In Nomine was part of the problem, in that I've run a lot of angels vs. demons scenarios for many of these same players before. It's not that they don't enjoy them; it's that something new has more appeal than something they've played before, even if they think it's likely to be good.
And so, I had the chance to try out Michael S. Miller's game in development, "By the Stars". I don't want to give too much detail here since the game is, after all, still being changed as playtesting progresses. In short, the most interesting thing about "By the Stars" is that there's no room in the game for wallflowers. If you try to sit on the sidelines, somebody is gonna grab you and pull you in. There's just no getting around it. One common problem with roleplaying games is what some people refer to as the "ten minutes of fun packed into four hours" problem. That is, in most RPGs, you spend a lot of time waiting for the good parts to happen. In "By the Stars", it's mostly good parts. The resolution mechanic is still a little rough (this is a game in development, after all), and when playing an RPG, I personally like to know more about what the other characters are doing than you can in "By the Stars". This is not a criticism of the game; it's simply a characteristic. It's almost more like a LARP than a conventional RPG. I look forward to trying it again some time.
In the last slot, I signed up for Liz Teichman's "Shadow of Yesterday" event. This is one of those indie systems that I've heard good things about, but never get to try because it's not being run a lot in the first place, and I'm usually GMing something else when someone is running it. Unfortunately, she started out by committing one of my cardinal sins of GMing, which is to have the players create their characters at the table. Unless character generation is ridiculously easy and a key part of the system you're playing, I strongly dislike when GMs do this. Anyway, after a slow start to the scenario itself as well, Liz brought her usual horror elements into the picture and things suddenly got a lot more interesting. I particularly enjoyed the ending, where each of the players had a tough choice to make for their character. Only one of the three who made the dangerous choice survived it, which is a Good Thing. It's not credibly dangerous if everybody survives it. As for the system itself, I don't think it brought anything of particular interest to the scenario. It could have been run with any decent system. It wouldn't be fair for me to comment on the setting itself, as I understand that Liz was bringing a lot of her own spin to the setting, so I can't give an informed opinion of what was the official setting and what was Liz' version of it.
I'd planned to do more playing this year than in past years, so in spite of being disappointed in not having the opportunity to run my own game, I can say that PoliCon was an appropriate start to my convention year in the sense that I did fulfill that part of my plan, and had a good time doing it. And naturally, it's giving me the itch to GM again. :-)
I usually offer In Nomine (though last year it was GURPS Dimension Travel), and that's what I brought again this year. Unfortunately for me, the con was smaller than usual this year, which meant that more events failed to run, and mine was one of them. I'll probably shake things up next year and bring "Dance of Pairs" for Sorcerer. I suspect choosing In Nomine was part of the problem, in that I've run a lot of angels vs. demons scenarios for many of these same players before. It's not that they don't enjoy them; it's that something new has more appeal than something they've played before, even if they think it's likely to be good.
And so, I had the chance to try out Michael S. Miller's game in development, "By the Stars". I don't want to give too much detail here since the game is, after all, still being changed as playtesting progresses. In short, the most interesting thing about "By the Stars" is that there's no room in the game for wallflowers. If you try to sit on the sidelines, somebody is gonna grab you and pull you in. There's just no getting around it. One common problem with roleplaying games is what some people refer to as the "ten minutes of fun packed into four hours" problem. That is, in most RPGs, you spend a lot of time waiting for the good parts to happen. In "By the Stars", it's mostly good parts. The resolution mechanic is still a little rough (this is a game in development, after all), and when playing an RPG, I personally like to know more about what the other characters are doing than you can in "By the Stars". This is not a criticism of the game; it's simply a characteristic. It's almost more like a LARP than a conventional RPG. I look forward to trying it again some time.
In the last slot, I signed up for Liz Teichman's "Shadow of Yesterday" event. This is one of those indie systems that I've heard good things about, but never get to try because it's not being run a lot in the first place, and I'm usually GMing something else when someone is running it. Unfortunately, she started out by committing one of my cardinal sins of GMing, which is to have the players create their characters at the table. Unless character generation is ridiculously easy and a key part of the system you're playing, I strongly dislike when GMs do this. Anyway, after a slow start to the scenario itself as well, Liz brought her usual horror elements into the picture and things suddenly got a lot more interesting. I particularly enjoyed the ending, where each of the players had a tough choice to make for their character. Only one of the three who made the dangerous choice survived it, which is a Good Thing. It's not credibly dangerous if everybody survives it. As for the system itself, I don't think it brought anything of particular interest to the scenario. It could have been run with any decent system. It wouldn't be fair for me to comment on the setting itself, as I understand that Liz was bringing a lot of her own spin to the setting, so I can't give an informed opinion of what was the official setting and what was Liz' version of it.
I'd planned to do more playing this year than in past years, so in spite of being disappointed in not having the opportunity to run my own game, I can say that PoliCon was an appropriate start to my convention year in the sense that I did fulfill that part of my plan, and had a good time doing it. And naturally, it's giving me the itch to GM again. :-)
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Creative Burst
"A Slice of Blackwoods" is entirely finished now, down to the last detail, except for a playtest and some tweaking that'll come out of that playtest. So I pulled out my "Dance of Pairs" notes and started piecing things together, then expanded a bit on what I had, and was surprised to see how close I am to being finished with that one as well. All I need to do is finish writing two player handouts, make the actual character sheets (I already have the character stats done) and go over everything to make sure all of the characters have enough "bangs" to keep events moving, and that one'll be ready for playtest as well.
Since I'm doing so much of my writing in bits and pieces away from home, and can't do the rest of "Dance of Pairs" anywhere but home, I started thinking ahead to what I wanted to do next. I decided to work on another In Nomine story (probably involving Eli, the missing archangel of creativity), and started looking through my books, but wasn't finding any inspiration. I gave up for the night, feeling a little discouraged.
I woke up uncharacteristically early the next day (Saturday), bursting with ideas that had nothing to do with Eli, and wrote everything down before I could forget it. Before I was done about an hour and a half later, I had notes for two different In Nomine scenarios, a quality short segment for TOON, and a much-improved version of an earlier long-form idea I'd had for TOON. So now I have more than enough to work with for a while.
I guess the archangel of creativity wasn't ready to have his story told yet, and decided that constructively distracting me was the best way to handle it. :-)
Since I'm doing so much of my writing in bits and pieces away from home, and can't do the rest of "Dance of Pairs" anywhere but home, I started thinking ahead to what I wanted to do next. I decided to work on another In Nomine story (probably involving Eli, the missing archangel of creativity), and started looking through my books, but wasn't finding any inspiration. I gave up for the night, feeling a little discouraged.
I woke up uncharacteristically early the next day (Saturday), bursting with ideas that had nothing to do with Eli, and wrote everything down before I could forget it. Before I was done about an hour and a half later, I had notes for two different In Nomine scenarios, a quality short segment for TOON, and a much-improved version of an earlier long-form idea I'd had for TOON. So now I have more than enough to work with for a while.
I guess the archangel of creativity wasn't ready to have his story told yet, and decided that constructively distracting me was the best way to handle it. :-)
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Meditation
I've been meditating twice a day for the last couple of weeks, more or less steadily. I have to admit that something will get in the way every couple of days. I'm certainly more relaxed than I've ever been, and there were a few days when I found myself with this amazing charge of extra energy. I'd like to be able to duplicate that on a regular basis, but I don't know quite how I did it yet.
I'm looking forward to trying some of the more advanced techniques I've been reading about in my books, but I know I'm not ready for them yet. I don't have even the basics down. That said, early results are encouraging, and I'm anxious to see if I can continue to improve.
I'm looking forward to trying some of the more advanced techniques I've been reading about in my books, but I know I'm not ready for them yet. I don't have even the basics down. That said, early results are encouraging, and I'm anxious to see if I can continue to improve.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Saturday Night at the Movies
I still haven't gotten around to signing up for Netflix, because I keep thinking I don't have enough time to watch the movies. Then we end up going to my father-in-law's place and realize that renting movies is a better option than depending on what's on television, so we stop and pick up something on the way there. The choice gets to be complicated because our tastes are so divergent that we have one heck of a time figuring out what to rent that at least one of us will truly enjoy and the others can at least tolerate.
We've learned that a certain narrow field of martial arts films works for all of us. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a prime example of what works, and Hero worked well enough. We need something with enough action to keep my father-in-law happy, enough plot/character to keep me happy, and enough artistically pleasing shot composition to keep my wife happy.
One of last weekend's rentals, Jet Li's Fearless, was a moderate success. It was no Crouching Tiger, but not much is. It's a good martial arts film if you like that sort of thing, but I wouldn't recommend it to a more general audience.
We also rented the western comedy Bandidas with Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek. Honestly, I didn't expect much of it, but I knew there'd be a visual element that would appeal to my father-in-law and I, and I hoped that the comedy would be executed well enough to keep my wife happy. She was actually the one who pulled it off the shelf as a suggestion. At the end of the film, she exclaimed "Cute!", so I'd call that a success, and a reasonably accurate one word review. I'd recommend it only to fans of the two lovely ladies starring in it or people who really enjoy watching bits with remarkably intelligent horses, but it's an inoffensive enough PG-13 movie for anyone who has to sit through it for the benefit of someone else who really wants to see it. It's the "buddy film" version of Cat Ballou.
Our third choice was a reach that didn't pay off. Ghost of Mae Nak was a Thai ghost story, also picked by my wife. It felt longer than the 103 minute running time, and I laughed out loud at some of the "scary" parts. Mystery Science Theater would've had a blast with this one. This is a shining example of why I need Netflix, which is so I'm not paying an individual price when we try something off the beaten path and it turns out badly. Highly not recommended.
We've learned that a certain narrow field of martial arts films works for all of us. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a prime example of what works, and Hero worked well enough. We need something with enough action to keep my father-in-law happy, enough plot/character to keep me happy, and enough artistically pleasing shot composition to keep my wife happy.
One of last weekend's rentals, Jet Li's Fearless, was a moderate success. It was no Crouching Tiger, but not much is. It's a good martial arts film if you like that sort of thing, but I wouldn't recommend it to a more general audience.
We also rented the western comedy Bandidas with Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek. Honestly, I didn't expect much of it, but I knew there'd be a visual element that would appeal to my father-in-law and I, and I hoped that the comedy would be executed well enough to keep my wife happy. She was actually the one who pulled it off the shelf as a suggestion. At the end of the film, she exclaimed "Cute!", so I'd call that a success, and a reasonably accurate one word review. I'd recommend it only to fans of the two lovely ladies starring in it or people who really enjoy watching bits with remarkably intelligent horses, but it's an inoffensive enough PG-13 movie for anyone who has to sit through it for the benefit of someone else who really wants to see it. It's the "buddy film" version of Cat Ballou.
Our third choice was a reach that didn't pay off. Ghost of Mae Nak was a Thai ghost story, also picked by my wife. It felt longer than the 103 minute running time, and I laughed out loud at some of the "scary" parts. Mystery Science Theater would've had a blast with this one. This is a shining example of why I need Netflix, which is so I'm not paying an individual price when we try something off the beaten path and it turns out badly. Highly not recommended.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
RPG Activity
I've re-started the home GURPS Firefly campaign, and it's going well. I ran the first season last year, and it was essentially about the characters coming together as a crew and getting to know each other. There were some nice elements, but we lacked the dangerous edge that River Tam's situation brought to the source material.
The start of our second season remedied that. In what was originally planned to be the first season finale, we had a player character death (sacrificing himself to save another) and the player crew wreaking havoc on an Alliance military ship in an attempt to rescue two kids who ultimately weren't even on that ship. The two kids had psi potential and had been taken involuntarily by two of the Blue Hands. They were actually on another ship, but the players didn't know that at the time.
The second session of season two completed the rescue after the crew found where the kids had actually been taken. But now they've got a huge target painted on their backs after these two incidents and we now have the edge I'd hoped would develop. The next few sessions should be lively.
On the convention front, this is going to be the leanest year I've had in ages. I had to cancel going to the private convention this month due to personal issues, and was unable to get the time away from work to go to DexCon in its entirety (though I'll still go Saturday/Sunday). I'm only running three games at GenCon. I'm skipping MEPACon in the spring, and probably in the fall as well. PoliCon is going to be the usual single day for me. Maybe next year will be more promising.
I'll be running "A Slice of Blackwoods" for GURPS Banestorm, "Controlling Interest" for GURPS Cabal, and "Rumspringa" for In Nomine at DexCon. I'll be running "A Slice of Blackwoods" for GURPS Banestorm, my old favorite "Lilim Faire" for In Nomine, and "Well Being" for Sorcerer for GenCon. I plan to run "Rumspringa" for In Nomine for PoliCon.
On the positive side, I won't need as much material this year as in years past. "A Slice of Blackwoods" is essentially done, though I'm still finishing some details of the character sheets such as personal equipment. Creatively, I'm working on "A Dance of Pairs" for Sorcerer, which is largely done except for actually statting out the characters, but that's easy to do with Sorcerer and I won't need it this year anyway. I plan to keep writing, because it's what I do, and a little inventory is a Good Thing. After "A Dance of Pairs", I'll most likely write the next installment of the GURPS Cabal series and another In Nomine scenario, but I'm also itching to write more Paranoia and would like to try out Mortal Coil as well. There's just never enough time to write everything I want to do.
The start of our second season remedied that. In what was originally planned to be the first season finale, we had a player character death (sacrificing himself to save another) and the player crew wreaking havoc on an Alliance military ship in an attempt to rescue two kids who ultimately weren't even on that ship. The two kids had psi potential and had been taken involuntarily by two of the Blue Hands. They were actually on another ship, but the players didn't know that at the time.
The second session of season two completed the rescue after the crew found where the kids had actually been taken. But now they've got a huge target painted on their backs after these two incidents and we now have the edge I'd hoped would develop. The next few sessions should be lively.
On the convention front, this is going to be the leanest year I've had in ages. I had to cancel going to the private convention this month due to personal issues, and was unable to get the time away from work to go to DexCon in its entirety (though I'll still go Saturday/Sunday). I'm only running three games at GenCon. I'm skipping MEPACon in the spring, and probably in the fall as well. PoliCon is going to be the usual single day for me. Maybe next year will be more promising.
I'll be running "A Slice of Blackwoods" for GURPS Banestorm, "Controlling Interest" for GURPS Cabal, and "Rumspringa" for In Nomine at DexCon. I'll be running "A Slice of Blackwoods" for GURPS Banestorm, my old favorite "Lilim Faire" for In Nomine, and "Well Being" for Sorcerer for GenCon. I plan to run "Rumspringa" for In Nomine for PoliCon.
On the positive side, I won't need as much material this year as in years past. "A Slice of Blackwoods" is essentially done, though I'm still finishing some details of the character sheets such as personal equipment. Creatively, I'm working on "A Dance of Pairs" for Sorcerer, which is largely done except for actually statting out the characters, but that's easy to do with Sorcerer and I won't need it this year anyway. I plan to keep writing, because it's what I do, and a little inventory is a Good Thing. After "A Dance of Pairs", I'll most likely write the next installment of the GURPS Cabal series and another In Nomine scenario, but I'm also itching to write more Paranoia and would like to try out Mortal Coil as well. There's just never enough time to write everything I want to do.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
When to Pull the Car Keys
This is a problem that most people have to face in some form, sooner or later. Dad (or Mom) is getting older, and you're not so sure it's safe for them to drive anymore. On one hand, you don't want to take away their dignity and independence, and you're certainly not crazy about taking on the task of driving them around wherever they need to go. On the other hand, you wouldn't want them to get injured (or injure somebody else) in a car accident because you didn't want to face the uncomfortable discussion regarding the fact that they can't drive as well as they once could and it's time to give it up. There's just no easy solution here.
My father-in-law is reaching the stage where this is becoming a question. He insists he's okay to drive, and we're not as sure. He's allowed us to do some driving for him here and there, under specific conditions and for specific reasons, but he continues to talk about when he'll be driving again. It's not as though his driving skills have evaporated overnight; it's just the usual slow deterioration we all face in the long run.
In my work as a claims adjuster, I see a disproportionate number of elderly and teen drivers in accidents. It's a fact of life. In some cases, the accident is the wake-up call that some of these elderly needed to show them that it's time to stop driving. In others, the elderly driver will argue with me about how they haven't had an accident in fifty years of driving, so damn it, this accident can't be their fault. One particular case I had recently was an elderly man who insisted that the teenage driver of the other car hadn't had her headlights on, because if she had, he would've seen her car and not pulled out in front of her from the stop sign. There were two independent witnesses and a police officer at the scene all saying that she did have her headlights on, and his response to that was that all of them clearly knew the teen driver and it was all a conspiracy against him. I'm not making this up; he was really in that much of a state of denial. The fact is, he simply didn't see her and made a mistake. You don't have to be elderly to make that mistake, but when your vision and reflexes aren't what they used to be, it's a lot more likely to happen.
I'd like to see mandatory driver's tests for the elderly, past a certain age. It's one thing for a son or daughter to have to explain to Dad or Mom that it's time to put away the car keys, and another thing entirely when the law says it's time. Too often, it takes an accident to decide the issue, and somebody gets hurt or killed. I realize that politicians are unlikely to take this stand, because they'd lose a lot of elderly votes by doing it, but I wish someone would do the right thing. I know it's easy enough for me to say this, as I'm nowhere near that age, and I'm going to be as reluctant as anyone to give up those keys and a measure of independence when the time comes, but I'd prefer it to being responsible for injuring or killing someone (or myself).
My father-in-law is reaching the stage where this is becoming a question. He insists he's okay to drive, and we're not as sure. He's allowed us to do some driving for him here and there, under specific conditions and for specific reasons, but he continues to talk about when he'll be driving again. It's not as though his driving skills have evaporated overnight; it's just the usual slow deterioration we all face in the long run.
In my work as a claims adjuster, I see a disproportionate number of elderly and teen drivers in accidents. It's a fact of life. In some cases, the accident is the wake-up call that some of these elderly needed to show them that it's time to stop driving. In others, the elderly driver will argue with me about how they haven't had an accident in fifty years of driving, so damn it, this accident can't be their fault. One particular case I had recently was an elderly man who insisted that the teenage driver of the other car hadn't had her headlights on, because if she had, he would've seen her car and not pulled out in front of her from the stop sign. There were two independent witnesses and a police officer at the scene all saying that she did have her headlights on, and his response to that was that all of them clearly knew the teen driver and it was all a conspiracy against him. I'm not making this up; he was really in that much of a state of denial. The fact is, he simply didn't see her and made a mistake. You don't have to be elderly to make that mistake, but when your vision and reflexes aren't what they used to be, it's a lot more likely to happen.
I'd like to see mandatory driver's tests for the elderly, past a certain age. It's one thing for a son or daughter to have to explain to Dad or Mom that it's time to put away the car keys, and another thing entirely when the law says it's time. Too often, it takes an accident to decide the issue, and somebody gets hurt or killed. I realize that politicians are unlikely to take this stand, because they'd lose a lot of elderly votes by doing it, but I wish someone would do the right thing. I know it's easy enough for me to say this, as I'm nowhere near that age, and I'm going to be as reluctant as anyone to give up those keys and a measure of independence when the time comes, but I'd prefer it to being responsible for injuring or killing someone (or myself).
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
John, Trish, and the Boy go to Houston
Trish and I first met when I was running games at a single day game convention many years ago. As it turned out, she'd signed up for all three of the RPG events I was running that day without realizing they were all run by the same person. I said at the time that we'd either be close friends or bitter enemies by the end of the day because we'd be spending so much time together, and as it happens, we became friends, having very similar tastes in RPGs. Trish turned up in some of my conventions sessions after that. I met her husband John along the way, though we didn't know each other well at the time.
Years passed, and John and Trish moved close to where I lived. The Boy had joined their family by then. Trish couldn't play as often as she used to, but John and I spent a lot more time together and expanded the scope of the games we played together. I'm more of a roleplaying game guy, and John is more of a tactician (though he runs one hell of a game of Paranoia), but we each enjoyed what the other brought to the table. John joined Steve Jackson Games' Men In Black program (of which I was already a member), and we went to a lot of conventions together. We played many a vicious Magic: the Gathering duel.
We all went to MEPACon together a couple of times, Trish and the Boy included, which added flavor to the mix. I'm sure we'll stay in touch, and that I'll see John at game conventions in the future, but we probably won't get to do it quite that way again.
I enjoy going to the local minor league hockey team's games, but my wife doesn't. John isn't a sports fan, but Trish is, so she became my hockey buddy, and we went to several games together over the last couple of years.
It was taking a new job that brought John, Trish, and the Boy here, and it's John taking a new job in Houston that's moving them away. I like the symmetry, but I'll miss the time we used to spend together.
Years passed, and John and Trish moved close to where I lived. The Boy had joined their family by then. Trish couldn't play as often as she used to, but John and I spent a lot more time together and expanded the scope of the games we played together. I'm more of a roleplaying game guy, and John is more of a tactician (though he runs one hell of a game of Paranoia), but we each enjoyed what the other brought to the table. John joined Steve Jackson Games' Men In Black program (of which I was already a member), and we went to a lot of conventions together. We played many a vicious Magic: the Gathering duel.
We all went to MEPACon together a couple of times, Trish and the Boy included, which added flavor to the mix. I'm sure we'll stay in touch, and that I'll see John at game conventions in the future, but we probably won't get to do it quite that way again.
I enjoy going to the local minor league hockey team's games, but my wife doesn't. John isn't a sports fan, but Trish is, so she became my hockey buddy, and we went to several games together over the last couple of years.
It was taking a new job that brought John, Trish, and the Boy here, and it's John taking a new job in Houston that's moving them away. I like the symmetry, but I'll miss the time we used to spend together.
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