I certainly feel like a college student putting together an essay last minute to meet the deadline, but I set out to write a post once a month. This may even if it’s not my best work, I’ll get something in May. My goal for the month was initially to attend some local board and commission meetings. The month started with success, but I found myself a loophole that led to a slippery slope for missing the mark on future attendance.
Starting with Wins
I did attend a very good meeting at the beginning of the month. “Coffee with the Board” is an informal meeting in which members of the public raise any concerns, issues or ideas directly with the board. This was a great way to start thinking about things that I would like to see changed. Luckily, I’m pretty happy with a lot of the things my local community has. For example, there are two great gravel paths for walking, running and biking.
None of the specific items stuck with me after the meeting adjourned, but there is certainly a comradery and sense of community at the meeting. Other meetings brought me back to my Boy Scouts days, specifically Order of the Arrow meetings. Agendas and bureaucracy galore. Hearing the phrase “seeking approval of the agenda” sent me back a decade and a half ago.
There are constantly meetings of some sort happening. The village board meets every Monday and there are several different committee meetings that meet at least once a month. I’ve taken an interest in the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Traffic and Safety Commission. I’ve really only been listening in so far, but trying to ponder what kinds of items I could possibly bring to these, if any ever arise.
I was feeling some momentum from this initial success, but then reality caught up to me. Work got extra busy, several plans overlapped with meeting times and some days I just didn’t want to go. So I found my loophole, all of the meetings are recorded and posted online.
Back to an Old Vice
Being able to watch meetings on YouTube offered an easier option than walking across town to sit around and listen to things that didn’t really impact me much. While watching these at home, I could easily spend some time playing a game.
One of the big wrenches in basically all my plans was returning to Old School Runescape. The game definitely has a way of grabbing a hold of my attention and motivation. Setting small goals, getting them done and snowballing into major accomplishments. For example, I wanted to beat the late game quest, Song of the Elves. To do this I needed to increase my magic skill and gear to make the boss fight at the end easier. There’s a side activity called Mage Training Arena that offers both skill experience and gear. However, you need a resource called runes to cast spells. There are items that allow unlimited runes of certain kinds, and so I spent hours fighting Tempoross, a boss fought using the fishing skill, in order to get a tome of water for unlimited water runes. This is an extremely short list of chained goals compared to the many I have written out when I first started playing.
It has been fun getting back into the game though. I’ve gotten a number of big accomplishments done including three late game quests done, including the aforementioned Song of the Elves. This has unlocked a ton of content to do and bigger challenges to try out. All of the late game quests really force you to learn the mechanics of the game and play better, which is a satisfying feeling when it clicks. It’s easy to jump between the more engaging fights to second screen activities, like mining while I write this very post.
Outside of Runescape, I also started playing games with friends more often. A group of friends and I started playing a game called Ravenswatch. The game is a roguelike based on various fairy tale characters such as Little Red Riding Hood, Geppetto from Pinocchio and the Pied Piper. Hopping on for a couple runs with the boys is definitely a good way to spend an evening. It’s been a great opportunity to chat with friends I haven’t had the chance to catch up with for a while.
Fortunately, the month wasn’t spent completely at my computer. I was able to get out camping for Memorial Day, and on that trip I actually left my phone at home. It’s a weird feeling, as there was certainly an odd stress by not having it, despite not needing it throughout any point. On top of that, it was literally just a couple of days. I won’t say I came to some profound release from the shackles of the 21st century, as most of the weekend was spent just hanging around camp with friends. With or without a phone, it didn’t make much of a difference. Still, the time outside was definitely needed.
With summer here, I’m trying to get back into good habits. I plan to continue attending coffee with the board any time I am able, as well as keeping up with specific commission meetings, at least watching them online each month. With nice weather and plenty of plans on the calendar already, I’m doing what I can to stick to my goals and keep improving, even if some of those goals are accomplished in the digital world.
Trying Out Before Buying In 