The Year in Review

As is my custom, I find it helpful to reflect upon the good and the bad of 2018.

Minimization
My 2015 focused on minimization, and I've tried to maintain that mindset since.  I've cycled my focus, going from books to Lego and (this year) board games.  I didn't get rid of that many, but did play almost all the ones I owned (trying to maintain that 'use it or lose it' mindset).

Personal Spending
I did reasonably well here, using only gift money (or proceeds from game/card sales) for personal spending.  I'm less materialistic than I used to be, but I'm not there yet; I still covet far too much.

Reading
My goals here were simple:
- Keep my "owned but unread" pile small (under 10 books)
- Read up on game design, public speaking, and history of select areas of the world (like Korea and the Balkans)

I met those goals . . . and it was valuable.  I read over 50 books this year; I'm happy with that, but may read a tad less (40?) next year.  My post here recaps this year's recommendations.

Board Games
I played a lot of games this year, and tracked my efforts for the first time (check out the master game page here for an aggregate listing of links to reviews).  The goal was to design a board game this year; I kept a journal (paper and digital), read up on design theory, and started the process, but am a long way from completion.  I hope to do so in 2019.

I did see one area of progress here- I am tempted to buy a lot less now.  I've played enough games that I generally know what I like and can identify by a quick skim of the rules whether or not I should even bother with a given title. 

Fitness
My goal was to lose 10 lbs and (in general) be in better shape; didn't happen.  Gained a few, I think, as I ran less and spent the last 10% of the year in a hotel eating out, which *really* doesn't help (I'm not disciplined enough in restaurants).

My overall fitness levels tailed off from the years prior, as shown below.  Not good!

2014: 51 runs for 104.6 miles, 98 gym workouts
2015: 47 runs for 103.0 miles, 81 gym workouts, 5 soccer games, 5 PT sessions

2016: 98 runs for 205.8 miles, 115 gym workouts, 4 bike rides
2017: 77 runs for 203.9 miles, 111 gym workouts
2018: 44 runs for  78.2 miles, 107 gym workouts, 32 yardwork sessions

Blogging
Blogging was consistent. I blogged a lot about games this year (big surprise), and started some reflections post (see earlier this month) about life in Germany. I hope next year to do more 'reflections'-style posts on our adventures.

Relocation
The latter part of the year was defined by relocating, moving back to Germany. We're stll in a hotel here, and a long way from settling in. Hopefully we'll do so quickly in 2019.

Spiritual
My relationship with the Lord still isn't where it should be. I need to figure out better approaches to prayer & Bible study within the realities of small children and early morning demands.

Parenting
This section is a verbatim repeat from last year (and the year before, and before).  I'm not a great parent. I'm too quick to anger at home- I have to remember that I can't expect my children (ages 8, 6, and 3) to act (or reason) like adults. I also get uneasy when the house is a mess- which is all the time- so I have to dial back the OCD if I have any hope of surviving their childhood. Finally, I don't do a good job cherishing the time, frequently looking away to the future when the current challenges will be overcome. May I remember that current challenges will be replaced with other, possibly harder, ones, so I need to learn to enjoy each stage for what it is. Our kids actually like us now- so may I take advantage of that rather than view it as a burden that they're CONSTANTLY in our faces, even when we're in the bathroom.

Leadership

I took several strides, or at least made some important realizations, in leadership this year. It took a few years of both professional and voluntary leadership roles, but I feel much more comfortable now with several realities of leadership- more on this in future posts.

Conclusion
Though I met a few goals, I must honestly say this year wasn't the best. Familiar struggles in several important areas remain and must get more attention in 2019.  "Never stop starting," as a friend would say.

The Games of 2018

As I did for reading (see previous post), this year I'll recap my game experiences.

This is the first year I've kept track of the games I've played, and the stats were impressive (if you can use that term for a free time pursuit).  I played:
- games on 149 days
- 66 unique games
- 450 total times

I blogged about most of them; see my games page for those reviews.

Here are the twelve I enjoyed the most:
- Magic: The Gathering
- Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig
- Dragonwood
- 5-Minute Dungeon
- The Quest for El Dorado
- Unearth
- Pioneer Days
- Fantasy Realms
- Lost Cities: the Board Game
- Ethnos
- Space Base
- Clank!
- King of Tokyo

I kept records this year, in part, to aid my quest in designing a board game.  The best way to do this is to play a lot of games, and so as I played, I observed the mechanics or concepts I enjoyed (or didn't) to aid my own design process.  Some of those thoughts are captured in 'Game Design Journal' posts.

The year concluded on an unexpected note; my son became obsessed with Magic: the Gathering.  I understand why; it's a great game, and it's really fun to connect with him over games.  There's great value in building community through games, which I spoke to at the annual speaking event I ran at my church.

Get gaming, people.  It's good for the mind and the soul.

Thus Concludes 2018

Another reading year "in the books." This post recaps the year and presents what I consider the best of the bunch.

I read 56 books this year, totaling 10,789 pages- about 29.5 pages a day.  Well down from my peak, it's better than nothing.

Of the 56 books, 1 was an audiobook, 0 were eBooks, and 31 came from the library or friends.  I did 'blitz' reading in three subjects, reading a bunch of books in a given topic to accelerate familiarity:
- public speaking
- board game design
- commentaries on the Biblical book of Jude

Here are my top ten reads from this year:

Kevin Vanhoozer: Faith Speaking Understanding
Hugh Whelchel: All Things New
Karen Swallow Prior: On Reading Well
David Macaulay: Cathedral
Various: The Art of Magic: The Gathering: Ixalan
Various: Superman: Red Son
Tracy Fullerton: Game Design Workshop
Thomas Schreiner: New American Commentary on 1, 2 Peter, Jude
HP Lovecraft: Call of Cthulhu
Various: Tales of One Thousand and One Nights

Though the above are excellent and I enjoyed other selections as well, I couldn't help but feel this was a 'down' reading year.  I can't put my finger on the cause; it just felt a little less gripping than normal.  Let's turn that around in 2019.  Happy reading!

Christmas at the Inn

This is my 39th Christmas, and the first in a hotel.  We're in a new land, far from our familiar- an ocean separates us from the family and friends we hold dear.  As I contemplated this today, tempted to bemoan my station, I was hit by the reality of the first Christmas.

You know the story.  Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem, away from friends and family.  They weren't in the comfort of an inn- there was no room- so a stable had to make do.  Romanticized depictions fail to convey what must of been the gritty reality- the stench of animals, the anguish of childbirth, the loneliness, discomfort, fear, and unknown.  That first Christmas had none of the traditions we now hold dear.  And yet, hope.

"The people walking in darkness

    have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of deep darkness

    a light has dawned." - Isaiah 9:2

The birth of the Christ- foretold since the beginning- had finally come.  God would not abandon us to our justly deserved fate; He would not leave us in darkness.  He would save us from the curse by becoming the curse for us.  Nobody at the time knew how, or when, it would happen.  But Jesus had arrived; God was fulfilling His promise.

That first Christmas, there may not have been physical comforts or familiar faces.  There was something more; something better.  The Lord arrived; a light had dawned.  And perhaps there's another message in that first, messy Christmas scene: we can rejoice regardless of our present situations, be they good or bad, filled with fun or fraught with hardship.  Because our hope is not in our circumstances but a God who keeps His promises. And behold, Jesus is making all things new, far as the curse is found.

Merry Christmas!  Joy to the world; the Lord is come!

The Art in Magic

A few weeks ago, there was an article from a dedicated Magic player reflecting on a piece of card art that particularly grabbed him.  It made me think of my own enjoyment of the art in Magic.

Magic is great for many reasons,and the card art is (to me) a bigger part of the game than I consciously realize.  The art is, after all, what people first notice.  Your immediate reaction to it may play a sizable role in determining whether you play the game or not.  And for me, on more than one occasion I've included a card in a deck (or even centered deck construction around a card) because of its art.  Greg Staples' Lord of Atlantis and Hypnotic Specter (below) comes to mind.

Lord of Atlantis

Hypnotic Specter

In reflecting on this subject, too many cards and artists come to mind to be comprehensive.  In general, I enjoy the art of Terese Nielsen and Rebecca Guay, both of whom have done many Magic cards over the years.  Their respective styles are distinctive and instantly recognizable.  The aforementioned Greg Staples is also fun; I could go on.  But what really gets me, more than anything, are the land cards.

Magic decks are generally 40% land cards- you'll see them more than anything else as you play.  Basic land cards (plains, island, swamp, mountain, forest) are the most plentiful and easily acquired cards in the game.  Hundreds of versions of these have been produced.  And, I confess, I will pursue specific releases based on their art.  I like lands by John Avon, Jung Park, Michael Kormack, Jonas De Ro, Raoul Vitale, Rob Alexander, James Paick, Yeong-Hao Han, Quinton Hoover, Doug Shuler, Adam Paquette . . . I could go on.  Below are my favorite versions of each of the five basic land types.

Plains

Forest

Island

Mountain

Swamp

Other Thoughts
Magic is a fantasy card game with deliberate fantasy themes.  That said, there are a few cards dear to me for the reminders they evoke of real places.  For example, Birds of Paradise, with the cathedral in the background, reminds me of Europe:

I was recently shocked to see a Magic card with terrain I had visited:

I'll prove it to you:

taken by the author

What is this?  Did Wizards know the artist had used a real-life location?  Of course they did; it was part of a series called Euro lands.  So cool . . . I had no idea.  This link has those Euro lands and many other examples of basic lands and how they've changed over the years.

This post is already too long. . . I'll conclude with this thought: art is beautiful, and matters in games as well as life.

The Gift of the Magi (O. Henry)

With Christmas soon upon us, I read the classic short story The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry.  Published just over 100 years ago, it's the well-known tale of a husband and wife who each sacrifice their most dear possession to buy something for the other, with a surprising result.

The story has been re-told and adapted many times over; I wasn't aware it was originally by O. Henry.  It's quite short, and easily read in an evening.  I liked it- such examples of sacrifice are always humbling and point us to how we should orient our lives- though I was confused by the comparison to the Biblical magi (those wise men who brought gifts to Jesus shortly after His birth).  They gave gifts of great value, certainly, but I don't recall the Biblical account indicating that they had sacrificed everything they had.  Anyway, that aside, this is well worth your time.

Rating: A

On Reading Well (Karen Swallow Prior)

In an earlier work (Booked), Professor Karen Swallow Prior discussed the benefits of reading "widely, voraciously, and indiscriminately."  Here, she refines the argument: "It is not enough to read widely.  One must also read well."  On Reading Well explores a handful of literary classics and "attempts to model what it means to read well by examining the insights about virtues these works offer."  She chooses

twelve of the most central virtues and grouped them according to their traditional categories-
The cardinal virtues (prudence, temperance, justice, courage)
The theological virtues (faith, hope, love)
The heavenly virtues (chastity, diligence, patience, kindness, humility)

Each virtue is explored in a different work.  For example, she looks at justice and how it's handled in Charles Dickens' classic A Tale of Two Cities.  She defines each virtue before discussing how a given classic handles it.  She's effectively teaching the reader how to read critically.

Review
I *really* liked this book. The author does an excellent job defining the value and importance of reading:

"Reading well adds to our life . . . in a way that friendship adds to our life, altering us forever."  And "reading literature, more than informing us, forms us."  How?

Literature embodies virtue, first, by offering images of virtue in action and, second, by offering the reader vicarious practice in exercising virtue, which is not the same as actual practice, of course, but is nonetheless a practice by which habits of mind, ways of thinking and perceiving, accrue.

In other words, books- even fiction- teach us how to live.  And "the desires that are cultivated by books . . . can pull us toward the good life- or toward false visions of the good life," which is why Mark Edmundson argues that "the ultimate test of a book, or of an interpretation, is the difference it would make in the conduct of life." 

Sir Philip Sidney agrees.  He "offers one of the first Christian arguments for the power of poetry, saying that it surpasses the power both of history, which teaches by example, and of philosophy, which teaches by precept . . . since history is restricted to what was and philosophy to what could be, Sidney argues, literature exceeds both by offering a picture of what should be."

For these reasons, we should "demand [books] that make demands on you."  You are what you read- so read wisely.

In addition to the discussion on reading in general, I enjoyed her asides and profound insights as she went work-by-work in examining different virtues.  Below are a few quotes I particularly enjoyed:

Literature is birthed from our fallenness: without the fall, there would be no story.

Adhering to rules is much easier than exercising wisdom

The promise of blessings is [easily] mistaken as a contract for material prosperity

Prayer isn't about changing one's circumstance but changing one's heart.

I highly recommend this book; her earlier offering is now on my reading list.

Rating: A

Capturing Memories

My son lost his first tooth today. He then melted down because he literally lost it, somewhere in that gooey chocolate-covered strawberry he had been munching on in the German Christmas market. We tried to console him, with little effect. After all, he argued, if I can't find it, how will I remember it?

In this information age, we feel compelled to capture everything. Look at the typical Facebook post:
I'm eating!
I'm in traffic!
I like cats!

I can't help but wonder if this mindset is healthy. I do it, too. On any given trip, I'm there with my camera, taking hundreds of photos, many of which will never be viewed again. But I need to, don't I? I just remember everything and memorialize it ad nauseum. Every little moment, every tiny milestone. I don't want to forget a thing. . .

What is our primary purpose? Is it to live for ourselves, collecting possessions, experiences, or memories at lightning speed? Whatever shall we do if we forget or misplace the tiniest momento? I think back just 150 years, when it wasn't uncommon for people to be unclear on their exact birthday- or birth year. Apparently it didn't matter so much. What did? What should?

I did grieve with my child today for his situation, all the while hoping that his life will not consist of  collecting lost body components. We're here for a higher reason. May I remember that next time I miss a photo op.

Life and Games

Day two in Deutschland has been dominated by an odd thought- I've felt as though I'm living out a RPG experience.

For the unfamiliar, RPGs typically start with your character having very little. As the game progresses,you build knowledge and gains skills necessary to win. You level up when you reach certain thresholds, making you more powerful. I played a lot of Dragon Warrior and the subsequent Dragon Quest games, and it's always the same premise.

Today, I've felt like I'm at level 0. We have very little- no car or phones, with few options in walking distance for food or entertainment. We're in an unfamiliar place, and must walk around to learn the map. Our only network access is via tablet, which (I'm finding) makes it harder to do many things (like blog*). We're quite restricted. Like a RPG, we have to explore the map and learn the ropes necessary to get by. Walking to the grocery store and mall felt like our first steps to familiarity. We're not at level 1 yet, but we soon will be.

Like a RPG, there are characters around to help, and they're all willing to lend a hand. Everyone here has played this game before - they're still playing- and they know what it's like to be at the start.

Of course, life isn't modelled on RPGs - it's the other way around. But the similarity stuck with me today and provided an odd degree of amusement. Need to level up soon.

*I'm learning to HATE autocorrect.

Germany, day 1

Here we are again. Today we returned to Germany for another stint overseas. It was an eventful day. What started quite well quickly soured when my son peed on my wife just before boarding. The flight was, for 30 minutes, the bumpiest I've experienced. And arriving back here has brought a flood of memory.  This place is undeniably magical, but what made it special was the friends we made- many of whom are now in America. May new ones soon come. Things have changed in seven years, granting us only partial familiarity. And boy, do I miss familiar faces and routines.

There were good things about today. A thoughtful gift from an old friend brightened our check-in. A great sponsor helped us considerably. And we enjoyed again the German cooking and Christmas markets. The kids did reasonably well, and the adults did, too. Still, I can't help but feel sad. Will we make friends this time around? Did I err bringing us back? Will we adjust? Will our friends back home forget us? What does the future hold? One thought encourages: the first week of college, I recall lying on my bed, staring at the the ceiling, wondering if I could spend four years there. A week later, the Lord's grace got me to the point where I wondered if I could spend only four years there. May our adjustment be similarly swift.

Saying Goodbye

my daughter's art; how she feels when saying goodbye

Today, we begin a new chapter in a new land. The last few days have been so hard for us, saying goodbye to loved ones. My daughter's art above captures it well. In times like this, we need to remember:
- God is good and sovereign
- "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."  We're blessed with friends, many of whom we met from past 'leaps' into the unknown.

We hope this time is good for our family. Miss you all.

Star Wars Destiny

Today's review is of the 2016 release, Star Wars Destiny.  This collectible card and dice game is for two players and takes 30 minutes.

Overview

In Star Wars Destiny, you build a team of characters (not to exceed 30 points total) and a deck of 30 cards to battle an opponent.  Each character has a color (red/blue/yellow/gray) and an association (hero/villain/neutral).  Squad and deck-building restrictions:
- you can't mix heroes/villains
- the color(s) of your heroes determines the color(s) of cards allowed in your deck (so if you have one red and one blue hero, your deck can include only red or blue cards).

After building, you set up:
- place your character cards (with their dice) in front of you
- place your battlefield
- shuffle your deck and draw 5 cards

You and your opponent roll your initial dice; higher score chooses which battlefield to use for the game.  The loser gets two shield tokens to place on his character(s).  Then, the game begins!

This game is one of alternating actions.  On your turn, you take one action, which can be:
- play a card (paying any resource costs)
- activate a character/support (roll their dice and put it in your pool)
- resolve dice in your pool (must have same face to be resolved as one action).  This is the heart of the game- resolving dice can damage your opponents, heal yourself, or more.
- discard a card to re-roll your dice
- use a card action
- claim the battlefield

example cards and their associated dice; image from here

Players alternate actions until both pass; then the upkeep phase happens:
- ready any exhausted cards you have (you exhaust cards when you activate them)
- gain 2 resources
- discard as many cards as you like from your hand and draw up to five

Then a new round begins (alternating actions/etc.).  This cycle continues until:
- one person's characters are defeated
- a person is out of cards to play

a game in progress; image from here

That's all there is to it!  More detailed rules are here.

Review
Normally a sucker for collectible games, I resisted this successfully for two years.  Yes, it's Star Wars, but what's this "card and dice game" business?  But a starter set hit clearance,and I couldn't resist. 

One review said "this is a whole lot better than I expected."  My thoughts exactly.  The alternating actions concept is excellent and forces constant meaningful decisions.  For example, having rolling and resolving dice be two separate actions heightens the suspense- if you roll well, you have to wait through (and survive) your opponent's action before you can resolve it.  And many other things like this exist, making for an 'on the edge of your seat' experience.

The dice are of high quality, and the overall concept is simple but good.  Check this one out.

Check out the official site for a video tutorial, rules, and more.

Rating: A