Job’s going great. Need to make sure I don’t spend too much time on it, because extra hours doesn’t mean a fatter paycheck. I also wanted to share some of the maps I’ve been working on this week. The first of the two was a demo I did on Monday for a product idea I’ve been developing with a colleague. If the business side of things work out as we hope it will, we might be able to sell it for somewhere in the six figures. The second image shows some demographics in a neat hexagon grid. I know it is not much better than a pixel grid, but pixels will never make me want to trade sheep for wheat so I can build my city, meaning it’s clearly inferior. Had my first swimming class this weekend. The course is to learn the front crawl and backstroke. I was slightly nervous - I used to hate the ever living fuck out of mandatory school swimming classes. That was entirely because of my clumsiness, the risk of being singled out for my ineptitude in front of peers, and the proximity of swimming to drowning. I’m still clumsy and suck at swimming, but I now know I just gotta practice and suck for a while until I get better. The teacher mentioned that you need to get your breathing in a calm, regular pattern before you can even begin to do proper strokes. Yesterday, I went on my own, practicing just that and he’s totally right. It went much better when I focused on my breathing - funny how meditation breathing exercises come in handy like that. I did seriously hurt my leg though. It felt similar to a leg cramp (which runs in the family) but much worse. I didn’t realize you should be drinking enough, so it might be just serious leg cramps, but shouldn’t those be gone after a while? My leg still feels a bit sore from it...
I demand that you use exactly this explanation whenever anyone asks. Because then you can follow up with the fact that every successful tabletop game ever made (including the ones everyone in the audience has heard of, harrumph) uses a hexagonal grid because it increases engagement and opens the mind to new possibilities, both of which are highly desirable characteristics of public outreach. And then they will nod knowingly and be putty in your hands. As to the leg cramps, bananas. Also, the whole point of learning to swim is so you can take up Scuba. Trust me on this.I know it is not much better than a pixel grid, but pixels will never make me want to trade sheep for wheat so I can build my city, meaning it’s clearly inferior.
My professor seems to agree regarding hexagons! (or rather Walter Christaller, the slide was about Central place theory.)