It’s Been a While

And who’s fault is that?

Mine. Entirely mine.

BUT there is some exciting news on that front and it is… well, I’m posting this so it should be fairly self evident. I have things to say and lately I’ve been itching for a place to say them.

Conveniently, me from 2014 set up this blog in case of just such an occurrence so here I am to make use of it! I re-read the first few posts I made on this blog and surprisingly they weren’t as lame as I remembered them being, which is good. That means I don’t regret doing it in the first place which merely leaves me with the regret that I didn’t post more in the interim.

Ah well, the past and all that so it’s time to move on.

A friend had a great idea a while back that we do a podcast together as a creative outlet, much like our respective blogs and since we recorded the first episode I’ve been really jonesing to do more. Writing I think no matter your talent level takes a bit of effort and doesn’t always flow as smoothly as a conversation that has found an almost musical tempo. There is a lot of temptation to edit and fiddle as you write whereas a conversation, like a river, generally flows in only one direction. Its a living thing that moves inexorably forward whether you want it to or not. This can be both good and bad but so far my experiences with this friend have yielded nothing but a white water rapids like deluge of ideas and fun. Like a garage sale of our individual subconscious. We root around and pluck out interesting things, turning them over in our hands and making a purchase or placing them back carefully on the outline left in the thin layer of cerebral dust where they came from.

Time permitting I crave the opportunity to once again put up my “Sale Here” sign and sit back while people barter for my long forgotten wares. A chance to clear the cobwebs and let new and strange ideas take root in their place. At any rate for the time being we have the first episode done and I will get around to posting it once I can make sure my extremely amateur audio mixing abilities haven’t left it garbled beyond comprehension, any more than our actual vocalizing has done. Fingers crossed and time permitting a second episode will be forthcoming… soon.

Lastly there was a piece of gaming news this past week which I would desperately like to talk about because I find myself unreasonably excited about it.

The Nintendo Switch.

Till next time!

– Non-Washable

The Creative Process

I have a love-hate relationship with my Idea Bulb.

The shot of adrenaline mixed with utter excitement is like chasing love, at first it may occur to you in the shower or on the can (I won’t apologize for getting good ideas while straddling porcelain.) or while doodling during down time at work when you are wishing desperately that you could be anywhere else. Sometimes it’s immediate and like a dog bounding after a furry intruder that dared step paw in the yard you chase that errant thought until you wrap your hands firmly around it and gaze into its brilliance.

This is it! This is the one, I know it!

You tuck it away like a piece of precious cargo, that you hastily scribbled onto a napkin or a post-it, and it occupies your thoughts for the rest of the day, you analyze it from every angle so you are absolutely sure that when your shift ends and you are free the only thing in front of you is a solid course to bring your genius to life.

You punch out and barely have the wherewithal to mutter goodbye to your co-workers as you speed walk in the most dignified way you can manage to your car, eager to not waste an ounce of your fresh-squeezed all natural organic creative juice. You realize at the first stop light that you don’t want waste any time with menial tasks like cooking food at home so you decide to stop somewhere and pick up your dinner, a full stomach is just what you need in order to fuel your Mad Scientist like abandon once you finally reach the shrine where your vision will be born, also known as, “I swear there is a desk here underneath the papers and empty bottles of Ice.”

So far it seems solid doesn’t it? Every contingency mapped and a plan put in place, a crystal clear idea and the energy to execute it and what seems like an endless gulf between now and 5:30am tomorrow when your alarm reminds that it’s time to go back to work. No need to think about that now, it’s only 3:45pm and once the nice Drive-Thru attendant at Wendys hands over the food you’re off for home, back on track with nothing but clear skies ahead.

The apartment is quiet, which is perfect, you decide to eat at your desk so there is as little distance as possible between you and the start of your glorious project. On the way to the office the socks are discarded as well as the pants, a necessary step in the writing process I assure you, and the soft sigh of your office chair as you settle into it. You dig into your dinner while your computer hums to life and your desktop comes to life populated with a myriad of icons and folders, all of which you recognize as previous projects and ideas, it doesn’t matter though because this time it’s going to be different, this one you are really excited about.

Dinner continues and your mind wanders a bit while the blank Word document sits nestled against the corner of your left screen, cursor blinking impatiently on the bright white page, it’s no matter because you’re already imagining the glorious words that will fill it soon enough. You realize there are a couple resources you might want open while you are writing, a thesaurus perhaps, and a dictionary page just in case, after all it’s better to be prepared so you can maintain a rhythm once you get started. Less editing later.

Almost done with dinner but you remember a great article you saw earlier on break and you may as well be productive while you eat so you open another tab to find it, reassuring yourself that you’re going to read it, pack up your trash and then buckle down and get some real work done.

This is about the point where I look at the clock and it’s now 9:11pm. I finished dinner and I read that article about Bolivia labeling Israel a terrorist state, also Sprint is in the process of shitting all over the concept of Net-Neutrality and CreditKarma is now giving its users free access to their full credit reports which is awesome, high 700’s here- woo!

Now, don’t think I haven’t been unproductive all day, I picked up a package that arrived today for a birthday, cleaned my desk, trimmed my beard, exercised and took a long relaxing shower. I was going to play a little Divinity: Original Sin but I unfortunately don’t have time seeing as how I’d like to try and get a full night of sleep.

Today I did again what I have been doing on and off for years and I get down on myself for it because how is it to be viewed as anything other than abject failure? I wasn’t unproductive but on the same token I wasn’t productive in the way that I desperately wanted to be and have wanted to be since as far back as I can remember.

Unless you count the above, in which case maybe today wasn’t a total loss after all.

Until tomorrow, Idea Bulb.

 

  • Non-Washable

How Do We Start This Off?

Introductions? Introductions.

Hi, I’m Non-Washable. It’s nice to meet you.

PHEW! That was nerve wracking, but we got through it.

Alright, fine.

At this point in the life of the blog I suppose I’ll have to supply both sides of the conversation, I’ll use a little shorthand so this doesn’t get out of hand and by shorthand I mean I’ll just ask myself questions I think are relevant.

Are you ready?

I am.

What the hell is this place?

That is a fantastic question and in time I’m sure that I’ll have something approximating an acceptable answer, unfortunately for now I really don’t know. This blog will hopefully serve as motivation for someone like me who is a terminal procrastinator, chronic project starter and all around lazy bastard.

It’s harsh but that’s the truth for you. I don’t like those things about myself and have spent many years trying to correct them with varying degrees of success. I generally haven’t tried in front of an audience, pretend or otherwise, so this will be uncharted territory for me.
I want this to work, I want this project to live past it’s normal life expectancy and in the coming days, weeks and months we’ll all have front row seats at a show called, The Results.

Don’t worry, I can almost guarantee it won’t be sold out.

Who the fuck are you?” 

Great question! One I answered, in part, but still great.

For now I’m Non-Washable and as for the greater story about who or what I am that will probably get told in bits and pieces during this grand journey, for better or worse, so hang in there.

Is this gonna be one of those introspective blogs filled with opinions and feelings?

No! Well, yes but more no. This isn’t going to be some sad parade about my life where I write my own little self-help book one, “Your deadline is approaching!” email at a time. I’m sure there will occasionally be posts about off-topic or un-fun(nny) things because that’s life and I wont promise here or anywhere else that I’ll avoid those subjects for good.

As for the opinions that is most likely a big fat YES because lets be honest, as far as you know I’m human and if there’s one thing we humans do well it’s have opinions about anything and everything. More than that we like to share them and if most of the blogs I’ve visited are any indication it’s even more fun when it makes people irrationally angry at you.

I certainly hope that I dont start this off by making anyone angry but I’m entirely prepared for that to happen (I have a stuffed animal and everything.) so all I can do now is write and hope for the best.

Okay. What is this stupid blog about then?

I suppose you are right and I should take a moment to shed some light on what subject(s) those opinions might be aimed at, as the name of the blog suggests probably gaming. I know, I know, how many more gamer blogs do we need? Probably none, but this one is mine and gaming is something I love in all forms and with the encouragement of friends (and my ego) I have decided to write about something for which I am passionate.

P.S. I considered a blog about sex, because I am also passionate about that, but believe me none of you want to see that become a reality. It’s in your best interests to make sure this one doesn’t fail. Now who’s under pressure? Not me!

Are you just gonna link content from other sites with some snarky commentary and hope we don’t notice you aren’t doing any real work?

I certainly hope not as running a blog just for the purposes of posting click-bait seems incredibly boring and is not at all why I am here, slaving away over this keyboard. I like to create things and for anyone who is similar I hope you will agree that the only thing more fun than creating things is sharing them.

I have no idea if the things that I write or create here will end up being interesting, comprehensible or even good but at it’s base level this experiment is about growing past that and the only way to do that is jump right in.

I don’t really have any other questions, would you like to say anything else?

If you got this far then that’s a good sign, right? Thanks for sticking it out.

If it was totally by mistake then well, thanks for skipping to the end first before re-evaluating your life choices.

If you don’t know what you’re doing here, I honestly can’t help you.

I guess now there’s nothing left to do except get started.

– Non-Washable