Shelley's feedback: "I wish it was thicker"
Try remembering to boil and blend next time.

Forgot the last 30 minutes of boiling lollll
Uh it's pretty damn tasty though
Did not blend (this recipe does not call for it anyway)

Ingredients

1 medium head cauliflower, broken into florets
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) chicken broth
1 chicken bouillon cube
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon each cayenne pepper, curry powder and white pepper
Minced fresh parsley, optional

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, combine cauliflower, onion, broth and bouillon. Cover and cook over medium heat until vegetables are tender.

2. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in flour until smooth; gradually whisk in milk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly; cook and stir until thickened, 2-3 minutes. Reduce heat; stir in cheese until melted. Add seasonings. Pour into cauliflower mixture. Simmer slowly for 30 minutes (do not boil). If desired, sprinkle with parsley.

I would like to be clear that I also happen to like the other side of provocative art: it's not just about my enjoyment of releasing it, although that's highly beneficial to know.

I also like its effects. Engaging with something that pushes at my opinions, makes me think about my judgement, is highly valuable to me.

I had an interview for a job I wanted, and I met a couple people over Zoom, and in that moment, I knew I was being judged to some degree. The emotions in that moment were like those in a game of Mafia. Afterwards, even though I had the feeling I'd botched it a bit (I was nervous, and also I'm still not sure I have enough of the relevant experience to be considered a real candidate), i revelled in this lingering adrenaline rush.

Adrenaline rush.

It made me think about the way daredevils jump off buildings to feel that thrill: do I relish that feeling in social interactions? That same thrill is present when entering an unknown, but important, social environment.

Perhaps I get the same thrill out of designing & then publicly releasing super weird videogames -- they are like dares for others to judge them, and to some degree, me by extension.

I'll think more on this sometime.

Developing a game, I'm living in the thing too, just in a different way. OK, but bringing it back to 31 unmarked games and #droqtober - is this about what I learned from droqtober, or what helped me accomplish it in the first place? (I mean, it's both, but it helps to have a single "tense" to speak from)

And, in general, I think a lot of the excitement around NFTs is going to go down the path of greater ownership and value, and less freedom and play. I don't think that every individual within NFTs is looking to lock down the world this way and enforce the valuation of their NFTs as keys to locks... but I think the environment will tend that way. People are into that kind of thing, and the blockchain enables it.

I might still play with them someday, but it will be with the knowledge that I'll want to insulate myself to some degree from this sort of ideology. There is something cool here, but I won't walk blindly into a marketplace's novel form of locked doors without coming to peace with what it means.

Final thoughts on NFTs:

WHAT I LIKE:

- They are a platform for interacting with the concepts of ownership and money in a 'playful' sort of way.

- Currently, NFTs are a 'magic circle' of digital scarcity, or at least as 'magic' as anything about money can be: the ownership of one doesn't afford you any privileges except, purely, the idea that you own something worth money.

WHAT I DO NOT LIKE:

- 'Proof of work' blockchains have a strong negative effect on the environment. They are fundamentally wasteful.

- It seems that NFTs, like most things about money, are not happy to stay in their magic circle. The fantasy of the digital scarcity that they allow users to play with is sort of beautiful in its pure form, but this is not the endgame for NFTs. (See Unlocked Doors, Everywhere for a little more on this.)

- Invitations to play with NFTs come with (small) monetary benefits to the inviter, so all invitations are a little suspect. "Come play with NFTs" means, in a deep way, "Come play with your money at this casino, and I'll get a small cut the more you spend." This social fabric is just systematically kinda gross.

I'm going to be talking about Opulent Games or something like that soon, basically the idea that surfacing the development process and creative decisions and all the love for the thing is good.

The problem I have with locked doors is they make it more costly to appreciate the whole work.

But the upside is that they are a material for the player to interact with, to make their play more interesting for them to look on from above and examine.

I want to beautifully expose all the processes at work, which is an evolution on the idea presented by the original zine, Opulent Artificial Intelligence, which advocated for beautifully exposing all the processes at work in AI. What I liked about that wasn't the AI, but the beautiful exposure. I want to know the creative HUMAN impulses that drove the work -- not just the rules and datafiles of artificial intelligence, but that of real intelligence, too. I don't think it's done enough.

I have always been interested in routine, in processes -- not just in art (as in 'creative process') but everywhere. Walking around the city, I find mundane things catch my eye as much as anything else. Who decided to put this garbage bin here, and who uses it? Does anyone ever unlock this door, and for what purpose? I want to play more games like this, games not about their systems but about the people who made those systems and the people who live in them. The thing that's very exciting about games is that the player, the person appreciating the art, is part of the art. You're living in the thing that you're called upon to appreciate.

"I know I'm asking a lot of you, but I really want you to do it. Will you deliver this charm for me?"

Cynthia asks the same question again and again if you say no, until you say yes. :/

Is this consent?

"You should chase him down. If you're not a Pokemon... and you run like that... you're a bad guy."

Where does writing like this come from?

We are looking for part-time professors to teach courses in Game Design including:

GAME11738 - Team Project: Design and Development Cycle (1 section X 4 hour class)

- Teams are going to build non-videogames and package them. Fuck that sounds cool!
-

GAME27748  - Game Design 4: Data and Design (1 section X 3 hour class)

- Basically, what data is useful, how do you know what data is useful, etc
- Create data models by interpreting and visualizing data with spreadsheets and diagrams (cool. cool cool cool.)

* Come up with contrived scenarios for students to whet their data whistle!
* Modify designs based on data analysis to improve gameplay
(?) What does it mean to improve gameplay? Discuss this

GAME31469 - Game Design 6: Game Design Patterns (up to 4 sections X 3 hour class)

- WHAT ARE PATTERNS? (ask Jeff)
- 'Situate design patterns within broader historical, social and cultural contexts' wow, christ
- More spreadsheets and diagrams.

Nov 17

Made the recipe again today, with Yukon gold potatoes and maybe a few less of 'em. Still turned out awesome. I blended it a little more to make it extra smooth. Made enough for a meal today & at least two days of generous leftovers. It was nice getting onions and potatoes out of the way, knowing they're the worst part.

Bit expensive. Like $10 for all the clam shit, and another $3 for the huge sweet onion I used.

If I have an inkling of desire, an idea that I want to do, I do it immediately unless there's a good reason I shouldn't or can't. For example: I walked in the front door of our home and saw the messy kitchen and thought, hey, I have the energy and desire to clean the kitchen right now.

It's easy to say: Well, maybe I'll just go on the computer first, or do one of any number of other things that I could do. But this is something I know I want to get done and a minute's distraction easily turns into an hour's. I had to put away the groceries first -- I bought milk and frozen things so those had to go away ASAP. But then I did the thing I knew I could do in that moment.

Why didn't I do it earlier? I didn't want to. That's alright. Sometimes I can push myself to get things done -- and sometimes I must! -- but this habit means I get things done more often in the right moment for me, rather than doing them out of phase.

("Take Concrete Action" -- make a plan to do it with someone, set a timer, set something in motion. Make a real decision that places it at a moment in the future, not just putting it off to "when I get to it.")