Tag: memes

5 things I’m thinking about

You have Alper to blame for this. Alice started it, many followed (some well worth reading) and now the meme has crossed the pond it seems. I know, we’re a bit slow in NL. So, what am I thinking about?

My upcoming holiday, which will be the first break in over a year. I am planning to completely unplug, which I am both dreading and looking forward to. It seems the longer I am self-employed, the harder it gets to just leave work behind for an extended period of time. It seems crazy to be worried about the continuity of my business when I’m only away for a week on a freaking Wadden island.

Today marks the last day of final exams at the HKU and I am lead to wonder about the future of design education as it happens there and at other similar institutes around the world. It often seems too closed off from the outside world, too insular. I am looking forward to tangling with this subject matter more in an upcoming project with River Institute.

Choosing has never come easy to me. In the past I have found it painful to choose between disciplines, skills to develop, projects to work on. And at some point I sort of decided to stop forcing choices and find ways to have them all mesh. I think that finally I am getting to a spot where I am comfortable in not choosing. So now I wonder why that is, what the value of refusing to choose is and what that means for creative disciplines.

I am essentially pessimistic about the future of this world. I have a very hard time conceiving of any future, in fact. Recently I found myself in a workshop aimed at making plans for an event in 2015 and I was totally lost. Having learnt this about myself the next question is how to act – I don’t wan’t to “play dead” as Bruce Sterling would say – so what’s the alternative?

Since it is at the core of my business I am thinking a lot about domains where games could go next. I am thinking a lot about citizen engagement, particularly when it comes to public policy, but I am mostly stumped about making inroads into that area locally.

There you have it.

I’ve been blog tagged

First of all: happy new year to those I haven’t yet met in person! I’ll kick off the year with a post (thanks Peter). Never one to pass up a meme1, I’ll tell you five things you might not know about me (this could get embarrassing).

  1. I enjoy playing roleplaying games (the old school pen & paper variety) and have been doing it on and off since puberty. Like many I started out with D&D, CoC and Vampire. The past few year’s I’ve been playing a lot of indie RPGs. Playing these games (and some SNES classics) might have gotten me interested in interaction and game design… The best indie game I’ve played so far? Dogs in the Vineyard.
  2. In my graduation year at the Utrecht School of Arts I spent three months doing research, writing a thesis and teaching at a media lab in Costa Rica. Not only did that fire my appetite for travelling to tropical locales, but it also made me determined to start working in the internet industry. One of the research prototypes I came up with was a Flickr-like prototype. I might throw that back up on-line sometime this year.
  3. I like to cook (although my old-style electrical stove is giving me headaches, gotta get that kitchen refitted). My favourite foods are Italian (my parent’s fault), Japanese (got started on that because of the martial art I practice) and Indonesian (although my girlfriend is best at cooking that).
  4. I’m a horror aficionado, watching scary horror films is a guilty pleasure of mine. The best horror flick I saw last year? That must have been The Descent.
  5. Recently I’ve started having an interest in wine, this must be the definite turning point for me becoming a snob. I have yet to develop any real taste and have a hard time describing what my mouth tells me (does that sound obscene?) I do seem to prefer heavy Italian wines (such as Nero d’Avola). Matt Skinner has been a good help.

Now to tag five others… I guess I’ll bother Edgar, Tom, Iskander, Alper and Almar with this silly meme. Sorry guys!

1 Even though it’s been raging since January last year and reached two peaks: first around July and second in December (thanks Technorati)!

Four Things Meme

It’s all Peter’s fault, who in turn was ‘tagged’ by Thomas. At least I’m in good company. :-) Here’s a few silly top four lists (not necessarily definite):

Four Jobs I’ve Had

  1. Second rate paper boy (delivering folders and such) in De Bilt, the Netherlands
  2. Summer job preparing orders of computer hardware in Hilversum, the Netherlands
  3. Freelance interaction designer for Leapfrog, my own company
  4. Interaction designer at Bright Alley Interactive Communication