Right now, however, I find myself in the same spot I did back in Spring in relation to the first part of Medical-Surgical Nursing: I am on the very edge between passing and not passing (I got an F on the first exam [long story], and a C on the second exam), and all rests on the final exam.

It would suck to fail Adv MedSurg at this point, since it is the next-to-last class in my year-long program; it isn’t something I want, nor want to think about too much, but it is something I have already considered. It isn’t the foremost thought in my mind, however. I am still in the game, and with a really good grade it is possible for me to pass this class and move on to Leadership, the last class before graduation.

That message in the meme picture above? That is my mantra for the next week.

Bring it, Adv MedSurg.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I got this book back in 2002 when author Audi Gozlan came to talk at my synagogue in Miami Beach. At the time I found his lecture, focusing on Abraham as the father of meditation in both east and west, interesting, so I purchased the book. It took me 10 years to get to it, but the timing was just perfect.

Gifts of Abraham presents a look at meditation across the world religious landscape and shows how it all ties back to Abraham with the use of Biblical commentary, Talmudic discussion, midrashim (legends) and the tools of Torah exegesis. His presentation is clear and concise, well-documented via endnotes showing his sources (both Judaic and otherwise), and thought-provoking for anyone willing to consider a far grander picture of world history. Though the book is geared toward Jews and Judaism, I believe it should prove an interesting read for anyone who appreciates theology, world history and philosophy, not to mention meditation and meditative practices.

Gozlan presents a new understanding of Abraham as the progenitor of meditation, and then launches into the tale of the spread of this knowledge across the world. Genesis 25:6 says that Abraham gave gifts to his six sons by his second wife, Keturah, and sent them to the east. Gozlan presents the story of how those sons took Abraham’s gifts–gifts of wisdom, awareness of a greater power, and meditation–and eventually built the nations and philosophies/religions that we know of in the east. Each Eastern religion/philosophy is explained in lay terms, presenting its core tenets, as well as how these are similar/differ from Judaism, all in a very respectful manner, something I greatly appreciated.

The second half of the book presents a complete system of Jewish Meditation that takes the ideas and practices of meditative exercises and focuses them into a practical guide for a Jewish audience, from environments, postures and breathing, to meditative exercises and mantras that fall perfectly in synch with Torah observance.

I loved this book, both for the theory and for the practical application. If I have any criticism of the book is that I find the subtitle, The Untold Story of Brahman, a bit misleading since this particular topic is only addressed in the section on Hinduism and the book really is about so much more (though, that said, I would still read the book that is the connection between Abraham and Brahman in a heartbeat!).

Sadly this title is out of print, though it can still be purchased online via used book stores. I’d love for the publisher to bring it back, or at least to offer an ebook version. For Jews looking to integrate meditation and meditative exercises into their lives, I cannot think of a better book than this.

Why was this book timely for me right now? As I mentioned, I have started to do yoga, and one of the issues I had as I delved beyond the physical poses into the meditation side was how it would fare against my Jewish beliefs. Gozlan’s book saved me that trouble. Gozlan himself has been doing yoga for years and has reached an understanding of how to mesh the physical side of yoga and other meditative practices with Torah-observant beliefs and lifestyle. He also developed a whole system of yoga poses modeled on the Hebrew alphabet (something I remember him mentioning he was working on when I saw him 10 years ago) which I cannot wait to delve into.

I cannot recommend this book enough.

The day I was to start my exercise routine, I woke up with some minor back pain that got exacerbated during the day, so instead of doing the boot camp video I had planned, instead I did the intro to yoga one. Now, for years my wife has been trying to get me to do yoga. I had nothing against it, but didn’t think it was for me. I pretty much actively refused to even consider it, probably getting derisive at times as well. I guess it’s all about timing. After doing this 1-hour introductory routine I was beat: my muscles ached, I was sweaty and breathing as if I’d run a mile. Furthermore, the pain in my back was gone, and I felt great. I decided I would do it again the next day.

That was 5 weeks ago, and I’ve done that routine pretty much every day since. I dusted off my yoga mat, got myself a strap to help with some poses, and have been reading up on yoga topics in a way which my wife charmingly calls obsessive. I do this.

It was all a matter of timing. This time around, yoga has worked for me in a variety of ways that have made me really latch on to it as more than just a fat-burning routine. As classes started and my schedule ramped up once more after a brief vacation, I found that I was dealing better with the stress and having less tension stored in my body. That alone would be reason enough to continue practicing. Add the 16 pounds I have lost from the combination of exercise and calorie-counting, and this is here to stay.

In addition, I have begun to look into other aspects of yoga, namely the meditation side of it. The biggest problem I could foresee was dealing with any religious part stemming from yoga’s Hindu origins, which while I may appreciate on a scholarly level, simply are the incompatible with Judaism. Turns out I had a solution in my library, a book I bought 10 years ago precisely for this moment, Gifts of Abraham by Audi Gozlan, as well as Jewish Meditation by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan (both of which I will read and review).

I did this whole I-don’t-wanna-do-or-know-about-it-ohh-this-is-awesome-and-I-love-it routine once before, with bicycling, and those who know me and have read this blog/follow me in social media know how central to my life bicycling has become. I’m looking forward to this being yet another part of the person I am and seek to become. I’ll have more to say about yoga and fitness in general as time goes on.

When Changeling: The Lost (CtL) came out, I got the sense that this would be the right game to handle adventuring in the Labyrinth. The plot of the movie is, in essence, a classic changeling scenario, except that someone goes into faerie for the baby,[ref]We’ll leave the Labyrinth-as-sexual-coming-of-age discussion for another day[/ref] so we could use characters that had been taken to the Labyrinth, escaped and had to go back for whatever reason, or even use a regular human like Sarah.

I’ve never done either of those. CtD simply had a different vibe that was directly tied to the faeries in the mortal world, and CtL, though it was certainly dark enough, had a bit too much going on for my tastes.

CtL, however, has one bit that REALLY got me excited, the idea of Contracts as the source of changeling magic. Now we’re talking. I would strip that game of all the other simulationist stats and get down to a few essential pieces of game mechanics that truly speak to what a changeling is, highlighting the Contracts.

So this is what I would do for my Labyrinth game:

The Goblin King is dying and he needs a new heir. Years ago he lost the perfect child; he has since sent out his goblin hordes to bring back human children to the Castle at the Center of the Labyrinth, seeking a new heir. He hasn’t, and the 13th hour approaches fast.

The rejected would-be heirs have wandered the Labyrinth, discarded and alone. Some have found their way, some have been lost to the endless maze.

Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, you made it through to the mortal world.

You now sense the desperation of the Goblin King as death looms near. Your will is as strong as his, and your kingdom as great.

Now it’s the time to strike. Now it’s the time to Return to the Labyrinth. The Goblin King has no power over you.

1- Character creation would be modeled after a questionnaire, much like in Don’t Rest Your Head. I wanna know who you were before you were taken back to the Labyrinth, what happened while you were lost in the Labyrinth, what Contracts did you strike with the Labyrinth for your powers, what has it been of your life since arriving in the mortal world, and why do you want to go back to destroy the Goblin King.

Though traditionally the fae take babies, who would not remember anything of the experience, I’m saying that regardless of age, once you arrive in the Labyrinth you retain your mortal memories, thus giving you a connection back to the mortal world. I would also say that in desperation, the Goblin King started taking children of various ages, from newborns to toddlers to school-age kids. The older you were when taken, the more memories you have and the stronger the connection back to the mortal world (also the more traumatic/dramatic realizing what happened to your old mortal life).

2- You define your faerie Contracts. These are deals you struck with the Labyrinth itself: in exchange for power, the Labyrinth took some of your humanity away. Contracts vary in power depending on how much of yourself you are willing to give. There have been those who have tried to brave the Labyrinth without resorting to Contracts; alas, too late they realized their folly.[ref]And before anyone mentions Sarah, I’d like to throw out the idea that she did make a Contract with the Labyrinth, first to have the goblins take Toby away, then to understand the nature of the Labyrinth (via the friendly worm) and be able to navigate it.[/ref] Different areas of the Labyrinth grant different powers, so in determining your Contracts, you also reveal what areas of the Labyrinth you visited and have now a strong affinity for.

The Changeling: The Lost book has scores of examples of Contracts with varying degrees of power to choose from or to model new ones from. The Labyrinth is a faerie realm, and it is alive in ways no one can comprehend. Some say it grants Contracts to gain life energy and sustenance. Some say it grants Contracts simply for the sake of chaos. The reasons are irrelevant. The Contracts are real and they determine how strong the connection to faerie is. If you stop to think about it, it means that yes, someone could have made a Contract with the Labyrinth in the Bog of Eternal Stench, and that the Castle at the Center of the Labyrinth must be the source of the Goblin King’s Contract.

3- There is a single stat with a sliding scale between Human and Fae. You start with 9 dots on the Human side and 1 dot on the Fae side simply for having been abducted into the Labyrinth. You gain further Fae dots based on your faerie Contracts.  Whatever score you have on each side is the number of dice you use to roll vs a Target Number when in a conflict, with the type of conflict determining which dice pool you use.

I want something simple in terms of dice mechanics, and the Storytelling system already gives me a good basic mechanic to work from. I’m just stripping it down to the most essential expression I need for the game at hand.

4- Each character has a Goal. Each character has a reason why they are returning to the Labyrinth (because, otherwise, they wouldn’t be a player character), and the Goal is what they are trying to achieve. It can be to kill the Goblin King (and take his place?), to rescue an abducted child they know, to make sure no heir is selected, etc. The Goal defines the character’s story arc, and everybody has one.

5- Ideally the entire rules set, examples, setting inspiration and character sheet would fit in a few pages (8?) that could be folded into a booklet if printed. I can’t stress how much I would want this to be small, portable and simple to run, play and teach.

I think that’s it, that’s the essence of what I would need to run a game in Labyrinth through drawing inspiration/severely hacking Changeling: The Lost.

Let’s see if I can get to run it one day.

The bike is a metallic blue 7-speed Townie, made by Electra, and was purchased at Miami Beach Bicycle Center. It has a leather saddle with the Om symbol (?) on it, and leather handles. It has fenders, a basket on the front and a Townie rear rack. It bears the stamped seal of the Miami Beach Bicycle Center on the frame, underneath where the pedals connect, has a I Bike Miami sticker on the chainguard, and a faded People For Bikes sticker above the Electra medal on the front.

Here’s a pic of the basic model.

Any info, please email me at Daniel AT dmperez.com.

CONcurrent is an online gaming convention held parallel to Gen Con, from August 15-19, 2012. It is being organized via Google+ and you can reach the page by visiting http://tinyurl.com/CONcurrent-con.

The idea is simple: while thousands of gamers are gaming the days and nights away in Indy, we who can’t attend can partake of the best four days in gaming via events held online. Events can be games of any kind, or even seminars or hangouts. What’s more, if you wanna hold an event in a real-world location, it can be part of CONcurrent as well.

Adding events is simple and it’s designed to be self-maintained. Drop by http://tinyurl.com/CONcurrent-events to read the rules.

Be sure to add CONcurrent to your G+ Circles and follow on Twitter at @CONcurrent_con. See you online at CONcurrent!

Source: williamoconnorstudios.blogspot.fr via Daniel M. Perez on Pinterest

I was pinning pics on my Pinterest boards and came across this image above, from a D&D 4th Edition sourcebook. It looks awesome but it made me think of what my problem with D&D is.

I see that image on the cover of a book–I see similar images on many D&D book covers–and I think to myself, I wanna be that guy in the game. I wanna be the warrior wielding a flaming sword, attacking a displacer beast, as we both free-fall, in a no-holds-barred fight! Yeah!

The problem is, when we play, this doesn’t happen.

Between level issues, magic item limits and restrictions, monster challenge complexities, and rules upon rules upon rules, the awesome fight-as-we-fall scenario turns into a dice-rolling exercise that bears no resemblance except for the fact that there might be a displacer beast which I battle along with my party. The visual fiction sold by the game, and the system fiction yielded by it bear little to no relation one to the other. And that’s why I stopped playing D&D, because of the cognitive dissonance between inspiration imagery and game rules (and for me this happened with 4th edition, but I know others for whom it happened before, so it’s not solely an issue of which edition is out).

To be fair, this isn’t solely a D&D problem in the RPG world, I admit that, which is why I included the parenthetical in the title. But to me it is most obvious with D&D. I go back to what Daniel Solis said in an episode of Master Plan, “A cover is a promise.”

All that said, it is an awesome image, indeed. I just enjoy it better divorced from any association with D&D and more as general fantasy inspiration.

TJI is a podcast recorded and released daily during the four days of Gen Con which aims to bring the excitement of the con to its listeners. I was a host for the 2011 season and loved every second of it, but this year I go back to being a regular listener while my co-host Rich Rogers teams up with a new set of awesome folks committed to making sure those of us not attending still get to be a part of Gen Con.

Like last year, TJI is being crowdfunded via IndieGoGo. The hosts are committed to doing the show, but the financial support of the community is essential to make it even better. Last year I wrote about why TJI needs to be a financially-funded project and those reasons still stand.

Please drop by the TJI IndieGoGo page and consider backing the show’s 2012 season at any level. I can tell you without a doubt that every little bit helps, and to make it even sweeter, Rich and company have rounded up a great package of rewards to offer as incentives.

Thanks and let’s make it happen for This Just In… From Gen Con!

I took my test, went out with some friends, got drunk really early in the day as I could barely stand the suspense. Then around 1 PM I got the email.

It read: Congratulations. See you Monday in Pediatrics.

I passed!!! I was so happy I was laughing and crying at the same time. Unreal.

I got a C in the class, passed it and can continue on with the summer specialties: Pediatrics, OB and Community Nursing.