J. Martin

April 10, 2022

I Need a Vacation

Weekend before last, pressed for time for a book proposal I’d promised to hand in by Monday, I worked through from Friday night to Monday morning. That had become necessary because the week before, I’d done something really stupid. I’d taken hydrocortisone prescription drugs for three days to reduce possible middle-ear inflammation. Then, on the fourth day, I’d already forgotten all about it. So I went for a 7k hill run and chased it with my regular home workout program. I felt great afterward—for about an hour. Then it took me off the board for four days straight. That’s why I had to burn the entire weekend last week, to make up for lost time. I need a vacation! But as I can’t have that, with five upcoming lectures this week and a few other things attached to my name on the roster, I decided to just slack off a bit this weekend instead.

Still, I tried to keep at it. With a post at my Voidpunk blog on Etherspace, and another at between drafts on Interactive Narrative vs. Interactive Storytelling (a topic I also wrote about in my game design textbook Ludotronics). Then, I put up a new album on Flickr with 10 images from the back alleys lined with micro bars in Shibuya Nonbei Yokocho in Tōkyō, and two reedited shots on Glass—one I took at the beach in Kamakura and one of the Art Deco highrise Parkview Square in Singapore. Finally, for my Instagram account betweendrafts, I wrote about rainy terraces & balconies and peppermills & peppercorns, and for voidpunkverse about The Savage Sword of Conan and hanging out at Parkview Square (with a different photograph).

Now for the fun things: you really have to watch this infrared clip of cottontail rabbits playing their rabbit version of leapfrog, and this clip about competing egg vendors. It tells you everything you’ll ever need to know about competing in the same market segment in clever ways. And, wait, here’s the most American photo that doesn’t exi– as bonus content! Enjoy.

J.