Last night I got back from over a week-long vacation. I visited friends in Des Moines, and it was very relaxing, aside from hurting my back and seeing the chiropractor four times. I walked around downtown Des Moines, visited the historic Capitol Building, went to a dueling pianos show, watched a couple of movies, danced at a nightclub, and otherwise had a great time.
Oh, and I learned how to play checkers.
I was in the library and passed the game section. There was a book on playing checkers. I thought, “Ok, I haven’t played that game since I was a kid, and I think I heard someone saying that it is as cerebral as chess. Let’s see why.” Did you know that the official rules of checkers REQUIRES you to jump your opponent’s piece if you can do so? I didn’t know this rule, and when I asked, it seems that most of my friends didn’t either! This one simple rule suddenly makes this otherwise child-friendly game really, really complicated.
Besides trying to figure out ways to make simple games more strategic by forcing moves the way checkers does, I spent a good amount of time figuring out my next move in life. I read a couple of books and articles on life purpose and business and wrote a bunch of notes. I took advantage of my time away from work obligations to think about what I want out of my life. I’ll have more to write about my decisions later, but suffice it to say that I don’t want life to force my hand because it might put me in a suboptimal situation.
It’s my move.
[tags] checkers, life purpose, business, game development [/tags]