Planet Fitness - Perfect Gym? (Monday Musings 76)

If I ever do become a Twitch Partner (the likelihood is 0%) and you're more able to get

sponsorships, I would chose Planet Fitness as my first sponsor, given that my stream channel is focused on gaming, but also health issues. We streamers and gamers are notoriously known for poor self-care, so I'd love to promote Planet Fitness.

But is Planet Fitness the gym for you? The first thing to look for in a gym is proximity. If there's another fitness center that's within one mile of your work/home, and the Planet Fitness is further away, the better option is the closer one, in terms of achieving compliance.

I used to go to another gym that was 5 miles away, and I barely went, but my local Planet Fitness is less than 1 mile away, and I've been consistent in attending.

If you have young children, Planet Fitness does not offer babysitting so unless you're able to have someone to attend your children, Planet Fitness won't be a good option. I would chose a gym that has babysitting.

If you're a hardcore body builder and are entering competitions, Planet Fitness is not a good gym for you. I believe the dumb bells go up to 60 pounds, and there are no barbell and squat racks, only the dreadful Smith machines. However, if you're the average person, not aiming to be in competitions, Planet Fitness has more than adequate equipment. I like how they have the Step Mill, which is rotating staircases.

If Planet Fitness is close to you, you do not need babysitting for your children, and you're not looking to achieve a competitive ready physique, Planet Fitness is the perfect gym.

For one, it's open 24/7, meaning that there's no excuse to not go to the gym, improving compliance. I believe that's Planet Fitness's biggest selling point. Planet Fitness is a very clean and organized facility, and I found the staff and fellow members to be polite, courteous and friendly.

Planet Fitness is affordable, and during the summer, there's an offer where initiation fee was either waived, or $10 (I don't recall which). Monthly membership is $10 for basic which gives you access to all equipment, including the many classes. $20 is the Black Rewards membership which gives you access to all Planet Fitness locations, guest pass for one (unlimited), and the awesome bed and chair water massage.

Even though I don't travel a lot, or have a consistent friend to go with me to the gym, I nevertheless splurged on the $20 membership because of the massage!

I appreciate the amenities, including built in lockers, so no more fumbling around for your lock, which I hate! If you forget the combination that you inputted, staff will open the locker.

In terms of equipment, I only ever use the Step Mill, but they have plenty of machines and exercise circuits for weight lifting. I use Your Body is Your Barbell system instead, as I'm looking to improve functional strength rather than aesthetics.

The other nice feature of Planet Fitness is that in your account, it lists upcoming classes (some you can sign up for in advance electronically), and also which days you attended the gym so you can see your consistency and/or insurance purposes.

Lastly, Planet Fitness has that much touted 1st Monday Pizza and 2nd Tuesday Morning Bagel, but I never went to one, so I can't comment on the pizza or bagel, but it's a nice touch.

All in all, Planet Fitness is affordable, convenient and accessible, improving exercise compliance. I find it's a perfect gym for most people's needs, and certainly for me!

The How of Happiness Review

Why Self-Compassion?

I've read so many self-help books, and upon reviewing the most helpful ones, I keep saying, "that's another way of saying to have self-compassion". The concept that ties all the ideas in these self-help books boils down to self-compassion.

I also recommend The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People for a roadmap on how to organize your life in a practical manner, as a very effective and powerful way of doing your to-do lists, and so forth. I summarized the book here in two parts, this is the first part.

But it's really self-compassion that can motivate you to be effective in the first place, and to really stick to your goals! I wasn't able to follow any sort of positive habits for long when I read The 7 Habits in college, because of being easily demoralized.

Therefore, in this post, we'll explain why self-compassion is such a powerful concept. Practicing self-compassion is personal and isn't applied in a "cookie-cutter" way. In fact, having self-compassion is extremely challenging and difficult, as you have to find out what works for you.

In this past post, I superficially touched upon a self-compassion exercise, so in this post, we'll explain why self-compassion is key, by summarizing Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself  by Kristen Neff, Ph.D., who is the foremost authority on the subject.

In the horrible Harry Harlow experiments, he nevertheless proved that love and connection are more basic than food and water. The poor baby monkeys were taken away from their mothers, and had to choose between the fake cloth mom with no food/water, and the fake wire mom with food/water.

Harlow himself thought that the babies would stick with the wire mom the whole time because of the food and water, but found out the exact opposite. The babies clung to the cloth mom and when hungry, run toward the food/water, and then immediately run back to the cloth mom.

What this experiment proved is that the basic need of all humans is love and connection, more so than even food and water. When you don't have love and connection with others, it can lead to depression, anxiety and even suicide.

This sense of belonging is primary and deep, even in the most "macho" rituals, American football. By being a diehard fan of one team, you embrace other fellow fans. You see strangers hugging each other, sharing food and beer in these "tail-gate" parties. There's a huge sense of connection if you ever participated in one of these parties.

Having self-compassion sounds soft and fluffy, but in reality, it can be very tough and painful at times, as we will see down the road.

PROBLEM ONE: Comparing ourselves to others leads to disconnection and suffering

At least in the Western world, we live in an extremely competitive society where we must excel, and it's not "good enough" to be average, you have to be above average.

This is so illogical, because we can't be above average in all things, and there are always going to be people who are more beautiful, smarter, more successful than us.

Sadly, by comparing ourselves to others and being competitive in wanting to be above-average, people tend to look down upon others to feel better about themselves.

We may get a rush from having higher self-esteem when we mistakenly feel that we are more "successful" than another person.

However, if we meet someone who is more "successful" than us, then our self-esteem plummets, and we feel like crap.

Therefore, comparing ourselves to others leads to this emotional see-saw. If we find we're better, we get elated, if we don't measure up, we get depressed.  Even worse, when we protect our self-image to avoid feeling bad about ourselves, we don't acknowledge our faults, rather blaming the other person, even though "it takes two to tango".

This leads to ongoing conflicts, which causes disconnection from your loved ones. Further, by not seeing our flaws, that leads to stagnation and lack of growth, because how can you improve if you don't acknowledge your faults?

The solution to prevent these comparisons is self-compassion. Stop judging and evaluating ourselves altogether! Don't label ourselves as "good" or "bad" but rather accept ourselves openly, and treat ourselves with kindness like a best friend.

Does this work? Yes! By having self-compassion you accept yourself because you're like everybody else! Everyone has flaws, we're no different. By accepting ourselves for who we are, then we can accept others as well, and there's no reason to compare.

When you love and truly accept yourself, you're not going to look down on those who are less fortunate. Likewise, you're not going to have that sinking feeling that you're not doing enough when you see others drive fancy cars.

Caveat: There are many people who are rather harsh with themselves, but would never be that way with others. However, by being nasty to yourself, you're not going to feel good about yourself.

Why not pursue Win/Win where you're compassionate towards yourself and others?

I notice that I tend to feel sour when someone I dislike becomes more successful (comparing), and I get down on myself for not being that successful. Then I feel bad that I can't forgive the person and let go. It's an absolutely awful feeling, it doesn't do me any good, and certainly not to the more successful person. I really hate that pinched soul feeling.

Next, I continue to feel bad about myself for not being charitable, and this spirals downward to being angry with myself, "why can't I just forgive!".

However, when I have self-compassion and realize that forgiveness is something I struggle greatly with, and indeed a lot of people have the same issues, I can be more patient with myself and move toward being less judgmental.

Allowing yourself to be kind to yourself humanizes you (as you suffer just like everyone), as well as humanizing others because you understand deep down that they're going through same and/or different struggles as well.

In other words, as part of humanity, you are a worthy person, just like everyone else. When you see yourself as different than others, that again leads to feeling disconnected and not belonging to humanity.

Indeed, dehumanizing others leads to disconnection, which has led to unspeakable crimes against humanity. By seeing "non-Aryan" groups as other and less than human, it was easy for an entire nation to exterminate and torture people "because they're not like us".

PROBLEM 2: Feeling lonely and isolated

We looked at the first part of self-compassion which is self-kindness: gentle understanding of ourselves, rather than being critical and judgmental.

The second part of compassion we briefly touched upon. Why should we be kind to ourselves? Because we're all part of humanity. As we're kind to others, then it makes logical sense to be kind to ourselves.

The concept here is "we're all in this together". We recognize this common human experience of suffering, acknowledging the interconnected nature of our lives (Harry Harlow experiment), indeed life itself.

Therefore, compassion is relational. By seeing people as part of humanity, rather than "other" as the Nazis did, we feel connected.

As explained above, our deepest need is to belong, but when you compare yourself to others, this disconnect leads to loneliness. The KKK feel superior to others because they're white, and the "other" is not. The same can be said of Men, Women, Democrats, Republicans, Americans, Russians, Christians, Muslims, and the list goes on. We're part of this group, therefore, we're superior to this other group. Fanatical group identity is dangerous as it leads to disconnection and even genocide. 

However, if you refuse to hold this view and have compassion toward yourself and others, regardless of group affiliation, you have connection. Instead of seeing differences, you reframe and see how we're so similar to one another. We all want love and connection; that's our similarity.

So when our sense of self-worth and belonging is grounded in simply being human, we can't be rejected or cast out by others. It makes no sense to say that you're rejected by humanity, because you're human.

Remember your shared humanity. That can help you to have compassion for who you are. It helps to have others be kind toward you, but they can't be there with you 24/7. However, you can be with yourself 24/7, so you might as well be kind to yourself using the "best friend" approach discussed in this post.

PROBLEM 3: Suffering

This is the hard part of self-compassion. Self-kindness and common humanity we discussed above. The third and last step is mindfulness.

You must be aware of your suffering, but in a balanced way, where you neither diminish, or make it out to be worse than it is. I tend to make a mountain out of an ant-hill.

Therefore, in this third part of self-compassion, you need to be mindful - clear seeing and nonjudgmental acceptance of what's occurring in the present moment.

You're facing up to reality, neither underestimating or over-exaggerating things. First step is to recognize when you're suffering instead of suppressing it, because you can't heal what you can't feel. Be aware of your pain. By stuffing and ignoring pain, it can explode.

A good analogy of awareness is thus: Awareness is the blue sky. Your feelings and thoughts are the birds flapping around. Identify with the sky, instead of the birds. If you remain in awareness (i.e. sky) and not react to the thoughts and feelings (birds), you can be calm and centered as the sky doesn't shift and change in a feckless manner.

You can't change your thoughts and feelings very well, but you can change your reactions to them. There are many meditation techniques, but the key here is to hold and be aware of the pain, and don't numb it.

Indeed, people who suffer from PTSD tend to numb their emotions, as a very understandable mechanism to avoid feeling the immense pain of trauma.

But by having this numbing of emotions, they can't feel the positive emotions of joy, creativity, love. When you numb, you numb all emotions. Often, people who suffer from PTSD say that they're living zombies and they don't know how to have fun anymore.

The hard work in PTSD involves working through the painful memories in a safe, secure environment. The acknowledgment, and being one with the pain, is the really difficult part of self-compassion.

One example that makes us all feel bad about ourselves is when we hear a baby crying which irritates us, but we judge ourselves for having these thoughts, "what a horrible person I am for having that thought, it's only a baby, a nicer person would feel sympathy rather than being triggered".

However, if you have self-compassion, you stop the judgment. You become aware (sky) of the irritation (birds) you're having, you acknowledge the negative thought, while recognizing that surely a lot of people would feel the same way, and the thought will eventually pass!

A silly example is when I went to a party. I tend to need at least 5 large glasses of wine and/or beer to feel socially comfortable. The extremely uncomfortable feeling of being socially awkward has been too hard for me to deal with.

However, at a recent party, I decided not to drink - this wasn't too daring, because there were only 3 people at the party that I don't know that well. I decided to practice self-compassion, since I just completed reading the book.I decided to be one with being socially awkward.

What helped me was chanting exactly how I felt, "socially awkward, socially awkward, socially awkward". However, after 1 hour (I'm "slow to warm up"), I stopped feeling awkward, and I ended up enjoying being in the moment and having meaningful connections.

I'm not sure if this strategy would work if I'm in a party with people I barely know, but this is a small step to being aware.

Dr. Neff recommends that when you feel suffering, to have a mantra, in your words, along this line:

This is a moment of suffering
Suffering is part of life
May I be kind to myself in this moment
May I give myself the compassion I need

I kind of like Brene Brown, Ph.D. (author of Daring Greatly) mantra where one of her interviewees, when in pain would simply say, "pain, pain pain". Or you can say "ouch, ouch, ouch", to acknowledge the pain, as well as the rest of the mantra as suffering being part of humanity, and to give yourself kindness and compassion. It's best if it's in your own words.

On a positive note, when you have awareness, you're going to have awareness of positive emotions too! In this situation, you can hold it in loving awareness and really make that feeling bloom! You can experience love and joy with more awareness and rejoice in it - it actually overflowed to my coworkers and strangers!

Using the three part component of self-compassion as a way toward love and connection, it helps you to deal with pain and suffering.

I then chuckled at Dr. Neff's stages of self-compassion, because I went through the same thing. Initially, as I had self-compassion, I had this outpouring of love toward my coworkers, and work was light - I actually made some rather creative suggestions which surprised even me. I was enamored with self-compassion.

However, I then saw the hard work of self-compassion. It doesn't take the pain away at all, rather it helps you to be more resilient and deal with pain in a more effective way.

Instead of numbing or burying your feelings, which will pop up again, as survivors of trauma would all attest, in the form of disturbing intrusions, horrific nightmares and flashbacks, rather self-compassion holds you in awareness.

With self-compassion, you gain the resilience to work on painful emotions, feelings and thoughts head on. While having compassion for yourself that you're suffering like the rest of the world, and being aware of the pain, you can wait for the pain to pass. You can weather these negative emotions. This leads to emotional resilience, and with practice, you become better and better at it.

PROBLEM 4: Being successful

If you think about it, if you see someone more successful than you, and he brags to you about all the things he bought, where you "only" have a run of the mill sedan, it'll be hard to be friends with him.

Therefore, what if you're highly successful, does this mean you'll be disconnected from others? If you have self-compassion, no! As part of humanity (principle 2 of self-compassion), you'll have shared joy.

You are concerned for your own well-being as well as others, so you want both to succeed! By recognizing our inherent connectedness, Dr. Neff writes, "When we're part of a larger whole, we can feel glad that 'one of us' has something to celebrate".

You celebrate with exuberance in the success of others with self-compassion. In fact, with self-compassion, you can genuinely feel that way, instead of grudgingly when you see your friends being more successful than you.

Instead, armed with self-compassion, you become aware of other people's positive traits and fully appreciate them, not taking them for granted. You rejoice in yourself, just as you rejoice in others.

PROBLEM 5: I'm not going to be successful if I have self-compassion

The opposite is true. So many psychological studies have shown that intrinsic motivation is more powerful than extrinsic motivation.

If you're stuck in the self-esteem, need to prove myself trap, you're doing things to be successful, to look smart, athletic so that you can be admired, which strokes your ego. This is extrinsic motivation.

Let's say the activity is very grueling, streaming as a career. With extrinsic motivation, your self-esteem increases when your viewer numbers go up, and then it crashes when your number goes down.

I know this very well. In the early stages of streaming, I actually got depressed when my viewer number went from 10 to 9, WTF!

But you still stream for those numbers because when you grow, your self-esteem does as well, and I did get emotional high's when I got an average of 20 in one month - it's like a drug!

However, during summer, when many are off on vacation, your numbers tend to be lower for the next 3 months. Since you're streaming for self-esteem and those numbers, you may be demoralized and then give up.

Further, by wanting to be successful so you can prove yourself as the "better" streamer (stroking your ego), you're afraid to take creative risks, make mistakes, for fear of losing viewers. You then look "wooden" which is the death-knell in entertainment. You keep to a regular script which can get stale, also another way to make yourself bored and not wanting to stream anymore.

However, if you have self-compassion, which leads to awareness of what you truly want in life, you decide to stream because you love the process as well as your viewers.

You enjoy the connection and the challenge of negotiating chat and gameplay, and finding new creative angles to be entertaining.

This is intrinsic motivation, you're doing something because you want to do it. You don't care if you fail and your numbers drop like flies, because your self-esteem isn't harmed in any way, because you have self-compassion.

If you do something "dumb" while streaming, you'll be able to do your "ouch" mantra, hold the embarrassment, and move on, with emotional resilience. You can take enormous risks (historically leading to major advancements in technology and innovation) because you simply don't care about social rejection or judgment, or low viewer numbers. You are authentic and free.

If you're stuck on an issue with streaming, you're not afraid to ask for help for "fear of looking stupid". In other words, you're not controlled by societal pressures when you have self-compassion.

You do your own thing with utmost courage, authenticity, honesty and integrity, screw the rules! Contrary to what people think, self-compassion isn't "wimpy", but bad-ass! What's more bad-ass than being true to yourself and a "rebel".

At any rate, it appears that those who do something they absolutely love tend to be more successful than someone who's doing it to prove themselves.

When you love something, you never get tired of doing it, to the point where you may have to work on self-care issues such as eating regular meals and getting enough sleep (I'm thinking specifically video gaming).

When you're doing something to prove things, you're going to be demoralized when there's a glitch, a temporary obstacle, and failure, and you may quit altogether.

The person who's spending and practicing that many hours because of the enjoyment will tend to be better at the activity than someone who quits in fits and starts due to obstacles in the way.

I wanted to outline the three components of self-compassion here, and present the major arguments for self-compassion.

There are many exercises in the book that I won't outline here, so if you feel that the concept of self-compassion makes sense and can make a difference in your life, I highly recommend Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself. 

I found the concept of self-compassion jump started me on being way more pro-active in self-care and fulfilling my specific goals. Perhaps borrow the book from the library or look through the book at the bookstore. Do the exercises that resonate with you. Above all have self-compassion!

Note: I have been including the How of Happiness link in the bottom of all my posts, but I found Dr. Neff's Self-Compassion equally important, so I'll be alternating posts with these books.

Eric The Unready – Fair And Fowl – Request For Assistance

Written by TBD

Eric the Unready Journal Entry #4: I found myself in a fair near a fire-breathing dragon. And the dragon's protecting the Steak of Eternity. Seems simple enough - just need to cover myself from head to toe in fireproof armor and steal a hungry dragon's meal. I've got most of it covered but I still need one more item...

One final Monty Python reference left over from the previous mission

Hi all. Sorry for the rather significant delay between posts here. As is happening to everyone in the world, current circumstances have put all our regular routines out of order. Technically I have more time at home to play and write about adventure games but somehow it feels like I have less - the human psyche is weird. Anyway, on with the show...


Day 5: Stygian Dragon – To Cover My Arse

After shooting out of a cannon in my last mission I landed on a fairground tent. Checking out my new location I find I'm at the St. Barchan's Day fair, and there's a herald spouting news. As usual, there's also a newspaper here.

Good to see people learning from their experiences.

After reading the newspaper I listen to the herald's proclamations.

Circumstances like the wet tunic contest perhaps? (Sorry – thought I was in a Spellcasting game for a moment there)

Okay, maybe the last chapter isn't the end of the Monty Python references.

But Snorkle the Herald Angels Sing would make a great hymn.

Moving on, I find a chef roasting a boar while wearing a comedy apron with "Poke me with a fork – I think I'm done!" written on it. I think he wants some spices, but I'm not sure when the game's giving me a hint or just attempting a joke.

I think he went to the wrong fair.

Seeing as the chef's clothing is specifically inviting it, and I do have a pitchfork in my inventory, I do what he asks.

I'm in a fourth wall breaking comedy adventure game – if I don't take things literally I won't be able to solve half of the puzzles

In another part of the fair ominously named Shady Area is a three handed elf playing a shell game.

If I play, I lose. I was expecting to see some kind of animation with the shells but was disappointed when I just had to guess without having any idea. The prize is some extra minutes of life (which I assume is irrelevant to the game) and some racy woodcuts of a local dancer called Lily.

After a few turns a wandering musician strolls through. He wins the game every time, so expecting shenanigans, I talk to him.

My guess is he bought those glasses from the back of an old comic book and they let him see through the shells.

The musician is missing a reed for his instrument so I figure he'll give me his X-Ray Specs if I find one for him.

The fair also contains a stockade with some stocks, and as I wait there a man is walked in and put in the stocks.

The prisoner has a speech impediment, which I later worked out is why he was in the stocks in the first place.

Spitting is illegal at the fair

I didn't remember the illegality of spitting at first, but when I did work it out I felt even sorry for the poor prisoner. Anyway, even without that knowledge I immediately try to free the man, but can't find a way to do it.

After a little while he's freed by the authorities anyway, so I continue my explorations. There is a Fool's Pavilion where I can audition for a job. The three fools tell me that the jester's hat protects me from thrown objects and is fireproof, all of which will help against unamused patrons. I talk to them.

Good call – I'm sure he won't do any damage over there.

I try a few things to amuse them or cheat.

Your loss – I was going to do something really funny with those scorecards.

Unable to amuse the fools, I leave and check out the shooting gallery, which is run by a creepy barker who keeps making comments to and about the passing ladies. If I win his game I can have one of three prizes, so I go about getting all three.

Classy!

He gives me a crossbow and I shoot at each of the three targets. I hit every time so walk away with each of the three prizes; a whooppee cushion, a noise maker, and a rubber chicken.

A rubber chicken without a pulley in it – what's the point?

I go back to the fool judges to impress them with my new prizes – I pull out my whoopee cushion and do what the Fonz told me I should do (I sit on it.)

They look very enthusiastic about my comedy routine.

I am now a fool. I'd love to go back to the knights at home and show them of my achievements!

I try to give my cap to the man in the stocks, but he won't take it. I was only trying to help protect him from rotten fruit. Anyway, the fair is fairly big compared to most sections of the game, so let's keep exploring.

I go to the Amphitheatre next and check out the schedule.

I suppose I'll need to see all three shows at some point. I remember that Lily is the person I can win woodcuts of so that's clearly a show I'll have to see.

There is also a Pavilion of Tomorrow – an extremely lame pavilion of tomorrow, almost as lame as Epcott Center (Sorry Disney, I wasn't impressed.)

There are a bunch of items here:

• Portable Window of the Future – a hoop with a shade so I can take my window everywhere.
• Cage with a Viper in it – I don't know if this is supposed to be part of the exhibition or someone just left a pet here but it does seem important.
• Kitchen Appliance – the Crush-o-Matic – a 2500lb weight that can be dropped to crush food
• Chamberpot of Tomorrow – a chamberpot that is permanently attached to your rear-end to save time going to the privy.
• Signalling Device – a gong that you can bang on.
• Cat-Jet III Assault Catapult – a model of a state-of-the-art catapult.

• Giant Leech – in the future, medicine will improve with the larger than usual leeches.
• Iron Maiden Key Ring – from the description it sounds like the kind of stretchy key ring that some security guards in movies use.
• Personal Hygeine System – an aardvark. Seriously. Just an aardvark.

Flawless logic

I take a rubber band, which I assume is the Iron Maiden Key Ring. I also take the leech. I try to take other things, but they are too heavy. When I try to take the catapult, it fires.

I sense a puzzle here.

I pull the shade of the Window of the Future in order to stop the catapult from shooting the gong, then try again to get the catapult.

Ah, a babelfish puzzle. Nice.

I try anything I can think of with the snake – putting stuff in the hole or giving stuff to the snake. I try various ways to use the weight, but the game won't let me press the lever or do anything else I try.

Out of ideas in here, I go back to the prisoner in the stocks and try to upset him with my noise maker.

It's times like these I really wish this game had a "USE" verb option.

Out of ideas at this point, I go around insulting and mooning people at random, as well as trying to use various items with various other items and trying in vain to somehow make noise with my noise maker.

These are clearly the actions of someone without a plan.

I notice that the apron is fire-proof. I haven't seen any fire lately, but I'm sure I will soon enough.

Wooo! Spring Break!

At some point I finally realised there was a screen I'd missed - an exit to the west at the entrance to the fairground. I take it.

I already wanted it, but now I know why I'll need the chef's apron.

I go to the Amphitheatre and wait for the next show, which is Lily.

After the show, an usher gives me a note.

"I saw you out fwont duwing the show. Please meet me in my dwessing woom. --Lily."

Accepting the invitation, I go north and end up in Lily's Dressing Room.

I wonder if she's related to Pontious Pilate

I talk to her, and again get reminded of the quest to climb the maypole.

I look around to see what else I can do here.

Nice work changing the 'r's' everywhere, game, but I really should have a wubber band in my inventory!

Wondering if there's anything I need to do here by changing items a-la the T-remover from Leather Goddesses of Phobos, I keep the idea in mind and leave.

I wait around at the amphitheatre for the next show – the jugglers. The jugglers challenge the audience to toss them something they can't juggle so I look in my inventory for an appropriately unjuggleable item.

Don't challenge an adventure game protagonist – it rarely ends well.

Now that the jugglers have dropped their gloves in dismay, I take a pair and look at them – the gloves have tiny suckers on them, so I wear them and try to climb the greasy pole in the middle of the fair.

I  neglected to mention the pole earlier so I'll do that now. There is a greased pole in the fairground with a red feather boa swinging from the top of it.

I take the boa back to Lily, who's thwilled at my success, and tells me about the second part of my quest.

But I need that weed for the musician in order to get the X-Ray specs so I can get the woodcuts which I can use to solve a different puzzle!

I take the reed to the musician and he swaps them for his shades. As expected, the shades let me see through the shells and I can win the shell game (again, without any animation or change in the graphics to show what I see)

I know exactly what to do with those woodcuts

I take the woodcuts to the overly horny barker in the hope that I will achieve something.

I find it weird that everywhere else it's spelled Lily but on the woodcuts it's spelled Lilly. I suspect counterfeit woodcuts!

Having distracted the barker, he doesn't take the crossbow off me as I leave so I have a new item in my inventory.

I go back to the Pavillion of Tomorrow to see if any of my new items will help. The viper doesn't want the boa and when I try to shoot anything with my crossbow I miss – including the big gong at the back of the room. I try once again to make the noise maker work, but none of the verbs worked (I even resorted to going through the entire long list of verbs on the left one-by-one)

I note that if I go back to the dragon, he doesn't always shoot fire at my chest. I'll need to protect my whole body. So far, I have sunglasses, a boa and a fool's cap to protect my eyes, head and neck. But I need an apron and the chamberpot of tomorrow to protect my chest and backside.

Because I had no current ideas on how to get either of the required items, I reload an old game to see the Story of the Dragon that I'd missed at the Amphitheatre as it only plays at 11am.

The story doesn't help me solve my current dilemma, but it does give me information about how this mission will end. The dragon who used to terrorize the countryside was finally stopped – by the power of spam!

It's obviously setting up that I'll be the one taken this year.

Note: This game came out before the popularity of the internet, and therefore before email spam was a thing. I'm sure if this game was made now the dragon would be getting hourly invitations to meet single dragons in his area or join some kind of get-rich-quick scheme.

Continuing to explore, I finally have an idea on how to get myself arrested. I didn't know how getting arrested would help, but I was sure it would be of some use. Listening to Harold the Herald's proclamation again reminded me about the no spitting rule so I had the obvious next thought.

The guy in the back seems sad that I'm there – perhaps some of my spit hit him.

I insult the people jeering at me, then a man with an apple-bearing son appear. I insult the boy too.

How appropriate - you fight like a cow!

The boy responds to my insult by throwing an apple, which lands amongst my other possessions on a pile next to me.

I wait until my ten minutes in the stocks is up, then take my shiny new apple to the chef and put it in the boar's mouth because that's what pigs on spits always have for some reason. Pleased that his meal is now complete, the chef drops his apron and leaves with his newly appled pig.

I take the apron, and now only need the chamberpot to complete my fireproof armour.

And this is where I'm stuck.

REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE

I tried reloading to after Lily gave me the weed and went to all locations to see if the second part of her quest is actually something I need to solve rather than giving the reed to the musician. I had no luck with that, though.

I try using my stuff on things everywhere and eventually decide to wait until nightfall in case something changes when the sun goes down.

Of course, I should have realised this would happen.

I even get desperate and ask the game for help

So I'm asking for assistance. I'm confident I'm near the end of the chapter but slightly disappointed I couldn't continue my plan of writing a post for each chapter. Oh well, I figure next post will have to contain the conclusion of this Steak of Eternity mission as well as the next one.

Here's what I know or suspect.

1. I need the chamberpot of tomorrow
2. It will somehow involve stopping the catapult from hitting the gong when I brush past it to get to the catapult.
3. It may involve the crossbow, noise maker or rubber chicken as I haven't used them yet.
4. I know it's not related, but I'm still going to blame the social upheaval caused by the coronavirus for my inability to solve this puzzle. Otherwise I'd have to admit my incompetence! :)

Session time: 2 hours 40 minutes
Total time: 7 hours 50 minutes
Score: 395 out of 1000, in 1063 turns
Inventory: backpack, Crescent Wrench of Armageddon, Pitchfork of Damocles, crossbow, book, apron, boa, note, noise maker, bungee cord, berries, chicken, rubber band, whoopee cushion, newspaper, apple (wait - why do I still have an apple after I got the apron?), sunglasses, fool's cap, gloves

People Behind The Meeples - Episode 242: Steven Ridings

Welcome to People Behind the Meeples, a series of interviews with indie game designers.  Here you'll find out more than you ever wanted to know about the people who make the best games that you may or may not have heard of before.  If you'd like to be featured, head over to http://gjjgames.blogspot.com/p/game-designer-interview-questionnaire.html and fill out the questionnaire! You can find all the interviews here: People Behind the Meeples. Support me on Patreon!

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Name:	Steven Ridings
Email:	cretaceousboardgame@gmail.com
Location:	Pennsylvania - United States
Day Job:	3D Modeler - Environmental Artist
Designing:	One to two years.
Webpage:	Cretaceous
Facebook:	Cretaceous Board Game
Twitter:	@cretaceous_game
Instagram:	@cretaceousboardgame/
Find my games at:	Cretaceous: A Dinosaur Hunting Adventure is on Kickstarter in August 2020, Gamecrafter after the campaign

Today's Interview is with:

Steven Ridings
Interviewed on: 7/17/2020

This week's interview is with Steven Ridings, the designer of Cretaceous: A Dinosaur Hunting Adventure, on Kickstarter right now! Read on to learn more about Steven and his projects.

Some Basics
Tell me a bit about yourself.

How long have you been designing tabletop games?
One to two years.

Why did you start designing tabletop games?
I wanted to create something people could have fun with. I am a 3D modeler professionally and I got into it in order to make video games to give people fun, emotional experiences. However I found myself in the government contracting side of the field and while I enjoy what I do, it doesn't scratch that itch to provide people with a fun experience and since I get that from board games it seemed like a great hobby to get into the design side of things.

What game or games are you currently working on?
Cretaceous: A Dinosaur Hunting Adventure

Have you designed any games that have been published?
Not yet!

What is your day job?
3D Modeler - Environmental Artist

Your Gaming Tastes
My readers would like to know more about you as a gamer.

Where do you prefer to play games?
At home or at a friends house. I definitely feel the most comfortable to be loud and just relax.

Who do you normally game with?
Well I have two real groups. One I grew up with in Winchester VA and try to play anytime I swing through town. Another my wife and I met online playing video games and dungeons and dragons.

If you were to invite a few friends together for game night tonight, what games would you play?
I'd say my top two would be Clank! and Evolution. Some runner ups would have to be Dinosaur Island, Betrayal at House on the Hill, and Arkham Horror.

And what snacks would you eat?
Red Baron mini frozen pizzas have kind of become a signature food over here when friends visit. Maybe add some cheetos or chips too.

Do you like to have music playing while you play games? If so, what kind?
We don't, but a buddy of mine always had it when we played Magic and it was cool. Maybe it's something we should start.

What's your favorite FLGS?
I have two since we travel a lot back and forth to VA normally. In Winchester VA there is Kung Fu Comics. It's run by a long time friend and has everything from MTG, board games, and miniatures. In Pennsylvania I would have to say New Dimension Comics. They have a HUGE store at the waterfront and I met my D&D group there.

What is your current favorite game? Least favorite that you still enjoy? Worst game you ever played?
Current favorite would be Dinosaur Island. Making Cretaceous really got me more into a dino mood. Least that I still enjoy would be Joking Hazard as you seem to get the same cards pretty fast so if you play it a lot it starts to get a bit repetitive. I feel a bit bad putting a worst but I would have to say Keys to the Castle. I saw it on sale and I should have known better with no gameplay art on the box but we gave it a try. It's been gathering dust since.

What is your favorite game mechanic? How about your least favorite?
Tile placement and map building are my favorite. I want at the end of the game to look at something and see something that wasn't there when we started. That's one of the main reasons Cretaceous makes the map as you go and spawns dinosaurs during the game, so the map comes to life as you play. My least favorite would be games that put too much power in the cards to draw like Cards Against Humanity or most card only games that have a random draw. It seems that based on what you draw you win or lose and sometimes you know you have lost early based on a "bad hand" and you get to wait for the next round without much of a chance to change that.

What's your favorite game that you just can't ever seem to get to the table?
Arkham Horror. Since there are so many parts to it, it seems a bit overwhelming to new players.

What styles of games do you play?
I like to play Board Games, Card Games, Miniatures Games, RPG Games, Video Games

Do you design different styles of games than what you play?
I like to design Board Games

OK, here's a pretty polarizing game. Do you like and play Cards Against Humanity?
No

You as a Designer
OK, now the bit that sets you apart from the typical gamer. Let's find out about you as a game designer.

When you design games, do you come up with a theme first and build the mechanics around that? Or do you come up with mechanics and then add a theme? Or something else?
I definitely do the theme first. I want to pull a certain feeling out of people and I can get that from the theme. For Cretaceous I wanted the feeling of going through a jungle or forest not knowing what dinosaurs or hazards there would be. It started as a game where you were trying to escape an island and avoid the dinosaurs but slowly the mechanics changed to something far more fun but still gave that same feeling.

Have you ever entered or won a game design competition?
No, I have not entered any. I've only really been focusing on Cretaceous and I didn't want to submit it without all the artwork done. Maybe now that it is at a place I am happy with I can submit it to a few.

Do you have a current favorite game designer or idol?
Definitely Dominic Crapuchettes. The first Evolution really pulled me into the modern board game world and I was so into that game I took it every time I visited friends. They now request and make sure I bring it. And the story of how he came to design board games is amazing as well.

Where or when or how do you get your inspiration or come up with your best ideas?
I'd say my best ideas would come from when I can just sit for 30-60 minute sessions by myself and just write down any ideas for the game. I wont keep most of them, but being able to compare the pool of thoughts easily lets me narrow down to the best ways to accomplish what I want.

How do you go about playtesting your games?
Annoying my wife with countless index card prototypes! But in all seriousness for Cretaceous I remade it a few times with her until I found something I thought was a good base. Then I took it to VA when we visited to get more feedback. After some Game Crafter prototypes to get a feel of costs and components I took it to Tabletop Simulator and reached out to people online. I was planning on more local game store tests instead but with 2020 being what it is, that moved online.

Do you like to work alone or as part of a team? Co-designers, artists, etc.?
I'd like to work with others in the future. Specifically an artist as I believe my skills are limited. Although through all the playtesters I got a lot of great ideas that improved the game, so I can't really say I made it alone.

What do you feel is your biggest challenge as a game designer?
That this is my first game and nobody knows whether to invest in anything I make.

If you could design a game within any IP, what would it be?
The cast of Critical Role for a board game based on one of their two campaigns. They have such rich lore and worlds built that they could go into any media!

What do you wish someone had told you a long time ago about designing games?
I didn't know the Game Crafter was a thing until a little over a year ago. I just had ideas in my head but didn't know how to get it on a real product easily.

What advice would you like to share about designing games?
Make sure to playtest even a really early draft of your game. Even if it is just on index cards. No matter how well you think it will work out, just playing it once will expose things you need to change. Once you finally don't see any major issues, then grab a few more testers and maybe make a better prototype.

Would you like to tell my readers what games you're working on and how far along they are?
This is what I have currently crowdfunding: Cretaceous: A Dinosaur Hunting Adventure
Games that are in the early stages of development and beta testing are: An interesting crafting and creation game is looking pretty fun

Are you a member of any Facebook or other design groups? (Game Maker's Lab, Card and Board Game Developers Guild, etc.)
TGC Designer Discussion

And the oddly personal, but harmless stuff…
OK, enough of the game stuff, let's find out what really makes you tick! These are the questions that I'm sure are on everyone's minds!

Star Trek or Star Wars? Coke or Pepsi? VHS or Betamax?
Star Wars / Pepsi / VHS

What hobbies do you have besides tabletop games?
Retro Video game Collecting and Fishing

What is something you learned in the last week?
Taco Bell has a Grilled Cheese Burrito

Favorite type of music? Books? Movies?
Comedy / Parody Music Fantasy Books 3D Animation Movies like Pixar or Dreamworks

What was the last book you read?
Does the Baldur's Gate campaign book count?

Do you play any musical instruments?
Nope! But if I could, I would choose Violin.

Tell us something about yourself that you think might surprise people.
I don't really like horror movies or books, but for some reason I really like the game Dead by Daylight.

Tell us about something crazy that you once did.
I put Cheetos on a pizza. I used the Joey Tribbiani approach. Pizza? Good. Cheetos? Good. What is there not to like? (It didn't go well)

Biggest accident that turned out awesome?
I didn't know those could turn out well. I'll keep a lookout.

Who is your idol?
Weird Al. He did something he loved that did not fit any of the norms of the time. Accordion parody music wasn't really "in". But he brought so much joy and laughter to the world because he was just himself.

What would you do if you had a time machine?
I think I would be worried about screwing something up in the present. So I guess drop it in the ocean.

Are you an extrovert or introvert?
Introvert. Extremely so.

If you could be any superhero, which one would you be?
Superman. I don't really like DC but the guy has it all. It's like getting to choose multiple choices on this one.

Have any pets?
2 Cats - Nami and Jinx 2 Rabbits - Kisa and Roshi

When the next asteroid hits Earth, causing the Yellowstone caldera to explode, California to fall into the ocean, the sea levels to rise, and the next ice age to set in, what current games or other pastimes do you think (or hope) will survive into the next era of human civilization? What do you hope is underneath that asteroid to be wiped out of the human consciousness forever?
Survive - A thumb drive that some Pirate has filled with all the ROMS of classic video games from NES, SNES, and 64. I bet they would fit. Destroyed - Durian Fruits

If you'd like to send a shout out to anyone, anyone at all, here's your chance (I can't guarantee they'll read this though):
I'd like to thank my wife Kathleen the most. She helped push me to thinking my games would be worth making and not to doubt myself so much. It's really hard to get over the self doubt sometimes.

Thanks for answering all my crazy questions!

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Thank you for reading this People Behind the Meeples indie game designer interview! You can find all the interviews here: People Behind the Meeples and if you'd like to be featured yourself, you can fill out the questionnaire here: http://gjjgames.blogspot.com/p/game-designer-interview-questionnaire.html

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