I had to cancel a gaming session yesterday evening because I was working late. Just how late would only become fully apparent later - I didn't finish until 1am this morning! I was particularly annoyed because I was hosting this session, and so by a universally acknowledged but unwritten rule, I got to choose the game! I was going to put Elasund, or perhaps Tempus, on the table, and was very excited about either of those choices.
This is clearly a sign that my life is seriously out of balance. Which led me to meditate on what would be needed to attain a harmonious Work-Game balance in my life. Here are some of the key requirements that flitted through my mind this morning while I lingered in that horrible post-working-late-exhausted-and-trying-to-sleep-but-still-stoked-on-adrenaline state before drifting off.
1) You need a home of your own, with plenty of storage space (for games) and floor space (for game tables to be set up and left with long running games on them).
2) You probably need to avoid marriage, and you definitely need to avoid having children. The little buggers play havoc with your free time, not to mention choking on your meeples at any opportunity. Ruins the meeples.
3) You don't want a mortgage, as this means you will have to do a proper job with long hours. Note this conflicts slightly with requirement 1.
4) You should choose a quiet little part-time job, somewhere calm like a book-shop or a library where you can think about strategies or your next blog entry.
5) You need lots of disposable income to buy the latest Knizias or to fuel your ASL addiction. A credit card is indispensible for all those online retailers, eBay bargains, and GMT pre-orders. Note this conflicts slightly with requirement 4.
6) You need a regular, satisfying sex-life, so that you don't waste all your evenings chasing women instead of playing games. Note this conflicts slightly with requirement 2. But don't worry guys, this will become less of an issue as you approach old-age.
7) You need lots of opponents living nearby who can also meet these criteria. A friend of mine says that when he wins the lottery he will pay us all a salary so we can play games with him every day. My response is a) you're not going to win the lottery and b) you may have underestimated my hourly rate.
I only meet three of those - I'm not telling you which - no wonder I'm having problems.
2 comments:
I'm all for a harmonious work-game balance, however you appear to be describing a harmonious game-game balance :-)
I meet a disturbingly small set of your criteria. But I almost meet lots of them.
When my wife left me I decided to find a new woman who plays games. I've succeeded to a degree... she loves card games. We play a lot of Lost Cities, but I'm yet to see her appreciate a good two player abstract. Sadly she is a not-before-marriage or not-yet-with-you kinda girl, so although I haven't strictly fulfilled number 6 I have managed to work around it - playing games and chasing this woman are the same thing :-).
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