When Frugal isn't Frugal...

I'm not poor, but I'm definitely not making enough money to feel comfortable enough with my finances. Right alongside the decluttering videos are the frugal living videos and I wonder sometimes if I can do anything to save money -- but it's not usually as easy as watching a video or reading an article. Each piece of advice is only as helpful as it is doable. 

I would love to bring my lunch more often. But getting out of the house at 7:30 am is already a stru... Read more

Chapter 1

 "Bring Jake along with you to the cape," suggested Mom. "You're not going to sit around moping the entire vacation and we have the free bed!"

Mom had always been practical, even though it usually came across to others as harshness. She was running around the house, excitedly facetiming with her old college friends for the past hour, packing and repacking her clothes. 


A weekend trip to Provincetown for a College Rugby reun ion had quickly turned into a weeklong famil... Read more

Title Ideas for my Queer Novel set in Provincetown

A Night to Forget Forgetting You The Gay Capitol of Massachusetts A Not Completely Wasted Vacation Race Point Beach Our Beach "Good Friends" Just, friends

Smiling in the backseat

A passing thought from early June:   Not sure there's much to tell, but I took a Lyft to my concert call and felt such wonder and joi de vivre watching the clouds and buildings and people pass by and seeing the trees bristling in the wind and the bird flocking overhead. It was a strange burst of enjoyment that seemed to well up out of nowhere... and so I let it take over. I smiled a broad, ridiculous smile that was more natural than I've had in quite... Read more

New Thoughts of Cataclysmal

As mentioned previously, I was having issues getting my game "Cataclysmal" to work as I'd hoped. I loved the concept that I'd created for the game - the "Saviors". People who had done extraordinary things to save others, but who had perished in the fight. We tell stories of those heroic acts as a way of remembering them. 

I was convoluted in building the rules of engagement for the players around the table, and that led to some confusion about how to best co... Read more

More Thoughts on "Intentionalism"

Evidently, Intentionalism has its own meaning in the world of philosophy, but my meaning is separate. I'm using the term "Intentional" to refer to making conscious choices that lead to a happier, more fulfilled life. My hope with defining Intentionalism is that it can be used to describe lifestyle choices like minimalism but also health-conscious choices or more general conscious decisions on being happy. 

I've enjoyed several books on making a concert... Read more

Minimalism - a goal, not a definition

I had another thought on Minimal-ish - and strangely enough, it connects to religion. 

Recently I wrote that I thought we ought to stop saying Minimal-ish because it was creating a false sense that Minimalism was a specific way of living with nothing but the bare essentials. I spoke about how Minimalism in art has somehow been intertwined with Minimalism in the home - I feel the two might share a name but should not be considered the same. 

A... Read more

Who keeps buying Generational?

My first game, Generational: A Story about Stories is sold on a somewhat regular basis on my itch.io page and I couldn't tell you why. 

The game has been viewed 3,348 times of which it has been downloaded 2,958 times (88% success rate isn't that bad). It has 8 five-star reviews (and 1 three-star). There's even a free version of the game playable on StorySynth that walks you through how to play.

But who is playing this game? Who is talking about... Read more

A Commonplace Book - an impulse purchase, hopefully not a forgotten project

I saw a video suggested to me the other day for "Why you should have a commonplace book". I was intrigued by that title alone and decided to watch the video and was hooked by this idea. A Commonplace Book, to the best of my description, is a spot to jot down ideas, quotes, pictures, or anything else you want in one indexed spot. It could take many forms whether it's the photos of things you want to remember stored in... Read more

Why I hate the term "minimal-ish"

Two years ago, I thought that my apartment building would be sold and therefore I'd need to move. I looked around my bedroom that I had slowly and intentionally built up to fit my needs and preferences and realized I had way too much... shit. 

So like any sane adult, I got deeply into minimalism and started decluttering my room. Most of my belongings outside of the kitchen were in my room and I realized that living like that is a surefire way to make a... Read more

Cataclysmal - a fitting title for a (mostly) failed game

After the success of Generational, I was inspired to develop other games under this d100 system. The goal for the base game had been minimal interference from the rules/rolls paired with a collaborative environment that allowed for equal involvement from all the players. 

Since Generational had been about the start of a world and didn't necessarily have an end in mind, I decided to create a game based on the apocalypse. I'll admi... Read more