Hey friends,

New year, new...sletter! Did you watch the celebration in Times Square? I've always thought it's overrated...

They drop the ball every year. 😜

Thinking Too Hard 🤔

I was recently reading the manual for the Mouse Guard RPG, which is a sword-and-whiskers reimplementation of the Burning Wheel (which is a WILD game, y'all...) Each session the players are encouraged to set short-term goals. If they move towards their goals or complete them in a session they're rewarded with a story 'currency' that gives them power over the narrative — but it's the recommended structure of the goals that caught my eye:

They recommend a goal be structured as: IMPERATIVE + ACTION + TARGET + (and optionally) CONDITION.

• Imperative: A command: I will, I will not, I must, I must not, etc.
• Action: An activity or task: find, stop, return, rebuild, demonstrate, protect, feed, etc.
• Target: A focus: individuals, groups or organizations, events, etc.
• Condition: A limiter, timeframe, or qualifier: quickly, on this journey, before the Blood Moon, etc.

It's an interesting format, suited to a narrative game. It's similar, if a bit looser, than setting SMART goals, but it produces more natural language style sentences. This year I'm going to participate in the time-honored tradition of setting some goals for the new year, Mouse Guard style! 🐭

1. I will be more consistent in writing on my blog this year, publishing at least an article a month.
2. I will release another "game" (loosely defined on purpose) on Itch this year.
3. I must produce an analog piece of artwork this quarter. (Nurture the itch before it fades...)
4. I will not make as many bad jokes in the presence of my family.

There's also a secondary goal of NOT participating in the other time-honored tradition of abandoning these goals after two months. Except for the fouth one, I plan to break that immediately... 😈

Interesting Web Bits 🍿

• An incredibly specific problem solved by an incredibly specific piece of web software. I absolutely love it. THIS is freak energy followed through, although they call it 'building by zoomies'.
• A gorgeous WEBGL fluid simulation
• An amusing and helpfully annotated retrospective of databases in 2024.
• Neal creates another delightful experience with his new stimulation clicker.
• The WordPress drama just keeps on rolling with the deactivation of certain user accounts.