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GTD in Dead Island

September 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The survival horror video game Dead Island was released this week. It was a trending topic on Twitter for a while because of the black screen that many PC users had to stare at when the game was supposed to load. The premise is that you’re on the tropical paradise island of Banoi, which turns not so paradise-y.

The player is drawn into the world of Dead Island on the brink of a mysterious epidemic that suddenly, and without warning, breaks out on the fictional island of Banoi. As a guest of the Royal Palms Resort, the player’s stay was supposed to be a dream holiday; a luxurious getaway to the beautiful beaches of a tropical paradise. But faced with the reality of a zombie apocalypse, there is only one thing left to do: Survive.

This is Dead Island… a paradise to die for.

While watching a video of gameplay yesterday, I noticed that when you are offered missions or tasks, they show up on a handwritten, bloodied-up piece of paper. (no g/m² specified so I can’t tell if it’s fountain pen-friendly) What is that? A Next-Actions list!  Sure there are little extras written down like what your reward will be and the difficulty, but mainly, it’s your next action. Look at that pic above. There is one thing to do on that page and that is to “bring the security keycard to the lifeguard tower from bungalow #11″. OK, so your immediate “next action” would be to go to bungalow #11 and pick up the keycard, I know. But you don’t really have time to write, “take keycard to lifeguard tower” after you cross off the first part when you’re in the middle of being chased by brain-hungry, lunatic zombies. And besides, since you’re not exactly sure how many next actions you will have, and civilization has broken down,  you need to conserve paper in an environment where you can’t just run to Staples and get more.

What have I learned from this? When the zombie apocalypse happens, (oh and it will believe you me) paper, a handy writing instrument, and GTD will help you get through your most important list of next actions in order to complete your “Get Off This Crazy Island” project.

So, How Small Do You Write?

August 29, 2011 By 5 Comments

The pic above and scan below are from my “Commonplace/Catch-all” journal that I have been using for a while now. I use it to keep track of certain ongoing things like eBay sales, writing practice (which I desperately need to do more of), pen and notebook wish lists, and some notes or quotes that I might want to keep for future use or reference. This page is just writing practice. Also, I wanted to see how much of Genesis I could comfortably fit on a single page. I’m pretty sure I could write 3 lines within the 6mm ruling if I only used my Slicci .25mm. I used several gel pens at differnent times on this particular page.

Click so you can actually read this.

I write small because I feel that I have more control that way (although it might not look like it here). When I start to make bigger letters my hand really starts going all over the place. Actually, if I right for a long period of time, my writing gets worse. I definitely need to work on my control. Basically, I need to practice enough to fill about 10 more notebooks to see improvement. And those new 5.5mm ruled Habanas are looking pretty tempting. I think it’s time for me to send some more child support over to Brian again.

Anyway, the standard size I write is just a little bigger than what you see here which is why I prefer smaller ruled paper and notebooks. I know it’ll never look as neat as Angela‘s writing, but I’ll just keep practicing anyway.

How small do you write?

A Farewell to Handwriting?

February 17, 2011 By 2 Comments

Thanks to Brian over at Ink Nouveau for catching this on CBS. This segment touches on how we are writing less and less since typewriters came along and how time devoted to teaching penmanship in the classroom has diminished. They also mention Spencerian Penmanship, the Palmer Method of Business Writing and how apparently my penmanship peaked when I was in the 4th grade.




National Letter Writing Week!

January 12, 2011 By 2 Comments

Photo courtesy of Rosemary's Blog

It’s National Letter Writing Week! (Jan. 9th-16th, 2011) We’re smack dab in the middle of it. Have you written more than usual? Did you get any special stationery? Did you fill your pen with special ink? Did you know about it? Did you forget like I did?

I was planning on writing a letter a day. I’m thinking I have some catching up to do. Angela and I are going to start by handwriting thank you notes for our son’s birthday. Here are some suggestions that I’ve read all over the web in case you need some ideas.

Write…

  • a letter to a close relative.
  • a letter to a distant relative.
  • to your local representative or mayor.
  • a letter to your neighbor.
  • a letter to a soldier.
  • to someone you keep forgetting to call.

And in case you need tips on how to properly do it, here is a link.

You’re going to need stamps.

Why Write Like An Architect?

November 3, 2010 By 2 Comments

Because it’s neat and legible. Doug Patt is an architect and the man behind How to Architect. It’s a very informative site about architecture, design and some famous architects. His most popular video is one called How to Write Like an Architect that is basically a tutorial on writing letters in the same manner that architects write them on blue prints and designs. I especially liked this newer video on why to write because he refers to that Wall Street Journal article I posted about talking about the benefits of physically writing things down. Plus, his writing is very neat. And from another video that I saw, he doesn’t need that little triangle.

His site is full of many interesting videos including how to draw a floor plan,  show elevation, and draw a perspective. It’s worth a look.

Handwriting Helps You Learn and Remember

October 13, 2010 By 1 Comment

There is a good article on the Wall Street Journal Online about recent research that shows that handwriting using a writing instrument on paper, or at least a stylus on a tablet, helps your brain’s cognitive abilities. See? More ammo to tell people that ask you why you’re still carrying pens and pencils around…in your wrap.

Thanks Lifehacker.