Cue. Action. Reward.

The steps to forming a habit, whether good or bad.

Stress ⇨ Buy a snack ⇨ Get sugary or salty taste

Alarm Clock ⇨ Run ⇨ Release endorphins

Boredom ⇨ Scroll Pinterest ⇨ Excite your brain with new things

My goal is to recognize the cues that lead t negative actions and the rewards that come from negative actions, and to create and enforce the cues and rewards associated with positive actions.

Writing, itself, is something I would like to form into a habit.  It helps focus your thoughts, exercise your creativity, and requires some brain activity.  I had fun writing about my characters for D&D recently, which got me thinking about whether I would prefer writing creative fiction, expressive journaling, informational non-fiction, or a combination of those.

5 years later: D&D campaign short

...warning, some swearing ahead






Fitz looked down at an odd angular block coming out of the ground. It was too far down to tell if it was just a rock, but just looking at it made him feel...angry. “Snek, go check it out. “. Snek folded his wings and plunged 1200 feet down like a bolt. Just before hitting the ground, he leveled out and flared his wings, coming to a gentle slithering landing.

A few minutes later Snek and Fitz were flying south again, the dark block stuffed in a bag of holding. The aura of anger couldn’t invade Fitz’s mood from in there. “Darkness fucks leaving all their shit behind, bastards knew they were going out and they tried leaving traps and corruption anyways. If only those dumbass villagers didn’t play with every damn piece of...” Wait. Fitz gave himself a shake. The anger was a quick contagion, a few seconds of close contact and he was cursing up a storm.

“Snek, take us to the shop, I’m going to meditate.” Calm seeped back into Fitz. When his eyes finally opened again, his broom of flying was hovering just above the containment box he built for the Darkness’s left behind magical artifacts. Snek held the lid open. As Fitz dumped the anger block in, he felt, just for a moment, that the hundreds of dangerous items peaking out of the shadows of the box might be enough to counterbalance the mistakes he had made in the Feywild. A dull pain grew behind his eyes. “No. I shall never go back.”

The lid slammed shut with nobody to care, because Fitz and Snek were already back in the air.

Vacation

Tomorrow begins anew the stress and endless torment of doing things other people care about so that I can afford to do things I care about.  And that, of course, is because Gabb and I just got back from a two week trip doing some of the things we care about most: hiking, wildlife viewing, and learning in the National Parks.  A quick summary of our trip...

6 National Parks

• Theodore Roosevelt
• Glacier
• Yellowstone
• Grand Teton
• Arches
• Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Lots of Wildlife

• 10 moose
• 9 black bears (5 of them cubs)
• 1 red fox
• 10-15 mountain goats
• 10-15 big horn sheep
• Countless mule deer, squirrels, and chipmunks
• HERDS of bison and elk

Long Hikes

• Red Rock Falls (and beyond)
• Grinnell Glacier
• Geyser Boardwalk
• Cascade Canyon
• Fiery Furnace
• Devil's Garden and Primitive Trail

This type of trip has come to be my favorite.  We take our own car, drive to places with amazing landscapes, disconnect, and go explore.  Some of the parks are extremely popular, but once you're on a trail, there are fewer people.  The ones that remain generally seem more pleasant, too.  

Our 2018 National Parks road trip felt urgently needed, in spite of being within a year of two other major vacations - China (+Tokyo) and Disney / Universal / Gulf Coast.  In the 7 months since our Florida trip, I've also been to Europe twice for a total of 4 weeks for work.  And now that I'm back, I'm eager to think about what parks we can visit next.  This is a strong statement about both our desired lifestyle and how great the parks can be.  It would be quite alright to spend a few years working remotely, living and traveling in a van, and taking our time seeing the country.