I walked into today's post with really no clue what it would be about. Then a little bird told me a sudden story, and lo, I was inspired. I click the New Post button, and there's my title up there, nice and simple.
I find that I take a fairly improvised approach to life. That's another way of saying I don't plan ahead for things, I think. It works that way for gaming too; almost all of it gets ad-libbed, which makes sense to me; when I'm on the player side of the table, it HAS to be improv'd.
When I was a wee Tinfoiler, I had a school project in which I had to give a talk to the class. I had assumed that this was the main point of the exercise, so I did not prepare a full written speech in advance. There was no long casework for me to slowly read from. Instead, I had a lone notecard. The reaction from the class upon learning this was almost more harsh than of the teacher. It was as though I had expressed extreme audacity at trying to improvise the actual content of the speech. What a fool I was, how lazy I was, I recall them implying through their reaction.
Now, older and possibly a bit wiser, I know that improvisation is a wonderful tool in my repertoire, but is much like a shallow lake. I can spin some real beauty on the surface any moment you glance over, but the intellectual ecosystem underneath is not as robust as it could be. And I would never say that I do my best thinking without any self-reflection at all.
Personal growth time: To help combat the conflict between my improvisational nature and the power I can draw from deliberate planned thought, I'm going to resolve to accept I don't need a fully fleshed out magnum opus to have useful material done ahead of time. Now I have a new challenge; how can I integrate piecemeal preparation into my impromptu style to become truly invincible? Well, you'll find out soon enough!
Pics courtesy us and Oakland, California.
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