garrett's blog

Yeah, another dream. To my knowledge, though, I've never seen this schtick in anime, which is what it felt like: a student with a car is giving one of his attractive female teachers a ride home. For whatever contrived plot reason, she's wearing a bikini and can't really put on more. There's some dialogue, and for a moment he's rendered as a snowman in the driver's seat to indicate the chilly reception (or perhaps that he's suddenly cooling down).

The basic idea:

class Card
  def initialize(id, persistence_callback)
    @id = id
    @persistence_callback = persistence_callback
  end

  def commit
    @persistence_callback.call(self)
  end
end

class Factory
  def do_persistence(card)
    # implementation goes here
  end

  def create_card
    callback = lambda { |card| self.do_persistence(card) }
    card = Card.new(get_new_card_id(), callback)
  end
end

In working on various abortive projects to create a more modern MUD (usually in Ruby), I've thought about what stopped me. Part of the problem is the vagueness of the proposal: "create something as good as what's already out there". I was tempted to load down my new model with features: objects and properties and methods, security, multithreaded user applications...

I realized lately that I wasn't following Unix philosophy, and that Unix has been successful and popular precisely because of those attributes. So I started fresh.

The TARDIS looked like an extra-tall plastic machine, hinged to open, much like a soda dispenser, but kept its essential police-box "texture". The Doctor and a companion were being abducted by a criminal group in the 1980s, but he had a plan.

It all hinged on simultaneous parallel worlds somehow combining - for example, a character with a brother in one world (under one set of circumstances) had a different brother in the other. One character was waiting to hear a particular song, which the Doctor sang into the history of the world.

I'm trying to figure out if my three active player characters in various RPGs are really the same characters, or if they really are opposites. I didn't set out to create similar PCs, but now I'm starting to think: what am I really trying to play?

The samurai's straw hat obscures his face, hides his eyes. He does not need to see through the slits. He has already seen what is before him.

The road winds gently up to the hilltop, then disappears. Beyond it, the snowy valley stretches onward. The forest dreams under its white coat, and the air is crisp. There is silence.

What a pity, the samurai thinks. Such a lovely canvas - to have this pristine aesthetic spoiled by such churls.

Arson in the run-down part of town (from some source...) burns a warehouse. This was some sort of secret facility/storage warehouse/something belonging to Somebody Important. A VIP hires the runner team to run a 24-hour watch on the place and discreetly take out anyone who comes snooping around or tries to steal from the place. They can't post regular corp security without blowing the nature of the place.

The coach is walking about on the field. The grass is still wet with dew, but until the rays of dawn bring their sparkle to it, all it can do is dampen his sneakers. He runs a few checks on the electronic nets at both ends of the field, scuffs the damp toes of his shoes against the red and white circles dusted onto the grass, studies the painted white edges which delineate the field.

• When Emperor Daibazaal or Sincline drinks, you drink.
• When a goblet of blood wine is destroyed for any reason, finish your drink.
• Take a drink when Sincline is slapped.
• Take a drink when Sincline slaps someone.
• If the Space Mice make an appearance and communicate in any way, take a sip.
• If the Space Mice are relevant to the plot, chug your drink.
• Take a drink whenever Sincline doesn’t bother to verify the results of his plan.
• If a named character dies, finish your drink.
  

A son, whose mother gave birth to the pilot of the giant robot (Tranzor Z style), but that girl was abducted by the project and the boy put in her place.

A hyper-flexible leering machine-like creature, throwing a thin needle of wire into the tangle of construction wiring, corrupting the construction of the giant robot.

A snow-bound multistory building with shops and a family living in the basement. A father who runs away, driven mad, while the others set out to find him.

A wintry landscape devoid of humanity in which the building lives.