Settling In
Jun. 15th, 2015 02:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormdogDanae has started using a gamified task management system called Habit RPG. I'd already been using Remember the Milk for to-do lists, but I decided to play around a bit with Habit too. It's fantasy RPG-themed, with cute 8-bit graphics reminiscent of the original Legend of Zelda. You can buy equipment, find pets, and if you don't get all your daily tasks done, you take damage and you have to buy healing potions. At the moment, Danae and I are in a joint challenge against an evil Basi-list, which we damage by completing items on our to-do lists.
It's more motivating to me than just to-do lists, partly because I'm accountable to my avatar to keep him from getting hurt, and even more because I'm accountable to my partner to make progress against the monster we're fighting.
The social aspects include 'guilds' for people with shared interests. One of them is a grad student guild, whose members have created a number of 'challenges,' which are lists of tasks you can import to your own lists. Today, I took on the "Hit the Scrolls" challenge, which includes tasks like 'study a scroll' (read a paper or a chapter of a book or similar), 'copy to spellbook' (make notes on what you read), and 'cast a scroll' (write about or talk to someone about what you read). I'm hoping this will help keep me more on track than I might otherwise be over the Summer.
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It's warm and humid outside, but sitting in front of the large living room window and reading in the sunlight was a really pleasant use of some time just now. With the windows open, the noise of Evanston comes inside in a continual rush of wind, traffic, and L trains, punctuated by bird calls, sirens, and occasional human voices. I feel as though I'm listening to the operation of a great urban machine I live within. It's soothing. It makes me feel at home. I'm starting to feel truly settled in here.
It's more motivating to me than just to-do lists, partly because I'm accountable to my avatar to keep him from getting hurt, and even more because I'm accountable to my partner to make progress against the monster we're fighting.
The social aspects include 'guilds' for people with shared interests. One of them is a grad student guild, whose members have created a number of 'challenges,' which are lists of tasks you can import to your own lists. Today, I took on the "Hit the Scrolls" challenge, which includes tasks like 'study a scroll' (read a paper or a chapter of a book or similar), 'copy to spellbook' (make notes on what you read), and 'cast a scroll' (write about or talk to someone about what you read). I'm hoping this will help keep me more on track than I might otherwise be over the Summer.
---
It's warm and humid outside, but sitting in front of the large living room window and reading in the sunlight was a really pleasant use of some time just now. With the windows open, the noise of Evanston comes inside in a continual rush of wind, traffic, and L trains, punctuated by bird calls, sirens, and occasional human voices. I feel as though I'm listening to the operation of a great urban machine I live within. It's soothing. It makes me feel at home. I'm starting to feel truly settled in here.
