General

Human Tetris and Looting The Dungeon 326w2x

Human Tetris 2d3q1l

“So, um, Sensei… how do we move our stuff?” I innocently ask. It’s time for the big shuffle. We’re about to start the new school year and every teacher has to move to be with other teachers with the same year of home room classes. In senior high there are three years, ichinensei, ninensei and sannensei (literally 1, 2 and 3rd year students). I move with my supervisor. “We move all the desks” is her reply.All the desks? I wonder. To where? 505l1c

I now know why so many of the worlds video games come from Japan and why video games are really popular here: training for problem solving situations. When 1:30 came around every desk in the staff room started moving, rolled along by every teacher in the most beautiful display of coordinated desk Tetris imaginable. It was like watching a well rehearsed ballet.  

Did you know that Tetris is from Russia?

Looting The Dungeon 1h3o63

One of the biggest crazes in gaming at the moment is MMORPG’s or Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. These games are publicly disliked by “grognards” like me who believe the best games involve dice and a heavy dose of imagination. Okay, the loss of years of my life to games like Fallen Sword and World of Warcraft might say otherwise. Anyway, I just finished watching season 3 of The Guild, a web series based on the lives of six gamers who play in a MMORPG. I was disappointed by season 3 but go have a look at season 1 and 2 on YouTube if you’re at all interested in computer games or geek culture. You may just ROFL (roll on the floor laughing).

I Loot The Staff Room 5u6t6m

So this is the part where I tie up my two stories into an amazing conclusion. First off, our one English sensei returned from California where they had gone on a home-stay: can you say “omiyagi” (souvenirs)?

Then some other teachers also went on holiday: can you say “oh yeah omiyagi!”

And lastly we have a bunch of new teachers, who of course want to impress everyone: can you say “om nom nom?“

As proof of my epic raid on the staffroom snack stack, I bring photo (yes, just one):

The haul includes:

  • White Chocolate Rusk (???)
  • Mayonnaise cracker (the one in red and yellow wrapping)
  • A Yoku Moku Cigare (not for smoking 🙂 )
  • Chocolate covered wafers (mmmm)
  • M&M’s. (m&m&m&mmm)
  • Jelly Belly beans in 20 flavors (not the American spelling)
  • Chocolate Almond biscuit (that looks a little like elephant poo)
  • A Russian Cake (that possibly has something to do with Tetris)
  • And a magnet of “Oranges in Tissue Paper” by William J. “Oros” McCloskey. See, even the inedible stuff is about food.

Another Thing About Dungeons 3bl40

Don’t worry, this isn’t something you should be worried about. I have a healthy obsession with dungeons. It’s okay. Really.

Give me grid paper, a pencil and a fine-liner and I’ll be busy for hours.

This month is the Rising Phoenix Games or on the 1PDC site. 

Furthermore, I’ve just completed my newest role-playing adventure offering for UPCON, the University of Pretoria’s gaming and animé convention. This one, strangely, doesn’t feature a dungeon but rather the deep blue sea, and pirates! Who doesn’t love pirates? Well, fictional ones at least. It also features zombies and ninjas, which like MMORPG’s are all the fad and bring us nicely back to games, since an MMORPG is a game. So I can end here having come full circle.

Rodney is the role-playing obsessed blogger at Rising Phoenix Games and numerous other blogs across the net. He’s way too easy to find on the web and loves writing about himself in the third person. Heck, he just loves writing. You can follow his Tweetings on Twitter @RisingPhoenixGame