Day 66: Momentum

Momentum. The tendency of a moving object to keep moving.

I had forgotten this word and its implications for the longest time. I had lost momentum in life, being content with what I had, with what was happening and living on reruns on Netflix.

I think I have to regain my momentum, and shed my limitations. I need to regain my hunger and my ambition. I feel like it is lost somewhere in the humdrum of everyday life.

Nothing like a Women in Leadership conference to inspire you and give you that much needed momentum.

Day 65: 2048 - Overly familiar or overly grinding?

2048 (http://gabrielecirulli.github.io/2048/) is a wildly popular single-player puzzle game available on smartphones as well as the web, consisting of a 4*4 tile board, which is initially partially filled with low numbers such as 2. The objective is to slide numbered tiles on the grid to combine them and create a tile with the number 2048. The game is a variation of the sliding block puzzle where equal numbers merge to form a single tile with their sum. 

Figure 1: Initial setting of the tile grid, partially filled with low numbers.

The filling up of blank tiles on the board reflects building time pressure eliminating the need for a separate timer. There is no alternate end state since the game is over if the board fills up without achieving 2048. Thus, as the player progresses in the game, there is an increase in the dramatic tension of the gameplay.

Figure 2: As the board fills up, the player has to strategize and there is increase in dramatic tension.

The elusive 2048 tile ensures repetitive play of the game, helping interactors gain insights about which strategies can be employed to achieve the goal. 2048 includes a scoreboard and a leaderboard to ensure competition. However, the score mechanics are unclear making the score a distraction. 2048 tries to reach the sweet spot between being overly familiar and over grinding.

Figure 3: The end state achieved when 2048 is reached. The player can ‘keep playing’ after winning.

Day 64: Gadgets

Yo yo yo!

It is gadget season again. So many new devices just clouding the horizon and making us sing out about how it is raining gadgets. 

Fun times.

Our news feeds flooded with reviews about the latest tablets and smartphones, the features of the latest Operating Systems, their usability and then the ensuing price battles.

Time to stay awake, make a few decisions and prebook these gadgets away!

Day 63: Concerts

Why do we go to concerts?
We spend buckets of money to go listen to some songs that you have on your playlist anyway.

But the energy, the atmosphere, the feeling that nothing can go wrong, the crowd around you and you being a part of the crowd.
The sense of belonging.
The sense of adventure.
The hypnotic trance you fall in.
The elation when your favorite song starts playing.

It is magnificent.

Day 62: Notebook

I have a really tough time filling in notebooks.
Not because I don't like to write.
No because I lose them.
But mostly, because I lack regularity.

My best friend gave me a notebook at the end of the year 2011. 160 pages, 6 inches by 5 inches.

For the longest time , I didn't write in it. I didn't want to ruin the pristine beauty of the book with my less-then-perfect words.

Finally, in the August of 2013, I started writing in it. Nothing significant, just class notes and to-do lists. I carried it around with me everywhere for about a month, then moved on to digital note-taking methods and the book lay forgotten in my room.

10 months later, I picked up the book again and started writing in it. Really writing in it. Making quick observations and taking longer notes.

It has been two months since I started doing that, and I have finally filled more than three quarters of the notebook. There is still hope for me. Maybe this will be the book which will be written in till the last page. Maybe.