Yesterday there was an all-day get together of the St Louis area Boardgames Meetup (organized through meetup.com). I got to play a couple of games - Risk 2210AD and Twilight Imperium with some much needed “downtime” between games to watch what was going on elsewhere in the room. Now for those of you who thought that Risk was a game that could consume hours on end, you’ve not met Twilight Imperium! Risk was (in fact) the shortest of the warfare style games played; another group played a boardgame roughly following the War of the Ring (from JRR Tolkein’s “Return of the King”). “War of the Ring” was fantastic to look at with interesting game mechanics. Maybe if I have a weekend to kill I’ll find someone with a a copy…

From the official Twilight Imperium website:

Twilight Imperium is an epic empire-building game of intersteller conflict, trade, and struggle for power. Players take the roles of ancient galactic civilizations, each seeking to sieze the imperial throne via warfare, diplomacy, and technological progression.

and later on the page:

The Twilight Imperium gameplay has been refined and redone by original designer Christian T. Petersen. The new design features faster gameplay, and involves players in a far more active game experience with much less downtime. In addition, Twilight Imperium will include new Race Cards, as well as a dramatic new approach to the structure of the gameplay itself using the new “Command” system.

Information about the game says it plays in about 4 hours. In our case, setup took an hour and 45 minutes, and we spent a total of 4 hours playing (at which point we’d played 3 game turns). If we all knew what was going on I could imagine a whole game fitting into the time though. Funny thing is, if this (3rd edition) of the game has streamlined gameplay, I’d hate to see how the older editions played! I want to play again.

One of the dominant things people seem to be searching Google for, and finding my website as a result of, are song lyrics. Can I help that I get a song stuck in my brain for hours / days at a time? Can I help that posting it seems to help? I offer you the latest song which has been with me for literally weeks now:

Green and Yellow

Where have you been this day,
Hen-ery my son?
Where have you been this day
My pretty one?

In the woods, In the woods
Oh, Mother do be quick, ‘cos I’m
feeling very sick
And I want t’lay me down and die.

What did you in them woods,
Hen-ery my son?
What did you in them woods
My pretty one?

Ate some eels, Ate some eels,
Oh, Mother do be quick, ‘cos I’m
feeling very sick
And I want t’lay me down and die.

What colour was them eels
Hen-ery my son?
What colour was them eels
My pretty one?

GREEN AND YELLER! (said with repulsion)
GREEN AND YELLER! (even worse)
Oh, mother do be quick, ‘cos I’m
feeling very sick
And I want t’lay me down and die.

Them’s eels was snakes,
Hen-ery my son… (etc)

Oh, dear Mother… (etc)

What colour flowers
Hen-ery my son?… (etc)

Green and Yeller…

Appologies due to Henry, a friend of mine, who I have to admit brings the song to mind when I meet him!

The author of theTriciaAnn over on Xanga.com has asked to be interviewed, so here are the questions:

1. If you could sit down with one famous individual - living or dead - for an hour, who would it be and what would you talk to them about?
2. If you had to pick out three people who’ve had influence during various ‘turning points’ in your life (either for good or for ill), who are they and what happened?
3. English soccer or American football, and why?
4. What’s your response to the statement, “God is just an impersonal abstract concept - like the Force in Star Wars - and obviously cannot / does not speak to us today“
5. Describe a perfect meal including where and how it would be served.

I’ll look forward to hearing from you!

It’s amazing what you find printed in the inside of a bottle cap:

Vision without action is a daydream;
action without vision is a nightmare

Japanese ProverbStrangely enbough this comes right after the Vision and Planning intensive training. We had the midterm exam on that and The writings (Hebrew wisdom literature) last night and I can honestly say that I’ve not had an exam I’ve felt that badly about since the Acts and Missions exam in the first year! I have one comforting thought though: even if I barely scrape through the exam, my cumulative grade average means that I’ll graduate so long as I dont mess up the leadership project for this quarter. The middle of June is firmly fixed in my sights - the end is truly nigh - graduation day will be one I celebrate wholeheartedly!

BBC News website has a nice (if rather easy…) 14 question quiz:

Test your knowledge of the Force

Are you a Star Wars know-it-all, or is your intergalactic knowledge sadly lacking? Find out how strong the Force is within you by tackling our quiz.

Somewhat telling was my own score:

You got 14 right!
Excellent. A true Jedi master. You’re probably already camping outside a cinema.

This score has nothing what so ever to do with the fact that I will be seeing the new Star Wars movie twice in a single 24 hour period, starting with a midnight showing Wednesday 18^th (technically, one minute past midnight, so it’s a Thursday show), then a matinee show on Thursday 19^th.

Joss Whedon (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame) created the scifi TV series Firefly. When people ask me what the series is about the best thing I can come up with is that it’s what Star Trek will be a hundred years later - once things have started to run down and rust. There’s a strong “western frontier” feel to the show also. The series aired less than a full season but picked up a strong fan-base, as sales of the DVD boxed set will attest to. The DVD boxed set includes some great features in addition to the never-aired episodes. If it’s not obvious by now, let me say it clearly: Im hooked!

One small detail that hooked me is the way that characters mix in the occasional Chinese phrase - mostly where anyone else would drop cuss words. There’s a long standing tradition of scifi shows creating their own dialect (Heinlen’s “Stranger in a strange land” coined grok, Farscape coined frell) so it’s not a surprise that Joss would follow suit with Firefly’s use of Chinese. Thing is, I have been curious what exactly the characters are saying since it’s a real language. The Firefly Chinese Pinyinary clears it all up - with translations listed alphabetically, and by episode. Wonderful.

Later this year (officially, September 30th) Firefly will make it onto the big-screen - take a look at Serenity: The Official Movie Website, where there’s a great movie trailer to whet your appetite.

I wonder if the TV networks will wake up once the movie hits the big-screen? If the big-screen debut is a wake-up-call, will a TV network pick up a second season of the TV show? If the current buzz is to be believed the movie is going to be a sleeper hit (remember how “Shrek” and “Pitch Black” took the movie execs by suprise?).

More Serenity Screenings Announced, Sell Out Immediately
Posted on Thursday, May. 12, 2005, to http://www.rottentomatoes.com/

CABridges writes: “Following the sell-out success of the May 5th pre-screenings, creator Joss Whedon recently announced that advance previews of his movie “Serenity” would appear at twenty theaters in twenty cities, this time on May 26th.

By the next morning, well before the official list of cities was posted, networking fans on the Serenity movie site and elsewhere had diligently located half the listings through trial and error and several of the locations were already sold out. “Serenity” hits theaters wide (which means “normal” people can buy tickets) on September 30th.”

Now I just have to get the DVD boxed set back from friends to be able to watch the last couple of episodes in preparation for the movie.

In related news, Dark Horse Comics will be putting out a 3 episode mini-series of comics written by Joss that will bridge from the TV series to the start of the movie. The Dark Horse website says

The crew of Serenity once again find themselves broke and on the wrong side of a number of very large firearms, making the first issue a case study in how to mix intense, Whedon-style character interaction with cinematic action and violence. Artist Will Conrad and colorist Laura Martin paint a rough and wild world of adventure across a strange and dangerous universe.

The second issue:

On the run and out of cash, the ragtag crew of Serenity take on a scavenger mission with the hopes of earning enough dough to disappear for a while. Little do they know an old enemy is scheming to remake their acquaintance with the help of some covert-operatives known only as the Blue Gloves.

Details of the 3rd issue arent available yet, but it’s slated to be released in September.

The Interview Meme: how to play

1. Leave me a comment saying “interview me.” The first five commenters will be the participants.
2. I will respond by asking you five questions.
3. You will update your blog/site with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions. (Write your own questions or borrow some.)

My questions came from Timothy, author of the blog ‘/(p[eu]rls of wisdom)?/‘ :

What is the one portable techy thing you have that you would be lost without?

Hmm, looking around I have a watch on my wrist (dual display with a mostly analog face and little digital insert at the bottom). There’s a mobile phone on my desk that I am never without. The surprising thing is that I dont own a PDA. I much prefer the old fashioned method of writing things down in a notebook of some sort.

So, a techy thing I’d be lost without? I know it’s low-tech but it’s got to be my watch. I’m almost obsessive about getting to places on time and feel naked when I’m not wearing it.

Now, if I mis-typed the question and you meant to ask, “what tetchy thing…” that would be another answer entirely!

Which anniversary do you expect (hope?) the never ending sweater will be complete by?

I’ll say 10^th with an error factor of plus/minus 10 years. How’s that?

What blog do you read that people who read your blog would be surprised by?

I’m not a promiscuous web-surfer (I dont event want to think what kind of web searches will come in now that I’ve used that word!) - I visit a very limited set of websites and it takes quite an effort to pull me into visiting a new place, and an act of congress to get me there more than once. One such “hook” was in 2003 when someone sent me the link to the web cartoon “Queen of Wands” - the cartoon has since gone into “reruns” having reached the logical end of it’s story arc. I know - it’s not a blog - but I dont read many of those and the ones I do read arent all that surprising. So, here’s 3 from the “not-so” and “maybe-so” categories:

• Todd Hunter’s Blog (http://www.toddhunter.org/)

  Todd was the former National Director of the Association of Vineyard Churches and currently the President of Alpha USA.

• Whedonesque (http://whedonesque.com/)

  WHEDONesque is a community weblog discussing the work of TV maker Joss Whedon. Anyone can post a story or comment to this site, as long as it pertains to Joss Whedon’s work.

• Hot Abercrombie Chick (http://amandadoerty.blogspot.com/)

  Billing itself as a blog about “Philosophy, Religion, Politics, Culture and More!” - not what you would expect given the title which is, methinks, part of the plan!

What was the most difficult decision you’ve ever had to make, what was your decision, and did the outcome validate your decision?

As a rule guys put a lot of store in their jobs - it’s bound up into their identity. I’m no different: I usually identify myself as “a software engineer” (or “I.T. consultant” if I want to sound pretentious). The first really tough decision was to enter the Vineyard Leadership Institute course - 2 years in the boiling cauldron of learning theology and church leadership. That was a difficult decision but its not the hardest, its just the most visible.

The toughest one involves identity - switching from “I am a software engineer and a passionate believer” to “I am a passionate believer, and work as a software engineer” - to get there has been a process of letting go, surrendering and giving all to God (who really owns it all anyway, I just needed to realize it!)

I’m in a tender / vulnerable spot right now. That decision is still fresh. I know one though: God’s utterly faithful and if we seek His kingdom first then He’ll take care of the rest. Its amazing how much job stress diminishes when the career is in God’s hands and not ours. The outcome has yet to be seen but so far so good!

If you had done the interview meme first and I had responded to you, what is one of the questions you would have asked me?

How about this one:

What’s your biggest insecurity: how do you live with / around it and what behaviours do you find you fall into as a result?

5 stages of leadership

This material was adapted from “The 5^th discipline fieldbook” by Peter Senge and taught by Gary Best of the Association of Vineyard Churches in Canada during the “Vision and Planning” VLI intensive.

degree of involvement	Dependence on leaders capacity
	“tell”
	“sell”
	“test”
	“consult”
	“co-discern”
		Capacity for leadership in the team

As capacity to lead increases, talking gives way to more and more listening and there’s less of an issue if the leader is “lost” from the project. At the basic level the leader and team relate to one another in a relationship whereby the leader tells them what to do - very simple and very direct. The team is made up of helpers at this stage.

When the team need a leader to “sell” them on an idea, and get their buy-in on it but the leader is still telling they will grow resentful, with the leader needing to change their leadership style. Selling means that the leader should articulate the vision, and invite buy-in from the team. They in turn will give themselves freely to bring about the desired outcome, as determined by the leader.

As people’s capacity for leadership within the team (the shaded purple) grows, the style of leadership should also change, from selling a fixed outcome to one where the team has full buy-in and is given the ability to test the outcome and modify it in partnership with the designated leader. Obviously at this stage the team is made up from self-starters, and the leader is giving away control to the group. Leaders should refrain from attempting to manipulate the outcome - freedom should be given to their team to affect the outcome at the end.

When the leader is leading other leaders, they will need to consult where they’ll share vision and priorities and a high degree of the outcome will be determined by the team. Desired goals will be set and the leaders themselves will go back to their teams to test, sell or tell as approriate.

In a group of peers, a leader will often have to exercise leadership, as they co-discern, with a high degree of humble listening and reflecting back to the group to determine the overall vision / priorities being communicated by the group. Once vision and priorities are set, other leaders can implement it.

---

The interesting thing about all this is that it perfectly explains what my VLI mentor has been trying to do with me and why I feel a certain stretching going on right now, accompanied by the inevitable growing pains. You see, I am clearly and solidly in the “tell” section of the graph, making the occasional forray into the “sell” section. What David was trying to get me to do with last quarter’s leadership project was to move over to “test” and I was screaming with the unfamiliarity of it. I settled somewhere in “sell” I think (I hope). I am very comfortable in the tell/sell: to quote me, “I can lead _____ with my eyes shut” and ” just give me the roadmap, tell me what needs to be done”.

I need to grow. Growing hurts though, and I’m a wuss when it comes to pain!

Well, we’re fresh back from the Association of Vineyard Churches national pastors / leaders conference in Columbus, OH. Julia Pickerill, if you’re reading this mini-post, I promise I will blog properly later (once I’ve had a little “down” time to post-process the conference) and will blog with appropriate quotes.