Goal-Setting

Goal-setting is another one of those generic life skills that has spawned hundreds and hundreds of books. It promises weight loss and fitness, success on the job or at school, fulfilment of dreams and now, better game-mastering. And while goal-setting by itself won't actually do any of these things, it is an important tool for achieving them.

( And it's simple, although that doesn't necessarily mean easy. )

So tomorrow, we'll look at m_streight's goal to "Encourage more role-playing" in light of all this. I can only suggest an outline approach to attaining this goal, since I don't have all the details of his Knowledge and Skills, nor even of what he means by "more" or "role-playing."

Propeller beanie ribbon dance!

It's Diversity Day here at work. That means funnel cakes for sale on the lawn and cultural song and dance numbers. I caught a few routines by the Asian American Arts Center as well as the Natyambhoomi School of Dance. To be fair, I went to see the Indian dancers; we used to have a few girls in high school who were really very good and I wanted to see that sort of thing again.

I never expected the propeller beanie ribbon dance!

Imagine a man, middle aged, in a tunic and ribbon sash. He is wearing on his head a sort of tied-on beanie-looking thing that would not be inappropriate to spy in a National Geographic photo. In his hands is a long, white cord or cable that looks whiplike. He moves the microphones on stage - clearly, this is to be some sort of dance involving the long whiplike thing, and he needs clearance.

He starts to dance. He starts bobbing his head in time with the music. And then - he unleashes the whip and it... unfurls. Into a 20 or 30' long yellow ribbon. Which he is keeping in the air, twirling around him in a giant circle, by bobbing his head. Because the white whiplike thing was actually attached to a gimbal on top of the beanie.

(I wish I had something other than a propeller beanie to compare this hat to - but they didn't explain any of what they were doing. The Indian dancers, at least, told you which dance was for Ganesh and which was for Krishna and which for Shiva, and oh, this here is just some fun Bollywood stuff. I don't even know from what nation this ribbon dance hails.)

And he kept dancing, getting down on the floor and then up again, and walking off the stage and toward the audience and back again, making this ribbon go horizontal to the ground, then vertical, then spiralling it around. Finally, he ended - possibly early, since he pointed up to a cable inside the performance tent while looking at the audio tech. Possibly, the ribbon hit the cable and messed him up.

Anyway. Pretty darn cool.

Update: Based on a 1998 report from a similar performance given at Ft. Myers, this was probably "the 12 Bal-Sang Mo [which is] a traditional Korean farmer's dance which includes a twelve meter-long ribbon that signifies the twelve months in a year. The circle drawn with the ribbon represents the universe and the earth. Twelve long skirts worn by the dancers in the performance represent wealth and abundance."