Author: Kathy

Probing was definitely a big part of my game experience. The first time we played the game, we did not thoroughly read the rulebook, because it seemed long and a lot of the rules are talking about the second stage of the game instead of how to begin the game. So I think we did more “probing” than we should have, we discussed and tried to figure out the structure of the three floors of the house, how the characters can move depending on their speed and draw different event, item and omen card based on the instruction on the room cards. It was fairly simple until we got to the haunt part, one thing unique about this game is going back and forth between rule books, and apparently different roles (traitor or heroes) have different parts to read and cannot be shared with the other group. We ended up with a haunt that involved a lot of “telescoping”, which basically states “to do this”, you need to “do that”. The hero side had to gather candles and light them up in a specific room with rolling the dice to a number higher than 5. The telescoping was basically to gather the candles, you need to get to these rooms, which might involves building new rooms, and to light up the candles, you need to carry the candles to a specific room and rolling the dice. But on your way to the room, you also need to be careful about your candles are not stolen by traitor, or not killed by the traitor or monster. The fun part was that because traitor and heros have their own rule books that cannot be shared with the other sides, there are usually some mystical power and ability that seems unrealistic and coming out of no where. There were many skeptical looks at the other side: “is this really in the rulebook?” “Are you sure you did not just made that up?” Of course we shared our ability after the game, but the randomness added some spice to the game. The decision making wasn’t a big part of the game, as most of the battles are determined on what you get from the dices you roll. But the dice absolutely added a lot randomness to the game. We had situations where one side has two dice to roll, and the other side has four dices to roll. However, the two dices ended up having higher number than the four dices. In other words, you could expect to win the game as you see your numbers of each characters are really high and still ended up losing the game. But that’s also the fun part of it, there is no way to tell who is going to win until the very end. There are also so many types of haunts, each having its own setting and little stories to them, adding more excitement to the game. The experience of playing the game was great, and I would definitely play it again at some point.

I guess there is no deep meaning behind my sketch: I was practicing the bass in the jazz studio as usual, and I was complaining silently that the drum set takes up so much space, and then I thought about this side quest. Of course musicians thinks about everything else except the music when they have to practice pieces they do not like. (I do think of my music with full attention when I like them) The shape of bass drum looks like something I could find on my desk, and so that’s how I came up with the idea. It turned out that my face lotion matches perfectly as the central bass drum. It’s also interesting, as I realized later, that I drew it on the back of my sheet music, and I hope my music professors don’t see it, it’s too good to be erased.

I’ve heard an idea a long time ago: that our planet is merely a tiny single cell of another grander world. The assumption is interesting and legit, the planet and the virus both come in as different sizes and shapes, somehow follow certain rules, they can die, and they can be “merged” or “eaten” by other individuals of their kinds. How we view a moon or a cell completely depends on the standpoint of us. That’s how I came up the idea of generating a picture putting a single cell under a microscope and a planet and make the comparison.

I left for dinner after I put the thoughts together, and I saw my friends were sending me links and ask if I would sign a petition to ask for a formal apology from wall street journal writer and editor for publishing an article called “China Is the Real Sick Man of Asia” talking about the Wuhan Coronavirus Outbreak. The article itself seems objective and fair, but the title was an undoubtedly racial discrimination. I decided to change my “cell” into a computer-generated picture of coronavirus. Coronavirus, like any other species, struggle to find ways to survive and thrive. Unfortunately , this year they were able to breakthrough the barrier between wild animals and human and start to cause nation-wide infectious diseases. I have had controversial feeling on Coronavirus for a while. After-all it did all start in a wildlife market in China, and the government did not take the correct responses in time (from my opinion, maybe they did their best). But when I see jokes and criticism online from foreigners about Chinese citizens, I also want to dispute their opinions. There is no way to cut interactions between human and wildlife, and people of my country has been trying their best to fight this battle physically and psychologically. I do not want to comment on the government actions, as I do not actually know what has been hidden from or shown to us for various purposes, beneficial to our people or not. At least I know that the patients, medical caregivers and just any civilians do not deserve criticism for possibly carrying a disease.

This picture might not work 100% well as a combophoto because of the difference in the backgrounds, but it’s the best-matching ones I could find. I guess it helps me make the point, just like a silver-glowing full moon, a virus can be pretty looking from a different perspective. And just like the existence of the moon, it is no one’s fault of carrying a type of virus. I had a hard time deciding whether I should post political viewpoints in this side quest, because it should have been fun and relaxing. I did it anyway because this is probably the only place I could express my feelings and thoughts without being attacked by people with all sort of objections, and

Picture Reference:

https://pixabay.com/photos/moon-universe-space-milky-way-2048727/

https://pixabay.com/illustrations/virus-microscope-infection-illness-1812092/

These are the items I have to carry around for every IHSA (Intercollegiate Horse Show Association) competitions almost every weekend between now and the end of March in my three bags. Horseback riding has been my hobby since I was in middle school and the relationship a human being can build with an animal has always been fascinating to me. Horses to me are gentle giants: their kicks can easily kill a full-grown man, but if I choose to approach them in the right way, or develop a bond with specific horses, they treat me as friends and families, and they agree to carry me on their back and listen to my orders. With that passion I was able to join some competitions on horse back riding, where I discovered the dressing attire is one of the most important criteria for joining a show. It is understandable that horse shows used to be performances to the upper class people, but with many decades of evolution, to me the sport showing the bond between the horse and people, ability to jump over obstacles and showing off the results of years of trainings, tears and sweat are more important than expensive clothes or uncomfortable shoes. Personally I would not prefer people turning the competition arena into a fashion show.

Choosing this picture and presenting my query of the whole competition atmosphere was intend to show my standpoint that the skins we are wearing do not represent the entire person. People could be dressing up fancy yet having rotting thoughts, or they could be dressing up not so nicely, but donating possessions to communities that need them more. So yes, representing myself through the catalogue in my bag is absolutely a type of writing, where I could express my thoughts through the redundancies I have to carry every weekend. That being said, coming up with the idea of the assignment wasn’t too hard, but putting together words that do not harm people who value dressing up and also question the necessity of bringing the whole wardrobe to a sports competition took me some thinking. The entire outfit is definitely not easily affordable to college students without the support of their family, but equestrian should be a fair play ground where interested people with any financial status should be able to pursue.

I spent a long-long time skimming through my photo library looking for a satisfying avatar for myself, longer than the time I took to build the website. There are too many aspects I want to express in one picture: music, hobbies, lifegoals, personalities, and so on. I decided that was not possible after several rounds of fetching: I’ll have to write a book to represent my whole life, so I ended up choosing one of my passions as my avatar. Equestrian is a big part of my life; it allows me to take time to forget pressure and exhaustion in my life. I’m forced to focus on my gesture, my breathing, connection with my horse and a path we are taking when I’m on the back of a horse, and I enjoy the excitement when all of my attention is focusing on just one matter. There is no room in my head for the tests I did not do well or the arguments I had with my families. I often say riding is therapeutic to me, and it has been supporting my mental and physical health in many ways.

It is also a well-structured picture to me. Iphone did a good job focusing on the main subject, the horse and me, and blur out the background, giving a sense of we are striving forward, which is what I’m hoping for in my life as well. Look forward and take big strides no matter what’s in the front.