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Living as an RPG - Textbooks | |
September 28th, 2019 | |
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I think about my own life in terms of roleplaying games. I'm not | |
alone in this. I bet some of you reading do the same thing. When | |
I learn a new skill, I am totally thinking about it being added to | |
my character sheet as I draw a 1 in a little column. The skills | |
I choose to collect are probably a little skewed toward things | |
that are more useful in a fantasy adventure than in real life, but | |
that's not so bad. I once helped a friend get back into their | |
house when they locked themselves out, so who says lockpicking | |
isn't practical! | |
It's not just skills, though. I travel and move through life ready | |
to pounce on the newest quest that comes along. "Quests aren't | |
real," you say? Screw that jazz. You're just not looking hard | |
enough. When a ridiculous opportunity arises and you say yes, | |
BAM!, you're on a quest. Max out that XP and level up, my dudes. | |
For those of you who aren't quite ready to up-and-move to another | |
country, or join the military on a lark, or enter religious life, | |
or go live on a boat in the middle of a lake, or whatever, you can | |
still power-level by using some of the sweet loot available to you | |
at your local library. That's right, I'm talking about textbooks. | |
Simply read these magic tomes from the start to the end to add | |
a skill rank in whatever subject you desire. That's it! And it's | |
free! Maybe the library doesn't carry the subject you want and the | |
latest volume is like $7,000 at the campus bookstore... so get an | |
old version online for pennies. You think the information in Intro | |
to Physics has changed that much in 10 years? | |
When you're not in school anymore it might not occur to you that | |
you are still allowed access to textbooks. Just because it wasn't | |
assigned in a class doesn't mean you can't just pick it up on your | |
own. It doesn't have to be related to work, or a hobby, or | |
anything at all. Maybe you always sucked at math in school. Maybe | |
you can't remember the first thing about Algebra. If you want to | |
fix that, just get a textbook. Seriously. You're older, wiser, and | |
know how to apply your brain meats to stuff. Pick it up and start | |
at the beginning. The book will teach you. That's what it's for. | |
You won't have a teacher, so instead you'll have to, | |
I dunno...Google it. Hit up Khan Academy, or wikipedia, or bug | |
someone on a Tilde server. It's not hard. | |
That's the secret of the whole fucking universe, by the way. It's | |
not that hard. Nothing is. It just takes some time to learn. Start | |
at the beginning and build up the knowledge. | |
You want to know how to build rockets? Do it. Like, for real. The | |
knowledge to do so is free. What else are you working on that's so | |
important that you can't crack a book in the bathroom for a few | |
minutes while you do your business? | |
Learn new skills, level up, take on new quests, be heroes. |