|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- GET ALL OBLIVIANA--ISSUE 002--PART 3 <-------  ||  OsoaWeek  ||  Get All Obliviana  ||  Issue 002  ||  -------> (Cup OWga002c, Created v3 (10/3/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Wed 6/9/99 * 11:09 PM I got the July issue of Wired Magazine today, with my ad in it. I saw a guy on the bus reading it too. I haven't seen any big surge in hits yet. And by "surge" I mean like maybe 20 or 30 hits a day, as opposed to the 2 to 3 I get now. And most of those 2 or 3 hits are me looking at the page. Introducing Stormjaunting. This is the new challenge. Stormjaunting and LWOR and Fonosta Device and the whole game system... All these things are very much interrelated. So it makes sense to release all this stuff together. And it will be released first in Aerie. Aerie is the wellspring. It is at the center of Obliviana. I need to come up with an angle for Stormjaunting. Aerie is an angle for Obliviana--it "just" this one, single online book. So what is Stormjaunting "just"? "Add major depth to your life, starting NOW!" "Are you just feeding your need for infostimulation, surfing the web? Want to get into reality like you never have before? Yo, here's your chance." What I really need to do is to get people to try Stormjaunting. But I also need to develop the whole system. I don't have a handle on all of it yet, myself. Fri 6/11/99 * 9:01 PM Well, one thing I can say is that I am happy with my website. I've never been able to say that before. I think that some people will indeed get into Severe Repair, and then get into some of the other stuff. My website is of course "in progress", and I don't think that the current site is going to attract that much attention--but it is absolutely a good start. I'm comfortable with the idea of total strangers checking the site out, from the ad in Wired. This plateau is a big step, but it is just a step. I have to get moving on the next step. Earlier, I stepped back and looked at the core of how something like Obliviana can work--at its most basic, Obliviana has to stir something in an individual, and that individual has to want to keep coming back to Obliviana. There are a bunch of aspects of Obliviana that are interesting. Sevre Repair, Stormjaunting, Zope, Aerie Obliviana, Superior, etc. But there needs to be an overall thing tying them together. This has ever been my quest. Here's an idea that might relate to this issue: the idea that in order to "join" Obliviana, you have to "get into" Aerie. That is, there will be a letters section in Aerie, and if your letter, along with your chosen Fonosta Name, gets "printed", THAT is the thing that makes you a member. This idea reinforces the idea of Aerie as a "singular book", and it also helps solve the "Fonosta Registration" problem--an issue that has been vexing me ever since OsoaWeek001, 7/28/94. Scrip--which is an awesome theme-and-variation thing (as are Beanie Babies and Magic: The Gathering)--is definitely in theory a cornerstone of Obliviana. Little World of Racetracks, with its many themes and variations, is also a cornerstone. I checked out a webiste today called "thestone.net". There a product called "The Stone" that you have to buy before you can get access to the online world that is within the website. I like the idea of artifacts relating to digital stuff. And even though I don't know much about thestone.net, I do see it, in a broad sense, as a very good idea--anchoring the nebulous online experience with a physical object. For a long time now, I have had the idea of the Jukewand. I really like Jukewand as I created it a few years ago--two brass pipe segments of different lengths, one connector, and two end-caps. My philosophy behind Jukewand is one that is not good for business. I would say that "your Jukewand is as close as the nearest Home Depot". In other words, go ahead and build it yourself. My business side tells me that this is not a good idea, but my business side is a very small part of me. I know its better to have something to sell, but I feel more comfortable with at least giving people the option to go ahead and do it themselves. And from a business standpoint, perhaps this is not such a bad idea. I'm not selling the item, but I also don't have the overhead and infrastructure needsthat come with selling something like that. But then again, I DO absolutely intend to sell stuff. It's just, in terms of playing Obliviana, I do not want any purchases from Obliviana to be mandatory. I see the product I am going to sell as "premium" items--objects that will be desried, but not required. Well, I mentioned "playing Obliviana". Obliviana as game. This is what Obliviana has been, at its core, in theory, ever since OsoaWeek001, the official start of Obliviana, Tarb 1. In college I had an idea to create a live-action role-playing game. It never got further than some sketchy development, but in conceiving of Scrip, I can see some echo, some similarity to the live-action role-playing game idea. 9:29 PM So what I'm talking about is a cultural phenomenon. Or rather, something which COULD become a cultural phenomenon. I want Obliviana to be a game that exists on its own. That is, I do not want to have to administer it. I want people to do their own administering. I will remain at the core of Obliviana, and Aerie will be an integral part of Obliviana, but people will be able to play Obliviana on their own. Scrip is absolutely essential to Obliviana. And Stormjaunting is absolutely essential to Scrip. Today, I did my second "chorded" Storm--that is, two Storm at once. The effect was very similar to my first attempt. One of the big differences between single Storms and the "Chorded" Variety is that single Storms require maintainence--they tend to lose energy rather quickly. The Chorded ones are like a chemical reaction--they "burn" on their own power, for quite a long time. Plus, there are 43,472 Chorded Storms, 86,944 when order is considered. This is as oppsed to the 209 basic Storms. I believe that order does matter, so the number is 86,944. That's a heck of a lot of Storms. At one per day, it'd take over 238 years to try every one. And really, there is a limit to the number of Chorded Storms that can be done in a day. Ten is definitely too many. Five is also probably too many. Anyway, the idea here is that there are so many to choose from, that I think there will be great interest in the subject of choosing your Chorded Storms. I have to come up with a new term for this, I think, also. In terms of the terminology, Chordeds really do feel more like "storms" than Singles. That is, they rage under their own power. 9:43 PM So let me get back to the mechanics of the game. Stormjaunts are gone on. Scrip is produced. Each Scrip has the Keeping half and the Trading half. Players establish their Oblviana identity, called their "Fonosta". This is done by "getting into" Aerie Obliviana. With all these elements in place, Scrip trading can get going. Stormjaunting then becomes both a wonderful thing unto itself, and a means of producing Scrip. The value of a piece of Scrip is determined by a number of factors: [1] Aesthetic quality. Variations in Scrip design will be virtually limitless. Scrip quality will vary from the awsome to the mundane. [2] Friction Enhancer. What was done during the Stormjaunt. [3] Fame. The fame and reputation of the Stormjaunter. [4] The numbers of the Storm. Collectors might favor certain of the 209 Storms... And... FONOSTA DEVICE This is another cornerstone idea. And I think I might have a good element for it here--an idea that I had a few years ago--the idea that Jot/Glyph "deals" could be time-specific, and "offered" online. This idea maintains my company as central to the game, while allowing individuals to fully administer their own game play. This idea would involve Deals, which are ways in which Jots can be transformed. So, at any given time, there will be a set of Deals, and over time, old Deals will be removed and new Deals will be added. This is an extremely vital idea. Sun 6/13/99 * 1:49 PM Well, Wired has been out at least four days now, and I haven't seen any real increase in hits. This is starting to get me down. But I realize that it shouldn't get me down. I am not yet where I want to be in the design of Obliviana. I shall get my hits. But I must move forward. So I have this whole direction, of Scrip and Stormjaunting and Fonosta Device and all that. And I already have online Aerie v2, with OsoaWeek and Superior and Severe Repair. And I have my boardgame, Vulpine Gathering, sitting in the corner gathering dust. And I have Vamershee, the cool origami game. And the new 8-2-5 game. And my new idea for "Trash the Airport Meadow", with audio clips and stuff. Yeah. All this stuff. But where am I at? Aerie is the anchor. It's an understandable thing. "A cool online book." Yeah. But I do want to bring it all together. More specifically, I want to bring it together in a simple idea that people will be compelled by. "Deepen Your Presence" Yeah. How about "New Online Subculture"? "Be part of a brand new subculture called Obliviana." "Tired of mainstream culture? Tired of lame, commercialized subcultures? Check out Obliviana, a brand new, really cool, online subculture." 3:35 PM The idea of "introducing" Obliviana in a fictional environment is interesting and practical. It can serve as a means to get real people into it. And fictional people are much easier to get along with. Part of my problem with Obliviana is that I have to deal with people in the context of the mass media as it exists today. And when it comes to original content, it seems like it really does require millions of dollars to promote such a thing to get people into it. So maybe people are used to being coaxed with massively-expensive marketing to get them into the latest original content. But I have no marketing budget. I think that really, the Stormjaunting aspect of Obliviana is the most unique, and the element that could gain word-of-mouth momentum. I'm on Storm 105 right now, and I'm planning on chording it with Storm 1. I'm gonna go out, but I have no idea where I'm going. Let's see how well Stormjaunting does. 6/14/99 * 12:07 AM It worked extremely well. I left without having much of an idea what I was doing. I wound up driving on all back roads of Bergen County and New York, finally getting to the Pallisades Center Mall via the back way. Then on the way home I took the Pallisades Parkway. It was quite awesome. It was a cool little adventure. And Stormjaunting made it happen. Anyway, I'm a little depressed about Obliviana. I have my little ad in Wired, and I have my website in great shape, but I'm still nowhere. So I really have to figure out exactly what I need to do to get to the next level. Firstly, Stormjaunting is absolutely going to be at the core of the next level. I pretty much have a handle on Stormjaunting and Scrip. It's Fonosta Device where I still need to do some very low-level work. My idea about Deals published on the Web is a very good idea. Now I have to develop the system! I have been down the road of developing the system several times before. But I think I need to look at this issue with a new perspective. The system has to be simple and compelling. So what are the aspects here? [1] Basic Jots each represent a single Stormjaunt. One piece of Scrip, one Jot, one Stormjaunt. [2] Jots are traded for "High Jots". Some High Jots will "cost" not only Jots, but also High Jots. [3] Fonosta Device is to be made up of a certain level of High Jot only. This has been an issue I have gone back and forth on in the past. But I think, now, that fewer is better, and Fonosta Device can work in its mission of conveying information with fewer elements. So, basic Jots will not be in the Fonosta Device. [4] In order for High Jots to have meaning, there has to be an overall system. And the system is "Octagon 8-2-5", with 80 subdivisions. [5] The idea is that every official Stormjaunt is based on a Friction Enhancer, and each Friction Enhancer "resides" in one of the 80 sectors of Octagon. High Jots will also be based on this system. [6] So, one big challenge is to subdivide Octagon into the 80 sectors. The actual subdivisions will be in 8wise, 2wise, 5wise (this "wise" thing is new and tentative). The major division is the 8wise. The 8wise in Octagon is directly related to the 8 Major Racetracks in LWOR. Likewise, the 5wise is related to the Minor Racetracks. I am still working on the 2wise, and it may yet be the Railway and the Waterway. [7] All Jots are "archetypes", that is, they do not have a single appearance. My goal is to create a system flexible enough that nearly infinite variations of the Jots can be created, like fonts with letters. [8] I also want the divisions to be "expandable" and "flexible". That is, some basic attributes are set at the beginning, and then as new things need to be categorized, they will go to the division that is deemed most appropriate. And with this addition, the division becomes all the richer. Okay. Now let me deal with Revolvers. REVOLVERS With this new idea of the Major and Minor Racetracks really being of different type, the Major Revolvers and the Minor Revolvers have to be different. This means that there will be 8 Major Revolvers and 5 Minor Revolvers. Here is a reference ( this is referred to in Get All Obliviana 1 also): *********** THEME WORK 2 7/11/98 [1] Arctahojast--Severe Repair HIGHWAY--parallel strainght lines, stripes SMOKE--wavy "parallel" lines [2] Voodholo--Superior SCRIBBLE--random, messy INK--messy ink splotches [3] Pilcansas--Halfevil Graphics BOX--squares or "square wave" Dice [4] Hucaway--Devastating Nightscape COFFEE--cups and glasses of all sorts [5] Moodbruc--Zope SAW--jagged, lightning-bolt-like TRIANGLE Thunderstorm [6] Roptoon--Welcome to the Weasel Village Mall CRESCENT--crescent and water-wave Fish [7] Inhusto--Forge of Wander FENCE--cross-hatch patterns, other fence designs BRAID--intervoven lines, interlocking patterns RAILROAD--RR tracks, but too similar to Fence WEB--spider-web design [8] Fogoncs--Wild Pioneer of New Jersey ARROW--arrows BLADE--series of blades, similar to arrow [9] Wroohoots--Super Object MOUNTAIN--like a graph, resembles side-view of a mountain Bird Wings [10] Twahokum--Vulpine FLORA--plants Wood [11] Owltoco--Obliviana Central SPHERE--circles or simple waves Clock [12] Quonchaw DAZE--psychedelic patterns Fairie STAR--stars of various shapes Spiral [13] Barolcoo CASTLE--rock or brick wall-like Candle Ghost ******************* This list has 11 Revolvers, since Quonchaw's and Barolcoo's Revolvers are still undefined. Let me go over them. These are rock solid, total, 100%: [1] Arctahojast--Severe Repair [2] Voodholo--Superior [5] Moodbruc--Zope The rest: [11] Owltoco--Obliviana Central Owltoco is absolutely the "central Obliviana" Revolver, but I might change the name: [7] Inhusto--Forge of Wander This name will be changed to "Stormjaunting", and I may even change the Racetrack. [3] Pilcansas--Halfevil Graphics This one is somewhat in question, though it is fairly solid. [4] Hucaway--Devastating Nightscape This one is in question. [6] Roptoon--Welcome to the Weasel Village Mall This one is pretty solid. In the past few days I've thought of the name "Trash the Airport Meadow" for stuff like this, but this might be the name of a subdivision within WTTWVM. [8] Fogoncs--Wild Pioneer of New Jersey This one is in doubt. Reviews and stuff... I don't know. This does have ties to Friction Enhancer... [9] Wroohoots--Super Object This is pretty solid. Super Object is something I do want to develop further. [10] Twahokum--Vulpine The name might change, but my games are very much something I plan on devloping further. So, it looks like of the Major Revolvers, several are in question. And two of the minor ones, Super Object and Vulpine, really ought to be major. Devastating Nightscape and Wild Pioneer will most likely be demoted or blended into other Revolvers. So I have some work to do on the Revolvers! Goodnight. Mon 6/14/99 * 10:25 PM Property TV, New Zealand, great RealVideo show... Anyhow, where am I at? Aerie v2 one week anniversary. Yeah, okay. I may have gotten one or two hits in the past 24 hours. Cool, huh? Well, it is very hard, emotionally, to put so much effort into something, and then see no results. And now, right after v2, I have to start on v3, and the next level of Obliviana. New boots made in Romania. So where am I at? Okay. Reorganizing the Revolvers. Here we go... [1] Arctahojast--Severe Repair Solid. [2] Voodholo--Superior Solid. [3] Pilcansas--Halfevil Graphics Fairly Solid. [4] Hucaway--Vulpine/Devastating Nightscape Names in question. [5] Moodbruc--Zope Solid. [6] Roptoon--Stormjaunting NEW! (was Forge of Wander) [7] Inhusto--Super Object Moved. [8] Fogoncs--Welcome to the Weasel Village Mall Moved. [9] Wroohoots-- [10] Twahokum-- [11] Owltoco--Obliviana Central [12] Quonchaw [13] Barolcoo Wild Pioneer of New Jersey is OUT. So what was Wild Pioneer, and what shall become of it? Wild Pioneer was the continuation of Anything But Monday Magazine and Hemisinister Review and stuff like that. Also, the New Jersey feature. I am not very enthusiastic about a new initiative to do this kind of material. All of the review/NJ stuff will be a part of Friction Enhancer which is a part of Stormjaunting. Obliviana has a history, and I want to manifest Obliviana in the context of that history. Revolvers are major areas of content. That Wild Pioneer is not a Revolver does not mean that it is gone. Now, a new idea, the minor Racetracks being the Obliviana Central things: [1] Obliviana Central [2] Aerie Obliviana [3] Little World of Racetracks [4] Obliviana Archive [5] "Other" Obliviana (non-Aeire stuff on website) This is just an idea right now. So, let me look at the current list of 8 Revolvers: Severe Repair Superior Halfevil Graphics Vulpine/Devastating Nightscape Zope Stormjaunting Super Object Welcome to the Weasel Village Mall Right off the bat, I see that Stormjaunting maybe should be number 8. Hence: [1] Arctahojast--Severe Repair [2] Voodholo--Superior [3] Pilcansas--Halfevil Graphics [4] Hucaway--Vulpine/Devastating Nightscape [5] Moodbruc--Zope [6] Roptoon--Welcome to the Weasel Village Mall [7] Inhusto--Super Object [8] Fogoncs--Stormjaunting Definitely. And look at the pattern: 1, 2, 7, and 8 start with "S". Hmm... Just had a little inspiration... nah... I thought about calling the boardgame "Devastating Nightscape". But really, it should be called "Vulpine Gathering". The problem with this is that there is a rather popular game out there called "Magic: The Gathering". But I came up with the term "Vulpine Gathering" long before Magic ever came out. The reason my boardgame should be called "Vulpine Gathering" is that the game involves collecting things in a clever way. "Vulpine" means "foxlike", which can be taken to mean "clever". "Devastating Nightscape" is the name of a computer game I developed but up to now, have never produced. "Devastating Nightscape" is an awesome name, and it is a much stronger name in terms of marketing and conceiving of the game and all that. And heck, I could call that computer game "Wield of Transit". Whatever. But I think I should consider "Devastating Nightscape". 11:09 PM The game Revolver is meant to encompass all of my game projects. So naming it presents a little bit of a challenge. But I think... I think that the name of the boardgame can be the name of the Revolver... And this also involves how the games relate to each other... Now, I want to relate my current list of Revolver with the 1988 NIACHUZM. [1] Arctahojast--Severe Repair [2] Voodholo--Superior [3] Pilcansas--Halfevil Graphics [4] Hucaway--Devastating Nightscape--Unreal Systems [5] Moodbruc--Zope [6] Roptoon--Welcome to the Weasel Village Mall--Cut'n'Shoot Records [7] Inhusto--Super Object--Mystery Etcetera [8] Fogoncs--Stormjaunting--Zone Supernature [11] Owltoco--Obliviana Central--Nomadi Central Interweb--relates to Scrip in Stormjaunting Anything But Monday Productions (video)--relates to WVM, but I have been against video for quite a while now. I might be a little more accepting of video now, but I still want to focus on audio. Halfevil Graphics (print)--the current Halfevil Graphics is all about computer graphics, whereas the old HG was about print publishing. And I pretty much don't do print anymore. 11:17 PM So--looking at the current eight Major Revolvers, is there any major area missing? I don't think so. I'm not 100% with the set, but I think I'm pretty close. I'm thinking, actually, that Stormjaunting should perhaps be in Owltoco, since it is the central activity. This does make a lot of sense. One aspect propelling me to this idea that that Stormjaunting is very much based in the Major Revolvers, the 8wise, and it wouldn't make much sense for it to be one of the 8. Then... the other Minor Racetracks could be aspects of it... Friction Enhancer, Fonosta Device, Scrip, etc. Hmm... so what about Obliviana Central? And OsoaWeek? Well... OsoaWeek COULD be a Revolver unto itself... or it could be a Minor Revolver... and then Wild Pioneer could come back, albeit with a different name, I think. Trash the Airport Meadow? Hmm... that's a very distinct possibility... So... what could this new setup look like? [1] Racetrack Arctahojast--Severe Repair [2] Racetrack Voodholo--Superior [3] Racetrack Pilcansas--Halfevil Graphics [4] Racetrack Hucaway--Devastating Nightscape [5] Racetrack Moodbruc--Zope [6] Racetrack Roptoon--Welcome to the Weasel Village Mall [7] Racetrack Inhusto--Super Object [8] Racetrack Fogoncs--Trash the Airport Meadow [9] Raceway Wroohoots--Friction Enhancer [10] Raceway Twahokum--Fonosta Device [11] Raceway Owltoco--Stormjaunting [12] Raceway Quonchaw--Jukewand [13] Raceway Barolcoo--Scrip [14] Waterway Jincafurhee-- [15] Railway Stunposso-- OsoaWeek Octagon Forge of Wander Obliviana Central Aerie Obliviana Tue 6/15/99 * 12:01 AM Hey! 200 days to Y2K! Wow. Anyway, that list up there is quite awesome. I went back to the notes I used to come up with all the Racetrack names to get those tentative Waterway and Railway names. Maybe "Stunposo"? Anyway, this is quite a different way of looking at things for me. I do like this new direction. Railway=x Waterway=o Alright, goodnight. Wed 6/16/99 * 12:24 AM 199 Days till Y2K. I tellya man, I'm pretty depressed. I mean, I was so focused on Aerie v2, and I got it done, and now... Over the past few months I had Star Wars to look forward to. And Aerie v2. And Austin Powers, which turned out to be a fucking horrible movie. But I had this stuff to look forward to, and v2 was very focused and everything. Now, Y2K is all the closer, and I'm gonna face the task of organizing my storage on my week's vacation later this month. I do have a cool trip to look forward to in September, to Newfoundland and Labrador. But a lot of forces are squeezing in on me here. In the past 24 hours I got one hit on my website, and it was me. This means NO HITS. Over the past week, I've averaged four hits per day. So maybe a few people have gone to obliviana.com from the Wired ad, but it's very few people. And rationally, I realize that that ad is very small and just a start. But emotionally it's pretty devastating and anticlimactic. Now I have the task before me of taking Obliviana to the next level, and it's a much more amorphous task than doing SR for v2. Add to this the usual woes of young married couples, namely money, money, and money. I have a decent job, and I don't think we live all that extravagantly, but we fucking can't make ends meet. Part of the problem is that this country is a godamn joke. Taxes, ultimately, are at like 90%. This includes all the income tax and sales tax, and all the taxes levied on all the goods and services we buy before we buy them. If, say, 15% of these taxes are justified for matters of national defense, infrastructure, and the like, that means that in this country right now we are 75% slaves. That's a sick realization, but there is some truth to it. This country is going nowhere. I love America for what it was. But it is quickly becoming America in name only. I have very little faith in this country, and this is WITHOUT the looming potential disasters of Y2K. And yet I keep on working on Obliviana. My resolve is shaken at this point, but still strong. 199 days. Under 200. Y2K adds to my frustrations. A few weeks ago I had the thought that maybe I should give up on trying to make Obliviana into a success this year, and instead focus on preserving Obliviana in case Y2K causes massive disruptions. And I am very much committed to getting together all Obliviana data and materials, and getting it all ready in case of a disaster. So what about Obliviana becoming a company and making money? My goal has been for this to happen in Summer 1999. Well, that's only a few days away, and it's only gonna last three months. Preparing Obliviana for Y2K is my top priority right now. I have to say, though, that I have not given up on Obliviana taking off in the near future. But as Y2K looms ever larger, the prospect of a true Obliviana Launch becomes weaker and weaker. So if I do kind of give up on Obliviana making money this year, it's really no big deal. I still have to keep on working on Obliviana, I have to get it to where I want it to be, audience or not. It's just, when it comes to resources of time and energy and money, I have to put preparation ahead of trying to make Obliviana a real company. This is in the short term, of course. The next 199 days. I do want Aerie v3 to come out this Summer. It will have Zope and Stormjaunting. Okay. That's it for now. Goodnight. Thu 6/17/99 * 12:11 AM Went to the Barnes & Noble earlier that just opened up five minuted from here. I got two more copies of the Wired Magazine. I got zero hits in the past 24 hours. I think I should stop worrying about hits. I have to take Obliviana to the next level, and this does not have to involve other people. It may not have an audience at the next level, but I will take it to the next level. I think that the reorganization of the Revolvers I did a few days ago is cool. Stormjaunting in Owltoco is awesome. Well, I'm friggin' exhausted. I gotta go to bed. 11:26 PM DIVX is dead! Alright! It's really great news. Okay. So I've been rather blank for the past few days, but I had a revelation on the bus home, and I'm a little more animated now. The idea is that Obliviana is a secret world that's all around us, and that through Stormjaunting, we can make contact with that world. I have had very similar ideas in the past. "Obliviana is a place." i something I used to say. But I was thinking of it as an actual physical location--hidden by Situation. But this idea is more along the lines of "we're already in the real world, we just can't see it". What I like about this idea is that it is a paradigm that makes Obliviana and Stormjaunting much easier to understand. You "tune in" to the world of Obliviana. I also like the idea of being on a new frontier, of being a wild pioneer. This idea is good in that it will make the marketing of Obliviana much easier. It is an idea that can be easily communicated. That is, the basic idea of there being another world, or a hidden "level" of this world--along with the idea that you can make contact with this world--this is a cool idea. In fact, when it comes to my understanding of the actual mechanics behind Stormjaunting, I think that this new idea may indeed make sense. Previously, I had thought that setting a Storm altered your situational body--and I still think it does--but by doing this, you are able to perceive and feel, to some extent, the hidden layer of reality, which is called, of course, "Obliviana"! So, the "realm" of Obliviana... it does involve situational forces, but it also... Okay. While Stormjaunting, it's LIKE the world around you is different. You see things in a different light. So in my experiences with Stormjaunting, I have absolutely experienced a phenomenon consistent with a hidden layer of reality. 11:47 PM So, I think that this might be a pretty good breakthrough. I mean, even before I had this idea, I had a decent idea of where I was going. But with this idea, I think that it will be a lot easier to set forth the basic definitions of Obliviana. "Look around you. There's something missing in the world. Something you're not getting. The mystery of the nature of the universe has been on people's minds pretty much forever. And while I don't have all the answers, I do have an idea about a hidden level of reality, called "Obliviana". It's a level of the world around us that we normally cannot perceive. But I have a specific method by which you can perceive and interact with this hidden layer of reality. This method is called "Stormjaunting", and it's quite easy to get into." Something like that. Sun 6/20/99 * 11:08 PM I just wrote OsoaWeek255, and in it I write about how I have a new direction. Yesterday I did my fifth "chorded" Storm, and I made my first piece of Stormjaunt Scrip. So, the new direction is Stormjaunting. But one element is still vague: Fonosta Device. So this is what I want to work on right now. FONOSTA DEVICE--SOME GENERAL CONCEPTS [1] A Stormjaunter goes on a Stormjaunt, and produces a piece of Stormjaunt Scrip which represent the Stormjaunt. [2] Each piece of Scrip is represented in the "working" Fonosta Device as a single Jot. [3] Jots are "traded" to form "High Jots". [4] There are 91 days in each 13-week "Trick Sojourn" (TS). Right now, I think that Stormjaunters should go on only one Stormjaunt per day. So, there is the potential for there to be 91 Jots per TS. [5] The goal of Fonosta Device is for a large number of Jots to be represented by a very small number of High Jots. To accomodate this, High Jots themselves can be traded for "higher" High Jots. [6] 8-2-5 is the basis for the distinctions between Jots and High Jots. The "8side" is the main point of distinction. Mon 6/21/99 * 11:59 AM Well, I overslept, and I'm taking the day off of work. I did not intend for this to happen. When my alarm went off I turned it off instead of hitting snooze. I called work, and they weren't that busy, so I'm taking the day off. It's the Summer Solstice. Summer 1999. The longest day of the year, the year 1999. So I have the day stretched out before me. I think I should go Stormjaunting. But I should also get some work done on Obliviana. It is in Fonosta Device that I need to do the most basic work. And even beyond Fonosta Device, I have to set forth some of the definitions behind 8-2-5. And specifically, I need to figure out the major distinctions between the 8 Major 8sides... THE 8SIDES [1] The 8sides are the eight Revolvers/Racetracks. The idea here is that each one is a basic kind of Stormjaunting. And, the set of eight will be able to cover any kind of Stormjaunting. So, these eight categories wil be such that when there is a new Friction Enhancer, it will "fit" into one of the 8 more than the others. 12:40 PM Well, I took a shower and I got an idea. The idea is for me to go down to Plainsboro, where I used to live. I haven't set foot in that town since I left, over three years ago. There was a trail, a jogging trail, that I used to go on. I could go down there and walk that trail. I lived there from about May 1995 to May 1996. I moved in with my girlfriend, Kerri, but we broke up in October 1995, so I lived there alone for the rest of the year-long lease. The place was very annoying. The commute to New York was two-and-a-half hours each way. Th parking at the train station was really irritating--you had to type your parking space number into a little machine. Any mistake, and you get like a $70 fine. At the apartments, there were a lot of annoying kids, bouncing basketballs around at all hours. It was a mess, both figuratively and literally. When I mved out, I had to ask my parents to come and help me clean the kitchen and the bathroom, which were disgusting. I got my apartment in Clifton with, I believe, a two-week overlap, so I had a lot of time to move. That period of time was really weird. I was all screwed up emotionally. I met a girl online, Sarah, and we went out on one date. I got infatuated with her, but quickly realized there was no hope for a relationship. This led to an emotional catharthis--I cried a lot on my drives between Clifton and Plainsboro. Then, once I was moved in in Clifton, I was inspired to try and contact my girlfriend from college, Erin. I called her parents' house, and talked to her father. He informed me that she just got married the day before. I got really freaked out. And I found a dollar bill with 209 in the serial number. It was a week or two later that I met Denice online. We met on 6/7/96, and we got married on 11/15/97. So I propose to go back to that place, that Plainsboro, today. Cool! Wed 6/30/99 * 10:40 AM Well, I did go to Plainsboro that day. It was a cool day. I returned my boots and got a half-size bigger, and I did walk that trail in Plainsboro. Now, I am in the middle of my storage project. I went there on Sunday, after staying up all night, and then I went there four separate times on each day, Monday and Tuesday. This is because it was sweltering, and inside the storage it must have been well over 100 degrees, so I couldn't work in there for too long at a stretch. Wow. I'm kinda out of it. Anyway, I did a great deal of work, and now I have to define exactly what my priorities are. Okay. My main priority is to protect Obliviana in the event of a Y2K disaster. My solution is to create a digital archive, in the form of a set of CDs. Such an archive has usefulness beyond Y2K-- [1] I will have a complete digital archive, which I do not have now. All my data is on tons of different disks all over the place. [2] Having sets of this data in several locations will protect it from many kinds of disasters or problems, apart from Y2K. So, this new project should be my focus for now. OBLIVIANA DIGITAL ARCHIVE (ODA) 6/30/99 [1] The goal of ODA is to create a digital archive of Obliviana data on CD-R by September 1, 1999. This gives me two months. [2] Since so much Obliviana material exists in non-digital form, it is not possible to create a complete archive in the time I have. But I do plan on digitizing some material. [3] The source material for the archive will be from two main sources: data that is already digital, and material that needs to be digitized. [4] I will also back up the applications needed to edit the files, as well as fonts and a few select games (MAME 35, for one). [5] My intent is for the archive to be housed in a small CD carrying case. I need to look into such cases to see what kind of capacity they have. [6] I plan on making at least three copies of the archive, but maybe more. STUFF THAT NEEDS TO BE DIGITIZED [1] Audio. I need to digitize pretty much all of the tapes of original material that I have. This includes the audio track of videos. I will store this material as MP3. If the material is mono, I might be able to get upwards of 20 hours of material on a single CD-ROM. This is a major part of the project. [2] Text works, such as Bible II, There's People in the Woods for Godsake, "Crystal Ball", etc. These can be scanned to save time (as opposed to being retyped). [3] Zope. I need to scan in all of Zope's Big Atomic Party, the epic "Halfevil", etc. [4] Print Publications. I should scan or photograph all of my print works. Every page. [5] Notebooks. I have numerous notebooks, and I should go through them to find material worth recording for this archive. 11:01 AM Wow. This is a pretty big project. The digitization aspect is big, but getting together the digital data is going to be a real challenge in itself! The audio aspect that I mentioned above is cool in that I wanted to do that anyway for the "Trash the Airport Meadow" music project. I will have to forego video for this backup, due to size limitations. I will do audio-only backups of videos, though. I wonder how many hours of audio I have in my overall A/V archive? Well, I can choose the material that is going into the archive, of course. But even if I limit it to 2 CDs, that's most likely going to be over 40 hours of space. So this is the challenge--to create this archive in two months. Thu 7/1/99 * 1:31 AM I got a lot of work done today at storage. Nowhere near as hot as Monday and Tuesday. I think that tomorrow I should be able to finish up with the physical organization of boxes. I had a pretty bad scare a few hours ago--I discovered that my G3 was infected with a virus called "SevenDust". This virus has numerous variations, some destructive, and some not. When the destructive strains are triggered, they destroy all non-application files on the main hard drive. I was really nervous and scared as I took the steps to combat the virus. I did finally get rid of it (completely, I hope). It was strain C, which according to reference info, is not destructive. But the episode emphasized even more the need for a total archive. Sun 7/4/99 * 8:55 PM I just finished several issue of OsoaWeek, catching up. I have to put them online, still. So, with my storage pretty much sorted out, I have to get my apartment in shape. There are still MANY boxes in storage called "Obliviana Raw"--but I cannot go through them now. I am faced with a somewhat similar dilemma now. I have a huge "tub" full of papers and things, and I don't quite know what to do with it. The main thing is that the Archive is the most important thing right now. And as far as the "raw" stuff goes, it's only germane if there is material that needs to be digitized, as well as the problem of it being in the way. So anyway, the other day, I got three CD cases, each of which holds 24 CDs. I also got 30 blank CD-Rs. And on another positive note, MAME .35 FINAL came out today, meaning that MacMAME .35 FINAL should be out in the next few days. It will take 3 CD-Rs to fully back up MAME, but it's worth it. No game can even compare to MAME in importance. MAME supports over 1,400 arcade games. And to me, it is well worth taking up 3/24ths of the space in my Archive. The audio portion of my backup is something that I am looking forward to. But I should have the data portion under control before embarking on the audio portion. I want to create my Archive first as a master set, and then create copies of it. If possible, I want to have an overall catalog file that I can put on all the disks. This will be possible if I create the master set first. But... I will want to do direct disk-to-disk copies, so this idea probably won't work. Well, the overall catalog will be on one or more disks, anyway. Regarding the Obliviana Raw boxes, I made the decision that whatever is in them, will NOT be included in the Archive. Dealing with those boxes is a job that will take months. And this "tub" I have right now--this is something that could take a very long time to go through. So maybe I should start filling up "raw" boxes... Tue 7/6/99 * 11:37 PM On my mind right now... MAME .35 Final is out. MacMAME .35 is coming soon... Obliviana Archive, including MAME and some essential albums in MP3... Storm 119, check on my situational body, in transformation a few weeks ago, now in a new state, but I am avoiding dealing with it... Palm V! I want Palm V! Downloading thousands of Palm Apps on Hotline! Playing with Palm Emulator with OS 3.1! Must sell videogame collectible on Ebay to buy Palm V! Apartment full of stuff... put much stuff in storage... Okay... THE STATE OF OBLIVIANA Well, where is Obliviana at? I have written OsoaWeeks for the past months, but they are not online yet. These days Obliviana Website is getting maybe 6 or 7 hits a day on average. So a few people are checking it out. It is very Severe Repair-centric right now. This is a good thing, since it makes some sense... Obliviana development is somewhat stalled, since I must focus on the Archive for the next 2 months. But I have been getting flashes of inspiration about Obliviana. I think that the Archive is absolutely the most important thing right now. Aerie v2 is online now, and the website is focused on Severe Repair. Someone could find it and write it up somewhere, but this is out of my control. I realized this morning that I have been waiting for a break, a bit of luck, for things to go my way. But this is perhaps not the best way to operate. A few weeks ago, someone asked me about Obliviana, and I had a hard time coming up with any sort of an explanation. "It's an online book.", I said, something to that effect. It was a poor explanation. Themes and variation... definitely a big thing in Obliviana... The thing is, I have Stormjaunt Scrip, and Chorded Storms, and all this other new stuff, and it's awesome. A few weeks ago I started reorganizing LWOR. Let me check that out, above... It was from June 14, a few weeks ago. It had the Major Racetracks with Major Revolvers, and the Minor Racetracks with all Stormjaunting stuff. But I STILL lack that elusive angle, that one sentence, that one idea that can bring the whole thing together. Like the name of my company--"Obliviana Super Occult Amusement". It took me a long time to arrive at that name, but once it was around for awhile I knew it was RIGHT. "Obliviana is an online book." is not right. "Obliviana is..." There will be a sentence that will be RIGHT, but I don't have it yet. People don't want to be bothered with becoming part of something if it involves any kind of effort. It has to be something that people will very strongly DESIRE. Stormjaunting is something that I can see people desiring. But what about the whole rest of Obliviana, all the Revolvers and LWOR and everything else? People these days are totally disillusioned. Nihilism is rampant. MEANING is lost from life. IDENTITY is tough these days. I have to come back to the idea of Obliviana as a game. The idea of a "game" really is the closest totally understandable thing to what Obliviana is. The thing is, I don't think that the game of Obliviana can encompass all the stuff in Obliviana. It has to... it has to be a game that becomes like a subculture, with all the cultural stuff in Obliviana as the culture... So it would... it would have to be a very simple game that would be flexible enough to encompass all of Obliviana. Wed 7/7/99 * 12:12 AM The though just struck me that perhaps the game should onvolve both 8-2-5 AND the "Storm Codex" deck of cards--the one with 60 cards, the same deck used in Vulpine Gathering. Well, I've just been playing around with a Storm Codex I got at the Bridgewater Commons Mall, a "Pete's Wicked Winter Brew" deck. And I tried a very simple little diversion--shuffle the cards, and see how many of the SAME card are touching. I did it several times, and it seems like the average is about one pair. I got two once, and none once. I could write a short BASIC program to do this thousands of times, to see what the actual average is. Now, this little diversion in and of itself is not a game, but I think it could be the basis of a game. It is very simple, and I like the idea of the whole deck being what your "hand" is. There could be some other play mechanics, like being able to discard cards to make pairs, but then the discards could help the other players. Definite possibilities here. And I do want it to include 8-2-5. Well, goodnight. Mon 7/19/99 * 9:31 PM Well, I've been away from direct work on Obliviana for a few weeks now, but I have been working on the "New Obliviana Idea". I got my Palm V last week. I went with Peter to visit Bryan this past weekend. And I have generally been in a funk. I have not updated the Obliviana website at all since Aerie v2, though I have written a number of issues of OsoaWeek. If you are reading this far in the future, this is the Monday after JFK Jr. crashed in his plane. The TV coverage has been pretty excessive. Logos and themes songs for the tragedy, all that... As far as my Obliviana Archive project goes, I haven't really started yet. And I do need to get started. It's just that I've been feeling somewhat numb these past few weeks. A saw "Eyes Wide Shut" on Friday. It's an awesome movie, one of the best I've ever seen. So anyway, I want to go over the current state of Obliviana. STATE OF OBLIVIANA Well, what can I say? Obliviana has returned to its cocoon, it's back to being dormant. I am now in the midst of trying to discover/come up with a "New Obliviana Idea". The concept here is that there may be a whole new idea that could bring Obliviana together. I am back to the idea of Obliviana as game. And I do have a framework for the new idea. It involves a set of "objects" which are always in a state of potential flux, and players associate themselves with these "objects" in various ways. As far as the "objects" go, I have two systems--11x19=209 and 8x2x5=80. (Hmm... 11x19x8x2x5=16720...) So the idea is that there are these various "objects", and there are variations... and I don't know what... I'm still in a funk... I see people... proud in their allegiance to one of the "objects"... 9:54 PM I was just perusing a paperback book, "The Official Solution to Alexander's Star". This a is a Rubik's Cube-like puzzle, and the book is from 1982. I am very fascinated with the games and game attitudes of the early '80s. Over the weekend, I played a game called "Wiz-War". I recall seeing it a few years back at The Game Room at the Woodbridge Center Mall. It was described on the back of the box as a classic "beer and pretzel" game. And I got a vision of people playing it, maybe in a college dorm back there in the '80s... an idealized vision... then I realize that I myself was in a college dorm as early as 1985... but I was in a place and time a little apart from my vision... Anyway, I like the idea of Obliviana as a very casual but very cool kind of game. Of course, there are many such games around, such as the much more historically-recent Magic: The Gathering. I conceive of Obliviana as a game, but Stormjaunting is the core of Obliviana, and it is perhaps more of a supernatural practice than a game. But Stormjaunting has always been gamelike... The thing about Stormjaunting is that it is something that, almost by definition, reality is "against". So a broader context is absolutely required in order for people to be able to do it. This "broader context" could be in the form of a cult. In this scenario, Stormjaunting would be hyped as a means of self-discovery and spiritual exploration, in a creepy cult kind of way. But this is something that I am disgusted and appalled by, and I never want Obliviana to be this way. So, I think that "Obliviana as Game" is a viable and necessary alternative to "Obliviana as Cult". Hmm... this is a very important idea. And the funny thing is, I don't know if I've ever stated it in these terms before. I very well may have. But it doesn't really matter, because for where I am now, it is a very key concept: "Obliviana MUST be a game, to avoid it being a cult." Wow. Pretty interesting. Okay. Now, the issue becomes how central Stormjaunting is to the game. That is, should it be introduced as a simple little game which does not require Stomrjaunting, or should Stormjaunting be a part of it at all levels? At a gut level, I do not want Chorded-Storm Stormjaunting to be at the center of the game. Rather, I want Stormjaunting to be something that players do at a more advanced level. Now, I see the game containing a game-system framework that can support a wide range of activities, including Stormjaunting. The framework is a "common language". And the existing idea that points to the framework is the Fonosta Device. Now, it is clear to me that the whole system is to be based on the two systems I mentioned earlier. 11x19=209 is the Storm Codex, and it is the foundation on which Little World of Racetracks is built. LWOR encodes 8x2x5 in its 15 Racetracks. So, in this context, LWOR is the key to the system. LWOR is something that I have spent a LOT of time and effort on. And it is absolutely the basis for the game. Right now, LWOR has 8 Major Racetracks, and then things get a little muddled. On the main map, there are three Racetracks besides the Major 8--3 of the Minor Racetracks--Wroohoots, Twahokum, and Owltoco. Additionally, there are the two "Shadow Racetracks", Quonchaw and Barolcoo, which COULD be shown on the map in their segmented state. Counting the Shadow Racetracks as Minor Racetracks brings the number of Minor Racetracks to 5. This leaves the 2. Currently, these two are not a part of LWOR, but they will be. My idea is for one to be Waterway Jincafurhee, and one to be Railway Stunposso. Notice that these are not called Racetracks. I also thought of the possibilities of calling the Minor Racetracks "Raceways". I have conceived of Railway Stunposso as hugging the edge of the Storm Codex foundation, inspired by Walt Disney's idea of a train encircling the Magic Kingdom. Hmm... how about Racetracks and "Roadways", and then Waterway and Railway? Maybe the Waterway will touch all of the Racetracks in the most efficient way... And there are also a number of different "black areas" inbetween the "roads", since the roads are only one-fourth the height of the squares. This could relate to the Waterways, perhaps. Railway "touches" all the Major Racetracks. Could Waterway touch all the Minor Racetracks? The water could go through the "teleportation tunnels" with the Shadow Racetracks. In this overall context, the Storm Codex deck of 60 cards, which I have been focusing my efforts on lately, directly represents the 60 numbers around LWOR, representing the Flips (columns) and the Dires (rows). I think at this point I have to go onto my other computer and get to work in Illustrator! -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----