For me, August is nice because, well, my birthday falls in August. And birthdays mean presents, attention, and forgiveable amounts of gluttony. Wait, I get these all year round? So how is August different?
Summer vacation is almost over. My gaming sense and teaching sense conflict and I know I should be doing more to prepare for one while simultaneously doing more of the other.
Which one’s which? Well it changes.
Sometimes I game like a madman, whether it’s on the tabletop or through the computer. It’s August! Your vacational clock is ticking! Paint more, play more, buy more stuff.
Sometimes I prep like a madman, scanning articles and making copies.
By contrast, the first month out of work I’m as unproductive as can be. I lollygaggle from place to place. Drag heels on fixing something. Procrastinate on all my projects, fun and work related. It’s like my brain is starting to thaw out from the constant day-to-day interactions with students.
But then August rolls around and I actually do some things.
And somewhere along the way, something terrible happens.
I freeze up.
My wife finds me curled up, wondering what will happen in the coming year. I’m physically sick in the gut or tired or unusually quiet.
It’s August 1. I have a week until a pre-work workshop. Two weeks until I go to GenCon, the coolest gaming convention around.
In Dungeons and Dragons, the sequence of events in combat is determined by comparing the results of a roll everyone takes at the start of the combat round. It’s called initiative. It sounds important because it is. Initiative determines who will set the pace of combat. Will it be fight or flight? Will someone win out and eliminate the enemy before the enemy has a chance to move?
Will I game, will I work, will I freeze?
I think I’ll roll for initiative.