The Power of Storytelling

I shouldn't make this a really long entry, but I just want to say that I love the art of storytelling. The fact that we can recreate an old memory that someone who wasn't even there can be immersed in the environment - that's what makes us human, right? I partially bring this up because I played Tales of Arabian Nights for the first time and it is so story-driven. Each character is given a quest but all of the actions are controlled by your encounters across Arabia and beyond and the stories that follow. To be honest, I was a little skeptical about it when I saw people play it at Gnome Games but after trying it out myself, I want to play a game in it's entirety. (We had to declare a "winner" early because the coffeeshop was closing, although the game is much less competitive than other tabletop games, so even the concept of a winner feels a little off.) Oh, and storytelling was a skill you could learn within the game, so that was a fun meta-moment.

Another thing I like about storytelling is that a story can have so many components (sights, smells, sounds, etc), which all come flashing back when one piece happens in real life. For one reason or another, the theme song to "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" was in my head today. My dad was in high school when the movie came out and he's told me about how the movie would play at the drive-in theater really loudly and so the guitar and trumpets would just echo into the summer nights. So when certain licks of the song came to mind, I imagined myself in the town where Dad grew up on a warm June night at the drive-in. Even though I clearly never had this happen to me, my dad would share that story and my mind would fill in some of the less important details.

As I've said before, I want to fill this blog with stories to help keep the memories alive. There are certain entries where I can read the few couple sentences and instantly go back to a road trip or summer camp. It's good to reminisce, but also look back and think about how I've grown and gotten through some challenging situations. Go stories! (Let's call this evidence that I'm not always the best at wrapping up stories.)

I should probably correct what I said yesterday because Thomas Jefferson Day is July 4th whereas it's Thomas Jefferson's birthday today. Either way, he was a pretty talented guy. Didn't really do anything too off-the-wall for that or Scrabble Day. Tomorrow has promise though: International Moment of Laughter Day, National Library Day, and National Pecan Day. Plus, it's Tuesday, so I know I'll do something to mix all of those up in some fashion. For now, however, sleep is calling me.

DFTBA