Supposedly the world's oldest game.

[Caipirinha]

Okay, so this is supposedly the world's oldest game. Whether that's true or not is irrelevant, it's still fun.

 

The point of this game is to create a vivid mental image from the six prompts given to you. While doing so try to remeber as much detail as possible, it's very important. Take as much time as you to really study the small things, size, shape, color, placement, the inability to actually place an image into the scene.

 

1.) Imagine a desert.

 

2.) Now in this image, place a cube.

 

3.) Now place a ladder in the scene.

 

4.) Now, flowers.

 

5.) Now, a horse.

 

6.) Lastly, imagine a storm. Pay special attention to how it effects the scene.

 

Have your image? Study it carefully, it'll come in very handy.

 

Okay now is the part that explains everything and will also drive you crazy for the rest of the night making you nit-pick every last detail.

 

1.) The desert is your out look on life and how you precieve things.

 

2.) The cube is a representation of yourself.

 

3.) The ladder represents your friends.

 

4.) The flowers respresent children.

 

5.) The horse represents your lover.

 

6.) And lastly, the storm represents conflict in your life and how you react to it.

 

So there you go, have at it! I'll post my own image for everyone, and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone else's scenes as well!

[Caipirinha]

My desert was an interesting scene. It was almost like the background of an old Wiley Coyote and Road Runner cartoon. Except that it was black boxed, meaning it was like looking at a movie set diarama. The cube was a glass cube floating directly in the middle of the scene. The ladder was a yellow and black aluminum ladder. The super sturdy industrial kind of ladder. It was placed on the ground and leaned into the cube with the top of the ladder reaching the top of the cube. The flowers were like those multi colored silk flowers they use on fake hawaiian leis. The cube was filled with flowers and the only remaining flowers were surrounding the base of the ladder. The horse was actually a unicorn. It was white and was pacing on the top of the cube, almost like it was trapped, but it didn't seem scared nervous, it seemed like it was defending something, trying to keep outsiders away. Then the storm came. It came down hard and fast, an enormous down pour that covered everything. It was windy, violent rain, and there was lightning. Everything was soaked. Except that since the cube was glass it slid right off the glass. And while the flowers on the ground around the foot of the ladder bent and wilted in the down pour, the flowers inside of the cube were protected, so they stayed untouched.

 

 

 

~~~~~ Feel free to analyze me yourself, befor you see how I analyzed myself. ~~~~~

 

 

 

So my friend Matt who showed this to me and I spent some time dissecting this, and this is what we came up with. I've always said my life was a movie, so it's not exactly surprising that I pictured a movie set. I'm also notoriously objective, so it's also not surprising that when I looked at the movie set it was like I was outside looking in. I have said it a hundred thousand times that I am ego-centric. Not exactly in a bad way. See, if I know how to do something, I just assume other people know how to. Little things like that. So it makes sense that the cube is just floating in the middle of everything. I also wear my emotions on my sleve, like people can see right through me. Sometimes I feel like my friends lean on me more than I can lean on them, but at the end of the day I know that they are there for, and we are equals. I've never so much pictured myself with children, but I am completely and utterly a child at heart, with all of the immaturties that come with it. I also have a ton of friends who desperately want children. The horse, err...unicorn, is protective, which is something I have always wanted. It's also mythological, which is kind of ironic, because I don't so much believe in love and I doubt I'll ever find 'the one.' It also proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am the gayest thing on two legs. ;-) Conflict and emotion, to me, comes down hard and fast just like that down pour. I hate seeing others suffer from their own conflicts. I am fairly adept and letting the little things slide off my back, but there is no denying that things are going on and it is hard to let things keep sliding off, especially when things are so hectic. But I always seem to make it through, maybe a little worse for wear on the outside, but essentially okay on the inside.

[clumber]

mmm...

 

For me the desert was just flat endless sand with nothing in it at all. Like, it was just completely flat sand.

 

The cube was just a little wooden box type thing that was lying on the floor.

 

The ladder was some rickety old step-ladders that were all old looking and had drips of paint on them and stuff. Like something you'd use if you were painting a room at home or something.

 

The flowers...coudn't really get any flowers into the image. If I tried to imagine them somewhere they just didn't seem to fit and I couldn't keep them there (if that makes sence).

 

The horse was just a brown horse and again it was just stood there next to the ladders and cube not really doing anything.

 

The positioning of these things was just them lying in the desert pretty much randomly. The cube looked like it'd been dropped. The step-ladders were upright but apart from that nothing in particular. The horse was just standing there next to them as if it had just wondered there or something.

 

The storm...was just black clouds going over the sky really quickly, and it rained a bit but that didn't change anything at all.

 

So...not sure what that'd mean but there you go.

[CarlHoliday]

Well, I had trouble with the desert. I've seen quite a few deserts and they're definitely not the same image. So, I picked one. A barren playa in the Mojave surrounded with low scrub and lots of rocks, lots of rocks.

 

The cube was small, about six inches on each edge, clear plastic, and lay in the exact middle of the playa.

 

The ladder was wood and lay behind the cube, aligned east-west.

 

There weren't any flowers, yet.

 

The horse was standing behind the ladder at the edge of playa, waiting.

 

The storm came from the south across mountains. Lightening was hitting the surrounding peaks. Rain was falling. A torrential flash flood was coming down an arroyo toward the horse, ladder, and cube. The horse stepped to higher ground allowing the flood to pass. The ladder floated. The cube was overwhelmed by the flood. In a few weeks, the desert bloomed.

 

Damn, died again. Never can seem to get these right.

[Myk]

Ok this is interesting...I'll give it a try. When you said to take your time, well....oops, I kinda rushed through it, sorry I'm ADD Ok so here is what I saw...

 

For the desert I saw an expansive view of a huge desert, reaching far into the horizon. The desert was that typical Sahara orange/brown color with a warm feel but not bright...as if there was no sun blazing down on the sands. Everywhere you looked...dunes, the sand dunes reached across the whole area. If anyone has seen the miniseries Dune or Children of Dune that is close to the image I had.

-My interpretation: Life has its ups and downs. Although there are limits on life, it is a big journey with endless choices and infinite paths. There is no road so pick your direction and just go.

 

The cube turned out to be one of those 3-d images you see on paper. When you focus your eyes right it jumps out at you. This cube was floating in the middle of the desert, right before the view point. Since it was made up of only the lines, it was easy to see through and basically was just an illusion of an actual cube.

-My interpretation: I am a thinker...not a doer. I tend to hid myself from people, being an introvert and all...thus my cube is like a 3-d illusion, a mystery. The fact that you can see through the cube also makes me think I am invisible...or like to be unnoticed. Nevertheless, I am there, always...even when I'm not always seen properly.

 

My ladder was one of those silver aluminum ones that you need to lean up against a house or something. It was positioned on the sand and its top was leaning against the bottom of the cube. Otherwise, ordinary and innocuous.

-My interpretation: My friends lean on me for support...or at least I feel they do. I am always the steady one with sound judgement for others...there for them to lean on when they need a friend. Maybe I feel better than them because of this...as the ladder only reaches the bottom of the cube. I always knew I was an arrogant ass I guess the simply generic ladder also suggests they are normal, not too fancy and predictable.

 

When you mentioned to see flowers...at first this seemed hard, almost impossible. Flowers don't like the desert!?! Then though a small patch grew. They were all coming from the same spot, maybe 3 flowers and a bright orange color. Then a small jungle started to grow around them, there was long grass, small trees and several patches of tropical like flowers, always bright and colorful. A virtual oasis created in the desert.

-My interpretation: Complicated. I know I want kids but being attracted to guys would make it hard to have kids of my own. It seems that I am determined though and will find a way...with a woman, or through compromise, or science (not sure...I'm bi damn it). Then it starts out small...one child but they are a beacon, small but bright and gorgeous. Then other plants come...more supporting and protecting them (family?) and soon several patches of flowers (kids) are present. A family is born

 

The horse...now this one is more elusive to me. I had a hard time picturing a horse. In the end he came out to be simple. About my size, small but tall enough, a solid light brown color, good looking but not ridiculous. Healthy and sturdy. He quietly stood there, watching and eating some grass slowly.

-My interpretation: My lover will be reliable, dependable and a good match for me. They will be more like a sturdy and trusted friend, something real, down to earth and patient. We understand each other..just by seeing each other's eyes and we are simply comfortable together...like a good two way partnership...we have each other.

 

The storm was also hard to picture. Once I got it going it was interesting what happened. The sky darkened...only slightly as it wasn't extremely bright before. There were dark clouds in the sky and some lightning but nothing dangerous. The wind swept across the desert lifting sand into the air. Despite blowing sand and some rain and clouds, the only problems were, having to squint your eyes to protect them and the plants blowing in the wind. Overall the storm didn't have much of an effect.

-My interpretation: I guess I don't have a lot of conflict in my life. I am kind of mellow and easy going, most issues just slide off of me without a second thought. Some do linger on, like sand in your eye but nothing serious. Overall I am able to survive the storm relatively unscathed. I just don't let things affect me that much...my mood will change and some things cause irritation but mostly I deal very well with life issues.

 

Ok, that

[rknapp]

Well, I had something extensive typed up... and then my ankle hit the reset button on the face of my computer. If I feel like it, I'll type it again later.

[B1ue]

Hey, so what if this is six months behind the curve. I still wanted to play.

 

 

For the desert, I saw my favorite one, the hills outside of Palm Springs. Picture lots of rocks, clay, and not a lot of scrub to break up the lines. And windmills.

 

My cube was a house sized pink box. Made of Adobe. It looked not unlike some houses you'll find in Los Angeles, in the places where there are no HOAs to tell you you're weird to ant your house to look like a cupcake.

 

Ladder was a sturdy wooden variety, the kind used in ancient Native American southwest cliff dwellings. It was leaning onto the side of the house. There is suddenly a hole in the cube's roof.

 

Flowers were bright yellow daylilys arrayed in front of the cube. Tons of them, all over the place, but with a tidy walkway in the middle to the bottom of my image. Oh, have I mentioned that I pictured all this as a painting so far, not as a a three-dimensional area? Actually, considering I worked for a company that sold flowers for more than a year, I kind of wonder why hemerocallis are the only things I picture.

 

The horse I didn't put a lot of thought into. It was hitched near where the front door of the cube would be. An ex's family raised horses, so I pictured the one that didn't like to bite me. I think his name was Cinnamon.

 

The storm. Well, there isn't much in the desert to trash, so it survived, maybe minus a windmill or two. The cube was too big to float away (plus it has a concrete foundation), but the ladder fell down in the wind, and floated a little ways before coming to a rest in the flower bed. There is probably a bit of flooding inside the cube, what with a hole in the roof, but the door by the horse let it all back out. The horse tried to break free, but as it is tethered, didn't get far. The flowers were shredded, but the plants themselves survived.

***********

Analysis:

My desert might, to someone else, look foreboding and lifeless, even for a desert. But for me, this is the one mental image guaranteed to make me smile. My family has vacationed in Palm Springs my entire life, and I have nothing but happy memories there.

 

My cube. I am not at all surprised to find that my sense of self is an order of magnitude larger than most.

 

My ladder. I don't know what to make of it. Its a ladder. An odd addition to this scene actually. Perhaps something could be made of the fact that it isn't free standing, and needs the cube to hold itself up?

 

Flowers. Well, I always wanted children. Maybe not THAT many children, but in my family anything worth getting is worth hording.

 

The horse. I'm not going to touch that one. (Stupid ex whose idea of a date was we both troop out to feed the horses.)

 

The storm doesn't really change anything except what can be repaired. I had no idea I was that optimistic.

[Ieshwar]

Now it

[Kurt]

My desert had a lot of sand... obviously, but it was also kind of hill, except the part in front was kind of flat. There were also some trees around the flat area... weird, but they were there. The cube was very small, about the size of an ice cube, and it was glass, and shiney. Then, the ladder wa alumminum, and read, with silver/gray rungs. It looked brand new. Then the flowers were around the ladder and the cube along the back, and the two ide, in a rectangular shape. The horse was alond the back of the flowers, towards the right corner, eating the flowers. When the storm came, it got very windy, and the ladder fell over. The horse just continued to eat the flowers, but irt ear did prick up some. The flowers just kind of flapped in the wind some, and the cube was really no where to be seen.

 

Interesting. Very interesting.