You can learn a lot about creating a thrilling plot by listening to the stories and observing the storylines that are playing out around you, the connections built, the gifts exchanged and the contracts forged.
As a child I loved fairy tales and my dad used to read them to me, when it was bedtime. I also fell in love with RPGs early in life, something that is reflected in the gifts given to me over time and my love for video games, especially soulsborne games which are great at teaching you to never give up and understand that it is about working on yourself and not blaming others for an unexpected dive into the abyss or the slight mishap of bringing a wooden club to a PVP bout with a dex build.
Now imagine a surrounding in which you could listen to and learn from businessmen and businesswomen in a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere, whilst drawing and playing and enjoying a cup of coffee.
I still have the books I got when I started school. The ones our teacher used to teach us how to read and write that is. They opened up an infinite world of adventures, wisdom and knowledge to me. I later used the very same books to teach others. I disliked the generic ones we were told to use, they were boring. So I chose to challenge them the same way, we had been challenged, when we started out.
The "Espresso"
We were taught a lot by playing games and observing others play the same games, we were being introduced to as kids. My maternal grandparents owned – among other businesses – a café, the “Espresso”. My brother and I basically grew up on coffee, our weening of milk being reflected in the cappuccino that was topped with boatloads of milk foam slowly being replaced with steaming hot black coffee.
I was also known for sneaking up to the giant coffee machine and asking for some of the coffee beans. They were crunchy and tasted good. No. Coffee and I do not have a relationship based on addiction. It is an affinity. Yes. Two words that start with an “a”.
We would sit in the “Espresso” drawing, playing, watching cartoons, observing businessmen and businesswomen talking and at time be invited to play the family game, a card game well known in the Alpine regions. It was also a safe place.
At a café nothing remains unseen, the only constant is change and aggression will be dealt with swiftly. A sanctuary for everyone. The card game wasn’t the only game we played or got introduced to.
I got fascinated by the concept of chess quite early, for it is an interesting game indeed. It depicts a world that is black and white, in which every chess piece is assigned a specific role, has a move set that is cast in stone and as they are serving their king and queen whilst jockeying for advantageous positions, it is very much a setting you will find in different courts throughout your life.
As in life, there is the odd one out.
When I was a child, I did not think much of the pawn, a piece that would only move in one direction, seemingly straight forward at all times, albeit on occasion surprise you by taking a step to the side and change lanes. My perception of the pawn changed completely later.
In conversation with a businesswoman I was working with chess came up and she asked me which piece I liked the most on the board. To her surprise I answered, “The pawn.” “Why?” “The pawn is the only one at court with the potential to change and become whoever they want to be.” How can one not love the pawn? The one who has no clue about the Machiavellian nature of the court surrounding them, being taken out easily, used as bait or being flat out sacrificed.
The aspect I love most about the pawn is that the pawn is the only one with the capacity to change and adapt to the game which never is the same. There are sixteen pawns on the board, eight on each side and to me, each step taken on the chess board symbolizes a learning experience. If not taken out and reaching the end of the board, the pawn can become whoever it wants to be – save the king – and chose how it continues to move through the remaining game of life.
My father told me to never stop learning and acquire different skills. "You never know, when they will come in handy." Read, read, read.
de Talleyrand-Périgord is an interesting philosopher. He also said, "Coffee has to be hot as hell, as dark as the devil, pure like an angel and sweet as love is." It was love at the first read.
The rules regarding that very much reflect the pawn’s growth mind set but also its trauma. It has just moved through the illustrious spiderwebs, smoke and mirrors at court, observed a king that is limited by his own move set and in constant danger, threatened by another king who wishes to rule over their kingdom. Yes, there might be tower moments and the occasional castling but other than that the game remains a hierarchical quest for power with two courts fighting over the dominion of their world, a board with 64 squares never looking at what lies beyond.
In conversation with a businesswoman I was working with chess came up and she asked me which piece I liked the most on the board. To her surprise I answered, “The pawn.” “Why?” “The pawn is the only one at court with the potential to change and become whoever they want to be.”
I always wondered if the pawn – given the choice or the rules of the world the game is being played in allowed it – would make the choice to take their experiences and learning with them, leave the chess board for good, sit somewhere completely at peace, write stories and books about the experience it has made on its path and become a mentor for others instead of re-entering the board.
The games people play. Tommy, my brother, and I had quite a few board games.
Alas, not an option in chess.
The moment the pawn has reached the edge, the end of the board, it has learned the art of shapeshifting and can become whoever they want to be. They are also looking at the board from a different direction. Funnily enough, it decides to go back into the game and serve its king to the best of its abilities.
Why? Take your pick: utter stupidity, pure survival, extreme cunning or loyalty, something that is quite novel at courts where Neostoicism is the best practice.
The Books You Read or A Twist in the Myth
Quite a while ago I was working on a project in a corporate environment in which the game of office chairs was quite a thing. I do not understand the reason for it. I love learning above all and I get bored after having thought a project or idea through and move on. Getting offered an office throne is not a goal of mine. To me that would be like watching the wall you have just painted dry but to each their own.
It has quite an interesting effect on people, when you are like that. When I was in a meeting with a company specializing in HR management in Vienna, a businesswoman whom I had invited to join the project and who knew me well, asked me panickstricken after the meeting, if she were allowed to record the next meeting, so as to not lose the ideas. Well yes. Alternatively take notes. Never forget, albeit, who had the original idea and mention the person. It is a feather on their cap not yours.
As far as the game of office chairs in the aforementioned environment is concerned: I love to give people I am walking with gifts. When you see a gift in someone, a talent, it is your responsibility to tell them, sometimes openly, sometimes with a simple smile and sometimes in an unexpected way.
A colleague of mine had spent her time well. She had forged new alliances, introduced herself as a willing student to a superior in that matter, had sacrificed the pawn without blinking and thus shown promise to him.
She stayed incredibly nice to me, her body language showing affection and sadness at the right times and she had started to openly talk about books that could help you find friends and make the right ones.
Since her birthday would be celebrated during a time in which we were still known as friends, I decided to gift her a book to help her in her future endeavors and studies. One of Robert Greene’s. “Mastery”.
On I went to new learning.
A Choice
What you do with the wisdom and skills you have acquired throughout your life, is a choice and it is yours. Entirely yours alone.