By: Genus (aka Christa Weber)
Stoners of the year of 2001:
Wear wrist protection.
If I could offer you only one tip for
the Stone, wrist protection would be it.
The long-term benefits of wrist
protection have been proved by scientists,
whereas the rest of my advice has no
basis more reliable than my own
meandering experience. I will
dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the fun and excitement of
being a newbie . Oh, never mind. You
will not understand the fun and
excitement of being a newbie until
you’ve reached the Lodge. But trust me,
in 6.378 years, when the game is complete,
you'll think back to being 2/56 and
recall in a way you can't grasp now how
much possibility lay before you and
how much fun the Sorry, No page really
was. You are not as thickheaded as you
imagine.
Don't worry about the puzzles to be released.
Or worry, but know that worrying is as
effective as trying to solve a Movement
puzzle by conventional means. The real
troubles in your life are apt to be
Closes that never crossed your frazzled
mind, the kind that blindside you at
4 a.m. on some Tuesday morning when
you have a really big project due the next day.
Research on a puzzle every day that scares you.
Tell others.
Don't flame other people's posts.
Don't put up with people who flame yours.
Try to go out at least once a week,
the Stone will be there when you get back.
Don't waste your time on jealousy.
Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're
behind. The race is long and, in the end,
it's only with every other person in the
whole big enigma.
Remember nudges you receive. Forget the
pointless banter. If you succeed in
doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old notes. Throw away your
disgusting take out pizza boxes.
Stretch.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know how
to begin a puzzle. The most brilliant people
I know didn't know at 22/56 where to
go next. Some of the most brilliant 56/56’s
I know I still don't.
Get plenty of sunlight. Be kind to your
computer. You'll miss them when the aliens
do come and take you.
Maybe you'll finish, maybe you won't.
Maybe you'll solve a puzzle first,
maybe you won't. Maybe you'll quit
tomorrow, maybe you'll find those Abject
people and throttle them, damnit, agh!
Whatever you do, don't congratulate
yourself too much, or berate yourself
either. Your solving skills are pretty
much the same as everyone else’s.
Enjoy your search engine. Use it
every way you can. Don't be afraid of
it or of what other people think of
it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.
Post.
Read the Black Book, even if you don't
get it.
Do not watch television. It
will only take you away from the Stone.
Get to know your parents. You never
know when they'll know the answer to
that really hard puzzle. Be nice to your
siblings. They're not going to help you otherwise.
Understand that friends come and go, but
the people on the Stone will love
you forever . Work hard to bridge the
gaps in geography and lifestyle, because
the more involved you get, the more you
need the people who know you from the Stone.
Go to a Gathering once, but leave before
it makes you weird. Go to Journey
expedition once, and leave if you find
the piece.
Search.
Accept certain inalienable truths:
The aliens are coming. Atlantis is real.
You, too, will find the answer. And when
you do, you'll fantasize about when you
were naive, and not a slave of the Gornots
and their Fantastic Super Alliance with Abject.
Respect the Stonekeepers.
Don't expect anyone else to give you
answers. Maybe you have a Stonemate.
Maybe you'll have a surragate stonemate.
But you never know when either one might stop playing.
Don't screw around too much on the
commons or people WILL flame you.
Be careful whose nudges you take, but
be patient with the Stonekeepers.
Puzzle are often in the form of tedious
busy-work. Often the puzzle is a way
of taking information, painting over the
ugly parts and recycling it for more than
it's worth (about $19.95)
But trust me on the wrist protection.
