My name is C. T. Murphy, but Chris works too.
Once upon a time, I wanted to be a writer. That’s why I studied English at the University of Alabama (yes, that Alabama). The secret to being a writing – beyond advanced degrees, self-help books, and pretentiously quoting obscure poetry – is the doing of the thing. The simple act of seeing a blank page or screen and filling it up. That’s all it really takes and … to be frank … my interest in writing waxes and wanes like the Moon.
You may get me to admit that I have tried blogging before, but rarely do I share a link. In the interest of this class and because they reveal enough to “tell you something about me”, here goes:
I started and failed to maintain a microblog (think this but shorter posts like an old-school Twitter) called Dungeon Manager’s Guide. It was an attempt to merge my forever interest in cross-pollinating Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) with project management. Don’t ask me why I think they work together – we’d be here all day – but trust me, they do. I am slowly working my way toward introducing D&D or D&D-adjacent ideas to my work. Currently, I am a Quality Assurance Analyst & Instructor for a state employer here in Florida. I work on the Organizational Development team so I work side-by-side with professional developers, trainers, instructional designers, etc.
If you want to go further back in my blogging experience, then the oldest one I maintain is Murf Versus, a name chosen part because of my last name and also because “murfvers.us” is an awesome URL. For a long time, I blogged mostly about video games and movies (two more passions of mine). If you dig deeper, you might find more personal posts. I started blogging after finishing my undergrad in 2012 and kept it up at first because I thought I might turn it into a career, but more so because I found it therapeutic. Writing is good for that even if no one reads it.
“What I hope to gain?”
I chose the MSIT program because of my interests in information technology, my desire to grow professionally, etc. I chose this class to challenge my creative side. Between the two, I am always looking to advance my skills and engage my curiosity. I am nervous about the work required for this one but also excited.
Hi Chris!
My BA is in creative writing, which was a silly endeavor of mine because my desire to write largely depends on some sort of outside motivator (ex. due dates in class). Since I graduated, I haven’t written anything creative despite feeling the urge at times. I think I will definitely use it for this class, however, and look forward to seeing what you come up with too!
I’ve always wanted to play in a D&D campaign but alas do not have a friend group for it, so it has not come to fruition yet. Is there any recent campaign you’ve been enjoying?
I will also send you a request on LinkedIn, because I desperately need the connections on there.. so I hope you don’t mind! Let’s have a great semester!
My last D&D campaign was set in Ravenloft, which is the traditional horror setting (though more Victorian Horror, so a lot of Dracula and Frankenstein-inspiration). It was a fun experiment for me because it was my first time playing with total strangers, it was an online campaign, and I paid to be there. The person running it was a published Tabletop Roleplaying author (the genre of games that D&D falls into). It was very intimidating at first! The other players were much more into the hobby and better at roleplaying, but it ended up being a ton of fun and they were all nice people. I learned a lot too, but I haven’t had a chance to apply much of it. Wrangling adults to play games together is always a challenge, and most of our friends have kids now.
I do, in fact, feel the same way. I usually stress a bit more about creative things because there’s not necessarily a definitive right answer to creative projects. I took this class to really challenge myself to learn something new and step out of my comfort zone. I think part of the stressing about creative projects is why I really resonate with the one piece of advice from the 2021 class that said “Aim to finish early. If nothing else, it will you time to hate it less”.
Here’s to challenging ourselves! Hopefully we don’t regret it …
Hi Chris,
It’s great you have blogging experience already, so creating posts for this class must be something you’re very comfortable with! I love that you’re trying to introduce D&D into your workplace. I’ve tried joining a D&D campaign before but ended up not having the time to really invest in it.
I think class will be the perfect practice for getting back into blogging and flexing your creative muscles. I’m also a little nervous, but I feel much more reassured knowing I’m not the only one!
Thanks for the comment! D&D is very time consuming so I don’t blame you. I pulled back for this semester just because work plus school is already an all-consuming thing.
Hi Chris! I also feel nervous about some of the work we’ll be doing in this course, but I’m excited for the skills we’ll be picking up! My experience outside of class is pretty different from yours – I dread blogging (it feels like an extension of public speaking, which I also dread), and I’m more interested in collections and the instructional role in the library than information technology. It’s interesting that we share similar opinions about this course despite those differences!
I’ve always wanted to learn more about D&D, but the moment someone starts explaining it to me I feel like they’re speaking to me in another language! I still have hope that I’m going to figure it out one of these days.