Does Oops Cover It?

It is rather interesting monitoring the stats of the blog. For example, as I save the entire weekend until today, Thursday peaks.. And it declines until today where it picks back up again. From what I can tell, I don't have many official followers of the blog in terms of they have subscribed via RSS or follow me on Twitter or anything like that.. But I guess somehow more people have been coming across it. I have no clue if that is something to do with the keywords I use.. I assume it would do as Google has massively contributed to my views suddenly, so a tip of my hat to you Google.

The charger for my phone has received minor damage out of no where.. The little cover over the clever workings inside has come loose. All in all, the charger still works. I have now secured the cover back in place with sticky tape. Classic bodge job.

For these weekend ones, I do quite like integrating the daily pictures into the overall posts.. So you get a bit of a break from the text so it isn't so horrible to look at. So. Lets do that again shall we?

Day 514
I tell you what, since I tipped over the 500 mark, it feels like these days have been creeping up slowly. I don't know if that is just where I am putting in more effort.. It feels like it is working itself up slower or something.. But hey, it is still going is the main thing.

First thing we had to do Friday - obviously - was match up all of these lovely things.

Making up quite the family. I said to Amy that she would have to help me collect these or ties. She decided neither so it looks like it is just me against the world! The record for ties is still 16,000 away but.. I will win the lottery and just buy them all or something.. That seems like a fairly legitimate plan any way. The tiny one at the front is the oldest, he came out of a mug which Amy gave to me a while a go. Pretty sure that was a Christmas present or maybe a birthday. The largest and second smallest were both from Disney stores in Florida. And, of course, the most recent jumper buddy. And a great smile from me if I do say so myself. Please say yes.

Horrible Bosses Two - oh my oh my. I definitely recommend not going to work, school, court or whatever you have planned tomorrow and go see it. It was genuinely one of the funniest films I've seen and probably one of the first times the sequel was better than the first. I think what they did right - for me - was that they didn't go down the same route. Anchor Man for example, the first and second are pretty much the same but still funny, the original being the better. With these two, they kept the characters and just went down a different route. No murdering, kidnapping. More Jennifer Anniston. Crazier characters and of course MF Jones.. You'll know who I mean. An easy 10/10.

Day 515
Saturday came around, we started off my catching up with a bit of the Jungle as a combo of Bluewater on Thursday and the cinema on Friday meant we had missed out on quite a bit.. So we watched that. Enjoyed that. Then weren't really sure what to do. In the end, we decided to shoot off to Maidstone to get some bits and bobs, hopefully some Christmas shopping. Out of everything we knew we wanted to get, we only ended up getting one thing. We often find if we go out with a plan that it will inevitably fall through, this time it was in terms of what we wanted to get.

One thing that we did get however, was this.

Haven't bought any music for the car in a while but we saw this advertised and do like to listen to the covers on YouTube. We have managed to listen to the whole thing this weekend and it really did not disappoint. It has a total of 38 tracks I do believe with a real variety of covers in terms of artists and songs. It was £12 I think, maybe a tad more from HMV.

Did also pop over to Smyths and picked up Omega Ruby for the 3DS, but I use a 2DS as the 3D just gives you a headache after a while.. It is very good so far. I am really enjoying all the new features yet it is nostalgic going back to the days when you played it on a GBA or something along those lines. Gamefreak are very good at pretty much giving you the same thing every time but making it feel like new!

Ended up playing quite a few games on the ol' MacBook as well. I have really gotten into Knights of Pen and Paper all of a sudden. I never got this far when I had it on the phone so I am really happy to be still playing and enjoying it. I have always enjoyed a turn based strategy game and the pixel art style has really come into the market. I've started unlocking new characters and classes so I have even more stuff to juggle with and enjoy.

I also played a couple of hours of Isaac and really impressed myself once again. I managed to win three games on the trot all through to beating Isaac in the Cathedral, meaning I have now unlocked the polaroid. The first win was with Maggie, I just got loads of familiars and ended up buying the BFF power up which makes them basically get a Magic Mushroom upgrade. I then also got a shield form the a Deal with the Angel room. A shield. SO OVERPOWERED! In the Isaac fight, I just pointed in the right direction and all the tears were stopped by that. It literally makes it a cake walk! The second was with Eden, I honestly thought I had no chance as I started with the lowest tear rate so it was a struggle. What ended up happening was I got some good damage upgrades, then piercing, then spiders which appear to work like flies with damage, and this holy shield? Not like the other, but it takes one hit for you at the start of each room. Just slow and steady. Finally, just a powerhouse run with Judas. What made the run, was getting the Demon bum who swaps red hearts into soul hearts. That way, I didn't have to worry about getting HP ups as I had a constant flow of consumable hearts. I got loads of damage ups, ended up with max HP and smashed Isaac. Happy days. Next time I play I am going to loose horrendously though so.. Short lived. I want to beat Isaac with ??? or Blue Baby to get the D6!

Day 517
I need to focus. I have Knights of Pen and Paper running in the background. It is so distracting. I need this up by midnight.

This day.. Right here.. Explain the title.

So we know it was Black Friday weekend and I said to myself there isn't anything that can get your attention and suck you into it. I was wrong. For the record, my card managed to jump in to the reader, a bird flew in and managed to guess my pin number right, and it just so happened to be for an excellent Xbox One bundle. I am not going to talk numbers but I got that, the Kinect and 4 games. I am pretty happy right now. I treated myself as I have almost finished my Christmas shopping and that was on a good deal..

Justifying it to myself now. Awks.

You know what - seeing as I am going on about it so much; here is a screen shot from the moment that I have left the game on. I am now using my addiction to progress the post!

I have just purchased a new party member who is starting at level 1 where as everyone else is at 20 so.. I am grinding just a tad. He's a crazy Barbarian. Killing stuff.

I was just thinking, an Xbox One means.. Farcry 4.. Halo: The Masterchief Collection.. Halo 5.. Lords of the Fallen.. Dead Rising 3.. And Blurays. What have I done?

On a random note - we made our own mozzarella bits today. It was quite hard I won't lie but it was the first time that we have made them. We got a ball of mozzarella and chopped into smaller balls, egged them, breadcrumbed them and then fried them. Ate them with some salsa. Made for a rather pleasing yet unhealthy lunch overall.

We also had Pizza Express today, we wanted to throw in one last use of the Tastecard before December as it doesn't work at all in December. We have said it means unless we can find another deal to use, if we must eat out, go to Nando's. That is always the same price. Especially as I have now discovered the pleasures of adding pineapple to a chicken burger! One the plus side - I can now wear my Christmas ties. I am a happy, happy man.

Looking at it, I have spoilt myself this weekend. I don't do it very often so at the moment it is a cocktail of happiness, guilt and pleasure. Why not eh? Blog you later people.

Stitchmas

I would like to start with a question based on an anecdote.

Have you ever passed out? And by that I mean sleeping, not because of fear or something. I am pretty sure I did the other night.. I was sitting quite happily on the Mac, playing some games. Then. I decided to sleep, as you do, to get up for work and the such. So I shut the Mac down and that is the last thing I remember, the light going on. I guess my lights went out as well. I woke up at 4:30 in the morning with the Mac still sitting open in front of me, my phone our of battery, fully dressed in the exact same position. It was a very weird feeling because I felt wide awake like I had just blinked or something of the sorts. It was then quite annoying because I had to get undressed, move the Mac and wait for my phone to get enough charge to turn on so I could set my alarms. Odd indeed.

Went to Bluewater today, me Amy and Mr Tate. The plan was Christmas shopping but we did find that not a lot of places had what we necessarily went for.. I am quite proud in saying that I have nearly finished all of my shopping already, its a wonderful feeling. I think I will have to do this more often, buying way in advance is so useful for spreading the costs. I don't know why I didn't do this when I only worked part time..

For the run up to Christmas, the shops are all open until 10pm which is nice for us, must suck a bit to work that late when the rest of the year you don't.. I guess they would get overtime or something. It wasn't actually too busy. What we were thinking is that yesterday, loads of people would have been there for Zoella's book signing. Woo. And tomorrow is Black Friday so people would hold off to shoot in and get some bargains. Worked out quite nicely.

Beard hat. This was in H&M and they kept telling me to stop pulling a face and I honestly didn't know what they were on about. Only until I saw the picture and that what can only be described as a crease on my face did I know what they meant. It wasn't me. It was either where the hat was so small or my head was so big it was literally squashing down on my face which made that crease. I think I would look good with that in real life. I shall dye it soon.

We didn't find too much stuff on the tour before tea.. Even the O2 priority moments for free stuff had run out. We went to La Tasca as it works out much nicer for a group of three as you buy the little individual dishes. I had the chicken and chorizo in the white wine sauce - as good as ever and they have added peppers which taste amazing in the sauce. I had Spanish omelettes, well, two quarters of two different ones. Not too sure how I felt about them because the middle felt like dough.. I also this bread with pulled pork and stuff laid over it.. It was amazing. New addition and all three of us ended up having that one! I also had the paella of the day which was chicken and chorizo, and it was okay. I am really enjoying paella as of late but there was barely any chicken in it.. I mean.. There was some. But they bits I did get were round and dry. A shame really. I honestly couldn't imagine working there because you have to carry them enormous Frisbee trays! Scary.

We ended collaring a member of stuff in a shop for a good 10 minutes helping us buy stuff. I am remaining vague with this because eyes are everyone and Christmas is not yet.. So people do not need to know.

We then split at this point, me and Mr Tate when to M&S as I wanted some new trousers for work, Amy wanted to go to Disney. There is a huge ol' suit section in M&S ranging from £50-£200+! I got the value pair which were £15 but for what I need them for - sitting on my bum the majority - will get the job done. I also bought another festive tie which I think I will unveil on Monday as I want it to be a surprise for when I wear it to work. I am that sad, correct.

Day 513
And this lovely little guy happened.

Amy came back from the Disney shop with him, was really tempted to save it until Christmas but couldn't. I am glad she didn't because he is awesome. We now have a range of four different sizes of stitches, a little on in a mug, the two you see here, and the large one from America. This new addition has a jumper and scarf for goodness sake!

I am so happy right now.

Anyway, I seem to be getting later and later this week with the blog so I shall get it up in time. Haven't even been able to watch Celeb! And tomorrow we are the cinema so lots of catch up to be had.. Blog you later on.

I don't Understand

I don't understand a lot of things around me. I don't think you're ever really supposed to. I really like knowing things, it is always interesting when you find out how something works. Like with my job for example, I work in ICT and computers are pretty dang complicated. I think I can safely say that I learn something new everyday due to the sheer volume of things there are to know. I was always told at school that you would learn something new everyday - if it sticks is another question all together.

So, something that Amy showed me today was one of the Strange News posts on Sky News. Out of all of my news sources, this section is probably my go to because I like the idea that someone at Sky is told to go and find something weird and write about it. And they get paid. For example, this one:
http://news.sky.com/story/1380808/ten-celebrities-who-have-insured-body-parts

It is an article listing how much money celebs body parts have somehow been insured for. This one, on the I don't understand scale, is about a 5 out of 10. I get that these people have insured the tool of their trade so to say but if something were to happen, no amount of money would be able to replace it. If Ronaldo lost a leg, money would provide a prosthetic and rehabilitation but he would never get that same feeling playing football again. It would be familiar but I would assume it wouldn't ever be what he remembered. And I don't think a cash payout would make you feel better about it. I also don't understand who agrees to this absurd insurance claim! If I go to comparethemarket or gocompare, I do not see a section of insuring body parts. Perks of being rich I guess?

Something more sensible which blows my mind would have to be the universe. I get the idea of it, but if you ever just sit and try and contemplate the overall idea of it, it makes me feel confused. Baffled. We are really, tiny organisms on a tiny floating rock floating around a tiny ball of ignited gas in a vacuum surrounded by literally nothing. And maybe the odd other rock, gas ball, fire ball. The fact this has all come from somewhere doesn't make sense. We have the evidence to prove it but that still doesn't fill in the why gap; which is why a lot of people point to a God. And as illogical the idea is of an overall omnipotent being that can bend the laws of nature and physics, it might be one of the only logical explanations as to why we are here. Personally, religion doesn't float my boat per se, but I can understand the reasoning behind it. An easy 8 on the scale of not understanding.

And awesome pic. Get in Google images eh?

So do I have a 10? A 10 of not understanding. Something I can't get my head around. Yes. Yes, I do. Some of you may be glad because that might seem like a lot of build up for nothing overall.

The idea of consciousness to me is the main thing I don't understand. The fact that i am sitting here able to tell myself I know what I am doing, to physically think my fingers into pressing this series of keys to make something that I have told myself makes sense and has meaning. If I sit and think about it, I honestly loose track of myself and have a blank mind. We enjoy being conscious, we do things with people. What I want to know is well I have ever this feeling again once I go? And would I even know? I could be one my 9th live right now I wouldn't know any different. I would just be plodding along with my Blog none the wiser saying this.. Maybe it is fate.

Blows. My. Mind.

Day 512
I haven't used a film poster in a while so I thought I would chuck this one in as a quite like it. We have booked into to see this on Friday, it'll be on the big screen at Cineworld Rochester which will be awesome, it is a great screen. I am really looking forward to it, it's an all star cast and they new additions are only going to do it justice. Plus they kept Jennifer Aniston, having grown up with Friends, anything with her in is like an instant win with me.

I will give you my verdict after the images have been digested by my eye balls - possibly on Sunday.

Of course, more Jungle today. Apparently, a murderer escape from a nearby prison, I couldn't find an article for the life of me to share with you. I wonder if they told them.. I don't think that would be the type of thing that you would want to share with them anyway. They already sleep with one eye open to check for crawlies let alone anything else!

Honestly, for me, I am getting a bit annoyed with Kendra constantly being voted in for the trials. Don't get me wrong, they are doing her the world of good in terms of her fears and confidence, but at the same time it would be nice to see someone else do it. There are 10 people after all. The designers of the trials must be well chuffed, especially the catacombs one. She didn't fancy it, I probably wouldn't either, but we'll never know what was further along. The designers work doesn't get shown off! I don't really know why she is getting all the votes but.. That's the way the game.

Blog you lovely people later.

Chocolate Tree

Good evening, good morning. The ol' generic opening to cover the time periods you are reading in.

I tell you what - I love that new cardigan. It is so warm and cosy and squishy.. I felt happy to walk outside into the chilly weather today because it was like having a hot water bottle wrapped around you all the time.. At a bearable temperature. I always found them too hot so I would use the as a warm water bottle. The sleeves are just long enough to keep your hands warm, the collar bunches up nicely to keep your neck and it has pockets. I like pockets. More storage space is never a bad thing at all.

We were naughty and ate out again today.. Because we can.. And stuff.. We went to Prezzo in Sevenoaks, we prefer that one over the others we have been to. The one in Maidstone is a tad odd because you feel like you are sitting in someones house but you haven't been invited. I tried a new starter which is labelled as crunchy pasta. It is basically just fried cheese ravioli from what I can tell and kind of taste like a pasty. Very nice though, you get three large ones with a bit of parma ham on top and a leaf - literally. All on a tomato sauce type thing. I then had the risotto I have been so dearly craving. Worth the wait. It sucks that we probably won't eat there over the Christmas period as the Taste Card isn't allowed to be used. Or if we do, we will cut down to mains only. Pricey otherwise. And it also appears they have very slightly raised the prices, not by a lot but maybe.. And they also have a set 3 course menu for £20 with a glass of Prosecco or the premium one for £25 with more choice. Just FYI.

Day 511

After that we went shopping in Sainsbury's to get some more bits for the parcel which is now ready to be shipped off - hurray. Amy's was asked to by a load of the festive Cadbury chocolate bars for reasons that do not need to be explained on here.. But this is the end result. 15 in total. I said make it into a tree as a joke because of whats on the packs and then Amy and my Dad ended up with this.. Kind of impressed.

Then eat it all! The cashier gave us a funny look but decided to only ask if we had a nectar card. Afraid not.

I don't know if you've heard but we are technically running out of chocolate. Yes, you should run to the shops in a mad panic to stock up now to protect yourself from withdrawal symptoms. Basically, due to weather conditions and the Ebola outbreak in the Africa, production has dipped and the output of coco has been less than that consumed. Simple maths. Luckily of course, we had extra laying around hence why you haven't noticed it disappearing off of the shelves. If this carries on, we would run out eventually. If does carry on heading down that route, not only will availability be an issue but there would have to be a price hike to continue making it commercially viable to sell. Sucks all around. Here's an article as well.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11360512

Now, we caught up with yesterdays Im a Celeb today as we missed it of course. You would know this if you read my blog yesterday.. *Dramatic music*.. And the argument that went on was pretty full on. I don't think it obviously helps everyone is homesick and hungry and uncomfortable but they went for it. Watching it form the outside is marvellous as you get to bathe in their awkwardness and there is nothing they can do - or probably want to do or why else would they be there? And it was also lovely seeing them meet with family and friends at the pool which appeared out of no where?

On the way home.. We saw this huge flash of blue lightning. We had no idea where it was but I have my hunches - maybe Thor arriving in his traditional bolt of lightning. See what I did there? I will save that stuff for another post as I didn't get around to the blog until late today so I don't want to rush anything into here.

Thank you very much. We broke the 18k views barrier today which is awesome! So happy. I was thinking it would if it continued to follow the trend that it has been on, it did. And might be beating the trend at the moment.. Can't check as I am typing. I was also thinking about changing the text layout, I used to have it set so it fills the entire line and finishes in the same place.. I think it is justified alignment? Anyway, I also like that as it looks more professional. Might have to tinker. Thanks for reading, as always, blog you later.

On The Mend

Thankfully, yes I am. I felt about as bad as I did on the weekend when I woke up this morning.. I don't know what helped but whatever did thank you very much. I feel a lot better now, I am not sneezing any more, my eyes aren't watering.. But my lips are as dry as anything. Almost there.

Weather, why you do this? I went out to my car this morning and my car was like an igloo. I pulled the door handle which was a bit rigid, gave it a tug and it sounded like it snapped in all honesty. It didn't - but the door still wouldn't open. Even bigger tug and it broke all the ice freezing the door shut - yes, freezing the door shut - and managed to stick the heater and rear window heater on full blast. Anyone who has done it will know that spraying a car with deicer and then scraping it like bad to get the excess off is no fun, because if there is ice, it must be cold. Once I got in the car.. I wiped all the condensation off the windows.. And then tried to open the windows to do the outside.. They were frozen shut.. I saw there punching the windows until the ice broke and they opened. NO FUN.

I took some of Amy's lovely cakes to work today. They went down well. Someone even asked for a second but I only bought it one for each person..

This evening, we ventured out to the loveliness that is Nando's. We ended up getting about £30 worth for £13 thanks to our saved up rewards from previous visits and our gym discount. I had a lovely butterfly chicken breast burger, which is basically a double breast fillet but.. With the skin and sideways. I then opted for a slice of pineapple in the middle.. It was a beast I will not lie to you.. It is exactly the type of thing you do NOT order if you are trying to impress someone. Unless you have a big enough mouth and they are impressed by it or you're a gurning champion. If you don't know what that is you can click here...

Day 510
Let us have a picture in here shall we?

That right there is my first Christmas present! Calm down.. There is an explanation. I am not that impatient. My Nan usually gives us money for Christmas and I found a cardigan in Tesco that I really liked - above. So this is technically from my Nan, but there would be no point having it on the tail end of the cold season so I have it now. And I am going to be so lovely and warm, it is squishy and has a large collar. To be fair a picture of me wearing it would've been better but I am in my pj's at the moment.. Which  does not consist of a shirt so.. Chest.

I just hope it isn't too festive because I am going to wear it at other times anyway. Swag and stuff. Man. Soon to be wearing the Christmas ties as well. As of course I have some of them, 4 to be exact because you totally wanted to know.

We did unfortunately miss Celeb today as we were wondering the aisles of Tesco's.. Amy is making up a Christmas gift for a friend in America. They send each other stuff which they cannot get in their respective countries, it is a good idea really. And if Amy's American friend does so happen to be reading - hello!

So Black Friday is a thing. Not so much over here but from what I understand, more online shops are taking part in it than usual such as Amazon. Another that will is Steam.. And I am not sure what to think at the minute because it will be really good but I don't want to get sucked into buying a load of games that I won't play. Or won't work very well. I know the Mac in its own right is quite a powerful device but compared to the recommended settings, it isn't quite up there.. Obviously it was not bought for gaming so I am not complaining because it does perfectly well for what I want and need. Happy days. And this is a thing.. The creator of Steam must love it.

 Right now, I think I will settle in a watch the latest episode of The Walking Dead. Every time I read this I get the narrators voice in my head saying "you are watching the AMC's Walking Dead.." and it is a really deep aggressive voice. Plez stahp.

I have also thought of some folklore/mythology that I am interested in and I know for a fact that a lot of other people will be is Norse mythology. By this, I mean Odin and Thor and all that jazz, very popular thanks to things such as the recent Marvel portrayal. I also quite like this topic as it just managed to pop up in Sword Art Online because why the heck not? Possibly expect a post about that soonish.

Blog you later.

One, Two, Three, Weekend

Oh dear. How's this happened then? I have been sick since Friday, not sick in the sense that I am bed bound and groaning. I am just groaning everywhere else. To be fair, I haven't been sick for a while so I guess I was due to a bout of something, this time it is a lovely runny nose, achey sinuses and for some reason very watery eyes. And some powerful sneezes, like.. My God. I could push a car with these. But oh well, I will battle on!

So other than feeling sorry for myself, what have I been up to? What do I feel like talking about? Well.. Keep reading. This is just a running monologue at the moment.

Friday night was lovely, watched some Gogglebox and have some pizza. They have one of them new systems where you call up and they associate your number to an address so you just tell them what you want and then wehey - pizza! Which is nice. But when you haven't ordered from there in a while you forget you don't need to tell them and it is a rather tense 30 minutes until the door nocks and there he is lovely handling your tea and next days lunch. Because that is what you are really buying with a pizza unless you can eat it all in one sitting.

Onto Saturday, quite a nice relaxed day. We watched Horrible Bosses as the second one has been advertised in the cinema, I wouldn't mind going to see that. I say that now and it will get to the time and I will probably completely forget or never get around to it.. But just incase you are also interested and haven't seen the trailer - tada!

Doesn't look like they are planning to kill anyone.. But are planning to actually do some sort of criminal activity.

I also bought a new game from a website that a friend recommended to me, it is www.gog.com - it sells a load of games really cheap. Obviously, timed offers so any ones I mention on here depending when you read this may not be there.. The one I bought was called Hammerwatch, it is sort of like The Binding of Isaac in the sense of its gameplay but has a set generation of maps. It is quite enjoyable, it was only £1.29 as well so that is even more of a bonus. I just had a look on there and at the moment there is a load of really good bundles depending on what you like. You get them DRM'd which means they are like.. Free content? As in.. You can download onto different devices multiple times. And you get some free games as well, I don't know if that is different for each person but they don't work on Mac. I could just jump over to the Windows side and download them there.. Of course, most of the games you get via this site can be then opened with Steam. Plus side.

Of course I have also been playing Isaac, I am not up to about 28 hours gameplay. It is so hard to get to the point where nearly every run is a win.. By that point you will have enough items that means you are almost guaranteed to get something good. And you have so much time behind you that the experience really helps. I have beaten Isaac twice, with Isaac and Cain. I really want to beat him with ??? or Blue Baby depending on your preference because that unlocks the ol' D6 and hopefully much more potential for new items. And I got wrecked on The Purist. Of course.

By the way, if you want some good runs.. Watch some streams. Get the code of their run and have fun. I don't know how they work in terms of.. The items that are generated. If you haven't unlocked them do you still get to use them for the run? Someone knows. Not me.

Day 507
Lets get some pictures up in here shall we? This first one is of me, with the two Stitches. At this point. I think it was Friday night and we were watching some ITV player catching up with the shenanigans of the Jungle. I am actually quite enjoying it this year, I have tried to watch it before but was quite half assed about it. Not missed one yet so far! Today's live trial was quite impressive, especially as he got all ten and he didn't really seem too bothered about it. Best way to do it I guess, just blank it out and then freak out afterwards!

This is also before I was feeling ill ill.. Friday was sort of just a sniffle.

Day 508

And this next picture takes us nicely round to Saturday night. Had some lovely pork chops, getting better at cooking them now I must say. We also tried some of the below with our tea, accompanied by some Strictly, and Steve bless him was not suited to that dance he did for anyone that watched. Although, you will probably have seen previously that he has had something ridiculous like 13 surgeries on his ankle? Moving away from the picture but.. Throwing in my random knowledge. I didn't like it. I don't like peaches are apricots anyway, but I don't mind them as flavours for some sparkling water hence why I thought I could give this a try. It was Amy's really but my strawberry and lime was cooling in the fridge at this point in time. I have this odd reaction to drinks that I don't like where I sort of shudder.. I don't really know how to describe it. But I shudder.

Day 509
Which brings us around to today. The only thing that really annoys me about Christmas is that every shop you go to will be busy, and it is so annoying. I felt a bit more under the weather, it was raining hard and the car park at Sainsbury's was a cluster bomb of cars. The problem is, is that people will sit with their hazards on in the middle of the road even when there isn't a space available or anyone moving out of one. They wait until there is one. And then people block roads to get a space.. Meaning the person in the space can't actually get out anyway.. What does this picture have to do with Sainsbury's? We went there to get tea and some butter. Stalk butter, proper baking one. This is one of the American Funfetti things we bought back from America, it makes this really really light and fluffy cakes that have little bits of colour scattered in them. They are so nice. Then they have the associated icing on top with decor. So good.

 The box said 24 which we thought was a bit much but as you can see it definitely did! You have to put more mix than you would usually expect in and the rise up and out of the cases and you can literally watch them do it before your eyes. I enjoyed it. Even though at this point I was sitting at the table trying not to blow everything away.

Tea was good. So good. Beef and tomato burgers, which we put together with slices of chorizo and melted cheese. They were so good. I would recommend any of the Sainsbury's Taste the Different burgers to anyone! We originally went looking for the ones with chorizo already in but they were all out so we compromised. They have venison burgers as well which.. Might be nice? We don't really like the look of them, the meat is really dark. I would assume it is nice because it is available.. I might have the guts to do it one day.

So - Apple updates. I don't think I really like where you are going with this. We upgraded the Mac to the new Yosemite OS which makes everything look quite different. The Rocketdock bar has changed for the first time in for as long as I can remember. I prefer the old one myself but change isn't always a bad thing. The overall layout to me looks a lot more childish like.. Crayon colours. Larger text and stuff.. It always felt quite professional to me. Obviously, I don't know the reasons for the changes they made but there were obviously some. It does seem to make the Mac wake up a lot slower than before - maybe it is just a bug. It has also made Safari even slower and more unbearable to use. To quote Amy, it is like Apple's version of Internet Explorer. But IE11 is actually really good by the way.

I have been putting off doing the iOS8 update on my phone because of so many reports of it making the performance dip because it is clearly designed for the iPhone 6 and beyond. A lot of people speculate saying they make it harder to use on the older devices to try and coax you into getting new ones. If there is any truth in that then.. Dang.

My Blog has done pretty well this weekend, I am really please. I obviously haven't posted for the last two days but the it has consistently generated views, about 100 a day. I am feeling quite proud of this little venture of a hobby. I have no plans of stopping any time soon either! In terms of subject areas for the future, my most popular posts are gaming posts and one which I did a long time ago about some Swedish Folklore after watching Pewdiepie play it on YouTube. To date, it is approaching 2,000 views and when the entire blog has just under 18K.. That is saying something. It is something that interests me so I may look into the background of some other folklore. Learning is great, sharing is caring. Blog you later chaps.

Nature is Awesome

It really is. Sometimes I think we can forget about how much nature has to offer because we really lead such unnatural lives. You don't see computers growing on trees now do you?

But seriously, the reason I say this is because we watched Life Story with Mr Attenborough today and the subject matter was finding a mate. Now, we have developed language and presents and all that stuff to please each other but animal mating rituals really show the power of evolution. Animals will dance, make and fight to prove themselves to be the guy to have offspring with.

One of our favourites was the Japanese blowfish. First off - look how happy the little sod is.

I would say he is probably no bigger than your forearm. What they do to attract a mate is make this very intricate and accurate design which I would safely say could be described as art. He does it by flapping his fins and tails to make peaks and troughs and an arena full of soft sand. If a lady comes along and likes the look of it - he bites her on the cheek and knocks her up. Classy. If you just look at it though, this is pretty symmetrical and its not like he has thumbs to use a protractor or anything. This is one of the things that blows my mind about nature that somehow, these animals decided to choose their partner depending on how good they were at making art.

Don't choose to be an insect or arachnid by the way. There appears to be a trend that the female of the species is a bit moody.. Will make you dance or compete for their affections.. And then they'll eat you anyway. Because you made them tired and need energy. Sucks.

Another thing which is awesome - snowflakes. And I bring this up because I recently say some on 9Gag under a high powered microscope so you can see the patterns that they make. It is crazy how they are made by literally just getting cold. And it freezes to make this perfect shape which is apparently never to be created again. I personally find it hard to believe that every snowflake has a completely unique composition, on an atomic level yes it is probably true. To the naked eye or even a microscope I think you could make an argument that they are pretty much the same.. Especially when you see how much snow other countries get that their houses are buried - how many must it take? Literally billions? That are all unique? Blows my mind.

Also watched Watchdog today. I find the Rogue Traders section so funny because they know they've been caught. And it is the most awkward situation that they have probably ever been in, and they know it'll be on television. And they know that the game is up and they are in some serious trouble.

They also had another report about the failings of BT Openreach.. And.. I must say I do agree that they aren't the best. I have heard numerous horror stories of the tribulations caused by them - some of the people on the show today were without a phone or internet for a year before anything was done! Not only would that be hard because technology is such a large part of our culture now but it is now also your right to have access to both these things. I also don't understand how Openreach is allowed to be in charge of such a large network.. It's not that their not capable because it is clearly in place, by them. But because they are the only people that do it on such a large scale - doesn't that mean they have monopolised the sector? Usually the ban hammer would come down on stuff like these telling them to sell parts of to other companies. If they carry on like this they'll be told to step aside anyway!

Day 506
So. It is that time of year again. Christmas. The shops are glitzed up and stocked up. Towns and shopping centres are wearing the festive garbs. Some people are happy, others are Grinching it all around. How is your Christmas shopping going? I am quite proud of myself to say that I am actually nearly done already. For me that is a miracle, but then again this is the first Christmas that I have had a proper wage to get presents on. I used to stagger it from the Summer before but now it is not so much of a worry - it's really quite nice.

And I've just seen that Lee Evans is retiring. Dang. Blog you later.

Writers Block

I'll be honest. I have hit a wall today. And as someone who tries to now post regular content which is more than a little picture with a description - it is a quite scary reality. But today, I thought, why not turn that on its head? Lets talk about writers block. Hurrah!

So, this will be something that the majority of people will have experienced. That feeling of looking at a blank piece of paper or an empty screen with the cursor ticking away, heavily anticipating your commands but nothing comes. You try some words, delete it. Start over. Walk away thinking you are not quite in the zone. The reason I say most people have experienced this is because of school, course work. I would assume 99% of people have had to write something based on a subject and been left to their own devices, I always had problems with English coursework. For whatever reason, I could never quite get my head around it but luckily my teacher was amazing and helped me redraft far too many times.

I can't imagine having this feeling if writing was my lively hood, for full time bloggers, authors, script writers.. Just anything where you are getting paid to be creative. Now, they usually have teams of people who can help with ideas but what if you are on your own? That is the purpose of this post, to share my experience and share ideas which you might find come in handy one day.

Know what you want to set out to do
I know I have this problem quite a lot. It is quite easy to just babble on randomly about things, which for me, does work sometimes as this blog is like a live mental mind map. If you are setting out to achieve something, like writing an informative piece then choose something. Something that you know will keep you interested. I know that sometimes you are given set pieces to work on but there is always a way to engage yourself in it. An example of this, in my short time at university, I was given mercury as a subject to talk about. Now, I didn't really know what to do with it, so I thought about things I liked. Environmental science and science itself so I moved it in the direction of how this affects the environment and why. I therefore enjoyed researching it more, writing it and got a pretty good grade.

Just write something and mind mapping
Anything. This is also a lot easier to do when word processing because you can easily come back and get rid of it later. If hand writing, put your subject in the middle and just write things that come to mind first. Even if they seem irrelevant. These simple prompts can help cascade ideas through your fingers and onto your work medium. Setting these things out in a mind map also really helps, it is a different more visual way of looking at what you want to talk about and helps you to group ideas together. Use colour, pictures, anything that turns switches on in your mind. Something that really worked for me was having a whiteboard that I could write onto. You can move your ideas around much easier, you are free to do what you want with it and you can leave it up whilst you get going if it helped.

Stop
People may disagree with my on this one but.. Just stop. I always got really frustrated sitting there not being able to do anything or get any ideas and ended up working myself up about it. I learned to just get up and walk away. Leave it where it is, talk to someone, chill out for a while, have a snack. Then come back to it, a fresh look can really change your perspective on things.

Use your resources!
If you haven't noticed - this is the 21st century. You have all the worlds knowledge basically sitting in front of you. The internet is not just a large directory of funny cat pictures. Search your subject, find other peoples work to get more ideas. If it is on the internet and you can view it without having to pay or dig deep to find it then it is generally put there to help. Of course, don't steal, give credit to people where it is due. If someone came to my page and felt something was particularly useful to them, I would be more than happy for them to use it. Because I've been there. Also, libraries. They are actually there for a reason.

All the stuff I have included above has come from personal experience and advice from friends. Of course, there is a load of other stuff on the internet, probably better researched than a 21 year old sitting on a bed! Here are some pages which I think you might also find useful:
http://io9.com/5844988/the-10-types-of-writers-block-and-how-to-overcome-them
http://www.cws.illinois.edu/workshop/writers/tips/writersblock/
http://www.psmag.com/navigation/books-and-culture/block-quotes-advice-great-writers-kicking-writers-block-85314/

Day 505
Lets have a picture in here shall we?

21 and 22 Jump Street, both respectively great films. I was quite worried about the sequel because the first was really good, and there is always that niggling that the second film won't be as good. It is just there to set out to make some money whilst the idea is still fresh in peoples minds. This was not one of those cases and I was so happy about that. Apparently there are plans or currently is currently in process, a third film. Once again, the same worry comes to but I don't think they would do it if they didn't think they could pull it off again. We will just have to wait and see.

Right now? I think I will maybe watch some SAO.. Might play some Knights of Pen and Paper. Money is so hard to come by in that game. Blog you later peeps.

My A-Z of Gaming

So, I was having a look through some bits and bobs for different ideas with regards to posts I can do. At the moment it appears as an empty white box, and it is really a canvas for me to express myself onto. And I was thinking, I don't want to throw blocks of text at you all the time so I thought I would try something different today. As you can see above - an A-Z list of gaming.

Now, as with all A-Z lists, there is always going to be a number of letters that going to a pain in the bum. Hopefully I can do this all for the midnight deadline! Just so you know, what this will be based around is all aspects of gaming that come to mind, including the gameplay, creation, community, online and offline, also the media interpretation - also these points will be a mix of positive and negative. I think these are all important factors when it comes to looking at games because ultimately it affects what is available and possibly influences what you think.. I will throw some pictures in to make it more appealing on the ol' eye holes.

A - Anonymity
So, this is more to do with online gaming. When you play online, more often than not, you will have an ID that you play behind. With this ID you can do whatever you want really, in terms of how you portray yourself to that games online community. I remember from playing MMORPG's when I was at school, I always kept my identity secret because to me it made sense and made me feel safe playing online. Then again, some people will use this for the wrong reasons and be just generally horrible people. For no reason. Because they feel there are no repercussions of what they say.

B - Balance
No I am not talking about the Wii balance board although that would probably make a lot more sense.. But for many games, also ones with a heavy online aspect, balance is really important. To me, the idea of a game has been that anything that is made available to you in the game should be able to function on an near equal level to other things in that class or area. This is very important in shooter games although there always seems to be an imbalance.. And you end up with a 'God gun' which everyone uses because it makes them feel good.. And also the Wii balance board is pretty cool.

C - Creativity
There are many many games which will let you express your creativity. Games such as Little Big Planet and The Sims which give you free reign over an a sandbox type environment are always entertaining because it gives you that sense of control. I read an article about this a long time ago, because everyone likes to feel in control - looking at it in a broader perspective you really aren't. How you may ask? You are only given an ex amount of tools or items or customisation options to play with in this limited environment. In terms of games in general - yes you are more creative just.. Limited. This is the beauty of things like Gary's Mod where people can go in a make their own things and just throw them like cooked spaghetti on the wall of the internet!

D - Difficulty
So, this one is definitely a big player for me. I like me a hard game such as Dark Souls 1&2. I think the thing I like most about them is that they are renowned for being difficult from the get go and there is no real way of taking the edge off of that. I also like that it makes you play over and over and try and evolve and eventually win get really excited and realise you still have the rest of the game to play. Games with difficulty settings are just as good because they really let you tailer the game to your mood or experience level to give a different experience. For example, every CoD game I have owned I have done on veteran for the challenge and the achievements.

E - Excitement
I think it is safe to say that playing any game is exciting. Playing a game of cards is exciting and you can add to that excitement factor by introducing money etc. Playing games online or offline is exciting because you feel like you are experiencing a moving story where you are writing the words with your actions. In a way. As a gamer, that feeling of excitement knowing you want to get back to playing something is pretty awesome.

F - Friends
Of course, games are better with friends. Even single player games can be better enjoyed with friends, even if it is just sitting together or chatting to them online experiencing the same story and twists as they are. Playing online with friends, for me, I have always found more comforting. You know them and how they play and you most likely won't get an earful from someone who is clearly too young to play the game because you aren't doing it their way. No thanks!

G - Guessing
What I mean by guessing is better applied to the world of horror games and thrillers. The type where you are always left guessing what is going to come next to make you pee a little. Or to find out who the bad guy is or how to finish it. Games like Amnesia, where the original game is pretty scary on its own, but then the mods which are made with even more jump scares and the like definitely leave you second guessing every move you make. Games like Heavy Rain where you play as police and a grieving father to try and find you son before the time runs out.. Leaving you guessing who was behind it all. And by the way - if you can't play it like me, I would really recommend watching a play through on YouTube.

H - Heroism
We grow up with stories where there is always a hero. A program will have a hero, a movie will have a hero. It is drilled into our minds that being a hero would be amazing - and now with gaming you have millions of different ways to experiencing being that hero. Hero's for the people who stand up for the good or a hero for the bad. A different twist on things, this appears to be coming more into light recently with games where you can make 'bad' decisions. Mass Effect is a great example of this because your decisions make different characters live or die even though you are the hero who is usually expected to save everyone.

I - Ingenuity
I probably speak for a lot of gamers when I say I have at least once said I would love to be a games designer. Playing games thinking 'wouldn't it be amazing if I was the one who made this?' The time and effort it takes to make games is crazy. And how ideas keep falling out of peoples heads baffles me, surely there is only so much we can do?

J - Jokes
I put jokes in for J just because of Borderlands. Games like this are as much about their comedic value as they are about making a great and well polished game. I love playing Borderlands because not only it the game enjoyable anyway, but you know there will be some great dialogue which will make me 'lol' - which generally means exhaling once whilst sitting on my own.

K - Kill
This point is one that is highly contested in the media, so many games these days involve killing. Shooters, fantasy, RPG.. All will have some aspect of killing. Now, I admit to playing a lot of games like this where you kill the 'bad guys' but to the media this is just a way of fear mongering. You see the headlines stating gaming because you a murderer because it just so happens a convicted felon has played a game. If that was the case - we would be in a state of world wide panic.

L - Learn
So, I am an avid scroller on 9Gag and according to the other users.. Loads of people have learnt more of a foreign language from playing games than going to school where they specifically go to learn. Now, I have no proof as to the matter to say this is true or if they just want upvotes but if it is true - then it supports my point. Games do help you learn, I learnt many things about war and tactics and places across the world through games.

M - Movies
What people can do with CGI these days is incredible. I always remember hearing that one day we won't need actors and actresses anymore because CGI will be too realistic and you couldn't tell the different. Most films now you only know it is fake because your brain is telling you that you know it is not real. Games inspire films, films inspire games (not always the best way around..) and games themselves have cinematic elements. More recent games like Beyond Two Souls are more like an interactive movie which fully involves you in the story telling. Also, Final Fantasy games cut scenes are just mind blowing. CGI!

N - New
There will always, always, always be new games. I am happy to say that. You can go to the shop every week and chances are there will be a new game out even if it is one that you have never heard of. But who cares? If you enjoy it go for it and then try make other people like it.. Then it matches up with F.

O - Oscars
This one isn't strictly true as games can't win oscars.. Even though the concept of them is the same as a film in my opinion. Someone has created a universe with characters and a story with an emotive ride and end result.. Just its interactive. Games have prompted different awards to be created to show off some of the best games created. An example of one for me was The Last Of Us which is just a masterpiece to me. I was seriously considering getting a PS3/PS4 just to get hands on with this game. I have always been a fan of Naughty Dog, the creators but.. They deserved all the Oscar equivalents they were nominated for and received.

P - Price
So this is probably going to be the only negative letter.. Because game industries can sometimes over inflate their prices after generating a large amount of hype for a game. Or for their consoles for that matter. For example, the Xbox One release price was around the £400 without any games which to me is extortionate. I know it is new, and they want to drive sales as much as possible but I would assume making it more available would increase the units sold and therefore the profit.. But I look at some games and they can be £50 a pop. I can see why the PC gamers are so happy because they get offers thrown at the left right and centre and then have a vast range of customisation available. There'll be some sales coming up.. I hope I don't partake..

Q - Quality
Now, I don't know about but the quality of a game is always really important. For example, playing any hack is fun for a joke but it never quite has that polished feeling that comes from a fully developed game. They are move for a fun time with friends in my opinion. The quality can range from the presentation to the feel of the controls. An overall quality is required for me. My opinion of course.

R - Realism
Jump in and play Binding of Isaac. Is it realistic? No, not at all. Is it enjoyable? My oh my yes. Jump in and play Battlefield. Is it realistic? Yes, from what I can tell. Is it enjoyable? My oh my yes. The idea of realism can quite easily be applied to any game quite easily and not be too important. Depending on how the game was designed to feel, it will be good. It is only a problem when a game is designed to be realistic and falls short and then.. Well it'll get bad reviews but will probably be okay. I have seen an article where someone has taught themselves to device on Gran Turismo and now have a real licence! Madness I tell you!

S - Save
I love me a save game feature. Saving a game is pretty standard because no one will have time to just sit and play through an entire game every time they want to play something. What I do find strange is all the different systems that are used. Dark Souls doesn't really, it is just an auto save feature placed an convenient times to stop you cheating the system when you do. Other games you can just stop when you want and jump right back in, like with Skyrim. Others try to integrate it into the game to make it seem more necessary than it really is.. I found this with Dead Rising. I loved it but it did annoy me that if I suddenly needed to stop, I needed to find a toilet to 'save' in.

T - Treasure
I am all about that loot, about that loot, no commons. For me, a game with drops which are rare and stuff is heavenly. I played through Borderlands 2 to get to the point where everything was up to my level and then farmed for hours on end. Ended up rich with max eridium and a couple of orange items to stare out. Dark Souls forces you to fight hard enemies and make decisions as to whether you keep the souls or exchange them for loot. Love it also. Then again, does it make us materialistic to always want the nice things? Moral questioning on a blog?

U - Undead
Why am I not putting this under zombies you say? You'll see why down below. The idea of the undead is pretty big at the moment, TV series like The Walking Dead and the games by Tell Tale Games.. All the films like World War Z.. The concept of the undead is really a bit of culture now. The army use undead scenarios for training as I have mentioned before, some universities in America have contingency plans.. Whether they are real or not. This has played a huge part in games, Halloween expansions usually making use of these supernatural beings. Others are completely based around them such as Dead Rising and State of Decay.

V - Videos
The gaming community itself is pretty big these days, the most subscribed person on YouTube is a gamer. The constant flow of games gives new content to be created to these people who make a living on YouTube. And for me, as I have a capture card which works fine but videos cannot be rendered.. Ahem. But I think it is a great that his all comes together so we can share new things and sometimes spoil it for ourselves..

W - Worldwide
That's what games are. The fact I can sit in my bedroom in a dressing gown at whatever time in the morning, knowing I could play some fancy business man in Japan is really quite awesome to put it simply. Gaming has created the stupendous worldwide network of players who will constantly play off each other, learning new things and driving each other to be better players. Plus, I have no idea what half of the people are saying. I always remember playing the MLG playlist on Halo 2 for hours on end winning with my friends.. Until we hit the Japanese teams. Loosing streaks are never fun.

X - Xenomorph
Haha! Aliens. A personal favourite of mine is where games explore the idea of a populated universe where you can meet or.. Destroy aliens. I remember playing Ratchet and Clank religiously when I was younger. I played through so many times and there were no humans in it at all! Which looking back at it now could be a little bit weird.. But it was an entire universe that came out of someones mind with aliens!

Y - You
Yes you. You are involved. You are engaged to the game. The fact this this whole industry is made, influenced and enjoyed by you in itself is amazing. Simply amazing.

Z - Zoo?
You can play games where you own a zoo. Dam it Z.

Well would you look at that. I did it. Aren't you not really all that proud of me right now?

Day 504
Once again I have been a plum and am looking around my room. Once again, I did find something I have not shared before. I have too much stuff. And this isn't even mine.

This was a birthday present for Amy from a friend who went to Egypt. It is pretty impressive how they can do that with the sand.. Honestly looking at it I don't really know how they would do it.. Apart from very slowly and carefully. I recon the middle of it that you don't see will look like a complete mess! Happily sitting between a Halloween candle and a teddy with my name on it. Yeah.

I would usually insert some stuff about a game I have played today here but.. I haven't really. I have been writing this for the evening and I very much enjoyed doing so! Let me know what you think? Blog you later.

BBC iWonder, the Jungle and Papers, Please

Just to start.. I really have no clue how the Apple TV works. Yesterday when I had the extended desktop on, the audio played out of the MacBook. Today, it is playing out of the TV. Which I had forgot to turn down and it made me jump just a tad.

I was downstairs watching some TV and saw an advert for this new BBC thing called BBC iWonder and it basically a free site with a load of random questions you may or may not have thought about in your day to day being. I quite fancied having a look because I would assume as it is by the BBC, it is going to be accurate and informative. The first one I came across which attracted my interests was the following about sci-fi literature:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/timelines/zp7dwmn

Now, I think it is safe to say off the bat, that sci-fi is not everyones cup of tea. I personally, very much enjoy the genre whether that be book or film. I was having a look through, as this was done as a time line with influential books and pieces scattered around. The very first of which was Gulliver's Travels which was recently remade staring Jack Black. Now, I know a lot of people would look at that and say its a fantasy novel - personally I agree. It was included because of the themes of sci-fi within the novel about predictions of things that science could produce in the future.

Another on there which I know most people around about my age will know of is Frankenstein's Monster because they love throwing it at you in your English GCSE. I remember sitting in class waiting for your turn to come up to read a page and if you were lucky enough to get the half and third pages before you talk about how the story reflected the troubled times and this, that and the other. I always remembered not liking that side of English because dissecting a book kind of takes the magic out when you know it is talking about something sad in someones life and stuff. I always preferred reading it for enjoyments sakes.

There are other known ones in there such as Day of the Triffids, Blade Runner and a Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. Interesting stuff. For me anyway.

Just having a look through there are loads and loads of different things on there. A load of stuff from Brian Cox which I will enjoy having a look through, all the space stuff that he is so well known for. There are random thing about bees, historical posts about wars and even the odd ones about spiders having super powers. Of course.

Watched Celebrity today, of course. I enjoy the fact that it has been running for a while and yet they seem to be able to change it up every year and add new things like the jail. It is also quite interesting to watch at the moment because the tensions aren't high and everyone is deliberately trying to get on to make it comfortable. It is also interesting to watch because it is basically a social experiment, to see how people react to these poor conditions.

I said it yesterday, it is a lot easier for us to sit here and make decisions without actually being in that situation. For example, today the celeb chose to release someone from the jail rather than having nice food for the camp. Which I totally agree with, I think it is fairer to have them out with the others rather than in there.. And also I can't imagine eating porridge day in day out. As soon as he came back and said that is the decision he had made - even though everyone else had said the same bar one before he told them of the decision - you could see that slight look of remorse on their faces. The 'I was hoping he could make the mean choice' look.

And that girl for TOWIE is doing my head in. Blagh.

Day 503
It is pretty hard to think of something new to take a picture of every day. Even though there is so much stuff for me to look at just by turning my head I can never quite point at one thing and think - thats the picture I want to share today.

So what might it be today you ask? Nothing exciting in all honesty. I have been making notes from the HTML stuff that I am learning and I just looked at them and thought.. It all just looks like a load of gibberish really. Just things between tags and definitions and all that jazz. That is how I learn though, physically doing it and writing it down. I always used to copy stuff out when I was at school and just sort of kept going until it was stuck in there. I think it will be quite exciting to actually apply this to some soft of web designing tool once I have it all done. Now I have more resources available as well, I can learn even more things which will be nice. One day I might even have my own hosted site?

Just had a look at the HTML for this post - looks nothing like what I know. Maybe it is done in html5?

I got thrown in jail on Papers, Please. I was getting on well from what I could tell, I was on day 15 or so I think? A guy gave me a coin which it gave me the choice to cash in for 1000 credits which I was well up for, anyone who has played it will know that is actually quite a lot so.. I moved to a posher district. I then moved back because of issues and then my neighbours ratted me out for being rich. I then got thrown in prison. Ending 4 of 20.

I must say I am so impressed by this game, the fact it is so simplistic but has all these other elements thrown in to actually make for quite a deep gameplay experience. I am also very impressed with how easily they can jump the complexity of the game up by adding a single rule in. For example, at the point in the game I was I had 9 different rule which meant I had 3 different documents to check per person sometimes. This would include the date, height, weight, appearance, reason, time scales.. And you have to do this accurately and still try to make enough to go up in the world and keep your family fed and warm! I can clearly see why this game gained many a positive review and I am glad my colleague recommended it to me. Plus it was half price - always nice. The sound track is really simple but really sets the feel for the game as well, as a final comment. It really gives you that.. Dictator-y feel. If that is a thing.

Thanks. Again. Blog. You. Later. People.

Welcome to the Weekend

Hello there Internet, I come to you now whilst watching the first in the new series of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! I will be honest, of all the people I only really know Tinchy.. The one from TOWIE because she is so annoying and Kendra as Amy has recently watched her TV series. It is strange how you can get the feel for the people who you are going to really like or just.. Hate. For example.. Gemma. Just no. Please.

I really don't know how I would cope out there because watching it you sit there and think "yeah I could do that." But you really don't know if you could, for instance I am really scared of heights so the zip wire they did in to the dark would have probably done it for me. Or the sky dive. I think I would have to just know that they wouldn't let you do anything life threatening and hopefully man up. So much easier to say this sitting behind a computer screen mind you.

So, I thought I would give you some quick updates about some stats in relation to my Blog. For example, my views have just edged over the 17,000 mark today! This month, November 2014, is also set to be my best month ever for views. I have already beaten my last best and there is still a couple of weeks left of this month so who knows where it will peak?

Another one is the stats for my Google Plus page which is surprising me as well. I would have assumed that I would have even less views on that page but somehow - I have over 44,000. I really don't have any idea why because it doesn't show you the stats for where it the views came from. My Blog primarily gets views from Facebook and Twitter as that is where I initially share it. Now I have started posting fully, I am getting more traffic from Google. Which I am impressed by. Hope it keeps on going.

So all of the three pictures are actually from the weekend, and by that, I mean there isn't one from Friday. Mainly because we did more bits and bobs and I think the pictures are much more interesting to look at.

Day 501

The first picture is courtesy of a Mr James Cole who was around on Saturday as we had a fireworks display as my brother was/is up for the weekend from university. They actually managed to find a fireworks shop that was still open even though it was a little past the usual date. Apparently it was a barn on a farm? And they got a pretty hefty box full with some rockets, noisy ones and big ones. The largest had about 49 shots I am pretty sure. One of the Catherine Wheels fell off of the nail on the fence and nearly set the bonfire off.. Which would have been pretty awesome in all honesty. One of the rockets flew over the house so we couldn't see it but we did hear it go bang. Mr Cole has a nice camera with an adjustable shutter and all that jazz, so he could capture lovely shots like this.

Day 502

We had also been shopping that day to Asda. Amy got a new hat for the Christmas time and I think it is safe to say - it is pretty awesome. Pudding on her head. I even got out my ol' winter coat that I have had since I was in Sixth Form. I wanted a coat that was big enough to fit over my blazer and it has lasted a very long time. From Blu Inc which I don't even think is open anymore.. If it is I haven't seen one in a very long time.

We had a BBQ. Yes, a BBQ this time of year. We got some tin trays and cooked up some onions and a lot of hot dogs. And by a lot I mean about 60 which were a mix of the normal stuff and also chicken ones. I didn't know they even made chicken hot dogs but they were pretty good. My hair is a little bit funky in this picture which I didn't notice until now.. This was also from Mr Cole's camera but I think someone else was using it at the time. It was yesterday and I can already cannot remember. 

We moved inside and luckily.. The Cards vs. Humanity box was sitting there just in view of some people who knew what it was.. So we had a nice big game of that. There were 10 of us so we split into five teams of two. Me and Amy won which technically means we are discretely quite horrible.

Day 503

This last picture is for the Isaac fans out there. I won my first play-through as Eden today on this seed. It was a real shame because I started with a really bad random stat gen for Eden. I hate minimum tears and damage so it started out as a bit of a struggle.. But the first floor I got the wafer and the pentagram which beefed me up a bit. Another two damage upgrades on the next two floors really put me on my way. Just goes to show that it is always worth giving it a try. I wanted to share this seed as it makes for a nice easy one to play through if you want to just jump on and not go for any unlocks and stuff.

You can also see the items I got below, such as the mask which can block tears heading towards you. The Gnawed Clover was a new one to me as well, turns out that one makes you invincible if you just stand still. You obviously can't fire or anything like that but I find it useful for rooms with the bomb turrets as they'll eventually clear the room for you.

So I am currently using the Apple TV to extend the desktop so I can watch videos at the same time as Blogging. I am now watching the third series of SAO, I am not too sure why they keep the same name as it is nothing to do with that anymore. It has now moved onto Gun Gale Online or GGO for short. This one is better than the second series in my opinion, the story is a lot better and the new world is really impressive in terms of the overall design and stuff. I think I am going to like this series, it is all with English subs as well so I get the proper lip synching which usually goes array when watching the dubbed versions.

Here is a picture of my Blogging, thanks to Amy for this one. I am actually sitting on the bed right now but it has the same effect.

Don't I look fancy?

Another gent that was at the fireworks has recently been learning HTML, HTML5 CSS and other bits. Here is his website, it shows your the tools that he has used to self teach.

www.jdobbo.com

I also have a treat for you - some slow motion fireworks! Because why not? If you email a slow motion video in an email on your iPhone it keeps the slow mo effect. If you directly upload it, you loose it. Amy taught me that.

As always, thank you for reading! Blog you later.