Category: Journal

After about six months of owning the game, I have finally started playing Skyrim VR. And I’ve gotta say – it is so f**king awesome. Okay so the graphics are still of the game’s original era, but being in that world just feels so great nonetheless.

I get those butterflies in my stomach as I am freely exploring the wilderness.

I have only played the first few quests on the PC version of the game, and am glad I never pursued it back then. Because now I get experience what I have heard is a really great game for the first time all in VR.

Tonight I found I had saved the game in Riverun. I went and completely one of the only quests I was familiar with – the exploring of Bleak Falls Barrow and the finding of the Golden Claw.

Running through those caves, with each Playstation Move controller controlling a different hand for my magic spells, I felt pretty badass.

I’m looking forward to seeing where the adventure takes me.

It’s been a while

I’ve not been writing as often as I’d like this last week. Partly this is due to my having done the Birmingham International Marathon last Sunday and being in recovery from a knee injury from that. But I know that’s a pathetic excuse – there’s always my phone that I can write posts on after all.

That being said I am currently putting together a structure, a strategy if you like, for planning writing and publishing posts at a more consistent rate. Once it is all put together I’ll put together a list of the programs and services I am using for it.

I had a goal a few weeks back of getting to this site to have 250 published posts in total by Christmas day 2017. This post will be number 182 so I’m not sure if I’ll successfully manage 250 by then. But I will give it a good try.

Going to be going pumpkin picking tomorrow but don’t know what I’m going to theme my pumpkin on this year. Last year’s was Pinhead from Hellraiser. I’d love to hear some suggestions from you.

Take care, Dave.

Birmingham Marathon 2017 – 30 days to go

Today’s run left me feeling a lot more confident for the upcoming marathon than the previous Sunday’s. Last Sunday I attempted this route but ran on an empty stomach which, amongst other factors, caused me to stop at the 8.3 mile mark.

This time I made sure I had a good meal one hour before running as well as being hydrated. Also I took one of my new energy gels with me to have one hour into the race. I think it worked. I mean, I didn’t feel a boost of energy or anything like that, but I did stay at the same level of tiredness throughout the run.

Finishing this run left me feeling a lot more confident, but I still have no illusions about the marathon itself – it’s gonna be a killer. If I had kept to my original training regime I should be running a 22 mile distance today. I ran half that.

You can see my run results here if you want. I think next weekend I may go for a 15 mile distance but I think that’ll be the furthest I do before the actual day, for fear of injuring myself.

“Visits” are real people too.

When trying to write every day, I find myself looking at my WordPress dashboard to see how many visits I’ve had up to that point. When the bar chart goes way higher than the average I get excited; when it is lower or completely empty I get down.

Sitting down to wait for my dinner today I thought to myself that these numbers on the bar charts are real people. Flesh and blood people who have landed on my website by chance. I have the opportunity to share something real with them.

I had recently tried maintaining a music-focussed blog, which I managed to keep up for a few months before leaving it to go stale. Those old reviews and interviews have now been brought under my personal website domain and I’m no longer writing to just “get views”.

Of course, the more people I have visiting me the better, but I’m not going to go out of my way to write things I don’t want to just because I think more people will want to read it. From now on I will try and just tell the truth; my truth.

Along with writeups/reviews of various things I see and do, as well as keeping a journal of sorts, I aim to make this an honest account of my experiences. Anyone who comes along for the ride is a bonus.

Thanks,

Dave.

P.s. if any of you reading this have your own website, let me know in the comments below. Cheers.

Birmingham Marathon 2017 – 32 days to go

After last Sunday’s run that kept me feeling ill for the rest of the day, I began to doubt my chances of completing the marathon. However, although I am still in no way fully confident in my abilities, I have had a slight confidence boost with my latest run tonight.

Distance: 6.7 miles

Time: 1 hour 4 minutes.

I kept my pace, starting slower and maintaining that speed as best I could, as opposed to my starting quicker before. What resulted was a consistent-feeling run throughout; I didn’t really hit any “wall” as I made sure I just took it easy.

For my dinner earlier on I had a chicken curry with rice, then and hour before the run I ate a banana for the extra slow-release energy.

I will try and get another run in, albeit shorter, this week before Sunday. Then on Sunday I’m going to try and accomplish a 10 mile run, with the aid of one of my new energy gels I bought today.

I was talking with a new person at work today and he mentioned how he had completed a marathon in about 3 hours and 45 minutes (I forget the precise time). I seriously need to up my game.

 

Check out my run on Strava here.

Tomorrow night is Terminator 2 night

Tomorrow night I finally get to see one of my favourite, if not my actual favourite, film of all time – Terminator 2: Judgement Day. My only initial concern / worry is that it’s being released in 3D.

I don’t like to be a hater for the sake of hating, but I’m always sceptical about films shown in 3D. Maybe I’ve just had bad experiences but the only film I remember being impressed by was Tron: Legacy. Avatar was an enjoyable film but the 3D gave me a headache. Maybe I was just ill anyway.

So I’m really looking forward to seeing T2 on the big screen – 3D or however – after having had it as the most memorable film of my growing up. I remember it coming out in 1991 – I was 8 – and my parents dropping me off at my Nan’s while they went to watch it on release. It feels like life has come full circle somewhat, now that I get to watch it up there.

I’ll write up my complete thoughts on the experience once I’ve seen it. I may even go for a double bill with War for the Planet of the Apes afterwords.

I would miss SoundCloud

I’ve just been reading about how a decision today could potentially lead to the end of SoundCloud. The company has just been saved by a couple of investors but still may be gone very soon.

I’ve discovered some great artists through SoundCloud and will be somewhat saddened if / when it does indeed die.

It also makes me think whether or not I could create a similar service to take it’s place. I know there is Spotify and Google Play et al, but those just don’t seem to me to have the same heart as SoundCloud.

Taking my blog too serious

I’m finding I’m taking my blog way too seriously. Instead of just writing; checking; and publishing, I’m leaving posts in draft worried they are not professional enough.

This is stupid.

This website is for me and me alone. I’m currently writing (have written) a long post about my experience with playing Life is Strange and I’m too busy trying to make it sound like a professional review to actually publish it.

From a couple of podcasts I’ve listened to recently I have found this is a common issue for bloggers.

I’m going to do my very best to not censor or judge myself too much. Instead I’m gonna do my very best to just get writing every single day.

In this spirit I’m not going to proof read this post – instead I’m just gonna press publish…

…now.

There’s an electricity in the air today; thunder and lightning and a quick downpour has recharged the air outside. I often prefer the weather like this when at home – there’s something about being indoors when outside is like that.

Of course a lot of people have no choice but to be out in that sort of weather. Please consider donating to Homeless Link today.

p.s. This post started off as just a quick personal note; a status update. However, in the course of writing those two paragraphs it made me think of other things. This in turn led to my seeking out, discovering and linking to Homeless Link. If nothing else, this has confirmed that I really should be writing every day – for myself; not just for any potential readers.

And if I can help others along the way then that’s an added bonus.

Building systems for yourself to achieve your goals

Setting goals is the accepted way of aiming for those achievements you want to make. Write a book; buy a house; run a marathon. While having goals is important, more time should be focused on building systems for yourself. These should be designed to help you get there rather than just focusing on the end result.

When you simply have a goal, you are essentially failing until the point at which you achieve it. Even then your success is short lived as you will probably move on to, or already have, other goals to aim for. Creating a system to achieve those goals can be hugely important and beneficial to you. Each action you take can even be treated as a mini success towards your goal.

Running a marathon

For example, I am planning to run a marathon in October. If I just had the goal, I wouldn’t actually reach it until the point at which I cross the finish line. However, with a system in place, in my example it is running every other day, I am consciously making steps towards that goal. Each run I finish is another success towards my end goal.

Writing a book

The same can be said for writing. If your goal is to write a book, then again your goal remains unmet until it is complete. But if you put in place a system to write everyday for a given amount of time, you are always moving towards that final product.

I am trying to take this approach with my blog now. I always picture my blog, like a lot of people, as having many visitors each day who I am actively interacting with. So instead of focusing of that goal alone, I am instead doing my best to publish every day. This way I know I am working towards making those thoughts  a possible reality.

Get started with your system today

Whatever it is that you want to do or achieve, work out what you can do each day to make it happen. What positive habits do you need to beat into yourself in order to get what you want? It doesn’t matter how small the action you take is – if you stick at it and make it a habit, you will soon see the benefits begin to show themselves.

Get started today.

Good luck.