Daily Ramblings – Thinking Thursday – Reflection

Tags

Clarifying, Exercise, journaling, Learning, Organizing, reflection, Thinking, Translating, Writing

When was the last time you sat down and thought about your life?

Many of us are moving at warp speed. We rush to work. We rush home from work. We rush to get dinner and chores done. Then we plop on our couch and watch a show or movie, read our Facebook newsfeed, or watch videos on TikTok, Snapchat, or Instagram. Then we go to bed to start all over again.

Reflection can occur as you journal, which is why I think journaling is such a great habit. Journaling allows us to gather all those random thoughts, reactions to situations in our lives, and anything else rattling around up there and translate it into words on a written page or typed on a digital one. The time we take to think about what we are feeling, where we are, where we want to go, and where we’ve been is healthy and it helps us clarify and define what is important to us.

“Journal Notepad” by Cathryn Lavery/ CC0 1.0

Reflection can also occur when we take a walk, run, or exercise. Exercise can be quite mundane, particularly if you walk or run the same route. You see the same things; you hear the same things. When boredom kicks in, the mind wanders. You think about what happened today. You think about what you need to do. You think about what you’d like to do. Ideas come. The exercise coupled with this boredom is the perfect storm for reflection. I tend to do a lot of reflecting when I am watching a show that I’ve seen over and over again. The different scenes spark thoughts about this or that.

“Woman Walking” by Matt Bango/ CC0 1.0

Listening to music is also a great time for reflection as different songs will bring up memories, motivate us, and spark our creativity. I tend to have a difficult time thinking when I’m listening to any music with vocals. The kind of music that helps me during my reflective periods is labeled focus by Apple Music. They are instrumental, low-key, and inspire me to think. I’m listening to some of this music now as I write this posting.

“Free listening to music image“/ CC0 1.0

When is the best time to reflect? It really depends on you and your schedule. My best times are early morning when the rest of the house is asleep. I find this time to be very healing. I also find the peaceful calm of the early morning helpful to inspire pondering what is possible. I daydream if you will, while I journal and work out some sticky thoughts that need unravelling.

Sometimes it comes easy. Sometimes not so much. So, I write in my journal what comes to mind and always reread the previous day’s notes to see if I can reword something that is clearer now or jump into a new topic or stream of thought. I find the consistency of journaling is what makes it easy to capture everything because I never miss a day.

Reflection can also be captured by recording something on your smartphone using one of the apps for recording. I do this if I’m on a walk or working out. I don’t like to miss ideas or thoughts, so I capture everything and then listen to them when I have something to write or type with.

Here’s a short video that discusses the importance of reflection.

Well, that’s it for today, folks. I hope you have a great Thursday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Gaming Saturday – Path of Ronin Challenge

Tags

Call of Duty Mobile, Call of Duty MW2, Camouflage Challenges, Load out Best-Practices, Path of Ronin, Season challenges

The Season 2 Reload for Call of Duty MW2 has another path of Ronin challenge, and I finished it yesterday. Boy, what a challenge! You had to get headshots with Assault Rifles, Submachine Guns, Light Machine Guns, Battle Rifles, Marksmanship Rifles, Shot Guns, Pistols and Sniper Rifles. The remaining two categories, ten in all, required 40 kills for launchers and kills from behind with melee weapons. It took me a week to get this done. The hardest challenge was the shotgun headshots for me.

What’s cool about this challenge is you get a special camouflage for each class of weapons when you complete the headshot challenge for them. You only need to do one weapon in each class. Once complete the camouflage is good for the rest of the weapons in that class. When you complete the entire challenge, you get another camouflage and a charm to show off your accomplishments.

There is another challenge that came up that I did not know about but involves camouflages too. Each weapon has challenges to unlock gold, platinum, polyatomic, and orion camouflages, but each of these camouflages also have challenges. For Gold you need to get 100 kills, Platinum 200 kills, Polyatomic 300 kills, and Orion 400 kills. Once you complete these you get a Completionist charm for that weapon. I’ve only done one weapon so far. That weapon is the ISO Hemlock Assault Rifle.

The thing I am working on right now is unlocking the new Marksmanship Rifle, called the Tempus Torrent. To unlock it, you need to get 25 double kills with any Marksmanship Rifle. I started this challenge yesterday and about half-way there. One of the keys to camouflage challenges in Call of Duty is to continue to work on new weapons when they come out, or you will fall way behind. This season I had to complete the Orion camouflage for the ISO Hemlock, the Double Kadashis, and the Crossbow, which I earned in the first set of challenges for the first Path of Ronin.

Of all the weapons challenges, the launchers are by far the hardest. I got the RPG to Orion camouflage this week, but still have the three other launchers to get done. That’ll be next after I unlock and get the Torrent to Orion. I have been working on two weapons at the same time to move them through the camouflage challenges.

I have found it is best to have one heavy weapon and one light weapon so you can move across the battlefield more efficiently. Snipers and pistols or melee weapons. Light machine guns and pistols or melee weapons. You get the gist of what I’m saying. You do not want to be running a light machine gun and a launcher simultaneously. They are both heavy and will drag on you in your matches. It’s also not fair to the rest of your team who are trying to win the game.

Launchers need to accompany an assault rifle, submachine gun, or a shot gun. The key is to maintain your mobility when putting together a loadout.

Here is a link to give you all the details on the updates Season 2 that started on March 15th and the Path of Ronin challenges: https://www.ign.com/wikis/call-of-duty-warzone-2/Warzone_2_Path_of_the_Ronin_Challenges

Well, that’s it for today, folks! If you’re playing Call of Duty MW2, reach out if you have any challenges or difficulties. My player id is ieatbullets63 on both Call of Duty Mobile and Call of Duty MW2.

Happy Gaming!

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Gaming Saturday – Path of Ronin, Raid part 2, and a new weapon!

Tags

Call of Duty MW 2, Challenges, CODM, DMZ, iFerg, Missions, Path of Ronin, Raid part 2, Tempest Torrent, Tips and Tricks

Call of Duty has recently provided a season 2 update. The Path of Ronin has been upgraded to 10 weapon challenges. Each weapons class has its own specific challenges. Assault rifles, Battle Rifles, Submachine guns, Shotguns, Sniper rifles, melee weapons, Marksmanship rifles, pistols, and launchers each have their own specific challenges. I’ve completed pistols, submachine guns, and will start working on launchers today. Here’s a link to get the specifics: https://www.callofduty.com/blog/2023/03/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-II-warzone-2-0-season-02-reloaded-himmelmatt-raid-overview#Ronin

I haven’t played the Raid part 2 yet, but will in the upcoming weeks. In order to play the Raid mission you need to get two other friends to join you. I’ll play with my brother and one of his stepsons or play with the step sons exclusively. I watched StoneMountain64 play through it with two other streamers (Fuglet and Acculite). It seems pretty short, but still worth playing in my opinion.

The new weapon they’ve just opened up is a new marksmanship rifle. Here’s a link to learn the various ways to unlock it: https://twinfinite.net/2023/03/warzone-2-modern-warfare-2-how-to-unlock-the-tempus-torrent-marksman-rifle/

If you’re like me, you relish every challenge because it is what drives me to play these games. I’m competitive and like to win, but that’s not the gist of what makes me want to play these games. Speaking of challenges, there are all kinds of missions to complete in the DMZ. One trick you can do when you’re in the DMZ is to play with a partner. When you get ready to leave, have them drop their weapon and grab it. Do this a number of times and you’ll have a full inventory of contraband weapons with 5 attachments.

Here’s another piece of advice. Always equip your weapons with suppressors. Particularly if you like going solo, like I do. Suppressor kills tend not to fire up the AI, particularly if you pick them off at a distance with headshots. Your armored AI will require two headshots to kill them, but nonetheless, the alarms do not go off, with helicopters dropping off more AI and all the rest.

When I run solo missions, I tend to avoid other players. Unless you’re surprised, many players give themselves away by either using a vehicle or starting a firefight with the AI. When I hear this, I avoid the area, and move to a spot that is less active. If you do run into another player group, send them an invite to your party or request to join them. You’ll likely get invited and then you have two or three other players to work with. I do go into the DMZ with “randos” from time-to-time, but frankly, many of them do not have any type of plan for what they want to do. I always go in with a mission in mind. I tend to only do one at a time and get the hell out.

I wanted to mention CODM for a moment. The challenges this season are Black Gold Brawl, Down Range, Loaner Loadout, Top Up Bonus Event, Out Classed, Get Madd, Team Player, and Too Attached. These challenges are terrific! If you haven’t tried them, give it a shot. They give all kinds of goodies, like new weapon skins, new character skins, new perks, and even new weapons. The Maddox is one of the new weapons introduced. It is an assault rifle and it is awesome.

Well, that’s it for today, folks. Oh! Before I leave, here is another streamer you may want to add to your watch schedule. iFerg is a streamer that highlights CODM. He has over 2 million followers and is a real treat to watch. He has all kinds of interesting insights and he offers up some great information about everything COD Mobile (CODM). Here’s the link to his channel if you’re interested: https://www.youtube.com/@iFerg

Well, that’s it for today, folks. Have a great Saturday!

Happy Gaming!

Dave

Vault

Vault screenshot

Battle pass

Daily Ramblings – Bonus Content – Thanksgiving Countdown

Tags

Christmas, family, Friends, Good Food, Good times, Gratitude, Happiness, Holidays, New Years, passion, recharge, Relaxation, Thanksgiving

Ooh! Pumpkin pie, turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and all the rest await! It’s going to be a great Thanksgiving this year, like every year. I’ll be making the final grocery run tomorrow and I always end up getting more than we need.

I’m not much of a football fan, so I don’t watch the games, nor do I watch the parades. I used to when I was a kid, but now, I just enjoy hanging out and doing whatever. I’ll be doing a little gaming, reading, hanging out with the family, and eating a truckload of food, on and off all day long.

I decided today would be my last posting for the year, other than my holiday postings. I was going to continue all the way to the end of the month, but decided it was time to just shut things down for the rest of 2022. It’s been a great year, folks.

I’ve made some great friends here, that I would not have met anywhere else. So here’s a shameless plug for their blogs, in case you are interested:

https://kmallan.com/ – K.M. Allan is an Australian YA author. Her Blackbirch series is terrific. If you’re thinking of writing a book, she provides all kinds of tips, tricks, and real-world experience writing and publishing a book. She mailed me a copy of her first book, which was not cheap, and I so appreciate her.

https://tierneycreates.com/ – Enjoy crafting? Check out this blog for anything related to quilting, travel to cool places, and even some postings from one of her creations. Her husband is also quite the craftsman.

https://joannaoftheforest.wordpress.com/ – If you want some great pictures of the outdoors and enjoy reading articles that are happy and interesting, you’ll want to check out here postings.

I consider all three of these bloggers friends, because they always respond to my blog postings and we have had some interesting interactions.

Well, folks. I hope all of you have a terrific holiday season and get some time with friends, family, and your favorite hobbies. I’ll be doing what I love–gaming, reading, and writing. I’ll also be making some decisions about some daily postings that I’ve done this year, that I may change up, just to keep things fresh and help me explore new areas that I have not dove into before.

Happy Holidays, folks.

See you in 2023!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, Learning: Deep Time, Crash Course World History, Excel VBA

Tags

Crash Course, Curiosity Stream, Deep Time, Kyle Pew, MS Excel, VB Editor, VBA, Visual Basic

Ok folks! It’s Thursday and I am still reading Deep Time. I am getting close to finishing it, and the story is terrific. I don’t want to spoil anything, but the aliens in this part of the series can warp time. Initially, this thwarted the America and its fighting force, because the aliens could slow the weapons down so that they could easily fly by it without anything hitting them.

I’m watching Crash Course World History on Curiosity Stream. For those of you who are interested in a “Netflix for documentaries” covering nature, outer space, physics, history, and all the rest, you can find it in the Google Play store and the App Store for Apple. It runs 19.99 a year. Netflix runs $19 dollars US a month, if you are price shopping. It is a terrific value if you like documentaries. Anyway, Crash Course is a short 10-minute video that encompasses a period of history. I’ve watched the Babylonians, Egyptians, Chinese Dynasties, and going to continue this until I’m finished. It’s just a terrific and entertaining series.

Part of my MS Excel course on Udemy covers Excel Macros and VBA. Now I am in the VBA portion of the course. Today, I learned how to set up the VB editor and learned how to write some simple code in the immediate window.

That’s my update for the week, folks. Have a great Thursday! OH! By the way, I just hit my annual goal of 1,300 readers. Thanks so much for following my blog!!

Until next time…

Dave