Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Hobbies

Tags

Balance, Fishing, Fun, Happy, Hobby, Joy, Music, Reading, Relaxation, Relish, Video Games, Writing, Xbox

My sister has been “over-focused” on work for as long as I have known her. There is nothing wrong with that, provided you take time to do other things to balance it out. Balance is key to a happy life, in my opinion, so that you can do your work, have some fun, and not miss anything important. Important things like regular checkups for you and your pets, paying your bills, exercising, learning something new, and enjoying something that you do, because you enjoy doing it.

Hobbies could be coin collecting, antiquing, drawing/sketching, playing an instrument, or playing video games. It doesn’t matter what your hobby is, as long as it gives you a break from the things you have to to do. Another requirement: You have to look forward to it.

I love playing video games of all kinds. Whether these are on my pc, my iPad, or my Xbox. They are challenging, entertaining, and even educational. I look forward to my daily session, and laugh, yell, and have a heck of a good time. It is even more fun when I can link up with my brother and play together.

This is what I’m talking about. The passion for your hobby has to be there. You have to enjoy it, think about it, and relish the time you get to do it.

Think about people who enjoy fishing. These people can’t wait to get back out on their boats and fish again.

Think about those people who enjoy golf. They can’t wait to get out to the course. They even plan their vacations around it. Does that resort have a golf course?

I hope you get my point. The quote, “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy” rings true here. Spice up your life a bit with a hobby. It provides a great retreat from your daily routine of work, chores, bill paying, and errands.

In the meantime, I’m about ready to head down and fire up my Xbox.

Have a great Monday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Grateful For Video Games

Tags

Cards, Chess, Dungeons & Dragons, Far Cry 4, Games, Nintendo, Playstation, Pong, Scrabble, Video Games, Xbox

If you’ve never played a video game, this post probably won’t have much meaning for you. I have loved playing games my whole life. It started with board games like Monopoly, Life, and Stratigo. My grandfather got me started with checkers and chess. Later, mom and my grandmother got me started with Scrabble.

As I matured, I ran across Dungeons and Dragons. Boy, that was a game. During my early years, we didn’t have cellphones or computers. We had games like Dungeons and Dragons, which captured our imaginations as we created characters and worked our way through various adventures created by one of our friends.

Later in life, came the Arcades. These new types of games were awesome. I got good enough at a few that I rarely spent any money to play them for hours. Other games never ended, and I got tired of those. From here, we moved to computer games. The first console I owned was an Atari, and we played basic games like Pong and many others. The first types of games I liked to play were the very basic games available at the time. Then came the Nintendo system with all of its Mario games, Zelda, and others.

From here I moved over to the Sony Playstation and finally ended up on the Xbox. The game I’m playing currently is called Far Cry 4 and boy, is it a fun one. The basic story is you are returning to the country of your birth, called Kyrat. You are there to spread your mother’s ashes in Lakshmana. Once you arrive, you are accosted by the country’s dictator. You escape his palace and become involved with a resistance group called the Golden Path. In this game, you can hunt, you can drive vehicles, fly a “buzzer” or a one-manned helicopter, you can grapple and climb mountains, and even use a wingsuit to fly from the top of a mountain to get around, the mountainous terrain.

What’s nice about a video game is the length of time you can play a game for such a minimal price. Yeah, 30, 40, or 50 dollars may seem steep for a “game”, but when you consider that the first time I played through Far Cry 4 it took 53 hours to beat it, the money is well worth it.

So today, I am grateful for the many games I have played that have given me so much pleasure throughout my years on this Earth. The board games I played with my family, Dungeons and Dragons with my friends, and now the Xbox, which allows me to play Co-op games with my Brother who is over 3,000 miles away.

Have a great Thursday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – The Joy of Video Gaming

Tags

Alien: Isolation, First-person Shooters, Grateful, Metro Trilogy, Survival Horror, Thanks, Video Games, Xbox

Image by Marko Deichmann from Pixabay 

Today, my inner child is coming out. I am thankful for my XBOX and all the game developers out there who create terrific video games. Recently I beat Metro Exodus, the third game in the Metro Trilogy. It has a great story, awesome graphics, and really sucks you in. The entire trilogy was awesome. If you have not played Metro 2033, Metro Last Light, and Metro Exodus, you are missing out. It is a tremendous story, filled with characters you’ll enjoy interacting with.

I just started playing Alien: Isolation. Wow! What a scary game! In this game, you are Ripley’s daughter. You get the opportunity to travel to a ship nearby which holds the final flight recorder of your Mom’s ship. I won’t spoil this for you. You just have to play it to experience it. It is a really creepy game so far. If you have not seen the movie Alien, you may want to watch it. This game was built to add on to the story in the original film.

The trailer above will give you an idea about what I’m talking about. It’s a great game so far.

Here’s to video gaming!

Until next time…

Dave

 

Daily Ramblings – Thinking Thursday

Tags

Acquiring Skills, Amazon, Education, Ellen DeGeneres, Learning, Netflix, TV Series, Xbox

“Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.” ― Isaac Asimov

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/learning

Only you know what you need to learn. Take some time to think about this. Learning is something that should be life-long. Why stop learning after you finish college? There is so much in the world to see, do, and understand.

There is no reason or excuse for failing to learn new things. Take advantage of the free education available on YouTube, Coursera, Udemy, and other online universities. They cost nothing or are reasonably priced.

What are you interested in? What would you like to be able to do? Take some time during the holidays to answer this question. You’ll be so excited to begin when you find what you are looking for.

Here’s what I’ve done since the last posting of Thinking Thursday on November 8, 2018:

Exercise Program:

I’m still working through Jim Stoppani’s Shortcut to Size program. Yeah, it’s taking longer than the 8 weeks because I sloughed off at my brother’s place and didn’t hit the gym that much.

Books:

How to be an Imperfectionist, Guise – This book was terrific! Like all Stephen Guise books, it is an overview of the research around perfectionism and how to thwart it and be more productive. I recommend this book if you are a procrastinator. It will show you how everyone makes mistakes pursuing new things and avoid the pitfalls of perfectionism, so you can get on with living and producing.

2136 Trilogy (Thrush, Matthew)

(I read the below books every December—they are just that good)

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Covey, Stephen)
• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity (Allen, David)
• Mini Habits (Guise, Stephen)

Classes:

Codecademy – I’m working through JavaScript coding currently. It is fun to get back into coding. The logic and thinking needed to work through code, line by line, is awesome!

Documentaries:

Movies:

Relatable (Netflix) – Comedy act by Ellen DeGeneres. If you’re a fan of her dry humor, you’ll love this one.

Kiss Me First (Netflix) – A good series about a world-wide multi-player game that goes awry. I think you’ll like this if you’re into tech and into CGI. I enjoyed this one.

Fun:

Fortitude (Amazon) – Great show! I won’t drop anything that will ruin the story for you. It’s just a great series. I’ve watched season 1 and 2.

Tin Star (Amazon) – Another great show about a cop who moves his family to a new area away from the big city to have an easier and safer job in law enforcement, but is their new home really safe?

Homecoming (Amazon) – Great series with Julia Roberts. This one is about an organization that helps soldiers when they return home—with a twist.

Kiss Me First (Netflix) – A good series about a world-wide multi-player game that goes awry. I think you’ll like this if you’re into tech and into CGI. I enjoyed this one.

Interesting Apps:

Nothing to add this time…

Video Games:

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Xbox) – Phenomenal game. This was not marketed like your typical game launches but was just terrific. I’m a big fan of “Indiana Jones” type adventure games and this one truly delivers. My brother and I played through the whole thing in 3-4 days. I highly recommend this one.

Until next time…

Dave

 

Daily Ramblings – Phoenix – Day 11

Tags

Amazon, Brother, Friends, Good times, Great weather, Nephew, Netflix, Phoenix Trip, Xbox

Today is just a hangout day with my brother at his home. We’re watching a new show on Amazon, called Fortitude. It is really good so far. We have to run some errands today so my brother can get some last-minute things for his trip tomorrow with his son to Barbados.

I’ll be here at his house until the 13th, just hanging out and relaxing for the last three days I’m here, before heading back to Michigan. This was a really good trip. I got to hang out with some of my friends who I used to work with out here. I got caught up with some folks I haven’t seen in a while.

It was also really nice to hang out with my brother and see my niece get married. My brother’s son will be coming over today to hang out and sleep the night here so they can get to their flight early in the morning. While they’re gone I’ll be knocking out some reading and get caught up on some Netflix and Amazon shows I’ve been wanting to watch.

That’s it for today, folks.

Until next time…

Dave