What is it about Januarys that makes them the most depressing month of the year? I wonder if it's just me, but I seem to get this feeling at the start of every year and it's hard to describe. I think it's to do with the fact that the "new beginning" of the year is such an anti-climax and all that's left after the "excitement" of New Year is the realisation that it's just the beginning of the same cycle with little changed since last year. Here we go again.
So, what have I been up to in the first one-twelfth of the year?
On the gaming front, I finally managed to finish the excellent Fallout 3, and being a massive achievement-whore, complete all the trophies to 100%. It's the first time in ages that I've felt motivated to fully complete a game, which is testament to the inspired open world setting and the vast number of things to do. My only complaint? The bug that freezes the game and crashes your PS3 on a regular basis once you reach higher levels (and the game save file grows above 500Mb. Incredibly this is too big for a current generation console to handle!). Perseverance and the conditioned behaviour of saving the game every 5 minutes got me through, but not without massive annoyance at every reboot.
I'm a little worried that Skyrim will have the same issues. It's been suggested in the media that the same bug is there in Skyrim but even at lower levels, and that the patch released to fix it only makes the problem worse. I haven't seen strong evidence of this yet, but I'm only a few hours in so far. Yes, you heard it right! Straight after finishing a 100+ hour game, I launched into an even longer one! My other games sit on the shelf for months at a time, wondering when they'll get a look in. Sorry guys, for the forseeable future I'll be killing dragons and listening to the woes of guards who used to be just like me, until they took an over-used meme in the knee.
Along with the rest of the country I really enjoyed the three Sherlock episodes earlier in the month. I loved the way Andrew Scott channelled Heath Ledger's Joker in portraying Moriarty. It might not have been deliberate but that was the vibe I was getting. Such an improvement on the tired and boring Moriarty from the recent Downey Jnr film. That guy, with his plans to profit from starting a war was only one white cat away from being a Bond villain cliche. My only gripe with Sherlock - we need more of it more often. Make the episodes shorter if necessary.
I've moved onto Dexter in the last couple of weeks, but I'm still playing catch up as I didn't start watching it until last year. Currently I'm half way into Season 5 and very much enjoying it - might post my thoughts on that in the future. Alongside that I'm reading the original novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter, which the missus got me for Christmas.
Speaking of reading, last week I finished off the first Gaunts Ghosts omnibus by Dan Abnett. Nobody writes Warhammer 40K stories like that guy, and his Ghosts characters are really likeable. I might think the game itself is garbage these days, but the 40K background and setting make for amazing fiction.
That's about all I've been up to this month (apart from a disastrously timed car breakdown and the ensuing financial problems! Mostly under control now though). Currently hoping that February features a bit of good fortune to raise my spirits!
Mike
002 - The Inevitable New Years Resolutions
Since this story is beginning at the start of 2012, it makes sense to kick off with some New Years Resolutions. I'm not usually one to take this kind of thing seriously, or document them in any way, so I've never had anything to refer back to or measure myself against at the end of the year. Anxious of the fact that I'll be able to check back to see what I resolved to do, I'm not going to be too specific, and hopefully allow myself a bit of flexibility.
1) I'd like to get a bit more order into my life. I'm talking about improving and optimising my weekly routine and maybe fitting in a couple more activities outside of work.
2) I'd like to get my house in order. I'm talking about completing the furnishings in the unfinished rooms, and getting something done about my dingy kitchen and cellar.
3) I'd like to do something charitable this year. I already make a small monthly donation to charity, but I'd like to try and give a little of my spare time to helping out if I find an opportunity.
4) I'd like to excel in my soon-to-start course at work. I hope that this will be a springboard to taking further exams later in the year.
5) I'd like to get a broader understanding on current issues that interest me. I'm talking about reading more, and engaging with people in discussions on topics where I have particularly strong convictions.
6) I'd like to maintain a bi-weekly posting schedule here. This blog isn't going to serve its purpose if I never write anything on it.
Hopefully those are fuzzy enough for me to do reasonably well at ticking them off come the beginning of 2013!
Mike
1) I'd like to get a bit more order into my life. I'm talking about improving and optimising my weekly routine and maybe fitting in a couple more activities outside of work.
2) I'd like to get my house in order. I'm talking about completing the furnishings in the unfinished rooms, and getting something done about my dingy kitchen and cellar.
3) I'd like to do something charitable this year. I already make a small monthly donation to charity, but I'd like to try and give a little of my spare time to helping out if I find an opportunity.
4) I'd like to excel in my soon-to-start course at work. I hope that this will be a springboard to taking further exams later in the year.
5) I'd like to get a broader understanding on current issues that interest me. I'm talking about reading more, and engaging with people in discussions on topics where I have particularly strong convictions.
6) I'd like to maintain a bi-weekly posting schedule here. This blog isn't going to serve its purpose if I never write anything on it.
Hopefully those are fuzzy enough for me to do reasonably well at ticking them off come the beginning of 2013!
Mike
001 - The Geek Express
So then, here I am starting the New Year with a New Blog!
I've been writing sporadically on my hobby focussed blog Musings of a Malifaux Noob through 2011, and at times I've had the urge to write something that isn't "on-topic" there. This place will be the home to musings on everything that isn't connected to that hobby. Appearently there's quite a few other things out there to talk about. Who knew?
I have no expectations that this new blog will have the volume of web traffic as my first one, as this one won't have any specific targetted readership and I won't be linking to it on forums and websites, but hopefully it will be successful in other ways, namely getting me to write a bit more often, and about more varied topics.
As you may have gleaned from the title though, and as you will not find surprising if you happen to know me at all in person, there will still be definite lean towards the geekier side of life.
Mike
I've been writing sporadically on my hobby focussed blog Musings of a Malifaux Noob through 2011, and at times I've had the urge to write something that isn't "on-topic" there. This place will be the home to musings on everything that isn't connected to that hobby. Appearently there's quite a few other things out there to talk about. Who knew?
I have no expectations that this new blog will have the volume of web traffic as my first one, as this one won't have any specific targetted readership and I won't be linking to it on forums and websites, but hopefully it will be successful in other ways, namely getting me to write a bit more often, and about more varied topics.
As you may have gleaned from the title though, and as you will not find surprising if you happen to know me at all in person, there will still be definite lean towards the geekier side of life.
Mike
