He updates! And talks in third person!

Hello all. It's been two months and I suppose I'm not ready to let this blog die yet. I don't feel like people understand how significant it is that I'm posting because at this time I'm usually gaming. The fact that I'm willing to put off gaming to update, I feel, is worth noting. You're welcome, readers.

So. Happenings. (and fappenings). I've started playing an MMORPG again, so most of my life has disappeared. Neverwinter is a surprisingly fun game. It's better than the traditional RPG in a few ways, which I shall now list. People not interested may skip this next part (I'll let you know when to start reading again with pink text).

1. It doesn't have 10,000 skills. Everyone who has played a game like World of Warcraft knows what the skill bar looks like when you hit max level. You have 3-5 rows of skills, which adds up to about at least 36 skills to rotate easily. In neverwinter, you have 2 at-wills you can equip at a time, which are like your basic attacks, 3 encounter powers, which are like special abilities with a corresponding cooldown usually between 5-20 seconds, and 2 dailies, which are like ultimate abilities you can use when you've filled your Action Points, which is kinda like a power bar or something?

The implication is that a. You have to select the right skills for the right kind of fights (i.e. a PvP loadout doesn't work as well for PvE, a boss fight loadout isn't as effective for clearing waves of mobs etc.)

2. It's action based, meaning it requires reactive gameplay. Many traditional RPGs come down to just getting the right gear and stats and then just rotating the right skills, in pretty much a zombielike state. Neverwinter forces you to react. Enemies have special attacks which can one-shot you if you're playing a squishier class like a rogue. You can dodge, and you have to. Unlike other games where a decent healer can basically keep you at near full health without any effort on your part, the best healer in the game couldn't save you in Neverwinter if you refuse to avoid taking damage.

I see a lot of people blaming their teammates when they just aren't that good at the game because they're playing like a traditional MMO instead of reacting to a situation when it happens, which is pretty infuriating.

3. Being a game that emphasizes end-game content and knowing that, allowing players to get to end-game very, very quickly. For instance, WoW is very much about end-game content, and yet it still takes a few days or week at least, if you're playing like crazy everyday, to get to end-game. In Neverwinter, you can get from lvl 1-60(max level) in 2 days if you know what you're doing. And when you're max level, there's still so much to do.

That said, the game has a significant number of flaws which detract from the experience. This game would be so much better if they fixed at least some of these.

1. So many bugs. Just in the 1.5 months I've been playing, there have been a shit ton of bugs, and considering that the game is 1 year out of beta, this really shouldn't be happening. I know how difficult troubleshooting bugs can be, but this is fairly ridiculous. It's a common thing that when you debug, you end up with fantastic new bugs that you never expected in the first place, but never have I seen so many bugs in a game that's been launched for more than a year. And it seems like Cryptic is short-staffed, because they take forever to come up with a solution. Contrast Sony Online Entertainment's approach to Planetside 2. A game that literally involves thousands of players on the same map at once, yet it has fairly few bugs, and what few bugs there are are troubleshooted and fixed within a few days, whereas Cryptic takes weeks to solve simple issues.

2. Really restricting the benefits F2P players can get. I get it. They're a company selling a product and they need to make money. But at this point it really seems like they aren't even interested in making a game and they're only doing it because it's the only thing that will make money. Again, contrast SOE, who are making Planetside 2 to make money and to make an awesome game (both of which they've succeeded in). Planetside doesn't have pay-to-win features, and cash shop stuff are strictly limited to cosmetic items or items that you could have obtained by playing the game. Neverwinter has many items and companions you can never acquire if you don't spend money on the game. It gets to a point where F2P players have to put in significantly (I'm talking at least 2-3 whole months more) worth of effort to even compete with the benefits paying players can get. I'm not even bitter, because personally I've spent money on the game, and even so it feels like I'm barely competent. I have the skills, but I can't even touch other players in PvP because of their ridiculously overpowered gear, which though not purchasable directly from the cash shop, can be bought from the auction house. You acquire riches by selling/using items bought from the cash shop and can just skip all the dungeon delving, questing and hard work to get the gear. In fact, for 50 dollars they'll even let you skip a whole campaign, which is like a month's worth of gameplay. What does it say about a company that they will let you pay to NOT play their game?

NORMAL PEOPLE MAY RESUME READING HERE.

Anyway, I've also started working out more because doing guard duty all the time makes you fat. I'm not obese fat, but I've definitely noticed a decrease in strength and stamina. So I thought I might share workout tips. This is strictly for people who wanna build strength. You can kind of train cardio and endurance with this, but there are more efficient methods. So anyway what I've been using is a really simple chart to plan my workouts.

Here it is:

Infographic taken from www.startbodyweight.com. Click to embiggen

So those of you who know me know that I am very much against going to the gym. Why? Multiple reasons.

1. I'm too lazy to go to the gym. I live near a gym (approx. 1km walk), true, but that's 1km further than my living room. And when it comes to this sort of thing, that 1km matters. Here's why. You feel motivated. You want to train. You go to the gym today. And the day after. And the day after. Then comes a day where you feel tired, and you think, nah the gym's a bit far, I'll go tomorrow. Tomorrow you're still tired, so you decide you'll go tomorrow. And tomorrow. And tomorrow. You see what I'm getting at. If you have to go out of your way to train, you're gonna have trouble unless you really like training, or you have insane discipline. Which most people don't. I'm not saying don't go to the gym. I'm saying, make it as difficult as possible to come up with an excuse to not train.

2. I don't like weights. Here's why. Can you do a one-legged squat? Can you do a one-arm pull up? One-arm push up? Decline one-arm push up? Front lever? Most people can't. Hell, of those things I can barely do 2. So my question is this. There are exercises easier than these which you can do, but they still hurt like hell. So when you can't even handle your own bodyweight, why bother with machines or free weights? There are benefits to weight training of course, but for the average person, bodyweight training is more than enough. Use weights when your body isn't heavy enough for your limbs, which it will more than be, for a long, long time. In addition, there are a lot of people who train with weights who don't pay attention to form, and it's way easier to fuck your body over with free weights than with your own body. I'm not saying you can't injure yourself with bodyweight training. With bad form you're gonna injure yourself, always. But weights are more risky. I'm biased against weights that way, but you can't deny that you can get a fairly strong body with just bodyweight.

3. You have no excuse to shirk bodyweight training. Can't do a bench press without a barbell and a bench. You know what you can do? Push ups. Push ups too easy? Decline push ups. Don't tell me you can't find a chair. Decline push ups too easy? One-arm push ups. One arm too easy? Decline one-arm. When you get to that level you're pretty much all set. Most bodyweight exercises don't even require equipment. And for those that too, it's easy to find substitutes. If you look at the infographic, it lists 7 basic exercises (excluding planks). Here's a list of equipment you need for those exercises and the appropriate substitutes if you don't have them:

1. Squats: No equipment needed.

2. Pull ups: Pull up bar. Substitutes: tree branch. Back of a staircase. Any bar-like thing. A home pull up bar (costs $20-$40, lasts a few years at least. Gym fee for 10 visits: $20++)

3. Handstand push ups: No equipment needed.

4. Leg raises: At lower levels, no equipment needed. At higher levels, a bar (see pull up bar) or 2 chairs/a table.

5. Push Ups: No equipment needed. Decline push ups: A chair/something elevated.

6. Dips: A bar (see pull up bar). 2 chairs/a really sturdy table.

7. Horizontal Rows: A bar. (See pull up bar). A table and a chair.

8. Planks: Can you guess?

You see my point? You don't need equipment for most of these, and the ones where you need them, you can find them at home. You literally have no excuse to not train even if you're potato-ing at home.

4. No self-esteem issues. When you work out at home, you're the only one there. When you work out at the gym, you have to look at a bunch of ridiculously well-muscled people. Enough said.

5. Less distraction. When you work out at home, you're the only one there. When you work out at the gym, you get to look at ridiculously well-toned specimens of the opposite gender. And how much exercising do you actually get down when you're staring/drooling. On the other hand, you may try too hard and over-exert. Overexertion -> injuries. You see, training at home reduces injuries.

And that pretty much ends it. I would continue but, I'm like 2 hours behind on gaming. Games don't play themselves.

Breaking News: I am a lying ass

So I just realised it's been almost a month and I did promise that I would update (and look I'm doing it!) in a week or 2 max with some of the writing that I've done. The good news is that I did get a bit of writing done. The bad news is that I won't be sharing it here, because it's still very very very very unrefined, at least in my opinion. Part of it comes from the fact that I've only done 2 revisions, but most of it is due to the fact that I haven't really written much in a few years apart from these sporadic blog posts, which aren't exactly literary.

Some of my writing is online somewhere, where I'm getting reviews at the same time that I'm revising and editing what I've already written as well as writing more. I'm still quite self-conscious and a bit of a perfectionist about my work and I don't want to share something that's less than as good as I can make it.

In the meantime, to make up for it, here's some nice music:

Gabrielle Aplin's entire album. Don't know if you guys know about her, but she has really nice songs so give her a listen.

And if you listened to Gabrielle Aplin and liked it you may also like Orla Gartland:

Might be awhile before I update again since I need time to work on my writing and a bunch of other stuff I'm learning at the moment. Also the steam summer sale just ended and I bought a whole bunch of games I have yet to try/finish so there's that. And also I need to start allocating more time for training with myself cos I'm apparently getting fat after 3 weeks of inactivity. Not good. And look, a total deviation from my usual style: a short post with only 1 set of parentheses throughout the whole thing.

Round of applause for changes!

Incoming...

Greetings ladies and gents, this is probably gonna be one of my shortest posts yet. Just a short update to let you guys know what's up. So remember in my previous post (scroll down) I said I was gonna start writing again? So I've been getting ideas and just generally throwing ideas around in my head, looking for inspiration and stuff and I've finally started working on something. Depending on how it turns out, I may post it here, so check back once in a while. Should take a week or two max.

Anyway, while trying to collect ideas for my writing I made use of quite a few resources which I thought I'd share to help out all those writers who are having trouble thinking of things to write about.

1. Nika Harper
Nika Harper is a writer/gamer/awesome person who(m? I can't handle the differences between who and whom in sentences like these. Let's not be pedantic) League of Legends players are likely to know: she used to host Summoner Showcase, and she's also known as Nikasaur. Anyway I really love her writing, which is inspirational in itself (she has all these awesome ideas), and she also had a video series called WordPlay on youtube, which was meant to help people overcome writer's block and also discuss writing techniques.

Her website: www.thisisnika.com
WordPlay
Her short story journal: www.nikaharper.tumblr.com/
And there are a few other links on her website, feel free to explore those on your own.

2. Writing Prompts That Don't Suck
Okay so I was also looking for writing prompts. You know, like a short phrase/sentence, or an idea, or concept, to jump start the creative process. Most websites gave me pretty shitty stuff though, boring shit. They weren't necessarily bad, but just seemed like they had been done before, or were too narrow. A skilled writer could probably make something cool out of it, but they just seemed like really stale, unimaginative ideas, and I'm not that good.

Enter Writing Prompts That Don't Suck. Daily prompts that are interesting, cover a wide variety of subjects, and are specific enough that you could get ideas from it, but vague enough that you can go in any direction with it.

3. Writing Prompts
Similar to the above, but more varied ideas, and a little more specific.

www.writingprompts.tumblr.com

Okay so that post turned out slightly longer than I expected. So I'm gonna get back to writing.

This is my 4th attempt at writing a post

As per the title, this is my 4th fking attempt at writing a blog post. Apologies.

So, what have I been doing with my life? The sad, sad truth is: almost nothing. My current work/rest cycle makes it really easy for me to tell myself that I don't have enough time or whatever cos when I'm in camp I can't do anything and when I'm out I have so much other stuff to do. But really I've just been gaming and playing or whatever. But it's time for change, you know, 'cos, summer and all that. I don't know why summer is relevant to change, or if it even is. Let's pretend it is.

So what am I doing now (or at least planning to)? Well, I'm working on my next D&D adventure. This is a completely new venture for me as previously for my d&d games I was basically only building single encounters and mostly just stealing pre-made content or just copy-pasting other ideas. This one is completely original, it involves a map of my own creation, a plot I wrote myself and completely original monsters/enemies/encounters. It's going slow because I'm basically running on nothing here, and I'm kind of a perfectionist with my work so I chip away at my shit because I can't stand it being anything but how I envision it to be. People who are interested in playing D&D can contact me. If you're reading this blog, presumably you know how to find me.

I am also updating my blog, as you guys can see, though I fail to see the point, since I don't think I have a lot of readers left. At this point it's basically an exercise in narcissism. I have also decided to start writing again. Short stories, maybe poems, both for use in D&D and just for the sake of writing. For those of you who somehow don't know, I used to write a lot in secondary school but for some reason I just stopped. Recently I've been getting some ideas so I'll start writing again. I may post them here, or I may post them anonymously on reddit. We'll see how it goes, but don't expect anything for at least a few weeks. Perfectionist, see?

Since I haven't updated with anything substantial in a while, and in fact have been writing the kind of updates I abhor the most (ooo today I did so and so, I recently accomplished so and so, basically all that stuff above this), I've decided to write something with a little more depth today. It is currently 1.30am (which due to my habits recently is practically 9pm for me in terms of how asleep I feel, but my brain still gets a little incoherent. It's complicated), so if I don't really make sense or I write something stupid just excuse it.

People who have read my older posts will notice that the subject of Parkour comes up quite a bit in my posts. I don't know if I've ever explained my motivations for picking it up, and how I've developed as a person because of it, so I'm gonna attempt to do so in this post. It's painfully narcissistic, but hey, it's my blog. I don't know if I've mentioned this in an earlier blog post (I could check, but, as they say, where got time. Incidentally if you haven't realised by now you can skip all this italicised stuff), but I've felt that blogs in this age are essentially an indulgence of our narcissism. Onward!

So my "journey", as so many practitioners like to call their experience.....Actually you know what, I'm not gonna call it my "journey". It makes me sound like I've had some sort of great adventure or whatever, and while it has changed my life, it just isn't that grand. It's the sort of life changing like going vegetarian, or deciding that you like coffee without sugar, but not something you could legitimately call a "journey".

By the way, I'm in a slightly melancholic/pensive/nostalgic mood currently, which I guess affects tone, so I think it would help if you guys put on some melancholic music or whatever. Just something chill which helps you think, or brings you back to whenever. If you don't have any, may I suggest:

Trampled Under Foot - Goodbye
Of Monsters and Men - Lakehouse
Faded Paper Figures - North by North

They're all quite different, feel-wise, and may not really fit but, whatever.

It's been said that people who don't practice Parkour themselves cannot truly understand what it is like, but I shall attempt to convey the experience.

DISCLAIMER: Don't take my word as the word of someone who is "qualified" to talk about this. I am far from "qualified" to talk about anything but my own experience.

And so I begin: My experience with Parkour (henceforth abbreviated as PK) started in early 2008 I think (This makes me Sec 2). Since primary school I've been a little obsessed with ninjas (it was a phase). So naturally I ended up searching for videos of "ninjas" and that eventually led me to videos of "urban ninjas", which is what you see in the freerunning scene. (Side note: for the uninitiated, freerunning and PK are not exactly the same thing. PK is basically about economical and efficient movement, while freerunning is about expression. Think the difference between Martial Arts and Dance) Once you get started with all those videos, it doesn't take long before you think you're looking at PK and discover what it's all about. Now, I don't really remember what my mindset was like before I started, because it's been so long, and it's a little hard for me to comprehend people who see it as a "dangerous" or "daring" activity, but I do remember thinking it was insanely cool. Everyone wants to be able to do that right? Flip and climb and run and jump, the whole time making it look effortless. So I wanted to learn, but, being me, put it off for forever.

Growing up in a modern society where teachers teach you everything, and in the same vein everything you learn is taught by teachers, it is initially difficult to comprehend the idea of learning something on your own. How do you get started? That was exactly my excuse for not picking it up earlier. I can't do this on my own, it's dangerous, it's whatever fuck because you're always seeing on TV that "stunts are performed by trained professionals" and to "not try this at home" or whatever. Eventually I realised that with my introversion I'm not likely to find anyone to teach me, since it's hard just for me to talk to strangers (I've gotten better in recent years, thanks for asking. I can now be funny to complete strangers. I am very proud. This is usually before they discover how strange my mind is, tho.), I was gonna have to learn this shit on my own. So I ballsed-up (balls-upped?) and looked through online tutorials, videos, articles and forums to decide how to get started, and I went out to the park one day and freaking taught myself that shit. And herein lies the very first lesson that PK taught me, before I even started:

LESSON NUMBER ONE: YOU CAN LEARN THINGS ON YOUR OWN

It sounds obvious right? Of course you can learn things on your own. But it isn't. We go through much of our early lives thinking, oh, if I want to learn something I should go to a class, get a teacher or whatever bullshit. I remember wanting to learn music, but I couldn't take lessons because reasons. (Incidentally I recommend that people who are interested in music actually take lessons because it really helps) But my point is this: There are many things that we can teach ourselves through simple trial and error, because the resources available to us in today's age are staggeringly huge. We learn things in a year that some people never learn in a whole lifetime. The information we can obtain at the push of a button essentially makes us experts in many fields, at least on a superficial level, and what do we use this power for? Machine gun kittehs and french bulldogs who can't roll over. Not that I don't approve, but just saying that we have tremendous potential. This lesson has stuck with me. Previously, when I want to learn something, my first instinct is to look for classes or teachers or whatever, but now I first attempt to teach myself something, to try and see if I can do it on my own first because hey, it's free. And I am not dissing teachers, because those guys can usually teach you a lot of things you can't teach yourself, but there is always something you learn by going it alone. It is slow, painful, and probably tough and unnecessarily difficult, but the things you learn, they stick with you because you spent forever learning them. It's why you can google a fact, then forget about it the next day and have to google it again, but if you have to apply a fact yourself, you can be sure you'll remember it for at least a few weeks.

Now, training in PK is an entirely self-motivated thing. No one, literally no one, picks up PK if they don't want to. The result is that you are entirely responsible for your own progress. No one will push you to say, "hey give me 20 more reps", or ask you why you didn't "attend training". No one cares if you slack off on training today, or if you worked extra hard yesterday. There is no reward for training hard, and no punishment for training less, beyond the direct benefits of traning and what you give yourself. What this means essentially is that you can't bullshit yourself. If your coach or teacher or whatever says, "do this x more times", and you say "I can't, I'm too tired/weak/pussy to", and they believe you, it makes it easier for you to believe yourself. But when you stand there looking at a jump you're afraid of trying, a few things happen. First, you realise that no one is forcing you to do this jump. Absolutely nothing is going to happen to you if you decide not to jump ultimately. And if you do decide to step down, especially when you know it's in your ability, that feeling sucks. It sucks so hard black holes are vacuum cleaners by comparison. And you can't lie to yourself and say "It was too far for me" without even trying. And if you make a half-hearted attempt you will know. And this little voice in your head appears when you try to lie to yourself, saying "Really?" And the thing I learnt after a few years was this: The sooner you learn to recognise your own bullshit, own it, and move past it, the sooner you will be able to work on it and improve. So here's the second lesson that PK taught me:

LESSON TWO: BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF, ALWAYS

Again, a seemingly obvious thing, but you'd be surprised how many tiny little lies we tell ourselves each and every day (I'm gonna update my blog, I'm gonna write more often etc.) without really processing it. And we get so used to trusting ourselves so completely that we need other people to call our bullshit. When you learn to call your own bullshit, you save yourself the embarrassment of having other people call your bullshit, and you can start working on it right away.

Probably the greatest impact that PK has had on me as a person is the shift in perspective that training forces one to adopt. It begins very simply. When you start learning basic movements, vaults and such, you get excited, like a kid with a new toy, and you want to try it on everything. It is the most amazing feeling, and it feels like you've just unlocked so many new possibilities. This is the most basic way that my perspective changed after I started training. You begin with seeing possibilities in daily obstacles. Railings, walls, platforms. Then you see paths. If you've ever played Mirror's Edge with "Runner Vision" on, that's basically what it looks like. Things don't glow red, but an experienced practitioner is always looking out for routes, paths and obstacles, and they might as well be glowing to him. You pick out all these things in the environment, you learn to recognise what you can and cannot do, given your abilities and the current conditions. Here's the freaky part: somewhere along the line, when you've trained for long enough, your entire way of thinking changes. You become more independent. You learn to trust yourself more. You learn to understand yourself. You know what it is you can and cannot do, and not just physically. Part of it comes from learning to recognise your own bullshit. Part of it comes from all the times when you've confronted a new obstacle for the first time, and being able to relate what you've already done with what you're about to do. And more importantly, you begin to understand that maybe you are different. Everyone is the same: we're all different. You understand that what works for other people may not work for you. It comes from training: You do a climb-up this way, your friend does it another way. You take off with your left foot, I take off with my right. Then you realise it applies to everything else. You like science. She likes literature. I like useless courses that employers take one look at and throw aside. And from there you realise one important fact.

LESSON THREE: YOUR PATH IS YOURS, AND YOURS ALONE

People can advise. They can say, I was in a similar situation, and this worked for me. They can say, based on these factors, this method seems the most logical. But no one can know your exact situation. No one can tell you how to tackle the obstacles you face exactly, be they physical, mental or whatever. Just as different traceurs must adapt similar movements to fit their unique bodies and different obstacles, so too must you find your own way to navigate your own problems, because your situation is uniquely yours. Which is not to say that other people cannot advise, but ultimately you are the one making the decision. And the importance of that is this: That you don't have to follow the conventional path. That is the most important lesson that PK teaches. That the conventional path may not apply to you. It's easy to walk on the pavement. Do you take the pavement when your wallet gets snatched? When you are being chased by people who very much would like to cave your face in? It always begins as a physical lesson. You learn it from interacting with physical obstacles, and your brain learns to adapt it metaphorically or indirectly to life. Learning to take the non-conventional path physically may also give you the courage to take the non-conventional path figuratively. And it is important to realise that the non-conventional path IS a path. I'm not saying be unconventional completely. I am still going to university, studying, getting a degree etc. I'm a law-abiding citizen (for the most part) and I generally adhere to societal norms. But simply realising that there is a different path can do wonders.

I hope I've managed to convey the way my mind has developed as a result of PK training. I haven't been training long, just a few years, and I'm curious to see how I develop in the future. I don't know if you guys really get it from what I've written up there, or if you think you get it but it's not actually what I wanted to convey, but I tried, it's freaking 3:42am now. Gonna read this in the morning again and see if it makes sense but so far this is what I got.

This is a total non-sequitur, but I've also been watching movies recently, and I have two to recommend:
End of Watch
Up in the Air (just watched this today).

They're really awesome movies and if you have a couple of hours I definitely recommend watching them. You will not regret it. Also Up in the Air has George muthafkin' Clooney. Say no more.

ALSO I realise I said I wouldn't take 5 months to update. I didn't lie. It took longer.