Should all happiness be forgot

...and never thought upon?

Tonight always brings out the worst in people. It's always quite clear that they broke hardy promises to themselves from the year before. "My New Years Resolution will be..." to fully commit to an unachievable goal and feel shit about it for the rest of the year, but don't worry there's always next 1st January to turn that around...

Tonight is always filled with "this year was so shit because of X" "Bring on the New Year everything is gonna be different!" then next new year's eve you claim that the year you're currently in has been the worst ever. Thing is, I reckon people are only remembering bad things that have happened to them recently and it's a well known fact that the human brain focuses on the negative more than positive emotional responses to situations.

So I pose to you my dear friends a mini project. A gift from me to you to see you into the next year with a gusto of Positive Mental Attitude. Something to help you remember all those GOOD things that you have experienced, witnessed and participated in.

This is my "Happy Jar". It's filled with positive experiences that have enriched my life for the better. From silly little things like growing our own vegetables to more sseriously the birth of my Niece. Some notes are reminders of what good things I've done for other people,  including saving someone's life, and what friends and family and strangers have done for me. Some things are just great date nights I've had or starting projects, some projects haven't stuck well as others but it's good for me to remember that process as being a positive thing, to show myself that creativity is worth exploring even if it doesn't go so well.

You can call it whatever you want, use a tin, a money box, a bottle, a box! Whatever you like. 

BUT: the rule is not to read them again until New Year's Eve (or Day depending on festive levels) that way when your feeling the Christmas come-down blues you have something give you a positive boost to the New Year. It'll show you what you CAN achieve and that good things DO happen, whether it's from your own hard ass work or the kind gestures of others or Karma or Force or Deity you believe in exists.

With that, I do, with all my love, wish you a prosperous and satisfactory New Year and this pic; coz we got a puppy this year too:

(Wrapping paper in a box with treats in...cheapest present ever!)

Daily Snippet: Chargin' mah Tank!

So every night since Boxing Day a small group of friends and I have been staying up very late to save the world from Zombies...

I, like many many people now have Left 4 Dead 2 in my Steam Library. It's rather good! Jeebus it's scary and fun and induces so much panic-rage in me I fear that *when* the Zombie infestation happens T'll try my best to be a good Zombie because I'll most likely not last as a survivor!

Daily Snippet: Top 23 of top 5 lists list!

Why is everything in list form?! Most entertainment sites we use give us their bounty in List form. Top 10 words of the week, Top 100 pictures of cats in trees, 32 ways to read small factoids with pictures so you won't forget them! Is it really the only way we can assimilate information? What's next? Will we only pay attention to the News if it's rated mundane to scandalous in a catchy rundown theme? What then if a story doesn't make at least the top 20 will it just turn into a Social Media outrage? Probably the most reliable source of news is Facebook and Twitter these days, and that's sayin' something...

Nalabox in Complicated Relationship with: Skyrim

So in my first part of reviewing Skyrim I unashamedly told you all to ignore the glitches and holes and that weird sense of "loss" from the main story because overall the game was bloody beautiful and I hadn't finished it.

I got the game back and decided to stick to the main story and not go spelunking for loot, trolls or skeleton keys...oooh...

Two hours later...

Pic: guiadoskyrim.webrok.com

I stubbornly stuck to the main story and had it finished in considerably less time than I thought I would. So If I hadn't taken my time to explore, fall into traps or got married, my Brother would have had it back in one weekend. Kind disappointing to realize this as I could have missed out on all that content that I fell in love with, would have been a completely different blog entry. Makes you consider taking your time on other things you very well could be missing out on.

I didn't pick a side in the Civil War as I didn't want my gameplay to be restricted plus neither side really elicited a strong enough emotional response to WANT to join their cause.

                           Seems the Jarl of Whiterun has been eliciting a different kind of response...

www.nexusmods.com

The game did that weird thing where you fight the final boss guy but not really. To be honest it should have ended right there on top of the Throat of the World where you started your journey of the Voice, maybe included more rifty time travel?  Instead you don't quite defeat him so you've got to go out and be a stronger Saiyan or catch all your Pokemons and chase after him in the afterlife, the usual stuff. 

Thing is, you to go Sovngarde. THE most spectacular world environment and magnificent work of art and splendor. And the Hall of Valor. Walking amongst Skyrim's Mighty Heroes who have fallen in glorious battle! Which the final final battle is unfortunately nothing like that. Not even song worthy. Not even an audience with Shor worthy. As soon as the story moves on the whole place shuts itself up and offers you limited dialogue with any fellows that have made the journey before you. They said it was impossible! Bringing an end to The End but I did it and they shut their doors in my face. I'm swept up and dumped on my arse on the Mountain and only the Dragons know the Truth.

I started out loving this game and it has made me laugh, cry, steal, weep and kill for it. I have poured myself into it and it just pooped me out and didn't flush...

www.nexusmods.com

Next Time: A little Festive Jeer!

Bloggerable Death

I spend a good portion of my time on the internet. Connected to close personal networks that filter and share various snippets of what’s happening “out there”. Events that have happened and happening and happen contain so much information flooding our senses I wonder how much of it we truly retain? I bring this up because I enjoy reading blogs, fresh delicious information I can consume on the go! Yet I forgot that having a blog means I have to create the content. I have so many words stored up from social sharing and news and listening that it didn't occur to me to filter it back to the “out there” where it first came from.

(Pic from: http://www.dansadlier.com/2011/05/information-vs-communication/ )

Even an instant creative idea takes times to burst forth out from your brain and out of your mouth or on paper. I spent some time looking at other people’s blogs and found that it seems to no longer have that gusto it once had. Take Blogger, what I’m using now, as an example. I enjoy hitting that “next blog” button to see what other voices have to say out there and I find about 12 out of 20 have been abandoned. Some in favour of different blog mediums like WordPress or fully fledged websites but mostly just abandoned. The rest I found are spiritually focused located in the States or Family blogs or just posting-stuff-from-the-internet blogs ( In Portuguese! ).

I looked into other blog mediums to see what they offered in this age of microblogging of Twitter and Facebook and whatever else. Let’s be honest if there is a third or even sixth they wouldn’t have as much integration in our lives. Tough competition where creativity is the epitome of instant gratification sent forth into the world before you have time to read it back to yourself and realise what you just posted was the most funniest/stupidest/racist/philosophical/incriminating thing you ever said. TheNextWeb already had this idea a few months ago it seems and done all my work for me in this nifty pros and cons list:

From TheNextWeb

Welcome back! Quick rundown if you didn’t bother to read all of that we have the likes of WordPress, Tumblr, Posatch.io, Google+, SquareSpace and even Facebook Notes are getting in on the action. The only thing I didn’t like about many of these is that I would have to join up just to discover new voices. I can’t be arsed to do that. Apart from Posatch.io, I couldn’t see what kind of layouts and level of customisation I could be getting over the one I’m currently using. Someone design me a blog roulette type randomizer so I don’t have to sign up to all these websites!

I don’t think blogging is dying as such it’s just there are so many of us out there and soo much content to get through. It’s mostly likely people who read your blogs are bloggers themselves and those who hungry for that instant hit, probably don’t bother reading your blogs. Those that use both microblogging and blogging blogging will possibly keep up with both? Busy peoples!

I resorted to my old past time “Next Blog” clicky and I shall leave you with some gems:

http://countrywithoutborders.blogspot.co.uk – The musings of an artsy Jewish woman

http://aliceingalaxyland.blogspot.co.uk – Astrology and Weird

http://notdadadventures.blogspot.co.uk –Scottish Pirate turned Parental Role Model?

Next Time: I finally finished SKYRIM! But is it still in the NalaLoves box?