Gaming as a hobby?

After over 4 months of not posting anything I thought I better write a post.

As a person I’m not really into sports or outdoor activities, that’s not to say I don’t like doing them it’s more of a case that I wouldn’t say one of my hobbies is playing football or climbing. One thing I would consider as a hobby of mine would be gaming, however I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a ‘gamer’. I enjoy getting into a good game with a good solid story line and I’d happily pay £30-40 on a new release even when theres more important things to buy. However I personally feel that people wouldn’t class gaming as a hobby, especially if I was to say that to a future employee, I think that the term ‘gamer/gaming’ counjers up images of fat sweaty men in a dark basement surrounded by Star Wars memorabilia. (Not saying that theres anything wrong with that, it’s just not the most favouratable image).

In my eyes gaming isn’t taken seriously as a persons hobby compared to sports and I’m not sure why, the video game industry rakes in billions a year around the world and there are a number of games which have the equivalent storyline to books and films.

Anyway thats my opinion, do you think that being a gamer is an acceptable hobby and be as acceptable as sports or other traditional hobbies?

x

Rage.

Earlier I watched a program on channel 4 called ‘My Child The Rioter’ and it’s just made me really annoyed and angry.

It’s interviewing rioters and their parents about their involvement in the riots. From what they’re saying there seems to be a lot of people saying ‘working class’ ‘youth’ and it’s because of society and increase in Uni fee’s and all that and honestly I think it’s a load of rubbish, people were using these as excuses to go out and just be mindless, oportunistic criminals. It’s worrying at how causal and not too bothered the people were to join in in the riots and the parents seem to have the same view. I’ve also noticed that they all seem to be saying that the rioters are now the victims due to their sentences that they have been given but what they don’t seem to understand is that, they broke the law, they were caught and they are punished, that’s how the legal system works. Theres another thing which no one has mentioned about all these people who now have criminal records, they’re going to find it very hard to get a job, so there’s another group of people who are separated out of society.

It’s also quite sad at what the parents are saying aswell, they’re almost saying that they condone it and how it was ‘justified’ and how it was rebelling against the system, when in my opinion, and people will disagree, it wasn’t justified at all it was lack of respect for society, property and tbh themselves and the people around them, if someone would happily burn down some family business they obviously have no respect for anyone and it is in no way an expression of teenage angst.

I’d like to say that my personal view of politics and where I stand on the political spectrum has nothing to do with my views about these riots, I just don’t believe it for a second when these people are saying that it’s the working class who want to fight back, if you were really that poor and needy you’d give up your iPhone and blackberry contracts and cancel your subscription to sky. I know my views will clash with others and I have quite strong views about the riots and they’re constantly mentioned in my lectures but I’d like to hear about what you think about them.

One leaving note, one of the rioters said (along the lines) that ‘he’d become a fugitive and flee to Northern Ireland and from there he’d cross the border into Ireland which is Europe which would then mean the UK Government wouldn’t be able to find him’… I know right. It doesn’t take much imagination to realise who the people were who were involved.

Christmas time…

Mistletoe and wine…

So it’s that time of year again, christmas parties (Our college ball was last night and to say I over indulged is an understatement) christmas shopping, eating and drinking and having a merry ol’ time.

Recently however, I’ve found myself not in this christmas spirit and I think it’s down to a few things. Watching TV we’re barraged with adverts about christmas gifts and it seems as if Christmas has changed into this time about giving and receiving and to me that just seems wrong. I do go to midnight mass on christmas eve  but I’m not saying I’m a hardcore catholic who thinks that christmas is solely about the birth of the son of God and everyone should celebrate that fact but I just think that Christmas is all about getting gifts. It makes me wonder how people would react if they didn’t get anything because I think I’d be fine not getting anything, all I want at christmas is a christmas dinner! This time last year I was in a very bad place, I had smashed my face in after drinking too much which meant I lost my two front teeth so I didn’t care at all for gifts and presents, as the song goes, ‘all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth’

To me Christmas is about family, seeing all my family on either Christmas day or Boxing day is what I love about christmas, on my Mum’s side there’s always about 30 aunties, uncles, cousins rammed into my Grandmas living room playing games and generally having a laugh! Last year we had a mammoth game of trivial pursuits which highlighted my awesome knowledge of random things such as the windiest place on Earth being Antarctica.

I just feel Christmas has become focused too much on gifts and presents.

Anyway, I’d love to hear what you think about Christmas and your family traditions etc.

Peace. x

The intermaweb

So its that time again, the time I usually can’t sleep so I lie in bed and think. This time it’s about the INTERNETZ and ME.

The internet is a weird phenomena its changed the world completely (even so much that in my 1st year Politics essay I argued it changed the world more than 9/11) and with the increasing availability of computers and internet facilities its changed everyday life for me completely but I don’t know if thats a good or a bad thing.

What I mean by that is that there usually isn’t a day when I’m not on the internet wether thats to do work, do nothing, speak with friends, listen to music or whatever, thats not because I have a NEED to be online and I NEED to know what people are doing but even when it comes to doing uni work, 90% of articles I use for work and essays are off the internet and even if they’re not available to me then lecturers and seminar tutors post them up on the university’s ‘virtual learning evnvironment’. They also post notifications about work and lectures etc on there aswell so if theres an important peice of information that needs to be given out then the only way to get it is to be online! All in all when it comes to working and university work then the internet is the students best friend, for essays I only really have to go to the library on campus once or twice to get books out but other than that I don’t really have to leave my room!

Other excellent areas the internet has changed my life in is music, programs like Spotify help me discover new music and then sites such as Amazon allow you to download MP3 albums straight to your pc so you don’t need to go out to the music shop to get them which I’ve found is excellent.

However I personally find the internet can have some very negative sides to life, take right now for instance, I’m sat in bed at 04:31am on the internet when I should be asleep, staying up this late almost everynight surfing the internet cannot be good for me! It’s not like I’m doing anything either! alot of the time I’m on StumbleUpon just cruising around random websites (those of you who don’t know it or haven’t used it, go on it, it will ruin your life but you couldn’t care less). But it’s not just at times like this that I’m distracted by the internet, its times when I should be working or doing something more important but I’m just drawn to procrastinating on the internet or just going and playing on xboxlive for a couple of hours.

It’s a weird thing really, if I didn’t have a tiny bit of self control I think I’d probably just sit day after day, after day on the internet just crusing around not really knowing whats what. The thing is however is that people actually do that!  Just cut ties with reality and get sucked in by the internet which can have some serious problems.

I kinda got a bit carried away but I hope it makes sense and if anything makes you think about how you spend your time on the internet. I’d like to think that I’ll change the way I use the internet and to use it in more of a productive way to help towards my degree but I know it probably wont happen and I’ll be here, lay in bed at 4:40am tomrrow morning.

Peace x

 

 

Finally something to talk about!

I’ve been wracking my brain for a few weeks trying to think of something to talk about, then it hit me. I recently achieved my life long dream of seeing the Red Hot Chili Peppers live! So I’ll talk about that.

 

There it is, and you’ll notice it was £49.50, and also that I was seated.

However despite these drawbacks the gig was still immense. I’d say RHCP are my favourite band and seeing them live just reaffirmed my love for them, seriously they sounded so good.

I was a bit unsure about what the setlist would be, I mean I do like the new album but it’s no By The Way however when they started to play a mix of songs from By The Way, Blood Sugar Sex Magic and Stadium Arcadium I was very very happy and I soon came to realise that £50 was well worth it.

My favourite part of the whole gig was at the end after they had played Give It Away, Anthony had left the stage but Chad, Flea and Josh stayed on and just started to jam between themselves in perfect harmony it was amazing and as if they just ignored the crowd and it was just those 3 in a studio playing whatever felt right, and at this point I looked around and saw people leaving! Their loss eh.

I’ve not got much else to say really, I’ve just been busy with Uni, despite my 6hour week.

Peace. x

Why do we do it so much?

I was laying in bed late last night, this was after I had been looking after some friends who came up to visit for a night out. I started thinking about why we decide to go out and get drunk and why we as a public do it so much and so often!

If you think about it there are a lot more negatives about drinking than positives (I’m not talking about a few pints, I’m on about getting blottoed),

1. It’s bad for your health.

2. It’s expensive.

3. Your more likely to be in some form of violence.

4. You’re more likely to be injured (I have first hand experience of that)

5. You feel awful in the morning!

I could go on and on really.

Its weird when you think about it, you spend all that money getting drunk then if you have a bit too much you just throw it all up, you may aswell just throw your money away!

I’m not here saying that I’m now becoming teetotal, because I love a good pint of Guinness. I just find it strange how even though there are so many negatives to going out and getting blottoed, people still do it and they do it often.

Even when something happens like getting into a fight or getting injured, people will still continue to go out and get very drunk regardless of the repercussions, I mean, I still go out even though less than a year ago I injured myself during a night out but I think what we need to do is learn our limits, I know I have.

Bit o’ food for thought.

 

High Flying Birds.

I recently purchased Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, as a massive Oasis fan I highly anticipated this release, more so than Beady Eye. So I thought I’d share my opinion about this album.

One thing I had to do whilst listening to it was to separate Noel from Oasis. I heard a lot of my friends commenting on the album saying its very similar to a few Oasis songs, in my opinion that’s inevitable, Noel wrote a lot of Oasis’ songs and sang on quite a few of them so of course it’s going to have a slight sound of Oasis. Throughout this post I will definitely compare it to Oasis though.

So looking at Noel as a separate artist, I think this is an amazing album. It doesn’t have the lyrical brilliance of Definately Maybe and Whats the Story, it is however something different which is what I like about it, and what I think the aim of the album was about, like when Ian Brown went solo, he moved away slightly from The Stone Roses sound. compare that with Beady Eye and its just Oasis merged with the Beatles.

I do think however there are a few songs that have a sound of something else in them, if you listen to Stop the Clocks, I can’t help but hear a tiny resemblence to the tune of Let Love Be Your Energy by Robbie Williams. Maybe it’s just me. One thing I do like however is at the end of  (Stranded On) The Wrong Beach, it sounds like the very start of Champagne Supernova which is pretty cool. I tried to arrange it on my iTunes so as that ended, champagne supernova started (didn’t work) maybe it’s meant to be similar, I dunno!

Hopefully this album is the first of a few.

I’ll leave you with my favourite song off the album: If I had a Gun.

Friends no.2

As I have a ridiculously short week in Uni this term (7hours) it’s given me time to think. Not really a good thing most of the time but sometimes it’s not all bad.

I was thinking earlier about my first post; about how social networking sites like Facebook has changed the way we class people as Friends, and these thoughts constitute enough for a follow-up blog.

 *NOTE: I talk about Facebook most of all because it’s the social networking site used by 800million people world wide (stat from Facebook itself) So it’s the logical choice of social network to talk about and also it’s the site that I and most of my friends use on almost a daily basis.* No offence Mark Z.

I saw someone on Facebook who had recently been added by someone or who had added a new friend (one or the other)  post on that persons wall saying : ‘THANKS FOR THE ADD’ Now to me that seems REALLY strange to say that, and I must admit I have said it in the past to people who have added me.  In person we don’t meet a new person then say to them, ‘aww thanks for being my friend mate!’ so why do people feel the need to do it on Facebook? Makes me laugh really.

Maybe next time I meet someone new I’ll say: Thanks for the add!

However there is something in real life that is more acceptable (I’d say anyway) than on Facebook which is that ‘Random friend’ or ‘Random add’. In reality we can make friends where ever we go in the world no matter what age or gender or whatever, and that could be seen as a random friend in terms of the people you usually associate with. However I seem to think on Facebook if someone ‘randomly’ adds me, it’s not so random really because they’ve had a chance to check me out before clicking add as a friend.

Anywhoo, I promise that this’ll be the last blog about social networking and the whole new concept of a ‘friend’!

It’s just 2am and I need to clear my head of my random thoughts so thats why I always seem to blog at mad am.

Freshers no.2 and Xbox

Well, its come to the end of freshers week here at Lancaster Uni.

If this week has done anything its made me, for some reason, feel old! But how can that be, I’m 19!

It must be the new faces all eager and ready to learn. (yeah…’learn’)

I’ve not actually been out everyday like last freshers and every time I have gone out I’ve been home by about 2 which for me is a poor effort.

The one thing I am proud to say I’ve done is:  played, and completed (on Hardcore at least) GEARS OF WAR 3!, the most epic of all epicness but also one that tugs at the ol’ heart strings (I wont reveal too much) But seriously that game is amazing, I love all the new content regarding monsters and guns within the gameplay but also online, my favourite by far is BEAST mode which allows you to play as the Locust (the bad guys in layman’s terms) and you have to kill waves of the COG (good guys) and you can unlock different locust beasts as you progress which is awesome.

The only downfall is…INSANE mode, (downfall on my behalf because I need to get better) but yeah that difficulty setting is literally, Insane.

All this xboxing (new word) makes me a little giddy about the new releases due out this month, Battlefield 3 and Batman: Arkham City and then in Nov there is Assassins Creed Revelations. Theres also MW3 but I don’t think I’ll get it on release, maybe Christmas. Then there’s the big one in March…ME3! aww yeah.

Less about what I’m excited for, what about you?

Anyway, work starts on Tuesday at 9am.

To tell the tooth…(Ha! Get it?)

It’s 3:00am and I can’t sleep. Probably because of the amount of caffeine I have in a day but in truth it’s because for some strange reason when ever I close my eyes I can’t stop thinking about when I lost my two front teeth.

It was about the 10th of December 2010, one week before I was due to finish uni for Christmas. Usual friday night in town, starting on campus with a few drinks then heading into town later on. However that night I had too much to drink on campus (and in hindsight I shouldn’t have gone into town, but ya know, hindsight is a wonderful thing isn’t it!). Anyway after that I don’t remember a lot until after I had fallen over and I was sat against a wall spitting out blood, my face was throbbing and I had strangers around me making sure I was okay (such nice people, who said random people are all bad?!). Turns out I broke my two front teeth, bit my tongue on both sides and scarred my face.

After that I remember waking up in hospital, not knowing how I got there. Then I woke up in a ward with people around me who were actually sick where as I was just stupid. The rest is just a long story of after events and consequences. Such as looking like the below picture for about 3weeks…

It’s strange how I still have ‘flashbacks’ of that night because I don’t actually remember exactly how or when or where it happened but the parts I do remember I can remember very very clearly. The whole incident really sets me back to be quite honest because this was MY fault and I have to live with that.
On the upside. Could’ve been a hell of a lot worse.