The Absence Of Light, Isn't Always Just Darkness.

A little Light music for you while you read, if you want.

Recently I'd been through the long process of turning one of my projects into a reality, a lengthy project at that. I had spent the last few years on and off working on a card game, it has two versions, "SPIRIT® Origin" and "SPIRIT® Stealth"

KICKSTARTER IS HERE:

It was a huge process.
- Designing and refining the game mechanics (probably the hardest bit).
- Making all the Art.
- Designing the cards user interface so that they are intuitive and work.
- Making the cards in the right format for print, learning trim, bleed and cuts.
- Designing the Branding.
- Designing Rule book, learning about game wording and consistency.
- Designing the box, product design is it's own theory and learning what is required.
- Making rough box and card prototypes.
- Buying barcodes.
- Buying Web domain.
- Buying hosting.
- Web design (still not finished the website, it's a lot of work)
- Shooting promo videos.
- Learning Video Editing.
- Economics, you need to understand all the costs.
- Alpha testing, Beta testing.
- Registering  a Buisness
- Registering a TM and applying for (and achieved) a ® (Can be an expensive process)
- Social Media Marketing.
- Publishing promotional materials.
- Commission for custom stand for photos.
- Product shoots, and Editing said shoots.
- Custom goodies for testers.
- Thousands of hours work.
- Paying for Press Release (expensive minefield in itself)
- Sending hundreds of messages, Emails and calls to try and secure online exposure.
* I KNOW I missed a lot more out...*

Sometimes in life you can do everything that you think is right, and fail.

However, failure is determined by your own actions after, not during. If you do not understand why your attempt to succeed failed, and make no attempt to understand why then you have most certainly failed.

If you manage  take a step back, look at the rubble and piece together what happened, and learn from it, then it is no longer failure... just merely a lesson(albeit a painful one sometimes).

"Don't cry to quit! You already in pain, you already hurt! Get a reward from it! "

 - Eric Thomas

I learnt the reasons why my project fell just short of being backed, it was a few things but mostly, and importantly it falls to two things.

1. A poor video.
2. Poor Press-Release decisions.

I needed two videos, the title video which should have been a short, snappy video on WHAT the game is, and eject energy. The second video needed to be an extensive, organic play of the game where people are filmed playing and enjoying it so that the investor can understand what they are buying. I feel most of my non-friend investors took a punt on the idea that it might be good. I needed to show that it is good.

A blessing in disguise is that the product isn't bad. As a matter of fact I logically stand by it being a great game, not just because I made it, but looking ta it objectively (which you should always do, to avoid pride blindness) I feel it's strong.

So, you can have a great product, but still fail if your presentation isn't thought through enough.

I learnt a hell of a lot about the process and the struggles.

I wasn't always enjoying the ride, I spent a few days mostly in a bath in the dark feeling sorry for myself as the projections (which turned out to be very close to correct) suggested the project would fall short of the backing. I even had a few darker days, but if I didn't care so much about this project then I should have questioned why bother doing it at all.

We are all dealt different hands, some of us are born into a better life than others. 

What is important is to realise that while you might not be able to (right now) do your dream job, or live your dream life, that it is far better to make steps forward towards your goals than it is to avoid them or disregard them.

If you want to be a writer, then write. You won't become a writer by just thinking about being a writer.
If you want your ideal body (whatever that is) then strive to work on doing it, learn from others that have achieved what you want.
Surround yourself with information that is relevant, if you work in a factory and want to be an entrepreneur and find yourself at lunchtime participating in gossip or idle chit-chat then break from it.

Listen to podcasts in your headphones at lunch or during the commute, constantly immerse yourself in the type of content that is relevant to you.

Remember, just because you can't currently achieve a main goal, doesn't mean you shouldn't have another. I grew up wanting to be a video game designer... now I just want to travel the world and learn about cultures. Boardgames are a passion (not a dream) and if I can use a passion to make the money to live the life I want then I'm doing ok. It hasn't happened yet, and of course might never happen... but unless I try, unless I make the jumps, take the falls what is the point. 

Read articles, analyse them, learn what is useful information and what is garbage or just an advertisement.

You certainly have a much higher chance reaching your dreams if you actually try.

Of course, you have to be able to accept defeats, get up, dust off and keep climbing.

Nobody said breaking out of old habits is easy, but if it was, everybody would be where they want to be.

Remember...
Dreams are worth fighting for. Always.

  

Remember THIS post?
It's one where I set out goals attached to Pokemon Badges so that I could earn them.

Well, let's review them.

I managed 3 Badges from this rather depressing list.

CAREER BADGE, TRAVEL BADGE, CAREER BADGE 2All three of these were obtained in 2016, 2015 wasn't a great year it would appear... but I'll work on that later.

I'm going to re-make these, and assign them better, less vague requirements, here we go!!
(I'll assign them in the correct order this time)

NEW GOALS:
Boulder badge: 
TASK:
Exercise (In some form, no matter how much or little) either cardio, body weight, weights Every day. As of Today. Badge is achieved if this is unbroken by December 25th.
WHY:
Mostly to create and cement a exercise routine, consistency is the most important factor to exercise, this will build a strong routine.

Cascade Badge:
TASK:
Until December 25th, I may only drink the following: (excluding external situations)
Water
Tea / coffee of any sort.
WHY:
I've had a month of drinking poorly, lots of energy drinks and sugary drinks that are bad for the body, and it would help aid the exercise if I consumed more water.

Thunder Badge:
TASK:
Get SPIRIT® Backed /and or/ in stores.
WHY:
Thousands of hours work, I'm not letting one little defeat stop me.

Rainbow Badge:
TASK:
Help my Girlfriend achieve her goals, offer assistance as often as possible, guide her and generally do all I can to help ensure her life goals happen.
WHY:
She's done the same for me, and I want her to be happy.

Soul Badge:
TASK:
Learn to, and practice meditation and yoga.

WHY:
A strong mind is needed to accompany a strong body.
Marsh Badge:
TASK:Finish writing book 1 of my novel. (Pre Edit)
WHY:
Give a shot at being an author, no need to think small when it comes to careers.

Volcano Badge:
TASK:
Partake in a fitness event (tough mudder / spartan etc) 

WHY:
It will require motivation and training.

Earth Badge:
TASK:
Go Camping at the (Location midden)
OR
Take a Holiday (I know I've had 2 this year, but I think it's so good for me to get away).
WHY:

It's nice to get away.

These seem a lot more manageable and less specific, if I can stick to most of these my life will only be more enriched.

This will wrap up this blog post, it's 2:28am and I should really sleep, or at least attempt it!

Thanks for reading, you beautiful readers.

The clouds call me to me.

This weekend was the unleashing of a months work, I had spent the last month planning and arranging a surprise birthday for my lovely girlfriend, I had invited her friends and picked the venue etc.
She had a lobster with candles in for her cake (She loves sea food) and we all had an amazing time, even if I was stressed and over heated (was a VERY hot weekend in London, more so in a suit)  I still enjoyed and even relished in the challenge of making it all work.

It also reminded me just how much I like having adventures, more tales to tell my kids, so now I'm trying more than ever to start crafting the money I'll require to fund such a lifestyle!

I've got as much ready myself and even paierd with other artist's to create a more dynamic online store, I'm just waiting for the website, seems even if I've shaken the bad flea from the last attempt something is preventing me from getting this moving, and the amount I am trying to get in contact with the new coder it might seem almost like I'm very demanding, but I'm not, I just want to get everything finally launched and the products available online where they belong.

This week I'm going to Try my hardest to get SOME progress with the online store, I refuse to give up and I refuse to let up until I get some progress, this my dear readers may come across strong but believe me, in business you can only rely on other parties for so long, sometimes you got to grab the bull by the horns, snap them off and shove them deeply into the bulls ass.

Some point this week, as a treat IF I can achieve the Website progress, I will be having a camping adventure, maybe even by myself, so I can get some time to myself and evaluate some of life's aspects.

I'm hoping the weather remains as it is, if so I'm sure it will be a great and welcome break.

As I mentioned Earlier, I've been promoting products and collaborating with other artists, the Offical Rocket punch blog can be found > HERE <

The biggest problem was when I headed to the London MCM Expo, it seems people just do not care about copyright rights for the products they sell, so many people selling other companies logo's and designs without prior permission.

I was half contemplating on doing the same, I would make a lot of money, but after a lot of thought, I'm going to stick with my morals and company integrity. I may want to make profit, thats the main goal of most buisness's but I want to preserve my morals, I want to provide a quality product without stepping on those games and Tv shows that actually provide the initial interest and clientèle.

My products are more of a silent nod towards them, not a copy.
I felt I needed to air this, as some people might wonder why, with a market saturated by people ripping each other off why I'm not following suit.

You might agree with me, or think it's foolish to sacrifice income for base morals, but that is just how it is.

It all started with my first ever print, I wanted to test the quality of the heat press and the quality and finish of the industrial heat transfer paper, the finish was amazing, and thus was my first T-shirt ever printed.

You might remember seeing this a long time ago on the blog, I was just thinking about how far I've come, I could be very established by now if not for the whole website fiasco, but I learned an important lesson, leave  professional jobs to a professional.

I'm thinking of Framing this T-Shirt, it was the first in line, and lead the way in the direction I'm still following today even with all the issues and hurdles I've had to jump.

Recently I've started learning Traditional Mahjong, and I'm not going to lie to you, I'm still not 100% with all the scoring patterns as it is quite complex where scores can even go into the millions if you have not set a score limit.

What I will say is that it is VERY addictive.

Now I don't mean Mahjong solitaire, that is the most common mistake, that is a 1 player game, nothing like mahjong and calling it is the same as calling snap poker because it uses cards.

Anyway I won't rabble on too much about it as I'm certain its not everyone's idea of a fun game.
Where am I going with this?

Not sure... I'll move on!

That feeling of vastness, the open road and the uncertainty. All these things are for me the signs of a great adventure.

If I had to say what one thing makes me feel adventurous it would be the big billowing clouds on a hot and sunny day, where the clouds themselves look like snow topped peaks on the horizon, for me that is the loudest call to the adventure for me.

Have a great day readers!!

A Personal Tale

Hello Readers! I thought I'd talk about some things I've been up to and trying to achieve this week. Why? Well because I'd like to keep you people in the loop!

But firstly I'd like to give you something to listen to when reading todays post, something easy on the ears and a little relaxing, I want you to be relaxed... ARE YOU RELAXED YET?
NO!?
Ok, here, this is for you!

 

Today I created the basic frame of the Facebook page for my buisness, it looks ok, this will be one of the main ways I get updates and new products out to customers, you can find the page >HERE<!

I'll be posting up onto the FB page daily, just posting updates on the buisness progress etc so you won't actually be able to purchase any items until the main site is complete, and that is the next topic!!

The main site, something that has been in the centre of all my problems, issues seem to gravitate around it and due to some bad choices on people to actually help create it it's taken me nearly a year to get going.

Since August last year I had everything set up:

Suppliers, and a good relationship with them.
Machinery to produce the items.
Models to use for photographing the goods.
Designs ready to print.
A solid marketing platform and strategy.

What I didn't have left was much money, and apparently a good choice in friends.
Due to my lack of funds, and a lack of E-commerce knowledge I'd need someone to make the site for me, and through my desperation I asked a friend at that time if he could help me.
I was assured that the project was simple and shouldn't take more than a few weeks, those weeks passed and then the deadline was pushed to November. This was frustrating, but because this was a favour being done for me out of someone's own time, I couldn't really complain and besides I was thankful for having the ability to get things rolling and start making money.

Every deadline was pushed further and further away, each time a new excuse was made, and each time my patience and understanding nature where misled.
A few times during the whole ordeal I asked the person if he just didn't have the time to do it, as I was contemplating learning how to do it myself, and I would have. But again, the usual reassurances where given and I lapped them up like a fool.

So, the person had made little attempt to make the site, I had provided everything the person asked for near enough when it was asked of me. I offered a way out, and even asked it this was too much to do.

In the end, I was gifted with the money to make this happen myself, and I contacted the person stating that I had gotten money and would now look elsewhere since he had done nothing for- wait for it- 8 whole months, this is a person who claims to be a professional in the field.
Anyway, the person basically told me that if I'd told him money was involved that it would have been done sooner.
Sadly the deluded fool must have thought favours  require personal gain, the reason he was even asked was because of my lack of money... what a fool.

When you make a promise or favour to another person, that is what it is, its your word that you will do what you've stated to do, this had not happened for 8 months, and I was expected to PAY this person for 8 months of no work? so that he would do it!
To cut a long story short, I have nothing to do with the person in question, there is no need to surround yourself with people that are unreliable and selfish.
And readers, when someone tells you they will do a favour for you but keep putting it off and even say they are ok to do it when you ask them if they still can... what do you do?

In my eyes, a favour should be made in the idea that it will be undertaken, and if you can not do the task, then state that you cannot do it any longer.

This may of sounded like a little rant, but up until now I've kept this behind closed doors, I was so disappointed with the person in question it's even worse when I think back to all the selfless favours I've done for that person, even shared my home with him for half a year to help him out.

I've lost what little respect I had left for the person and sadly know that his blind and selfish attitude towards life will take him nowhere nice.

The main site is being done by another person whom is a professional, but actually works for a large well known company and has a lot of experience with E-commerce, plus a impressive list of coded products.

This new guy will hopefully be working on the website very soon and I'll be finally able to get things rolling hopefully before mid summer.
The pleasure I have knowing that this could get done and to finally have the buisness I've worked so hard towards, is almost too much to think about!!

This week it's mostly about the website as well as creating new designs!

Some Great tips!! 7 not-so-obvious habits to increase productivity!

Sourced and copied from >HERE<

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. Monday – Ignore The Unimportant

I firmly believe that the art of ignorance should be taught in schools. We live in such an information-rich society, our focus is so deeply challenged by dozens or hundreds of stimuli each and every second, that we have a really hard time focusing on what really matters.

Especially on Mondays, when all the previous week unprocessed stuff seems to crash on us, try to apply this. Focus only on what matters. If you have a presentation to finish in one hour, cut out everything – and I mean: EVERYTHING – that is not connected to it.

Slash out Twitter, Facebook, email. Turn off the music. Close the door after putting a big sign with “Abandon hope all ye who enter here” on the other side. In time, you’ll become better at this. The hidden frustration that “you’re missing something” will fade away.

2. Tuesday – Reward Yourself Constantly

Each tiny task that you finish is an achievement. We forget too often that our big successes are in fact big chains of small tasks performed on a daily basis. So, in order to keep this chaining process running, put a little reward at the end of each small task.

Tuesdays are great for this habit, because they’re the first link after the week hast started. Just do something nice at the end of each task. Listen to your favorite tune or read your favorite blog (and that would be, of course, Stepcase Lifehack) for the next five minutes.

As much as we won’t want to admit it, that Pavlov guy was right. And I’m not talking about the dogs here. I’m talking about you. Because you gotta be your own Pavlov and the dogs will be your productivity habits. Train them constantly. And, if need will be, feed them some sugar every now and then.

3. Wednesday – Negotiate The Expendable

It’s the middle of the week, and, by now, there must be some garbage accumulated. Some stuff that you don’t really need to do, but, somehow, it’s still in your to do list. It’s a perfect time to negotiate that stuff. Does it really need to be on your to do list?

The pressure of constantly doing, delivering, accomplishing made us forget that we do have this option too in our arsenal. I’m talking about negotiation. “Talk” with the task. Or with the person at the other end of the task. Does it really need to be done right now?

I compare this negotiation process with taking out the water from a gulf. If you’re lucky, you will see an ancient shipwreck. That’s your task. It’s not a yacht anymore, it’s a shipwreck. You will start to realize that what you thought is important, may not even be there anymore. It’s just the ghost of the task.

4. Thursday – Reuse Past Approaches

This comes from a long history of programming. I’m still doing it, this programming thing, by the way, because I enjoy it so much. Just try to look at what you have to do and compare it with previous experiences. Like “Have I done this before?. How did I do it?”

Thursdays are perfect for that, because you now must have a consistent “week work history” to dig through. And, allegedly, you’re also pretty much at the top of your potential. From now on, it will start to go downhill, somehow.

So, try to identify similarities in your work before you will do the same thing twice, just because you don’t remember doing it before. Pay attention to the circumstances, because they’re never the same, but isolate what you can repeat.

5. Friday – Ask For Help

If I would have a dollar for each time I didn’t ask for help when I should have, I would certainly be a millionaire. Seriously. Being “productive” has this aura of “I’m doing all the stuff by myself. I’m so cool.” Well, maybe you’re cool, but you don’t have to do anything by yourself.

You have a unique set of skills. Other people have their own unique set of skills. If you combine your set with their set, it’s absolutely obvious that you will get far better results than by using only yours. It’s just simple mathematics here.

And Fridays are perfect to test this habit, because, admit it, you’re a little bit tired. And it’s also a good pretext for some social interaction. Isolate some task that you know somebody else may be doing better than you and ask for their help.

6. Saturday – Switch Workplaces

Ok, we don’t have to work on Saturdays. As I told you, you can just put this tip on any other day of the week. But I chose Saturdays because they are perfect for traveling. Short trips around the town, seeing some new places, meeting some new people.

Try to do the same with your workplace. See if you can work for a day somewhere else. From home, or from a coffee shop. Or even in another office. Or, if you can’t live your office, on a different chair. Just change something in your surroundings.

All our habits are shaped by our surroundings. The more you’ll change the surroundings, the better and more consistent your habits will become. This constant stimulation will summon energy resources that you didn’t even know you have.

7. Sunday – Change Deadlines Into Livelines

I kept this from my GTD routine, you know, the weekly review. I did this on Sundays, trying to project the next week. I still try to have a look at the week just before it starts.  And now, a little bit of explanation about the word “liveline”.

I stopped use the word “deadline” long time ago, because it has “death” in it. The “task slasher” approach. I don’t do this anymore. Because crossing off tasks from your to do lists will eventually end up with crossing off your entire life from your to do lists. Rushing straight to your own death, one crossed task at a time. Change this perspective. A deadline is not the end. Make it a liveline. Make it a beginning.

And by that I mean something connected with something else. A new start. Think in terms of new beginnings not in term of endings. If you really need to reach the end of something, use the word “milestone”. And replace “deadline” with “liveline” every time you can.

It will be enlightening, believe me. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another Chilled out drum and bass song, I like the mix of energy and relaxation the melodies offer.

Lastly, as a little and somewhat pointless treat, here is how to make your very own DUCT TAPE WALLET!!

Thanks for reading, I appreciate you taking the time out to read the Blog, hope you learned something new, PEACE!

Coffee post... makes no sense.

Today in between working I've been working more on my game!
For those of you unaware I've been slowly working on my own retro RPG game for the last...7 odd years 0_0.
I only just realised how long this has been going on for... wow...
Not sever years solid, on and off, flowing with the tides of life, if I'm too busy then it sits on the back burner.

It's been a long time, and its not really even fully ready for its initial demo. But once all the initial problems have been ironed out its just a case of adding content, and that is my strong point!

I'm not sure why I've filed this under adventure... but it is.

You might note that this post is around the 1:20am mark, and might be thinking that I forgot to post today, well I didn't I just posted late and I'll explain why.
The last week or so I've been finding sleep hard, not the act of sleeping, I fall asleep easily. But what I'm really struggling with is waking up!!

This morning was the last straw, I went to sleep at 2am  (a normal time for me) and I normally expect to wake at around 9-10.
I've been waking at 2. That's a 12 hour sleep! the last few days have been about 11 hours sleep and this is massively unhealthy for the brain and body.
I've decided to actually pull and all nighter and not sleep tonight. Instead I'll work on my game, watch a few films and drink coffee.
Come tomorrow night (or tonight technically) at around 11 I'll go to sleep and set an alarm for 8-9.

I'm also booking an appointment with my GP to see what the sleep problem might be, as well as finally sort my tooth ache out that I've had since September...

So tomorrow is a general body repairs day.

looked through and tweaked my original marketing strategy, looking at improved ways of making this business work, it can be done but I'm not expecting miracles, I'm expecting millions! (got to stay positive)

Another thing I've be looking at is my costings, since I started this project in early august the financial climate has changed drastically and learning where I stand in it today is going to provide vital information in correctly assessing and delegating funds. 

WHOOO (sorry that coffee was good)

I can't function to write anymore... its 2am!? where did 30 minuites go!?

Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye :D

Skip to the end for useful bits...

Today has been uneventful, I need to get my sleep pattern on track and sort through work that needs finishing and more importantly, prioritise what needs doing.

I awoke very late today, couldn't sleep and finally got to sleep at around 5am, too many things rattling around my head.
There has been very little in the terms of life development today, spent most of the day thinking about what my available actions are, what I can and cannot do, and in hindsight been stressing on how one decision has caused me to waste so much time, but ultimately, regardless of decisions past made, I have to look forward.

It's easy to get bogged down in what you could or should have done in the past, but the only way to achieve any results is to look forwards, I guess in some ways I'm lucky, because no matter what happens with the buisness here, it is transferable to where ever I move to which is looking to be London.
And while I might not have the buisness up and running just yet, I can do so in London as well as have a pool of work for some side cash to help propel the business where it needs to be as well as work on the new projects.

Lucky I still have these to keep bolstering my happiness, I think today only seems so extreme as a result of forgetting to take some in the morning after food.

I don't have much time for games any more, not digital ones anyway, but I promised myself that today I would focus on cheering myself up, because no matter what I do, if I'm not in the right mental state, then I'll make mistakes and not be as effective as I know I can be, So tonight I will play a few games.

• Titan Quest
• BattleField 2
• Monster hunter Tri
• Stepmania
• Minecraft

This will be my list I'll play from, as well as maybe watching a film also.

So until I stop feeling like this:

 I'll try my hardest to get back on track for tomorrows update, my apologies, anyway... I need to have some reason for you to read this so here it is:

A 9 week plan to get ANYONE up to speed with running!

Running provides an amazing cardiovascular workout and will shed weight at pronominal speeds, but for some the idea of running might seem daunting so here is a foolproof plan to getting you up to speed gradually over 9 weeks, after 9 weeks you will be able to run for 30 minutes solid!

This is a 9 week program to helping ANYONE with cardiovascular exercises, in this case running.

If you follow this plan you will be up and running solid at a strong level in 9 weeks no matter what your fitness level.

Ok, that is all I can provide for today, I need to go shift this mood, thanks for reading!! peace!

A Vacant Mess.

Got a sub project under way, I want to pour out the details, but much like my buisness, I hope to get the concept solid enough to market and as a result cannot mention much here.

I can mention that this is a boardgame, and I can mention that nothing like this has been made before, why? well I think it's because making something like this is very complex but after a long day of brainstorming with people we have a system that will simplify everything while giving depth, fun and most importantly, unlike most boardgames, will reward the player.

This will be known as "Project Burst" from here onwards.

Parts of Project "Asphalt Wave" are on hold still, and the same for the business, I'm not happy about it but I cannot do anything about this just yet, but might have to make serious backup measures. 

I'll talk about more of Burst when I get more to reveal.

Was cooked Won ton soup today, stuffed chicken and spring onion won tons in a mix of my chicken stock and my new mushroom stock, complete with noodles, it was a delicious soup and reminded me why Chinese soups are amazing!  

They contain a lot of water, this hydrates you and fills you up all at once, the stocks taste amazing and its a cost effective way to use a old chicken carcass, just put what is left into boiling water (bones and everything) into a pan and boil away for a few hours, drain through a sieve and store the fluid, easy.

Also a great bonus of this is that you can make a soup base, freeze it in a big batch and then defrost and add ingredients (meat, veg, noodles) to the dish and you have a cost effective , healthy meal that's quick to make.

Friends come and go in life, some longer than others, but at some point in life we have all be faced with a common dilemma.

You have a friend, and other people tell you things about this person that you never see, things that might be out of character.

Well as a friend you should initially dismiss these things as hearsay or at least look for evidence, but there is nothing worse than discovering what people have been telling you is true, you lose face and in turn have not believed the people that warned you.

I believe in life we have to just make judgements for ourselves, if somebody is worth sharing your time with then you should do just that, I guess what I'm trying to say is that sometimes, our friends are not always the people we want them to be, or think they should be.

To be a true friend you have to learn to accept their flaws as much as they accept your own, if not then it's best parting ways.

Do I speak from experience?

Not really, I've build a good rapport with my friends and believe that I know their strengths and weaknesses., sometimes it's hard to accept elements, sometimes it's not.

Yesterday I took a visit onto Wii Fit, not my idea of a gym but it can be a fun way to preform some menial exercises.

Firstly it was rude to me about my weight, but I had anticipated this from the Christmas binge.

So it got me thinking, what time of day do people prefer to exercise?

For me, back when I had a Gym membership I used to love hitting the gym for around midday.

It seems mid day wast the quietest time of the gym, I had free roam of equipment and didn't have to wait to use any equipment.

If I run I prefer to run at night, around 10pm, because the town is empty and again I have a free roam, maybe it's just me being unsociable, but when I exercise I want to do just that, for me its not a time for socialising.

My Weight bench is in my room / office, and it gives me the chance to drop some reps whenever I get free time, also have a standing punch tower for when I feel that's needed also.

Since I've got plenty of weight to convert into muscle I've started a process called Cutting, its when you have the bulk to convert into muscle you then beginning to cut, by cutting you eat less calories and eat less in general but maintaining a high protein diet, this way you protect your muscle development, you will however lose a little muscle mass, nothing you can do about it but the gains will far outweigh it.

So for me this means more fluidly foods, and better hydration.

Soups, lean steak, chicken, eggs, spinich, broccoli etc.

I found a really nice recipie for people looking for high protein that looked tasty, low calories and above all good for you:

It is basically a baked, stuffed chicken, and it looks tasty, I'm going to try this recipe in a few days but I'm going to upgrade it with some egg white and broccoli!!

Tettix is a Chiptune artist that I'm currently enjoying, coming with a similar sound of anamanaguchi who recently got famous for doing the OST of scott pilgrim.

Anyway that is all for today!

Good luck with your own personal health goals and see you tomorrow beautiful readers!!

Stage 4 - Episode 1: GEAR SECOND!

I'm BACK!!! It's been a long time, as a matter of fact, too long. Since the shift to Stage 3.1 there has been little activity online for multiple reasons, but what you should know is I'm back! Not just back, but better, I have started better time management so I can get back to daily posting, but something I noticed from my other (some what less serious blog) http://winds-of-fate.blogspot.com/ that it has a total of 30 something posts, and yet has double the views. It occurred to me that this blog, as highly informative as it is, was also too heavy, too much content with little entertainment, so During this Stage 4.0 I will be mixing information with general entertainment. If it fails I'll revert back to pure information in Version 4.5 or 5.0 depending what I reach first.

So the two new sections are:

Training will cover actual exercises, since I've only loosely covered it, I started with covering the mentality and the foundations to getting a successful routine for healthy living, but I'd like to talk about the actual training people might do, I'm not suggesting I'm going to have all the answers here as daily I'm learning new things myself, so this section will be just analysing and discussing what I'm doing and how helpful I'm finding it.

So, Christmas is over, and people are starting resolutions, if you've not made one or are interested I personally think the generic "losing weight" resolution should be avoided.

Being healthy, fitter and stronger should always be something we strive toward, I think personally resolutions should focus on your weakness in other fields and try to strengthen yourself as a person.

For example, someone might suggest to give up chocolate or alcohol, but without addressing the reasons why you do these things in the first place you will find it very difficult to stop them.

How can you do this?
Well firstly look at what resolution you wanted to make, think, WHY are you making this resolution, what effect do you get from this.
Secondly look at the cause of you already doing this action that you want to resolve.

For example, Jo wants to stop lose weight and be fitter.
He is over weight, and when he thinks about it the reason he wants to diet is to attract a partner. (easy to understand when you look at how the media bombards us with how it thinks people should look)
So what causes his unhealthy lifestyle?
After thinking about it he eats too much, and not good food at that. also his job means he is expending little energy.

==========================================
CAUSE: Bad diet - Lack of exercise.
EFFECT: less attractive / low confidence.
==========================================
FIX: Good diet - Exercise.
EFFECT: more attractive / confident.

==========================================

Now this example might seem straight forward, but without looking into the cause and effect, he could have come to the conclusion that he needed to quit say, chocolate, or go running once a week, which frankly would have little effect.

This can be applied to any aspect in life, I suppose I should have said from the start that all you needed to do was critically analyse your life's aspects, and you will find out the source of the problem, and also the solution.

Another quick example, somebody wants to stop drinking alcohol, but just stops without looking into their problem, in this case the persons looks to alcohol as a de-stressing therapy, as soon as that person gets stressed they will find the temptation of drinking hard to bare.

Had they addressed the issues that cause them to be stressed and how to better deal with stress, they would find quitting a lot easier.

When you are training, if you have any 1 song that will kick you into shape and make you work harder what is it? For me it's this!

It's not much of a post for today, more of a recap and introduction to the 2 new sections.

Until tomorrow, good luck you beautiful, beautiful readers!!

Day 200: War as it should be.

Been a day or so since the last post, but lets forget about that, today is the 200th day that this blog has existed for!

I'm not as excited as I was at day 100, because up until that hundredth day my posts had been truly daily, with a few exceptions.
This second hundred days have been more random in posting, I assure you this is due to my busyness and not due to laziness, admittedly there have been a few occasions when at the end of the day I've been to tired to post.

Anyway, two hundred days! That is the good part of a year, so what have I achieved and learnt?
Since the last hundred days I've not achieved much in life lessons, but I have worked hard and noticed a few things holding me back.

One thing I'd say was the most memorable change was the effect of working long hours has on the moral for outside exercise (in my case running) and as a result I've done very little at that.
I'm thinking of making *opens photoshop* a chart that will show where my time is invested, and hope that having a visual aid can help me make some adjustments and note the effects. The categories will have things like work, social, relaxing, exercise; you get the picture.
*just made one*

So today has been a mix of tidying the office, and doing little odd jobs (Other) and in between I've been relaxing with the other half.

VX Project is the game I've been working on for around 5 years...
Anyway I'll be adding one of these in posts and analysing, after a while I'll see trends of days that went well etc and be able to adjust my pattern to suit needs!

So what can we expect in the next 100 days?
I said I'd be stepping up my game, and that is exactly what I'm doing! Working out will increase, diet / nutrition will get tighter and I'll try harder to learn more from various sources!


So before I post this I'm going to introduce you all to a new section, a section called:

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/541124

Coma, a very clever and atmospheric game that in my opinion is a visual and audio masterpiece.

Remember the wall of text that used to be at the end of each post? saying what I ate and what exercise I'd done?
Well that is also being overhauled and replaced with a more visual graph, so that its less of a brain melt of information.

See you tomorrow readers!!