Being Sick isn't fun

I don't think that's a revelation for anyone, but it is still true. It is no fun being sick, and I have been all weekend. The worst of it was last night though, when I spent over eleven hours in bed and not that much time sleeping. At least that was the worse and it's over, I hope. I think it is though, so now I just need to keep staying hydrated.

Had a Great Week

I won't go into detail, but I have really had a great week. Good thing happened that I expected and good things happened I never saw coming. All were good and all made me happy. Can't say that happens too often for me, or at least in the same ways. I hope I never forget this week.

Looks Like I Did It Again

Whoops, I forgot to post anything last week, but I haven't forgotten this time! Last week I was pretty busy, and this week too, but I'm wrapping things up now, so I can spend the time to remember to do this.
There are a number of topics from these past two weeks I could speak of now, and one in particular that I know many are charged about. Instead of talking about that, I am going to talk about talking about that. As I said, many people are charged about it, and expect others to be. Many others (I believe more) are not so charged about it though, and would instead seek out voices of reason. You're not going to get that from me though, because you probably don't need it. If you are rational enough to seek out a voice of reason, then chances are, you are also a voice of reason. You may not have a loud voice and you may not be able to say as much as others, but you are already a lot closer to your goal than most of those with the loud voices and most of those that have a lot to say, right or wrong.
Sometimes your search can end with you, so remember to start there some times.

Not the Best Week for Games

Wow... You would think that after some of the bad launches (SimCity, BTA Online) in the past, most game companies would be very careful of the launches of new titles. Apparently not, as I have heard little good of the Master Chief Collection and AC Unity launches. One was/is plagued with server issues and the other just plagued. At least all of the hardware involved (new-gen consoles and PCs) can receive patches so things can get better, but really, this is not what anyone wants to happen. Some of the issues too are ones that sound like QA should have caught them and thus they should have been fixed. Were they caught and not fixed, or just not caught? Either way the question remains of how this could happen?
Those questions will definitely be asked and answered internally, and probably already have been, but all the gamers are going to get are apologies and promises that next time will be better. Next time probably will be better too, but this will still stand as a bad week for games.

Missed a Week

Yeah, I missed a week and for no other reason then that I forgot. I have tried to make writing these posts a part of my regular schedule, but sometimes I deviate from that schedule. In fact I almost forgot to write and post this. Hopefully I will do a better job next week of remembering, but it is hard to say. After all, it is easier to write a post when something interesting has happened to me, that can actually be shared.
Hopefully this will be an interesting week, so I will have something to remember to write about.

Passion and Charity Go Together

Something I have noticed is that very often passion and charity goes together, which is not surprising. Our passions give us happiness, and when we are happy, we like to share the happiness. What better way to do that, than by helping a charity. This weekend the Extra Life charity event was held, which had many gamers stream for 24 hours, trying to bring in donations from other gamers, to help children.
Playing games and helping kids. Great combination.

Is it Really the Best Policy?

They say honesty is the best policy, but my suspicion is that fitting into cliches will get you farther. Who really appreciates honesty anyway? Who even expects it? I can't say because I can't think of anyone I know who would not prefer pleasantries over frankness. Every now and then it is worth throwing into the mix, to stir up the pot. Maybe it will open up somebody's eyes. More likely it will just give you a short diversion from reality, to life.

Just. Keep. Playing!

Recently Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor released and I decided to review it. I must say that I did have fun reviewing it because I found it to be a very fun game. Even after I completed the review, I kept playing, which is not something I can say of many of my reviewed games. Often I complete the game and then only leave it installed until the review is posted, or until I complete one or two things in it. Shadow of Mordor though is just fun and I am really enjoying putting more time into it. I'm completing side missions, dominating everything, and even running some of the trial challenge modes. The latter I find nice mostly because they essentially give a blank version of the game, with you at your appropriate level, and set you the task of exterminating so much of the orc army. The only benefit from it are runes to enhance you and your weapons, in the base game. On its own, that may not sound like much, but they did a good job with it. The game remembers where you were if you leave the trial early, and leaves unclaimed runes on the map too. Very well-designed, I must say.
Definitely looking forward to investing some more time into it.

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

So many places and people have been making the point recently that Obama is such a great president because just look at the new low 5.9% unemployment rate. Isn't he wonderful!? (Insert dreamy swoon.)
Well, let me see. As I recall 2-4% is considered normal, so this is still bad for a supposedly recovered economy. Also that 5.9% only considers those who count as unemployed, and not underemployed or out of the labor force. Those numbers are still very high. Disturbingly high really, when you consider how many people those numbers represent. People who cannot get the satisfaction of putting their skills and passions to use. People who feel like they have been banished from the economy. People who probably don't care about the unemployment rate because it isn't helping them or their situation. It's just a number some people get to through around to their benefit.
The 'lies' of these numbers do not end at being failing fully representative of the time though because they also cannot be compared to much of the past. One of the things this administration accomplished was changing how unemployed was measured, or at least how the official number is reported. I don't quite recall which it was when, but I do remember that one method relied on the number of jobs business reported adding while the other surveys households for employment. Changes in metrics like that make direct comparison impossible, without a lot of thick math to compensate for the change, which will also introduce new uncertainty and that may make the final result useless anyway.
Nobody is quite sure who said the saying first, but they were right, whoever they were.

Something Fun to do

One thing that is so often fun to do is to pick up a game that has just been sitting, uninstalled in your library, since you bought it, likely in a random sale. You heard or thought it may be good and then figured you can spend a few bucks on it, before promptly moving on to something else. Get back to those games though, because some of them can be better than you expected.

Tale of Two Communities

I have a somewhat eclectic set of tastes for video games, to that point that at any given time, I can have 4X games, RPGs, ARPGs, FPSs, simulations, and more types of games installed and ready to play. It is nice though, as it means I can satisfy just about any gaming-itch I have, but there is one odd consequence. I can also be exposed to a variety of online communities, from awesome, positive communities, to ones that are about as negative as a posse going after a horse thief. This week has been especially interesting though, because two games, one with a positive and the other with a negative community, had major patches/updates scheduled, but pushed both back. The differences in responses are staggering.
The positive community repeatedly voices their anticipation for the new content, grasping at any hints at what is happening and when the patch may come. The negative community however has turned to repeated attacks on the developers, accusing them of lying and (though not strictly for reasons limited to this incident) have some have even threatened bring claims of false advertising against the company. If only I were exaggerating, but the truth is I am not even covering all of it.
Why the disparities between the two communities? I believe it comes from a few things. One is that the developers for the positive community seem to strive for transparency, sharing everything they can without breaking NDA or exposing something before its ready. The other company is much more restrictive with the information they let out, and is a bit more limited in free communication between the developers and the community.The positive community also has access to patches prior to release, as part of a patch-testing system whereby anyone with a regular game account can download and play a test client. The other does not have such an open system.
Personally, I think the main motivator driving the differences is the openness of the developers. People like to feel included in something they have invested time and money into. Of course people also like to protect their creations, so they can satisfy themselves before sharing anything with the world. The trick is getting the balance right, but doing that isn't easy. Not by a long shot.

Amazon Bought Twitch?

Anyone following gaming news almost certainly knows by now that Amazon purchased the Twitch streaming service for almost one billion dollars. Immediately following this acquisition were questions of 'why?' Can't answer that, but what I can say is that I hope it works out as well as it may. Amazon has one of the larger presences on the Internet with numerous data centers that people can pay to use, such as for hosting and running game servers. With full access to that kind of backend, I would hope Twitch's service improves. May be a while before the improvements materialize, but hopefully not too long.

Hopefully More than an Upgrade

Among the events of this week are the releases of the Metro 2033 Redux and Metro Last Light Redux; both of which I am looking forward to. I am looking forward to them for the obvious reason that I enjoyed the original games and that I like the idea of games like these getting such deep reworks. Both will be running on the latest version of 4A engine, which should not only look great but run very well too. I remember commenting on how with 2033 and Last Light, it is pretty cool to be playing a game, taking screenshots, and have practically each one look like a cinematic render. Should only be better now. Plus a number of mechanics have been added and refined, making for a more what should be a more enjoyable experience.
Tuesday should be a fun day.

Disappointing, and Worse, Not Surprising

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I saw the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie and enjoyed it, though it did have some issues, in my opinion. Now one of those issues is haunting me because of the number of people I hear/see commenting on the movie that never realized that Rocket was exactly an antihero, and little more. Constantly I am finding people say he was the best character in the film. I'm sorry, but a paragon of a classical archetype is nothing special. (The performance was very good though, I am glad to say.) Rocket did not really even have much depth because every action feel directly in line with the archetype.
...at times it can be a little annoying having even a mildly literary mind, because you catch things like this and the comments from other people that don't, can just be irritating. Eh, still a fun film.

Some Internet Communities...

So the other day I did something that was mildly regrettable. I read posts at the forum for a video game. The reason this was mildly regrettable was that the forum, for years now has been somewhat known for its toxicity. The sheer levels of hate, vitriol, ignorance, and arrogance rivaled that of many competitive political campaigns.
I am not going to identify the forum because I don't want to bring such negative attention to it, even though I don't think this would reach many people. Besides, even if I could reach a lot of people, nothing would happen. It past a 'call for civility' because it is at the point that the people are deranged enough to probably think they are being civil, or have fallen so deeply into the mob mentality to be unaware of their own words. (Well, being unaware of one's own words is not unique to this forum or any conversation, sadly.)
At least I do know some forums where everyone is nice, helpful, and civil. I'll stick to them.

Good But Not As Good

A few days ago Guardians of the Galaxy released to theaters, and I went to see it. After The Winter Soldier and all the trailers, I had high hopes for GotG, and it mostly lived up to them. It succeeded my expectations enough that I can happily say I enjoyed the film. It did have some weaknesses though, and one of them is something I have been noticing with a number of the recent films I have seen.
I never felt a connection to many of the characters. Starlord and Groot were both easy to connect to, but the others had a less compelling presence. This was disappointing, especially with how important those characters are. However, the film was still a lot of fun (the ending was also awesome) so go ahead and see it.
To put it another way, my issues with it make me hope that there is a longer cut of the film somewhere (that will hopefully materialize on media in the future) that does a better job of introducing and connecting the viewer to the characters. At least it felt like such a cut exists because of how some things were built up in the film that I did see.

Missed a Week

I forgot to post anything last week while I was away. I think that may be the first time I've missed a week, but that's okay. Actually it was kind of nice. I was away from my usual electronic distraction and that was really good for me. You see, I'm not addicted to my electronics, but whenever they are available to me, I let them fill my time. Taking a break from them is a good thing, once in a while. I definitely recommend it.

Good Bundle to See

I've talked about Humble Bundle before, so it should not be a surprise that I mention their latest bundle, featuring games published by 2K. Like many of the other bundles featuring games from AAA publishers, it is a great deal offering good games at fantastic prices, that you can have go exclusively to charity. Pretty cool deal, especially with how many good games there are in the bundle. Personally I always enjoy seeing these bundles, because it shows how the larger industry is interested not only in the small company, Humble Bundle, but in the people who make purchases from them, and in the charities that are supported through them.
Be sure to go over and check it out.

Watch_Dogs was released back in May, but only today have I finally finished its campaign. A combination of other interests and its experience kept me from finishing it sooner. As much as I would like to say that it is an amazingly fun game, I can't. It is fun, at moments, but it also has moments that just anger me. Specifically gunfights are frustrating because the cover system is so wonky and driving just puts me up the wall.

Not This Time!

The Summer Steam Sale is coming to an end soon, with the final, encore day already upon us. At only ten days long, it was shorter than usual, but I am not complaining. There were a lot of good games at very good prices. How do I know they are good games? Because I already own them and have played them. Thanks to that, and the many other games I own and have yet to play, I survived without spending any money the entire sale.
Maybe next time I'll spend some money. Just half a year away.

It has Begun!

On Thursday millions of wallets and bank accounts began to weep as the Steam Summer Sale began. Or at least that is the joke. So far mine have been affected, but not due to a lack of temptation. Multiple items have piqued my interest, but none have been quite enough to actually make a purchase. Plus it helps that I already have a library of hundreds of games that can tide me over for some upcoming releases. Eh, I'll probably still end up buying something, but right now I can't guess what it may be.

It is a Fun Time of Year

It is such a fun time of the year, if you are a part of the right subcultures at least. Sure it is the beginning of Summer, but for some of us that does not just translate to nice weather but Summer video game releases, Summer sales, and E3. I would not say it is on my bucket list, but I would truly enjoy a chance to go to E3 (CES would be above it on a bucket-list though, if either were to be). The chance to be among the first people in the public to see new games announced, new technology revealed, and more would just be a lot of fun. Just being in front of a computer though is still pretty cool though, because from here you can look up and watch all the awesome trailers that come with the expo, and there were some good ones this year.
Of those I have seen, I think I would have to say the one for Tom Clancy's The Division was my favorite, purely because of the artistry used to tell a story in it. If you have seen it, you know what I mean, and if you have not seen it, I will not spoil it for you. The ending may not fit great with the rest of it, but I'll take what I can get.
The Dead Island 2 trailer was also awesome though, just because it gave an interesting and amusing take on zombie apocalypses. You do not often see what happens as someone becomes a zombie, and to have a humorous take on it was pretty cool too.
I also want to mention how cool it was to see a GTA V trailer for new-gen and PC, and not just because it is coming to these platforms. What was really awesome to me was just being able to see such a difference between what the different hardware platforms can achieve (new gen and PC versus previous gen). The difference is staggering, so maybe now people can see why PC gamers brag about graphics like we do and why we all have a certain distaste for console ports. Better a port than nothing, but being held back by old hardware isn't fun.

So Much Awesome for One Week

So a lot happened this week for me as a gamer. The Marvel Heroes game reached its first birthday, as I mentioned last week, and it did not disappoint, just as I expected. Well some of the server downtime was irritating, but that's hardly unique to this game. Definitely has been a lot of fun to play with though, and again it continues to just do things right. The Shared Quests in particular I am liking because they can be completed by random people just being in the same area. Don't need to be in a group to benefit or help out; you just need to be there. The reward(s) is also sweet as you get chest(s) that explode into loot for the hero that opens them, even if that hero did not contribute to the quest. What the means is that you can complete the Shared Quests with your best geared character, pop the chest(s) on a less-geared character and get new stuff that should catch it up to the level you want it to be at.
Also this week we got a new trailer for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and it not only looked good, showed off awesome stuff, but it also teases and fills in some of the story very well. It definitely made me want the game even more than I already did. To that end, CD Projekt Red also opened up pre-orders for the game and laid out what all of the bonuses are for pre-orders. Some of them are pretty cool, especially when you consider you can save up to 20% by pre-ordering. Too bad the game is so many months away.

Just a Few More Days

I love it when a game just does things right. When I was first introduced to the game Marvel Heroes, I definitely got a glimpse of that, but I did move on to other titles. Then one day I got an email about a special event coming up in it, and it had just enough incentives to get me playing again. Since then I have been playing quite a bit, and by that I mean it is one of seven games in my Steam library that I have logged over 100 hours in. Not one of those hours do I regret either.
Playing more and more I have just been able to learn better and better how many things it does right. One of the things it does right is how you reach a point before too long that just opens up the game to you, ensuring you always have something productive to do. Maybe you do not have the levels or gear to continue the story, so pop into something else and get what you need, then return. Or don't return and end up getting really over powered for what is next in the story. There is more, but I want to get to the point.
In just a few days the game will be celebrating its first birthday and having quite an event and patch to celebrate. From what I have read, it is a good thing they are labeling it Marvel Heroes (2015) because it is such a change from what we have had, that a modified title is likely going to be appropriate. Thanks to how much they have done right so far, I completely trust that this new content will just keep me playing for another hundred hours or more.

Be Proud

All of the service men and women, past and present and future, should be proud of themselves for every effort they have made. Though it may not be every day of the year that we live up to it, we are all proud of you and what your efforts allow us to enjoy.

That is One Way to Increase Traffic

I have talked a few times before about Humble Bundle and what they do (put together packages of media, primarily video games, to sell with a pay-what-you-want model to help support charities and the development teams). The people there have thrown together an interesting twist to the HB formula by having two weeks of daily bundles. Typically they create a single bundle that lasts for two weeks, but instead they are having fourteen different bundles, some new and some old, that last for twenty four hours. Definitely one way to get people to keep checking the site each day.
The Humble Book Bundles also launched this week with a collection of Dr. Who comics/graphic novels. For a Dr. Who fan, I am sure it is very cool, but personally I just like the idea of the book bundles.
Check out the Humble Bundle site to see if there is something you like.

Catching up

You know what is nice to do; catch up on something you have been neglecting. I have been doing that recently with some video games. Over the years I have amassed quite a collection, thanks to numerous sales and bundles, and finally I have set aside the time to attack some of what I got. Nice to play games for enjoyment, and not for reviews or completing some challenge. Just like how it should be.

Sometimes It's Nice to be Uninformed

Not that I encourage anyone to be ignorant, but this past week or two definitely have been a time that my general lack of interest in the news has been kind of nice. What I mean is that a lot of news that is truly unimportant, purely sensationalized, and to an extent obnoxious was reported, instead of that which actually matters to the nation and the world. Of course when the systems have been tuned for 24 hour news, and the people made to be tuned for that as well, you have to do something to fill the day.
That is one nice aspect of the Internet though. It can provide you with news whenever you want, and the news you consumer can be the news you want, instead of the news someone more interested in ratings than information selected.

A Pair of Interesting Experiences

Recently I have been playing some games that have provided me with some interesting experiences.
The first I want to talk about is the Free-to-Play Marvel Heroes game. I first played it months ago as part of an nVidia F2P bundle. At the time I did find it to be fun, but I did eventually stop playing it and uninstall it. However many weeks ago though, I got an email about an event being held in it (I never unsubscribed from its newsletter). That event involved having a double experience buff given to everyone for the weekend, and gave everyone one free, random hero. That got me playing again, and now it has become one of my go-to games for a quick, fun experience. I also have to say that I am really glad I got back in because playing it more has grown my appreciation of it. Despite being a free-to-play game, it does a lot of things right, including that you are always able to go somewhere to do something rewarding. If the difficulty of one challenge becomes too much to handle, there are other challenges you can go to and get more experience and gear from. Also the developers keep holding special events for it, which is very cool as it is a good way to keep the community interested and active. New reasons to get in a play.

Happy Easter!

Today millions of people celebrated Easter, the highest holy day for many of the Christian faiths. (I'm not certain of their names, but there are some that consider other holy days to be of greater importance.) Part of that celebration no doubt included some going to church for the first time since Christmas. Some may say that's a sad state for Christianity, but it isn't that bad. I mean they did go to church, and that should be celebrated. It will also be celebrated the next time they come, even if it is months from now.
Happy Easter everyone. (And Happy Passover, which already passed.)

That was an Anjoyable Movie

This past week I went to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier and I would like to say that I enjoyed it. I really did and I found it to be a good movie. For some of those that know me, that means something, at least when it comes to the story. Story is so very important to me, so if it is not well developed or well told, I take issue with it. That the case with Captain America 2 though. I definitely enjoyed it and found it all to be quite good; story included.
One thing I do want to say though is that it should not and cannot be compared to The Dark Knight. There are very different dynamics to those two, with TDK gracefully shifting the plot, without losing any of its drive, and CA:TWS never having such a shift. The plot does develop, of course, but that shift never happens. Basically you could accuse TDK of being two movies edited (well) together, but CA:TWS you cannot. That does not diminish either though! They are just different and I hope people will not compare them with too much detail, because personally, I believe that would be incorrect and unfair to both.

So... Goat Simulator

Along with all of the April Fool's day jokes and pranks that happened around the Internet, the game Goat Simulator launched. Yes, a game that allows you to simulate being a goat. If goats were invulnerable animals with arbitrarily long tongues and joints capable of recovering from any kind of dislocation you can imagine.
Anyway, because the launch trailer for the tech-demo-turned-release-product made me laugh, I decided to buy it and, you know what? I don't regret it. I really don't because I got exactly what I was expecting. Something silly, ridiculous, and absurd. It also happens to be a lot of fun as you try to find all the little, weird things put in there, and discover what crazy things you can do with your wacky abilities.
Not going to say if I would recommend it or not (at least at this time) but I can say that it is fun, so don't turn away from it, just because it is named Goat Simulator.

That was Awkward

So last week I talked about how the constant recovering of the same and/or incorrect elements of the missing plane story were annoying me and that I only wanted to know when they found it. Well, they haven't found it yet but just hours after I published that post, it was declared that the plane and the lives on board were lost, based on some new information.
Kind of awkward, asking for the news stories to end, and then getting that, but with a tragic end. Of course it was probably going to be a tragic end anyway, but still, a little awkward. Continuing to be a cynic for a bit longer, one sad aspect of this is that the next plane to go missing will probably get the same amount of coverage, despite being a not terribly important story.
Sensationalism and journalism don't go together well, in my opinion.

Just Tell Me When It's Done

Not to suggest that over two hundred people missing is not important, but can we please stop dedicating half of the news cycle to it? Honestly, since the plane went missing there has only been about five minutes worth of news, yet it is taking up at least five hours of the news cycle every day. Increasing the irritation is the fact that so often the latest news on the topic is exaggerated to absurdity by people who obviously lack an understanding of what they are talking about.
I may not be old enough to remember 'the good old days of news,' but I can still imagine of a better time than this. So really, just let me know when we reach the conclusion, because these day-long pit stops along the way are mind-numbing.

Good to See

Last week the folks at Humble Bundle started a very special sale called the "Humble Bundle of Love for Brandon Boyer." This bundle features content that independent developers have offer in order to help this person pay his medical bills, which he would not be able to pay otherwise. You can read the blog post for details of the situation, because I am not going to get into them (too easy to go down a path I'd rather avoid). What I will say is that I like seeing this, the power of charity at work where people donate their money and donate their creations to help someone in need. I like Humble Bundle and it is nice to see that they have developed to the point that they could organize this.
Good luck!

Lost Hour

An hour was lost today. While many of us slept, our clocks slipped and skipped a step, taking an hour from our day. If only we had that hour; what could we do with it? We could have started that story we thought of! We could have thought of a story to tell! We could have solved the problem we had! We could have made a new friend! We could have kept an old one!
We could have done so much with that lost hour, just like how we do so much with the hours we keep... right?
Unless you keep yourself busy all the time, don't mock daylight savings.

A System to Acknowledge

I realized quite some time ago that the best way to act and make decisions was to make the best decisions and do the best I can, under whatever circumstances there are. That may sound obvious, but I honestly believe that a lot of people do not think like that. They think about getting something done, best effort or not. They think about what their circumstances are, and not about what yours may be.  This can lead to people challenging and even attacking me, for one reason or another, which leads to the title of this post. For this system to work, especially in those situations, I must acknowledge it. I must make sure that what I believe to be my best is described and that the circumstances must also be described. Failing to do so invites the challenges and attacks. Do it right though, and it will be obvious what is an attack or challenge, and what is actual criticism.

Another Awesome Humble Bundle

Recently the Humble Indie Bundle 11 launched, with 4+2 games. Naturally I purchased the bundle and have been enjoying its content, and can recommend purchasing it to others.
For those who do not know, Humble Bundle, the company, is known for putting together bundles of video games and selling them using a pay-what-you-want model. That's right, you decide how much to pay for the games. What's more, you also decide what happens to your money, by sending customizable portions to the game developers, which are typically independent devs, charity, or to Humble Bundle itself. The company can proudly boast that they have raised millions of dollars this way, thanks to the generosity of gamers, and developers. We cannot neglect the generosity of the developers, who are offering their creations to charity just as much as we are offering our money.

Video Game Resurrection?

When THQ collapsed, the many IPs it owned were auctioned off, to pay its debts. This included IPs of abandoned franchises, and franchise that were abandoned due to certain poor decisions THQ made. Two of those franchise though may be brought back, if the gaming community decides they want them back. Nordic Games bought the Darksiders and Red Faction franchises and will be releasing collections of them next quarter, to gauge community interest in them.
As one gamer I can definitely say I am interested in them, having already played the games in those collections, and I definitely hope others share my interest enough to bring both franchises back.

Cannot Deny Their Influence

For the past few days, a great number of people have been celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of The Beatles coming to America. While I am not a fan of their music by any means, it is hard to deny their influence. They were the vanguards of what came to be known as the British Invasion. With the influx of bands crossing the Pond, and the American youth yearning for something new, the many groups were able to experiment. Some were successful and some were not, but in some way they affected the rock n roll of the time, and therefore the genres that came from it.
Somehow I doubt anyone could imagine what today's music and larger culture would be like, if they had not come over. Their impact was that great.

That was a Game you Watch for the Ads

Wow! That game was... not enjoyable to watch, even for someone not invested in either team. At least some of the ads were good, but a lot were stupid, in my opinion at least. My personal favorites though were those by Coke and Budweiser. More interesting than the game at least.

Can You See the Future?

You may not think it, but that is a serious question I am asking. Rhetorical yes, but serious. I use to be able to see the future, and I suspect I am not the only one. Of course I do not mean that I could peer into that unknown and abstract mist that is what to come, and see who will win a sports game or what the next blockbusting movie will be. I mean that I had, as many of us do, I believe, a sense of form concerning the future. An idea of where your path will take you. Not necessarily anything specific, but an idea at least.
As I said, I use to be able to see the future, to that extent. I have not had that sense for years now. That is not something that has to be disconcerting, but it really can be. It can be when you do not like where you are now, because then you have no suspicion of what lies ahead. All you know is what you have now, and that you do not like it.
Can you see your future?

Goals

We are all told by many people on many occasions that it is important to have goals. Now I cannot disagree with that because it is true. What I would like to share is my thoughts on goals. These thoughts are not those of a particularly successful man. In some ways I would describe myself as a failure. Maybe you don't want to hear the thoughts of a self-described failure as it concerns goals. That is your choice and not mine.
I can remember being told years and years ago to shoot for the Moon, because even if you miss you will land among the stars. I will not comment on what kind of advice that is for a young person. I cannot comment on what kind of advice that is for a successful person. For a failure though, I can tell you that I believe it is bad advice because when you are a failure, neither the Moon or the stars are in your grasp. Or at least they do not feel like they are.
My advice for other failures is that if your target is the Moon, don't forget about it, but set much smaller, closer targets. These targets do not have to be on the way to the Moon though. They just need to be something that can be achieved, but not necessarily easy to achieve.
My example of this is one I know many people do not agree with. When I apply for a job I set my goal not on getting the job, but on being told what the status of my application is. That likely sounds silly to many people. Maybe it is silly. It is achievable though. I ask the question and by getting an answer, I have achieved my goal. Of course I want the job, that is the ultimate goal, but when things are out of your control, how is it reasonable to assign your goals to them?

Be Prepared

Some people like to laugh at and make fun of me for my choices of Winter gear. For a coat I have a hunter's jacket and instead of traditional boots I use galoshes. The combination may look silly, but I was plenty warm and comfortable during those cold days, and for good reason. Here are some of them:
The reason I wear galoshes is because I don't like wearing boots. They are often stiff and heavy, while my shoes are more comfortable. With galoshes I get to wear my comfortable shoes inside the galoshes when I'm outside, and when I come in I can leave the galoshes by the door, and remain in my shoes. If you wear boots you have to continue you wearing them unless you are somewhere you can go around without shoes or brought additional footwear.
The hunter's jacket has a more utilitarian purpose. When do many hunter's hunt? Before dawn, when it is not only cold but also damp. Colder and damper than what you will typically experience in a city. So really, the jacket is better than what I need for where I live. Also the jacket is waterproof, which is always nice.
Another nice feature of the jacket is its many pockets; pockets I can keep more cold-weather gear in. Seriously I keep one pair of fishing gloves, one knit cap, the detachable hood for the jacket, a fur hat with ear-flaps, and a scarf in that jacket. I am prepared for if the weather turns when I wear that jacket. Can you say the same?

Never Stop Thinking

It is a little embarrassing to think of all the projects I have thought up and even started, and how few I have really moved forward with. (At least these are all personal projects, so it only hurts me to procrastinate.) One important thing about all of those projects though is that I have not forgotten them. I have notes on them and will think about them from time to time. If I like what I'm thinking, then I will add it to the notes.
I mention this because recently I started thinking of one of my old projects and it made me feel like an idiot. Why? Because what I thought of was actually pretty simple, somewhat obvious, and a lot better than what I had thought up so long ago.
Don't forget your ideas. Maybe neglect them, but never forget them, because you may have an epiphany.