Current mood:	all kinds of silly things
Current music:	Smallville
Entry tags:	film reviews, game reviews

Epic - Part 1
Last night I sat with a coffee and a blank page, for what seemed like hours. The world transitioned through time and I found myself with cold coffee and a blank page. Things shifted around again and I sat with steaming hot coffee, two Nutella and peanut butter sandwiches (big enough to eat me) and the life sucking hole that is the blank page.

Today I'm back on top of things. My coffee is 2/3 drunk and this page has at least one paragraph on it. I've been reading some self-improvement blogs for a while because as we all know I waste more of my time than I use, and I just wanted to see if there were any tricks I was missing. Turns out it's all pretty basic, and then the posts become reruns of things said before, with a different accompanying anecdote, because like I say, it's all pretty basic. I think I'll try and sum up some of the key points for you all. They like numbered lists, but I think I'll go with bullet points, to be different.

• It's okay to say "no."
• Pick goals.
• Every day, do something to move towards your goal.
• Focus on one thing at a time.
• Take notes.
• Cultivate habits.
• Exercise.
• Organise.
• Simplify.
• Actionless thoughts can be more harmful than thoughtless actions. (AKA, just do it.)

I'm sure there are more points than that, but these will do.

Hmm, maybe I should explain some of those. People won't hate you if you don't agree to stuff. If you're not in a position to do something, don't. It's like if someone is struggling to climb a cliff you can't pull them up if you're still climbing the cliff yourself... unless you reach a nice ledge where you can take a breather from your own climb. Just know that sometimes when you try to help people when you're not in a safe position to you can end up falling back down the cliff yourself. Put yourself first, it's not socially unacceptable, it makes sense to be in the best position you can put yourself in, and not just for your own sake.

If you don't know what you want or what you're after, you won't know how to get there. Pick goals, things you want to achieve or do, and not just a daily to do list, but long term goals. Every day do something, however small, to move you towards that goal.

Focus on one thing at a time doesn't mean restrict your entire life to one pursuit, one goal, one action. It simply means don't multitask. You might think by trying to do more than one thing at a time you're saving time, which is the most valuable resource you have, but it generally doesn't. When you try to do more than one thing at a time you don't do as well with either of those things. That's not just what I say, it has been proven scientifically, and I would look up the research for you but I can't be bothered. So, nah! I just mean when you're doing something do it, and only it, and you'll get it done faster, and better. Now I'm not saying don't listen to books while you drive or work, things that are mostly automatic, because I do that. What I'm saying is don't be surprised if you have to rewind sometimes, or miss bits. So really what I'm saying is don't multitask when you're doing important things that need to be done right.

Stress is caused by worrying. Some of that worrying is needless. If you have to constantly remind yourself of something so that you don't forget it you're worrying about it. Take notes, so you don't forget. Then the only thing you have to worry about is not losing your notepad. When you're in a position to do something, check your notepad and see what needs to be done.

Habits are things you do every day, like brushing your teeth in the morning. If you make yourself do something the same all the time it becomes a habit, and you do it automatically. So if there's some small thing you always mean to do but don't get around to... like brushing your teeth in the morning... force yourself to do it every day for a month, and eventually you'll realise you're not forcing yourself, but just doing it. It will have become a habit. (Personal interjection. Don't make everything in your life a habit, because that would suck.)

Eating healthily and exercising are not only good for your body, but good for your mind.. which it turns out is a part of your body. It makes you feel better, makes you feel like you have more energy and is just a jolly good thing.

This is another stress reliever. Once things are organised they're all easier to deal with. If you do it right you only have to organise once, then you keep things organised, which is easier than organising. Kind of like how maintenance is easier than fixing something that's broken. Or how it's easier to keep fit than it is to get fit. It also reduces time wasted. If you know where things are you can find them quicker. And clutter is stress inducing, just because it is.

Get rid of stuff you don't need, or want. Let's say you have watched the same TV show for 7 seasons, but it stopped being really good after 5, or it just kills time. Stop watching. You don't owe it anything. Reclaim your time and use it for something more fun. Find a new show maybe. Okay, that wouldn't exactly simplify things. But if you can't find a worthy replacement it would. Look at all the stuff you do and work out what you really enjoy, and what you really need. Get rid of the stuff that isn't necessary or worthwhile that you just keep doing because you've always done it. It might just free up your time to do better stuff.

In the time it takes you to think of things you could have done, you could have done some of them. If you do something wrong the chances are you can fix it. Like, if you're writing... shut up, I know... it's quicker to write a shit page and then edit it into a good one than to sit there for years not writing everything trying to come up with the perfect page before you even begin because you don't want to get it wrong. Give it a go. When you have things to do and you don't know where to start, pick one, start, do it, because by the time you come up with the perfect plan you could have done one thing on your list already. If there was a plan, or a specific order that these things should be done in, it would be obvious where to start and you'd start there, so if there's no obvious place, toss a coin a couple of times, pick one, and start.

So that's what they've been trying to teach me. I'm not sure if I've listened or not. Probably not. I'm quite stubborn at times. I still haven't worked out if I believe most of what they're selling.

I went to see some snooker a couple of weeks ago. Going in we walked past seven time world champion Stephen Hendry, and my friend managed to walk right through the middle of his entourage without noticing him. He was involved in one of the two matches we got to watch... at the same time. He was playing David Gilbert. The other match had Neil Robertson playing six time world champion Steve Davis. That's right, 13 years of combined world champion on show.

The matches were good, though the Hendry match was a lot quicker than the Davis match. The seats were extremely uncomfortable which makes that an important point. Both matches went to the wire and were won in their deciding frames, when it was down to the colours only. Hendry and Davis won. During the journey we saw someone pot two reds at once in the same match... twice. We saw a black ball game. We saw a re-rack. We saw a 147 attempt that was close to coming off. And I'm sure there was something else that I've forgotten. It was good, and interesting. It also gives you a nice glimpse into the nicer side of humanity. You could be pretty sure that no one you saw there had gone out the night before, got out their face on smack or booze and then stabbed someone in the street because they looked at his "burd." Not something you can say when you go see football I feel. Maybe I'm wrong.

Reviews.

Final Fantasy XII : Good.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- By J.K. Rowling : Good.

Assassin's Creed : Fun, Good.

Sword of Xanten : Surprisingly good.

Curse of the Golden Flower : I didn't like it as much as "Hero" of "House of Flying Daggers" but it was still good, and unpredictable.

Call of Duty 4 : Excellent.

Heavenly Sword : Fun and fast paced. You can play through the whole thing in a few hours which is either a good thing because it's like a playable movie, or bad if you're worried about gaming hours equaling money's worth. It's a beautiful looking game though, and the archery levels are tons of fun.

The Bourne Trilogy : Fun enough to read but don't expext them to be anything like the movies because they're not. They're so different from each other, except in the initial concept that they're essentially two different things. They're practically different styles of stories too, except that they're both adventures. If you're looking for adventure stories to read but have ruled these out because you've seen the movies, rule them back in.

Virtua Tennis 3 : Tennis on the computer.

Iron Man : Excellent.

The Eye : The US remake has less Angelica Lee, but more Jessica Alba. From then it's pretty much the same, except the upgrade in effects budget means you see things more... which can be detrimental to the scare factor.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune : Excellent -- like a Tomb Raider, Indiana Jones cross.

Zoom : Fun while you're watching it... though quite unmemorable in the end.

War : Meh.

The Andromeda Strain : The new version is a made for TV thing. It's... a new version of The Andromeda Strain.

Hancock : Funny at times, and actiony at times and worth a look.

Hellboy 2 : Didn't have as much going for it as the first one. Visually appealing.

The Incredibles : Really exciting, and funny, and fun. I'm ashamed it took me so long to watch it.

More later.

Someone could make a fortune if they were able to register .xom domains.

I have a huge file filled with things I was meant to blog about. See how good I am at this? Of course you do. Anyway the first thing on there is "The Death of 'Unspeakable Thing'" which I don't actually think is dead any more.

I've decided to post this now because I can. It might seem to you weird that a post called "Epic" is actually no longer than some other posts I've done, but I've decided Epic things come in trilogies. Take that as you will.