Happy New Year
Image credit - Adam Dachis
Hey gang! It's been a while since I wrote on here and that has mainly been because I haven't really had anything to say. But I have thought of something I would like to say now, and I am going to take this opportunity to say it.
Over the Christmas break, I was fortunate enough to spend a decent amount of time with some good people. We ate, we drank and were merry. During this reprieve from the soulless corporate machine I humbly serve, I was able to get some perspective on the year ahead of me. I know what you're thinking: "ah, here come the New Year's Resolutions", but I promise it's not! I hate them. I tell myself it is because I think that it puts too much pressure on people to get things done and causes their inevitable burn-outs and failures but it's probably really because I think it's cool to go against the current.
So, this year Im committing to the things that need to be done. I need to work harder on this site and produce some more quality content. I am thinking about starting some video tutorials here as well. I am going to put more effort into my health by purchasing more fresh food rather than the rubbish I usually eat on the go. I am completely cutting alcohol out of my diet because it makes my brain foggy and this organ could be valuable in a science-type career.
There is an important quote I read that resonates with me and I feel it sums up the direction of my current thoughts well. Most places you find it on the internet it has been erroneously attributed to the late Aristotle. The quote is:
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
There seems to be some juicy flesh to this statement. I mean, in a lot of ways it is common sense. You can't just be a serial killer then save a little girl from a burning house to be considered excellent. You can no more design an okay website once and go back to playing video games every day by the same token. It is in working at this repetition that we can begin to build something worth holding on to. That repetition can be automated by developing habits. There's a little personal philosophy from me.
I heard it said once that it takes around three months to cement a habit. So, join with me and let's start investing in a happy future!
Image credit - DoYouKubuntu
Hey gang! Just checking in.
So, 'tis the season to be jolly and what not so I am allowing myself to take some R&R. Ergo I have temporarily suspended work on the platform I was working on. I'm not going into business for myself to work the holidays!
I am going to continue my studies next year doing two units a semester for three more semesters then its done. I will spend a month or two at the start of next year learning the WordPress platform also. While I prefer building things from nothing -- as I am sure most programmers do -- I cannot help but concede that both the quality and quantity of my work would greatly benefit from the use of a framework such as this one.
I will then be looking for freelance work in this area hoping to hone my skills.
So that is the immediate plan. Also, in my spare time I have been playing around with game design using software called GameMaker. Basically, a framework that allows for rapid development of 2D games. Of course, being a framework, it limits the kind of outside-the-box thinking you can do in terms of mechanics during development, but my god it makes it easy to translate ideas into reality fast.
So currently, I am using this software to build a game about one of my mates just for kicks. Might even get good at it.
If you thought I couldn't possibly have anymore to say I also had a gig in the city just the weekend gone. We all felt as though we had done a less than amazing job on the stage but we all thought each other did a great job. So it's clearly a confidence thing. We had an enjoyable time and learnt a great deal about how playing on a stage works. Can't complain.
So people, I know this is a deviation from my usual theme oriented posts, but things are crazy right now with all this festive stuff. I will probably take a week or two off here unless I come up with some sweet posts. But I'll be back in the new year. Potentially my first post will be over on my personal blog. I'll link that up at some point when I'm done adding content. It is just basically stuff I think about that isn't programming related.
World peace etc.
Cheers and Merry Christmas!