2017

            Egadz, is it that time again already? The years certainly seem to be getting faster as they rush past. And what an eventful year it’s been.

            The year started off with rats, then went on to form new friendships, have lots of Dungeons & Dragons (including a 12 hour marathon for Cystic Fibrosis), and drew to an exciting close as I started a YouTube channel.

            Alongside all of that, I started a project – well, more of a system of goals, really – at the beginning of last year, and it has lasted all the way until now. While I haven’t mentioned it before, I’ve hinted at parts of it.

            Essentially, I noticed that the best way to get myself to do something is to do it every single day. It’s part challenge and part... well, part that once I get on a streak, I really don’t want to break it. For example, I have written every single day for coming up of seven years now. Imagine how horrible it would be if I missed a day and had to start over again!

            And now I’ve expanded that list. Since the beginning of last year, I have also read and exercised every day. On top of that, I’ve also worked every day on learning two new skills: drawing and coding – both with fair success. And I’ve been practicing piano as well, which more along the lines of continuing learning a skill I’d given up on several years ago (because I’d never worked hard enough at it. To be fair, this one I didn’t do every day, but only because a piano wasn’t available on my vacation).

            To keep track of all of this, I’ve made a spreadsheet with Google Sheets with little boxes that I check off every day when I complete a task. I even have a colour-code for “rating” how well I felt I performed on that task for the day. Pretty neat, I think, and overall a huge success! So, as a New Year’s gift to all those out there seeking to set goals for 2018, I’m giving you this idea, that you might do with it as you see fit.

            With that, I wish you all a Happy New Year! May this one be better than the last.

Check out my YouTube channel where I tell the stories of my D&D campaigns.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Work or Play?

            I have often wondered about the appeal of certain aspects of video games. These aspects are not, by any means, in every video game, but they show up in a lot of them. So, why is it that we enjoy playing games that, when it comes right down to it, are a whole lot of work?

            I’m currently playing one of the older versions of a game called Harvest Moon. This is a game series where you play a character trying to run a farm in a little village. You basically have to build the farm up from scratch while trying to make money and trying to be part of the small community (maybe even getting married). But there is only so much time in the day, your character only has so much energy in a day, and you start with very little money. In the beginning, the game is all about time management and money management – once you get a ways in and have your farm established, it’s about maintaining a daily routine to keep your farm going. Doing the same thing, day after day after day.

            Sounds an awful lot like work, doesn’t it?

            Another game that I played way too much of when I was younger is Runescape. This is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. There are many aspects to the game, but an important part is trying to get various levels raised. At lower levels, this is fairly quick and easy, but at higher levels you can literally spend days just mining, or cutting down trees, or fighting monsters, or cooking, just to gain one level. Day after day, doing the same thing.

            Hey, that sounds kinda like work, doesn’t it?

            Even in combat-heavy games like Starcraft or Call of Duty, you get an aspect of this – at least if you’re competing against other players and want to do well. You don’t just pick up a controller and become the best on the team – you have to work at it. At the professional level you have to practice and train, day after day.

            Doesn’t that sound like...? Well, yes, okay, at the professional level it is work, but you get my point.

            I believe the presiding theory about this is that video games give a sense of accomplishment without any risk to the gamer. This is a fair theory – you gain a level, and that is a reward for all your hard work. You defeat a difficult opponent and they reward you with treasure. You accomplish the same repetitive tasks one hundred times and you earn an achievement.

            Yet, it’s still just another type of work. Yeah, we don’t take it seriously because it’s a game, but it’s still work. And the general consensus is that work is bad and boring.

            What this tells me is that work can be made fun. All it takes is some gameification – the process of turning life into a game. Like Mary Poppins always taught us (not the blue one). This can be done fairly easy with a variety of apps, or simply setting goals and rewards for oneself, but that only goes part way.

We need employers finding ways of making their workplaces more fun. Having a fun work environment wouldn’t only make employees happier about going to work, it would raise productivity as people try to earn achievements or beat their best score. It would likely improve the employee-customer relationship – especially if the customer was happier at their job.

The augmented reality – being developed by companies such as Magic Leap – would make transitioning workplaces into fun, game-like environments almost simple. Can you imagine what the world would be like if everyone loved their job? That’s a future I’d like to see.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

A Most Interesting Game

            So, a few years back I was in a restaurant with part of my wife’s extended family. At this point in time we hadn’t been dating very long, so I didn’t really know who anyone was. Across from me sat my wife’s uncle, a man with a bushy, black, grey-streaked beard and a brightly coloured beanie (yellow and red, if I remember correctly).

            Partway through the evening, after losing interest in the conversation of the rest of the table, this man (who I hadn’t spoken to at all, since I’m kinda the shy quiet type) gathered together two salt and two pepper shakers and put them in the center of the table. He then gave me this serious, considering look, and very deliberately moved one of the salt shakers on an angle to rest beside a pepper shaker.

            Not entirely certain what was going on, or what the intended rules for this game were, I decided to play along. After a moment of consideration, I moved a pepper shaker to make the pattern of all the shakers relatively symmetrical.

            My wife’s uncle made an impressed face, nodding, as if this was a very cunning move. Then he moved a salt shaker, and I followed up with a pepper shaker. This went on and on, for probably half an hour or more. We never said a word to each other. We just kept moving shakers, playing by whatever rules were implied by the other player’s actions and aiming for imaginary goals that we weren’t entirely certain of.

            The game came to an end when someone else at the table finally asked us what we were doing. Playing a game, we replied. What were the rules? Oh, we’re just making them up as we go along.

            The magic of the silent game was broken, there seemed no point in going on with it or restarting now that it had been defined. But to this day, this was the most unique – and I’d even say profound – way I’ve ever been introduced to someone. Strange as the experience was, it was incredible – and the memory of it will stay with me forever.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her life coaching website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.