A Post Holiday Post

Alright, here we go; first post of the year! Let the annual blog stats begin!

After one week in, how is your 2020 shaping up so far? Mine is challenging. Since I enjoyed vacation and holiday time off work, going back to the daily grind has not been nearly as fun. Maybe I should have resolved to have more fun in 2020.

Sleeping in every morning, hanging out with family, eating lots of good food, playing games, and having a loose schedule: these were all great things I enjoyed for two solid weeks away from the job. Now I’m trying to readjust to the normal routine: rise early and sleepily, sit in a cubicle all day, watch what I eat, work more than play, and juggle a tight schedule. Yet it has been good to revert back to a normal routine just because it’s what I’m accustomed to.

Like many people, my eyes have turned towards my fitness – or lack thereof. With the holidays came a lot of eat, drink, and be merry…Christmas! Indulge and imbibe. It wasn’t too bad, really. But I know I need to get into better shape.

Speaking of fitness, I resumed my karate class this month, and we’re gearing up for the next Belt Test at the end of January! So now it’s time to double-down on cardio exercise, conditioning, and calisthenics! I’ve already started and can feel my sluggish body resisting. I’ve got work to do, and I know I’ll be able to shed a pound or two and push myself to get more fit.

In addition to all of that, I’m also playing through a couple of Nintendo games on the side for fun! I’m near the end of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD on the Wii U. I’m also close to finishing the whole story of Pokemon Sword on the Switch. And I guess I should mention that I started playing through Final Fantasy VII on the Switch too!

There are so many good games to play…2020 is gonna be full of Nintendo gaming I think. And Pokemon. So when will I have time to read 12 books this year? That’s the goal I set for the goodreads annual reading challenge. One book per month is reasonable. But with all that’s going on, it will be a real challenge. Oh, also, I think my wife and I will binge watch a couple of shows this year, so there’s that.

There’s a lot of play and a lot of work that will fill up the year. It looks like 2020 is going to be a busy one.

Do you have any predictions or plans for 2020? Comment below, or write to me here! Thanks for reading!

Looking Back At 2019

Pause

Here we are at the end of the year and even a decade. As always, it’s a good time to pause our games and shows and look back to reflect on things. It’s also time to do the other side of that coin by looking forward. And I hope I don’t overstuff it with the links!

Rewind

With the dust still settling from the Christmas rush, I thought I’d skim the past 12 months from a geeky or nerdy perspective. How did 2019 shape up with respect to movies, shows, games, and what about sci-fi and tech stuff? I admit I’m not the most qualified for this; it’s just my two cents. I’ll also throw in a few of my own personal highlights and lowlights.

January

With an eye towards fitness and fun, I re-joined my Karate class and quickly tested up to my next belt. I tried to attend classes twice a week all year long. Overall, I’ve benefited greatly from it. I’m no Bruce Lee, but I can touch my toes, and I feel less guilty when I eat extra calories, so not too shabby! Also, I broke a board using a knife-hand technique and got punched in the ribs so well that I had to get X-rays to make sure they were not cracked!

February

Cal Newport launched his new book on Digital Minimalism, just as the angst or weariness towards Facebook and social media reached its zenith in our culture.

Also, we played a lot of Animal Crossing: New Leaf on the Nintendo 2DS.

March

We had the surprising 20 year anniversary of The Matrix movie being released. It still shocks me that it’s been so long since that ground-breaking film debuted! Time has flown! Whoa!

April

I deleted my Facebook account. Again!

Avengers End Game hit the big screen, closing the first Marvel epic mega saga thing-a-ma-bobber. Did I mention it was epic?

May

This month, I finally watched Captain Marvel. I liked it! My fave stuff was the 90’s nostalgia: dial-up internet, Nirvana, Blockbuster Video, stuff like that. For the record, I really miss video stores! Having it all on my phone is just not the same.

June

Apple held their annual developer’s conference where the keynote showcased all the new and cool stuff they plan to put on the market. iOS13 and iPadOS looked promising. So far, though, they’ve turned out lackluster and buggy. But the iPhone 11, especially the new camera system, looks fantastic. I’m thinking I’ll stick with iPhone and not switch to Android.

July

Space! Sci-Fi for real! It was the big 50th anniversary of mankind’s first landing on the moon! On July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 Lunar Lander touched down, and on July 21, mankind first set foot upon the lunar surface. It is still amazing today!

August

I switched from using an iPad as my primary computer to a Chromebook. And I’m still loving it!

September

Nintendo released the new Switch Lite hardware, a handheld-only version of the popular Switch. I think it is doing well in sales and will extend the current generation of Nintendo’s console(s).

October

My wife and I enjoyed 80’s nostalgia and a bunch of weirdness as we discovered Stranger Things on Netflix. Looking forward to more of that next Summer with a new season.

Also, I rejoined Facebook. Again! Good-grief!

November

My blog posting took a big nosedive as I devoted all my writing time to authoring a fiction novella for NaNoWriMo 2019. I didn’t finish, but it was a good try. I learned from the experience. And I’ve been trying to get my blogging back up to speed ever since!

December

The Force was with us (one last time?) in The Rise of Skywalker. NO SPOILERS. I liked it overall. I’d say more, but I shouldn’t do that yet.

I surprised my family at Christmas this year with a Nintendo Switch for all to share! We play Nintendo.

For my annual Reading Challenge on Goodreads, I failed! I aimed for 13 books. I’ve read 9 and two-halves. So far.

Overall

Throughout the past year in my house, there’s been a lot of Nintendo, Pokemon, Lego, and Star Wars. We have five (5) sons, so I guess it shouldn’t be surprising. Also, this year I tried Apple Music and Spotify music subscription services and decided to stick with Spotify. I love having all the songs!

Fast Forward

So what about the coming year? The movies Wonder Woman 1984 and Ghost Busters Afterlife are two on top of my to-watch list. I’m also looking forward to the next season of Stranger Things.

Nintendo could release Breath of the Wild 2, the next Zelda game, but I think that won’t come until 2021. But Animal Crossing: New Horizons debuts in March! So does Final Fantasy VII Remake!!

Starting in February, with pre-release promos as early as this Friday, Pokemon Sword and Shield TCG comes out! A whole new series of cards!

Last December, I was able to upgrade from iPhone 6 to iPhone 7, which is still working great. Maybe at the end of 2020 I can upgrade again.

Anyways, there’s lots of fun stuff to anticipate, more than I can handle! I need the fun stuff to help offset the hard and heavy stuff of life that will always be around. I can overthink things and take things too seriously, so letting the pendulum swing the other way can bring some balance at times.

Lastly, I’ll mention anxiety, which is no fun at all! In 2017, I struggled big-time with major anxiety and panic attacks… Things slowly improved over time. And in 2019, things really changed for the better. I reduced my sugar intake at the end of 2018 and began more fitness in 2019. I think these were major factors contributing to my overall progress out of acute anxiety. Food for thought!

I hope your 2019 was good overall. What are your highlights? Comment below, or write to me here! Thanks for reading!

Holiday Rush

The busy holiday season is upon us! Don’t blink; December will flash by. Parties, food, parades, food, carols, food, gifts, food, and plenty to eat. Yeah. I believe I hit my calorie quota for the month in the first week! But overall, it’s been a good time, full and festive.

My blogging brain has kinda been on holiday though. Bummer. I’ve spent more time consuming content rather than creating it. And I don’t mean just eating all the food. Mostly it’s been watching movies or playing games. Lots of fun!

Besides my blogging kinda hitting a slump, so has my reading. I bet they’re related! I’m over half-way through reading Dune for the first time. I was hoping to finish it before the end of October. Now I wonder if I’ll even finish it before this decade is over! I think my goodreads goal for this year was to read 13 books; I’m behind.

Speaking of goals, it’s also the time of year for looking back and seeing what we’ve accomplished and setting new goals for the upcoming year. Can eating more food and playing more video games be a goal? Nah, too easy.

What do you think? Comment below, or write to me here! Thanks for reading!

Welcome To December

Hello there, blogosphere. Been pretty quiet out there, at least for me, since November. My blog muscles may have atrophied a wee bit. I had dedicated my writing discipline and time to typing my story for NaNoWriMo2019. I didn’t reach my word-count goal (not surprised), but it went well. I plan to keep writing my story long-term, but the pace will slow so that I can blog more often.

November was a busy month. I had trips and vacations and holidays. Funny thing is, I had extra time both off from work and also on the job. And now we have arrived at the last month of the year. And of the decade!

Over Thanksgiving break, my family began decorating and preparing for Christmas, kicking off the holiday season in traditional fashion. It’s been fun! The mood has been festive and joyous. I think my favorite part so far was wrapping presents to put under the Christmas tree. The thought of making others happy when they open gifts from me, seeing their smiling faces in my mind, has already given me joy.

Lord willing, we will arrive at the anticipated dates later this month to celebrate blessings with family, most of all the gift of Christ at Christmas. I’m looking forward to it.

Meanwhile, I’ll be enjoying the Holiday festivities sprinkled throughout this month. I hope to be blogging more often too. I know not everyone celebrates the holidays this time of year. If you do, I hope your Thanksgiving was good and that the rest of your year and decade will be great!

What’ya been up to lately? How will you finish the 20-teens? Comment below, or write to me here! Thanks for reading!

The Space Stuff

Did you notice all the news coverage last week about NASA, Apollo, and walking on the moon? I sometimes wonder what it was like to be alive in 1969 during the live event. The wonder of space – so mysterious, vast, out there – gives us much to geek out on.

Documentaries

I love to watch the real deal when it comes to space. The staggering power of rocketry, the bewildering danger of space flight, the overwhelming cost of cosmic exploration – these are very real and unavoidable aspects of going off planet.

There’s nothing small, easy, or simple about space. Everything is big. It’s all a huge risk. All you gotta do is kinda bend a law of physics, you know, defy gravity. No biggy.

Documentaries show us what it takes and how it looks to go to space – whether that’s sending a person to the moon¹ or shooting a satellite to the edge of the solar system.

This is for-real-space-stuff! All the star gazing mankind has done for millennia, all the stuff people have dreamed of doing in space, real people really accomplish it. And we mere Earthlings get to observe these wonderful feats in safety.

All this is so awe-inspiring because it’s not science fiction; it’s reality.

If you missed the live event of man first walking on the moon, one way to relive it is to watch Apollo 11, which was released earlier this year. It’s all archival documentary type footage but raw, meaning there’s no commentary over it.

Speaking of movies to watch, I recently bought several space flicks and watched them!

Sci-Fi

While our real space endeavors are truly amazing, who doesn’t love space sci-fi!? The astronomical void of space has filled the imaginations of many!

For people who dislike sci-fi geekery, they’re still aware of pop-culture references from Star Trek or Star Wars. The genre of space stories is so popular that it has created a sort of sub-culture, yet its impact is also mainstream.

Blockbuster movies like Interstellar and Guardians of the Galaxy with different tones both share the same science-fiction laden space; they spark wonder in their own way. You don’t have to be a sci-fi geek to enjoy these tales of space.

From movies to books, sci-fi sagas that deal with space take on a vast mysterious wonder that’s full of other-worldly objects. It’s no wonder sci-fi is full of hi-tech accoutrements and futuristic ideas from laser swords to time travel.

When it comes to space, sci-fi stories are fantastic by themselves, yet they also fuel the real space stuff.

Space-Fi expresses mankind’s dreams of exploration, discovering more than what’s on Earth. And eventually we begin to realize some of those dreams, like putting a man on the moon.²

We all have a natural curiosity, so the immense vacuum of space naturally draws our gaze. I sometimes go outside at night with an app on my phone that identifies celestial bodies. I look up to the heavens and wonder, is that a star I see, or is it a planet?

I’m not a kid anymore, yet my sense of wonder is not lost. It’s out there in outer-space where my imagination has plenty of room to reach out and go where no one has gone before.

Does space stuff draw your gaze in wonder? Tele-communicate below or message me. Thanks for reading!

Who will be the first woman on the moon? ↩
If you believe that it wasn’t staged of course. ↩