Just Write, Dammit

Time and time again I have seen it written that in order to become a good writer, you need to just write. I know I’m not a prolific writer, I know that everything that I write isn’t pure gold. Even though I know this, I am just unable to sit down and write for any length of time.

Today while going through my newsfeeds on Google Reader (Yes, I’m one of those people), I came across an article titled, “A Sure-Fire Approach to Improving Your Writing (and Getting Over Writer’s Block)”. Once again, it said the same thing I already know…just fucking write. The articles author, Seth Godin suggests the following:

If you know you have to write something every single day, even a paragraph, you will improve your writing. If you're concerned with quality, of course, then not writing is not a problem, because zero is perfect and without defects. Shipping nothing is safe.

And guess what? That’s what I need to do. So starting tomorrow, I’ll be writing something, anything, just so that I can work on my writing skills. And it won’t be good, I know that, but it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t have to be good.

So my plan for this month is to complete my video game challenge of the month starting with Eternal Darkness. On that note, there will be a slight delay to my initial impressions, due to a personal issue. I hurt my back and its uncomfortable to sit in front of a computer or play a game for long periods of time. My initial impressions of Eternal Darkness will be up by Tuesday barring any issues.

I’ll be posting something short tomorrow. TTFN!

October’s Video Game Challenge: A Challenger Approaches!

For my inaugural challenge, I have decided to not only focus on a single game, but also on a theme. Seeing as its October, what could be a better topic than Horror and Halloween.

Without further ado, let me introduce to you our first challenger:

• Title: Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
• Developer: Silicon Knights
• Publisher: Nintendo
• Original Release Date: 23 June 2002
• Genre: Horror

Starting 1 October 2011, I will play Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem for the GameCube for the first time. I will be posting my initial impressions sometime this weekend, and will follow up with a status report every Tuesday and Thursday showcasing my progress in and my thoughts on the game.

In addition to this, if I should beat the game prior to the 31st, I will follow up with other horror/Halloween centric games, and try to complete as many as possible before my 31 October 2011 deadline. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, on that date I will attempt to play the entirety of Costume Quest (XBLA) in one sitting. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to record this playthrough since I don’t have the proper equipment, but I will post throughout the day, and somehow provide some other content.

I know I’m looking forward to this, and I hope you are too. Tune in soon for more!

An Introduction to Randy’s Monthly Video Game Challenge

Next week I will once again take on the Randy’s Video Game Challenge. Below is an excerpt from my original post on The Slacker Chronicles dated Tuesday, July 14, 2009 to explain the particulars:

Every month I have chosen to focus on one game and play until completion. This doesn’t mean that I have to 100% it, this just means I have to beat the game from beginning to end. By undertaking to challenge myself each month, I agree to complete at least ONE GAME per month. The motivation behind this challenge is to clear out the backlog of games I've accumulated over the years.

My criteria for selecting the games are as follows:

1. I need to have easy access to the game in question. What I mean by this, is that I have to either own the game, know someone who will lend me the game, or in the case of older retro titles, have access to a working emulator.
   
2. The game has to be one I’m interested in. This means I will not force myself to play something like Superman 64, or E.T. the Extraterrestrial: The Video Game.
   
3. The game needs to be beatable within one month. There are exceptions to this rule such as for last gen or current generation RPGs which may take upwards of 60+ hours to beat or whole series of games.
   

Something I wish to add is that I will not exclusively play one game a month. I still intend on playing other games for fun, but overall my focus will be on completing this challenge.

Tune into the next time for more from the exciting world of Randy, where I will reveal my choice for October’s Video Game Challenge.

A Slow and Unexciting Week…

So I’ve already failed in what I’ve set out to do. When I started updating regularly at the beginning of September, I wrote that I would post no later than 3:00pm. As of this writing its now 5:19pm, and I’ve yet to post anything.For this I apologise.

Moving on, I’m still unsure what I should be writing every Tuesday and Thursday, but I’m starting to get some ideas on how to proceed. As you may have noticed the majority of my posts so far have been video game related. For the time being I will be continuing along those lines.

As a means to ensure regular content, next week I will be reintroducing my Monthly Video Game Challenge to the world. Tune in next week.

…

Who am I kidding, nobody reads this anyways.

That’s Just Sad

This weekend I had the most fun I’ve had in a long, long time. Myself, my buddy JD, and my two nieces (10 years old and 13 years old) sat around playing videogames all day. Started off with Beatles Rock Band and Lego Rock Band, played some Mario Party 8, and ended off with Mario Kart Double Dash for the Gamecube. It was kind of sad that I had so much fun just goofing around with my nieces instead of going out and doing something.

Microsoft Phone Virus/Malware Scam

I think the worst part about being unemployed and not currently going to school is the phone calls from telemarketers. I’m on the Canadian Do Not Call list, which to date has been pretty effective. Other than the occasional call from a market research firm, or a promotion from a company I’m registered with, I’m mostly left alone. However recently I’ve been receiving phone calls from a call centre in India claiming to be contacting me on behalf of “Windows” or “Microsoft” or “The Internet”. Yes, you heard me, they’ve claimed to be calling on behalf of “THE INTERNET”.

An example of my most recent call from them goes something like this:

[Call Start]

Telemarketer [friendly] : Hello, I am calling on the behalf of Window’s Operating System, and our records indicate that the internets are reporting a large number of virus originating from your Microsoft computer.

Randy [emotionless] : I am aware that this is a scam. Please stop calling me.

Telemarketer [angry in a thick Indian accent] : Well, how do you know this is a sc--

[Call Ended]

For any one reading this, yes, these calls are scams. For one, Microsoft will never cold call you regarding any customer support issue. They will only call you if you first contacted them about an issue.

This scam is so big at the moment that even the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre has listed it as their “Scam of the Week”. Please go to their site for more details.

Memory

As of this past Sunday, it has been 10 years sense the tragedy of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. In the times since we’ve seen many changes in the world around us, changes to how the citizens of the USA are perceived throughout the world. The persona of strength, and infallibility put forth by the USA was shattered, and now the world saw just how vulnerable the country could be. This isn’t a post about politics, or how the world changed that day in September 2001.

Most people remember where they were when they first heard the news, I know I do. I was 17 years old. I had awoken that morning and turned the TV on for some background noise. Over a bowl of cereal I watched the Today Show report that an airplane had crashed into the WTC. They weren’t sure what had happened, and as they talked about it, a second plane crashed into the south tower.

Beyond that I don’t remember much more. I think I spent most of the day, like everyone else, watched the news, shocked. To this day, I’m still a little shocked that something like that could occur so close to home. So close but still far away.

A Tedious Post : Self-Improvement

As I will not be attending school this year and am currently unemployed, I’ve created this blog with the intention of improving myself and acquiring marketable skills. The goals I have for this blog for the remainder of 2011 are:

1. To post regularly from now until 1 January 2012,
2. Learn basic web design and graphic editing as a means to improve the look of the site,
3. Get people to actually read my blog, and…
4. Get out of this rut my life is currently in.

First, I will write a minimum of 200 words, twice a week, and have it uploaded to the my blog no later than 3pm.

Second, as you can see the current blog is as simple as it gets: No logo, no complicated backgrounds, just a single colour and text. Truthfully I like minimalist web design, but as I learn more about web design, I will slowly tweak the site to be more aesthetically appealing. But first I need a logo, and a better by line than what I currently got.

Third, I don’t know how I’ll get people to read this blog, but I’ll figure something out. Maybe I’ll actually open a Facebook and/or a Twitter account and try to get the word out. This doesn’t really concern me at this point as this is a personal project and I don’t really need validation from anyone else.

Lastly, if I can at least accomplish part of these goals, I’ll be able to finally get out of this rut. I’m tired of being bored.

Tune in next Tuesday for another exciting edition of RandyTheBlog. Have a good weekend!

Nothing Better to Do.

Starting this week, I will be posting twice a week, every Tuesday and Thursday. I still haven’t determined what will be the content of the posts, but I’m sticking to that schedule even if it kills me. Hopefully once this blog starts rolling and I’ve gotten comfortable, I’ll post more often, but right now twice a week is more than enough.

I guess this is as good a time as any to announce this but JD and I have talking and we’ve concluded that The Slacker Chronicles is officially dead. This includes all versions of it that we came up with from a public access TV sitcom, a web series, a media news site/web-blog, and a short prose series. So I will no longer be posting to The Slacker Chronicles website, which isn’t that big of an issue since there has been nothing posted there since sometime last year. I may do a series of posts trying to describe the various iterations of TSC, but it was something of little note.

So what does that mean for Randy The Blog? Not much, other than now I’m free to write about video games here. I may even revive my monthly video game challenge.

Tune in Thursday for more from the exciting world of Randy at RandyTheBlog!