The British Mental Health Foundation is calling on the gaming industry to develop games in a way that supports players' mental health. The five changes they are asking for are as follows ( Read more... )

Since getting off of Facebook, I have been getting emails from them telling me that so and so just posted such and such and to come look at it. I have never gotten this type of email before. This might be the first withdrawal symptom, not of myself from the platform, but the other way around. One thinks of a horde of zombies or other similarly ( Read more... )

I went to a sporting goods store to look at some hiking apparel, shoes in particular. As expected, the mens' shoes were too wide, and the womens' just about right, but they didn't have my size. "We don't have an 11 women's, but we have a 10.5. We don't have a 10.5 men's, but we have a 10." When those predictably didn't fit, they encouraged me to ( Read more... )

Some interesting developments in my quest to find a shoe that fits. I had the opportunity to try a narrow women's shoe. It turns out the width was about right for me. Women's shoes run narrower than men's, and I ended up trying a narrow version of those. That's how narrow my feet are, and it is why on virtually every pair of shoes I have owned, I ( Read more... )

I'm interested in hiking. I live in an area full of great places to hike, and yet I don't hike. This is due to a number of factors. One, I don't really know what I'm doing. Two, I don't have the equipment. But most importantly, I would have to get up early and drive a long way to a lot of the hiking spots. I don't like getting up early, traffic, ( Read more... )

I got my conga drums (photo here). The ones I settled on were marked down almost 50 percent because of a crack in the exterior of the shell, from being damaged during shipping. At this point it is mainly a cosmetic issue, and since the crack has not penetrated through the shell all the way, it wouldn't make sense to fix it now. If it did penetrate ( Read more... )

I got a massage today. The masseuse was pretty good, but I have mixed feelings about massages in general. One of the main issues I have with them is that I can never get the face cushion thing adjusted correctly, so it always feels like my neck is torqued at a weird angle. I end up spending a lot of time fussing with it and will get it to where it' ( Read more... )

I decided to buy some conga drums. Talked to the drum store owner at the place where I usually go, and he suggested these as an entry-level set. He has to order them so it may be a week or two before I get them.

I also intend to mount a jam block on a foot pedal, so I can play the clave rhythms along with the drums ( Read more... )

I got my second shot this week, so will be considered fully vaccinated a few weeks from now. I was surprised though at how strongly the shot affected me. Some people report getting strong side effects for a few days after the shot, and I was no exception. Had a fever and was really tired for a few days. It was so bad that I had to take the time off ( Read more... )

I had a very interesting and unusual discussion with my manager today. Over the time I have been at this job, I have spent a lot of time learning the ins and outs of the various processes we deal with. As a result, I know a lot about how things at my job work. She felt that this is a sign that I am very intelligent - but, when talking to customers ( Read more... )