Christmas Break Time !

Got some time off now.

It feels like it has been a long year but it's also a year that has flown by.

Me ? I feel really tired now but I think I'm also getting more of my own potential back. A few years ago, when the illness with my outsides was at its height, I felt like my capacity was down to maybe 30-40%. Now, I'm getting back up to the 80s. Still not back to how I should be but much closer. A lot of that has been down to :

Generally improving, although that's got up and downs to it;
A better situation at work;
Figuring out what I enjoy and what I haven't been enjoying so much.

With my outsides, it feels like it has moved on again. A few years ago, I had a raging infection inside me that wasn't going to kill me but it was exerting its own ravages on me. Now the damage is restricted to a few stubborn areas that are refusing to heal up correctly. I'm still my own worst enemy there as I'll attack the half healed areas, causing more damage to them.

But it is on the whole, improving. I wanted to be clear of the damage by this Xmas but ... it's going to need a bit more time. Hopefully the Xmas break will give it a chance to clear up some more. It feels like a very long road back but ... at its height, this problem affected more than 50% of my outsides and I can still remember knees so swollen it was painful to walk. Hell, my kneecaps were disappearing under the swelling.

I do apologise for the gory details !

Work has improved, although I am still a little too far away from the engineering and too close to stuff dealing with Change. I won't go into that any further though. It's Work Stuff.

And with the enjoying thing, I stopped trying to keep up with Information Overload and focused back on less. There simply aren't enough hours in the day to waste some on what you aren't actually enjoying.

Be ruthless with your time !!! If you aren't enjoying something in your spare time, cut it out. Do something you do enjoy !

(But pls keep reading! Haha)

If you feel like things are getting too much for you, it's ok to step back and take it easy for a while. Perhaps talk to someone about it and see if they can share the load. I suspect you will find someone who will be overjoyed that you trust them with your problems and they'll be super chuffed that you went to them (in particular) for help. Because going to someone for help is a sign that you trust them and saying "I trust you" is one of the biggest compliments I think someone can give.

So what have I been enjoying ?
The new Star Wars movie is a cracker. The story is actually pretty good this time around and the characters fit in there well. It's a much grittier story than what we usually see in the Star Wars universe. I've seen it twice now and will probably buy it early on bluray instead of waiting. Unless I find an excuse to wait like what I'm doing with Star Trek Beyond. I still have a few Star Trek movies to go before I watch Beyond again.

Xmas movies - I have Where Eagles Dare, Zootropolis and The Jungle Book (new one) lined up to record. But only because the timings work out. I have the latest Hitman movie recorded too, must watch that some time.

Gaming wise, I have gone back into the Stellaris time sink game again ... It's a great space strategy game ! It has its flaws and bugs but I can work around those. My latest race is one that is designed to live anywhere and spread across the galaxy. It's also peaceful, which is an odd style for me to play in this game. But it's just getting to the point where I can invite people into a Federation and from there, I think I can incorporate them into my empire.

I got the Factorio game past the early stage too, there is still a little more to do before the factory ends up being self sustaining but I should be able to take that one through to one of the hard mode achievements. After maybe .... 20 more hours of gameplay. Ok. It may take a while.

And then there's the Internet Spaceship game. I can see me enjoying moseying around the galaxy in that over the next week or so.

I don't think I'll be buying the Chrome paint job in the pic above. The cosmetic stuff in Elite seems a bit of a waste to me. You only really see it when you're in the Debug Camera mode (i.e. not very much to be able to justify £3 for a paint job). Current targets in Elite are :

Slowly make more money;
Mission run to get the rank up;
Join in with trading community goals;
Generally chill out.

And I've been able to keep to that pretty much. I did lose another ship though, I tried to take on too much combat with my medium sized Asp ship before getting used to the new guns it has. The result was a broken canopy and running out of air ... just as I emerged from the warp drive trip to the station. So close. Hopefully it won't take too long for a ranking up mission to appear too.

What else in terms of the games ? The Steam Sale probably starts tonight ... in just over an hour. I can definitely see More Game being added to the library. Especially if they have interesting soundtracks with them.

AI Wars is another space strategy which I should have checked out a few years ago. Add that to the Factorio, Elite, Stellaris and the Deus Ex game which frustrated me with crashes. Lots of games.

And music too - I wonder how much I'll listen to over the next few weeks.

I suspect more than just new games and music will appear too over the next week or so. This keyboard has been ... ok. But I don't feel like I really get on well with it. Plus it can be pretty difficult to lock in for the touchtyping when the room gets dark. I have been eyeing up mechanical keyboards, although these are expensive. I kinda wish I could still find an older clicky keyboard that I had. I have no clue where that one is now, which is a shame cos it was a great keyboard.

I've gone through a fair few PC peripherals over the last few years. For me, a keyboard has to dance under your fingers and not feel as if it is slowing you down. I'm a pretty fast typer too so a keyboard that slows me down gets irritating fast. This one feels a little stiff, which is odd because I usually bash keyboards into submission after a while. That's not intentional, it just seems to happen. (I type a lot)

Getting hungry too ...

While going to places like the pizza shop have had a bad effect on me (the cheese leads to acid), I had a happy trip to the local Harvester again on the Monday night before shopping. Actually after shopping, which is a really bad idea because shopping while hungry ? You buy more junk. Anyway, after feeling grotty for most of Monday, I felt human again after that Harvester meal.

Good food is good for you in more than just banishing hunger. Says he who only had popcorn and junk yesterday. Oops. That's Stellaris again, it will lock me in to playing it to the point where I forget to have any dinner and forget to go to bed too.

And with that ... I better skip away again.

If I don't post again before the day, have a great Xmas people ! Or alternate holiday. I hope you do get a break !

And go see Rogue One too. It's a cracking movie. I'm hoping that Passengers is equally as good, I'm looking forward to watching that one soon too.