Had some fantastic guitarage last night. Feeling very inspired, and I only played for about 30 minutes! I long for my uni days where I was playing 12-14 hours per day during holidays. Those levels of practice can't be substituted for anything. I can't tell you how much I improved as a player during those sessions. It's that sort of quantum leap that I need now in my playing. I can do a few advanced things, but not consistently. But I'll get there. Just need to get away from the other things that take up so much time in my life.
Ok, on to other things for now. Have I blogged about video games? The fact is that I don't get to play very much anymore, and that's alright. I wouldn't mind so much if I hadn't spent so much on games that I bought but have hardly played. On that basis I refuse to buy new things until I get them finished, and since I don't play anymore, my gaming has pretty much gone out the window. I'm usually only ever playing Chivalry: Medieval Warfare because the 10 minute limit on matches is handy for managing my time, and I love the pick up and play nature of it. Games like the Grand Theft Auto series and the Total War series take several hours of gameplay to go anywhere. I just don't have that sory of time anymore. That's a serious pain in the ass, considering GTA5 is coming out soon, and I really can't wait to enter a larger scale Los Santos and wreak havoc. GTA SA was one of my favourite games ever. GTA4 just didn't grab me in quite the same way. But I need to get through the expansions on The Lost And The Damned and the Ballad of Gay Tony. They've been ok so far, just wish they'd be over sooner. Also need to finish Shogun 2 Total War. I haven't made a lot of progress despite playing for ages. What annoys me is the sheer scale compared to earlier games - there's just so much to manage that it's impossible to get a foothold and then just steamroll the AI from a strategic perspective. Everything is a grind. You win a province, you lose another one. Hoping Rome 2 Total War is a return to form because Rome was hands down the best game of the series. I still remember some of my great battles from there!
Also on the idea of video games, there's a lot of research which seems to say that video games cause violence, but there's just as many (if not more) studies which say that it's not the case. My personal opinion is that video games do not cause violent behaviour, but it does desensitize individuals to violence. Desensitisation is not exactly the causal relationship that is apparent in saying it causes violent behaviour.
I was reading an article the other day that Lululemon Athletica (some horrible yoga apparel company) charges approximately $140 for their yoga clothing - obviously appealing to young professional women with disposable incomes. But the deal is that the majority of their clothing is sourced from textile industry heavy countries such as Bangladesh and Thailand. Cheap labor, cheap materials, and you can bet your ass that they're not paying their workers standard Western minimum wage. Then you factor in things such as dangerous working conditions, general exploitation, and it's just a horrible premise. Remember that building collapse a few months ago? It's because factories and employers like to cut costs to profit for themselves. And the winners of this sort of set up are typically richer Western nations who are using capitalism as an excuse to keep operating like this. Let me tell you, there's a difference between doing the easy thing and the right thing.
Look, poorer nations are reproducing at levels MUCH faster than developed nations. What do you think is going to happen in the future? These people will migrate to other nations, or they will start to demand increases to wages, and the balance of power will turn. Capitalism would allow that to happen, and there is nothing anyone can say, because that is the system we are taught to believe is right. The third world will make a comeback, and they will bring everyone to their knees for all this exploitation, murder and pillage. They won't forget, and nor should they.
Life is a strange beast, is it not? Who are all these people? I don't even recognise them. How things can change. Plot twist! Haha, always something to be on the lookout for. And what of it? If they're looking, I have to give them something to look at right?
Man, I should really stop tumblring so much, it's starting to take over the volume of blogging here, and I'm not down with that at all! This blog has been going for 8 years, 9 years in 2 months! That's pretty disturbing. Surely it's one of the older continuously updated blogs on blogger? It was a great initiative of the other to set up! We've given at least 20,000 people a good reason to procrastinate. Not bad, right?
Ahh, again I'm struggling to stay awake at work, despite having a good night's rest. I will go to the gym tomorrow. I promise! Haha, yes, I slept in again this morning, but it was my choice. I was up, but I decided to stay in. If only I stayed in the whole day.
Let's call this one a day, I wonder what tomorrow brings?
Joaquin out.
