I have recently finished and thoroughly enjoyed playing Red Dead Redemption. It’s a massive game with a fantastically written storyline, gorgeous graphics and lots of wild west style phrases that make you feel like your 12 and watching Bonanza on a Saturday morning (I think their next move should be to make a pirate game so I can get a similar feeling but replacing Bonanza with The Crimson Pirate). It is fair to say I loved this game enormously, but it also irritated me and I shall tell you why.

Within the game there are many tasks to complete, some are integral to the story line and have to be completed in order to progress, others are there to either enhance the storyline or increase your skill or your characters wealth. One of the none essential areas of the game is outfits, throughout the game you can gain new outfits to wear rather than the default one you start the game with. Each outfit, is split into items to be obtained in different ways. Some are gained by completing missions, others by finding them around the game and some are bought from specific vendors, it could be quite complicated but the developers saw fit to give you a check list in the menu which includes instructions on how to obtain each piece so you know where you are with it. “Well that all sounds very straightforward and well thought out” I hear you say, and you’d be right, except I found a glitch.

It seems to be that Rockstar games hate me, I don’t know what I’ve done to upset them but whatever it was they are relentlessly unforgiving. In Grand Theft Auto IV I was unable to complete the game, the final mission never presented itself to me, you receive a phone call giving you details of the final mission but alas this phone call never happened. Some glitch occurred meaning I was left to drive around aimlessly waiting for the call and it never happened. I felt robbed, and stupidly I hadn’t employed the alternating two save games technique that everybody knows you should. I drove around for a solid two hours hoping the call would come through and even tried again months later just in case but it never happened. In Red Dead the glitch is slightly less frustrating, I have obtained an outfit item from a vendor but it has not been checked off on the list meaning I can’t get the achievement for unlocking all outfits (and yes I have tried dropping the item and repurchasing it, alas it did not work). While this is in no way detrimental to my game experience unlike the GTA IV glitch it’s frustrated me because I did intend to get that achievement, being unable to achieve something through lack of skill is one thing but being unable to even try is more so, in this case I feel it is anyway.

It could be worse, it could in fact be a hell of a lot worse but it just seems a shame that the shine has been taken off of these two great games for me.

I used to be very big on reading. Sci-Fi fantasy and comedy fiction were my mainstays and to see me without a book in my hand was a rarity. If a book really grabbed me I would read it while walking home from work which is really bloody tricky. I even started to write my own novel, somewhere in a folder that’s in a box which is probably in the garage lays around 30 pages of A4 handwritten novel by me. I think reading books started to fall by the wayside when I was first introduced to the Internet. Instead of spending several hours a day reading I’d spend several hours a day browsing the web, still reading for the most part but not reading a story that somebody has created. I have moved further and further away from reading books over the years as technologies and ways of accessing the web and all it’s information have been made even easier and more portable. I’m writing this blog post on my iPhone laid in bed for example.

It has saddened me over the years that I don’t read as much as I used to but I’ve always felt like I didn’t have the time which is ridiculous. It’s something I love, something I was so very passionate about so I should make time for it, yes two children under 4 makes this a little trickier but by no means impossible. Around new year I decided I should start reading again (which I have probably decided on many occasions over the last seven to ten years) and true to form I did nothing about it… Until now.

The introduction of iOS4 to the iPhone brought with it iBooks, reading a book on a pokey little screen like that seemed a bit silly to me at the time and I never even looked at the iBook store. A few days ago however I did look and my reason for looking was purely because I hadn’t yet. I’m still not sure I’d pay for a novel as of yet but that doesn’t mean I won’t. There are however some free books and being that I’m skint I figured a free book would be a good way to get reading again and blimey has it worked. The book is called His Robot Girlfriend and is written by Wesley Allison, I’m only one chapter in as my reading time has been limited but I’m loving visualising the world created by the book. I thought reading an electronic book would lose something, like it wouldn’t feel right in some way but that really isn’t the case. I fell asleep reading last night however and a book hitting you in the face when you drop it is a damn sight better than an iPhone.

All in all my ebook (or iBook) experience so far is great, not only am I enjoying reading on my iPhone as I am never without it so can read a page or so literally whenever but I’m enjoying reading again full stop (or period if your American). The thing I think I will miss however is seeing a bookshelf full of books that I love, and buying two versions of the same book one of which is intended purely for display purposes seems a tad over the top.

1 week ago I found out my results from University. Prior to getting these results I applied for 2 jobs. Why only 2 jobs? Well I was under the impression that I would ba a dead certain for at least one of these. Maybe this was a touch arrogant or niave but it has been my understanding that qualified social workers are in short supply and heavy demand, however things do change.

Social Workers ae in short supply but one factor (and I am by no means blaming this one thing entirely) that has changed is that public spending is being cut. This means that one job I applied for that was offering many jobs to both experienced and newly qualified workers reduced to less than a handful of jobs. As a result in the amount of available positions being reduced they really only want experienced workers as if they can only have a fraction of the workers they need then the ones they get need to be good.

As I previously said I’m not blaming this solely for my difficulty finding a job, friends of mine have jobs already, it just means I need to broaden my job search and apply for anything and everything going. This is exactly what I am starting to do. I am lucky that I am still getting shifts at a childrens home which means poverty is kept at bay, for the meantime.

Dig deeper and keep your chin up, this is my advice to myself.

Yesterday was D Day, the D could stand for Destiny, it could also stand for Delightful and it may even be said to stand for Desmond but what it definately stands for is Degree.

Yesterday morning started much as any other iPhone release day. Me being jealous of people getting their new iPhones but aside from that the morning was much like any other. I dropped Ruby at nursery and came home to faff about with things and play XBOX. We had decided to go through to Sheffield as a family day out and picnic in Endcliffe Park. The day wasn’t as gorgeous as was predicted but the weather stayed niceish and got nicer. The park was great fun and Ruby especially loved the stepping stones over the river. There was no escaping the time creeping towards 3.30 though so we packed up and headed to Uni to get the results of 4 years hard work.

My journey into education started when I suffered a series of panic attacks at work. I was advised to avoid returning to my job if possible as it may be the cause of the stress. Six weeks off work gave me time to think about my life and make some decisions to change it. I couldn’t avoid going back to work but I could go back part time and go to college. I was never interested in going to Uni first tine round, which was good because I couldn’t have if I wanted to. I got 3 C’s 3 D’s and 3 E’s at GCSE hardly university material, I had no idea what to do with my life. I was 16 I had disappointed myself and my family because I hated school. All this being said A levels then Uni was the wrong route for me, I’m glad I waited till later in life. It was tough, I’ve had a lot on my plate over the last 3-4 years including the birth of my son while in the middle of an important piece of Uni work but I’ve never failed a unit, never had a resit and now I have a gorgeous family, a degree and a career path to show for it.

I’m proud of my accomplishments and can’t wait for the next chapter of mine and my familys livse to begin.

Lat week I mentioned that I started doing the 100 press up program which should surely mean that this week is week two of said program. Well no, it isn’t. It’s week one all over again, why?well my own stupidity and over riding ability to lie to myself. Before entering into week one a test is performed to see how many press ups you can do. I lied to myself and said that I managed 6. What really happened was I did 5 and a bit really bad press upy type things and counted them as 6. I have noticed a marked improvement over the week of how many truly bad press ups I could do but for me this isn’t enough. Admitting defeat I have gone back to the beginning and started again. As a result my press ups this morning were a lot closer to the ground than last week and my form is a hell of a lot better to. Due to the extra effort put into the new press ups I’m doing I still found day 1 challenging enough to not be easy, that last one was a doozy. So it’ll take 7 weeks not 6, lesson here, be more humble and don’t think your better than you are. Actually that applies to life in general really.

Last night I had a shift working with a young Autistic boy in his home so that his parents could go out and spend some well deserved time together. It was a good shift we blew up balloons, bounced on a trampoline, shreded magazines and for a brief period got lumps kicked out of me. I set off to the young boys home with the address entered into maps on my iPhone and a podcast playing away. My iPhone was sat in my charging cradle/ FM transmitter effectively broadcasting the podcast to my car stereo and showing me the maps without me having to hold it, all is well.

As I got off the motorway to drive to the young boys house the signal died on my phone preventing the map from updating, this was really frustrating as I hadn’t needed them till this exact point. I knew the house was only about 2 miles away but 2 miles of housing estate is a lot of houses.

Driving around trying to get a signal and growing more and more frustrated I got annoyed by the usually entertaining podcast I was listening to. I pulled the mini jack that was sending the audio to my stereo from the top of my iPhone to silence it. Signal returned shortly after and I made it to the job on time, phew. Upon returning to my car to come home I wanted to finish listening to the podcast so I plugged in my cradle sat the iPhone on it but met some resistance when plugging in the mini jack. I tried again and felt less resistance and it went in. I set off driving but the sound quality was shocking, lots of static and the sound was real quiet I couldn’t make out what was being said. I pulled over to take a look and realised what had happened. I wanted to cry.

When I pulled the mini jack out in frustration while driving I must have done so at an angle and snapped off the end of the mini jack inside my phone. When I tried to put the mini jack back in the resistance I felt was the broken off end which I then proceeded to push right to the bottom of the headphone socket. I am planning on getting an iPhone 4 in a week or so meaning this won’t really affect me for to long, however I was planning on selling it and this will probably mean I can’t or have to take less for it as a result. I am not a happy bunny, at all!!!

On the 3rd of June I had my final exam at Uni. That’s it, I’m completely finished, no more nights spent in the library finishing essays, no more revision for exams and no more role play in class. It seems completely unfathomable that it’s all over, it’s been such a huge part of my life for 3 years and the previous year at college too. I’ve made new friends, learned new things and gained new experiences but most of all I will now have (if I pass) a career path!!! Something i’ve never had, I’ve just bumbled around from job to job and that’s exciting and a little bit scary too. I’m going to be a social worker, this is a job title that stirs up very strong feelings in some people and quite frankly that will possibly be the smallest issue that I face on a daily basis. As much as I am a little scared by my future line of work I can’t wait to get stuck in and start using the tools I’ve been equipped with over the last few years. I’ve applied for a couple of jobs and am currently waiting to find out if I have an interview.

At the same time as being excited to move on I’m a little sad to be leaving Uni behind. After the exam pretty much everybody went to Bar One at the union and much alcohol was consumed while chatting about the past and about the future too. I will really miss hanging out with all my Uni friends and I am hoping to keep in touch with many of them but will definately keep in touch with a few. We get our results on the 24th of June which is not very far away at all. It is coincidentally the release of the iPhone 4 which I really badly want but don’t want an 18 month contract as that means I can’t have the iPhone they bring out next year. Another part of me feels that if I got it on release day as well as my results it would be extra specially awesome.

This summer is shaping up to be a hell of a lot better than last year already just because I have some part time work already in place which is great. Last year I had one days work in the 18 weeks I had off, hopefully I will have a job sooner than that this year and money is certainly a factor as we are moving house in a few months, there are now two children to feed and put clothes on as opposed to one and I’ve been supported by Jen for the last two and a half years so it’s time I returned the favour when her paid maternity ends. Everything is looking very positive so far though and other than Ruby having chicken pox all is well at home, I’ve never been happier.

I’ve said in the past that I find it difficult to diet without exercising at the same time. I think it must be that they compliment each other so much that to do one without the other seems wrong in some way. With this in mind I was planning on starting up my running program again alongside a diet. I had got quite far through the running program before I stopped due to essays and exams stress kicking in and it just becoming the last on a long list of things to think about. Jen has decided that she wants to lose a few pounds, I hasten to add that I don’t feel she needs to and have told her so but she says it would make her happier to lose a couple of pounds so I support her in this. She did however decide to start this diet on Saturday! I told her Monday was the day to start diets, everybody knows that but she was determined. I decided to not start till Monday anyway but found that because we spend so much time together (she is still on maternity and I have just finished Uni) that I too started dieting. We both have downloaded calorie counting apps for the iPhone and I think seeing what calories she has left alongside her obvious determination has helped her to stick with the diet. What’s really helped me is having her do it with me.

I will not be discussing Jens success other than to say she’s doing really well as it is not my place to talk about it. I however have lost six pounds since starting on Sunday. Week one losses are always bigger so I’m not expecting to maintain this rate of loss but am happy with my progress this far. I intended to start running on Monday but Sunday night I just couldn’t sleep at all. I always run early morning before the kids wake up (between five and 6 usually) so a 3am bedtime meant there was no chance of this happening at all. No worries says I, I will just start tomorrow. Yet again this was a no go, Ruby woke up early not very well. She’s got chicken pox. This irritated me greatly (me not running not Ruby being ill) as Wednesday is no day to start a 3 times a week with a rest day between running program. During Monday I discovered an app for the iPhone, and it’s related website that trains you to do 100 press ups in 6 weeks, I figured this would be perfect for my none running days to build back up some upper body strength. I started Monday and today my arms are aching like buggery, no pain no gain though so I will do day 2 today and keep you updated on my progress. I will start running next Tuesday, I will… Probably

Ive been really busy over the last few months with my degree, I probably could have kept blogging and maybe I should but whenever I thought about writing my blog it felt like I was cheating on my degree, is that insane? Probably. Anyway I’ve got lots to talk about and won’t try to do it all in one post, if you were Reading about my experiences of my son being born I’ll get on it as soon as I can.

Anyway to start with a few weeks back I read a story about 2 lesbian girls being supported by their school to attend their prom as a couple. When i read this i thought to myself “why is this news?” A school is accepting and supportive of it’s students as it should be big deal. I’m not sure what this says about me as a person if anything at all to be honest. Then I started thinking, it is a big deal to them and it’s a big deal to society to. Acceptance isn’t a given, it should be but unfortunately a lot of intolerance exists. My expectation that a story about 2 lesbian girls at school would end badly shows how jaded I have become to news of this nature. My initial reaction was that it wasn’t news worthy because it was good news and not bad news.

A story a week or so later was more what I have come to expect from the media. It was supporting a young girl who had refused to cover her head on a school trip to a mosque. Her school (a catholic school at that) berated her for such a display of disrespect. The newspaper however flipped this story on it’s head to make the school look bad for forcing her to do something against her will. The punchline of course being that it was all faked and that no such event took place. The young girl and her mother banked on the fact that the newspaper love stories of intolerance and would lap this up.

Message basically reads that he world can be a nasty intolerant prejudiced hell hole and because I expect this the good news stories don’t feel like news. We need to ensure more good news gets through to break up some of the grim reality

Not posted on my blog for some time now so thought i would explain to anybody (nobody) that reads it and doesn’t know that i’m trying to finish my degree right now.

Got a lot on my plate in the form of essays to finish writing, exams to revise for trying to find gainful employment for after i qualify and not neglect my family in the process. I feel i may be falling short on the latter of these as i have moved to Sheffield for the entirety of this week and most of last week in order to study.

Jen is however amazing and realises that it is only a couple of weeks which matter not in the grand scheme of things so all, i hope, is well.

Thats it for the worst blog post ever, apologies to anyone who is waiting for part 3 of my trilogy of posts but as soon as i finish all this University malarky i will be able to finish it and get it posted.