Road Map Forward

It is 2018 and time for new technology and games to come out.  This post is all about where we are going with this community, our YouTube channel, and our social media.  Instead of our normal written format we will look at it in a more concise bullet format. 😀

Blog:

• At least one post per week
• Reviews, releases, and video game news
• YouTube videos embedded for your enjoyment in one place
• Community building exercises
• Books, Pop Culture, Video Games, and Exercise

YouTube:

• We are limited by technology so we will be playing games a little older than the newest of new titles.  
• Come on over and relive some memories at Wylesco Gaming (add a hyper link here)
• Current Series:
• World of Warcraft Leveling
• Stardew Valley Exploration
• Next up:
• Banished

Twitch:

As soon as I have a microphone for XBox we will be streaming different games for that system at one to two hour blocks

• Current games that I am playing
• Battlefield 4
• Farming Simulator '15

Social Media:

You can stay updated at any of these handles, well any except SnapChat because I don't use that one much.

• Facebook
• @Wylesco
• Twitter
• @Wyles_co
• Instagram
• @Wylesco
• SnapChat
• @Wylesco

Feel free to add me on any of these for up to date information. I will add my Twitch handle once that gets going.

I look forward to building this community with you all this year and for many more to come.

Ready Player One: A Sci-Fi romp through the 80s to today.

Before I launch into my review of Ready Player One I want to launch into a quick recap of day 1 of fitness for gaming.  I made it home from work and set the timer for 52 minutes.  I spent that 52 minutes harvesting canola in Farming Simulator 15 for the X-Box.  I'm not sure if it is working but my weight is down to 213.6 lbs so I'm going to make it.

Now onto the review:

Plot:  Future Society is broken outside of a computer simulation.  The creator of the computer simulation passes away and launches a scavenger hunt within the simulation to take control of it.  Our hero Wade works with friends and against an evil corporation to make sure the simulation stays free.

Review:

This is the second time I've read this book and I love it for what it is, a retrospective longing for a time long past.  I loved the pop culture references, from video games to music this book was like a walk down memory lane.  I am an avid gamer and have been known to get lost in a different world in order to escape my own.  As I read this book I found myself day dreaming of a time when I could plug myself into an imaginary world and actually live there.

The deeper I got in the book the more I got swept up in the story of friendship, loyalty, and what happens when an honorable person is faced with unimaginable odds.  I loved the underlying themes more that the story itself.  I especially loved the theme of honor, as honor should be what everybody strives for.

My only criticism of this book is the ending.  The story was so well built up and had my full attention.  I was sucked into the story and the build up was so good I was expecting a great show of completion.  Unfortunately at the end of the book the story just stopped, there was no concise conclusion and there was no cliffhanger either.  I will not ruin the book by talking about the ending but I will sum it up with one word, revived in the book itself, lame.

Overall I love this book.  On Goodreads I give it 3 of 5 stars for the sole reason that the ending left me wanting.  I do love this book, I wish for the technology i this book to become a reality, and I do look forward to the time when immersion rigs are as commonplace in the world as our cell phones.  Maybe when we reach that point I will look back at this book, smile, and remember the way that I wanted it to be a reality.

The next book that I am reading is Love Your Life, Not Theirs by Rachel Cruze.  I will work through this book and review it upon completion.

Building Compassion: A journey for a lifetime.

Today my goal is to build compassion in some way.  Our world has become too divided, we are too busy worrying about ourselves to stop and help another person.  I challenge myself and all of the small, but growing community, to choose to listen to a fellow human.  Include a fellow in your life some way, and reach out to anyone that may be in need of help on that day.

Every day try to live your life in a way that brings joy to others.  Go out of your way just one time a day to lift another up.  This could be as easy as holding a door for a busy person with their hands full, or as complicated as volunteering in a soup kitchen or some other community outreach system.  I would guess that the bulk of us don't even take the time to look up from our daily lives to reach out to somebody in need.

Fitness Action Plan:

I bought a fitness tracking watch that counts my steps over the holiday.  After rereading the novel "Ready Player One" I wanted to take the lockout program from the novel, the one where Wade has to workout before he can unlock the Oasis, and apply it to my life.  I created a program where every 100 steps equals one minute of game time.  Also every minute of exercise equals one minute of game time.  This will keep me honest and through the use of "Alexa," Amazon's smart home device as a time I have to earn my play tie.  So far it has worked only in theory as I only implemented it yesterday and spent the day working on the computer and playing games.  I will make the best of it and see how far I can go down this fitness journey.

Happy 2018: A New Take On My Old Blog

Hello and welcome to my blog, the special place where I talk about the goings on of myself and all that I do.  Since I wrote last a lot has happened.  I have had the blessing of getting married to my girlfriend of 10 years, which has been both fun and a bit of a problem as we are still trying to figure out how to live together.  I know I'm strange as I did not live with her before marriage, but it is making the actual process of trying to get to know each other a lot more fun.  I also had the opportunity to go to BlizzCon which was a lot of fun, and may have been a once in a lifetime opportunity.  I got to play some of the new expansions, saw some panels, and got to watch some of the e-sports.  A couple of weeks ago I got to go to Las Vegas for Christmas and Phoenix for New Years.  We had a lot of fun exploring the two cities and preparing for the new year and going back to work this week.

Together with my new wife I have developed some goals for 2018.

1. YouTube- I have no goals of growing an income from YouTube, but I do enjoy making videos so I have started to upload a weekly show as I get ready for the next World of Warcraft expansion.  This series follows a young mage as he discovers who he is, who he was, and where he will be going.  I have been trying to increase the vocalization patterns that I utilize by reading the quest texts in different voices in order to try and make it almost like a read along series.  It has been a lot of fun, and I have learned a lot as I have practiced the different voices.

2.  Presence-  I have always had a problem with either living in the past, or day dreaming.  It has led to some problems in my personal, professional, and interpersonal life.  My goal this year is to try and be more present in all that I do and make sure that I am able to do all that I need to do while not getting lost in the emotional flailing that I tend to go through.

3.  Money- This year is the year that I get out of debt and start to learn how to make my money work for me.  I heard that true monetary success is when your money works harder than you do, and I look forward to learning more about finances.

4.  Fitness-  I have two goals this year.  I want to travel, through cardio equipment, a total of 2,018 miles.  It has been fun so far and I look forward to seeing if I can do it.  My second fitness goal is to try and get into good enough shape to compete in a jiujitsu tournament some time this year.

5. Blog- I would like to use this blog as a way to grow my internet community.  I want to use it as a sounding board for good, and a way to make a difference in an indifferent society.  I plan on posting at least once a week, but hopefully I will be posting more often.

Now I would like to talk a little bit about what this blog is going to look like.  I will be doing personal blogs where I just talk about life, liberty and my pursuit of happiness.  I will also be doing fitness updates, where I talk about the workouts that I do and how they are making me feel and any progress I may feel.  The last type of post will be Video Game, Book,  TV, Movie reviews where I discuss the good, bad, and ugly of the games and things that I enjoy.  I will also use this to give you all a look at what is going on in my life through games and how I am getting on.


I look forward to this 2018, as it will become one of the best years of my life.  I will be working hard to hopefully bring entertainment and knowledge to you all.  Best wishes this new year and let's go on a journey together.

Wyles.