One Minute Gaming - Help Request!

Deemo - One of my favorite game images

So if you've been hanging around here at all, you'll know I do a regular segment called One Minute Gaming. I play various free iOS games on my ipad and then record a one minute review.

Some of the games I've reviewed and didn't rate very highly, I find I am still playing and others that I rated highly on first few plays didn't last the distance. I'm currently hooked on Mini Warriors which Cold talked me into playing and Cooking Fever which someone on Twitter suggested for my segment. I just finished my 200th level on that one and I haven't bought gems yet!

There's also Clash of Clans keeping me occupied as well as a solitaire card game and a game called 1010 which I play when I'm chatting on Skype as it isn't timed or noisy.

Cold was wondering recently how many of the 49 games I've reviewed so far, do I still have on my iPad - well, I did a quick count and I currently have 22 different games on my iPad. I haven't reviewed all of those yet as I've just downloaded a few for the next three or four segments.

As for how many I had before I deleted a bunch to make room - well, let's just say my iPad was almost completely full so I had to delete a load of stuff including about 15 games that I had been playing occasionally. Overall, I'd guess about 26-30 of the games I have reviewed are either still on my iPad or have only recently been deleted!

I'm beginning to struggle to find games to review - yes, there are 1000's out there but so many are just plain awful and many are obvious clones of others, so it's becoming harder and harder to find a game that is either different or even vaguely good!

So, I'd like to ask for your help in finding new games to try out and review. Do you have a favorite that keeps you occupied or one that you play occasionally but don't want to delete off your phone or iPad?

You can leave a comment below or message me on Twitter @Nevahaddict and this time, I promise I'll keep a note of your name alongside the game you recommend unlike the Cooking Fever person - I wish I could remember who that was - their ears must be burning as I swear at them every time I lose another 30 minutes playing it!

I've also updated the page with all the games I've reviewed - if you need inspiration for a new game, you can check out my list and see if anything takes your fancy. There's a Soundcloud link in each post so you can either read the post or listen to it, whichever suits you best. I hope you are enjoying these One Minute Gaming segments - I know I really enjoy doing them and it's a great challenge to keep to about the one minute mark!

(500 Word Challenge - Day 6 word count  510)

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Check out my other projects
Gifts for Gamers and Geeks

and my photography site
HVS PHotography

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Are You A Multipotentialite?

I can't remember where I found the link but a few weeks ago, I stumbled into a website called Puttylike. As I read the post about not being able to chose a business niche, I felt goosebumps as a chill ran down my back and very soon, I was choked up and pretty emotional too. Before I knew it, I'd read about 10 posts and lost an hour or more but I felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

There wasn't anything wrong with me! I'm not lazy and indecisive, never finishing anything, never settling for one subject, always distracted by the next new thing - it turns out I'm a multipotentialite! I have described myself as eclectic in the past as I have so many interests but being a multipotentialite makes so much sense to me and goes back further than my adult years too. Other terms commonly used for this is scanner or Renaissance mind.

Signs of Multipotentiality

Here's some of the most common signs of a multipotenitalite:

• You never knew what you wanted to do when you grew up - choosing a career path was difficult and as a child you wanted to be a doctor, fireman, cowboy, ballet dancer - all in quick succession as each new idea struck your childs' brain.
• The thought of a single occupation for the whole of your working life terrifies you - I know I struggle with this. I'm lucky in that accountancy gives some variety in the occupation but job-hopping is one common symptom that I do suffer with.
• You are a Jack-of-all-Trades (or Jill, like me!) - You rarely become an expert in one thing but you do many things pretty well and can apply knowledge from one area to another if needed. This is another definite checked box for me!
• You love to learn new things - not necessarily connected either! You probably have a whole list of interests, hobbies and skills. It's the learning that gives you a buzz and when you've got as far as you want to with a topic, you drop it and move on to the next learning experience.
• Shiny Object Syndrome is a real thing for you - so many ideas, plans, things you want to do. You get the basics done on a new project then you probably get bored and wander off to the next bright idea. I know I do this - my family just roll their eyes and sigh when I start getting hyped about a new idea.

My Multipotentialite Symptoms

This was a whole new eye-opening revelation for me. I know I drive my parents crazy by not knuckling down and sticking with one job. My Dad did 40 years with one company but the longest I've ever worked for one company is 6 years and my job changed 3 times during that period so it kept me interested. My resume is a nightmare too - if I list every job, it's over 4 pages long and that's without too many job descriptions included! 

My hobbies are also wide ranging - I used to read a book every 1-2 days and the topic didn't matter - I just had to have a book in my bag! I can knit, crochet, sew, cook, embroider, decorate cakes, write poetry, scuba dive and glaze ceramics. I've done art classes for different disciplines and I jumped at the chances to abseil and paraglide for charity. My photography suffers too as I haven't developed my own recognisable style - I just shoot whatever the heck I feel like! Of course there's the game hopping too - I'm not very good at most of them but I still enjoy the learning process. 

Recently I've been trying to fit all these interests into an online business or at least, to narrow down to a niche I can work in. I had a great conversation with Marcus Ty today and I think I may have finally managed to find an area I can focus on. Whether I can make it work remains to be seen but I feel more positive than I have for a while now.

I guess this 500 words a day challenge is another 'symptom' too - it's not like I don't have enough to do right now but here I am, starting yet another project! But it's helping already - I feel like I'm achieving something each day even if it isn't moving my business ideas forward. Having a tangible target is important when you're working at home and are alone all day. It's too easy to drift into the doldrums and get absolutely nothing done but that's a topic for another post!

Do you recognise yourself in these signs of multipotentiality? From my twitter feed, I get the feeling many of the people I follow might fit this 'label' and I'd love to know what you think.

(500 Words Challenge - Day 5 word count 828)

© Urs Steiner under Creative Commons licence

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Check out my other projects
Gifts for Gamers and Geeks

and my photography site
HVS PHotography

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One Minute Gaming #48 - Sky Force

This week, I've been playing a game called Sky Force, recommended to me on Twitter by playrider2. It's an airplane shooter and it's pretty good fun!

You control an airplane by swiping with your finger, It auto-fires mini laser bolts at enemy planes & ships but you have to pick up stars and rescue people too - all the while,  avoiding elements of the landscape and the weapon attacks from your enemies.

The stars you collect can be spent at the hangar where you buy upgrades for your ship like additional health and better weapons. The first couple of levels aren't too difficult but you do have to achieve all the objectives before you can progress. That took me a few tries I must admit, my reflexes aren't what they used to be!



It's not the most addictive game I've played but it is good fun albeit a bit frustrating at times & I get cramp in my finger if I play too long! lol

I'd give Sky Force a solid 7 out of 10 - very playable, quite fun and great graphics but it's not grabbed me like some other games have.

If you have a game you'd like me to try, you can contact me on twitter @NevAHAddict or leave a comment below.

So until next time, have fun!

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Check out my other projects
Gifts for Gamers and Geeks

and my photography site
HVS PHotography

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DC Universe Online - First Impressions

Inspired by - Green Lantern, Superman and the Joker

We've been getting a bit bored with most of the games we've been playing lately, so when Cold suggested we try DC Universe Online, I was quite happy to give it a try, especially as it's free to play.

It was about a 20 Gb download so that took a while but once I got in to the character creation screen, I was happy to see so many options! You choose from a few basic body shapes, next is the skin type and then you can either choose a look based on existing heroes and villains or you can create your own. You have about 10-15 options for every gear slot as well as hair styles. Once you've chosen your look, you can customise the color too - either an overall color scheme or you can go into each piece of gear.

You choose whether you want to play as a hero or a villain, then you choose your fight style (fire, ice, mental etc) and you also get to choose a mentor. You also get to choose your method of movement - I chose flight for my hero and Cold chose acrobatic. Both take some getting used to but I love the flying bit - seems much quicker than walking or running everywhere!

In the free to play version, you get 2 character slots and a choice of three mentors on each side but if you pay to play then those options greatly increase. The mentor bit only changes the storyline once you get into game so if you choose Superman for example, you don't necessarily have to be a flying character.

Villain Nev!

Once you actually get into the starting zone, you play through a tutorial type area. The combat system is totally different to anything I've played before and it's taking a while to get the hang of it. We made it to level 10 last night and I still don't know what all my combos do!

The worst part for me was arriving at the Justice League's Watchtower. It's a multi-level rabbit warren and the quests there are designed to show you around but there's no obvious signposts, just a big yellow arrow on the side of your mini-map. That's fine until you realise there are levels above & below you so you then have to back track to find stairs to get to your objective!

We had a lot of fun though and we even did a dungeon - although I'm not sure dungeon is the right word - maybe a group instance would be a better description! That was fun although Cold and I both died a couple of times through just not knowing our way around and taking on too many mobs.

I'm going to create a villain to play on my own as we can only play together a couple of evenings a week. I think I'll get better if I can go at my own pace without trying to keep up with the super speed that Cold plays at! There's a lot to learn and a few bits are frustrating me already but I'm sure I'll work those out once I make some combo notes and have time to read all the skill details!

It's definitely worth a try if you're looking for something different to play. If you play already, I'd love to add you to my friends list and maybe we can play together sometime. Leave a comment below and we can get that organised :)

(500 Words Challenge - Day 4 Word Count 585)

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Check out my other projects
Gifts for Gamers and Geeks

and my photography site
HVS PHotography

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How I Feel About World of Warcraft Right Now

DC Universe Online Character

I started playing World of Warcraft in the middle of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion and played constantly until the middle of Mists of Pandaria. Somewhere along the way, I lost the first guild full of people I thought were friends but we rebuilt and I made a whole new bunch of friends. It wasn't the same though, the new bunch were lovely people but we didn't have an obvious leader so we just poodled along, doing various bits in game together in a very haphazard way.

Eventually I found myself so wrapped up in gold making and blogging about the Auction House, that I began to feel my guild obligations were intruding and I found more and more excuses not to do group content. I let my subscription lapse early last summer but I resubbed for a month just before Warlords of Draenor was released. I got my Paladin main to level 94 and my warrior to 92 before my month ran out and I've been meaning to resub ever since.

WoW just doesn't have the pull it used to have for me now though. I haven't played since before Christmas - not through any conscious decision but more because I am distracted by trying to build an online income for my future and if I'm not working or reading about that, then I'm vegging out in front of Netflix, crocheting like a crazy old lady!

My Baby Bank Alt

I thought I'd resub when the WoW tokens became available but I haven't yet. I begrudge paying almost 40,000 gold for a token when I can get one for 20,000 gold on my US account! Unfortunately, I don't have Warlords of Draenor on my US account and I really don't want to pay out for that until I know I am going to play! It's a catch 22 situation - pay for WoD on US account & use cheap tokens or pay out in gold instead to play on my EU account.

The other thing that's suffered by me not playing is my podcast with Marcus Ty (the Journal of Marcus Ty) - I just don't feel right being on a show about gold making in World of Warcraft when I haven't played for almost 6 months! I think I am going to bite the bullet and go with my EU account though - I love podcasting with Marcus and once I have the current crochet project finished, I'm going to have to give it a break. Anything can become an addiction for me it seems so I have to pull back when I start accumulating a stash of materials that I'll probably never get through!

Will I start writing again on my AH Addict blog? I honestly don't know. I haven't kept in touch with the current gold making situation but from the few tweets I see in my Twitter feed, it looks like a tough proposition these days. If I find that I am making gold fairly easily then I will probably write about it but I doubt I'll ever write as frequently as I used to. That's a shame though because I am proud of what that blog became for a while and it's sad to see it just sitting there, unloved by me these days.

I haven't stopped gaming completely though - I've been playing Heroes of the Storm with Cold on his days off and some of the free games I review for One Minute Gaming have caught me too. Whoever it was who suggested Cooking Fever has a lot to answer for! I just opened my 5th restaurant in that mini ipad game and I can't see me stopping anytime soon!

Cold and I have also dipped back into Titanfall and Path of Exile recently. Titanfall was fun again after 5 months of not playing - I cannot believe how quickly you lose the skills so I was absolutely awful at it! We've just downloaded DC Universe Online to give that a try later today. My superhero is gorgeous even if I do say so myself and I love the character build options. The fighting and movement stuff is going to give me problems though I think!

I'll let you know how that goes tomorrow probably!

(500 Words a Day challenge, Day 3 Word Count - 711)

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Check out my other projects
Gifts for Gamers and Geeks

and my photography site
HVS PHotography

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Just Do It - 500 Word Challenge, Day 2

Addicted to Crochet - Just a few of my latest bits!

So my brilliant plan of writing these 500 words every morning as the first thing I do each day kind of slipped badly today and it's only day 2! I do have a very good excuse though. I had a day's work, helping out a friend in her yarn shop and after over three weeks of working at home, Mum away on her travels and almost no social interaction elsewhere, I have to say it was a huge change of scenery for me which although fun, has left me drained and also fairly emotional.

All I had to do was make tea and coffee for customers who stayed for a chat. My friend was running a charity yarn day - tombola, guess the teddy's name, free hot drinks and cakes as well as goody bags for the bigger spenders. As you can imagine, I met a lot of older ladies today - many of whom knit or crochet for every baby that enters their own social circle. But there were also a surprising numbers of younger females too - several very heavily pregnant ones included.

The guys who came in to the shop were obviously just waiting for their womenfolk to get their supplies - which is a shame because there's loads of other craft related stuff on those magical shelves and racks - but I guess these guys preferred more 'manly' occupations like DIY, gardening or tinkering with car engines.

I've recently taught myself to crochet using Youtube videos so I had a great time chatting to the old biddies about different stitches and learning a few neat tricks too. I had the chance to show one young Mum-to-be how easy crochet is and she left with supplies to make her own baby blanket. That felt pretty good.

If you want to try crochet, this is the video that I started with.

There is something special about my friends little shop. People just pop in to say hello and stop for a chat as well as to buy their wool. Some of the ladies knit so much, they bring stuff in for my friend to sell for them. it's not really a profitable venture for them, just enough to cover their yarn costs and make a little extra.

It's almost like an old fashioned haberdashery - lace, ribbons, buttons and fancy trimming all adorn the wall racks and one wall is just a riot of beautiful yarn colors. I wish I had taken my camera with me - that wall of yarn was calling to me all day - especially the 10 or so different purple yarns! I wonder if I could make a quilt one day or would that really make me feel old!

In a small town like mine, these lovely old fashioned shops often act like small community centers. We have quite a few elderly residential homes as well as warden assisted living units so those old ladies who can still get out and about, pop into the shop just for a chat. We had some good giggles with one lady today - she was a character and a half. Some of the stories she told were hilarious but we also found out about the new Princess from her and how to enter the London Marathon. She's thinking of entering next year - not bad for someone I'd guess was about 75!

It was a great day and reminded me how much I miss my grandmother. She was a prolific knitter and she taught me when I was about 5 years old. I think she'd be pleased to see me crocheting these days athough I have my doubts that I can ever reach her prolific output! The other thing I learned today was no matter how old I feel now, there's still loads of life left to live (God-willing of course) and there's nothing to stop me doing stuff except my own fears and mindset. Maybe Nike do have it right after all - Just Do It!

Word Count - 657 :)

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Check out my other projects
Gifts for Gamers and Geeks

and my photography site
HVS PHotography

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500 Words a Day Challenge - Day 1

Yesterday Jamie posted his first blog post in ages about a 500 Words a Day Challenge and as I was having the shittiest few days ever, doubting myself and everything I have done for the last 6 weeks, it kind of resonated with me. Add to that a suggestion late last night from Scott to start writing here again & here I am, getting back to my random thoughts blog and filling my screen with words.

I followed the link in Jamie's post to James Greig's article and read through that too. I don't want to be a writer - that's not the point for me. It's more about writing everyday to create a new habit & bring some discipline into my free form days. My life is changing all around me and I'm attempting to build a business for myself, working from home or anywhere I can get internet access.

It looks like I'll be spending more time on James' blog too - he's been or going through this process and the couple of articles I've read so far, suggest he could be an inspiration for my own journey. I'm also following Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income blog and podcast - he's an interesting guy and I'd recommend his podcast to anyone who has dreams of a side hustle or making money online. I don't get the creepy feeling from his stuff that I get from so many entrepreneurs out there. Many are just snake oil salesmen using the internet to make big promises they can't keep!

I also came across this quote from Game of Thrones last night - it seems my prayers for inspiration and guidance were answered - I named this blog 'She Rides Dragons' because of Anne MacCaffrey's books and I always felt that the dragonriders were the bravest souls and I was fighting my own battles at the time.

Truly, I'm still fighting - not cancer or divorce anymore but myself. My seemingly complete inability to finish one thing before starting another, my endless supply of bright ideas that distract me or my tendency towards depression. It's all a form of procrastination - I know that but fighting that shiny object syndrome is probably going to be one of the hardest fights of my life. It's a personality trait I've had for almost 50 years after all.

I'm also not including words I write on my other 2 blogs in my word count. The 500 Words a Day is for this blog - it gives me a specific task to achieve and even if I have a bad day & get nothing else done, at least I can check this off my to-do list each day.

So let's do this challenge - 500 words a day for the whole of May & post worthy ones too! I will be late on one day as I'll be flying Stateside but I'll hand write my words that day & post it the next so I'm not even going to give myself an excuse to not post!

Wish me luck!

(word count day 1 - 514)

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Check out my other projects
Gifts for Gamers and Geeks

and my photography site
HVS PHotography

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