I haven’t been updating or working on this WordPress plugin of mine for a while now. And it seems it has been removed from the WordPress.org plugin directory.
I’ve put up a temporary mirror link on the page here for it for those desperate enough to want it now. However an exploit was reported against it. Details below.
tl/dr An exploit was reported to WordPress support. The plugin was pulled. Will be fixed.
Now I know what it’s like to not be a writer (even a perpetual amateur like me).
It’s quite liberating. No agonising over not writing, no overthinking on words and scenes and meanings. Freedom to choose what I spend my time doing. Is this what it’s like all the time for people who don’t write?
I got two new shinies in the last three weeks, a Nintendo 3DS and a shiny new Android phone. I knew I’d loose a few days of #wordcount to the new toys. Heck it was my birthday, right?
But that niggling feeling that you should be writing… it’s gone right now. The “niggling feeling” can be the worst source of procrastination with writing (sometimes called Writers-block). You know you should write, but you don’t have the energy/will/whatever to start something right then1. Which only feeds that niggling feeling, which in turn increases the tension between starting something and your energy and can be a vicious circle. I thought I broke it with my wordcount2 which I was successfully hitting nearly everyday.
It’s even snaked it’s way into my social media habits, making me more of a consumer than contributor. I’m just more than a little disinclined to engage or post on the various (okay two) services I frequent and even less likely to comment. I even let one or two days go by without checking it and don’t make any attempt to catch up.
I find this mildly curious, why my desire to write is tided into my desire to share online?
And my ennui does not appear to be abating. In fact I see it getting worse. I just got Street Fighter 4 for my new 3DS and a mixture of solid casual gameplay and a strong dose of nostalgia, has absorbed me. But Gaelcon ascends on the horizon (despite the flooding) this weekend and after that is the potential of NanoWriMo next month (which I seem to have avoided making any decision on). So maybe it’ll pan out.
Maybe I should consider this a holiday away from writing.
1 It’s not just in writing, in my secret identity as a programmer, we jokingly call this tension in our work flow “context-switching”, after the computer operation (done by the CPU) of switching between tasks and loading in and out the associated context of states and threads and so on. When you’re working an embedded device, you want to reduce these sort of operations as it can be an expensive task in terms of load. It seems it can also be an “expensive task” for us humans too and if you’re already tired, it can suck all motivation out of your next task.
2 This blog post only counts for ~500 or so words of my #wordcount for the day. But it’s something. It’s all words. 
I remember playing the NES in a friend’s house as a kid for the first time after a Christmas in the 80s. Super Mario Bros was the first game we played on the system. I must have been about 8 or 9 at the time though it wasn’t the first console computer game I had ever played. That was an Atari before that. But this was such a leap from watching a square “ball” bounce across the screen and it was addictive, watching this little orange character bouncing around the screen.
And so it was that throughout my childhood, game consoles were a part of it. Mostly Nintendo but not exclusively (I loved my Sega Megadrive and Sonic at the time). I think I’ve owned a Nintendo product most of my life; Super NES, Game Boy Advance, Wii, DS and a DSi. They’ve all brought me a lot of fun. So of course when Nintendo 3DS was launched I wanted one, partly because of some of the games that were going to come out on it, partly because there seemed to be some cool stuff (maybe) built in to it (like AR for example) and partly because it was Nintendo (yes I guess I could be considered a fanboy).
But the price of the device was way too high for me and then it was getting slammed for weak games at release and the 3D was giving people headaches. I wanted to try it for myself, make up my own mind, but every computer games store I dropped by, never had one available for demo at the time. I admit, I didn’t try that hard, I liked my current DSi.
But now the price has dropped and there is a great bunch of great games coming out for it. I am particularly excited by a new MarioKart and new Monster Hunter game (the concept trailer looks amazing). On top of that so many of the game stores are doing deals right now for 3DS, if you keep your eyes open.
And that’s what happened. A deal on in Game, trade in your DSi (not DS) and get a (red) 3DS for €40. (It’s also my birthday soon so it was a gift from my wife). Sadly I had to give up all my DSiWare games and there wasn’t a way to transfer sounds recorded, though I did copy the photos onto an SD card. Also, the remainder of points I had left on the DSiWare shop were lost too. They were not redeemed when I connected the same account on the 3DS. Arg. But still, I now have a 3DS!
One of the positive things for me that has come out using Google+, was when I was complaining about my inability to make time to write, between early starts, a full time job and two kids, my wife and myself are pretty exhausted by the time they’re in bed.
It was suggested by some1 to stick or target a word count per day, post about it regularly and so build up the habit of writing. Once that suggestions was out in the open I had no choice but to try it.
Seriously, once you’ve seen it, you’ll never be able to watch or see a news report in the same light again.
My wife has recently started blogging and seems to be getting a great kick out of it. Though she doesn’t share the same interests (online at least) as me, if your a reality-TV geek and like stuff like Dancing with the Stars or the Bachelorette you’ll probably like my wife’s blog, so check it out: Insomniac Ramblings.
Blame Google+. I do.
Putting that side I shall be trying to do some posts over the next few weeks. I’ve set myself a “word count” for each day and I’ve been hitting it more often than not (I post about it on G+ for those interested). But I’ve focused on one big writing and haven’t made the effort to do other writings, so I’m planning to spend a portion of that word count on writing some blog posts. Do not expect a deluge but one a post a week would be better than no posts ever.
That is all. Resume your normal activities.
(I wrote this shortly after coming back from my holidays in July. Not sure why I didn’t decide to post it, probably post-holiday blues).
Back from holidays and I’m only a few days in work and it feels like an age.
So Sunday night (which is actually a few weeks back now), last day before going back to work, the bedtime routine with my daughter went like this:
My daughter was in bed, reading her book and I came up to say lights out, have to get up in the morning, first day back. She refused to, nearly finished the chapter Daddy. Okay, I gave her a few more minutes.
Come back up later, she’s still not finished (part of me begins to thinks she’s gone onto the next chapter, but I know that’s not fair), she still needs to get up early tomorrow, so I insist. She get’s upset quickly, a sure sign she’s tired. But all calmed and lights out.
She wants a song. It’s already a hour after both kids originally went to bed. Soon it’ll be my bedtime, because I have to get up before her. But I consent. Big hug and kiss.
Now I can relax, too tired now to do anything productive. But no, my daughter wants her bed setup the way she likes. Seriously? I look at the time. Remind her again, it’s late. But I agree, gritting my teeth and set her up.
Such a contrast to the routine on holidays and already a build up of stress.
(Originally posted this on Google+, you can join me here, however I thought I’d flesh it out and post it on the blog. I suspect this will happen quite a bit).
There was one thing I liked about the first part of the current series (series 6) of Doctor Who. It was a really little thing but it featured in about three of the episodes that I noted.
(I don’t think there is anything spoilertastic here, but in case, be warned if you haven’t watched it yet)
It doesn’t look like Emperor Zerg at all!
I’m always disappointed by the shops in Eurodisney. I’m a geek and love good merchandise but most of the stuff seemed really tacky, great for the kids but not for us adult-kids. This year there seemed to be much more Star Wars stuff. There was even a Star Wars chess set, based on the original trilogy to boot. I nearly bought it, except it was too big and expensive and all the boxes seemed to be a bit mashed. They also had these little mash-ups of Disney and Star Wars characters in a few corners.
And this time round we discovered there is an actual book shop in Disney! But only found it as we were leaving, so didn’t really see in side. 