Thoughts inspired by Xboxes and disconnection

I keep putting off writing anything here or posting something because I feel there should be some degree of consistency. And the ability to post comments, which is probably more important. But what the hell, if you're interested you'll keep reading, and if not then there's a whole wide internet out there for you. So if you visit regularly, don't expect a certain type of link or post - sometimes it'll be a picture, sometimes directing you interesting, or sometimes just a longish rambling personal thing like this. Try and cope.

Anyway, primary thought at the moment (except transporters, which I'll come to at a later date) is that I bought an Xbox Elite yesterday to replace my aging older Xbox - potentially an extravagance, but there was a sale on so it wasn't all that much more than the extortionately-priced 120gb hard disk by itself. Plus the HDMI connection, an extra controller, and the ability to use my old Xbox in another room as a media extender made for a convincing argument.

As a trial run I fired up Geometry Wars 2, which I haven't played in ages, and immediately discovered relatively prominent lumps on the Xbox controller thumbsticks, which looking at my other one exist there too, but massively worn down. Made me realise quite how much I use the thing. And how abrasive thumbs can be.

The second realisation was that I haven't played GW2 since writing a best man speech about a year ago - while on some level it might have been procrastination, distracting myself from something I needed to do (and more importantly, had to do WELL), it actually proved surprisingly useful. I think because it's such a simple but fun game, it was easy to play it for an hour or two of an evening, my eyes and hands handling the game while my brain could detach itself and muse on different ideas. In the end the speech actually turned out pretty well, though I say so myself - not claiming it was the best/funniest thing ever, but for a generally self-conscious and cynical man, even I was forced to admit that people laughed in all the right places, and more than just politely.

This in turn set me thinking about how I spend my time. Not excessive gaming, which I freely own up to, but more giving my brain a chance to drift. I spend most of my time at a computer, sometimes working, sometimes playing, often reading chunks of what the internet has to offer. While I think developmentally it's not actually too bad, given the myriad thoughts and opinions I come across, I'm starting to wonder if I spend entirely too much time basically receiving information, rather than coming up with anything particularly new.

I've never counted myself as a particularly creative person, and doubt that will change any time soon, techie geek that I am, but I think I should make the effort for a short time each day to let my mind wander in relative silence. Music being OK, TV or a film in the background probably not. I think part of the issue is the current bad weather where I live - it's been cold for about 4 months, with occasional rain. While I don't mind the cold at all, it makes cycling very unpleasant, and I've been letting my foot heal after an injury, so haven't been running, at least not any particular distance. They were both good opportunities to disconnect my mind from the world to a degree and mull things over, which I've been without for a while, and I think that's taking its toll on me mentally. Not saying that playing Geometry Wars 2 is necessarily the solution, but might be worth a go. Right now, in fact...