Sunday 5 August 2012

That upward feeling

While I have Internet connection I wanted to post an update.

I doubt many people will read this but that doesn't bother me in the slightest.  I'm not the best writer, I don't construct a structure and my vocabulary is less than stella.  If you are here, still reading and none of that bothers you.  Please continue to do so :¬)

In my first post I mentioned that I am a gamer and as yet I havn't really spoken about that.  Unfortunatly (or prehaps fortunatly) this post isn't going to really focus on that passion of mine but I feel it's very over due and so I feel I should touch on it just a little.

When starting this blog I didn't really have a focus for it, the only intention was to give myself a 'platform' if you will.  Seeing as I do have a strong passion for gameing I figured it would manifest on here much sooner, but it is what it is.

Being on the wrong side of 29 I have been around video games for many years.  There were probably beeps and bops around my ears before I can remember and with such an environment, unlike some, I cannot remmeber the first game I played.  It had to be mid to late 80s and their are strong chances it was either on the Atari 2600 or the Acorn BBC Master.  Those eight bit roots stuch with me for a good handful fo years which has progressed fiarly smoothly to my current gaming platform which is the Xbox 360.  I do also have a decent PC that I could game on but folding is the priorety for that machine at the moment.

- Mini segue - The team I fold for Redline @ OC3D (98860) has had a currrent boost in numbers which is great and we are climbing the stats really impressivly for a small team.  I also cracked 10 million points myself this past week.

I havn't actually played that many games or put much time into the ones I have played this year which is why this blog has thus far been void of any gaming commentary.

Now, moving on from one type of games to another, the Olympic games.  The Olympics is currently going on in my home country (the UK for those reading this in the future) and I have to say, team Great Britain is doing much better than I ever expected.

Back in my memories of the 80s and 90s (early 90s at least) being part of Great Britain seemed to be something special.  I was only quite young but it felt like we were a country that others looked to for insperation.  Not all people from all countrys at all times, but Great Britain felt like it had a spark that helped push us forward even though things wern't always going 100% well on our own soil.

Moving forward, we lost that spark, and with it our showing at international events slipped to the way side.

Now, even during a horrible recession, not only has this contry put on a world show and not embarrassed itself (nothing has fallen apart as far as I know) but our athletes and all the people that support them have pulled out the stops and put out some amazing results.

Before the Beijing Olymics I could only see 'us' (Team GB) as being a total disaster at our home Olympics.  Things started to look up a little then but I didn't have much hope of an impressive showing.  The previous ten or so years had beaten the optimisum right out of me.

I am glad to say I was wrong.  Very wrong.  As I type this, Team GB is third on the medals table and by such a margin that I think that place is safely ours.  This really does lift my spirits, more than I would have thought something like that ever could.

If even just a small percent of people of the UK have been effected in a similar way, Great Britian is going to be a better place to live over the coming years.  Some national pride is restored and prehaps some people will be motivated to chase their dreams.

So, Thank you Team GB.  To all those envolved, you have made this a better place to live for at least one person on our shores and with any hope many, many more.