The light at the end of the tunnel
Before I start, I'd like to thank you all for reading this blog. I find the idea of reading someone else's thoughts sometimes can be quite boring, or irrelevant to one's own life. That's always bound to happen in some cases, but a lot of the things I say will probably hit home with someone, besides; I have a lot of content on this blog, on very different subjects!
So, you ask; "The light at the end of the tunnel", what is that?
Well, I'm referring to my debt situation. I have for quite a long while now been deep in debt, due to taking out a credit card when I was 18, without really looking into other options for what it was that I wanted to do. I was looking for a card with Visa capibilities, apparently though my bank at the time couldn't provide me with a debit card, so I ended up being convinced to get a Visa credit card. It all went downhill from there, balance transfer after balance transfer, higher balances allowed on each new card. As you can well understand, it didn't take me long to get rather deep into debt. The problems really came when I ended up having to start paying interest on my card, it absolutely ripped me and still does. It's getting better though.
I have a plan in place, if I stick to it, I'll be debt free by the end of December, or at least -very- close to it. I'm absolutely overjoyed at the thought. Luckily, I've been offered overtime at work as well which can and will indeed go a long way to paying off the debt as quickly as possible.
Will I keep the credit card(s)? .. I'll probably keep one, yes, for travelling abroad, and any other small purchases. I'll definitely be reducing my credit limit, I'm sure. As banks do indeed realise that if you happen to live beyond your means for even a short period of time, you will end up paying dearly for it in the long run!
On a side note: My previous post about Music Piracy was one that sparked interest among some of my friends. One friend, Andrew Male (http://amale.zibings.com/) has spoken with me and we have decided to split the argument up into a series of blog posts between our blogs. Arguing our stances on it. Please feel free to follow both of our blogs for updates, and also comment! It'll be very interesting for us both to hear your opinions, and if possible; please back it up with hard evidence! (That is if you're claiming something to be true.)
Check out Amale's latest blog post here: http://amale.zibings.com/2009/10/music-piracy-great-music-debate.html
And check out my previous blog post on the same subject: http://blog.gamermatrix.co.uk/?p=147
I look forward to hearing your opinions and I will be posting a blog 'response' very soon!
Long time no see
Well it's certainly been almost a month, since I posted in here. And since I constantly think of ideas for this blog, I figured I should update it with something at least.
It's starting to warm up here in good 'ol England again - so, even though there's lots of rain at the moment, we seem to be getting some nicer weather (heatwise) - I'm going to update the blog again with something more exciting, maybe a poem or something of that nature.
Peace
Computer Related Posts
To all those that read my blog on a regular basis, I appreciate the time you take to read about stuff going on in my life.
You'll note that there are a lot of computer related posts and I know some of you will think, "What the heck is this garbage about", if you do think that, please use the links to the respective categories at the top of the page so you can better find the type of posts you'd like to read.
Thanks again for reading!
Organising one’s life…
Well, It's been a little while since I've written in here, but not too long really. I've been meaning too for a few days, but I have a severe lack of energy. It's probably down to the fact that I don't have a hell of a lot to motivate me at the moment. So I just end up procrastinating over writing in here, until such time as I do.
I've been thinking of all the cool things I can do whilst I'm out of work. A few of them are as follows..
I can put time into my friend's company, as I've kind of done some work on and off for him. I'd like to delve deeper into any projects that he's got going so that I can help out where needed, and just put some cool ideas on the table. (Well hopefully cool ideas). There are some interesting things I can be doing for him, so it's just getting those things to do, then working at them!
Another thing I've wanted to start doing again, is pick up my C# book, and start learning some more. I've only read the first 20 pages or so of the book, and I really would like to learn it more in depth so that I can hopefully actually have the talent to start coding in C# in the coming months (even if it's simple stuff).
I've also been going to work and helping my dad with stuff that he needs doing. I find that if I stay at home too much, it's too easy to let yourself get de-motivated, the depression of it drags you down. So I've been focusing on the positive things I can do with my time. I've written up a schedule for myself, which I'm slowly starting to adhere too, and I'm hopefully going to be sparing some good amounts of times for things mentioned above.
I've found an increasing amount of comfort in watching TV programs recently, such as House, and Diagnosis Murder, the latter one being corny and often so predictable you might as well turn it off in the first few minutes, but hey, it gives you an escape from reality, and sometimes gets your mind thinking. I especially love House, and I've become increasingly more interested in it just recently as I've found the time to watch it. I'm forever looking up medical terms and medical conditions on Wikipedia when I hear about them on house, it's so interesting, because there are always rare cases which they have to really think about and analyse to find the correct diagnosis. Often trial and error. I sometimes wonder if I would have been better off practicing medicine, but then I think, 8 years or so of University, and some rather difficult medical exams are probably not something I'd enjoy doing. I find myself yearning for the end product without all the stuff beforehand.
Anyways, I've decided that whilst I'm out of work, I'm going to be recording some more videos to go on Youtube. The picture quality of the video won't be fantastic as I'm doing it on my webcam, however the audio will be good quality, as I will be using a proper Microphone with a decent mixer to input my Microphone and Guitar into it. Watch out for any new videos on Youtube by 'txtman21', yep, you've got it, that's me!
Anyways, I'll say goodbye for the meantime, and write in here within the next couple of days. Peace!
Fact is only what we believe…
Hello everyone! - Sorry I haven't written anything in here for a couple of days, I haven't found the inclination to do so! - I was off work yesterday due to feeling a little down, all the religious contemplation, and analysis had driven me to be emotionally drained but still with no answers. I've come to the conclusion to simply believe what I believe, and be done with it. What I believe is, there is a God out there somewhere, but he isn't neccessarily the way the Christian Bible portrays him. What more can I say? There's no point in divulging even deeper into this, as it will just leave me confused again.
It's funny, as Jack Johnson so accurately portrays fact and fiction. "Fact is only what we believe, fact and fiction work as a team." - Listen to "It's all understood", it's a fantastic, insightful song.
So anyway, I'm back at work today - don't really want to be here, as I'm really tired, I think I need to start getting some earlier nights, so that I can get up easily at 6 every morning, rather than struggle and aid myself with 2 spoons of coffee! (I'm not even sure if it's caffeinated) What mostly kept me up last night was a film I was watching, "The Assignment", it was pretty interesting, and rather well put together. I thought, "if only I could record it".. which brings me on to my next subject, I'm getting Sky+ tommorrow! So how much easier will it be to simply record it and watch it at a later time.
I really do need to get some extra sleep though - I didn't go to Church last week because of being tired, and not going also kind of tied in with the changes to my faith. My girlfriend and I are going to try find a different church, one that suits us better and has more people our own age. I personally favour one that is more open minded, and less dictitorial. In other words, believe what you want, and you're welcome anyway! - I think that's a good way to progress in something you believe in, because if you're simply told to believe something, how does that help you?
Anyway, enough of that, I've been to analytical over the last few weeks, and I just need to accept myself for who I am, and what I believe.
I was thinking recently, how wonderful it'd be to travel somewhere far out, my friend Ben was telling me how he is going to India in January, but I don't think I'd fancy India personally, but maybe somewhere like, Japan? or even a road trip around Europe. That'd be awesome, just something really different. I plan to take my girlfriend to America with me next year to meet my American friend Andy, we will be going on a road trip all the way down the East Coast to Florida (again). I did it last year with him, it was an amazing eye-opener to many things, and I throughly enjoyed it. To say the least, I was gutted when I arrived back in England to the dreary weather, and squashed up roads and trains. 2 different things I know, but it just outlines how squashed together England is, in a sense. I originally come from South Africa so I'm used to the open wide roads, and long distance journeys. Such as I experiences in America. I seem to recall being told once that there are actually fewer people in South Africa then what there are here. That didn't really come as too much of a surprise, as you can see it by the road congestion, and congestion on public transport. Even with it being a smaller country!
Anyway, I'm sure that I will update you all later with the absolutely extremely exciting stuff I have to say (joke), so watch this space.
Friday night and Saturday the 6th
Hello all! - I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, that I would tell you all later about the things that have happened at work, but I figured rather than dwell on them, I should talk about something worth my time!
Well, last night, after many trials we eventually got to my friend Jim's housewarming party, well Jim and Steph should I say. These are 2 of my closest friends, who I don't spend alot of time with, so it was fantastic going to see them, and also take Jenny along.
We all had a good few beers, and also quite a laugh. Jim couldn't believe the speed of his new Virgin Media (Cable) broadband, I've been telling him for years to convince his dad to get rid of Tiscali ADSL, and now that he has his own place, he can finally have the choice on getting something good!
We (Jenny, me and a couple of other friends) eventually made our way home around 2:30, after a good time. It was nice to find my room had been tired by my step-mum and step-sis.. but much to my surprise no bed had been put out for me downstairs, so I had to nervously wake up my parents to get hold of something to sleep on. Never the less, it all turned out ok!
So far today, I haven't really done an awful lot with my time, I spent a bit of time with Jen this morning before she left, and played Tony Hawks Pro Skater : American Wasteland. I've developed somewhat of an addiction to these series of games, and whether I'm at my house or Jen's. I can never seem to stop playing them. Although, I'm stuck on the Oil Rig at the moment, and can't seem to be good enough to get any more challenges done. So I've been skating around aimlessly!
I'm now wondering what to do with my time, maybe find another wordpress theme? Go through some of my C# book? - I don't even know, I'm too tired to actually want to do anything right now, which is kind of sad really, but hey what can you do. I was considering going for a ride on my bike, but the weather isn't even that great!
On another note, I've been wanting to get a new guitar amp, as I sold my previous Marshall one a few months back when I was unemployed, and struggling for money. I'm now thinking about getting a Fender Hotrod Deluxe, although I'm not sure, if anyone has some suggestions, please let me know.
Well I guess that's all I've got on here for now, so will probably update later, if I have anything further to add. 
Bed Time
Just thought I'd write a quick post before bed, it's been a rather interesting day at work. And it was nice seeing my girlfriend after work. I'm very tired now though - would love to stay up and type out all my stories from today. I almost got beaten up!! Haha, well not quite, but it was a bit of a confrontation. Anyways, I'll update you all on this later on, probably tommorrow or Saturday.
Good night!
Starting my Blog
Hello anyone and everyone. So I've pondered starting a blog for quite a while now. Initially I used to always think that it was a pointless thing to do, and I wouldn't ever be doing it. How wrong I was.. I figured it gives me an outlet for all my thoughts, my expressions, and frustrations that I can't often express either at work, or at home. And on top of that, I can get people to comment on what I say, maybe it will be amusing to them, maybe it will be helpful to them, either way, I believe this kind of interaction with the 'internet' as such, can be quite interesting.
No doubt I will be adding to this soon.