Will

With my approach I do it the opposite way round. Savings are set aside at the start of the month and what is left over is used on my spending. Since I became very strict about it this has become much easier as I know exactly what I need for each pot of spending. I use different accounts but not necessarily for different things. I move my money around dependent on what will give me the biggest rewards and centralize what that money is for in my spreadsheet. At the moment one of my bank accounts gives 6% interest + a few other things, so I have moved all of my money into that account. The spreadsheet then has that amount split out over what it’s set aside for. I think this will be different for everybody dependent on how OK they are with risk. IMO mortgages are so cheap at the moment it really doesn’t hurt at all to hold that debt. I’d be putting extra money into investments over extra mortgage payments as the potential return over the life of the mortgage will be way above the cost of the mortgage.

I totally agree with this! I actually felt like I was an inhabitant of the world and knew all the secret little shortcuts and hidden alleys. Nowadays the worlds are so big that it’s not really possible. Maybe it’s just that we’re older and have less time than we used to?

Favourite Town/Village I think I have to go for GTA3’s Liberty City. It was the first time I really felt that just being in the game world was enough, and still visit at least once a year as it was such a good setting for what was an awesome game. It really felt alive and was the blueprint by which many game worlds are still created.

Watching the F3 at the moment and the track is pretty damn wet, hopefully will throw up and interesting qualifying later. Seems Mercedes and particularly Hamilton have been struggling so my predictions may be a little off this week.

Nowadays I’ll check to see if I can watch the credits before even playing the game, especially if someone I know well has worked on it. Generally I’ll only play a game once, watch the credits and then I’m done with it. IF I do a second play through I may watch them, especially if it’s something really old just to see who was involved back then.

Credits Sequence In what I think is a far more sensible use for this game than previous mentions, I loved the credits sequence in Super Monkey Ball. Just a nice take on credits that fit well with the game and gave you a reason to sit through them and have a bit of fun. I also give an honorable mention to the digital release of NiGHTs into Dreams as I was in them. As my favourite childhood game it really meant a lot to be involved in the update and get credited for it.

I don’t think they look that nice, kind of bland to be honest. I intend to buy everything digitally so it doesn’t really matter, but it would be nice if they had a bit more to get excited about.

I’ve always tried to be good with money and for the most part have managed to manage it quite well. I really started to manage my finances at the end of last year due to changes in family circumstances, and this really saved me when covid hit and I was without work for over three months. I thought it would be helpful to share things I’ve learnt and for us all to discuss and help each other out more. I think everyone should try to manage their personal finances to some degree. How I manage my finances These won’t work for everyone but picking a good set of rules to manage your finances with is essential imo. All of my income is budgeted at the start of the month At the start of the month I make sure all of my money has a place to be and a job to do. All of my money is accounted for. I track all of my spending through the month Everything gets accounted for and traced back to the original budget in part one. I’m not super strict about it. I review 1&2 every month. If I always spend too much in one area I mostly don’t stress about it, I just adjust the budget accordingly. Some things I review why I’m spending too much and adjust my lifestyle accordingly. Generally this is more important at the start of budgeting. I’m now very stable and don’t change much month to month. Good things to do In addition to the basic management I find the following are good things to do dependent on how long you’ve been properly budgeting for. Create an emergency fund This will be a different amount and calculation for everyone. For me, the target is to have six months of survival money available in cash at any point in time. This is basically enough to keep a roof over our heads and eat - this was essential to getting through the period with no job. Pay off all short term debt By this I mean anything like credit cards, personal loans etc. These things are expensive and you lose a ton of money just to have them. Pay off the most expensive first. Buy EVERYTHING on credit card Or as much as you can. This builds up your credit rating and gives you access to more beneficial financial products. Things you buy are insured. You may get rewards from your card. In Singapore they offer crazy rewards, I get at least $100 cashback every month and if we buy some big things like flights it can be up to $250 or $300 - that’s a lot of money for free! It also means you hold on to your cash for longer. Pay off your credit card in full every month The benefits of a card are all to entice you in, you have to play the system to win. Don’t miss a payment and end up paying a ton of interest. Only spend the money you’ve budgeted and have the cash to pay off. Allocate savings All of my savings are allocated to a category, and save towards a target. When I have the money for something I want and the rest of my finances are in order - I buy it! Invest excess cash Cash is losing you money, if you have any spare then invest it as soon as you can - let it grow and work for you. Use software to manage it all There are plenty of online tools to manage your money, if you’re good with excel then make your own dashboard to manage everything. How about you guys? Anything you do to manage your money? Would be good to hear other peoples tips and comments on how I do things.

I do enjoy reading but find it’s not something I set aside time to do, and so end up with no regular pattern for how much I do so. I also listen to a lot of audiobooks when I run, mostly so that my pace doesn’t get to fast and I stop early. Recently I re-read the full set of Narnia books for the first time since I was a kid and enjoyed them. Before that, I read a good few wrestling biographies which were very interesting. I’m currently listening to Contact while running. I love the story, but some of the detail the book goes into over the film is mind-numbing. It doesn’t help that the narrator they got for it is somehow more annoying than the main character in the movie ever was. Still, it’s enjoyable and an excellent way to spend the first half of my evening run.

Scary Moment I’ve really never been into scary stuff, be it films, games, books, whatever. Not because I scare easily, but because this stuff generally doesn’t scare me at all. So I haven’t played many scary games at all, the only one that even comes to mind is Condemned. Some stuff in this game made me jump a bit. Maybe.

I’ve been using strava for many years - Strava Profile I’m finding that since I gave up on my pace targets all of my runs have become much slower. Which I guess in a positive light means that all my varied run lenghts and strict time targets were showing some real benefit. Will try and get those back into my program when time allows for it. Until then it should be a fairly easy glide to hit my distance target for the year.

Haha, you are completely right, please see the corrected version below: Across a wide range of people in multiple different countries I don’t know a single other person that even knows somebody that has had it.

I know of one elderly relative of a family friend that had it and died. Across a wide range of people in multiple different countries I don’t know a single person that even knows somebody that has had it. I had a but of a cough, sore throat and slight flu back when it first started over here. It may have been Covid or it may have just been flu, not sure. I’ve said it before but over here when they started mass testing there were 1000’s of cases that had no symptons but tested positive for it. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if way more people than we know about it have had it and recovered without realising.

I think it’s totally understandable and all people will feel this way to varying degrees. If you don’t feel safe then you have to weigh up the risks of what happens if you don’t go back vs. what might happen if you do. Will it be easy to get something else equivelent with lower risk? You should weigh up the pros and cons and see overall what is the best thing to do. As things stand right now, you’ve either had it or are waiting to get it, all of the measures being put in place are just to slow that spread so as not to put medical resources out of action. I think it’s your right to choose whether you go back to work or not, but need to think about how long you’re willing to remain in your current situation with no assurance it will ever change.

Anything using this is awesome. Reminds me of Short Circuit 2 and the awesome Johnny 5 racing through the docks.

Seems like a totally pointless video based on nothing from nobody in connection with anything. I’ll make a prediction, and keep with me guys, this is going to be shocking, the PS5 will launch for somewhere between $1 and $10,000. If I’m wrong I’ll give $10 to everyone.

Best Musical Moment For me it has to be NiGHTs into Dreams, specifically the final level. You start out in a very different way to the previous levels with ominous music booming around you. Things don’t work as they usually would and you find yourself on a floating island, weird music still booming away and no clue what you’re meant to do. Eventually, having nothing available to you you jump off the platform into the abyss... The music goes silent. You wait. FINALLY everything is OK, the AMAZING music kicks in and you get one final, awsome level to play through before the boss. I LOVE playing this game, even if just this level for the feeling when that music kicks in. The music makes this, for me, one of my best gaming moments of all time.

The machine really does look good, just to have on the desk will be pretty cool. I hope with the remaining games there are some more 3D titles. The only game at the moment that I’m a big fan of is Virtua Fighter.

I think you’re almost certainly right for next year, but when the new rules come in in 2022 I think it will be very different. I’m sure he’ll be on a two year deal with options to extend if things go well under the new regulations. I think this has been going on for a while. He should have won the title in 2017 (or 18, can’t remember exactly) but threw it all away. I never rated him as much as his success would suggest, but the last few years he’s not really done much to cement a legacy.

Oh my god I’m so happy: Alonso back in F1 Cannot wait for next year now.

Favourite ranged combat This one is a tough one as I’m not a huge fan of a lot of the game genres that would qualify for this. In the end I’ll go for Halo Combat Evolved, but I don’t have too much to say about it.

It actually looks pretty cool, I’ll definitely pick one up. Interesting to see what the full list of games looks like.

This is quite possibly the most shocking thing I’ll read all week. I can think of nothing but stress when thinking about this game.

F1 2020 Predictions Game Round 1 Results Based on the scoring system I laid out the points available are as follows: Pole - Bottas (10) Fastest Lap - Norris (10) 1st - Bottas (25 + 5) 2nd - Leclerc (18 + 5) 3rd - Norris (15 + 5) 4th - Hamilton (12 + 5) 5th - Sainz (10 + 5) And the standings so far: @will' - 43 @Nicktendo - 33 Most of the points came from us both having a lucky pick of Leclerc in 2nd. Other points came from us both placing the Mercedes in the top 5 but getting the positions wrong. I'd gone for Bottas on pole so picked up that 10. I'm going to keep my initial selections for the whole of the season and will post them up with the scores after each race for fairness. If anybody else wants to play just post up your top 5 for the race + pole and fastest lap. Styrian Grand Prix Predictions: Pole - Hamilton FL - Hamilton 1st - Hamilton 2nd - Verstappen 3rd - Bottas 4th - Leclerc 5th - Sainz

Most relaxing navigation For me it has to be Wind Waker. Loved just sailing the seas on random adventures seeing where the wind took me. The music was a total joy and even now I listen to that quite often. I loved the game so much I had a canvass made of the picture below which had pride of place in my living room until an ex-girlfriend ripped it down and kicked a hole through it, that’s a story for another time though.