Wii Fat

Now anyone that knows me will tell you (or maybe not, depends how nice they're being) that I'm overweight.

About eight months ago (when this post was started and drafted, then forgotten about), I weighed almost 18st, and had a 40 inch waist.

Of course, as fellow chubby gamers might know, there is an alternative to doing any real excerise:


Wii Fit, for it's few faults, is quite good at keeping you on track as it sets a goal weight for you and tells you off for putting on weight, to which you have to designate a reason.

It's a good way of tracking your weight and seeing where you're going wrong if you stick at it, but there's little structure. You could play only the balance games and ignore all the muscle workouts.

My fiancée recently set me on to this other Wii workout game and it seems to work very well.



EA Sports Active More Workouts (yes, long title) comes with a leg strap and resistance band. The idea is that you put the leg strap on and insert the Wii's nunchuck in to it so that it can monitor when you're running or lunging. The resistance band is a peculiar pink rubbery strand with two handles at the end. Most of the time you stand on the rubbery part and pull the handles towards you whilst excercising.



With the game, you start a six-week challenge, during which you work out for four days of the week (of your choice) and then it assigns you different sets of workouts for those days, getting progressively tougher as you continue. During the "days off" you assign you still need to fill out the "EA Sports Active Survey" detailing what you've eaten, sugar intake and the like.

I didn't mean for this to turn in to a review but it sort of did. Using both these fitness games and doing a few other things means that my waist is now 34" and I now weight 16st, so it's all good.

If this is a review the games need scoring, but I'll forgo my usual system as it doesn't suit fitness games and just go for a score out of 10.

WII FIT: 7/10
EA SPORTS ACTIVE MORE WORKOUTS: 8.5/10

Please note that they don't fit in to my usual scoring and are more of an "excercises game" score.

-- Posted from my iPhone

Kitties Part II: Extra Ginger

The family's cat had more kittens. Six this time.

I promise I'll post some actually interesting stuff later this month.

Merry New Catch-‘em-all-up

So, my last post on here seems to have been quite some time ago. Firstly I should wish you all a belated happy new year and then let you know what’s been going on in the interim.

RelationshipThe main reason I’ve not been blogging is because I’ve got a girlfriend recently, and I’ve been rather busy with things that aren’t blogging whilst getting a new relationship started up and making her happy.

Head IssuesThe problem with my head seems to be epilepsy to let you all know, but not the usual photosensitive kind that people think of when they think of epilepsy. I don’t know what triggers it yet, but I’ve been told I can’t drive for a year to ensure I’m free of any attacks. I’ve also got some medicine for it to take every day and then I’ll be updated on it in about four months.

I’m too young for this I’m now going to be an uncle, as my little brother’s girlfriend is a few months pregnant. It’s a bit odd, as he’s the youngest member of the family, but the first one to be having a child. Still, I am quite happy for them.

KittensI don’t know if I mentioned it on here before, but we now have kittens, as seen above. They are very cute, and are named Charlie and Hiro.

That’s all I can think of that you need be caught up on for now, I’ve got a few reviews that I’ll get around to writing when I’ve the time, and a few tales to tell, but for now this is goodbye again for a bit.

Who lives in a house like this?

Wait. I do. Though it’s a flat, as opposed to a house. You might recall when I showed off the pictures of my flat not long after I moved in and got sorted out. I thought now that @benjirino has moved in and I’ve almost been here a year, I’d show off some before and after pictures to show you how things are now. Above is the kitchen.

Bedroom

This is before, when it was very basic. It’s not changed much but has become a little messier, and then tidy, and now should remain at a standard of tidiness. Now let’s see today:

It’s still a little messy, but it is in my nature. The sofa that was in the living room is now in there, as is a TV previously in the living room. Posters are now up too, to make it seem more like an actual room. I think it’s quite an improvement. Also out of shot, my clothes are a lot more sorted.

Kitchen

The previous kitchen shot is at the top of the page, so then let’s see today’s:

Not a big change on the surface, but plates and things are a lot more decluttered now in the cupboards. To be fair, I already had the main things like a dishwasher, washing machine etc. but Benji did get a much needed microwave a few months ago.

BathroomVery boringly basic before. A small stack of Penny Arcade books in the corner, and not really many other defining features. So now, how does it look?

Many new things in here! Coffee table for the Penny Arcade books, which are now accompanied by copies of Nintendo magazine, Lost magazine and Powerslam. There’s now a large mirror and even *gasp* a shower now, as you can see the rail just at the top. There’s also two washing baskets in here, one being Benji’s. This room has probably changed the most besides the living room.

Living Room

I didn’t actually show off the living room last time, but instead have two photos.

Yes, we have two TVs before you state this, being geeks it’s required. Can’t be playing Kingdom Hearts and hogging all the TV, so having two makes sense. There’s a fireplace behind that airer, but I’ve only switched it on three times since I’ve been here. Now on the other side:

Yep, two sofas too, and two bookcases, though you can’t see mine too well.

Shan’t show off Benji’s room as I don’t think he’d want me to post it on here without prior knowledge. But, that’s where I live. Looks much better now than it once did.

Smoking!

What a way to start a story about bonfire night, with a picture of Jim Carey as The Mask. Man, my blog is awesome. :)

So perhaps you celebrate Guy Fawkes’ Night, to go with the tradition of celebrating the downfall of the infamous gunpowder plot. If you don’t, the basic tradition is to launch fireworks and have a bonfire like the one above, whilst eating unhealthy foods like hot dogs and burgers.

My family often celebrated this, until we all got a bit too old, but are doing it tonight for my little brother’s girlfriend as she’s not ever had a fireworks display before. I am alas working, but I don’t mind.

Anyways, if you’d like to cast your mind back a few years, when I was 16 I think. I had just been out with a few friends and was ludicrously chilled out, and it slipped my mind that it was actually bonfire night.

I got back home and the festivities were about to begin, and the grandparents arrived, as did the next door neighbours I think. I was happily rocking about and enjoying things, when I was pulled aside and entered in to a conversation I didn’t think I’d ever have. I’m obviously paraphrasing, so if my mother comments, she might recall the situation better than I.

Mum: “Joe, are you stoned?”

I was quite taken aback by this, as previously mentioned, no drugs ever. I’ve never even had a cigarette.

Me: “No…why?”
Mum: “Yes you are. Don’t do it again when you know Gran and Grandpa are going to be here.”

Now, I understand that most folk think I look constantly stoned and worry what I would actually be like if I were stoned, as I’m laid back enough as it is, but to think that I actually was?

I don’t think I was spoken to for much of the rest of the evening, having somehow let people down by supposedly doing something which I’ve never really even entertained the idea of doing.

Yeah, that was certainly a fun conversation, in which I seemed like the bad guy without even realizing it.

I was also accused a few months later of leaving discarded cigarette packets in the garden, but I’m sure that was really my youngest brother starting smoking back then.

That’s my super fun bonfire night memory, anyone else got any good ones?