Wilson Waffling

As I am writing this week’s (well fortnightly) waffle for this site, I am itching to get home and log on to play the lastest expansion for Star Wars the Old Republic (SWTOR). I’ve heard good things about it, but I’ve been so busy with work and everything else I do ( for example my Radio Station or generating a D&D Campaign) that I really haven’t had time to sit down and play it yet. However, as I was thinking about playing it I started to think about what I would actually include in the game in future expansions if I was a SWTOR developer.

Okay, I confess I have actually lost all track of time and I have no idea whether I am actually coming or going at the moment. I think last week was meant to be a professional waffle, but I sat down to write it and it just wasn’t coming together so I confess I cheated – I just put a whole load of Wilson Waffling Live videos together and claimed it was a waffle – cheeky I know – or could I just label it as innovative? Talking of being innovative, I read an article this week which I wanted to focus my waffle on. It’s title was quite bold stating – “Shouldn’t lectures be obsolete by now?”. Now before you all grab your pitchforks and placards and cheer with excitement and intrepidation, I want to stand in the corner of whole cohort lectures for a while and dodge the flying missiles and provide you with some benefits.

I don't know how I manage it at times, but I have actually managed to spend some time in my little hidey hole on my Feed The Beast - Unstable Minecraft server this week, exploring what is new compared to my vanilla server. I must admit that it is like painting a long bridge or cutting the grass on a huge field. Everytime I try to understand one thing, it appears that there are numerous other things that I also need to gain knowledge of. However I have managed to make progress and after I have finished writing this blog I am going home to video a small recording in order to present you with my findings - ooops did that sound too scientific? This week I explore chisels and crafting tables....

First up, an apology! You were probably aware from the last waffle on this site that I was reducing my regular content to this site to once a fortnight. Then last week, the week that there should have been a waffle there was nothing – sorry. I had to make a decision because I was actually at work doing an open day all day and, when I finally got home, I needed to decide whether to play computer games online or blog. Well, as you can probably guess, the computer games won! But spending the day interacting with new applicants made me think about what my advice would be for anyone attending open days.

Now since you probably are not even aware that I have a professional blog, you will not know about the new way of working that I have had to adopt due to the ever increasing workload of blogging, streaming, radio presenting – oh and work! Don’t worry I am not going anywhere -I’m just going to be blogging to this site once every two weeks with my professional blog getting a waffle every other week. After saying that, you might think that the title of this waffle actually contradicts all of this “reducing my workload” but you know me when I want to do something or achieve something then that’s it, I become very dedicated and well – I’ll say it before you do- obsessed! so what am I going to do? Well I am trying my hand yet again at Minecraft!

Ok, first of all, an apology. Although I started back on my Sunday blogging routine there was, and I hope you noticed, no waffle last Sunday. This was because I was poorly and couldn’t get out of bed until the late afternoon. I hope you were not too disappointed to tune in and find that there was nothing new. And, while we are on the topic of being disappointed there are going to be some changes with this blog that I feel I need to do in order to continue to make things work. Hope you don’t all get cross with me…

Well, this morning has been somewhat different to my usual Saturday mornings. If you have read any of my weird life series you will be aware that I like my routines.This morning, due to illness and changing plans, I am currently sat in an unfamiliar coffee shop in an unfamiliar part of town trying my best to concentrate on writing this blog rather than standing up, leaving my coffee and heading home again. It seems almost fate, that I had already decided about the content of this week’s post before today and that now I find myself in a state of anxiety writing a blog post titled me and anxiety!

Well I’m back! After a long summer doing radio shows, streaming gaming and enjoying everything from walks in the sunshine to sitting watching films I am back and entering once more into my blogging habits. It’s been a while since I have actually written/typed/recorded/created a waffle for this site so please be gentle with me and stick with them until I get back into the swing of things. Talking about getting into the swing of things, I thought I would spend this first waffle providing some advice. Don’t worry, it will not be about relationships or dieting. As many of us go back to work, students begin university and trainee teachers head back into classrooms which now can be considered as their own, I thought I would share with you my three ‘gets’ to success. The complete transcript and links can be found by following the link to my Wilson Waffling blog below. Remember keep up to date with my waffles by subscribing to; Twitter- http://goo.gl/FcZaz Blog - http://goo.gl/IRne5D Youtube - http://goo.gl/ssxQ

Have you done any back to work shopping? I’ve noticed that within shops, ever since the schools broke up in July there has been ‘Back to School’ signs encouraging those early purchases of stationery, clothes and sensible, yet durable, shoes. Although I rarely actually purchases stationery nowadays I do find that I need to buy new work shirts, shoes and work trousers and, it is when I try to buy the latter that I have a slight problem and always wish I had a few more inches – what were you thinking this blog was about?

Yes, I now consider that the summer is over and, as I head back to work after the summer vacation it is time to get into a regular habit of blogging for another year. So much had changed over the summer and I am really looking forward to bringing you up to date with everything, but this first blog post I wanted to share with you some points which I have been holding in for a while! Yes it sounds dramatic but I really wanted to share with you three things which really, currently, annoy me...

Wilson Waffling Live has been a regular event on YouTube for some time now, well for seventy five episodes to be precise. Although traditions are nice it is also important to move with the times and what is happening with current projects. As you might be aware I have my own radio station - Wilson Waffling Radio - and it seems a logical progression, for me in any case, to move the live show away from YouTube and put it on the radio. Believe it or not there are several advantages for this, the main ones you can read below. The complete transcript and links can be found by following the link to my Wilson Waffling blog below. Remember keep up to date with my waffles by subscribing to; Twitter- http://goo.gl/FcZaz Blog - http://goo.gl/IRne5D Youtube - http://goo.gl/ssxQNw Facebook - http://goo.gl/lDp6B Podcasts - http://goo.gl/NeEWjF Have fun and catch you later!

It seems a while since I have written a blog post about my continuing journey in setting up a radio station plus I was looking at the Radio Station’s Webpage this morning, and noticed that it was a while since the blog post had changed on the front page. Hopefully, if the plugin is doing its job correctly, then you should be able to see the previous blog posts in this series at the bottom of this page. We have talked about the concept, software, music and butts – with the latter referring to the encoder and even included some information about planning and scheduling shows. In part three I’m going to talk about marketing, promotion and interaction – and give some exciting news as well!

This morning I woke up and had a revelation while I was lying in bed. Don’t worry it wasn’t painful and it soon past. Sometimes, you get into a routine with things and before you know it you are doing it over and over again without little thought. I’m sure that I read once that you need to keep doing something consistently for three weeks before it actually becomes a habit and, after that, you are more likely to engage with it without much thought. But, there comes a time when you have to think – has this habit been going on for too long and is it time to break the habit or change it. Well, that was what my revelation was about…

After cars last week I thought it was time to return to the next thrilling installment of My Weird Life series of blogs. So far we have had a detailed, if not scary, look at drink, sleep and routines/germs I engaged with these topics in this order because I have been trying to put this next one off for some time mainly because I think it is going to come across as super weird and also probably cause some controversy. If you are currently eating or having a snack then you might want to put off reading/listening to this blog post since there might be some toilet talk involved. Apart from that, I just wanted to establish at the start that I am fit and relatively healthy and enjoy life – so please keep that in your mind before posting a comment…I bet you are intrigued now!

Every Sunday morning I get up super early in order to read educational articles and write the script for Monday’s Wilson Waffling Live show. The process can go one of two ways, it can either really motivate me to continue to with current practices or, as it was the case this morning, the process can make me rather frustrated about learning and education. This blog often reflects my own personal views about things and I try to ensure that I present ideas and comments which can be supportive for the reader. I probably do not always achieve this with the five people who watch/listen to my waffles, but what I try not to do is to have a rant. Although controversy can often increase views I do try to avoid this at all times. This waffle is going to be about assessment and my own views about it. Please remember these are my own personal views and are not meant to be controversial in any way. Although they might come across that way… The complete transcript and links can be found by following the link to my Wilson W

I think I am turning into my mum! The older I am getting the more I find myself looking back in time and comparing and contrasting events from the past and almost – but not quite- uttering those well rehearsed words which my mum often says – “eeeee – when I was younger!” Not wanting to let this blog post dissolve into things were better or worse when I was younger, I wanted focus not on myself but on something which has definitely, no matter how old you are, improved with time. Cars!

As my marking has been returned and teaching has stopped for summer, I am turning my attention to one of the other many aspects of my job as an academic which is research. Some people suggest that you do a little bit of research every now and again and, although I do try and read the odd article/research paper, I prefer to have a good go at something so I can get into the 'zone'. It is interesting how your mindset and thoughts actually start to change as your brain is released from other work related topics, tasks and problems and the time appears, within the working day, to engage with new problems and ideas. Using technology such as Evernote and Omnifocus, I can collate my ideas, books and articles which I have found during the teaching timetable for this moment in the year when I have to time to actually go back over them and start to both engage and interact with them. Tomorrow I will be sat in the library, which is virtually empty at the moment, to start to engage with those notes which I have saved. But

When you get to my age you are in the position that you will be over halfway through your life and you have those moments when you sit and reminisce because, as your memory gets worse and worse, you know that you will soon forget most things from your past. Writing my weird life series of blogs I have started to relive many events and occurrences from when I was younger, especially in my teenage life. Last night on my radio show, I mentioned that the first time I watched the Disney film – Hercules it was stood in a school library watching it from a VHS video tape. I think Hercules, the Disney version, is probably one of my favourite Disney films and it got my thinking about my three favourite films when I was a teenager – from the title of this blog can you guess what they were?

I’ve just been preparing for Wilson Waffling Live, reading an article about the correct use of the comma. Normally I would just add the title of the waffle without much thought, but I am currently wondering if I have actually punctuated it correctly. To actually waffle about punctuation and/or literacy would probably not be a perfect choice, due to my lack of expertise within this area. So this week’s waffle is not about books like last week’s or even writing. It’s all about Martinis! The complete transcript and links can be found by following the link to my Wilson Waffling blog below. Remember keep up to date with my waffles by subscribing to; Twitter- http://goo.gl/FcZaz Blog - http://goo.gl/IRne5D Youtube - http://goo.gl/ssxQNw Facebook - http://goo.gl/lDp6B Podcasts - http://goo.gl/NeEWjF Have fun and catch you later!

From my weird life back to gaming! I’ve been trying to stream with Chugawuga this week, every night at 19:00 on his channel playing Overwatch. As always I needed to find a character which I can not only play but possibly be successful at. I know the possibility of both of those being true is probably very low, but hey, you’ve got to try! Who did I end up playing…well don’t stop now – read on to find out… #overwatch #lucio #newbie