Wilson Waffling

We have had a few blog posts which have been related to videos from my Twitch channel recently, and believe me there are plenty more to come, but I thought I would give you a change by posting something which you have to read or, if you are listening to the audio version of this post, listen to. When I am playing games online or working at university, I often find myself having to interpret the new ‘lingo’ that people are using and, often trying to use it but getting the pronunciation all incorrect. As I try to engage with the new lingo I was reminded of some sayings which I have heard in the past and which I completely disagree with and even get annoyed about – yes me annoyed! can you imagine that. What are those sayings? Well that is what this waffle is about…

Many people might consider me a pessimist because I am realistic about things. I always think it is interesting when you actually acknowledge that what you really wanted to happen will not and that you would be much happier changing direction and channeling your energies into something different. When I started this blog I had real visions of grandeur and used to eagerly await my rankings on various sites to see if you I was achieving what I set out to do. But over the months, or should I say years - these expectations have changed and now I have a much better idea of where I am going. I had similar expectations when I moved from primary school teaching to higher education and it is only recently that I have had a similar moment of realisation about things...

When I first started to play MMOs online, it was definitely what I thought was a progression from my regular table top games which I used to play. All of a sudden I was playing Everquest, Dark Age of Camelot and World of Warcraft trying to recreate the fun and interaction which I had experienced in the table top world of gaming. I soon had to accept that there was neither the depth or interaction which was original available in the RPGs which I played, but the online games had the advantage of being able to be played by myself, at any time of the day (or night) with little or no preparation. Eventually my figures, rules and floor plans were slowly packed away to be replaced with my mouse, monitor and keyboard. But recently I have been entering the world of RPGs once more and as I have been immersing myself once again in the games I used to play, I started to remember what I liked about so much…

One thing I really enjoy about my job and actually look forward to, is the teaching. I love to communicate, hence the waffling, and to interact with learners. Often this presents its own challenges but, in turn, I like to challenge the learners and I get to see them progress throughout the lessons/modules and hopefully reach their final goal. I wrote last time about the possibility of a QTS Skill Test for science with an emphasis on subject knowledge. Within higher education, as well as the teaching, link tutoring, open days, interview days, marking and general admin, there is the requirement to research, with my current institution requiring three ‘outputs’ every three years. But what do you, as the student, actually want from me as a tutor and, are the two, teaching and researching related? Well that is what this week’s waffle is about…

Wandering around the shops, listening to the radio and even watching television is currently reminding me that I am still single. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner I am being bombarded with offers for the perfect meal in the perfect restaurant. Everything comes in twos, two for the price of one, a bottle of wine for two and even a relaxing and/or romantic weekend for two. The only thing that these places are not seemingly providing is the other person to actually enjoy the experience with. But I am beginning to think that it is not only at Valentine’s day that being single puts me at a disadvantage since I am actually having more problems every week actually shopping for food as a single person.

Well I’m determine to keep on my blogging schedule so this weekend it is a waffle on this blog. I do find this really difficult, especially since I am in the middle of marking at the moment which is taking up a lot of my time – both in and out of work. There is a big difference between marking children’s books every day to marking eighty nine three thousand words assignments in a four week turn around when there is still teaching, school visits and general admin tasks to be completed. However, a target is a target and I am here, sat with my coffee ready to write this waffle. What is it about? Well I have been thinking about primary science for some time, especially since I teach it, and wanted to share with you some of my thoughts about the subject and possibly suggest the implementation of a new QTS skill test….

I just wanted to say, right at the start of the waffle, that I am completely realistic about life and things. I've been through the stages of thinking that I am going to take over the world and I'll be the best and the greatest and been brought crashing back down to earth by realism stretching out its long arm, grabbing my dangling foot and giving it an almighty tug. Nowadays I like to set targets which some people might consider less than inspirational but I consider realistic and attainable. I always think it is a lot better to work and achieve a smaller target than work and not achieve a larger one which probably was unattainable from the start. As well as setting the targets I think it is also important to say what actions I will be taking to reach them. It is fine to say that you want to be the top streamer on Twitch, but really the important part is what you are going to do to actually get there. I do think this is a part of targets that people often omit and which, if people engaged with them, would make target setting and achieving more realistic and attainable. Introduction waffling completed - here are my targets for 2017!

Morning everyone! yes this is a waffle on my professional site again after a rather long break. I have been waffling a lot, mainly on my gaming/personal site and I must admit I have been somewhat neglecting this site. I'll get into the reasons for this later. One waffle which I always like to write every year at this time is one about targets. Every year it seems appropriate to set myself targets to work towards to see try and ensure that I move things forward and, well get better at things. However, as I was finishing my morning toast at Costa and starting to sip at my coffee I started to read the targets which I set last year and well, I was some what disappointed and it got me thinking - is it worth me setting targets every year?

During my time off work a enjoyed some really good session streaming and as I enjoyed the time with my viewers, someone mentioned about being a full time streamer! Now, as you might be aware, I actually have a full time job, my own radio station, write for two blogs and stream on Twitch, so life is understandably really very busy. As I walked for my usual morning coffee this morning, it got me thinking about what my perfect day would be like if I had the time, money and motivation to do everything I wanted to do- without the things I had to do to to pay the bills - e.g. work. So what follows in this waffle is what I would class as my perfect working day...

Well, the second episode of my first ever online D&D campaign was completed last week. It has been ages since I have created a campaign and I must admit it is very nice to have that creative outlet again as I think of encounters which interact with numerous plot lines. I’m determined to keep the episodes recorded and available, although I must admit to having done some editing this week since the intro didn’t have its sound on the LIVE session plus, there were times at the beginning when there was a lot of waiting around for people to arrive. I must also say that I even started to edit together a video of the strange activities and comments which occur but this is taking a little longer than what I initially expected. Anyway – without further ado! Here is episode two of the campaign – Brigadoon…