=== Road Trip To The Beach ===

     This past weekend we decided to go on a road trip to the beach. What a wonderful time we had! I won't tell you exactly where at the beach we went because I don't want to give away our special little place to everybody in the world, but I will tell you that there are many places along the coast of Lake Diefenbaker which are so calm and peaceful with nobody else around.

     I would love to post a bunch of pictures along with this post of our trip, but unlike last time when I proposed to Carley, I decided not to bring my phone with me this time. I'm pretty sure if I had brought my phone, I would have been worrying about what time it was and wanting to take all sorts of pictures and being distracted the whole time. So as it turns out, not bringing my phone was one of the best choices I could have made because it just made my trip all that much more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise.

     Honestly, I would have loved to have stayed there even longer. The water was warmer than last time; still a little bit chilly, but I was able to wander around without my feet freezing off. I enjoyed there being nothing other than the sounds of the winds and the waves to listen to while I wandered around and looked at the beautiful landscapes. I don't think I can explain how amazing it feels to be there away from all the technology and people and everything stressful in the world. It's just nice to BE for a while out there.

     This time around we brought some company with us. Rather than only going with myself and Carley, we decided to invite Carley's sister Tori to come along. The extra company was quite nice to have an additional person to talk to and hang out with for a while. Tori is very much like myself and likes being away from all the people so the two of us can happily be around and enjoy the silence for quite some time. I think I have a greater capacity to enjoy being outside to take in the peace (though I do understand her want to be back home where all the rest of the fun is).

     There was another guest we decided to bring along this time as well. Our fantastic dog Furgle got to come along with us on his first road trip. I was incredibly concerned that he might just decide to go run off into the distance or find a person and chase them rather than listen to us, but as it turns out he's quite fun to have along in the wild. He listens pretty well and even pays attention to us rather than wandering off the whole time. Our sweet Furgle isn't the biggest fan of water, so he spent a lot of time standing on the edge of the dry land and whining at us because he couldn't reach us. Maybe we're cruel, but we made him join us in the water a bunch and learned that he can swim quite well when he must.

     I doubt we'll be able to go again this year, but maybe there'll be some time for us to go on a couple family hikes somewhere nearby in the Fall time. Here's hoping there are much more fun adventures for us to go on in the coming months.

~ Kyle Welykholowa ^_^

=== Adventure Town - Mobile Game Review, Idle City Builder - 10/10 ===

     Hey everybody, it's time for another game review. Recently I had my phone cut off; as a result, I haven't really been able to keep up with Idle Heroes because you need to have an active internet connection to be able to play. So I had to start searching for a game which would be lots of fun to play without getting bored of it, and which could be played without being connected to the internet at all times. After some searching, I came across Adventure Town.

     Adventure Town puts you in charge of a little town where you must build shops and houses to gain gold and direct your heroes to defeat monsters and complete quests to earn experience and progress further into the game. As you play, you have little heroes and townspeople who will go to each shop and "buy" items. As they visit the shops, they make gold for you until the shops run out of goods at which point you must restock the goods. As with many time-based games like this, an observant person will note that shorter timed tasks such as growing wheat over two minutes will make more goods if you're constantly playing the game, but will be less effective if you're only checking up on your game once every hour.

     Growing these plants makes goods which are given to the shops which then make you gold so you can buy more buildings to make more money faster. You can't go wrong with making more money. There's also the option of building houses which make money without needing goods. The downside of using houses is that they take quite a bit of time to make the same amount of money that could be made by growing plants and stocking shops... but they're quite useful if you're only able to check up on your game once or twice a day.

     Making all of this money doesn't just go towards building more buildings. In your spare time when you don't have room for more buildings and you're waiting for resources to upgrade these shops and houses, you have to do something to keep yourself busy. At these times you find yourself needing to use the heroes at your command to complete quests that you're given or to just plain kill creatures for either money, resources, or magical elixirs which are used to craft and upgrade things. These heroes can be defeated in battle and then must take a recovery period before they can be used again, but they can never die.

     As you gain levels, the monsters you face get stronger, have more health, and do more damage. This is one of the uses for all that money you're making; upgrading equipment to have more health, defense, or damage is incredibly important if you're going to get anywhere in a world like this. Some of the strongest items require crystals which you can earn over time by defeating monsters or completing bounties. The rest of the items cost simple gold which we already know can be earned easily enough. Upgrading items consists of buying new items and fusing weaker items with stronger ones to upgrade them once you've fused enough together. The new strength of these items can be used to fight creatures or to increase your chance to be successful at completing quests.

     I think the reason I like this game so much is because it reminds me of a game I played once upon a time. I can't seem to remember the name of the game, though if I saw it I would definitely recognize it. The whole premise of the game was that all you could do was build shops and buildings to help your heroes and you could influence their decisions, but ultimately it was up to them to decide what they wanted to do; similar to one of my favorite games called Majesty. Seriously, if any of you happen to know what game I'm talking about, feel free to let me know. I would love to find this game again and see if I could get it to work on a current computer.

     All of the monster-killing you do in this game goes toward the great purpose of upgrading your guardian statue. The purpose of which is to give you money once a day which increases each time the guardian levels up. More money means more buildings and better equipment for your heroes which means more monsters destroyed.

     As with most mobile games, this is a pretty simple game to play with not a lot of action and just enough going on to keep you busy if you kept the game open to kill some time. No consistent internet connection required, a good pace of progression to keep you interested, and reasonable tasks which aren't too difficult to complete. This all makes for a great mix of gameplay which would keep you coming back for more as often as you can.

     Adventure Town gets a 10/10 from me for being another great game which is likely to keep me busy for a few months without looking for something new.

~ Kyle Welykholowa ^_^

=== Quick Morning Post ===

     Time for a quick morning post to get the day going. I'm getting excited here, I have a couple plans to start some projects coming up. I'll be sure to update everybody on them as they happen. I don't want to reveal too much too soon, 'cause then the excitement will pass once it's finally time to let everybody know what I've done. Either that or there will be a letdown if something doesn't get done quickly or worse.... if something doesn't get done at all. I've been slacking a little bit lately (I'm sure I've said this more than once). I'll be starting on some new projects soon and continuing with some old ones right away as well. The hardest part is finding the proper time to actually get all of this done, but soon enough I'll figure out how to properly fit all of this into the time that I do have.

     The most important project to me at this time is getting into a greater habit of posting to my blog more often. I have much I would like to write about including everyday life, game reviews, food, drinks, locations, and experiences. I just tend to forget about how easy it is to sit down for a few minutes and write about it. I mean... one of my favourite things to do is to sit down a type for a while (I know, I'm weird). That's one of the reasons I keep a notepad file at work to type everything I need to follow-up on; also it's easier to keep up to date and not lose things that way.

     So I hope you all have a wonderful morning and please look forward to a coming flurry of new things on my blog, YouTube, and Twitch. You're all amazing and you all deserve to be entertained! ^_^

~ Kyle

=== Future Plans ===

     I've been thinking about what's coming up for me for my future plans. There are some things I would like to be doing coming up and I think they're reasonable things to plan for. In the past I've never really made any plans to stick to or real goals to follow, but now I find myself wanting to have some goals with which I can give myself a measure of success.

     First on my list is that I have a lot of games started, but few that I've actually ever finished. I would like to make it a goal to finish some of my games so that I can retire them. Of course there are some games which are really fun and I'll probably play them for a really long time even after I've beaten them tons of times. Other games I've only started playing and haven't found the time to finish or I've gotten distracted by other games and activities. This leads me into my next goal.

     My next goal is to use these games that I want to play through, whether that's finishing them or replaying them or whatever else I decide to do with them to create more content. I've been slacking lately on the content production and that's absolutely something I really enjoy doing which I would like to continue having as something strong and important in my life. I've managed to hit a large number of views with one of my game reviews I posted on my blog and that makes me feel awesome and want to continue doing more game-related content and other content production in general. So this will have me continuing to make blog posts and making more of an effort to spread that content creation into my YouTube channel for recorded episodes and Twitch for live streaming depending on the type of game being played.

     Outside of playing games I have a couple goals a well. The first is getting my garden ready for planting for next year. I didn't manage to do so this year, but with the heat wave going on I guess that means we're saving money as a result right now. I'm really wanting to have everything ready so I can grow a successful garden next year.

     The next offline goal I have is practicing my drawing. I really enjoy drawing things but I'm usually too busy to do so because it usually takes me a long time to make anything due to being such a perfectionist when it comes to making artwork. I have a set of pencils to draw with and ink wells and dip pens to use but I just haven't had a chance to use them since I got them. I'm going to make it a plan to take some time out of some of my days to use these things to grow my skills at things I enjoy doing.

     Another goal I have is to practice music. I have a violin which has been sitting recently and desperately needs to be used. I have also gotten a recorder from the dollar store which I can use for simple flute sort of music. If you haven't noticed... I also enjoy singing and using that for some of my content. I'm going to make a plan to at least practice some of this so I'm more comfortable with it in the future and then perhaps I'll have an easier time creating more in the future.

     The last goal I have at this time is to start reading more again. This has been something I've been planning to do for quite some time where I pick a book and read it for a YouTube video. If there are other people in the world like me, then they have lots of time to listen to things, but not so much to actually do things. Hence, I figure some people would like to listen to the reading of books and things. This gives me two reasons to read books; so that I can read something I'm interested in reading, and so I can share it with the rest of the world.

     I hope you've enjoyed reading my ideas and that perhaps you're looking forward to something in this list coming from me in the future. Feel free to let me know! ^_^

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== A Neglectful Owner ===

     With being so busy over the past month of June with work and school and everything else, I've been a pretty neglectful owner to my blog. I'm definitely super happy to be done being so super busy all the time; finally I can actually sit down and think about things other than what work I have to get done at all points in time.

     Of course I'm still super busy these days. I have quite a bit of work to keep track of and a few projects I'd like to work on including finally getting my garden ready to grow something.... probably for next year at this rate. Obviously I really want to get my blog back up and running as well. There's so much I want to write about, but I just haven't had enough time recently. I wish I had just a few more hours each day... maybe if I didn't have to sleep all the time....

     Realistically though, I think I just need to work on having a better diet. I think most of my lost energy is actually because I don't really eat very well. I do have a habit of only regularly eating one meal per day. I guess that makes me a bit of a neglectful owner of myself. I really don't get plenty of exercise either; some days I only have the time to sit in the car, sit at work, and sit at home.

     This clearly says to me that I need to work on quite a few things. I need to work on my health, my time management, and I need to work on getting back on track to my goals of content production and successful productive use of time. Even taking the time to think about what I want to type next but not putting anything down makes me feel silly for wasting time.

I might have a bit of a time-problem. ^_^

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== Engagements ===

     Recently I have found myself quite busy with many engagements going on which are making it quite difficult get much done other than work, eat, and sleep. As always there's so much that I would like to do, but I'm usually either too tired from driving or I have some sort of school assignment due that night. Although there's plenty going on to keep me busy, I have managed to work through some of these engagements, and have even gotten some to work out to my advantage.

     The most prominent engagement I have currently would probably be school. With only half a month left before the finals, I'm quite close to being done the course. I'll unfortunately have a class which I'll have to retake to officially have the course certificate, but otherwise I should be quite employable in a real office setting. As much as I enjoy working where I am currently, I need to work towards something better for myself and my family because we just don't quite have the funds to get through everything we need. We're really close, but it seems like just when we're almost there, something happens which sets us behind again. This time it's a stone-chip which has become much worse than a chip. Just as we left to go get it fixed, we found that it turned from a chip to a crack which is just getting bigger each day.

     After school, I'm finding myself somewhat engaged with getting everything together at work; There's a lot of paperwork to keep up with and get on top of every day. I do however really enjoy my job. There are days when I find it difficult to get out the door and go to work and then once I get there, I find myself not wanting to make the necessary phone calls or whatever I need to do. I think if I were able to eat properly that I wouldn't have so much of that issue and I would be a much happier and more energetic person; perhaps I have an iron deficiency.

     The engagement I'm wanting to work on most is my content production. I've been so busy lately that my willpower to work on this sort of thing including my blog, Youtube, Twitch, and other projects (which also includes my garden) has declined drastically. I would like so much to work more on these sorts of things, but as of right now there are more important things to do. I'm sure I'll have much more time next month after school is done when I'll be able to live a more normal life not so full of things to do at every waking moment of the day. I keep getting the occasional subscriber or follower on YouTube and Twitch which makes me want to keep going. I keep seeing the numbers of viewers of my blog increasing over time which drives me to write more. These are things I really enjoy doing and want to succeed at without it feeling too much like work and without being exhausted all the time. I look forward to the day when I can confidently say I've truly done good work with at least one of these helping out in just a simple small way... even if it only pays for an ice cream one day down the road.

     The most exciting engagement is without a doubt the amazing news that Carley and I are ENGAGED! No seriously, there's a ring and everything. She had been saying for some time that she would be fine with a silver band, or a ring carved out of wood... or a ring pop. I managed to get her a real ring with a sapphire gem and get her out to Lake Diefenbaker where we explored the wild surroundings before finding a wonderful spot to propose to her without her having any clue about it before hand. She thought I just wanted a video of us kissing on the beach to remember the trip, but I then told her to wait and told her I had forgotten something. She had no idea what was going on and didn't believe her eyes when she saw a box get pulled out of my bag then get opened to reveal an actual engagement ring. It was such a beautiful experience going out there in general and it was made so much better by finally being able to propose to my love Carley. I look forward to our next trip out there. I only wish it didn't take 6 hours and a whole tank of gas to get there and back, but it's absolutely worth it. I wouldn't trade it for the world, and I wouldn't trade my love for the world. I'm the luckiest guy... in the world.

There are a lot of engagements going on right now and I can't wait to see how they all turn out. ^_^

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== What's Wrong With People? ===

     The first thing that comes to mind right now is simply... what's wrong with people? I hardly know how to start telling you all about this other than to simply hang my jaw open in disbelief at the sorts of things that go on in the world. Now don't get me wrong, I love it here in Moose Jaw; there are just some things that are a little bit odd happening of late. Let's just get right into story-time shall we?

     This past week, we've had a couple odd things go on while I've been gone to work. It seems like this first started when my parents were over and Carley saw a man walking down our back alley. Naturally, she didn't think much of it; there's no reason to give much thought to a person walking by. The real oddness starts a couple days later when someone walks by unlocking the back gates of every house in the area. What makes sense for someone to ever do that? As strange as that was, we didn't think too much of it other than to realize that we should put a lock on our back gate just in case something like that were to ever happen again. It certainly wouldn't be fun to have Furgle run away especially since we lost his tag and need to get him a new one.

     Do you think that's strange? You'll never guess what happened the very next day. Someone walks by (whom Carley thinks is the same guy all three of these days), reaches over the fence, and gives something to Furgle. Carley didn't think much of what it could have been at the time, but was pretty pissed about someone doing something like that. Now, when we have company over and Furgle is being too crazy, we put him downstairs in the office to chill out for a while. Usually he voices his opinion on how he would rather be with us by howling like a banshee in the basement being chased by a cop car, but on this night he sounded like he was going mental. Almost like he was throwing himself at the door.

     It wasn't until later on that night after company had gone home that we let Furgle out and Carley noticed his heart was pounding and he was pacing so badly that he just couldn't lay down for longer than a minute. At this point, Carley thought about it and asked what the symptoms of a dog eating chocolate are. I didn't know, so we looked it up and realized what the man gave him earlier Carley believes was about a cup of chocolate in total. I'm so flabbergasted that someone would do that I'm unable to process what even could go through the mind of someone to want to do that. The good news is that Furgle is fine now and he isn't having any issues of any sort. He just needed a little bit of time and rest to get back to normal.

At this point, all I can say is... what's wrong with people?

~ Kyle Welykholowa