JoeDavola

I'm as skinny as ever, but I've just coninued my regimen of cooking all my own meals. Been quite strict as ever, though eating more eggs and chicken to keep my protein up a bit. Not a drinker which also helps. I get the impression a lot of people are relying more and more on deliveroo carry outs which will add to the waistline. I get out for a walk an hour a day but beyond this I can't seem to find the time to do additional exercise i.e. weights which is annoying. Can't do weights at night as it leads to insomnia and I find myself too busy during the day between work, cooking, and housework.

OK, I'll leave it to the folk who know more about modern gaming to suggest what games would meet that need. The Switch does seem the obvious 11 yo girl choice but it won't be a massive jump from the Wii performance wise because they've made it portable. I also think the Switch is quite flimsy and looks easy to break; and don't like the controller setup it comes with. Of course if you'd rather she did her gaming on a portable device (e.g. she's able to sit on the sofa with Mum and Dad and a set of headphones in like I used to do back in 1993-ish with my Sega Game Gear!) then the switch wins outright. To the other gamers, might the XBox or Playstation be better choices because they have a wider app store i.e. more indy games to choose from, some of which might be a bit more mentally stimulating? Actually yes, this. Ignore what I wrote above. This is prob the safest bet

Oh and it sounds like you're also after something vaguely educational - this is AFAIK a huge untapped market in gaming; the big 3 don't seem to offer much in this respect; maybe there is some offering out there that the parents on here will know about.

Has she specifically asked for any particular kind of console, or does she want to play any particular genre of game? The difference between many games since I was 11 is that they're designed to suck up so much more time, so putting my Dad-head on I'd want to try and steer kids away from the kind of games that can become all-consuming.

The other question regarding bennies of course is that there's probably not enough jobs out there for these folk anyway is there? And the number of jobs will be dropping while the number of people continues to increase. So you will naturally have a smaller and smaller number of taxpayers paying for those who can't get or don't want to get a job over time.

I didn't mention voting did I?

Agree. I think the government will let everything else collapse due to lack of money, NHS, infrastructure ect...before they'll actually turn off the benefit tap. Because they've created so many (and increasing at breakneck speed) reliant on such money they know there'd be a civil war as soon as they did.

Overall I think I'm actually happier, as odd as that sounds. 2020 has still been a more enjoyable year so far than 2019 was for sure. What it's really brought into focus for me is how little I miss being in the office; and how I don't want to go back there, or at least want to minimize my time there. What I definately don't want is to be in a situation where I'm sitting on a crowded bus 5 days a week for 30+ minutes each day for the next 30 years crawling through the Belfast traffic to sit in an office that I don't actually need to be in. Fuck that for a life.

I respect your right to be wrong!

'Peak' agutter: During my 'research' I found this; taken in 1993 when she was 41 and still IMO stunning:

Heck if it involves a young, old, or anything in between Jenny Agutter I'm game.

I'm gonna start making reaction videos to reaction videos. I have found my YouTube niche. Ker-ching! EDIT: Fuck, already been done.

Well this is the only problem - I've been in my job 8 years so know the tech inside out and know who and who not to bother working with. Wouldn't have wanted to start 8 years ago as a remote worker.

I think even with teleworking there's still an obsession here in NI to move to the 'good' areas particularly to be near desirable schools. So whilst I don't want to end up on a housing estate I don't need to worry about proximity to schools which is a bonus I guess and gives me more options. It's just finding the right place - I see houses for 250K that don't offer one useable room that's as spacious as the living room in my 600 a month flat.