@FuriousMachine Paradise Lost. Now that's a band I remember from my metal band years. I preferred their more melodic experimentation. Draconian Times, Icon etc. that era was definitely my favourite. And have you heard stuff like Believe In Nothing and Symbol of Life? Where they venture into borderline Depeche Mode territory? I have mixed feelings about those ones.
But, regarding volunteerng in mental health, it's definitely a mixed bag at times, but overall more rewarding, and, like you say, fulfilling than anything else. I have been doing it for about a year and a half now. Hopefully I can treat people in a face-to-face therapeutic setting one day. That's the ultimate goal.
Fingers crossed that you can do more of what you prefer to do at work soon.
"Preoccupied with a single leaf, you won’t see the tree. Preoccupied with a single tree, you’ll miss the entire forest. Don't be preoccupied with a single spot. See everything in its entirety...effortlessly. That is what it means...to truly "see." "
@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN Thanks, I hope so to. Looks like it won't happen until I get back from summer vacation, but that is thankfully not far off, so I'll persevere and push through 😉(it's not that bad, really)
I read a great quote about Paradise Lost just yesterday, from Metal Hammer: “This band have tried their hand at everything from death metal to synthpop, but they’ve never once done it with a smile”
Truer words, etc. "Icon" is probably one of my top 10 albums of all time and the one that really kicked off my love for them (I was sort of on the hook with "Shades of God", but "Icon" was the one that reeled me in). I even like their synthpop phase, though I absolutely prefer their metal output (which I put more as "doom" than "death", re.: the quote above).
I would love to hear more about your volunteer work, but I don't want to pry, so if you don't feel like sharing on a forum with (basically) strangers, that's cool too, of course.
@FuriousMachine I can't really say much about it, but yeah, it's very rewarding and I would like to envision a future for myself within a mental health career.
Back to Paradise Lost, though, I agree their output has been variegated and great for the most part, with only a few key/core members being consistently involved throughout their career. But since gravitating towards jazz and hip hop ,I haven't really followed them. I would say that a rabbit hole might open up for you, if, like you say, you like Tupac, then you might be interested in exploring the Griselda Records back catalogue, as I would say their artist roster is firmly situated in the same vein as the late, great, 'Pac.
"Preoccupied with a single leaf, you won’t see the tree. Preoccupied with a single tree, you’ll miss the entire forest. Don't be preoccupied with a single spot. See everything in its entirety...effortlessly. That is what it means...to truly "see." "
Further to what I have been saying on here previously, about the possibllity of phasing out gaming in order to focus more on guitar and counselling psychology, in addition to relaxing with my other recreational activities, I feel like so far I am being more consistent than usual, cementing these recent plans. I haven't changed my mind, for example about just playing two more games after Sekiro, and I have stuck to and expanded upon the free jazz guitar model I set up for myself to follow in recent months.
I have my eye on switching to acoustic guitar, going for a different sound to give to my pre-existent material, and am planning to share some videos of my Erdtree playthrough when I get around to it.
Edit: Also, last night I heard on the radio that Debbie Harry (from Blondie) was one of the earliest pioneers of hip hop, after hearing rapping at a few underground parties in the states, she incorporated a rap into a Blondie song that received significant airplay on MTV, and brought about the global phenomenon that we know hip hop to be, today.
"Preoccupied with a single leaf, you won’t see the tree. Preoccupied with a single tree, you’ll miss the entire forest. Don't be preoccupied with a single spot. See everything in its entirety...effortlessly. That is what it means...to truly "see." "
Further to what I have been saying here and in other threads, I feel like I have finalised my plan now, and after 10 years of reading Literature and playing Games, I am now in the process of phasing those activities out of my life for the foreseeable now, by playing my final trilogy of games (Sekiro, Nine Sols, ELDEN RING: Shadow of the Erdtree - if I don't just stop after Sekiro, that is, and completing my final trilogy of books (the final three books in the Remembrance of Things Past septet by Marcel Proust, and my main focuses in terms of recreational activities will be Art, Music and Film.
Music has always been, and hopefully will always be a focal point of my life, ever since I started playing guitar it has been very important to me, and, though I have radically changed my musical tastes in the last few years, hopefully, as this is a fresh start in a way (I haven't explored these genres as thoroughly as rock and metal in the past) I will always have music as a part of my life.
Art and Film are relatively uncharted territories for me. I mean, I know most people have seen a lot of movies throughout their lives, but the passion for cinema, discovering new gems and rarely seen masterpieces will definitely be ground-breaking for me.
As for Art, that is a bit niche', and I'm not entirely sure where that came from, I've attended a few classes, and studied it, like a lot of others, at school, but I have always been drawn to the more subversive and provocative movements in art, and those artists that have gone against the grain. So I would like to take my research further and maybe hang some affordable posters of classic prints on my wall.
As for Gaming and Literature, been there, done that now, it's nearly 10 years of gaming in the recent past, and over 10, on and off for Literature. Time for something new.
N.B I will still be playing guitar, which I consider adjacent to listening to music, but no longer recording, as previously stated. And there is still some manga I want to read (art-adjacent) and I will also be reading newspapers and magazines (as stated in the relevant thread) (adjacent to literature). So it's not an entirely narrow range of hobbies and interests, I just feel like my mind gets a bit cluttered if I have too much to focus on at once.
"Preoccupied with a single leaf, you won’t see the tree. Preoccupied with a single tree, you’ll miss the entire forest. Don't be preoccupied with a single spot. See everything in its entirety...effortlessly. That is what it means...to truly "see." "
@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN I admire your focus. Just to look at it from a different perspective — couldn’t one say that video gaming is an amalgamation of all those different recreational diversions? Art, music, literature and storytelling, news and journalism… there’s a form of each of those pursuits that are inherent to the hobby. The interactivity component of gaming definitely sets it apart as a different beast, but I often think of my gaming hobby as a way to dip my toe into several different types of recreation at once. 😄
That said, there’s value in direct engagement of all those subclasses of creative consumption. And if you’re like me, your life goes in phases and cycles. I find that I will sporadically get in the mood for certain distractions. I’ve kept my gaming interest for a long time now. I often wonder how long until I hang up my controller. I think I might be gaming until I die! 😅 I look at my backlog and definitely feel like I’ve got years and years of it ahead of me.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution That'd be one way to go, a guy frozen stiff from rigor mortis, in nothing but his boxers, holding his controller in a vice-like grip in his hands. 😂
Edit: And it would have to be whilst playing a FromSoft game, with the fitting caption "You Died." on the screen.😂
"Preoccupied with a single leaf, you won’t see the tree. Preoccupied with a single tree, you’ll miss the entire forest. Don't be preoccupied with a single spot. See everything in its entirety...effortlessly. That is what it means...to truly "see." "
@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN Lol, I think I just decided what I want my tombstone to be engraved with! 😂 Big tombstone in the shape of a controller, etched with the saying “You Died.” and instead of flowers I’ll have some estus flasks and all the different version of grass from Demon’s Souls.
"Preoccupied with a single leaf, you won’t see the tree. Preoccupied with a single tree, you’ll miss the entire forest. Don't be preoccupied with a single spot. See everything in its entirety...effortlessly. That is what it means...to truly "see." "
It seems the 'Red Dead' announcement was for some Gaming Expo event in Florida that most of the cast is appearing at. Oh well, I'm sure they will do some sort of update/remaster eventually.
@RogueCooper@Jimmer-jammer@Thrillho only just stumbled on this dad-chat… and it made me think of a reply I added earlier today to a group chat old Coop is actually part of:
“Not having kids is maybe the best decision I ever made… I’ve even disowned the step-daughter!” 🤣
I was reading the Life & Arts Section of the FT Weekend Paper in a bar this afternoon with a glass of wine and enjoying the British summer after going to a jazz gig ,earlier in the afternoon. Definitely feel like it was a good choice to transition from Literature to Newspapers and Magazines, and I haven't changed my mind so far. Now chilling out, listening to hip hop.
"Preoccupied with a single leaf, you won’t see the tree. Preoccupied with a single tree, you’ll miss the entire forest. Don't be preoccupied with a single spot. See everything in its entirety...effortlessly. That is what it means...to truly "see." "
@Th3solution Something just occurred to me about my upcoming playthrough of the Elden Ring DLC (If I can get through the rest of Sekiro and play all the way through Nine Sols first, of course - made some progress in Sekiro against the final boss now, just finalising my strategy)
So I thought I'd mention you and get your thoughts, as we've hard quite a few FromSoftian bonfire-side chats over the years.
But, yeah, it ocurred to me that due to the fact that some describe the DLC as being the experience they initially wanted from ER ,and comparing it to FromSoft's previous output (i.e it's basically 'Big Dark Souls') plus doing it with a Sekiro build,
It ocurred to me that I'll essentially be playing three games in one (Sekiro, Dark Souls and Elden Ring) and therefore it should be one of the best gaming experiences of my lifetime! Can't wait! .
"Preoccupied with a single leaf, you won’t see the tree. Preoccupied with a single tree, you’ll miss the entire forest. Don't be preoccupied with a single spot. See everything in its entirety...effortlessly. That is what it means...to truly "see." "
I feel like I have acquired a new sound, the sound I had been looking for all along, on the electric guitar. I feel like this has been an ego boost, now that I have attained the ability and style for soloing that I had been looking for, from a psychological perspective. It has taken a long time, and slow but steady progress, but I would definitely encourage everyone to pursue their dreams, if you can achieve just one of them, no matter how small, it's worth it.
"Preoccupied with a single leaf, you won’t see the tree. Preoccupied with a single tree, you’ll miss the entire forest. Don't be preoccupied with a single spot. See everything in its entirety...effortlessly. That is what it means...to truly "see." "
@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN Sounds really awesome. I look forward to hearing more of your FromSoftian adventures. I’ll be curious what your final rankings will be of everything after you’ve completed it all.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
After beating my last game (details can be found in the Games you've recently beat, in the Retro and other Gaming section of the website.) I am going to take a break before endeavouring to tackle Nine Sols during which time I will be diving into reading, finishing off watching Scorsese's The Irishman and delving into my Zatoichi Criterion Collection Box Set.
"Preoccupied with a single leaf, you won’t see the tree. Preoccupied with a single tree, you’ll miss the entire forest. Don't be preoccupied with a single spot. See everything in its entirety...effortlessly. That is what it means...to truly "see." "
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