Out For Sport But No Work

A packed week of sport saw both positives and negatives while the search for a job continued but withno progress while yet another gaming milestone was reached as I hit 38% completion.

Tuesday began with yet another job application for an office job so will await any progress with some gaming progress in the afternoon. The evening saw me go to watch Skem v Witton and sadly it was a second consecutive home loss meaning a bad start to the week in terms of my teams.

Wednesday saw the writing of the weekly Super League preview with a lot of progress done on Civilization Revolution, which is an addictive game as time can fly by quite easily but also a good game in the same vain.

 Thursday saw a relaxing morning followed by a spectacular night as I went to Warrington v Wigan and finally saw Wigan win at the HJ in a 4-12 win made better as for a change I met I knew at the game so didn't have to watch alone which made the win even sweeter and means I have now see Wigan win at both Wire and Saints after bad losses on my first visits last year.

Friday saw a day of catch on the blogs and the magnet boards with some sorting out ahead of a packed week of games and in the evening the usual Friday night TV with this week's Gogglebox being the highlight alongside the Sport Relief programme which featured the brilliant Only Fools and Horses sketch.

Saturday saw a second visit to watch Skem at home this week but sadly the result repeated Tuesday as FC United were the winners in what was a bizarre afternoon as usually Skem at home gets about 200-300 people yet the attendance was 1000 with the majority being away fans, it was a shame about the result but it was nice to see a big crowd for once, hopefully the first of many more to come.

At the same time, I had Liverpool on the radio and a fabulous 6-3 win at Cardiff improved the day after the Skem loss and the evening saw a catch up with a friend online that made the day a good one overall.

Sunday saw the usual Super Sunday viewing and for the third time in a row, a winning accumulator which saw a profit of £38.29 off £5 which may not be massive but is better than nothing while I had a first play on Plants v Zombies Garden Warfare which is a really fun game despite being only playable on
multiplayer and will be an enjoyable game to try and complete. The evening saw me write up the weekly Rugby round up and submit it on my usual outlets but with a new difference.


The reforming of Skem News meant I could resume my publishing from 2013 and hopefully I can have a similar success as more writing can mean more of an audience currently is about 30 views per post.

Monday saw the weekly blog catchup with the football and Xbox collations with the evening seeing a quick gaming session that put me over 90,000 gamerscore leaving me with less than 10,000 to reach my long-awaited goal of 100,000.

So a reasonable week for my teams with a win each for Wigan and Liverpool but sadly a double loss for Skem so hopefully a bounce back to winning ways will come next week.

My Simpsons Lego build has taken a back seat for now but with only two parts left, hopefully will be complete by the time of my next post and this week sees a slightly freer week with only one trip out with me going to see Wigan v Catalan on Friday night while Liverpool will be on Sky against Sunderland on Wednesday in a game that I narrowly missed out on getting tickets for earlier in the month.

As always, I hope for some progress on  my current job applications while hopefully applying for more but sadly it will take a miracle to be working before the start of April so the goal is to be back as soon as is possible as free time is all well and good but a lack of an income is a massive thing.

Sport And Games In Mid March

After a busy start to the month, sport and gaming have continued to feature as the job search continues but gladly this week thee are more positives than negatives as the month passed the mid point.

Monday began the week and saw the traditional blog catch-up from after a hectic weekend and saw me go on to design and print my next magnetic set as the new F1 season would begin at the weekend.The night ended with the creation of my first article for Touchline Banter which saw me earn £5.

It may not sound a lot but for me it was a proud moment as it was the first time I had been paid for writing something and hopefully not the last.

Tuesday saw a relaxed day of searching and researching while receiving my first TB payment and discussed the possibility of more articles in the future and I began part three of my Lego Simpsons house build.

Wednesday began with more building and blogging and also has some more DVD transferring and  did the weekly Super League preview and did a bit of gaming to continue my pursuit to my first goal of the year -reaching 125.000 TA points overall.

Thursday began with a piece of history as i watched Ray 'Stallion83' Cox become the first person to reach 1 million gamerscore after an eight year pursuit and it was amazing when he got down to the final 50G needed doing so on Titanfall with a very dignified celebration from someone who has done a lot of work for it and makes my recreational pursuit small with me only on 88,000. As he only reached the million at 7am UK time i went to bed for a bit and then went to the shop for some dinner and in the afternoon caught up on my Sochi blog and moved on to parts four and five on the Lego Simpsons house as the night ended.

Friday began with some play on the new South Park game which I have to say was certainly worth the delay in release and is a fun game to experience, the morning saw more DVD transferring and some more blogging with the early evening seeing me travel to Wigan for the home game against Hull KR.

A fortnight since the last home game, it didn't feel as long when I reunited with the people who sit either side of me, that sounds strange but as I attend every game alone it means those next to me are people who I converse with at the games but don't see any other time.

A good game saw a 34-20 win and some winning bets, not massive but a few quid is better than nothing of course and after the game I went for my usual post-match takeaway and travelled home. The night ended with some TV catch up and my delicious tea as the week moved into the weekend.

Saturday began with a surprise as I received an e-mail from West Lancs Media who I had written for in 2013 before they suddenly disappeared in October. They messaged me to say they had closed due to a restructuring and that they would be back publishing soon while wondering whether I was interested in continuing where I left off and I was delighted to so it seems more of my work will be published in time.

The afternoon saw me do some sorting out of my shelves as I made space for where the completed Lego Simpsons house would be situated and while sorting I watched Hull v Man City on BT and Soccer Saturday and later Aston Villa v Chelsea on Sky with the latter meaning my weekly accumulator was ruined as Chelsea lost.

Sunday began with the first F1 race of the season and the new rule changes really had an effect with a lot of surprises with Rosberg winning and debutants Magnussen and Kyvat getting in the points with Riccardo finishing second only to be disqualified for a fuel flow problem (currently being appealed) but it was the start of a big day in sport.

Lunchtime saw what to most LFC fans is the biggest game of the season, away to United and a superb performance ended with a 3-0 win and a league double over the champions while meaning the hopes of a first PL title for Liverpool are growing as United slipped to 14 points behind. Afterwards, I watched the closing ceremony of the Sochi Paralympics which was amazing as it really showed how far the Paralympics have come in such a short time and shows that nothing is impossible.

The evening saw yet another brilliant episode of Top Gear and ended with some play on South Park while watching a Twitch stream of Ray Cox, his first since the '1 million.

Monday began with the rest of the Twitch stream and my South Park session then off to bed, the afternoon saw me return to Xbox Fitness after a month out and how it did show as I was knackered after half an hour and will be trying to do a workout each day from now on to reduce my weight as the workout yesterday has given me the motivation i I have lacked in the last month.

The evening saw my usual run of TV and watched snapped while on the Xbox One getting some unlocks but I froze in shock during the new episode of The Walking Dead as it was amazing and I wont spoil it for anyone reading who has recorded it but it was absolutely stunning to watch and the unlocking saw me reach my TA goal as I hit 125k which meant it was my seventh goal of the year done which shows the year is going well as this summary reaches an end.

Sportswise, I have covered both Liverpool and Wigan but on Saturday I listened to Skem play away at Blyth on the radio and sadly the lost 2-1 so 2/3 for my sides this weekend with a treble coming this week with a trip to Skem vs Witton later tonight, Wigan away at Warrington on Thursday and Skem v FC United on Saturday afternoon.

I hope to finish the Simpsons house which will be another goal completed and finish reading my first book of 2014 after a slow start and also playing my 50th different Xbox game of the year with a goal of 200 the eventual target.

So a packed week ahead after what has been a quiet one and mainly I hope for some progress on my current job applications while hopefully applying for more with yet more hope for a return to working before April so fingers crossed.

A Busy Start To March

Usually a weekly blog would summarise seven days but after a massive error on this site, a number of posts were mixed up so this weeks sees a nine day start to March.

Saturday was the first day of my 28th year and began with some blogging and a mixed day for my teams as Skem lost 2-1 away to Matlock but the evening saw Liverpool win 3-0 away to Southampton with an eight unlock haul on Glacier Blast getting the month's achievement chase off to a good start.

Sunday began with an outing for dinner due to our kitchen still being fitted so a lovely meal at the Vale Royal was a great preparation for the Wigan v Wakefield game where I returned to the DW after a three week wait which felt a lot longer. Gladly, it was a comfortable 46-24 win for Wigan and the evening saw a session on FIFA14 with a friend which saw a stint online.

Monday began with The Oscars which were a good three hours to watch and then I went off to bed for 5am and in the late morning, I did some DVD transferring while doing the usual Monday blog catch-up which a week later I am continuing with the tradition. The evening saw a nice long chat with a new friend I have gained via my blogging on a Wigan Facebook group and we began chatting as she is also a RL blogger and can be found on Twitter as @RLblogger and is very good for a beginner.

Tuesday began with some YouTube uploading from the weekend's events and some writing but in the afternoon, I got a POF message from an 18-year-old from Bootle and we connected well quite early and even chatted whilst I travelled to the Skem v Trafford game which was good as Skem won 3-1 to keep up their promotion hopes but at about 9.30, the replies stopped and it was only when I got home that I spotted she had suddenly blocked me for not reason as we were getting on very well.

Wednesday was a quiet day but saw my weekly weight and Xbox update with a slight disappointment as a gain in weight which can mainly be attributed to the fact we have had take out a lot during the kitchen fitting. The afternoon saw me collate all the information for my SL preview and write and publish it in the evening.

Thursday began with a letter from the Student Loan Company requesting information about how I am currently supporting myself and later I added another job to my applied list which had about six in progress and I filled in the SLC letter and posted on the way to the shop for the Advertiser. The evening saw more writing while taking in a superb documentary on the late Steve Prescott  - a true example of man who never gave up whatever the odds.

Friday saw an early wake up as I 'competed' for LFC tickets so hopefully I could finally attend a home league game after trying all season but despite having tickets in the basket, on confirming I got an unavailable message which means that someone else had got there quicker than me. There are still three more chances but all come against bigger sides so the allocation will be fewer on general sale, so next year the idea of a membership is in my thoughts.

The afternoon saw me write and publish my Wigan RL preview and contacted a football blogging site, with hopes to contributing but will see how that goes later this week and then I watched and blogged about the Sochi Paralympics opening ceremony as the evening drew in.

Saturday saw a perfect start to the weekend as the long-awaited Lego Simpsons House arrived in the post and the building began before the monthly trip to the Concourse which just like last month included more browsing than purchasing. The afternoon saw me go to my second Skem game in five days as they hosted Grantham but were stunned in a 2-1 loss which was my first league loss as a spectator.

Sunday saw an early outing as I made the short trip to WIgan before travelling on the coach up to Yorkshire for the game against Castleford which was a good day out despite losing late on 36-31 and it a place I would love to return to next season or even earlier depending on cup/playoff possibilities.

A long return trip saw me arrive in Wigan at 7.30, achingly 15 minutes late for the hourly bus so a trip to my favourite takeout place was followed by a 40 minute wait for the bus but a strange event made the wait quite amusing as I had a 20 minute conversation with a tipsy 40 something woman from Skem who from what she said had been on a bender with friends since Friday but was looking very good for it.

The bus home saw me have my tea and enjoy a brilliant episode of Top Gear followed by the highlights of Wigan's shocking win in the FA Cup away to Man City as the weekend drew to a close but one thought did hit me that was that I had had long conversations with four women this week and yet seem to be ignored on online dating sites for trying to end my single days.

26 Becomes 27

February is the only month of the year that cannot be a bad month as it always ends with my Birthday which was yesterday and next year will be a funny one is it will be my 28th on the 28th but will go into detail in the week's summary.

Monday began a session on Lego Movie and as our kitchen was being done, I was up early and got my Warrington tickets ordered for next month and in the afternoon connected with a fellow RL blogger on Facebook. The evening saw the weekly blog catchup with the final Sochi post being done with the Liverpool and PL blogs.

Tuesday saw the monthly printing and designing of my TV schedule and sleep cycle and a session of Xbox writing with a quick trip to ASDA for tea and then off to watch Skem United against Farsley and my winning run as a spectator continued as Skem reached the semi finals of the Dootson cup with a 4-0 win, a nice walk home and a go on the Lego movie game.

Wednesday began with the completion of one of my yearly goals - 'Complete an Xbox One game' as I finished Lego Movie in the early hours and on waking up received my Warrington tickets and did my weekly weight check and Xbox sheet updating and somewhat spookily the first time I went downstairs, my WCC shirt had arrived and looked well worth the wait for it. The evening saw the writing of the SL preview and a spammer contacting me on a dating site, so sick of fake people so obvious as soon as the 'wanna see me on cam x' appears funny how I get fakes messaging but never any genuine people.

Thursday saw a quiet day with a counting of my scattered change that I've gathered recently and an evening on the Xbox on Vancouver 2010, inspired after having watched the Winter Games for two weeks.

Friday was Happy 27th and just like last year I had no tiredness so listened to some music but still awake so did some writing into the early morning and had a relaxing day watching TV and seeing some of the family while transferring some things off my Sky planner to DVD. The evening saw walk and chat with a friend and a takeaway meal with my parents something we have done for my past two birthdays which I have enjoyed.


A nice day saw me get some new clothes and £160 overall which meant I was able to order the Simpsons Lego set Ii have been after as I could afford it properly now so ordered after tea. A negative came from the fact I had only got 11 wishes from online friends but I didn't expect a lot as I haven't for the past two years and even got one from my ex from America which ended badly as she accompanied the wishes with a tirade about religion which meant a second cease in contact after the problems of the other week but a good 27th birthday overall.

As for February itself, I still remain single and unemployed but with buoyed confidence as my writing has gained a bigger audience and hopefully it could lead to something in the future but I am still applying for jobs just not getting any responses.


Fitness wise, Runkeeper and Nike showed progress from January with me reaching 10% of my yearly goal by walking 21.6 miles and reaching 29,600 fuel.


The Xbox achievement chase saw a superb month that set a new record as the best ever February and was the first one to go over a century of unlocks by reaching 103 achievements with the previous record being 74 set last year.

I earned 3091 TA points with a haul of 1930G which has benefitted by the 1000G from Lego Movie and means 2014 is the first year to begin with 100+ in the first two months.

My main goals of 5000 unlocks has the potential to be reached by the end of March (197 needed) and 100,000G is definately doable this year  (12,325) with an average of 2,400 per month so far.

Sports-wise, Skelmersdale ended the month in second after a little blip but still are unbeaten at home this season and also in the Dootson Cup semi final.

Wigan sit 9th in Super League but with only a single game played (8-24 v Hudds) is understandable with being in Australia with a trial win over the NZ Warriors (46-24) and the loss in the WCC to Sydney (36-14) making for a decent month.

Liverpool are still in contention for the title and are only four points off the top with a stunning 5-1 at home to Arsenal the highlight with wins against Fulham and Swansea adding to a draw against West Brom. The only loss came in the FA Cup at Arsenal (2-1) in the week following the league game.

On the subject of my goals for 2014,There has only been one this month which was the completion of my first Xbox One game which was Lego Movie but progress has been made on a lot so some are very likely in March.