Life is a choice entirely. Well almost!

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here! 

It just occurred to me that life is almost entirely our choice.

No matter how good one’s life is, there is always something to complain about. No one would think their lives are perfect, at least most of the time anyway.

On the other end, no matter how bad one’s life is, there is always something to be grateful for.

Therefore, it is almost entirely our choice how we go about life.

There are people who have everything but never feel enough.

There are also people who have so little but feel so grateful and happy about what is going on around them.

It hard to say the former has a better life than the latter.

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How about me?

I find myself having a range within which I am constantly moving.

I do complain, especially on the financial side of things.

The opportunities I have missed are worth multiples of our total net-worth which we have worked so hard and saved so hard to accumulate and they are enough to put us well in financial freedom already.

At the same time, I do feel grateful.

While I lost precious opportunities, that is nothing like “terminal sentence” where I am denied to all subsequent opportunities. I am denied to some for sure, but luckily not all.

As a matter of fact, new opportunities never stop coming to me. For some, I would be denied to them; for some, I would let them go; for some, I would try my best to grab them. At the end of the day, maybe I am lucky to grab one or two.

That is something to be grateful for.

And people who trust me never stop helping me. And in the process, I get to know more great people and I would be working hard to earn their trust and prove my value to them.

Again, this is something to be grateful for.

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Therefore, I am constantly moving along the line on a day by day basis.

Luckily, in my opinion, the range is manageable as it never goes to the extreme.

But I do notice that things generally work out better if I am on the “Gratitude” side.

The other thing I try to do is not let the emotions affect my actions.

No matter where I am in the range, I try to maintain clear priorities and act on them.

This, however, does consume self-discipline and will power.

Therefore, all in all, it is beneficial to me to be on the “Gratitude” side.

However, I do not forcefully put myself on any side. I have learned to leave buffer in my life, including room for wastage of self-discipline and will power.

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In the end

No matter what lives we are leading now, there are always things to be grateful for and things to complain about.

It is almost entirely our choice how to go about life.

For most, that moves within a manageable range.

Things may generally work out better if we are on the “Gratitude” side.

However, do allow ourselves to come to the “Dark side” from time to time and even stay there for a bit. It is ok as long as we are not lost in it.

Most importantly, do not lose sight of our priorities. 

Till next time!

VR — Gaming Unleashed

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

I jumped into gaming right after finishing set up of the Oculus Quest 2 headset.

And it was mind blowing!

The first game I tried was Pavlov Shack. It is incredible that this game is still free on Quest platform.

This game alone will last me for a long time.

Photo by Jimi Malmberg on Unsplash

1.The experience and realism is just unmatched

Just some examples:

• Looking at the gun up-close and from any angle I wanted and really seeing and feeling the size of it only reminded me of the limited times where I held a real rifle in my hand
• Reloading was so fun and realistic. I spent all my time in the shooting range, reloading and shooting different guns, in my first play till the battery run out. To reload in VR, I had to pull the mag out, grab a new one, inject it into the gun and pull the charging handle (depending on whether there was a round in the chamber already), all through physical hand movements, instead of simply pressing “R” on the keyboard.
• I was reloading a M1 Grand, looking at the clip ejecting from the chamber with the satisfying sound, grabbing another clip, pushing it into the chamber and start shooting again. I was so excited then and I could only imagine how much more excited I would have been If I got my hands on this in university. I would be absolutely crazy about it.
• Aiming was totally different as well. I had to physically lift my arm and line up the sights through the scope or iron sight, instead of clicking the right button on my mouse. It all felt so cool and realistic! 
• Last but not least, turning around by physically turning around my head and body in the real world was so satisfying too. And it meant exercise!

I hope these examples give you some idea of the difference between shooting in VR and shooting in traditional gaming.

To me, once you tried VR, it is hard to go back!

Photo by Vinicius "amnx" Amano on Unsplash

2.I got some “downsides” too

After the initial excitements, it became clear to me really quickly that my killing productivity dropped drastically.

• There was no more pin point accuracy, like in COD. With shaking arm, came shaking aim. Single fire mode still worked best for long distance, but no more one shot one kill
• Reloading took a long time and I got it wrong very very frequently. Reloading in VR involved a few steps and I could get any of them wrong. So many times, I pulled a new mag just to realize the old one was still there. Or I was supposed to pull the charge handle, but instead dropped the gun…
• Turning was still not natural to me. As a result, my situation awareness dropped drastically too.
• The clarify problem and mild motion sickness did not help either

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3.But it was just “learning curve”

With practice, I would get so much better.

When I played Counter Strike on PC for the first time, I could not move or aim properly.

Now it has become the second nature for me when it comes to playing shooter games.

I just need to adapt that second nature to the VR platform.

With a few hours of practice, I can now reload the M4 within half a second and can fend off waves of enemy attach.

I am working on turning now, especially turning right around corners and turning 180 degrees fast with fast aiming.

I will get there!

I’d better to. I wont be able to go back to the traditional gaming.

Photo by Giu Vicente on Unsplash

In the end

VR gaming is exciting! 

I think the game mechanics are there. We just need easier-to-use hardware!

Till next time!