Gaming

Word Bubbles

7 Comments Posted on by Snoskred

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There are three different versions of Word Bubbles available on Lumosity. My favourite one is the newest one which is still in Beta mode, but truthfully they are all great. I’m just having a lot more success with the newest one.

How does this game work?

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There are three levels involved in word bubbles. To begin with, you are given two starting letters for a word, and you have to try to make as many words as you can out of those starting letters. There is a timer which ticks down. I am not sure how long it is, maybe 30 seconds or so.

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On level 2, the starter is 3 letters long, and halfway through the timer the third letter drops away.

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This means while I am making words with the 3 letter start, I can also be thinking about words with just the 2 letters.

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For level 3, it is a 4 letter start with two drop aways during the level.

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Why do I love it?

This game helps me with my vocabulary skills and also I personally believe it helps me with that word on the tip of your tongue but you can’t find it thing that happens. That happens to me much less often than it used to.

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Also, it is just plain fun. Which helps when you are playing a game. I sometimes get a weird urge to play it and pause whatever else I am doing for a few minutes so I can indulge that urge. Some days I might play it 3-4 times, some days just once. It isn’t included in the daily training yet so I have to seek it out myself.

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I keep getting better and better at this game, so I’ll keep playing.. :)

Over To You –

How is your vocabulary? :) Do you play any word games?

Gaming, Lumosity

Daily Training @ Lumosity

6 Comments Posted on by Snoskred

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Every day at 6:03am, Lumosity sends me an email to remind me to brain train today. You can set the reminder emails to be morning, afternoon or evening. I like morning. I have also set myself a couple of reminders on my mobile in case I forget.

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When you click on start your workout, you arrive at this summary screen which shows you an overview of where you are presently, and tells you how many days in a row you have trained for.

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I’m working on a decent streak of training right now – I have 80 days as of the 8th November 2015 – but if you want to know about a training streak, Sephyroth is at something like 630 674 days of training in a row. I’m not sure I could ever hope to get close to that. ;)

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A workout is 5 games. The games change from day to day, to try and give you some balance in your brain training. When you finish each game you see this screen which tells you how todays result compares with your previous scores.

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I do believe the training works because I have seen huge improvements in my performance *outside* of Lumosity over my time using Lumosity. My short term memory is a lot better than it used to be. My basic mathematic skills have improved enormously – this from the person who hates maths generally and failed maths in school.

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You also get to see this with a measurement called Lumosity Performance Index – above you see my numbers for the 19th of September, and then the 8th of November. These number do fluctuate depending on the daily training and if I have a very bad training moment in a problem solving game, it does get reflected in these numbers. My LPI when I started training was a mere 826 vs 1384 today.

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At the end of your five games, you get a summary like this – the trophies mean I got 4 personal best scores out of 5 games which was a pretty huge day for me. I do notice a difference in results based on the time of day I brain train. Somewhere between 1pm-3pm is the best time for my brain.

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If you got a score in the top 5 scores, you also get a little top 5 symbol. You are given Lumosity points for each game you complete – 1 point for completion, 2 points for a top 5 score, 3 points for a personal best score.

Over to You –

Do you brain train? If yes, how often?

Gaming, Happy Snoskred, Sephyroth

Trouble Brewing @ Lumosity

41 Comments Posted on by Snoskred

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I may need some kind of intervention, because I can’t stop playing this game on Lumosity. I’ve been a member there since 2012 and I enjoy the brain training. I can tell you that it has improved my brain, in particular my maths and memory.

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So what is Trouble Brewing all about? Making coffee. It is a divided attention time management game. It helps with multi-tasking and in general I was already pretty good at that to begin with considering that was what I did 6 hours a day 4-5 days a week in my last job. But this game has me challenged and pushing myself continually to get to the next level.

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To begin with, it is all fun and games and relatively easy because the coffee making machine and the orders are all on the same page.

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As you progress, the order screen and the coffee machine screen separate a little. You’ll have a couple of machines on the order screen, then a screen with more machines. Like this –

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But when you reach level 9, a terrible happens. You now have one order screen in the middle, and two separate coffee machine screens. Like this –

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The order screen

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Cafe screen one

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Cafe screen two – you can see the coffee level indicator is telling me that cups are nearly full on the other screen. Each level you have to fill more orders but the time does not increase – at least it hasn’t yet. 40 cups in two minutes on level 9.. that is a lot of orders to fill in two minutes!

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At the end of the game you get to see your score and your top 5 scores.

As I write this on the 16th of August, I am stuck on level 9. It is my hope that one day soon all the stars will align and the moon will smile on me and I’ll do everything in exactly the right way in order to pass this level and move to level 10.

Update – 05/09/2015

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FINALLY!!!!! This is the day the stars aligned and the moon loved me enough to let me complete all 40 orders in 2 minutes. I’m still having trouble believing I finally got past level 9.

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Playing this game so much has made me better at the other divided attention *and* memory games because this game uses memory to remember what orders need to be filled. This week I got top scores in Train of Thought and Star Search, plus a memory game where items wash up on a beach and you have to pick ones you have not picked on previous waves. I’m thinking it might be worth focusing in on one particular game for a week at a time and seeing how much I can improve.

Obviously Lumosity have not paid me anything to say this – in fact I have paid them in order to play the games. Nearly two years ago I bought the family plan – it runs out in November, then it is every man for themselves. You can likely find free brain training games on the web, if you look for them. I love the convenience, record keeping, encouragement, and the happy and positive vibe of Lumosity. I’m not sure how much the basic plan costs over there but I know I’ll be signing up for it again.

Over to you –

Do you brain train? :)

exercise, Gaming, Lumosity, time management

Bits and Bobbles

2 Comments Posted on by Snoskred

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I got sucked in by the Facebook games. Seriously, who the hell am I, and where did Snoskred go? :)

It isn’t that bad – I really love Farm Heroes Saga but I flat out refuse to pay for anything. If I can’t get through the level with my own talent and skill and the occasional extra they give me just for visiting every day, then I’ll keep trying until I can get through. Sometimes it takes me several days to pass a level. I don’t usually play it during the day – I like to play is around 9:30pm during my mind wind down time..

Bunnings Bits

Today we went to the local Bunnings store to pick up some plasterboard. The Other Half is going to make a ceiling in his man cave shed this weekend. We picked up the ute from my parents place and I saw rain off in the distance but it looked like it was going in another direction.

So we drove over, parked in the trade bay next to the plasterboard, locked the car and went off to find assorted sundries like Liquid Nails and gap filler. Having got those, we paid for everything we wanted at the trade desk, and wandered over to load 15 sheets of plasterboard into the ute, while a staff member stood there watching us instead of helping.

This loading job seemed to take a very long time and by the time we’d loaded all the sheets in, suddenly it was raining outside. So I was tasked with finding a tarp. Several more unhelpful staff members sent me off to incorrect places. The very worst was the bloke I asked who sent me right down to the other end of the store – only to discover that we were standing in the aisle where the tarps lived when I asked him! I did find an excellent tarp in the end.

When looking for rope in the ute, I discovered two octopus straps. I thought these had been outlawed and banned years ago. But today they were perfect for our purpose – it wasn’t until we undid them that we nearly killed ourselves.

Book Bobs

My e-reader ran out of battery the other day. It has been a long time since I have picked up a physical book. I picked up one of the heavier books that I own – Aircraft Accident Analysis: Final Reports by James Walters and Robert Sumwalt – and almost right away I remembered why I love my tablet book reader so much now. It is light. I just tap it to turn the page. It can stand up by itself due to the case I own, and I can read in the dark.

Blogging for Books

One of the bloggers I read linked to Blogging for Books. I headed over to check it out and discovered that Aussies can participate via ebooks, so I signed up. I also joined up over at Netgalley.

You might see the occasional – or even regular – book review(s) here on the blog. My first book from Blogging for Books is Trapped Under the Sea by Neil Swidey. I am really looking forward to reading this. As the weather for the weekend looks not optimal, I might spend some serious time reading.

I am not a diver myself but I have read several books about diving now and find them to be oddly fascinating. There are two I would strongly recommend if you want to give a new kind of book a try. The first is Diving into Darkness which is also known as Raising the Dead in some places..

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I picked this book up at the $5 book store purely because the cover grabbed me, then I turned it over and the blurb made me want to read the book right then and there. I took it home and read it from cover to cover, only stopping for necessary bodily functions when they could no longer be ignored. That is the kind of reader I am. This is also why I limit the books I read at bedtime if I have to be somewhere the next day. :)

Australian Story did a show “To Boldly Go” about this diving story back in 2005 but truly, the book is amazing, and I would recommend reading that first if you can source it. I especially loved how the author explained diving so I – a non diver – could understand it.

The second diving book I would recommend is Shadow Divers – which in researching for this post, I discovered Peter Weir is involved with making a movie about it, though it is still in development.

While I was creating my profile at Netgalley, I wrote something which I thought I would share here with you as well. Here it is :)

The story of Snoskred and books –

I have been reading books for over 35 years now. Favourite books when I was a child included

– Enid Blyton – in particular the Faraway Tree books
– Elinor Brent-Dyer – the Chalet School books
– E.L Konigsberg – From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler started me dreaming about running away to the local Museum.

Favourites now include –

– Jane Austen – these are my relaxing books, I read them when I have to get up on time the next day.
– John Grisham – The early works, not such a fan of the newer stuff. I have good (but lengthy so won’t bore you with that here) reasons.
– Stephen King – The favourite would be The Dead Zone, followed by The Stand, and then a multitude of books fight it out for 3rd place.
– John J Nance – His aviation thrillers are amazing, can’t put down rollercoaster rides, I *highly* recommend this author if you have not read anything by him.

Other names that appear often on my bookshelves and in my e-reader include – Michael Crichton – Robin Cook – Anne Rice – Michael Connelly – Jeff Lindsay – Agatha Christie – Jodi Picoult – Thomas Harris – and many, many more.

Non fiction my interests are biographies, aviation – in particular crash investigation books – true crime as long as there are no scary photos – books about science or going to the moon, and other books which have come to me as a surprise eg- books about diving, submarines, interesting history books..

My book tastes are wide and varied. I’ll read anything once but if I like it, I’ll read it again and again, and seek out other books by the same author.

What are your bits and bobbles?

:)

About Snoskred, blogging for books, books, Gaming, General Chit-chat

Update Week

4 Comments Posted on by Snoskred

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What I’m Doing – Exercising

There has been a significant addition to my living space. You might remember how it was before – my living space.

I recently got the all clear from the lung specialist to get back into exercise and while I have a elliptical here already, I did not want to start with that. It has been a year since I have done any significant exercise and jumping onto the elliptical right away would be the best way to get myself injured. So I borrowed this treadmill from my parents – it was gathering dust at their place anyway.

I started out easy but within a relatively short time I was walking 5kms a day and I felt like I had to limit myself to that, because I could easily have walked for hours of an evening while watching tv..

This past week, I cranked up the pace a little and it went like this – Sunday 5km – Monday 6km – Tuesday 7km -Wednesday 8km – Thursday 9km – Friday 10km. Over the space of 6 days I walked 45km. By Friday I had a super awesome blister on my right ankle so I took the weekend off from walking, but I’ll be back at it tomorrow.

What I’m Thinking – Positives

River posted some thoughts yesterday which got me thinking.

I try to write positive letters or emails to companies and people fairly regularly and I wonder if maybe this is something which could work as a linkup, maybe once a month or so. I’ll ruminate some more on this and probably launch something in January. It would be a monthly link up thing, I think.

I think it would be something amazing to start a movement of positive feedback. We all are quick to complain when things are wrong, but how many of us send a note to the companies that make products we trust, use daily, and rely on?

The Inlinkz thing I use for the Shoe Sundays is pretty simple to use, and I can leave them open forever, so maybe I’ll do one and see if people want to link up with their positive company feedback, and whether or not they get a response as well.

What I’m Considering – Checking In

I try to visit the blogs I read and leave comments as often as I can however you may have noticed a drop off in my comments lately – first of all, check your spam bin because I might be in there – here’s how to check your spam bin on WordPress, scroll down to please note – and second of all, I was commented out by the end of November.

I’m planning a January visiting blogs spree, and I’m going to try leaving a comment as well as leaving an actual note if possible, via an email address or contact form. This is harder than you might suspect. The amount of people blogging without an email address or contact me form is way higher than it should be. :(

If you are wanting to know how to put your email address out in the open without attracting significant spam, try writing it like this – snoskred {at} gmail {dot} com <-- that one will reach me, by the way.

What I’m Obsessed With – Moonbase Inc

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The Other Half was trying to talk me out of playing Candy Crush Saga, which I had only recently tried out and I got stuck on this one level, I can’t beat it no matter what I do. It is *infuriating* which is not what a game should be, in my opinion. :( And it keeps telling me to buy boosts so I can win the level and I flat out refuse to do that.

So he showed me this neat little Moonbase Inc game, which is completely free, you can play on your Android tablet or phone. I have it on both. :) It is that awesome. I would actually pay for this game.

About Snoskred, exercise, Gaming, General Chit-chat, power of positive thought

Super Mario Galaxy

1 Comment Posted on by Snoskred

So last weekend my sister, her partner and my nephews and niece were down for a visit. Dinner went well, and the next day a shopping trip was planned. And boy did we shop. I got some great stuff which I’d been needing for a while, mostly nice velvety track pants for around the house. The kids got plenty of clothes and they each got one toy/game each.

My older nephew chose Super Mario Galaxy for Wii but they did not have their Wii here, so after the other half got home we drove to our place and got the Wii and returned to my parents for dinner. The younger nephew got to be Bee Mario which was so darn cute..

I don’t normally like playing these kinds of games but I was happy to sit there and watch them play it. They made it look *so* easy that I thought it could be fun and I now have a copy of the game here so I am going to give it a try. Now we’ll see if it is easy or if they are just much more talented than I am! I’ll let you know which it turns out to be.. ;)

Tomorrow we’re off to Albion Park for the bloggers meet. :) Yay! And I am seriously going to indulge in some gorgeous food because the place we are going to make the most stunning meals.

Gaming