Moving Forward; EdX; TypingClub dislikes British Keyboards

So it has been a fair few months, and I'm at the point I'd usually not bother with blogging anymore. Or create a new blog. My plans foiled once again by my own lack of self-determination and laziness. To be fair, however, I have moved back into Lincoln at last and living on my own again rather than holed up at my parents' place (not to mean any disrespect to them, however, as they have helped get me through this last year).

So now I am finished with the move. And it seemed appropriate to start typing a post again.

I do have some ideas for apps in the works, with lots of diagrams and labels to show how I want them to look. My aim is, having a precise specification of what I want to create, I will then be able to abstract from that the skills and tools I need to (finally!!) start feeling like I can develop something (as opposed to wasting oxygen).

I am also enrolled on an edX.org course. This was always my aim once I had moved. The course in particular is the Introduction To Computer Science And Programming Using Python Course, and I'm really hoping I can keep up with it. So far I have watched the first video and read through the first set of materials. Maybe with an App in mind, I'll actually be able to see it through to the end!

I have also gone back to using TypingClub to improve my touch-typing ability now I finally have an actual desk with full-size keyboard again. I have hit a stumbling block, however... In the fact it doesn't support British Keyboards. Meaning, from a particular point, I will never be able to progress further as it will always be expecting a hash key (rather than the £ sign, which takes its place on the British Keyboard). This seems a bit odd to not have fixed, as all it would have taken is to swap the keys around on their end. I'm not bothered about the US spellings, as I'm not using the site to learn how to spell but rather I am there to learn how to type. But oh well... I shall try to contact them to see when/if they will fix it, and in the meantime keep following the previous exercises until I can't improve anymore. The previous exercises included many actual typing experiences anyway, so it should keep me entertained for a while!!

Mental Health and Crises

This is a repost of a reply I made to Isabel Hardman's Post on Mental Health... The themes seem relevant, and I couldn't think of a way to word them better here so I decided to post it here verbatim, apart from a response to an unhelpful person who had left a comment.

I can’t quite relate to forgetting TV shows, but I can relate to feeling how bizarre it is that I feels being such a different person between crisis and “health”. For a number of years I had given up computer games, as I became more focused on really forcing myself to socialise and wanting to go out and do a lot more. About a year ago I had my own crisis, and after months of literally just staring into nothingness, I got myself out of that by playing games again. And for a while I was more hooked on being a gamer than I ever did as a teenager. Luckily, that’s a state that it’s then easier for me to improve on and as distraction from the hours of daring myself to keep on living… I can move from games to Duolingo or Khan Academy to get that same “instant reward” from small and measurable goals… Before I know it I’ve sunk 10 hours over a week into learning German. Then by then I’m back out of the door and able to work (with a gradual return). It’s that feeling where I don’t understand how playing a game is what I want out of my life in this moment, and yet knowing in those moments it can be my most important distraction, after a phone call to my doctor and friends.