In this month’s issue of Keeping Up With the Erikssons: We get some well earned R&R, I’m fed up with Fallout 4 and I finish this month’s challenge by getting a head start on next month’s challenge; Reading.

Jaded January, Issue 01/16

559 words about life — 19:00 · 31st Jan 2016

I suspect this is going to be one of the shortest Keeping Up with the Erikssons as we spent most of the month resting, which means there’s not as much to talk about this month.

Rest and recuperation

After all the Christmas stress and all the Christmas goose we all felt like we needed some well earned R&R, which is why we have spent most of January taking it easy instead of filling it with too many activities.

It’s been really nice and as we approaching February, we’re all feeling a lot more recuperated.

Fed up with Fallout 4

Considering how excited I was for Fallout 4 it pains me, almost as much, to admit that I’ve fallen out of excitement for Fallout 4.

I’m about 70 hours in and at level 32, I haven’t even finished the main story yet and I’m struggling to muster the enthusiasm to do so.

The dissonance between the urgency of the story and the conflicting nature of the gameplay means I keep feeling at odds with that the game wants me to do.

And whilst many people appear to find great enjoyment from fixing and furnishing their settlements I find it irritating, tiresome and pointless.

If I had wanted to play The Sims I would have bought The Sims.

But I wanted to play Fallout 4, a post-apocalyptic wasteland simulator with karma and choices.

I wish, for instance, that I could join the Raiders. But instead every encounter I have is one resolved by violence, whether I want it or not.

I really wanted to enjoy all the things the game had to offer I, quite simply, found myself not enjoying it.

So whilst Fallout 3 gave me a sprawling world, ready to be explored, Fallout 4 gave me chore list, ready to be completed.

But for anyone wondering, I did end up finding my Power Armor, which had been left by one of my settlers a few hundred metres away from my main settlement. Needless to say, I’ve stopped leaving my Fusion Cores inside of them now.

Copywriting by Mark Shaw

A few months ago I bought a book on copywriting.

Thinking about the importance of copy and what I perceived as a lacking skill in said area, I committed myself to seeking ways of rectifying my inability.

Books in a pile
An eclectic mix of books. I’m halfway through Pornland already, which is a good start to my attempt at reading more next month.

I figured, understanding copy better would come in handy both personally, i.e. in this journal, as well as professionally, where I’m often writing copy and microcopy anyway—and wished I was better at it.

The book titled, Copywriting: Successful Writing for Design, Advertising and Marketing by Mark Shaw is an excellent read with plenty of real-world examples of copywriting and I really enjoyed it. So much so, that I’ve even started recommending it to other people who are interested in copywriting.

And I’m giving Copywriting: Successful Writing for Design, Advertising and Marketing a well earned ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆.

And that’s it for this month.

You’ve just read Jaded January, Issue 01/16.

In which, 8 years ago, I wrote 559 words about life and I covered topics, such as: keeping up with the erikssons , fallout (series) , books , and copywriting .