New phone!

So I am currently writing this on my brand new iPhone 5s! I upgraded my contract early and by god it is amazing. Honestly, it's probably faster than the iPad, it feels, might I say, 'lightning fast'.

The phone is phenomenal, better than the iPod Touch when I got it, better than the iPhone 4S when I got it, it is without doubt one of the best phones in the world. I got the Space Grey version, ideally I'd have gotten the black from the iPhone 5, but hey you can't have your cake and eat it.

Speaking of cake! My girlfriend and I are doing a detox this week, as we're at her house for 6 straight days. Whilst we've cheated slightly, it's only very slight and I'm already seeing the benefit (well, the scales are). I've already lost 7lbs, I lost it in the first two days and then maintained it, which is fantastic. I'm hoping to lose more, especially once I combine it with exercise again, but anyway, it's a struggle but I think it will be worth it.

I'll try to maintain my healthy eating after the week is over, but I won't say no to the (very) occasional treat. Eat in moderation! That's what they always say, right?

Yellow fever is bullshit, starvation is insane, and chickens are the future

This week I got a new game called Banished, which you might have heard of because it is fantastic! It's in the same sort of profession as The Settlers or Age of Empires (Or Age of Mythology if you swing that way, like me) in that you build a village and try and expand and keep everyone alive! There are no enemies or anything like that, it's just keeping disease and starvation away that are the main problems. 

So I played it for hours, I couldn't turn it off (except to play Overgrowth which I can't explain in words) and I developed a lovely little town called Elgheim on what seems to be a river delta. For a long time it was successful, growing slowly, but then disaster struck. At 30 peasants, they stopped breeding! Everyone was about 60 so they couldn't have children and there were two eligible families to have children. Long story short, it got sorted out and the population boomed. Starvation followed. Mass, mass starvation. So many deaths. 

I sorted the famine and kept going. At this point I still didn't have animals bear in mind. Anyway, the town grew, nomads finally came, I finally got some chickens, I built a new mine and then the second famine of Elgeim racked the town. It was atrocious, I pulled people out of school to get working in the fields, but to no avail. It lasted for years and was probably responsible for around 50 deaths in a population of less than 100. In the midst of this, yellow fever struck the peasants. Again, death.

I solved the fever but not the famine, and the effects of the Second Famine still linger 5 years on. I'll work to improve and maintain the town and get back to you!

Weight loss

OK so I'm starting that journey again. No Insanity this time, instead I'll be following a Men's Health workout! I'll be following their nutrition guide too, so avoiding carbs and sugars. I've dubbed it "Low Fat February" and that means I'm avoiding anything fattening like chocolate, sweets, and takeaway, as well as refined carbs like white rice and bread and all that, whilst increasing my vegetable and protein intake.

I just weighed in at 147.5lbs, which is 11lbs heavier than I have been recently, which is getting on for a full stone. I know I can lose about 5lbs this week and then bring it down slower from there, but I'm aiming for about 135lbs. Of course numerical measurements are essentially irrelevant, as it is body shape that I am trying to improve but it's a good starting point. I will measure my body when I find my damn tape measure!

Six pack, here I come.