Tuesday, 1 January 2008

Monopoly




During the festive period, it is tradition that my family plays Monopoly, or more to the point I make them play a game every year. This year was no exception, although like usual I can never get my Dad to play. He feels that the game is real life and he can't cope with spending lots of money even though he knows it's a fake game.

The idea of Monopoly is simple, for any one who hasn't played (do you live under a rock or something?) Monopoly is a board game which can be played by 2 or more players. The idea of the game is to move around the board collecting money and buying properties, to win the game you need all of the other opponents to go bankrupt, or usually just give up as the games last HOURS.

There are a few problems with the game.
  • Games can last hours unless the players quit.
  • Game always ends in an argument.
  • Cheating (Taking money from bank and hiding it under the board)
Like most things in life, these problems only occur because humans dont like defeat, the game was not designed like this.

So back to the festive games, of course I won both games against my sister, she did NOT like the fact I landed on the free parking twice. I was beaten once by my mum and I won one game versus my mum, after landing on the free parking.

Its sods law when you are attempting to land on free parking, you always land on the spaces right next to the square but never on it itself. Frustration usually kicks in once this has happened 10 or more times at which point when you do eventually land on the free parking you opponents fate is sealed and game hits the biggest anti-climax possible in board games.

New Year 2008

Its that time of year ago, when I spend the next month accidentally putting 2007 on all my date stamps. After watching the Sydney TV (GMT+11) my thoughts on it are just the fact it was overkill, 12 minutes of fireworks is really too much I feel. A 2 minute display would have been enough to celebrate the new year in without spending tremendous amounts of money on what will only become a memory. The money saved could have been spend of famine for countries like Africa which really need it.

Sydney New Year's Even Fireworks 08 - 5 Minutes Long


Closer to home was London's firework display










An estimated 700,000 people lined the banks of the Thames to get a view of the spectacular firework display around the London Eye. Celebrations are still going on through-out the world to bring in the new year.

New Years Resolutions
Well every year I try to set myself a resolution, nearly every year after the first 2 months I end up failing, I still continue to try to do the resolution but never never happens every day. This years resolution is
  • Keep fit
  • Work out every day for 5 - 10 minutes
  • Try not to bringe drink/Consume too much in very little time
I feel these little goals can be met and this year I will really try for it, although I say that every year...

2007 was a great year for me, it had its bad times, but it also had its great times. Hopefully 2008 will be even better!

Happy New Year!