Just Another Blokes Blog

Better Late Than Never (Right?)

Less than a week into my life as a blogger, and I’m already falling behind; you’re getting to see the real me now. I had started working on a post last night, and I could give you some BS excuse as to why I didn’t post anything, but I’m all about honesty here.

I was playing Assassin’s Creed, got tired and fell asleep. I woke up at about 4am to find my character sitting on a tree branch where I had placed him about 3 hours earlier; that’s true dedication right there.

I love gaming. I started gaming when I was about 6 or 7; my dad brought home an old Amstrad, and since then I’ve played on almost every console out there. My current set-up consists of my trusty PS4 and Xbox One. I refuse to upgrade unless either one of them breaks, but I’m noticing more and more games being published for the newer gens only, so I’ll eventually be forced into upgrading. My go-to games at the moment are:

• Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
• Fortnite
• Rocket League
• High On Life
• Watch Dogs: Legion

Fortnite and Rocket League wouldn’t normally be my cup of tea, but my son loves them, so I’ve jumped on the bandwagon to play with him, and I’m not going to lie, I love it. He’s 9 years old, so he’s finally at the age where we can actually game together without me having to stop every 5 mins to show him the controls; it’s the other way around now!!

But with technology come problems…

Inquisitive 9-year-old + YouTube = Disaster

So as I mentioned above, my son loves to game. He stays with me every weekend, so from Friday until Sunday night is the highlight of my week; I live for the time we spend together.

He’s basically a mini me, so we love the same things, with gaming being one of those things, so I normally park my games during this time, and we play whatever he wants to play – a win-win situation for both of us. When he’s not gaming, he likes to watch YouTube on his Switch; he does watch the highlights of the football or videos on gaming, the normal stuff.

Well, that’s what I thought until earlier today.

When I collect him on Fridays, he normally runs out to the car, full of energy and buzzing about something new to tell me. He has ADHD, so anyone else who has kids with ADHD will know exactly what that’s like, but for those of you who don’t know what it’s like, just imagine a 9-year-old after drinking a can of Red Bull. It can be intense, but I love his energy.

Today was different, though.

He strolled out to the car with his Switch and headset in hand, climbed into the car and pulled his seatbelt on with a little “hi, Dad” under his breath. His mum walked out behind him, and I looked at her to see if she knew what was wrong, and let’s just say the facial expression told me everything.

Then she said the dreaded sentence, “Are you going to tell your dad what happened?”, so I knew this was bad.

After getting him settled in the car, we drove back to mine. As I drove off, I asked what happened, and he burst out crying. The whole drive home (about 15 mins), he just sobbed; I couldn’t get a word out of him.

We parked up, I gave him a few more minutes to get it out of his system and then calmed him down. I knew what had happened; his mum had told me, but I wanted him to tell me, so I asked again, and he eventually owned up to what he had done.

Turns out he was searching for more than chug jugs on YouTube.

He told me everything he had searched for and why he searched for them, saying he had heard things being mentioned in other videos he had watched, so curiosity got the best of him.

I’m very laid-back when it comes to parenting, so I didn’t want to make too much of a big deal about it. I know he’s at that age when he’s going to start questioning things, and I’d rather be there to give him advice or support instead of having him fear bringing these things up in conversation, but I also want to set some ground rules on what he can’t be doing.

I’ve already told him he’s banned from YouTube, but should I have gone further with the punishment, or have I taken the right approach in speaking to him about it? Don’t get me wrong; as laid-back as I am, I do give out to him when he’s bold, but in this situation I’m not sure what’s the best way to handle this.

What are your thoughts on the whole situation, or maybe you could share this post with someone who’s had a similar case before to get their insight on how best to handle it?

Job Hunting – Shooting Blanks

I have this interview next Tuesday, but I’m not making the same mistake I did last time where I stopped searching, so I’ve applied for another 8 jobs since my last update. I got a message back about one where they wanted to set up a call but never heard back.

I have to admit I find the recruitment agencies extremely frustrating to deal with lately. I’ve sent my CV off to most of the major agencies and heard very little back.

Don’t get me wrong, I know I’m not the only unemployed person out there, but even a quick 5-minute call to see what I’m looking for or an email back to acknowledge they got my CV would be nice. But nope, total silence, and then it’s the same after applying for a job they’re advertising.

The companies are the same; you get a standard email to say they got the application but then nothing after that.

I applied for a job weeks ago and decided to message the hiring manager on LinkedIn when I saw it still open today. She wrote back saying, “Oh, that job was filled over a month ago,” but yet they’re still advertising it. I reported them to LinkedIn, but I’m sure they don’t give a damn either.

Anyone searching for jobs at the moment knows how timely it can be looking and applying, so when you hear something like that, it really knocks you back. How many other jobs have I applied for that are already closed??

Well, that’s enough ranting from me tonight, but I’ll be back soon with another update on the daily life of a random bloke.

Enjoying the ramble? You can keep the coffee flowing here. ☕

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Peace out and much love,

The Bloke