Andrzej Marczewski

Gamification Expert, author, consultant and designer. I love to write about it, talk about it and bore people to death with it! If you really want to get to know me, check out the About page.

Martial Arts and me

by

Martial arts and me

Here I am, 31 with about 10 years of Martial arts experience, a 3rd dan black belt, until recently my own club and a real problem with it all! You see until a few days ago I thought I was doing it all for the wrong reasons. I have not trained properly for nearly a year, I have not taught for about 6 months so have had time to think about what it all means to me.

My fear has been that I was doing it just to collect a black belt. See, there is a group of Martial artists out there who I call belt collectors. They strive to get as many belts in as many arts as they can, not that there is anything wrong with that if your motivation is to learn. But a lot are motivated by that elusive black belt and the power that comes with it! I guarantee that most of them would rather die than step on the mat with another coloured belt on! Part of my problem has been I have never felt that I deserved my black belt. Sure I have trained regularly for years, taught for years and have several permanent injuries! But was that enough? For some it is about physical achievement, but for me and many others it is more than that, I have changed and grown as a person. Then it struck me, I hadn’t wanted to go back, it was no longer fun. I kept feeling like I had to achieve something every day! So in the new year I shall go back with a fresh set of eyes and a less jaded opinion of what it all means. I will go back knowing that if I didn’t deserve my 3rd dan I would never have got it. Most of all I will go back because I want to and enjoy it! Read More ...

Swine Flu coverage and my rant!

by

Dear World

First off, please ignore this as I am just having a rant! I wish I had more followers so that this would be noticed by a few people!!At this moment in time, my daughter is lying in bed with a temperature of 39.5 C. This is pretty high and a bit worrying!What is a bit more worrying is that my daughters nursery has had a confirmed case of swine flu.Now as a sensible person I do not tend to worry about things that are sensationalised by the papers and the news. Bird flu etc. I could just let pass by as I knew the news was blowing it out of proportion.But this is different, this is my little girl and all I can see in any paper or on any channel is people saying we are all going to die from swine flu. This is very scary to me right at this moment. Not so much because of the press coverage, although I do believe that it is irrisponsible and just plain wrong the way the press is handling it, but because I can not get through to talk to anyone who may know some answers!NHS direct has melted down entirely, and are not taking calls. The GP will call me back some time today and I have no information about the swine flu hotline that is of any use.All I want is the truth and some advice that will put my mind at ease.As for the way the press cover things like this, you should be ashamed of scaremongering. I really hope none of you have to deal with something like this and then have to read the arse gravy you are spreading about it.And relax.

Stop telling me that Twitter is pointless.

by
1196217 69655227 e1369641656752 Stop telling me that Twitter is pointless

I am getting very fed up of reading about how I should be using, or should not be using, Twitter.

When Twitter started it posed one simpled question. “What are you doing?”

The answer to this question is often mundane. I am eating my breakfast. This appears to upset a lot of people. They seem to think that Twitter should have some productive value. It should help the world in some way. But why?

What is wrong with something, that on the face of it, is pointless. Just look at Paris Hilton. She has no use what so ever, yet millions of people still tune in to watch her latest reality show.So this may be the latest fad, like Facebook before it and Myspace before that.

But is Twitter really of no use, even when taken at its literal use? Well no. Some people may in fact be interested in me eating my breakfast. And so what? If you are not interested, don’t follow me! Read More ...

What kind of ridiculous society do we live in.

by

I just had to get this off my chest, and I know it will take more than 140 characters!

I have just been walking into work and saw a small boy standing at the side of the road. He had no parents near by, nor did he have anyone looking for him.

What was my first reaction, was it to go and see if he was lost (as he was about to walk into the road) ,or was it to walk on by for fear of being labeled a child molester. You got it, I started to walk on by, just looking at him and wishing I could help.

Luckily common sense kicked in and I walked back to make sure he did not step off the kerb. As I did so a woman came out of the school, looking horrified at me walking towards the boy, and shouted to him that she would come over to help him find his Mummy. She actually pushed passed me to do this, as if I was mere scum in her way to the boys rescue. Read More ...

If you have nothing to hide, then why so worried?

by

With all of the recent press about Google Streets and them ‘spying’ on our lives, I got to thinking. What have the people of the uk got to hide?
 
Google Streets vans are going up and down the country taking snapshots of roads, towns and streets. Single frames from peoples lives. Now why are people so scared, what are they hiding that a single snapshot could reveal? A man got caught with a woman he wad not meant to be with, someone was snapped being arrested and much more.

On the flip side we see kittens crossing roads, people going about their everyday, legal, business. Read More ...