I recently had a minor hernia (probably caused by holding a sneeze in - I’ve snapped a belt before when sneezing!), which I’ve just had repaired by keyhole surgery. I paid to have the surgery performed privately instead of waiting for an operation on the NHS. Why? Read on…

2nd dan grading

I’m training up for my 2nd dan grading in Aikido which is in September. This is the culmination of 11 years of training and teaching - so it’s pretty important to me. Having a hernia meant that I couldn’t carry on with my hard training in case it got worse, so I needed to get it operated on ASAP in order to resume training.

Health Mind and Body

Aikido helps to keep my mind and body healthy, and when my general health drops I get more tired, ill more often, and less motivated to do stuff (like work). Also, when not training, I notice that my mind thinks about work all the time and starts to get paranoid about dumb stuff. Aikido really helps because when I’m there I’m doing something totally different - so I don’t think about work or my day to day life. The breathing and meditation also helps a LOT of course, so I’ve tried to keep that going.

Waiting around is not good

If I waited for an operation on the NHS I would have missed my 2nd Dan grading and had to wait for a whole year before I could take it again. Furthermore I would’ve been walking around for months knowing that I had to be really careful not to make my hernia worse. Plus my health would have suffered and, ipso facto, my work would have suffered. Therefore I decided to take action and pay to have the operation done privately.

Spend more for a better result

I was given a choice of two types of operation: open surgery and keyhole surgery (which cost more). Keyhole surgery is less invasive and so there is a quicker recovery time. Thus I opted to spend the extra money on keyhole surgery because:

a) it meant that I could get back to work sooner and thus earn money sooner (the extra cost of the operation would be offset by increased earnings by getting back to work days earlier)

b) it meant that I could start training for my 2nd dan again quicker and harder (and as a side effect my work motivation and output would improve)

c) in theory there would be less pain (well it still bloody hurt!).

Your body is like your car

So there you have it. Let me make an analogy: if you had a car that you needed for work, you’d spend the money to get it fixed ASAP rather than waiting around for a friend to fix it for free several months later. Also if you had a choice of two repair methods and one method cost more but you’d make that money back through your ability to work sooner, you’d do that too because it makes business sense right? Well that’s what I did with my body.

Now spend some money on yourself!

As an aside, people would often PREFER to spend money on their car than themselves, when maybe they need to see a dentist, or get some new glasses, or have a massage or some acupuncture, or even just join a gym. This is quite amusing, but it’s a common trait. So, I challenge you to think “how could I spend money on my body or some holistic treatment that will improve my life and work?” and then go and do it!

P.S.

I want to say two more things:

One is that I think the NHS is great and we are very lucky to have it. I just needed things to move faster this time which is why I went private. I’m considering health insurance so that I can have more choice in the future - this seems to make sense if your business can be affected by your health; after all, you insure pretty much everything else right?

Also, I didn’t have enough money for the operation. I used all my savings and also asked for money gifts from relatives for my birthday which helped (thanks all!), and then I got a thing called a BMI card which is basically a medical credit card that has 0% interest for 6 months - bargain! I put the remainer of the cost on the BMI card and will pay it off before the interest kicks in. There’s always a way if you look for it!

I was just updating my Résumé/CV based on the last 3 years of writing casual games and I initially came up with a rather dry, factual chronological list of what I’ve been doing. Then Helen, my super-skilled Science writer/editor partner, took a look at it and made some great suggestions about how to “big myself up” by demonstrating what skills I’ve used/learned as part of my job. Here’s the two versions, see if you can spot the difference…

First

“After writing several free downloadable games as “practice pieces” I produced my first commercial casual game, Xmas Bonus (a match-3 puzzle), and launched it at the end of 2005. Since then I have written four more commercial games: Easter Bonus, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Holiday Bonus and Fairway Solitaire. I was contracted to write the Oz game for Injoy Games, and I was contracted to write Fairway Solitaire (a downloadable conversion of an online game) for Big Fish Games. Fairway Solitaire is currently the #1 card game on BFG, and even achieved #1 on apple.com – I’m very proud of this game. At present I’m writing my sixth game as a contractor for BFG.”

Second

“I honed my game development skills by writing several free downloadable games as “practice pieces” before producing my first commercial casual game, Xmas Bonus (a match-3 puzzle). I then built and managed a small team to develop Easter Bonus. My Grey Alien Game Framework has achieved international success and has powered not only my own games but also those of numerous other developers. One example is The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which I programmed for Injoy Games. I then produced Holiday Bonus, another highly polished match-3 game, just in time for Christmas. Now gaining recognition for my tight game programming and polished style, I was happy to be approached by Big Fish Games (BFG) to develop Fairway Solitaire (a downloadable conversion of an online game). I am proud that Fairway Solitaire is currently the #1 card game on BFG, and even achieved #1 on apple.com. At present I’m writing my sixth game, for BFG, and co-producing a time management game as a hobby.”

Note the skills that I’ve dropped into the 2nd version. I’ve mentioned that I can “produce” my own games, build teams, develop powerful engines, do contract work, meet tight deadlines, be head hunted for my quality, convert online games, and that I live and breathe games so much that I’m even making one in my spare time

So in conclusion, sell yourself with your CV. It’s basically self-marketing, not a dry list making exercise…

I was just reading this article about Richard Garriott, a well-known game developer, who is soon going to be a “private” astronaut (in that he has paid for his own ticket).

This story is inspiring to me in a few ways. 1) he has amassed enough cash through making games to be able to pay $30,000,000 for a ticket! 2) he always wanted to go into space and he is about to achieve that aim, nice one! 3) his family thought that game development was a temporary windfall and that it would dry up, but he sure made it work big time.

Actually, like most kids, I wanted to go into space and build rockets as well and I thought that working at NASA might be a good way to get that done, but perhaps it could be done privately. So lets see what the future holds…

Oh and I loved the Ultima serious of games, they are brilliant.