Isolation day 16: Pokémon X&Y Retrospective

The generations of Pokémon which I look back at most fondly are the Gold, Silver and Crystal Generation (Generation 2) which were the first Pokémon games I played, the Diamond, Pearl and Platinum Generation (Generation 4) which reignited my interest in the games and the X and Y Generation (Generation 6) because it reinvigorated the…

Isolation day 15: Shop normal

Today I waited in line for over an hour to get into the supermarket. It was my fault, I didn’t take into consideration the fact that tomorrow is Easter Friday, a day that the supermarkets would normally be closed, and that payments for people and families on the different social services benefits get paid overnight…

Isolation day 14: Wow, has it really been 2 weeks already?

This morning my partner and I were discussing what we missed most while New Zealand is under the Level 4 Response level to COVID-19. He misses fast food, particularly sushi, and we are down to our last 4 frozen pieces of KFC chicken. I, on the other hand, have been relishing this isolation after a…

Isolation day 13: Memes

I don’t have a topic to talk about today so I thought I’d just make a post sharing some fun science memes that I have used while teaching, broken down by subject. Chemistry Biology Physics I will be updating this post if I find more memes.

Isolation day 12: Patterns of inheritance

This post follows on from a previous post, Isolation day 3: School Holidays, so I recommend reading that post if you are unfamiliar with how proteins are sequenced and produced in cells. In that post I introduced the terms gene, allele, dominant and recessive and how this relates to the expression traits in an organism….

Isolation day 11: Audiobooks

I was introduced to audiobooks by my partner. Before I met him I was quite content with hard copy books and had a pretty decent bookshelf of series that I would regularly go back and reread. One of my favourite things to do was to curl up on the fluffy blanket on my bed with…

Isolation day 9: Review of Pokémon Sword

Nostalgia is a powerful force, but because Pokémon has been around for so long there are some expectations that loyal followers of the franchise, such as myself, have. While this game is undeniably Pokémon, it falls short of what it could have been. ★★★✩✩ Now because this review has been written several months after the…

Isolation day 8: Corn Chowder

The weather has been very changeable over this first week in isolation. There has been several days where it was pouring with rain, a couple where it was sunny and warm, yesterday was really misty and today its overcast and grey. Weather on the wintry side is when soup is one of my meals of…

Isolation day 7: Travel

Looking at the stats of the coronavirus cases in New Zealand, it shows some interesting trends. The trend that I will be focusing on today is to do with one of the Kiwi traditions: an OE. While New Zealand is a country known for many things, such as rugby, Lord of the Rings, and the…

Isolation day 6: Author focus

In December of last year I read Joe Abercrombie’s newest book, A Little Hatred. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was enthralling to return to Adua and meet up with with characters such as Jezal, Glokta, Ardee and their children, as well as heading to the North where conflict has never truly settled and it is…