Category: Miscellaneous
A little bit of everything. Books, games, interesting tools and articles – you can find various things here :)
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Shakes & Fidget Game
Ever since I was young, I’ve always enjoyed playing video games. As I was growing up and life became a bit busier, I didn’t have as much time to devote to playing games as I used to. But here and there, I found a browser game or a mobile game (or another mobile game) that kept me busy for a while. Nevertheless, there was one browser game I kinda always came back to – Shakes & Fidget.
Shakes & Fidget
This game has been around for quite a while, ever since 2009. It has its forum and wiki and it’s been localized in many languages. The community around this game is impressive and there are a lot of YouTubers covering this game. Over the course of 13 years (already!), it has received numerous updates and content expansion and it’s a perfect game for folks who don’t have time but still need their RPG-leveling boost now and then 🙋
Classes and Races
If you ever decide to give it a go, the first thing you’ll need to decide is which class you’d want to play. There are currently 8 classes in the game.
Each class offers a different play style but in the end, all classes are well-balanced. Besides these 8 classes, you can also choose among 8 different races:
Gameplay
Once you select your class, race, and you give your character a name, you enter the Shakes & Fidget game world. You don’t actively fight in the game, though. You go on quests, complete different missions, and level up your character. Your character automatically does all the fighting but it’s up to you how you prepare it for battle.
You can play the game for ~10 minutes per day and still make quite a nice progress. This is what I love about the game! Also, you can play it completely for free but the game does offer paid upgrades to help you speed up your progress.
Ever since I discovered this game many, many years ago, I’ve been playing it with different characters up until different stages of the game. The names of the items and the characters you encounter are just hilarious. There are characters from so many TV shows, movies, and games that you encounter in the Shakes & Fidget game and it puts a smile on my face every time I see a new one:
I’ve been playing the same character for over a year now, and I love the game content I’ve seen so far. Also, I’ve been playing it in German so that’s definitely helped me level up my German language skills a bit 🙂
I’m looking forward to the new updates the game developers will issue in the future. Keep up the great work, folks! 🙏
P.S. One other reason why I love this game – it very nicely reflects one of my favorite quotes of all time:
Most people optimize for the day ahead. A few people optimize for 1-2 years ahead. Almost nobody optimizes for 3-4 years ahead (or longer).
James Clear
The person who is willing to delay gratification longer than most reduces competition and gains a decisive advantage. Patience is power.
Edit on December 29th, 2022: Made a break for ~5 months and then continued with a casual play. A snapshot of my character at the end of this year 👇
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Duolingo
During my childhood and later during my high school and college years, I was always drawn to learning languages. For me, it was always comparable to discovering a completely new world and then drawing parallels to the origins of different languages. It was always good fun and experience and I loved it.
Cartoon Network
This was my first English language teacher. Growing up in Serbia, we had access to a few foreign channels, and Cartoon Network was one of them. There was no Serbian subtitle but nevertheless, I really liked the channel and this is when I let the English language start planting its roots into my brain.
Video Games
I always loved playing video games. Of course, all of them were in English so I got used to reading and writing in English.
Philological High School of Belgrade
This is where I continued learning English but where I also started extensively learning the Italian language and literature.
Faculty of Philology
This was my next stop when it comes to learning languages. I polished my English language skills and I dove deeper into Italian.
Italian Call Centre
During my 4th year, I started working in an Italian Call Centre. Looking back, I am fairly sure that this is when I actually really learned Italian. Speaking to Italian folks every day for 8 hours allowed me to level up my Italian skills 🙂
Devana and Automattic
I’ve already described the path I took in the IT industry and this is where I got a chance to use the English language on a daily basis.
Enter Duolingo
A couple of years ago, I learned about the Duolingo app and I got completely blown away. I always wanted to learn some French so I used Duolingo and I got to the A1 level fairly quickly. I also took a few private French lessons and I was surprised how much Duolingo actually taught me.
Even though my French faded quite a bit (I stopped learning after a ~5 months), I never forgot Duolingo and the potential it has when it comes to learning a new language.
German Language
Since my wife is German, I’m currently living between Germany and Serbia. We still haven’t decided where we’re going to settle for good but nevertheless, I had to start learning German. I started with Duolingo again and this is the result I achieved in November 2021:
During this time, I also borrowed a few books from the Goethe Institute, I practiced my German speaking skills with my wife, and I watched movies and tv shows with German subtitles.
I have passed the official A2 German exam in November. I am currently preparing for B1 💪 and I am on a 469-day streak in Duolingo.
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On Clear Reality
Awareness is often enough to motivate change.
Simply tracking your food intake will motivate you to alter it. Merely writing down your problems may spark ideas for possible solutions.
The process starts with seeing reality clearly.
James Clear
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About Tomorrow
Tomorrow becomes never. No matter how small the task, take the first step now.
Tim Ferris