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Today marks one year since the creation of WomANZ. If you are not aware, WomANZ is a community for women in Australia and New Zealand, who are a part of content creation and esports. It started with a single Tweet by Naysy.  Tweeted on 28th March 2018, by Naysy Since then, it has grown. The primary form of contact for the community is a private discord, which you can apply to become a member of [here]. There is a stream team on Twitch, and images for member to put in their panels under their stream, to show they are a member. The community is not limited to Twitch streamers, however. Anyone female, whatever their experience, is welcome. It's aim to for members to support each other in their careers online. My only in person encounter with the members of WomANZ was at PAX Australia last year, where they had a meet up, and gave some fanastic prizes away, I admit I felt uncomfortable at first, as I hadn't streamed in ages, and felt like I didn't belong. But I could see that others felt uncomfortable too. No one was mean, or bitchy, or competitive. It was very warm and supportive, and those ladies make me so proud to be a member of the community. In my opinion, we need more women online. All kinds of women, and particularly in games. The online world could always do with more diversity, showing that anyone can be a gamer, and have a gaming career. Nicole
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I've kinda disappeared from the Internet over the past few days due to computer trouble. On Saturday, my computer was beeping, and I tried everything I could to fix it. Nothing worked, so I decided to buy a new one. I had my computer for over two years, and I guess I was in need of an upgrade. My shiny new computer arrived on Tuesday, and what would you know? It worked! I turned it on to check I hadn't left anything in the CD drive - something I tend to do a lot. When I put it on, the beeps were gone. I connected a monitor, and everything was fine. I've since taken everything of use from my old computer, and reset it to default, so I can sell it second hand. I'm currently using my new computer. Hopefully I'll be able to stream over the weekend. Fingers crossed! NicoleThis is not a competition, so sorry if the title gave you that impression. I have a subscription to Loot Crate's J.K Rowlings Wizarding World, and I got the latest box a few days ago. Called "The Beasts Within" the products in the box centre around the magical beasts of the wizarding world. For some reason, I was sent two boxes. After getting in contact with Loot Crate via email, they told me I could give the spare crate to a friend. It didn't cost me anything, and apparently it was a mistake made by the warehouse. So if anyone wants it, please let me know. The following is the crate's contents - French Ministry Tin Sign Maledictus T-shirt, size 3XL Kelpie Tempered Glass Mug Baby Niffler Squish Stress Toy Set Matagot Pin Twitter is the best place to get in touch - check the connect tab above. I'll pay for postage, I just need to know where I'm sending it to. Australia is preferred, just due to the cost. Thanks, enjoy! NicoleAs some of you may know, I have two vlogs up on my YouTube channel. I am current getting some ideas together for a new channel centred around The Sims, in particular The Sims 4. I have a huge list of challenges that I want to do on the channel, which I hope people will enjoy. But right now, I'm trying to come up with a name for it. I watch a few Sims channels on YouTube, and a lot focus on building and Create A Sim videos. If I'm honest with myself, I'm not very good at either. My buildings start out square shaped, and usually stay that way. I have no sense of style, so the Sims I create ain't much better. But I am really good at the gameplay, and that is what I enjoy. I really like doing challenges in The Sims, you know, the ones that have rules and restrictions that you have to follow. However, these sort of "Let's Play" style videos have been done on YouTube before. I want to do something new, and innovative. I have noticed that people like to do Machinima, which is where they use the in game camera and video modes to make short movies. A common one is to recreate music videos in the Sims. While I find that an interesting angle to make a video of, I'm not sure if I could do that. I do want to give viewers a personal connect to the Sims in my challenges. So I wondered, what if they made vlogs? Where they talk about what's going on in their lives and what they're thinking? Maybe that would be an interesting thing to do. So now I just have to come up with a unique name. I'm finding that the hard part. Once I am ready with full details on the new channel, this website will have all the info you need, from the challenges to the videos. Any ideas on what I should call it? NicoleI was searching gaming news on Google when I came upon an article which suggests a cheaper Switch model could be launched by June this year. The article [link here] goes on to suggested the current Switch would be "upgraded" later in the year. If this is true, I personally think it would be fantastic. I know a lot of people who would love to buy a Switch, but they just can't afford it. Apparently the cheaper model would remove things like the vibration feature as "there wouldn't be many games released using the full benefit of it", according to one of the Wall Street Journal's sources. I'd like to point out that the sources are unnamed, and Nintendo declined to comment on the story. So we have no idea if the claims are valid or not. The sources pointed to an announcement in June, at E3, with the retail release to follow. For now, we just have to wait and see. NicoleSo some time ago I bought myself a Switch. It was cheaper as I traded in all my 3DS games. (I couldn't trade in the actual 3DS because I was missing the charger for it.) I love the Switch, mostly for its portability - I have not plugged it into a screen, just played it on its own, and it does great. Here are the titles I have in my collection:
Nicole#mymum is the newest hashtag that has been trending on Twitter. It has divided the Internet. While I am incredibly proud of my Mum and what she has done with her life, I also feel that a Twitter post doesn't do her justice. Granted a blog post doesn't do her much, as she won't see it, but maybe someday she will, and she'll realise how much I love her. My Mum was one of six children, right smack bang in the middle. When she came to Australia, it was a last minute thing. She had planned to go to Canada with her friend, who got pregnant and couldn't travel. As her sister was already here, Mum came to Australia. In the process, she met my Dad and the rest is history. Now a widow with two adult daughters, everyday she makes me see how much she does for me. I don't know what I would do without her. She has been by my side during some of the worst times of my life, as well as my best. My only wish is to make her proud, and all she wants for me, is to be happy. When you're young, you don't realise how much your parents do for you, what they sacrifice to make sure you have the best in life. I never once felt like I missed out, but I knew my parents weren't rich. They both worked so my sister and I would be fed, educated, clothed and all that other good stuff. I'm sure they missed out on things they wanted to do to look after us. This Mothers' Day, think about all the great things your Mum has done for you. How she has effected your life for the better. That's what the day is for, after all. NicoleI've decided that people like lists. So I'm going to blog about the conventions I would like to go to the most, and the reasons they interest me. The first convention I attended was PAX Australia in 2016, thanks to a three-day pass that I won on KryticZeuz's Twitch stream, I'm now one of his moderators, and have attended PAX AUS in 2017 and 2018. So here we go -
NicoleI had planned to put out a post on this blog every second day, but that plan went out the window yesterday. I was racking my brain for ideas. Then it dawned on me - I could show the progress I had made to my desk. Thanks to my lovely Mum, my room is so much tidier. As you can see below, however, the desk is still slightly messy. Totally my own fault.  My desk - taken just moments ago My Mum had made an attempt at cable management. The power board is now under the desk, with the cables to the power point hidden - no more tripping over the cords! It's actually quite neat.  Mum's cable management I am very lucky to have such a supportive Mum - she's been cleaning my room more times than I can count. I realise how special she really is every day. Just a reminder that, in Australia at least, it's Mother's Day this Sunday. So do something special for the Mums in your lives. NicoleI was trying to figure out a word I could use to describe myself. Individual and unique was the essence of what I wanted to stay, but I also feel that everyone is unique. So I wanted something different, something more personal to me. I liked the idea of a queen as an image of empowering women and girls, which got me thinking of Q words. I also liked the word quirky. As I'm a big fan of acronyms, I started thinking about a word for each letter of the word Quirk. I didn't know that this is actually called a reverse acronym. There are also generators online, which would make the process easier - I had to use my brain. I had the Queen for Q. I could've used Unique and Individual for U and I, but I went more personal. Unicorn and Introvert. Unicorn embraced my love of horses, and fantasy worlds - mermaids and such. Also I felt people didn't feel comfortable being introverted, and I wanted to celebrate that part of me. I chose Rebel for the R, as I don't always follow the crowd, and often I rebel against myself. Finally, I chose Kind for K, as I felt the world could stand to be more polite and kinder to each other. I hope that if others share the same views I do, they can be comfortable calling themselves quirks too and not feel alone in the world. NicoleAs it gets closer to my late father's birthday (3rd May), I can't help but think of the legacy he left behind. Looking at my immediate family, I am the last person born with the Lovell name that still has it. My sister got married and changed her name, and my Dad had two sisters. But I feel Dad left more than just a name. I feel, time and time again in my life, that I let both my parents down. Even at his funeral, my sister spoke, but I didn't despite being the oldest. So I do feel a burden to keep his memory alive somehow. All my parents wanted for me was to be happy. For most of my life though, I've been more than just unhappy - I've been depressed. Sure, it was beyond my control in some aspects, which I found out when I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. I felt I was a disappointment. With everything that has happen since Dad passed away, my Mum and I needed each other, and I realised how much I meant to her, and how much I still needed her. When I started this blog, I didn't expect it to amount to much - maybe the occassional post when I remember. But now, I keep thinking about it, while I'm at work. And I feel excited and inspired by it - something that I haven't felt in a long time. So my plan is to grow this blog as much as I can. But also, to have the courage to do other things that I love. For as long as I could remember, I wanted to be a singer. As a child I used to sing and dance on the stairs outside the kindygarden classroom. I was in the choir all my years at primary school. When I got to high school though, I stopped publically singing. Our school had no choir or dance group and when it did, I didn't join. I started to care what people thought of me, instead of what makes me happy and feel good. Even now, at 39, sharing this is difficult. I have never told anyone about my dream of being a singer. Now, what people think doesn't seem to be as important anymore. Life is too short, and too precious for that. I don't know much, but I do know that my Dad would want my life to be a happy one, whether he is here to see it or not. So I'm putting this out there, and I want to learn to write my own songs, and put an album together. I don't want fame - music just makes me happy, and I would love to have a career in it. NicoleAs I write this, a group of very lucky content creators and gaming influencers are getting the world's first look at the gameplay of Borderlands 3, the latest game in the Borderlands series made by 2K. I hope that I will be able to have a similar experience myself one day. You can follow the adventures of these Australians and New Zealanders on their social media accounts. To help you out, I'll list them below:- @BonnieDollz (Twitch) @Wyld (Twitch) @Jenzlinger (Twitch) @Loriipops (Twitch) @ZiggyDStarcraft (Twitch) @ChinglishTV (Twitch) @Tyr0din (Twitch) @SubParLover (Twitch) @Naysy (Twitch) Note the above names are also their Twitter handles. They should also lead you to other social media accounts of these fine peeps. More people to follow on Twitter if you're looking for Borderlands 3 news:- @2K_ANZ - The Australian and New Zealand account for 2K, who make Borderlands, but also NBA 2K, Bioshock, Civilisations VI, XCOM and WWE. Use the #Borderlands3 hashtag for tweets and accounts associated with the event. Special shoutout to @Pez_Bro who works for 2K, but is just a top bloke. Nicole |
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