Added thinking about apex

content/thinkings/2021-01-21-thinking-about-reading.md

@@ -15,4 +15,6 @@ Now I ponder why I don’t read to that extent anymore and it isn’t too hard t
 
 All said, I’m not sure that it’s a bad thing that I don’t read as many books as I did before, but obviously my reading is at a much shallower level. Finding a balance between the two would probably be for the best, but those habits have been formed and as we’ve been told, they hit the dopamine receptors to keep you coming back for more. I’ll end by saying that I’ll add what book I’m reading to the end of my thinking posts and it may end up being the same book for long periods of time.
 
+_Word Count: 390_
+
 Currently Reading: A Promised Land - Barack Obama

content/thinkings/2021-01-28-thinking-about-apex.md

@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+---
+title: Thinking About Apex Legends
+date: "2021-01-28"
+template: "thinking"
+draft: false
+slug: "thinking-about-apex-legends"
+category: "Thoughts"
+description: "I really enjoy playing Apex Legends!"
+socialImage:
+---
+
+If you've never heard of [Apex Legends](https://www.ea.com/games/apex-legends), it is a First Person Shooter game that [Respawn Entertainment](https://www.respawn.com/) quietly launched about two years ago. I hadn't played video games in years, but my friends were telling me about how this game was so much fun and they were playing it all the time. Finally after quite a bit of coaxing, I decided one Sunday morning to go and purchase a Playstation 4 and start my gaming journey again.
+
+My biggest problem starting out was that I hadn't played an FPS game on a console since Goldeneye on the N64 and that was quite a long time ago. Jumping into a face paced game and trying to learn how to aim using a joystick was not fun at all. I definitely struggled for probably the first six months I played the game with not being able to consistently hit the other players. It wasn't until I quit my job in September and had a bit of extra free time that I was able to start playing more consistently and saw myself finally showing improvement. I was encouraged and as the new year came around I was excited to keep on playing and see how much better I could get.
+
+A few months into 2020 and I could tell I wasn't getting any better, maybe even getting a little worse. I noticed my stats weren't quite as good and I wasn't doing as well in the games. I started to look for different ways to practice aside from just playing, but there weren't really any options. That is when I started thinking about switching from PS4 to PC. As a kid and through my high school years, I had gamed on a PC. From StarCraft II to World of Warcraft to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, I had played a ton of different genres but I had always used a mouse and & keyboard. I started doing some research on what it would cost to build a PC that would run pretty much any game out there and thanks to the Reddit community [Build A PC For Me](https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcforme/) I was able to come across a build that landed right in my price range. However, I had never built a PC from scratch myself and was a little hesitant to do so but I decided to go for it and started ordering the parts.
+
+Once all the parts had arrived, I had to start putting things together. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be, especially since the CPU came with the heatsink already attached and I didn't have to go through the process of applying thermal paste. I recall the hardest part was actually figuring out where the plug all the fans into the motherboard to get them actually working. After getting everything together and cautiously pressing the power button for the first time, to my astonishment, the PC actually booted up! But, it had no visual coming through to the monitor. I tried everything I could think of and nothing was working so I decided to go to Reddit again to see if anyone could help me out. I posted on the [Gigabyte Gaming](https://www.reddit.com/r/gigabytegaming/) subreddit, as my motherboard is made by [Gigabyte](https://www.gigabyte.com/), asking for help about [Gigabyte Aorus B450 Pro Wifi wont boot to BIOS](https://www.reddit.com/r/gigabytegaming/comments/gj63hr/gigabyte_aorus_b450_pro_wifi_wont_boot_to_bios/). I'm quite embarrassed by this exchange but very happy that `FastJoe90` was able to help me out.
+
+> FastJoe90
+>
+> Ill start with the obvious. HDMI cable plugged into your GPU and not your motherboard?
+
+---
+
+> jer-k
+>
+> HDMI cable is plugged into the motherboard. I haven't even removed the covers for the plugs on the GPU.
+
+---
+
+> FastJoe90
+>
+> Plug it into your GPU. Your CPU doesn’t have onboard GPU so you’re essentially plugged into nothing.
+
+---
+
+> jer-k
+>
+> You know I thought I read somewhere that it did have an onboard graphics card, but I guess not. Plugging it into the GPU worked! I guess only using laptops for the past 10 years made me not even consider the fact that I needed to plug into the card! Thank you!!
+
+---
+
+> FastJoe90
+>
+> No problem. You’d expect it to to function as a sort of pass through, but unfortunately it does not. Glad to help though. Congrats on the impressive build
+
+---
+
+Like `FastJoe90` said, I guess I thought that the fact that the video card is plugged into the motherboard means that if the HDMI cable is plugged into the motherboard it is using the graphics card because I hadn't even tried to plug into the graphics card. WHOOPS! Nonetheless, the computer finally booted to BIOS, I was able to get Windows installed, and was on my way to gaming on a PC again.
+
+I digress, but I quickly installed Apex Legends on the PC and was back in the game. It had been about 12 years since I had played COD4 but I immediately felt more comfortable than I ever had on PS4 and using a controller. In the first six weeks of playing on PC I was able to have better stats than I ever did on PS4 and get to a higher ranking. I knew I was going to enjoy the game more now that I felt comfortable with the inputs and I haven't stopped enjoying it yet! Sometimes when I play, the game puts me into games with people way better than me, but I'm not discouraged in those games, rather I try to learn what I can and continue improving.
+
+People can think video games are a waste of time, but to that I say whatever brings you joy, whether it be reading, watching TV, going on a walk, or playing videos, you should never feel bad about doing those activities. We all need balance in our life between work, exercise, and leisure and I just happen to enjoy playing videos at this time.
+
+_Word Count: 878_
+
+Still Reading: A Promised Land - Barack Obama

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