Be a better person in 8 steps

There is no limit to self improvement and while nobody can be perfect, it is good practice to constantly take steps towards becoming a better individual. Everybody wants to become better than they are currently and though the process would involve changes in lifestyle, thought processes and even some risk taking, it is well worth it. You need to take it as a challenge and once you are successful, you will notice that your own assessment of yourself goes up many notches and you are also more amiable to others.

So let us look at what you need to do to bring about positive changes in your personality.

1. WEIGH THE IMPACT YOUR WORDS AND ACTIONS HAVE ON OTHERS

You must be alive to the fact that your words and actions carry some impact on those around you. In fact even when you speak harshly to somebody or honk needlessly irritated at the person in the front, you are causing disturbance to people in the surrounding. This result in a spin off effect and many more people get impacted. It is therefore extremely important to duly consider and pause before you utter something or act hastily.

Similarly your reactions to something harsh or rude should also be a measured one. If somebody does speak rudely to you, it is not necessary for you to shout back at him or her. If you counter such animosity with a smile, you would have dissipated any feeling of anger from the opposite person and you will also go back a satisfied and contented person feeling good about yourself. It obviously calls for great mental discipline and resolve, but can be achieved over time.

2. PAUSE AND REFLECT BEFORE SPEAKING

It is said that words can hurt an individual more than physical violence as scars borne out of violence will heal in due course but somebody hurt by a verbal volley will not be able to forget it so quickly. It is therefore very imperative for you to pause and think before you say anything harsh or react to a situation spontaneously. Though you may be right and honest in your response, it can create discomfort in the person to whom it is directed and that is why many wise men have recommended that you are supposed to think carefully before reacting with any action or words.

You only need to ponder about how you would feel if somebody were to use the same words against you and that should prevent you from saying anything in a rush.

Mousehunt Guide/ Walkthrough by Jonathan & Justin Part 5 !

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  MasTER 

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Jonathan: Alright, you've earned yourself a respectable rank: ~Master~
I hope you enjoyed the hike in the Mountain &
the picnic in Calm Clearing, because your holiday
ends here. Steel yourself as you enter the
darker world of MouseHunt...


Justin: Master. This is where you really begin to explore the marvel of Crafting;
where you begin converting cheese and imbuing potions, and where mice loot becomes so important.
It is where you understand the true meaning of Red Boxes and frustration.
Relax. It's also the rank where you become really rich.
Well, much richer than you've every been so far, anyway.



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More this and more of that
More places, more mice, more cheese.
Everything a person of your rank would expect.
That...& more. :)
      

But, first..Before we head off to the new Region, we have to prepare for it!
Head back to the Town of Gwania.Yes, it's that time again.
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LOCATION: TOWN OF GNAWNIA

•   REPLENISH YOUR SUPPLIES         

Buy about 300 Swiss Cheese.
This should be enough to last you through your next stint.
When you're done, get ready-
We're about to craft your first item.

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The art of crafting
Crafting is a very crucial aspect of Mousehunt.
In the later part of the game, you will be crafting all sorts of
weapons, bases, cheese, and even a ship!

The logic is pretty simple. You gather (loot, buy, etc.) ingredients
and plop them into your crafting tabs (on your crafting page).
By combining these ingredients, you will produce something new.

Be warned, though!
If you try to craft a recipe that requires you to use the red crafting box on your page,
you may fail at the combine, & lose all your attempted ingredients!
(Note: The rest of your ingredients not used in that recipe stays safe)

With each increase of rank, you earn an extra tab to help you craft successfully.
Therefore, you'll be able to craft items requiring more ingredients as you increase in rank.
(Justin: be patient. We're in the midst of writing a kickass crafting guide with all the recipes.)
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• CRAFT YOUR NEW BASE        

The ingredients are as follows:

 ⁺⁺⁼ 

Dehydration Base Blueprints	x1
Salt	x213
Splintered Wood	x4

Using the ingredients that you bought in the Harbour
& the wood you collected in your previous travels, you
will get to craft a new base, the Dehydration Base.
(If you haven't bought them, get them now)

Dehydration Base
Power: 225
Attraction: 5%
Luck: 4
Cheese Effect: Insanely Fresh

You'll immediately notice that the Dehydration has less power than the Explosive Base.
This has to be some sort of mistake, right? No.

The Deyhdration was created for two purposes.
Luck and Cheese Effect.

Huh? Explain, please...

Mousehunt Guide/ Walkthrough by Jonathan & Justin Part 4 !

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  jOURneYmaN 

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Jonathan: Woot! You're a Journeyman now, so be prepared to travel
in search of more mice to add to your collection. Lots of new mice, &
perhaps, just perhaps, you might spot a Sasquatch, or one of its
distant relations. Now pack your knapsack & don't forget
to read the instructions below before moving on!

Justin: lol, Sasquatch.
Congrats on reaching another rank!! And thanks for staying with us.
Your mice collection should be coming along nicely;
The experiences so far has surely helped you get a better feel of the game.
As a Journeyman, you will begin to see rarer mice, and a bunch of new ones!
Don't stop now, lots of cool stuff are now coming along as you progress!




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Ready?
The Journeyman rank is where you find yourself with lots more freedom to play around.
TWO NEW AREAS have been unlocked for you:
(provided you have the Whisker Woods Map Piece)

• Mountain, Gnawnia         
• Calm Clearing, Whisker Woods        
  

We recommend that you head over to the Mountain first.

Why?
There are many reasons for this. But i'll just name 3.
Firstly, you HAVE to hunt for a new map piece.
Secondly, i'm sure you want to spot a rare & elusive mouse (if it exists).
Thirdly, it makes sense to finish up the last area within the Gnawnia region before moving on.
Preparing for the Mountain
Don't get too excited just yet.
Before heading there, we must make our preparations.

As usual, go back to The Town of Gnawnia.

LOCATION: TOWN OF GNAWNIA

• CHOOSE YOUR FATE      

A 'Force'ful decision..
Welcome to the first crossroad in our guide:
choosing whether or not to purchase a weapon.
There is no straightforward answer...(Jonathan: Trust us, there isn't.)

Introducing:
The NVMRC Forcefield Trap

NVMRC Forcefield Trap
Power: 2,350
Power Bonus: 12%
Attraction Bonus: 10%
Luck: 12
Cheese Effect: No Effect

~----------------------------------: SHORTCUT :------------------------------~
For those lazy people who just wants a quick answer to this dilemma
& refuse to read our explanations,
skip the big debate by clicking Jon's Rule of Thumb.
(Which is just a couple of scrolls down. If you clicked it, you're prolly REALLY lazy)
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Mousehunt Guide/ Walkthrough by Jonathan & Justin Part 3 !

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aPPRenTice 

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Justin: Congrats on the new rank!
It didn't take as long as you thought now, did it?

Jonathan: Congratz! But don't get your bubbleh out
too early. Read the below before celebrating.


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Warning!
Dear adventurer, you will now be leaving the sanctuary of ToG & the Meadow.
Please, be warned.
Mice in other locations can & will steal either your cheese, gold, or points.
We term this pesky phenomenon as 'Red Boxes', the bane of
all MouseHunters out there.

"Proceed with caution. You have been warned..."
But before that...
Now that you've graduated from being a Novice,
you get access to some nifty features that you couldn't use before, i.e.
Trading, Giving To Friends, Crafting & Tournaments!
(Justin: you should head over to MHWiki to read up on these)
You also get to collect all those stale cheese,
which now nicely goes into your inventory.

Now move along...~-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~

Cheese?
You're still going to be using Marble Cheese, for now.
Trust us, you want to minimize costs.
(Jonathan: Yeah, just think of the price tag on the SAMT *sweats*)

• STOCK UP.        

Buy a minimum of 100 Marble Cheese & travel to the Harbour (529g).
It's important to note that the
Harbour does not have a Cheese Shoppe OR a Trapsmith.
(Justin: In fact, only ToG has a Cheese Shoppe and Trapsmith in this region)


NEW LOCATION: HARBOUR

Thank God! A new area!
Breathe in the salty sea breeze and enjoy the new view.
There's some new mice here. But also lots of old ones.

So, what's our next move?

Mousehunt Guide/ Walkthrough by Jonathan & Justin Part 2 !

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  NOVice 

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Justin: I hope your free 3 first horns caught you something nice!
If you caught something other than a White/Brown/Grey mouse, you're fairly lucky.
NOTE: Just so you know, clicking on the Mousehunt badge on the left
of your green  CAMP  button will open your Hunting Profile page.

Jonathan: I'll assume that you've at least read abit of the How to Play Guide
and a portion of the newbie guide above. You must be feeling
pretty blur right now, so thats where this guide comes in! Enjoy! =)

Enough, let's start already!
Okay, okay. Chill.
Here we go. This is where it all begins.

THE TOWN OF GNAWNIA

Your adventure begins here. Here in the Town..

The Traveler.
You're currently in the Town of Gnawnia (an area), in Gnawnia (a region).
This is where you start the game.
You're allowed to travel to new areas and regions as you increase in rank.
No matter where you are in the game, Travelling to ToG is always free.

Your map (the full map) slowly gets bigger as you gain access to the new areas.
You'll also be delighted to know that the Menu bar's scenery (under your Hunter's Horn) changes according to your area.
your current one should be a boy and a girl and some greenery.

New areas are unlocked either by:
a) reaching a certain rank
b) getting a certain map piece to that area
c) both of the above

But more on that later.

• BUY CHEDDAR CHEESE      
  Visit the Cheese Shoppe & buy about 20 Cheddar cheese (or whatever amount that brings it to 40 cheddar).
  You'll note that there are other cheese available, but don't use them even if you can afford it.
  It's just not worth it, and Cheddar will do fine for now.

Jonathan: For those mathcraft freaks who are reading this, heres an explanation:
White/Brown/Grey Mice, often refered to as 'Coloured Mice' (no racial discrimination meant) give about 100-150 gold each (give or take).
Take a look at the table below:

Cheese	Cost
Cheddar	10
Marble	50
Swiss	100
Brie	200

As you can see, using Brie cheese will definitely incur a net loss of about 50-100 gold/coloured mouse.
Swiss cheese will allow you to breakeven or make up to 50% profit.
Marble cheese will allow you to make about 100%-150% profit
The best choice is Cheddar, where you make at least 1000% profit (10x profit).

SuperBrie|+.....what?
You may or may not find yourself with some cheese called SuperBrie+.
This is a very special cheese that offers 99% attraction rate to a lot of the mice in the game.
Whatever you do, don't use your SuperBrie+ yet!
More info here.

• TRAVEL TO THE MEADOW TO HUNT      

Travel to Meadow (25g) & hunt there.
NEW LOCATION: MEADOW

No, no Bella, no Edward; No Henry, no Clare.
Man, you guys are imaginative. The only thing that sparkles like Diamonds in the sunlight
is the Diamond Mouse. Geez.
You'll be seeing a lot of Coloured mice here. Get used to these.
The reason we asked you to use Cheddar is because of its cheap cost,
as you will immediately want to save up gold for new stuff.

Mousehunt Guide/ Walkthrough by Jonathan & Justin !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~o~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
nEwbie
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~o~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wait!
There's no such rank!
We know. But before you continue, there's some stuff we want to tell you.
We highly recommend you read:
How to play  : Basic information on the way Mousehunt works.
Mousehunt Wiki : Starting Guide, Basic logic of the gameplay, Basic FAQs
(please, at least glance through them a bit).

This is so that you have the basic understanding of Hunting, Points and Progress.
(mouseover for brief descriptions)

So it begins!
Larry (yes, the knight with the moustache) will help you with
everything you need to build your very first weapon.

Larry
 He will also train you on how to use the Hunter's Horn,
the most important thing in Mousehunt.

Setting up.
Basically how it works:
-trap      mouseover for description    bait-

Weapon | Base | Cheese combines to affect your Power, Attraction, & Luck.

*Power Bonus and Attraction Bonus further increases them according to their %

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POWER	Generally the most important stat. The higher the power, the more mice you'll be able to catch.
POWER TYPE	Only important after the rank of Master. Until then, ignore  this.
POWER BONUS	It increases your total power by a %. Therefore, only important at later stages.
ATTRACTION BONUS	Attract Rate is the chance mice in that area will cometo your trap. Attraction bonus increases the chance that a mouse will come to you trap.
LUCK	A very controversial stat. Generally, the more luck you have, the greater the chance that you will catch a mouse that is actually too tough for your trap. If your trap has luck, you have a chance to catch even the toughest mice. Luck also affects your loot, but only by abit!
CHEESE EFFECT	When you fail to attract a mouse to your trap, your cheese will occasionally go stale. This is a random occurence when you fail to attract a mouse, and has nothing to do with how long you cheese has been there.

~---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~


Freebies!
Larry will present you with a Wooden Base,
which is the first component of your weapon.

Wooden Base
Power: 35Cheese Effect: Very Fresh

As you catch more mice and increase in rank, you'll find that more and more bases will become available to you.

You will receive 25 pieces of Cheddar cheese, you'll also be given a choice between two traps:
the High Tension Spring and the Tacky Glue Trap.

• CHOOSE YOUR WEAPON.          

Instead of going through the whole blah-blah of statistics...
Let me summarize.
If you want POWER then choose the High Tension Spring.
If you want to ATTRACT more mice, then choose the Tacky Glue Trap.
It all comes down to your personal preference.

*IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have already chosen one of the traps, don't sell/purchase the other!
You only need ONE of these.

Besides, you'll be upgrading your weapon quite soon,
and you'll have more opportunities to experiment with different set-ups later.

Tacky Glue Trap
Power: 70

Attraction Bonus: 40%

Luck: 2

We personally prefer the Tacky Glue Trap.
(Justin: because Jon is tacky. :P)
(Jonathan: -_-" )

Procrastinating to Write That Huge Article? Break It Down In Small Parts

Last week I got an idea for an article that I am sure will become popular. It basically contains 100 ways to achieve something (can’t talk too much about it right now, but I’ll let you guys know when it gets published).

The problem is that I couldn’t get motivated to start writing it. I would open the WordPress post editor, write the title, and then keep staring at the blank screen.

I tried to start writing the post for three days in a row, but every time I gave up after 15 minutes or so. “Man, it is going to be a pain to write these 100 points…”. “I got more important things to do right now, so I’ll get back to this later….”. These were the excuses I was telling myself.

Then this Monday I changed my approach. Instead of trying to write the article in one sitting, I decided to break it down in small parts. That is, I committed to write 10 points every day, so the article will be ready in 10 days.

Guess what? It worked like a charm. Writing 10 points takes 20 minutes or so, and I can squeeze that during any part of my work day. Additionally I also get more motivated as I go along, because I can see the article coming up nicely.

In fact this approach is working so well that I think I’ll make it a permanent thing. That is, every day I’ll take 20 or 30 minutes away to write a small part of a killer article (on top of my normal writing duties). That way every 10 days or so I’ll have one new killer article to publish on one of my sites.

What about you, are you procrastinating to write that huge article you had planned? Break it down in small parts and you’ll get it done sooner than you think.