I'MMA GONNA BE ON TEVELISION! Thursday, October 11th, 22:30 GMT. The XLeague TV programme 'Games Night', which is a 45 minute topical panel discussion programme, has invited me to be one of the panel. I have no idea who I get to sit alongside yet, but last night they had Big Boy Barry on the show! As long as it isn't Fragdoll Jam I'll be a happy man indeed!
Why am I on the show? Simply because I have posted enough gobshite on the forums now that they felt they can't ignore me any longer! Or, maybe they actually mean what they say when they say they want to give gamers more of a community feel, more of a 'me factor'. After all, they did approach me a while back to head up a team of match reporters, but I had to turn them down due to not feeling like I coul commit the time that the venture deserved. Kinda regret that a little now, but I know I would have spent ages beating myself up if I had given less than 100% effort to the project.
So, there you have it! Farting about on the interbutts all day CAN reward you sometimes. Now I just need to decide which meme references to try and sneak in to the show ...
(For all you US and non-Sky watching people, if you are interested in seeing it then let me know. I plan to get it recorded to DVD, and may well be able to youtube it as well.)
Truly epic lulz It was always going to take something monumental to make me post here again. This just might be it!
Truly, truly, astounding. I simultaneously applauded, lolled, marvelled, and cried. I would gladly give a year's salary to the genius who managed to get that on-screen. Whoever passed it as a story really needs to be shown the error of his ways. How the fuck does someone that gullible have a job?
Would be easy to hand over a year's salary at the moment, since my salary is exactly zero. I need a job. Need one like Sam Jackson needs expletives. Sadly, I can't get one. Like, can't even apply for one. I am going through something of a low spell. Low like penguin balls.
(Why the hell am I talking like that? I swear, this is coming out more or less as a stream of consciousness, I am not pre-planning anything. Weird. Weird like bukkake. OK, ENOUGH NOW LEE!)
I passed the first year of University, depsite worrying that I wouldn't. This is because I missed the last month, which meant 3 assignments and 1 exam didn't get handed in/sat. Still had no problems. I know of at least 1 friend who isn't going back, having failed the year twice now. And, 1 other friend who has to re-sit to make sure he gets to do the 2nd year in September.
I'm gonna miss Uni. I have no choice but to take a year out, and get some cash reserves built up. Affording it just isn't a possibility this time. It is going to hurt working, being back among the mainstream. I really felt like I was involved in something special, and when I do eventually go back I won't know anyone in my course. Unless I'm lucky enough to find people who fail and are resitting!
I sit here day after day, surrounded by the same 4 walls, F5ing the various sites I am currently addicted to, playing the 360, and generally phailing at life. One of these sites is Xleague, an e-sports channel, dedicated to raising the potential of Por-gaming in the UK. It sure is a worthy ideal, and they even asked me to head up a reporter section for them. I had to decline, because it was a voluntary position, and I couldn't commit the time it would need. Still, as external validation goes, being told you are the best poster on the forum by being asked to choose other posters with which to make the site better is pretty high up the list of "Nice!"
I am determined to not just moan and moan in my comeback post, either. Sadly, though, I have nothing joyous to report. Scott from Uni is buying me Pokemon Pearl for my birthday, which is nice on toast, so I'll have a friend code to give out soon.
The view out back of this flat is beautiful. I especially like how the river changes from one day to the next. This is in no small part due to the CONSTANT UNENDING RAIN. We were very close to flooding a couple of weeks back, less so last weekend, and the river has already risen a foot or so today. Who knows if it will remain below its banks? The weather has not been stable enough for it to get back to its usual level before the heavens open again. I just want some summer, I need something other than grey skies to look at. Dead sheep floating past are only amusing when you recount the tale afterwards. Guys back-flipping a BMX into the river was definitely interesting, though.
The best news in my life remains Benjie. He is sat there, right now, helping me to type this. His definition of 'help' is not the same as mine, admittedly, being as he enjoys pressing Alt+F4. His hand is just the perfect size to land on those exact keys every time he slaps the laptop keyboard. Either that, or I have a prodigy for a son. Never let it be said, either, that 10 month old babies (today!) are anything other than immensely tiring work. He can crawl and climb anywhere in the flat. The bottom half of the TV screen is covered in lil' fingermarks, and my eyes are miraculously unblackened as a result of him hoisting himself from the floor to my face.
I read Deathly Hallows. Hurry up and read it, too, EVERYONE IN THE WORLD, so I can talk about it! Jeni is re-reading Half-Blood Prince first. It takes her a month or so to read a book, so I have a gag on me for the foreseeable future.
I didn't ask for it, I just hinted. Well, not even hinted. More ... supplanted the idea into her brain that it might be a good idea to go to Gamestation and buy one. And, lo! She responded almost as if she were programmed to. I am already held in high esteem by my fellow game student geeks, now I wear the garment that will make me their KNG!
On top of this, the beautiful creature that she is, she also deigned to play through Act 3 of Gears of War with me. On HARDCORE difficulty, nonetheless. It took us a while, and several stupid deaths from both parties, but it was rather good fun, what? I recommend it to all, as having a human as Dom will add several years on to your life, due to lessened stress.
It's no wonder I love her so. We don't need one day a year to celebrate it, it's our actions every single day of our lives that matter.
Current Mood:KNG Current Music:Katamari on the Rock - Yu Miyake, Masayuki Takana
ZOMG I founded it! One of my all-time favourite TV shows, that I have searched for for quite some time. And, tonight, whilst actually looking for something completely different, I stumbled across ...
Weekenduss horriblis. Well, that was a pretty horrendous, tiring, and HORRENDOUS weekend.
The problem started about Tuesday last week, actually. Benjie was a bit grizzly, not quite his usual cheerful and cheeky self. By Wednesday, he just seemed miserable. It was obvious that he wasn't fully well, but it seemed like nothing worth worrying about.
Thursday was just terrible. We took him to the doctor, who decided that he had a temperature, but it wasn't anything serious. Just watch him, and if he is no better tomorrow, bring him back. Of course, by Friday, he seemed better. So, we didn't take him to the doctor again.
Friday night, we basically didn't have anything approaching a good night. He was awake until about 2am, and really unhappy with it. Then, he woke again at about 5am, and was just crying non-stop. Clearly, something was not right, so we took him to the out of ours clinic at the hospital, 8.30am Saturday. I was quite surprised that Dennis Taylor was now a doctor since retiring as a snooker player, but to be fair he knows his stuff. He referred us to the paediatrics department.
Where, they examined him, and noticed a rash that we hadn't noticed. The decision was made to treat him for meningitis.
Moments like that, you realise how it feels for the world to fall apart.
I mean, I don't EVER want to see my son's blood. Not even if it is going into a test tube so that he can be helped. Growing a culture over the next 48 hours to determine if my son has one of the worst diseases you have ever heard of, why can't they do that without puncturing a hole in the back of his hand?
Feeling so useless, I am not very good at it. All I could do was be strong for Jeni, which allowed me to feel strong myself.
We spent the whole weekend in the hospital. In one small room. Jeni stayed Satruday night, I stayed Sunday night, and Benjie barely left his bed for 72 hours. And, incredibly, he got better and better as the weekend went on. Thankfully, I don't know how much more I could have coped with.
Today, we came home. It is not meningitis, it is just some mystery virus. Benjie is now in his own bed, and seemingly sleeping soundly. Jeni and I seem to have developed some remnants of some kind of virus ourselves, which doesn't matter in the slightest. I would take every single bit of his pain and discomfort on, and bear the weight gladly. I have had a bit of a headache for the last couple of days, whilst Jeni is now full of cold.
So, life is back to normal, after a nasty and scary pitstop.
I have tons more to write, but I am simply too exhausted right now.
Univsersity nudity. Um, I mean, stuff. I got my mark for Platforms today. 77% on my test, and 68% on my report. This means that I passed the unit with 73%. Or, to put it another way :
ANOTHER FIRST! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
I am particularly proud, as that was easily the hardest module we had. 57-slide lectures about fetch-execute cycles of CPUs? I'd rather not, but I had to. =| Now it is all over and done with, and it turns into a new beastie called 'Scripting'. Could be fun, could be an absolute nightmare.
Next assignment up is the 10-second movie for Creative Technologies. This is what I have done for it :
As well as actually produce the footage above, I have been required to document the process. If anybody is interested in seeing the kind of stuff I have to do at University on a Games Production course, simply scoot along to this other blog of mine, and take a looksee.
You learn something new every day. Today I laerned that if I send an email to leetheweedall@gmail.com, it arrives at the inbox for leetheweedall@googlemail.com. This is great news, as it means I can actually use my gmail account now! I was completely and utterly pissed off when I learned my address was going to be @googlemail, but now I can just ignore it. Bonus!
The other day, I learned that baby sick is not conducive to the performance of a Sony Vaio laptop. (Then again, I should not have been surprised, as very little IS conducive to the performance of anything that Sony manufacture.) Luckily, it is still insured, so it has gone back to Comet, who will send it to Sony, who will replace it for us. Since that particular model is no longer on sale anywhere, we are kinda hoping that they upgrade for us as well. Hey, a man can dream!
I take it back about Gears of War being Game of the Year. Lost Planet is SO much more my kind of game! Huge boss battles, insane amounts of enemies, and a seriously old-school, hardcore feel to it. If only there were co-op play, it would be the best game of all time. Starship Troopers on ice, Capcom are definitely owning this current generation.
University work continues to pile on, and I continue to love it. Toby coined the paraphrase "I've had it with these motherfucking firsts on this motherfucking course.", and I have so adopted it as my own. If only I hadn't allowed Dan to do that Audio Principles presentaion, I would have been averaging 80% over everything at the moment. Still, 1st year work does not count to the final grade, so I have no doubt that I am on the path to a 1st class degree. The two in-class tests I have taken so far have yielded results of 96%, and 70%+, which is first-class. The second one, sadly, did not break scores down any further than pass-band, and I am one of only two people I know that got such a mark. Most were between 40 and 60, but a couple failed! To be fair, that test was HARD, and I consider myself lucky that I already knew a lot of the stuff we have covered in that module.
It really is the most beautiful console ever. It is so tiny! And, whilst to your eye it may look like a DVD-drive, to mine it looks like something that I don't have to find yet MORE room for under the already-cramped TV. And ... it is so quiet! Like, totally silent. There was a time when silence in a console was expected, granted, but the arrival of the original XBastard waved goodbye to those days. With the 360, the stakes were upped once more. I am surprised the neighbours don't call round asking us to switch it off.
And, the final piece in the triangle of Wii-joy is the Wiimote itself. This is what holding heaven must feel like.
Sadly, it is not all uniterrupted sex. There is a fly in our spermicide, that being our router. Nintendo's site lists a grand total of three routers that are confirmed to be incompatible, and ours is one of them. Can I get a "Fuck, man?" In order to get around this, I picked up a wifi dongle. Not the official one, as finding one of them is even worse than finding the Wii itself. It is somewhat akin to finding a Media Technology student who isn't annoying ; I'm sure they exist, but nobody seems to know where one might be. Armed with my Cable & Wireless beastie, a hex editor, and the VID and PIDs of both dongles, I hacked my way through the official installation, but to no avail. I managed to convince it that my dongle was the Nintendo one, but the driver installation process freezes halfway through, for no other reason, seemingly, than it knows that that will ANNOY THE LIVING FUCK RIGHT OUT OF ME.
This means I am probably going to have to bite the bullet and buy a new router. Oh joy, add another £50 to the cost of the console, shall I? Can I get another "Fuck, man?"
Wii Sports .... well, words fail me. If anybody tries to tell you that this is anything other than the most immense slice of genius since somebody first said "You know, we could put fillings in this pastry stuff, and call it a pie!", then that person needs hitting with a particularly stout stick. It is simply sublime. I have read reviews that gave it 4 out of 10. I guess the reviewer is either trying to sound 'cool' and 'hardcore', in which he failed, or to sound like 'a cunt', in which he has done a phenomenal job. I would be tempted to give it a 10, as it is close to perfection, and very possibly the most important game ever released.
Jeni created a really good Mii of me, whereas I made a version of Beans. I am still unsure of which to use, although Beans has the current scores on Wii Sports.
The other game we got was Rayman Raving Rabbids, which is superb, hilarious, and as painful as Myst, albeit for completely different reasons. I don't know how I am able to type, as I can no longer move my arms without planning it several minutes in advance. Were it not for the imminent release of Wario Ware : Smooth Moves tomorrow, I would be proclaiming Rabbids as the must buy game for the console. Lost Planet is also out tomorrow, for the 360, and I know which one has priority. Nintendo > Capcom, although it is a close call.
Today, we decided we needed a real game, as well. That'll be Twilight Princes, then! I only played the start, rounding up a few goats and jumping a couple of fences with Epona, but everything just felt so smooth, and so ... right. The Wiimote control could well have been a tacked-on afterthought, but it is completely natural. Can't wait until I get into swordfighting. Actually, I may have to, my arms really are quite sore.
Boo! Every so often I wonder to myself why I never update anymore. Possibly because I so rarely have the time, possibly because I don't currently have much to say, but most probably because I am a lazy shit.
Well, the time constraint is going to be eased a little, with the news that my timetable has been re-arranged for Semester B. I am currently timetabled to be in Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. Wait, let me check this .... TWO DAYS OFF? That is pretty cool, and makes me once again wonder how University students can possibly complain about hard work. Sure, there is stuff to do, but when your assignments are stuff like "Make a videogame", or "Take some photos" (for which I got a 70), you can not genuinely have a grievance about the stress of it all.
The lil fellah will still take up many of my waking hours, of course. You know, I had forgotten just how amazing a thing a newborn can be. Benjie breaks out into a massive smile the first time he sees me every day, and my heart just implodes every single time I see it. No matter how down I feel, I just look at him, and it all goes away. He may well enjoy the ocassional cry, especially at night, but I totally forgive him when I see those chubby cheeks fill out, and those bright eyes light up.
Lately, I have been playing games for fun again. Gears of War is simply STUNNING, and I finished the campaign on casual difficulty earlier tonight. Decided to try insane difficulty, and decided that it is very aptly named. Methinks I will be taking Jon up on his offer to co-op for that one. I'll even be Dom, who is THE most annoying AI partner I have ever had the misfortune to have to carry through a game in my life. The online portion of the game is also really fun. In my first game, I teamed with three guys who were as useless as me, and we were against some well-organised and hardcore players. It was STILL enjoyable, even though we were getting our arses handed to us in pieces, courtesy of the chainsaw bayonet that OneShot187 was totally in love with. I though that nothing would top Dead Rising, but I was mistaken. Capcoms game is a masterpiece, but Gears of War is a step beyond even that.
Another game I have put the hours into has been Phantasy Star Universe, which has turned out to be everything I hoped it would be and more. Sadly, time has been limited over the last week or so, due to having family staying here, and us staying in London, and us going to Cheshire later. But, rest assured regular party, everything will be back to normal soon! We need to get strong enough to try some S runs, and I need to decide between fortetecher and wartecher!
I guess this is part of the problem. Since I am now a Games student, I have to spend even more time with games than I used to. I mean, not just playing them, but getting more in-depth. Studying them, learning them, breaking them down, and finding out what makes a good one so that I can make my own good ones. Also, finding out why bad games are bad. Getting properly academic about a subject I am already very immersed in. Odd really, that in a class of games students, I am still possibly the most hardcore gamehead in the room. We had a retro games quiz instead of a lecture on the last day before Xmas, and nobody was surprised when I won. To be fair, I played a lot of the games first time round, whereas some of the other guys hadn't even heard of them. But, I am not the oldest in the class, and I beat the guy who is 2 years my senior, too! For my trouble, I won a whole bagfull of crap, but I shared it out amongst the class, keeping only the Rare keyring.
So, in summary :
Life good. Benjie good. University good. Games good.
A game what I did! As part of my Computer Games Production course I have to implement a concept or theme into a vignette, or mini-game, every week. Themes in the past have included 'Collection, and 'Colour', amongst other things. Basically, they are quite broad themes, so we are given a lot of scope to come up with ideas. Last week, the theme was 'Random element'.
Generally, when creating my games, I start by working out the engine by using blocks and balls as my graphics, and then I get it working how I want. It is at this point that I make the actual sprites. So, I had a block bouncing around the screen, but wasn't really sure what else I wanted to do with it. So, I just put another couple of blocks on the screen. Cool, but not a game. It was at this point that I noticed on the desktop that I had been working out a system to move a ball around the screen using the mouse. So, I just imported this into the block-moving thingy. Suddenly .... I had a game!
A little bit of sound effect work, and a few backgrounds later, serendipity had worked some magic. I call it Untouchable, and the latest version is available to download here. I would greatly appreciate it if people could take a look at it, and give me some feedback. Obviously, I intend to add some music at some point, but my lack of musical ability hampers me. I am thinking of something along the lines of Rez, where the music builds up as the game gets more intense, but .... well, I need to get the game perfect first.
Image stuff. (x-posted from my Uni blog.) So, my 'recognisable picture', on my Creative technologies blog. Yeah, it's the same as my University ID card photo. I figured that was the best one to use. But ...
It's a bit dull.
I got a bit bored, and decided to play about with it a bit. And, came up with 3 examples of how I could have done it. Each one has a different inspiration.
First, I just played about, and came up with this one, inspired by the manga/anime '3 x 3 Eyes' :
This led me to thinking about doing something more comical, pasting bits of another image on top. I feel this one still needs work :
And then, finally, something that is REALLY obvious :
I'm sure I'll do more, and do better, in the future. For now, these are just something I did in order to do it.
"Get a job!" It is Saturday morning. Were I still working at Team Arena, I would actually BE working right now. Instead, I am at home, and enjoying it immensely. Working 6 days a week for 3 years is tiring. Working for idiots even more so.
But that is the whole purpose of my sudden move to being a student. By working hard and struggling for the next couple of years, the plan is to have something better to aim for at the end of it all. If everything goes to plan, I can be applying for those £30,000 salaried careers I see advertised in Edge magazine. Better yet, I can form my own company, and turn Power Bastard into the world famous icon he desrves to be!
Having just finished my first week as a student, I have to say how enthralled I remain with the idea. 2 of my modules in particular are very exciting to me, these being Creative Technologies, and Introductory Games Studies. Audio Principles is interesting. Data, Networks and the Web seems easy. Platforms and Scripting seems partially irrelevant, and mostly dull. However, I will still give of my best to them all. I am paying enough for this privilege, so I am going to work damn hard at it.
My timetable is still not 100% sorted out, so at this moment in time I am unsure of when my workshop is on Monday. I am due to start at either 11am, 1pm, or 3pm. It would be nice to find out this information before 11am Monday, but I am not counting on it. (The university admin department clearly needs help, as at least 3 of the lectures were in rooms that could hold a maximum number of students that was significantly less than the number of students timetabled to attend them.) But, it is a large place, and you have to expect that not everything will go smoothly at first. Students complaining about being timetabled for 7 straight hours of lectures on Friday do have a point, as this is actually illegal, but it is not something that is going to last forever. Nor is it that big of a deal, to be honest. In the 'real world' I have worked 14 hour shifts before now. Admittedly not very often, but it has happened. I dealt with that, 7 hours of sitting there listening, talking, and scribbling the occasional note is a stroll in the park by comparison. God bless Virtual Campus's! (Campii?)
The best thing about it all is that I can literally feel the creativity starting to re-awaken in me. It turns out that I missed a workshop for Introductory Games Studies, in which they were to use GameMaker to make a game where all control is handled by a single button. Within 2 minutes of hearing this, I had thought of at least 3 ideas about how I would have accomplished this task. I am still thinking about it, even though it is completely non-essential to the course. Then, when I found out that we will be making a bunch of games throughout the year, based on different themes, I decided that if I were to make some kind of character now, then I could use it through them all, thus freeing up time, and possibly even helping to crystalise the concepts quicker through out the year. I have the character just waiting to be used, Power Bastard, but suddenly I thought of several other possibilities. It has been a VERY long time since I have been able to do this, the inspiration has been lacking. Take me out of the 9-5 rut, and it floods back. And, it is electric. I honestly get rushes when ideas form, and it is something I have been sadly missing.
Meantime, my Creative Technologies homework was to set-up a blog. Instantly, I thought of several outlandish ways to do this, before deciding that since this is going to be looked at by external examiners in the future, then it would be best to be a bit less .... well, a bit less 'Lee' than I usually am. (If anybody is interested, the blog can be found here. The pic is the same one as is on my student ID!)
Best. Week. Ever! He is sometimes noisy. He is often demanding. He effortlessly makes himself the absolute centre of our existence, so that we can not do anything without considering his needs before our own. There are times when I am unable to make a phone call, play a game, or even change the TV channel because of him.
And, he is a treasure.
It has been a very long time since I was around a baby. But, it is quite remarkable how much knowledge sticks with you. And, it is almost unbelievable what you feel for someone who literally gives nothing but total and utter dependency back to you.
I have a beautiful and healthy baby boy. Nothing can top that. Joshua is 12, and I love him dearly. But he doesn't need me like Benjie does, not at the moment.
Jeni is amazing. Considering what she has been through over the last 9 months, I am astonished at how well she has coped. I honestly don't know if I could be as strong as she is being, and I am kinda in awe.
I have been a father for years. Now, I am once more a Daddy!
Thank you to all who commented on my last entry. As you can imagine I have not had too much time to sit and respond to stuff in the last day or two. The pictures page has been updated, with some new ones at the bottom, if anyone is interested in seeing more of him. ------------------------------------------
This has been a life-changing week, make no mistake about it. Not only do I have my new family, but I also have a whole new direction to my professional life. About a month ago I quit Team Arena, due in part to disagreements with Toni, and in part to stress-related ill-health, which was caused by having to do 3 people's jobs for 6 days a week. Whilst I have been looking for new work in the last month, I have had no luck finding anything. Rejections are always hard, but I have had enough of them through my life to not take them to heart for any longer than the few minutes following their receipt.
Whilst watching TV one night, Jeni noted how Lincoln University was advertising on SKY. Now, we have talked about this before, possibly doing some home study for Law, or something. It occured to me to check into the ins and outs of a 36 year old applying to University. I looked at the courses available, and one of them really jumped right out at me.
The long and the short of it is, I applied, and I have been accepted. My first lecture is tomorrow morning (Wednesday 4th) at 11am. I have to enrol sometime during the couple of hours before that, and then I am good to go! I am gonna be a workshy layaboutstudent! Jeni is giving me her full support on this, which is a reason to raise the pedestal I have her on even higher.
So, there we have it. Two events, each of which is significant enough, inside a single 7 day period. Talk about your busy life!
And finally, a baby appears! I could write a whole long entry about it, and eventually I will do. But for now, go look at the page I made to email to Jeni's family.
The driver on the bus goes "SHUT THE FUCK UP. CORRECT CHANGE ONLY PLEASE. THIS IS WHERE WE STOP." The driver on the bus goes "I HATE MY JOB." All day long.
The Chavs on the bus go "Oh mah god, innit! Oh mah god, innit! Oh mah god, innit!" The chavs on the bus go "Innit. Innit. INNIT!" All day long.
The schoolkids on the bus go "Show us your ASBO. Show us your ASBO. Where's my reefer?" The schoolkids on the bus go "I'm getting one soon." All day long.
The businessman on the bus goes "Fucking driving ban. I hate those fucking cameras. EASY MONEY FOR COPS." The businessman on the bus goes "God I miss my car." All day long.
The psycho on the bus goes "WHAT YA LOOKIN' AT? YA WANT YA FUCKIN' HEAD KICKED IN? YA FUCKIN' NOSY TWAT." The psycho on the bus goes "JUST FUCK OFF." All day long.
The rapper on the bus goes "Bum-chicka-bum. Bum-chicka-bum-bum. Bum-chicka-bum. Bum-chicka-bum-bum. Bum-chicka-bum. Bum-chicka-bum-bum." The rapper on the bus goes "Pocka-chicka-pocka-chicka-pocka-chick-pop." All day long.
The Muslims on the bus go BBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM.
See that date up there? That means it's my birthday! Total cards so far today = 0. Total presents so far today = 0. Total cakes so far today = 2, courtesy of blue_confusion. This is my favourite : http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y61/plateialumitar/Caek.jpg (It's photobucket, so I'll not hotlink)
For some reason, 36 just sounds old. It's no worse than the 35 I was up until this morning, but it just sounds so completely different. I mean, the only thing I could do yesterday that I can no longer do today is to look forward to my 36th birthday. So why have I gotten into a bit of a downer about this one? There is no logical reason.
Ste-rah are coming round for dinner tonight, which will be nice. I do have a probation appointment to get out of the way first, which won't be so nice. Maybe she will tell me they have found my court order! It seems that it has gone missing, which means that I can not get it repealed. How in the BLUE HELL has such a document gone missing? The court that issued it has no record of it. Now, I know I was given a copy, but that was at least 5 addresses ago. I can't find it, which means I probably left it behind somewhere.
Talking of old addresses, my mother and sister decided to post my birthday cards to my last address, along with Josh's card. Which means I will have to call there tomorrow night and try to collect them. It would be nice to have the cards to thank them for at some point, you know?
I find myself way too busy at work, and yet wanting to type an aresload in here. I guess duty must call first. Perhaps I'll update this later.
Remember. Lee is ALWAYS right. Last night Channel 4 showed a half hour Christina Aguilera special. In it, she performed live versions of a few songs from the new album, as well as Beautiful. Now, I have discussed with people before about the lyrics of that particular song. I have long been of the belief that she sings :
"I am beautiful, no matter what they say. Words can't bring me down."
Whereas practically the ENTIRE REST OF CREATION has taken the counter stance, that she sings :
"Words can bring me down."
Well, world. SHUT YOUR MOUTH!
In last night's performance, immediately after that line, she embellished the song with the following words :
"No they can't, no they can't."
Now I just need to hope somebody puts it up on youtube.
[Insert mouthful of flies here!} It's usually not a good idea to look forward to something too much, since it then has increased capacity to let you down. And, in this case, there were 2 specific things I was looking forward to. One was the world's most ridiculously named rollercoaser - Rita, Queen of Speed at Alton Towers. In this, my expectations were mot only met, they were shattered. It really is a stunning burst of adrenaline. 0-100mph in 2.5 seconds, and pretty much the reverse in less time at the end of it. I think I injured my shoulder, but it was WELL worth it.
Of course, there are other rides at Alton Towers. I mean, it IS the country's biggest theme park, after all. But, for me, I just wanted to ride Rita. Because, for me, the main draw of the day was to be there with the others. This was the 2nd Game Room meetup I actually made it to. For some reason the last time they went to Alton Towers, it was without me. Perhaps I was persona non-gratis, perhaps they just thought I wouldn't go. I neither know nor care at the moment.
Who went? Well, Sarah (razzie, who has posted her own thoughts on the trip), Steve (b1ade), Jon (thethirdoption), and Dave (hovis) and myself all travelled together, and we met Natalie (blue_confusion) at the park itself. Eventually. She was unfortunate enough to get a flat tyre right outside the park, and had to wait for Norwich Union to come and fix it.
Natalie was the 2nd thing I was looking forward to. It's a strange experience, meeting an online friend in the flesh for the first time. Especially when it is somebody you already feel you know really well. After all, I have now known Natalie for about 5 years. And, not just online. We have spoken on the phone many times too, she has suffered my drunken phone calls in the past. I consider her one of my best friends. Suffice it to say I was far from let down in this respect, too.
So, to the day itself. After waking up at stupid o'clock (05:50) in the morning, Jeni took me to Gainsborough to meet up with Sarah, Steve, and Dave. From there, we headed on to Worksop to meet Jon. It was at this point that we discovered Dave had forgotten his DS. So, no vandalising visiting his town in Animal Crossing then, d'oh! Dave instead chose to train his brain, upon which Dr. Dude told him he had a brain age of 80! Some quick training later, and he got it down to 44. Sadly, or rather, HILARIOUSLY, the game chose to not save this score. And, provided I never again let him play, he will forever have the worst brain age on my cart!
We made our way to the park, via MacDonalds. It soon became clear that we were not going to arrive by 10:00, which is the time I had both predicted and hoped for. After what seemed an eternity queueing to buy tickets, we got in the park itself about 12:00! This was where people chose to eat again! I was wondering if we were going to make it to ANY rides at this point, so Sarah, Steve, and myself, all went off to collect virtual queue tickets while Dave and Jon ate.
This year, Alton Towers are seemingly not doing virtual queues. Can we say 'gutted'?
Back down to Jon and Dave, where I discover the news of Natalie's flat. She'll be waiting at least an hour to get in. Hmmm. Oblivion was showing a 0 queue time, so we decided to go for that one. Sarah didn't want to, but the force gives me power over weak minds! She caved in REALLY quickly. The 0 minute queue time was a blatant lie, since we queued for almost an hour!
I love Oblivion. Sure, it is over quickly, but the intensity of that first drop is unmatched. More fun was Sarah, who was literally quaking with the delight of it afterwards.
We headed to some spinny thing Sarah had been raving about, only to find it had an hour's queue time. And, this is when Natalie finally made it in. Introductions all-round, and off to the next ride. We decided to go onto the Congo River Rapids, because the sun was shining, and we would easily dry off. Of course, we did not know at this point that both Dave and myself would get completely PWNT by the damm ride. In fact, we looked almost as if we went underwater. Can we say 'drenched'?
From here, it was decided that Rita should be our next destination. We all wanted to go on it, and we knew that the queue time might be horrendous. In the event, it only took us an hour. We travelled via Cable Car, where I resisted the urge to moon the entire park. (That makes it three different trips to Alton Towers where I have kept my arse in my pants! I am so proud!) Photos were taken, and Natalie and I traded items in Animal Crossing. I now own the ENTIRE Robo set. Can we say 'made-up'?
You already know about Rita. The challenge was on to shout "NOOB" for the photo. Now, since the photo was taken at the end of the launch straight, where you are travelling at approximately 100 mph, this was less than easy. I think that Jon and I did an EXCEPTIONAL job!
Click image for bigger version.
After Rita came Nemesis, which was just as intense as ever. I still think this is the best rollercoaster I have ever been on. Others may hit you with more intensity at one or two points, but NO other coaster maintains the high throughout like this one.
And then, finally, a race to the other end of the park in order to catch Oblivion a second time. Steve tried to make us miss out, but he failed. Then, all that remained was to buy Jeni a gift, since we literally had no time for me to win her one. I bought her an Orang-Utan plush, which she has called Julius.
The day was a MASSIVE success, and I think I am speaking for all concerned when I say that. It didn't really last long enough, truth be told. It is all too rare that I get to relive the heady days of the GR, and this was a perfect slice. Sure, all of the people I was with are more than just GR friends these days, having lived with 2 of them, and been Best Man at the wedding of 2 of them. But, the spirit of the GR was definitely evident. We should SO do it more often!
The day ended with Jeni collecting me from Gainsborough, but not before I got to trade a few Pokémon with Dave, which meant FINALLY getting my Gengar into Leaf Green! Had we had more time, we could have finally played the deciding battle, as our current score is 1-1. Still, there WILL be another time.
In many ways, days like yesterday are very hard. Jeni was never one of us, and she doesn't completely get the whole 'GR' thing. This is not surprising, as anybody who wasn't there would struggle. At least this was offset by the fact that she is actually a little too pregnant to go on rides, and so my guilt is at least partially assuaged. I have to reconcile somehow that I didn't want her to be there, despite wanting her to be there. I think that her presence would not have impinged on the day in the slghtest, and would even have enhanced it. But, I am also glad that she wasn't there, because it then made it GR. The same goes for Natalie's presence. Had Mike not been ill and therefore come along with her, then he would have been an outsider. Nobody would have made him feel like one, at least not deliberately, but he would have just been NON-GR. Somehow, the fact that we were all GR people was proper. From a personal point of view, I felt like I was really on top form. Rarely have I been quicker-witted. (The GR has always bought the best out of me, from a comedy point of view, I believe.)
I'm rambling, I think. Then again, when have I ever not done in this?
Happy Independpants Day. I have made yeat ANOTHER of my semi-annual promises to update this thing more often. So far, you have had 3 days worth of posts! Can I make it an entire week, I wonder?
I got this in email today :
You ever think that maybe these spammers are getting a little TOO clever? OK, so that didn't go to my personal address, but ... FFS. MARIO in the name and subject! I swear, they know where I live.
I moved house yesterday. Well, mostly. The big stuff has moved, and all the detritus stuff I have accumulated that will fit into a car will move over the next couple of weeks. I am now resident in my SEVENTEENTH address. That's a new abode every 2 years, pretty much.
The latest house actually belons to Jeni's mother and step-father. No, we are not living with them, merely renting from them as they attempt to conquer the world get their business up and running in Northumberland. It's a very nice house, with a HUGE and therefore very high-maintenance garden. The only downside is that I will lose up to an hour per day in extra travelling to and from work time, but it's worth it because Jeni is so much happier there. Plus, it will almost certainly be a nicer place for Lumpy to start off in thatn the last house was. An almost infinite number of less Chavs to contend with, for definite.
SKY won't be able to put us a new dish up for a week or so, and NTL might require 10 days notice to get the cable to us. So, all is not as smooth as could be. But, that isn't bad news, it's just inconvenience. I simply have to remember to NOT get a new high score on Geometry Wars when not online. Which won't be a problem, the way I have been playing lately!
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