Random Update

There's not been an awful lot going on. Just the usual go to work, get paid, do crap, nothing too exciting.

I'm on Holiday for 2 weeks from Friday, we were planning on taking a road trip around the UK, going up to Scotland, through Wales and then down to Cornwall. But due to us having pretty much no money were just staying in York mostly. Although we are going to Dom's in Portsmouth for a party on Friday, then to Baz's birthday on Saturday, where Dom's band is playing and we're gonna camp.

We'll probably come back on Monday as Viv really wants to get some pets. We've been getting cages and we now have so many cages, tubes, feed bowls and other weird pet crap we could start a Guinea Pig farm or something, selling their fur for clothing. Viv wants a Hamster and I'm getting 2 rats.

We're also going to the races in York at some point next week. There's 3 days to choose from and we'll probably go for whichever one has the nicest weather. It's only £7 for the Course Enclosure so we won't have to pay to much. We can't afford to get into any of the stands as it's £25 a ticket, it is Ebor after all.

I'm arranging a party at ours for the 7th or 14th of October. I've let some of the school dudes know so they'll definately turn up. Next month is gonna be pestering time to make sure no one pussies out, and to try and get a few more people to come.

Wedding Bells

Are ringing, as it's Sarah and Glenn's wedding tomorrow.

I haven't updated much recently as to be honest I can't be arsed and I've been quite busy at work and lazy at home. That along with not having too much to say has lead to a pretty boring blog.

Anyway, last weekend I went shopping with Viv and got a new shirt for the wedding, it's dark green and blue striped. Other than possibly some new gel pads for my shoes to stop them ripping through my achilles tendon I think I'm set for the wedding.

The boys are off out tonight in Acomb for a few drinks, not at the Acomb or the Ainsty, we'd rather not have black eyes for the ceremony. The girls are doing girly things.

What's your price?

To make this a little more fair I've changed all the values from dollars to pounds:

Would you walk naked for a half mile down a public street for £100,000? Sure, half a mile isn't really that far and £100,000. I'd just be a bit worried about being arrested. I'd probably do it for less.
Would you kiss a member of the same sex for £100? Why not, I think I've done this before anyway, although that time we didn't get the drinks we were promised.
Would you have sex with a member of the same sex for £10,000? Depends on the bloke I'd have to do it with, and I'm not taking it. I don't think I'd go much lower than 10 grand.
Would you allow one of your little fingers to be cut off for £200,000? I'd definately lose my left one for £200,000.
Would you never blog again for £50,000? I only blog because I'm bored anyway, of course I'd quit for £50,000, or possibly a lot less, any money would be welcome.
Would you pose naked in a magazine for £250,000? Oh yeah. But I don't think it'd sell very well, whatever, it's not my money. I'd go lower as well.
Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for £1000? Insanity Sauce no, I would probably burst into flames. But pretty much anything else yes. As long as it's not a giant jumbo family sized bottle.
Would you, without fear of punishment, take a human life for $1,000,000? Pretty serious question, but yeah, as long as I got to choose who it was. If it was a completely random stranger I don't think I could.
Would you shave your head and get your entire body waxed for $5,000? I've shaved my head before, I could take a waxing for £5,000 or less, it's only pain and it'd be worth it, all the hair'll grow back... eventually.
Would you give up watching television for a year for £25,000? Sure, I can still download stuff on my computer right? Probably for less than that as well, but I'd need the money upfront to entertain myself.

The Stag Weekend

Last weekend we headed off to the Lake District, somewhere near Keswick, for Glenn's Stag Weekend. We left early Friday, getting there about midday. We got set up in the campsite and played a bit of cricket and football while having a few beers.

It got a bit windy, which carried on into Saturday, when it started to rain. This meant the paragliding was called off as the winds were too strong. Also the paintballing was no good as the guy hadn't booked it. Which meant we went go-karting instead. Before that we headed into Keswick for supplies and to get some food.

We played a bit of cricket when we got back, but it started raining, so we headed back to the tents and set up some shelter. We headed to the go-karting after that. Glenn was a bit worried but everyone had a great time. I only came 6th out of 9 though, so not so great. We stopped in a pub on the way home for some food (excellent lamb) and a few drinks while we watched the football. There was also a games room, so darts, pool and table football filled the boring bits of the match. Once we got back to the site the beers came out again and the shelter had to be reinforced, but despite the rain it was a good night.

Sunday we headed home about 12, taking a long and winding route, which took about 3 hours. It was good to see Viv again and apparently the girls night out had been pretty eventful, with Viv yelling abuse at some woman in a hotel who'd thrown water at them, and a few other little stories.

Congratualtions Gemma!

Gemma phoned Viv yesterday to tell her that she got a 2:1 in her degree. Well done Gemma! You are now part of an exclusive club amongst our friends, consisting of me, you and Fulli. Gemma has also been accepted for a Masters course, which means she'll be part of an even more exclusive club, her and Fulli.

Gemma had a long chat with Viv last night as well once we got home from work, and I played Counterstrike and offered bits of information when Viv forgot them. Viv hasn't talked to Gemma for quite a while, but she's been pretty busy at uni and just generally. Viv was really pleased to hear from her.

Congratulations again!

Stag Weekend coming up

This Friday I'm off to the Lake District with the Dude boys for Glenn's Stag Weekend. We're heading off on Friday morning, so I've got the day off. We're driving up and hoping to get there around midday, setting up our tents and then heading to a pub or something.

Saturday we're going paragliding hopefully, if the weathers good. Otherwise we'll be going paintballing instead as theres a place right next to the campsite. Then it's probably off to the pub again for a good night out.

I think Sunday is aiming to be quite relaxed, hanging out a bit, before we come back Sunday night, in time for the World Cup Final.

Next week I was supposed to be going to James's 21st, but I'm not going to be able to make it. We're really short of money this month, and Sarah and Glenn's wedding is the week after. And unfortunately we've also got to babysit Blizzard for the weekend as my parents are away. It's a shame as it would have been good to see everyone again, it doesn't seem that long since Chris's Hog Roast Party, but it's already been quite a couple of weeks.

Time flies

Everythings been going really quickly now I've got some more work to do and I'm getting a bit more involved at work. I haven't had a lot of extra time to waste so my blogs don't get updated too often. Especially as nothing that interesting happens that I can remember by the time I get to writing anything.

Viv is getting more and more pissed off at work though. I've suggested many times that she leave. She has a pretty crap job, and she can do a lot more. She doesn't get paid enough for what she's doing and the odds of her being promoted, even after 3 years working there, are slim to none. I think it's time for her to move on. I'm trying to get her to look at other jobs but I think she's just a bit comfortable where she is, even if she hates it.

New Houses all round!

Everyone seems to be moving house this summer. We moved earlier in the year, beginning of May I think... my memory is terrible! John and Karen moved recently, well probably about a month ago now. Jayne and Al moved into their new house on Tuesday. They've had the week off and have been unpacking and sorting stuff out, we're going round tonight to check out their new place, and probably watch some football (this also means we'll probably miss House).

On another good note England managed to qualify. We didn't beat Sweden, but at least we came top of our group and we get to play Ecuador. After that we'll be playing either Holland or Portugal. Unfortunately I drew Portugal in a sweepstake so that's bad news for me either way.

England's Last Group Game

England is about to play their last group game against Sweden. Germany have also just beaten Ecuador, this means if we win or draw, we play Ecuador as we'll be top of our group. If we lose we'll play Germany.

Personally I'd rather play Ecuador and not play Germany until the final. Although this does mean that we'll have to beat Sweden, which apparently we haven't done since 1968. I knew we didn't do well against Scandanavian teams, but 1968? Really? Sweden aren't that good... Or should I say, we're not that bad...

Such a slow week

It has been a really slow week. I normally find after taking some time off work it's really hard to get back into the swing of things, and this has been one of those times.

It doesn't really help that I don't have a lot to do and there's not much work going around. I have to finish off a site, but I'm not really sure what to do. We have given the customer URLs so they can have a look at the site, but we havent received much back, and the things we have received back we can't really do much about.

So at the moment I'm trying to keep myself awake, trying not to leave early, and keeping my eye out for some interesting sites that I can read while at work to keep me interested.

Oh yeah, and my stone age PC is beginning to seem like torture.

Download Festival

Thursday - We decided to head down to the site on Thursday. Dom had stayed Wednesday night, so we loaded the car and got going. We were parked quite a way from the arena and the campsites. We had to carry loads of stuff and it took us about an hour to get to our spot. Very annoying. Then we went back to get food and drink and forgot the car keys, realising this only when we got to the car. This meant another trip. Three trips to the campsite and back in a day in the boiling sun was not fun. But we got very drunk to make up for it.

Friday - The music kicked off and we went to see Throwdown and Soil before heading back to the campsite for a bit. Later we headed back in for Deftones and finally Tool. Tool was an experience, needless to say, a few smokes helped. I don't know a lot of Tool, but it was absolutely amazing. Bizzarely the planes coming in to land overhead at the nearby airport were well timed and really added some extra noise to the performance. Very impressive and one of my Top 3 live performances.

Saturday - This was the day I'd been waiting for. We got up and ate, then sat about in the sun until 1pm. Then we headed into the arena and watched the England game at 2pm on a massive screen with loads of other people. England beat Paraguay 1-0! In the background I could see and hear Arch Enemy, Alice in Chains and Stonesour, all pretty good. Once that was over we headed to the main stage and watched Avenged Sevenfold and Trivium, both excellent. We found out later that Korn's singer was ill and in hospital, so they had guest singers come on and sing with the band, interesting and unique, but I'd rather have seen Korn. Finally Metallica came out. They played an absolutely stunning set for 2 and a half hours, including (as it's the 20th anniversary of the album) Master of Puppets from start to finish. It was very very cool. We also got very drunk after that.

Sunday - Sunday was a lazy day after the two days before. We'd decided to head off that night so packed everything up and carried it all to the car before heading into the arena. We started out on the main stage watching In Flames, who were cool. The lead singer was Swedish and said he was going to make a big speech about how Sweden were going to kick our ass in the football, but then he'd seen them playing yesterday and changed his mind, he now wants England to win so at least one swede can lift the Trophy!

Unfortunately we'd missed Dragonforce as we were carrying stuff to the car at the time, but Dom and Matt had caught the end. It was incredibly hot on Sunday, so we decided to find some shade. Luckily there was a fair bit right next to the Snickers Stage. We could clearly hear the stage as we were only about 50 metres away from the stage, but outside the tent. We heard Aiden, Hundred Reasons, Eighteen Visions, Alexisonfire, then the Prodigy! After that we headed to the main stage to check out Guns 'N Roses. All I can say is, I was disappointed. We watched about 40 mins, then got bored and decided to leave early to miss the traffic.

We stopped at Donnington Services on the way home for a cooked meal, where I lost my wallet. After keeping on to it for the whole weekend! I didn't realise till Monday though, so I have no idea where it is. Bit of a bummer, but still an excellent weekend!

Just found out there were some problems on Sunday night, makes me glad we left early!

Counterstrike Weekend

Now that we've got broadband I've been reverting to my 'Student' state. Meaning I sit around on my PC and play Counterstrike all day. I managed to not do this for most of Saturday, as England were playing football, and we beat Jamaica 6-0, come on! Although I did play a bit in the morning after hoovering and cleaning up a bit.

On Friday evening we went round Jayne and Al's for possibly the last night at their house, as they are moving soon. We had to leave pretty early as they were heading to Bristol the next day for a friend's wedding.

Saturday night was at Sarah and Glenn's, Martin and Josie were their and got very drunk. We ordered pizza later and watched Napoleon Dynamite again. It was a cool night.

Sunday Viv went shopping with Sarah, she went to buy clothes for work and got loads. I'm glad I didn't go, I hate shopping if I don't have money to buy stuff, it just seems so pointless. Plus this also meant I had the house to myself. Which meant pretty much an entire day playing Counterstrike. I'm so sad. Viv also bought a weights bench, which I'm halfway through putting up, and I cleared out the living room of the last of the stuff that needed unpacking. So now we have loads of space and it looks a lot cleaner. And I got a TV set up in the bedroom, finally!

Gate Issues Update

Our gate is still pretty bad. It opens now, and we know why it wasn't working before. Orion had changed the code and only told people later on on Friday. But at least we could get back in. Also if we open the gate too wide, it knocks the wiring for the gate, which is why our buzzers weren't working.

We now have a new code for our gate, and we seem to be getting some mail. Although our bins still really need emptying, as our bin shed is pretty full again as they didnt get collected last week. Hopefully at some point everything is going to get sorted out and it'll all calm down.

Lock Down!

Our gate is fucked. As I mentioned earlier there was a small fire in our Bike Shed, resulting in the building needing repairs and someones scooter being destroyed. This also meant that the gate wasn't working properly. So when the nice Firemen turned up in their jolly red truck to put out our fire, they had to ram the gate open to get to it. This further messed up the gate, meaning me had to open and close it manually.

That was a whole week ago. Since then the situation has not improved. The code to the gate no longer opens it, I don't know if it's been changed, as no one has told us. This also means that once again we are getting no post and our bins are not being emptied. On top of this, our buzzers are now not working. We were wondering around for about 10mins this morning trying to get the gate open. Eventually we found a gate key, but this will only work from the inside, as theres no hole for one on the outside. And theres only one key.

So we managed to get out to get to work, but we may not be able to get back in. We can't drive anywhere as we can't get to our car. The gate is also the only way in or out of our compound. Well I could always look on the good side, at least it's secure.

A not quite miraculous recovery

Viv was feeling better yesterday, after crawling out of bed, doing some washing and having a shower. She ate dinner, drank lots of water, but couldn't really sleep too well.

Today she was feeling Ok, but felt gradually worse on the way to work. After preparing herself for the worst, she's actually been told she can't do any overtime as she has been ill, which I think is brilliant, as she probably won't have to work on Saturday. She is feeling a bit rougher now, but she does also have a new temp to deal with and train.

She'll probably be home before me, which is annoying as I took the Car keys, thinking I'd be back first. So I can't even get a lift home! There's no justice in the world!

Catching Up Post 3 - Sunday

We woke up fairly early on Sunday. We got ready to leave and helped Chris clean up a bit before heading off to Portsmouth. We tried to go via Winchester by accident after missing the M27, but soon got back on track.

We went to visit Viv's Dad and had a bit of a chat. It was Kyle's birthday as well, so we got him a card and gave him some money. We were going to go to Viv's Dad's Cafe for a free breakfast, but it wasn't open, so we went to find a Burger Van. We were told it was on top of the cliffs, but ended up taking a massive detour when we missed the turning and then couldn't turn around due to a car accident. We finally got there though and it was very worth it. I had an Animal Burger, which is 3 burgers, 3 eggs, cheese and onions in a massive bun. I wish I'd taken a picture, it was a thing of beauty.

When we got back we had a quick visit to Portsmouth, then said goodbye and headed to see Dom. He was in a barn at Deagan's girlfriend's house (Baz). He was there for his band practice. We met most of the band (the bassist wasn't there), and listened to a few songs, which were really good. They have a MySpace page which is here, go and check it out, it's good stuff!

Once they'd finished we went back to Dom's house and got stoned and wasted. It was a really good night!

Catching Up Post 2 - Saturday

Saturday was loooooong. We woke up early and Viv went to get a taxi to get the car back from Glenn's. I felt a badger had slept in my mouth, then crapped in it before leaving. Viv felt a bit better than me, but also had a sore neck from jumping about the night before.

When we got the car and had packed stuff we headed to the Garage to get our wheel *ching* £50. We then went to Kwikfit where they told us that the tyre was knackered and needed replacing *ching* another £50. They sorted that out and we headed off.

The drive was long and I felt crap. Viv took the first leg and we swopped over just before we left the M1 to get on the A43. From there is was M40, A34, M3, A33. It wasn't that bad a drive, the weather was ok and the traffic was easy. Almost as if someone was finally trying to give us a break after our crap week.

When we got there we met Fulli, Chris, Chris, Nick, Hogg and his girlfriend. Kate turned up later as well, and Gemma couldn't make it as she was baby-sitting cats (WTF?). The Hog Roast was excellent, lots of meat, stuffing and a huge tub of mash/potatoe salad.

After a bit the Dukies decided to head off to the pub, me and Viv couldn't be bothered so we hung around and chatted to a few people. We also got to be in charge of music, which was quite cool as well.

Fulli and Kate apparently had an argument at the pub and came back. The others turned up later and went to bed. Me and Viv stayed up for a bit before heading in and calling it a night.

Catching Up Post 1 - Friday

I'm well behind having been away for a few days and then busy at work, so I'm now trying to catch up.

Friday was Glenn's birthday, so we all headed round to his house. I took Guitar Hero, as he requested it and a few extra people were gonna be there who hadn't tried it out yet. Unfortunately Glenn's present hadn't arrived, I'll have to check about that on eBay... But we did have a card.

It was a really good night overall. Got to see Jim, Martin and Morgan turned up as well. Once everyone had had a bit to drink and played Guitar Hero a bit we went into the garden and jumped about to a bit of Korn, which none of us had done in ages.

Viv got a bit upset when Kirk started asking questions about the guy earlier in the week, but she was Ok after that.

There was lots of Tequila and drinking, a very good night. I was almost sick on the way home, but managed to hold it till I got out of the Taxi and spewed over the Bin Shed instead. Great stuff.

Viv - Drama Magnet

Viv always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yesterday she saw a guy commit suicide. He jumped out of a window in the centre of York.

Viv had gone to the Doctors and was on her way to work when she saw something going on. She went to have a look and saw the guy standing on a window ledge. He got talked down and everyone was leaving, when he apparently came back and jumped. Viv said she saw him falling, and then shut her eyes, but she heard it. I told her to go home, but she went back to work, mostly to calm down I think. I picked her up a bit later, once I'd got home to get the car.

This sort of thing always happens to Viv, in the six years we've been together, she's seen two motorbike accidents, one involving a kid on a bike, she helped out in both. We both saw a woman lying in the middle of the M25 and stopped. Now she see's this.

Viv said she saw on the news this morning that the guy isn't dead, but I can't find anything about it, even though the centre of York was shut until 8 o'clock last night. She seemed OK this morning, I hope she's alright.

Car Wheel Drama

And I thought this was going to be easy! I should know better by now...

Everytime it seems we are going to go to Portsmouth to visit Viv's Dad, we have some kind of car trouble. It's fucking frustrating, because it's expensive, and it's always just before we need to use the car. Last time our car got written off! Which was kind of the exclaimation point on the end of a similar run of bad luck. So we caught the train. Unfortunately this isn't an option this time as we'd have to pay for all of our tickets and the train is, to be honest, a ripoff.

Kwikfit finally got back to me saying the wheel would be £93. That's not funny. I phoned around to find a dealer and got a more reasonable, but still large price of £56. Great. I need to phone the guy back and give him my wheel size and stuff before he orders it to make sure we get the right one. I've also got to ask my Dad to see if the price is reasonable and see if he can get anything better. The main problem is that the wheel then needs to be delivered, which can take 48hrs, or until Saturday. I then need to get the tyre put on it, which Kwikfit said they do for free, so that's cool.

I just hope it get's here before Saturday, or we won't be going to Southampton.

Tags: Drama, Car Trouble, Weekend, Bank Holiday

Now that was a good weekend!

Oh yeah! That was cool. Friday was a good start, a nice laid back evening, with lifts there and back, plus I got some more food, it saved us Taxi fares, it also meant I had the car for Saturday.

Viv was working so I cleaned up again, then took our flat tyre to Kwikfit, I need a new wheel apparently, but they havent got back to me with a price yet. So I headed in to town to give Viv her lunch and exchange some games. I'd finished Phoenix Wright during the week (excellent game!) but couldn't trade it in as it's American. I traded a couple of old Gamecube games and some DS games and got Tetris DS for 50p, bargain :) I'll have to put Phoenix Wright on eBay later.

During the week a few things I missed:

1. Viv destroyed her calf
2. We can't get broadband
3. Our tyre was flat (previously covered)

Viv hurt herself doing the Ministry of Sound workout video, based on the song and video you can see here. It's a great DVD to watch (for obvious reasons if your a man) but not that great a workout. Viv pulled her calf muscle and has been limping about till today.

I've been informed by BT that the local exchange in my area is full, and no new broadband connections can be made. So basically I have to sit around until they can be arsed to upgrade the exchange. This may be some time...

We had the Dudes around on Saturday night, we watched Eurovision, which Finland won, I was well impressed as they were rocky, different and dressed up with masks and stuff. Viv phoned up and voted for them. We were also tasting wine for Sarah and Glenn's wedding, I think we decided on the 3rd one, I'm not sure, by the end they just tasted the same. There was about a bottle of wine each, plus whatever people were drinking themselves. It was a great night, very funny. Also Al fell asleep so we stacked stuff on him and Viv got her own back with a picture :)

The Da Vinci Code Movie crap

Apparently people are rather upset about it

IT'S FICTION!!! F-I-C-T-I-O-N!!!

...and breathe... For @#%$'s sake, this film is FICTION, based on a book, also FICTION, written by a FICTION author, about stuff he made up or ripped off.

demanding that, at a minimum, the picture contain a disclaimer testifying to the fact that The Da Vinci Code is simply a work of fiction

They shouldn't have to, it's a FICTION film! It has Fic-tion-al Char-ac-ters in it. Say it with me now, Fic-tion-al Char-ac-ters. Do I need to use hand signals or pictures? Should I write it in crayon? Other films have this at the end: "This film is ficticious and any events, characters blah, blah blah". Why is this film so special it needs this at the beginning?

One Roman Catholic activist has gone on what he says is a "hunger strike until death" unless the film is banned.

Please... I hope his family is proud of him when he starves himself to death over a FICTIONAL FILM!

The Catholic Secular Forum has described the film as "offensive" because hits "certain basic foundations of the religion".

It's sad that they find the fact that a 33 year old man 2000 years ago MIGHT have had children offensive. Besides the fact that this is FICTION!!!!!!!

Live episodes of Trisha

I don't like public transport. It's expensive, inconvienient, and pretty much always late. Looking on the plus side though, the fact that the buses are always late will mean that you have a chance to catch a bus that's running late, if you get to your stop early.

A further plus point is the always entertaining world of chavs on the buses. Most of the chavs that get on the bus are young and don't have cars, but it's fun listening to the drama in their life, if only because it makes you feel better about your own. It's like listening to Trisha live (for those of you in not in the UK Trisha is our equivalent of Jerry Springer).

An example of this was a couple of young chav girls talking about what they were doing this time last week. One of them mentioned hanging out in front of the shops (a typical chav activity), while the other remembered she'd actually been shagging a chef whose name she couldn't now remember (another typical chav activity). I've heard similar stories from chavs talking about their pregnancies, abortions, sex lives, cheating on their boyfriends/girlfriends, fights they've had/will have/are considering. It brightens up my day and makes the trip home more interesting.

On the negative side it does kind of make me realise how boring my life must seem. But then I don't really need all the drama in my life.

Tags: Humour, Trisha, Bus

I have the Tickets!

My Download Festival tickets arrived today! It's quite a bit earlier than they normally get here. They were sent on Thursday, but required a signature so it had to be redelivered. I got them sent to my work address and picked them up a few hours ago. Excellent...

What's now even better about this is that the World Cup begins that weekend and I get to watch it on a cinema screen with a whole bunch of people. I think Download has around 60,000 people at any time, and I reckon AT LEAST 10,000 of those will be watching the game. That'll be a hell of an atmosphere to kick the World Cup of too. I can't wait!

Tags: Download Festival

40 Questions... thats a lot!

1. What's in the glove box of your car?
A few borrowed CDs, my CD player and car kit, MOT certificate and a few other bits of documentation.
2. Favorite classes in college (or high school):
I didn't like much about school, but Technology was always good, woodwork and stuff.
3. Shampoo brand:
L'Oréal Kids Cherry and Almond favour
4. Favorite piece of furniture you own:
Our Sofa, it came from a friend, it's old and very battered, but very comfortable and long.
5. Idea of a really good first date:
Someone incredibly attractive, great food, great film, and a blowjob.
6. Favorite fruit:
Strawberry.
7. Pick a passage from a favorite book:
'Piglet was still a little anxious about Tigger, who was a very Bouncy Animal, with a wasy of saying How-do-you-do, which always left your ears full of sand, even after Kanga had said "Gently, Tigger dear," and had helped you up again.' - A. A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh
8. What would you eat for dinner if it were your last night on earth?
As much as I could, lot's of things I'd never tried, as well as small bits of my favourites.
9. Free Will or Destiny?
We're destined to end up somewhere, put you choose how you get there.
10. What would you sing at karaoke?
I have no idea, something rockier I can shout instead of sing, and hopefully other people will join in.
11. Sweater or Sweatshirt?
There's a difference? Sweatshirt I guess, is that a jumper?
12. Paris, NYC, Tokyo, or Rio de Janeiro?
I wouldn't want to live in any of these cities, I'm not really a city person, people there piss me off. I've been to NYC, but I'd like to visit Tokyo most.
13. What do you wear to bed usually?
Nothing
14. If you dyed your hair, what colour would you dye it?
Black and red
15. If you went back to school, what would you study?
Film or journalism, or both!
16. Gum or mints?
Mints, gum sticks to stuff.
17. Recurring nightmares?
No
18. Age & location of first kiss?
I honestly don't remember, it may have been when I was 5 or 6 in Paderborn, Germany, in our cellar with one of my sisters friends
19. Describe your favourite pair of shoes:
My DCs. I absolutely love DC Trainers, I wish I had more money as I can only ever have one pair at a time, they cost about £50 a pop and I only get one pair a year.
20. What movie/tv character do you feel like you relate to most?
Silent Bob, or the guy from Office Space.
21. First CD purchase:
No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom
22. First concert:
I went to V98 in Leeds with my sister to see Green Day, The Verve were headlining. I think my first none festival concert may have been Korn, my best friend got tickets for his birthday and we went to see them at Wembley Stadium.
23. Do you like camping?
Yes
24. If you were doomed to be mauled to death by an animal, what animal would you prefer that to be?
Something that would make it quick, a Tiger or a Bear
25. Do you/would you own a gun?
Hell yeah! I'd love a pump action Shotgun, and Desert Eagle .50
26. What religion would you like to know more about:
Buddhism, it sounds fairly laid back and not too 'religious' for a religion. It seems a lot less rigid than most religions and let's you question things.
27. Favourite food as a kid:
Probably chicken, I would always eat chicken. Or Bangers 'n Mash.
28. How many languages do you speak?
Only English fluently. I got an 'A' in German at GCSE and hardly spoke it since. I'd like to learn Japanese or Spanish.
29. If you were a natural disaster, would you be a tornado, hurricane, or earthquake?
I don't know the difference between a hurricane or a tornado, isn't that just a location thing? I'd be an earthquake though, it's takes a lot to set me off, but it gets messy when it happens.
30. If you could make one state in the US just go away, which state would that be?
California. There's too many weird people there, if LA would just disappear and take everything with it, the world would be a better place.
31. How many prescriptions do you take?
None regularly, only if I've caught something. I don't believe in medicating for psychological problems.
32. Lake or Ocean?
I like lakes, they're generally cleaner and feel fresher when your in them.
33. What is the worst lie you've ever told to get out of work, (and don't say you've never lied to get out of work, because that my friend is a lie and you know it)?
Nothing drastic, I normally just say I'm ill. I've lied about having holiday booked when I've changed jobs to make sure I get it.
34. Do you carry a backpack, a satchel or "man bag", tote bag, brief case, or a backpack on wheels?
I use a 'messenger' style bag across my back. I don't know what most of those bags are. Tote bag? Man Bag?
35. Have you ever been arrested/cited for anything other than traffic violations?
Yes
36. Would you ever move for/with a significant other?
Yes, she's done the same for me.
37. What was the weirdest thing you had to dissect for biology?
Cabbage, science was never really that interesting.
38. Would you ever consider spending some time at a nudist colony?
No, I don't see the point, other than looking at breasts, which your not supposed to do, and could lead to embarresment.
39. Best thing you can cook?
I can cook anything if I have the recipe, maybe not very well though. I'd consider Meatballs to be my speciality.
40. If you were going to donate 1000 dollars to a charity, what would that be?
Probably Cancer Research, call it investing in my future.

New Buses in York

I had my first ride on York's new buses this morning. Usually Viv and I get a lift from my Mum as she drives past our house on the way to work. She then drops us at the Train Station in York, which I then get to Leeds. Viv works just across the road from the Station. Every Thursday my Mum goes to College, so we have to get a bus.

We used to get a normal bus like every other route in York. Oldish buses, with a driver that you paid, who then gave you change if you needed it.

The new buses are not like this. They are weird futuristic buses, that kind of look like coaches. The inside is big, as the bus is very long, but there is only 1 more chair in these buses than the old ones, despite them being nearly twice as long as a normal bus. Theres a lot of standing room, woooo! Everyone wants to stand! I don't see why they didnt put more seats in.

There are weird machines that take money, BUT DO NOT GIVE YOU CHANGE. This is just weird. Surely a machine in this day and age, being given coins all day, should be able to figure out what you've given it, and give you back the rest? Even vending machines can do that! We can buy tickets in advance from a shop, which is quite handy, but only if you want a week or a month pass. As I only use the bus a few times a week, this is useless to me. Apparently I can text for 10 tickets, but I don't know how long they are valid for, or if they'll work on my phone.

As you may have guessed, my first impressions of this new bus weren't great. But we did get a free ride as the ticket machine was broken. Hopefully this will be a regular occurence.

In pursuit of fitness

I continue today in my pursuit of fitness and the fabled Holy Six-Pack. It was a fairly small step to be honest. I walked home from the Train Station. Oooooooooh. Well it is roughly an hour walk. I think it took me about 40mins really, and it's around 2-3miles, I'm not sure exactly.

Walking is apparently one of the best types of exercise you can do, which I think is rubbish, surely if I'd run home I'd have used more energy and got more exercise? But at least I've done something on a Tuesday, normally I don't do anything.

More pain will result from tonight, we're doing another Tae Bo DVD. We did the instructional one on Monday, followed by the 8 Minute Workout (which is really 12 minutes, go figure). I wasn't very stiff yesterday, but I was incredibly tired, I'm not sure if this getting up early thing we had planned will work, but we seem to be eating earlier anyway, now we're exercising at home.

I think I'm losing weight. I really felt bad on Monday, but this week I've felt slimmer, even if I don't look it. Exercising is a good thing.

Tags: Tae Bo, Exercise

Hot Dickings! ...from Dr. Tran

I have pretty much no idea what this video is about, but it's very very funny. Very funny.



I've made the video a bit smaller so it looks a bit better on the site, if you want to see a larger video you can see it on youTube here.

Tags: Humour, Dr Tran, Hot Dickings

Abs Of Steel!

I hate to disappoint anyone, but I don't really look like that, that is not a picture of me, not even a photoshopped one. I've got a bit of a belly on me, that's why I'm trying to get into an excercise regime now we've moved house.

Our first attempt was with the Tae Bo DVDs, which resulted in this post. Further to that we tried another DVD on Thursday night. Viv did it in the morning, I did it in the evening. It was an Abs and Gluts workout. Now I ache even more. In fact, I still ache now, 3 days later. The weekend was unbareable! I couldn't sneeze, cough, sit up or bend over without moaning in pain. Our flat sounded like some kind sado-mashicistic dungeon.

On the good side though, by the time I can actually do the DVD workout properly, I will look like that picture. I'm counting on it.

Tags: Tae Bo, Pain

Johnny C's Birthday!

It was a slow weekend, which makes a nice change. Friday was a nice night, Saturday and Sunday day was slow and comfortable. I read all of Terry Pratchett's latest book 'THUD!' which was very good. We also finished off Season 4 of Friends. On Sunday we went shopping to Tesco's and got some No More Nails from B&Q. I then used the No More Nails to stick the bathroom cabinets to the wall. Which means this week we can finally unpack the rest of our crap boxes and get everything away as it's supposed to be.

On Saturday we were invited to Johnny's house in Leeds for his birthday, we got a little lost on the way there. We also stayed the night. It was a good night, there was a chocolate cake that Johnny's girlfriend Frankie made, it was covered in sweets over the top of it, literally coated in sweets. Just looking at it made me think I was becoming diabetic. It also tasted ace! Sarah and Glenn got Johnny a pinyata for his birthday, which turned out to be very entertaining, even if it was a bit harder than everyone thought it would be!

Viv fell asleep about 12:30, and as is now customary in our group, everyone had a go of Bucka-Viv, putting things on her, and hoping she doesn't wake up. There are pictures as well, unfortunately we still have no broadband at home, so I can't post any here, but I will in future at some point.

We didn't go to sleep till about 3:30, we got to sleep on the floor with the chairs cushions. We got up and headed home about 12:00, stopping off at McDonald's on the way home.

Tags: Drinking, Weekend, Birthday

Crazy Japanese Gamers

I have no idea what this guy is playing, but at some points you can't actually see his hands moving. He is incredibly fast.

Tags: Amazing, Fast, Japanese Gamer

Happy Star Wars Day!

Apparently it's Star Wars Day, it's even listed in wikipedia. Now theres a number of reasons why it's Star Wars Day, and none of them are good.

1. It's May the 4th. Sooooooo... May the fourth be with you! (Groan...)
2. The date is 04/05/06, for those of you in America who can't order their dates properly, this will mean nothing to you. This also happens to be the episodes of the original Star Wars Trilogy.

Just thought you's all like to know...

Tags: Star Wars, Star Wars Day

I ache

Do not do Tae Bo. It hurts.

Me and Viv had a great idea two weeks ago, when we were drunk and watching info-mercials at a friend's house. We should've just stopped right there and taken a good long look at ourselves, what were we doing?!? It involved Tae Bo. We've been looking to quit the gym as it's expensive, we need the money and it takes up too much time. Getting some excercise DVDs and doing it at home seemed excellent, and I'd heard good things about Tae Bo. So I ordered a set of 4 DVDs for £7.99, bargain! The gym costs £60 a month, we'll be rich!

We watched two workouts through to get an idea. That's when we started worrying, I got the hint it was going to be hard from the fact even the instructor looked like someone had thrown a bucket of water over him, he was sweating that much. On Monday Viv convinced me we should give the Basic one a go. I still hurt now. I have also discovered I have the coordination of a drunk spastic, and rhythm to match. The DVDs require quite a good level of flexibility, which I don't really have, fitness, which I don't really have, and balance, which I have apparently lost all control over.

At least we're getting more excercise anyway. Sure we have to take 3 days after to recover, but we're getting there. Hopefully after a few tries I won't look like a bad white breakdancer trying to get the ants off himself, and instead I will have transformed into a young Chuck Norris, ready to roundhouse kick my way to work everyday.

Tags: Humour, Tae Bo, Pain

The Quest for the Holy Drawers

Another weekend, yet another trip to IKEA. A lot of last week wasn't actually recording much that happened, so heres a quick recap. We went to IKEA in Leeds on Wednesday, trying to get the draws that were out of stock. Viv had phoned in advance and we were told there were some left, but by the time we got there, there was only one drawer left. We were suitably annoyed. We were then told they had some new ones in stock, currently being counted, but they won't be on the shelf until Friday.

After our mid-week trip to IKEA in Leeds we were being a little bit more cautious before we decided to go for a hour long round trip, so Viv phoned again to make sure they weren't taking the piss. Turns out they were, as they didnt have any draws in stock. We were told to head to Gateshead, an hour away, if we wanted those drawers, as they wouldn't have any for another month at least. Viv then phoned Gateshead on friday night checking they had the drawers, yes, 320 apparently, the only ones in Northern England.

So just before we head off on saturday for our hour long quest Viv phones to check again. They still have the drawers, but there's only 290 now. Concerned by this we jumped into the Batmobile and sped away. When we arrived in IKEA in Gateshead about 75 minutes later I practically sprinted through the store, only pausing to pick up a curtain rail and leap onto a trolly so I could lance an old woman out of my way. I then got trapped in the labyrinthine 'Marketplace' wondering in circles till I spied the foot wide exit, flanked by columns of woven baskets. I took my chance and ran through, narrowly avoiding a cave-in. Viv wasn't so lucky, by this point she was carrying a new king size duvet and it got caught on the way through. I just about heard her cries of "Save yourself!" above the sounds of collapsing wicker.

Eventually we got to the Warehouse, where we had to wait in line to find an assistant, we had skipped the main store and so had no idea where the drawers actually were. As I was waiting I heard the guy at the front of the line mention 'Komplement Drawers'. My senses were tingling as I waved frantically at Viv in the other queue, then quietly instructed her to follow those men! By the time we got to the location we found it empty! Of the 3 levels of massive shelves the bottom and middle shelves were empty, only the top shelf had anything on it. Just 7 boxes...

We started chatting to the men we'd followed discovering that they were a gay couple from Leeds, they'd had the same problem finding these drawers as us, they needed 6 of them, while we required 8. Luckily they also said that the assistant had gone to find a ladder and there was another stack of drawers a few locations over on the top shelf. I smiled at this news and put the set of carving knives back in our trolley, there was no need for a fight to the death this time. It also turns out that there had been Drawers in IKEA in Leeds on Friday, it's just that all 300+ of them had gone by Saturday morning.

But we have our drawers! Took me most of Sunday to get them up. The journey was eased by listening to Led Zeppelin, which was cool. Also Jon and Karen finally moved into their new house this weekend, after a two week delay. We went round to theirs on Sunday night. It was a good weekend and the Bank Holiday was well appreciated too.

Tags: Humour, Ikea, Weekend, Bank Holiday

The Beerbelly

Ever had trouble getting any kind of alcohol into an organised event, such as a football game, a concert or a festival? Then the answer to all of your prayers is here! In the form of the Beerbelly. This is an absolutely genius idea, hiding drink in a fake stomach, in order to carry it into the event.

I don't know about you, but I've found buying drinks in any of these events is absolutely ridiculous. At the Reading Festival you can expect to pay anything up to £5 for a pint. Small bottles of water are £2, where they would normally be only 20-50p in a shop.

Here's a few excuses from the website in case you get caught with one by security staff during a search:

• This is a medical device that I think we’d both prefer not discussing or viewing in public.


• My wife is pregnant and, as part of our maternity class, I have to develop empathy by wearing this thing around in order to look fat and give myself backaches.


• Department of Homeland Security. We’re testing a new stealth form of body armor to protect our undercover agents overseas in the Global War on Terror. Don’t make me shut this place down.


• It’s full of urine, so step back or you’re gonna be sorry.


• It’s part of my religion to wear this…non-Muslim, of course.


• Want a beer?

Personally I can't wait to get one, it'll save me a fortune! Also available in the UK at Firebox

Tags: Beerbelly, Drinking, Humour

Jedi Breakfast

A short but entertaining little Star Wars fan video about a guy with a Jedi for a roommate, who gets pissed off when he leaves his lightsaber on the table. It's good for a mid afternoon laugh if your a bit bored.

See it here

The Ultimate Showdown

Run over and vote at Jack Bauer Vs. Chuck Norris to see who would win out of the ultimate good guy vs good guy showdown. Personally I think Chuck Norris has the edge on experience alone, and the fact he could conquer a continent using only his bare hands, while Jack is still young and foolish, relying on weapons and only being able to conquer small villages.

4GB Hard Drive for DS

Datel has released a Hard Drive for the DS, so you can now watch Films and stuff on your DS. I think this is genius and I plan on buying one very very soon. Although I may have to wait until I buy a DS Lite as well...

Anyway you can see a small article on IGN here. The article also includes something very interesting which I found at the bottom:

"Thanks to some recent advances in DS hacking circles, Datel is even including software that will be able to launch applications on the DS, allowing for the possibility of some retro-emulation action."

Now to me this sounds excellent for a number of reasons. This means that the DS can pretty much become a handheld computer, as you now have 4GB to put any program you want on it, like Browsers, music players, notepads, calendars, alarms, emulators, whatever you can think of that may be handy to have on the move. Genius! I'd love some emulators though, I know for a fact that the Monkey Island games have already been adapted, this will just make them easier to play. I can't wait...

Tags: DS, nintendods

Bus Crash

Apparently theres been a bus crash just round the corner from where I work, and it's not your usual 'hit-a-small-car' slight bump kind of accident either. It's a huge bendy bus that ended up halfway through a store front. I actually found out as someone had gone to get something from the bakery, but found the bus had taken it's place. Nobody died though, so that's ok. There's a very small story about it on the BBC website

Tags: Bus, Crash, Leeds

God of War 2

This looks hot! I've never played the first game, but apparently it's awesome. It's also the sort of game I like, so I'll definately be getting it eventually:



I have a huge list of games I want to find. As I've only just got a PS2 I'm well behind on all the games it has for it, so I'm trying to track down Silent Hill, once again I never played the original, but theres a collection out of the PS2 games, which doesn't include the PSOne first game. I really want to start at the beginning, but the first game is bizzarely hard to track down... I mainly want to do this as the movie is out soon, which I'm going to see, but I like the look of the games as well.

I also want to try out one of the Dynasty Warriors games, beating up hundreds of men at the same time is just cool! As well as a lot of others I've missed, which are really cheap now. I have to do something until the Nintendo Revolution comes along!

St George's Day, Blackouts and a 28oz T-Bone Steak

Sunday was alllllllll good. Apparently it was St George's Day I discovered after most of it had gone past. I don't see why it is the Irish get so excited about St Patrick's Day, but no one else bothers with their own saint's days. It's not like George couldn't have Patrick, he killed a Dragon for God's sake, that's much cooler. Most people don't even know what St Patrick did! We should make a bigger deal, and have Dragon Burgers and pint's of warm beer or something.

As we were coming home in the Taxi on Saturday night there was quite a large blackout over some parts of York. It was a bit weird as the streets were all dark and the traffic lights weren't working, which was interesting. I've not seen one that size in York before, I hope it doesn't become common!

I went out for dinner with my parents, my sister and Viv on sunday Night, as it was my birthday 3 weeks ago and we hadn't had a chance yet. We went to the Nag's Head near my house but the power was out so we went to the Agar Arms instead. The Agar Arms is in the middle of nowhere around York, but it's food is excellent. I ordered a 24oz T-Bone Steak, but they didn't have any, so I could either have a 16oz (2 sizes down), or a 28oz, the largest. So of course I went bigger. The steak was fantastic, I got a nice sauce with it as well. It certainly is a lot of meat! But I think I could've had more, I should get in training!

In the middle of a Chain Reaction!

I love little videos like this, even though this one is 12 minutes long. It's lot's of little set up chain reactions, while their not quite as long or as good as that Honda car advert from a while ago, it's still pretty smart and well worth taking a look. Some of the ones in the middle are excellent.



On the other hand not a lot else has happened really. I've been a bit more active at work, but not a lot is really happening. I'm playing Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney on the train to and from work, it's an ace little game with a nice sense of humour. I'd recommend it to anyone with a DS, while I wish it was a little harder, or had some different routes you could take to get to a certain point, it's a pretty straightforward game, but entertaining anyway.

Refreshed

I'm back after a not too productive weekend to be not too productive at work. Seriously though, I will step up my work tomorrow, I just had so much to catch up on!

I now have a phone line! I just have to wait 5-7 working days till I get Broadband. As I'm an optimist I'm going for between 2-3 weeks, that way I won't be disappointed. I can't wait, my own personal broadband connection! Then I will be complete!

As far as housework goes I finished off the bathroom cabinets and set up my computer, I've stuck stickers on my Guitar Hero Gibson SG, done some hoovering and rearranging... And that's about it. It doesn't seem like much when I say it like that...

We're nearly unpacked, just a few boxes left, which will disappear once our bathroom cabinets are stuck to the walls and our drawers have been purchased and stuck into our bedroom cupboards. It's gonna be so nice!

Like I said we were going to we drank 4 nights in a row, we went through 3 litres of vodka, and have one left over. We cooked quite a lot as well, and ate out a few times. It was a good weekend overall, with no real pressure to do anything (normally coming from Viv) and being able to relax. I am now officially recharged and ready to work! Well it's only a 3 day week till it's the weekend again, no big deal :)

5 Day Weekend!

Hells yeah!

Thanks to a random religion it will officially be Easter Weekend, which means that thanks to some guy who died on a cross thousands of years ago we get to eat chocolate eggs and rabbits, because the colour of the chocolate, and the colour of the wood on the cross... no... because there were lots of rabbits in Galilee... Well I don't know where it all comes from and links up, but what the hell, chocolate and holidays! Woohoo!

Plus as I got into work early today, I get to leave early as well! Score, I'm gonna be gone by 4! Viv might have to work tomorrow though, even though it's a bank holiday. She's getting lots of stuff to do, as they have a new electronic system to make things easier, even though it's doubled her workload and their trying to give her more.

I also have next Tuesday off, as the guy from BT is supposed to be turning up to connect our phoneline! This means broadband, which means internet at home! I can't wait, LSN, new episodes of Lost, I get to catch up with Naruto, and also blog from home, finally being able to put up pictures of me and Viv and our new house and stuff like that.

We went shopping yesterday, and while we were looking for Peanut Butter, randomly wandered over to the spirits section at the other end of the supermarket. This is not a good sign, neither of us knew why we were there, but we decided to stock up for the weekend anyway. We bought 4 litres of Glen's Vodka (The Exciting Vodka!), at £10.79 for a litre bottle it's a bargain! We also bought 8 litres of Diet Coke, and 6 litres of Red Bull, meaning we will not have to leave the house for four days... I can't wait! And people tell you binge drinking is bad! We were only really shopping for two baking trays I think, it ended up costing us £60, with some other stuff we bought as well...

Also I've seen my other blog has over taken this one in visitor count. Their both only in the three hundreds, but this one's been up much longer, and it seems like Used Hack is the only one who comments on any of them :)

Anyway, five days off, five days drunk, five days trying to play 'Cowboys from Hell' on Guitar Hero. By the end of a probable 72hr Guitar Hero marathon I expect to be cruising through these songs on Expert. Only kidding, I'll be struggling through hard, try not to break my fingers while chord changing and attempting to badly do solos! It's gonna rock!

Template Redesign

Bear with me on this, I'm gradually figuring some stuff out and while it may not look great at the moment I consider it a work in progress. I have the original stored away somewhere as well, in case it all goes tits up at some point.

It's all very... white... at the moment...

Random Questions

Have you ever...

Taken a picture naked? No
Made out with a member of the same sex? Nope
Danced in front of your mirror? Possibly, it's not a habit
Told a lie? Yes, but I'm not a good liar
Gotten in a car with people you just met? Yes
Been in a fist fight? Not really, a few punches when I was younger
Had feelings for someone who didn’t have them back? Yes, many times
Been arrested? Yes, I was eleven
Left your house without telling your parents? Yes
Ditched school to do something more fun? I used to bunk off German to play on my PlayStation
Slept in a bed with a member of the same sex? Yes
Seen someone die? No, not in real life
Kissed a picture? Yes, but I can't remember of who
Slept in until 3? Longer
Laid on your back and watched cloud shapes go by? Yeah, but not for a long time
Played dress up? All the time, fancy dress rocks
Fallen asleep at work/school? Yes, too often
Felt an earthquake? Yes, it woke me up
Touched a snake? Yes, I caught an Adder once as well
Ran a red light? Yes
Had detention? Once, it lasted 2 minutes
Been in a car accident? Not exactly
Pole danced? No
Been lost? Hasn't everyone?
Sang karaoke? I don't think so, I've not been drunk enough in the right places
Done something you told yourself you wouldn’t? Yes
Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? Yes
Kissed in the rain? Yes, we had no where else to go
Sang in the shower? Not very often, I need a radio in there
Got your tongue stuck to a pole? No, got my fingers stuck once
Ever gone to school partially naked? Yes
Sat on a roof top? Many times
Played chicken? No
Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on? No
Been told you’re hot by a complete stranger? No, that makes me sad...
Broken a bone? I broke a friends collar bone once in Judo
Mooned/flashed someone? Yes
Forgotten someone’s name? All the time
Blacked out from drinking? Many times
Played a prank on someone? Yes
Felt like killing someone? Is it bad I have to stop myself?
Made a parent cry? I think so
Cried over someone? Yes
Had sex more than 10 times in a weekend? Ohhhhh yeah
Had/Have a dog? Yep, an Alaskan Malamute, he's a bit old now. Bless him
Been in a band? A marching band, and a rock band for about 5 seconds
Shot a gun? Yes

Guitar Hero!!!!!

Last Friday when I got home there was a delivery note on the ironing board, this normally means that something is too small to fit into our mailbox. Excellent Guitar Hero is here! I tried to control my excitement, after all it would be at least a day till I could pick it up and play it.

So on saturday, after a drunken night at Al and Jayne's, I dragged myself out of bed, for the now weekly trip to Ikea. But before we went to Leeds, we stopped by the post office and I picked up my package. It was indeed Guitar Hero, it must've been, as I hadn't ordered anything else to be delivered to our new address that would be that size! I put it in the back and off we went. An hour or two later and my Dad was loading our new cupboards and bits into his car to take home for is. Unfortunately Ikea had sold out of drawers for our shelves, so we have two huge cupboard 'shells' with only clothes rails across the top, and the rest os them are empty.

We got home, unloaded the car, drilled lots of holes in our walls, mounted a shelf and coat hooks in the hall, and a curtain rail in the living room. I bought doors for our bathroom cabinets, but no handles, so we need to buy some of those. Once everything had been drilled properly, my Dad left and I got to making the bedroom cupboards. Viv was cleaning the kitchen up and hoovering as the Dudes were coming round that night. Once I had finished my jobs I finally got to open Guitar Hero. It was excellent, the mini-gibson guitar even came with little rock stickers to give them that authentic rock guitar look.

Viv had finished up so we put dinner on (Ikea Meatballs!) then she went to put her makeup on. I seized the opportunity and tried out the game. It was amazing! Even though I only tried 'I lvoe rock and roll' on the easiest setting it was still soooo good! I didn't have time to try out anything else so we put it away and had dinner.

Minutes after we'd finished the doorbell rang and our friends were there! Immediately the boys asked about Guitar Hero while the girls got in the kitchen making drinks and baby food. I turned Guitar Hero back on and the night began. The only time the game was off was to try out BUZZ! The Big Quiz, for one round, then it came back out. Everyone wanted to play! There were nearly fights over who was next, even from the girls! It continued till half three, when everyone left, but Viv kept playing till four!

The next day was a mix of Guitar Hero, shelf building, cleaning, Guitar Hero and food.

It is a most excellent game. I've gone on about it before I even had it, but now it's here it's fantastic! I can't wait to get another controller so I can thrash against Viv in a titanic axe battle!

Reading Festival Lineup SUCKS ASS!

I saw the lineup a few days ago and OH. MY. GOD. It blows. It sucks. It is the very definition of suckage.

I mean come on! What kind of headlining acts are Muse, Franz Ferdinand and Pearl Jam. This was supposed to be a metal festival, what the hell happened? Now take a look at Download Festival instead: Tool, Metallica and Guns N' Roses, that kicks ass! Even the next line down from the headliners is more awesome: Deftones, Korn and Prodigy.

I've been to the Reading Festival for the last 7 years, it's become an event amongst my friends, it pretty much IS our Summer Holiday, plus it's a chance to meet up with some old friends, and see a bunch of cool bands. But this year I don't want to go. I'm not gonna pay £200+ to go and sit in a field for 3-5 days and get drunk with my friends, I can do that at a campsite for a fraction of the price, plus have clean toilets and showers!

Sorry Reading, your cool and all, but that lineup is pitiful. I'm not Indie, and I'm not Emo, I'll go to Download, where the metal is. It's been great but it's time to move on.

RIP Reading Festival (1999-2005)

Nearly there!

Hopefully alot of things are going to be finishing soon: The working week, our trips to Ikea, our unpacking, fannying about with boxes and crap. The sooner it's over the better.

I'm so glad it's Friday, I've been knackered this week, mostly due to unpacking and being generally busy during the nights, I don't know where we're going to fit going to the gym in, but I'm really not looking forward to starting to go in the mornings, although it will give us more time in the evenings. We're going to need it with all the cooking we're doing, yet another thing I can't be arsed with.

Our final trip to Ikea should be on Saturday, my Dad's gonna turn up later on and take some stuff home for us if we need it. We should be getting our bedroom cupboards then, we also need the bathroom cupboard door, as we forgot to get them last time. Dunno exactly what else we need, but I said to Viv we should make a list and we havent, so we'll inevitably forget something!

My Dad is also going to sort out our shelves for us, so we can get our final one set up between the other two. This'll give us some much needed shelf space and let us unpack the final few boxes. It's gonna be sooooo good once we get everything away and can finally check out what our flat is actually going to look like.

Gordon Frohman, A guy winning a threesome and some comedy!

Yep, all in one amazing post!

First of all Gordon Frohman, yes, not Gordon Freeman of Half Life fame, stars in a Hal Life 2 orientated comic over at hlcomic.com. This comic is great if you've ever played Half Life 2, the jokes are superb, theres also some Couter Strike and Lost Coast jokes if you've seen them as well. Funny stuff.

Next is this guy over at www.helpwinmybet.com/, where the guy bet his girlfriend he could get 2,000,000 hits on a site. His girlfriend didn't believe him, so she bet a threesome that he couldn't do it. Last I saw he was pretty close and likely to go over the winning mark at any minute, with about 1,000 hits a minute! He also said he may try and get her to go double or nothing, so is that two threesomes, a foursome or a fivesome?

Finally some good old football fuck ups. See the video here

Weekend Update

Over the weekend we got quite a lot done surprisingly. Friday was a bit of a disappointment, but as we had stuff to do Saturday and needed the car it was probably a good thing. Ben was ill so we didnt go round to Sarah and Glenn's.

Got up pretty early on Saturday and headed into town, moving money around and stuff, it was also my birthday! Unfortunately no birthday head for me though, and all my presents have been converted into IKEA vouchers for later. We went to tescos on the way home and got some stuff for the house. Housey stuff you never really think about, like bins, toilet stuff, draining racks, crap like that.

Then I spent all day assembling shelves! YAY! Just what I wanted for my birthday! But they were all done and I got to watch Ice Age later. The dudes came round for our house warming, I got one of those plug in your TV controller game system thingies with a few cool old school games on it, so now I can play Sonic and Golden Axe! My friends know me so well... Everyone had to leave quite early though as Glenn was ill and Jayne and Al got a lift home.

Sunday was just as uninteresting and I don't think we did much. We went to Tescos and bought stuff for our Thai Curry. Our first 'proper' cooking attempt! Then we went around to my parents house to drop off the dyson (Oh yeah, the red candle dropped off the TV onto our new white carpet, Double YAY!) and to sort out our loan. Then we went home, made dinner and slacked about.

We got up early on Monday, my day off, so we would be up in time for the storage guys to get here, as they were supposed to be here around 9am. So we got up and then when they didnt turn up phoned at about 10:30am. Turns out they'd got their days wrong! They were coming tomorrow, which was great as we were at work then. They ended up delivering the stuff at 7:30pm, and we wasted our entire day. Triple YAY! We got some stuff unpacked before going to bed.

So tonight I'm back to assembling and unpacking, should be fun! Hopefully we'll be sorted by the end of the week.

More Clerks 2!

Theres a new trailer up at You Tube, see it here

This is looking pretty promising, I was hoping Kevin Smith wouldn't fuck it up after Jersey Girl, but it's looking funny and every clip I see is making me want to see it more. Fingers crossed it's not a disappointment!

Darth Vader conquers Japan!

Darth Vader is apparently alive and well in Japan, taking on the police is two funny videos that can be found at You Tube.

Part 1: Darth Vader Vs The Japanese Police

Part 2: The Re-Match!

Ikea by night

Another day, another trip to Ikea.

We went to Ikea again last night, as it didnt close till 10pm. That was probably my quickest ever trip, although I was pretty much dragging and pushing Viv through. We've decided to get the 3 shelves we were going for, they'll fit nicely across one end of our living room. Or they will do once I 'edit' them by sawing off about 10cms from one of them.

We're also gonna have to get the shorter version the bedroom cupboards we wanted, as our bedroom is too short by exactly 1cm. Oh well, we'll have space on top of the cupboards to put crap on instead!

Getting our 3 sets of shelves home was fun, bear in mind we only have a Fiat Punto (Very small car) and we were transporting 2m long shelves. We managed to squeeze them in though, with Viv sat behind me in the back and all the chairs down one side of the car laid back as far as they will go. We got a few other things as well, which weighed down the car quite badly. It was a 40 minute trip home, via Tescos, and we still got home in time to get all the stuff up stairs, tune in our TV and watch House. Ace :)

Oh yeah, It's my birthday tomorrow, I'll be 24!

Chopped Tomatoes Anyone?

Last night we got home from work just as the Tescos delivery man got there.

Viv's Mum was going to give us money for furniture, or something like that, but instead Viv suggested she go online and order us a load of stuff from Tescos. Viv's Mum is in Mexico, which is why she can't give us anything directly. Viv also mentioned the huge 28" TV that was on sale that we wanted, Viv's Mum said she couldn't find it on the website or she would have bought it for us. I should have taken this as a hint to just how much she was going to spend...

£247!!!

Now I shouldn't need to tell you that's a lot of shopping! We spent 2 hours unloading stuff from the van, taking it all upstairs and then putting it all away. Our corridor was full of bags, or kitchen is now packed, our fridge and freezer are bulging, all our cupboards are full. It's amazing! It's a fantastic birthday present. Plus she bought us a bunch of stuff we never would have bought ourselves, we have proper cooking stuff, like herbs and spices. She also got us cleaning stuff, like bleach, ironing and washing stuff, and loads of cleaning products, like cloths and sponges, it must have saved us a fortune!

So a big Thank You to Anita!!!

Although we will have to go and buy loads of 'Chicken Tonight', it's on buy one get one free and I'm lazy like that :P

We're In!

We have moved in! WOOOOOOOO!

It took ages though. Me and Viv both had the day off on Monday, so we could move all of our stuff into the flat once we had our keys. The trouble was, we were supposed to get our keys at about 12, while really it took until 3 to get everything sorted. Then we went to our flat and got talked through stuff for an hour before we could start moving stuff in.

My Dad helped us once we got back from work, transporting the bits of our new IKEA bed and some mattresses we were borrowing, as well as our chairs we'd been given by friends. The 3 seater sofa was a nightmare to get in to the living room! Once we'd got everything into the flat we hurried off for a takeaway before the Dudes started showing up to see the flat.

Finally we collapsed onto our mattresses on the floor, as we didnt have time to make the bed, and Viv was asleep before I had finished setting some alarms for the next day.

Yesterday we got up early, sorted ourselves out, left a key for the builders to fit our washing machine and then left for work. The builders were kindly fitting our washing machine out of the goodness of their hearts as they really didn't have to, we're gonna have to get them something to say thanks later as they've been great so far.

When we got home in the evening we cooked pizzas quickly, then went round to my parents to use the internet, I can't wait till we have our own. When we got home we sorted a few boxes and then spent the rest of the night making the bed. It was easy to assemble, but hard work and some of the bits were impossible to put together, so we improvised. By the time we'd finished that it was late and time for bed again. Lots more still to do!

Zelda on the DS!

Thanks to Kotadu I have found this amazing video of the only just announced Zelda game for the DS, how sweet does this look? It looks somewhere between a cross of the GameCube Wind Walker and old style SNES Zelda. It looks great though, with the touch screen apparently in use quite a lot of the time.

Check out the video

I seriously think that the DS is the most exciting bit of hardware I've owned for quite sometime. I am genuinely excited about most of the games I hear about, and for once I have such a long list of games I want. Plus I've now clocked over 70 hours on Advance Wars:DS. Games like Animal Crossing, Metroid Prime: Hunters, Tetris DS, Nintendogs, Zelda, Viewtiful Joe, Age of Empires, I can't wait to try out! If only I had more money and time :(

I'm sure they could sneak Final Fantasy VII onto the DS, although it took about 3 or 4 PlayStation disks to hold. What I'd really love to see though would be a Monkey Island or StarCraft DS, that would be so cool!

Update: Theres a better quality Zelda video here at IGN.com

Song Title Questions

I saw this on blogography and thought it was quite interesting. You answer the questions using the song titles from a particular band. Now in order to give yourself a chance I'd recommend an older band, with a couple of albums, otherwise it's gonna be well hard.

I chose Green Day, because I really like them and they have quite a few albums to choose from and a wide range of titles. I could also have gone for The Offspring, another favourite band, but I thought of Green Day first. So here goes:

1. Are you male or female?
"No One Knows"

2. Describe yourself:
"Dominated Love Slave"

3. How do some people feel about you:
"Best Thing In Town"

4. How do you feel about yourself:
"Welcome to Paradise"

5. Describe your ex boyfriend/girlfriend:
"2,000 Light Years Away" or "F.O.D. (Fuck Off and Die)"

6. Describe your current significant other:
"The One That I Want" or "Stuck With Me" or "Extraordinary Girl"

7. Describe where you want to be:
"Having a Blast"

8. Describe how you live:
"Blood, Sex, and Booze"

9. Describe how you love:
"Panic Song" or "All the Time"

10. What would you ask for if you had just one wish:
"Sweet Children" or "King for a Day" or "I Wanna Be On TV" or "Holiday"

11. Share a few words of wisdom:
"Nice Guys Finish Last"
and "Ha Ha You're Dead"

12. Now say goodbye:
"Good Riddance"

A Random Enemy Encounter

For those of you who have ever played a Final Fantasy game, you should know all about random enemy encounters. My first Final Fantasy game was Final Fantasy VII, probably the best ever of the series. I got it one christmas when I was younger, along with my brand new PlayStation, it was amazing. I love RPGs anyway and this game had amazing graphics (for it's time) and a huge world spanning story that covered a huge amount of ground and characters. Plus it went all weird and psychological near the end, making it a real trip for a young gamer who had never seen anything like it before.

The whole game took me about 25 hours to complete, and you spend most of your time fighting random enemy encounters. Obviously the guys who have made this video also spent a lot of time playing the game, and put a lot of effort into making it. The video features a real live random encounter, recreated for the camera. Enjoy.

On a side note, Final Fantasy: Advent Children is finally released in the UK on the 24th of April! This totally CGI film is based on the Final Fantasy VII game, taking over where the game ends. It looks amazing! It's a shame I don't have tiome to play the games again to remind myself of the story.

Moving Issues

It was just a matter of time until our finely tuned plan for moving from my parents house to our own flat encountered a few bumps. This bump is not a tragedy, but will be pretty inconvienient. The storage guy who has most of my stuff from uni, and a lot of Viv's stuff from her old house won't be able to deliver it until the 3rd April. We were supposed to be moving in on the 27th, next Monday. We have that Monday off and I was looking forward to getting everything sorted. Now I'm gonna have to take another day off to hang around and collect that stuff.

While the extra time for unpacking will no doubt be appreciated, it's still gonna suck, I lose a days holiday and we have to 'make do' for a week, rather than getting everything at once.

On a slightly lighter note, in preparation for another trip to IKEA, I discovered this IKEA Survival Guide, giving you a complete walkthrough to the IKEA game and exact instrustions on how to successfully complete your trip.

We went to IKEA last Sunday and found a bunch of shelves, cupboards and assorted goodies we'd like, we didn't buy anything, but we know it's there. Luckily we didn't need any kitchen or living room chairs, so I managed to skip those sections, making the trip alot less longer and less traumatic. IKEA on a Sunday with any kind of hangover is pretty much suicide, and several small children, old women and ignorant trolley pushers nearly lost their lives, and if that bedside table leg had been a bit sharper and quicker to come loose they would have.

But I have to admit at the beginning I totally succumbed to the Ikea Nesting Instinct, declaring that my entire house could be coated with IKEA flavoured loveliness, before I got bored and couldn't be bothered to look around anymore. I just wanted a 75p Hotdog.

Our Flat

We finally got to see our new flat today, it's just about finished. Well it had damn well better be finished by Monday as that's when we're moving in! We got to inspect it and check that everything looked OK. The carpets still weren't down, but that looked like pretty much all that was left.

We've been told by all the people we see relating to our house that everyone moving into the building is 'Young and Hip', I'm not really sure what that all means, but I don't think it'll mean alot of complaints about noise, thank god. Perhaps we'll have to rename the houses to something more young and happening. Unfortunately I can't think of anything right now and it's time to go home! I got in really late for work as our showing was delayed, so I'm working late tonight and tomorrow, so no gym! At least some good has come of this :)

Leeroy!

This is a really old video, but I first saw it when I was at uni and World of Warcraft first came out. I got pretty in to World of Warcraft, I used to play all the old games and had been following it's development. I really liked it, my only problem is it's aimed at groups and not really suited to individual play, and as none of my mates at uni played I had to make do. Eventually this got boring and I stopped playing, getting into Counter Strike: Source instead, before moving home and not being able to play online AT ALL. That's quite a break when you used to play around 6-14 hours a day.

Anyway, any online gamer will appreciate this video, hosted courtesy of albinoblacksheep.com, it's pretty funny.

Pfft, n00b