|
|
|
|
Mwahahahahahaaa! I ams in TUFTS University Library, stealing their interwebs!
|
|
Comments: Read 3 or Add Your Own.
|
|
|
So, the first order of business is to tell everyone that I have arrived safe and sound!! Dave and Jenny picked me up without any problems, and had a pretty sign to greet me with :) and I am now at their lovely house, and it's huge! And the computer was all ready, so I actually remembered to type this e-mail!
So yeah, the flight was good. The seat was awesome, plenty of leg room, window view was good. Definitely got a good look at that wing :) Watched some films, played some Apollo Justice, though had to stop cos I was getting sleepy and the battery was low (I guess I forgot to charge it - whoops!). I watched Anchorman first, and was kinda disappointed. It had some good bits, but was mostly meh. Then Justice happened, and it was good. Then I watched Yes Man, which was actually fantastic! I really enjoyed that one! It was was a great film. And then I just enough time to watch Inkheart. It was literally just enough, as I was getting interrupted by loads of announcements at the end, telling me we were coming in to land :) But the film was pretty good. I'd had no idea that it had Paul Bettany or Andy Serkis. The plot was also a bit unexpected at points and kinda cool :)
So, yeah, I'm here, everything's awesome, and I have a giant room! Bigger than any I've ever had!!
|
|
Comments: Read 1 or Add Your Own.
|
|
|
|
I am pleased to announce that for at most a week, Bodiless Ao will be welcoming guests to the Sci Fi library, as long as they hail him, in all his awesomeness.
|
|
Comments: Read 1 or Add Your Own.
|
|
Thursday, April 23rd, 2009
|
|
|
|
All the components for my plan have been acquired, and all is ready. It merely awaits execution...
|
|
Comments: Add Your Own.
|
|
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
|
|
|
I figure I should mention here that I plan to visit my brother and his wife in America and stay with them for some 71 days. It should be awesome, as they are fantastic people. I'll be heading out on the 2nd May and getting back on 12th July in the morning (in time for games!). If anyone has any suggestions on things I should do whilst i'm over there (I'll be in Boston, specifically in Hopkinton) then I'd be happy to hear them.
( Additionally, other secret plans (that my players mustn't see) are progressing... )
|
|
Comments: Read 2 or Add Your Own.
|
|
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
|
|
Thursday, March 19th, 2009
|
|
|
|
So this amused me. Phoenix Wright is so awesome. I've just finished the first game. Now to move on to the second... :)
|
|
Comments: Read 2 or Add Your Own.
|
|
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009
|
|
|
Although I do love how snow looks when it covers everything, and it's so beautiful as it falls, I do hate what it does to public transport. So I shall take this opportunity to tell of my trip home from D&D on Sunday. It has to have been the longest it's ever taken me; almost 8 hours!
So I was at Victoria at half past eleven waiting for a train to open up, and they all got cancelled. Every single one of them. So I wandered over to the ticket office to queue up and figure out how to get home, and shortly after, there's another announcement. One train, and only one train is going to try to go to Brighton (and various other stops). What I like to think happened was that the staff are standing around discussing what to do, and this guy (who must clearly be a heroic mortal) decides that "Damnit! I'm gonna get these people home! Even if it takes all night!" clearly his motivation is to get everyone home. He was the most determined driver ever.
So a load of people and I rush over to the train and get on board. The driver explains the plan: since this train is still warm, it might be able to go through the snow, so we're going to go as far as we can before the train breaks down. Everyone else around is all tired and miserable about it, but I'm sitting there willing this guy to go on, cos I think he's awesome! So we get out of the station, and we go a little way out, and it breaks down. *sigh* So the train shuffles back and forward a bit whilst the driver tries to get it to move, we've got lights switching on and off, and you can see the sparks from the rails every so often, but the train's not going anywhere.
But this Determind Driver won't give up yet. So he announces his new plan! We're going to go back into the station, pick up 4 more coaches, to bring us up to 12, which'll give us more motors, and hence more power, and then give it another shot! So back we go, grab our coaches, and head on out again. We manage to get past where we were before, and I'm silently cheering this guy on and we manage to all the way, all they way, to the bridge! And it breaks down again. So we shuffle back and forward again as he tries to get it to move, but it's not happenning. So he gives up, announces that it's not going to work, and we go back into the station. It's a shame really, it would have made for the most epic train journey ever. I can just imagine the movie trailer now...
Anyway, so we get off the train, and I wander down the platform looking for this guy becaues I want to tell him how impressed I was. I find him in a group with other passngers and other staff members, but I can't talk to him because he's on the phone to someone. He's trying to find some other train that get us through the snow, he's not done yet! Sadly, after a lot of talking and him wandering up and down the platform, he doesn't come up with anything. And at that point there's an announcement on the station that all the trains have been cancelled, all the buses have been cancelled and they can't find taxis for people. So they advise everyone to wait on the train, because it's warmer there, until they can come up with something.
Thus I am left to sleep on the train, and it's not very comfy. We all had to pop off for a bit as they moved the train to another platform for something else to come in, and it was cold on the platform, I was glad to get back on the train. So I try to sleep, and don't sleep terribly well. I do have a dream though. I dream that I'm on a train, and it's snowing! It breaks down and we all have to get off and walk. Being so close to reality, that dream was a bit confusing for me...
So at about half past 5 there's an announcement that they're going to try again. There's one train leaving at 6:02 going to Brighton and various places and another train leaving at 6:00 going to East Croydon and Gatwick Airport only. They also mention that there's about a 50% chance that they'll be able to get out. So I get off the train and wander over to the Gatwick Airport one, hoping that I've chosen the right train. I would have been so pissed off if the train I chose failed to get out whilst the other one did. Anyway, so the train is packed, I manage to get a seat. And after waiting a while, we head off. I'm so tired at this point, and I just want to be home and in my own bed, cos I've been in New Milton for the past 5 days. So we get out of the station, and take it to the bridge, and we take it past the bridge! And we just keep on going!
I finally manage to get back to Croydon, and the station is full of people. There are no trams or buses, of course, so I have to walk back. And thus I trudge through snow that's almost a foot deep with my suitcase. So after not very long I shove the laptop into its front pocket, lift it up onto my back and continue to trudge through the snow. Everyone else is walking through the road since the snow isn't as deep there, but I can't remember the last time we had snow that deep (I was too young to remember) so I was kind of enjoying it, hehe. It's tricky to tell when pavement stops and road starts, however, and I even end up on the raised platform of a tram stop before I even know it. I did slip at one crossing, though. Under the snow, the pavement sloped down into the road and I just fell over suddenly. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt at all - and I mean that! I expected it to hurt, particularly as I was carrying heavy stuff!
Anyway, so I get up, continue on, even the alleyway is full of snow, just as deep, and I finally get home. I put my stuff down outside and have breather just to take in the moment. I chat to this other guy outside, who turns out to be my neighbour, and he'd just come back from his attempt to go to work. We chat, I go inside, and I find dad getting ready for work. I tell him he's not going anywhere, but he doesn't believe me. Instead he's trying to find out from the news on the really dodgy TV with terrible signal. But he's got a primary source right there in the form of me! I spend the next 20 minutes convincing him and telling the story, and then tell mum what happened to. And then I call Ken up, and I tell him that he and his wife aren't going anywhere either. But they don't believe me. I spend the next 20 minutes convincing them as well. And then finally, at about half past seven, I go upstairs, crawl into my nice warm bed that I haven't seen for a week, and go to sleep at last!
I didn't get up until half past 3 :)
|
|
Comments: Read 2 or Add Your Own.
|
|
Wednesday, January 7th, 2009
|
|
|
So I got a call from the National Blood Service today. They were calling to let me know the results of my platelet count. To be able to donate platlets it needed to come out as 200, and mine turned out to be 284! Oh yeah! Go me! So with my "very good veins", they're very keen to get my tasty platelets.
That was a good way to start the day. :)
|
|
Comments: Read 3 or Add Your Own.
|
|
Wednesday, December 24th, 2008
|
|
|
So we had a thing from the post office saying they had mail for us that hadn't had postage paid for it. So I was asked to head in and get it. It was oh so helpfully addressed to Mr Rihan, which could be any of 5 people. The guy behind the counter also thought it odd because the road name was spelled wrong, but then everything else matched up. But I took it all the way home and opened it up.
And it turned out that it was in fact for me. It contained (some of) the cards that I had lost in my wallet. Not the exam string or the blue ribbons that I had cared about, but nevermind. I did at least get my paladins of chivalry card back, and my blue blood donor card, so that was something. all in all, it was a nice surprise, really :) But rather odd...
|
|
Comments: Read 3 or Add Your Own.
|
|
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
|
|
|
|
Apparently my body is ready to give blood again, what about everyone else? Can a trip be arranged?
|
|
Comments: Read 3 or Add Your Own.
|
|
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008
|
|
|
|
Heroes season 3 on BBC 2 next Wednesday at 9pm!
|
|
Comments: Add Your Own.
|
|
Tuesday, September 16th, 2008
|
|
|
I ams have a new phone!
It's pretty standard for current phones, nothing amazing, but a big step up for my decade-old phone: camera, texts, ring-tones, blue-tooth, not broken screen... My old number has been transferred so there's nothing anyone to bother with, except that I might take photos of people to attach to their number :)
At the moment my ringtone is a toss-up between katamari and Stand Bush's The Touch (from the old Transformers movie).
|
|
Comments: Read 6 or Add Your Own.
|
|
|
Some of you will have heard of my intention to travel all the way to a small village near Bristol in the Cotswolds in order to carry a 60lb sack of wool up a steep hill. I originally saw it on the news and thought to myself then that what with me having a gigantic case that I carry around twice this race is something that I totally can (and must) do! So I'd been doing some training leading up to this weekend (that being the bank holiday one just gone). Sadly I was unable to recruit anyone else to come along since a lot of people are in the middle of exams. But it all turned out all right.
I left home on Saturday a bit late (I was noting down train times and things) but managed to get across London to Paddington a lot faster than National Rail thought I could. Turned out my ticket didn't go through London though, so I bought a travelcard (I didn't mind much, though). Managed to get there at 6:15, making good time. Met with my friend Paul, who I would be staying with, and walked to his place. Chatted with him and Ian (another friend) for a while then went out to eat at a place called Gormet Burger. The food was very good. There was lots of waking, though it didn't bother me that day.
Got up early on Sunday, so that we could go to Tetbury, have a look around and I could train a bit. But we didn't leave till about quarter past ten. It was raining too. I then learned that it takes about 50 minutes to walk to the station as we missed two trains. So we had to wait an hour for the next one, and then had to wait another hour for the train to Kemble. Then we got a taxi (for £20) to Tetbury. It's a nice little village. The rain had stopped by then, too. Not many places were open, though. We finally had lunch at The Crown, which was very nice, spoke to the owner a bit. Had a walk around, walked in on a service in the church and promptly left. We finished looking around and then I ran up the hill 4 or 5 times. Steep hill is steep. You can get a good pace leading up to it, then you hit the steep bit and you really slow down. Then you hit the not too steep bit and you fail to speed up because your legs are too tired. I spoke to some random people in between runs, and to someone who was setting up for the race. We were pointed towards The Snooty Fox where a couple sacks were in the entrance hall. There was also a really big dog, too. Anyway, the sack wasn't too heavy, and I decided to grip it in the middle rather than the corners. Anyway, got the taxi back, the driver was friendly. He even checked the train times for us to make sure we wouldn't have to wait too long at the station. Anyway, eventually got back quite late.
Got up early the next day, left by 7:30. Was raining a lot on Monday. Made good time walking to the station. Only took an hour to get to Kemble. Had to wait a while for a taxi, though. But helpful taxi driver called round various people for us when we couldn't get through to anyone else (he was busy and couldn't pick us up himself). Was still raining when we got there. There were stalls selling things and rides, and a band, and places were open. We had some cream tea (though I had ice cream) and wandered a little more. We correctly assumed The Crown would be full so we went to eat at The Royal Oak (additionally I wanted to see what it was like). However, they were doing a BBQ outside, not food inside. So we just had a drink and warmed up a bit. The people there were friendly though. Had food at The Close, which was very nice. Although I had to pop outside to record the morris dancers. Then we went to Gumstool Hill to watch the races.
The team races were done first, and there were a lot of people lined up to watch. The atmosphere was good. People cheered for everyone to encourage them to keep going. The team races involved 4 people per team, 2 at the top, 2 at the bottom and the sack started at the top. They also had kids in teams doing it with very small (relatively) sacks, but they just did the course in sections. The individual races started at the bottom and finished at the top. I misjudged on Sunday where the track started, so it was a bit longer than I expected. There was a bit of a mix up in my heat, Some guy was already there in a green bib when I got down there (not entirely sure why). So with 5 people and 4 sacks, I waited. The problem then got worse as we had 6 people and only 4 sacks. but I went this time. The confusion prompted incorrect names from the commentary, but it got cleared up at the top of the hill. Oh, and the races were started by Jake Meyer, who is the youngest Briton to climb Mount Everest, and the youngest man in the world to climb the 7 Summits (the highest peak on each continent). I got to shake his hand :)
Anyway, I had a practice lift of the sack just before the race. I put it down saying, "That's all right," feeling satisfied. The guy next to me tried it and didn't agree with me. So then the race started, and it goes downhill a bit to start with, then flattens out and goes up the very steep hill. I was quick going downhill and a bit unsteady. I almost bumped into someone, so I decided to slow down. Then we came to the hill and one guy put the sack down and I just kept on going. I got past the steepest bit, and felt I wasn't that tired, my legs weren't too bad. I then heard and spotted Paul, Louise, and Ian in the crowd, managed to smile at the camera and then remembered that it's a race. So I sped up and overtook another guy. The third guy had already finished. I got to the end and just chucked the sack on the ground. I was tired and my legs weren't happy, it felt weird to walk, but I wasn't that out of breath. I did the race in 1:15. The guy who beat me got 0:58. I reckon I could have done better, but I don't think 15 seconds better. I was a bit too relaxed and enjoying it, I forgot to run as fast as I could. After that we went back to The Royal Oak, had a burger and a pint, chatted to people, relaxed a bit and recovered. Then we got a taxi back to Kemble. Had to wait a while for the train, though. Played a bit of Three Dragon Ante on the way back to Bristol, and again when we got back. Then went to bed.
Tuesday I slept in. I was tired. Was relaxed about heading back, chatted to Ian about 4th edition and stuff. Got to the station in good time, and got home without difficulty, though I didn't go through London on the way back.
A video should be up somewhere once I get the camera back to Alan.
|
|
Comments: Read 4 or Add Your Own.
|
|
Tuesday, August 21st, 2007
|
|
|
| What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Gamer/Computer Nerd You enjoy the visual stimulants of a video game, chatting on AIM, or reading online comics. Most of these types of nerds are considered dirty who lack hygeine, of course they always end up being the ones who make a crapload of money. And don't worry, that's just a stereotype; I'm not calling you dirty. ^_~ | | Science/Math Nerd | | | Anime Nerd | | | Drama Nerd | | | Literature Nerd | | | Social Nerd | | | Artistic Nerd | | | Musician | | What Be Your Nerd Type?
Quizzes for MySpace |
|
|
Comments: Add Your Own.
|
|
Thursday, July 12th, 2007
|
|
|
This week I are been mostly rediscovering .hack
I played through the games a couple of years ago when my brother Dave brought them over from America (in America!). I really enjoyed them then and was really looking forward to the next set. I forgot about it all, though. That is, until Sergey asked me a few questions about it after watching the series (.hack//sign). So then I managed to find movies on youtube that reminded me of everything that happened in the games, and I remembered how awesome it was. I was pleased.
Then, at Dave's party, I was talking to Smithers about it, who was kind enough to lend me his copy of .hack//sign. So I have now watched it all the way through, and it was fantastic! I really really enjoyed it. I suspect it might be quite a different experience to someone who hasn't played through the games, since that allowed me to know exactly what was going on. This made it throughly enjoyable :) I decided to watch the dub and was delighted to find that they used the same actors that they had in the games. But connections to the games aside, I really liked the characters, their interactions, the plot, and the soundtrack was amazing. I need to get the soundtrack...
Now I'm really looking forward to the next set of games - and the accompanying anime series. I know they're out in America (!) already, but I expect that it will be some time before they're out over here. I may have to use someone's 1337 torrent skillz to get the series without having to wait long... :)
|
|
Comments: Read 3 or Add Your Own.
|
|
Wednesday, July 4th, 2007
|
|
|
So I know what my masters turned out to be now. I got a 2:2.
Not the 2:1 I wanted, but I'm told it's still good.
|
|
Comments: Read 1 or Add Your Own.
|
|
|
I'm done! Done! DONE! No more project for me! No more work for ages, just relaxing and having fun! Project will hopefully get enough marks, and the presentation went well, I think.
Now to play the many games I've been putting off and watch the many things, and get back to running the Drow War. Now, everything shall be awesome!
|
|
Comments: Read 2 or Add Your Own.
|
|
Tuesday, February 6th, 2007
|
|
|
Ach, catching up on teh interweb takes sooo long! I had intended to leave 2 hours ago. Anyway, now to the point of this post...
Last week, I was at Conception from Wednesday till Sunday! So if you had wondered where I was, now you know. It was a hell of a tricky thing getting there, as I had a piece of coursework due in an hour before I had to leave. But I managed it and had my gigantic case packed and everything. Though amazingly, it was so much heavier than it usually is! This probably had something to with the laptop and PS2 and Wii inside it. I went down there with Mark and Vicky. Peter eventually admitted that he was still too ill, which he still bitter about.
The train journey went very quickly, we got lots of food for the next few days and I set up the consoles. The chalet we were staying in was huge! The living room had a dining table with chairs, a decent-sized tv, a big comfy chair and 2 big comfy sofas, with coffee table and a big kitchen. It also had a bathroom, a room with 2 single beds and a cupboard, another room with two single beds and a walk-in wardrobe, and a room with a double bed and a walk-in wardrobe and an en-suite bathroom. There was so much space!
Anyway, I didn't get into any games on Wednesday, was too slow, so jsut played on the Wii. Went to bed at about 2. This was a bad plan, as I had to get up for gaming at 8:45. But we managed it, and played 3 modules of Living Greyhawk, with no deaths! :D The first one overran a bit, though, so we had to skip lunch. I was so hungry by the time we had dinner.
We stayed up late again and had to get up early again. Played more Greyhawk, but took the evening off to get some sleep for once! Though I was almost in a LARP, that evening, but I'm a bit glad that the other people showed up (I was the 1st reserve, so only had a place if someone else didn't show up) as I was so tired.
Has no trouble getting up on Saturday, I played a couple more games of Greyhawk, and then turned up to a Call of Cthulhu LARP, which was great fun! It was a wedding reception, at which I was the butler. The dodgiest butler ever. I'd been stealing all sorts of things from the castle, and my goals were to expand my criminal activities, find someone to fence my stolen goods to and to find out why some guy I was suspicious of was actually here. I made a bit of a slip up at the start by telling the groom (my boss) that his brother was elsewhere because he was dead, which I had heard from his insane mother. However, she denied it completely. So I was in a bit of trouble for that. Mind you, he was actually dead at the time. I was also accused of stealing a vase shortly after that, in the course of which we had the fantastic lines;
"What makes you think I did it, sir?"
"I saw you do it with my own two eyes"
"Perhaps you were dreaming, sir"
"I do not dream"
"You... You do not dream, sir?"
"Not when I am awake!"
But I was let off if the vase somehow made its way back to where it should be. So I wandered over to a GM, asked I had stolen this vase, and then put it back where it should be. I spoke to lots of people, started setting up a dodgy deal wiht the best man, was prevented from speaking to someone I wanted to speak to by having to escort someone else to the library. When it came to the time for the best man to make his speech, a mysterious gift arrived, which I handed over to the bride, who opened it to find the severed head of the groom's brother. Lots of screaming ensued. People then grabbed swords off the walls and searched the the castle for the murderer. I spent much time listening in on things and continuing to arrange dodgy deals with the best man. Every so often the groom asked to do something, nd I never failed, he thought I was fantastic, as did the best man as I was his contact man. Not too many people died in the end, though Deagon did managed to get resurrected by the Deep Ones there.
It was great fun.
Oh I also have lots of shiny new minis that I imagine will take me a long time to fit into the case in the proper order...
Sunday I just slept lots and packed. We passed time on the train by playing Order of the Stick, but didn't get very far. Overall, it was an awesome convention and I look forward to going again next year.
|
|
Comments: Read 3 or Add Your Own.
|
|
Sunday, October 29th, 2006
|
|
|
So it's been a busy week, as I expect they all will be. I've been pondering my newest D&D character in great detail and I think I've got him sorted now. I haven't done anything on my project this week as I had assessed coursework to worry about and sleep to catch up on. I finally got another chance to play Warrior Knights this week and it is still pretty cool. I still to check for a FAQ for it on the interweb as there are a few things not covered in the book.
In other news, I went to the Sadler's Wells theatre to see a ballet of Romeo and Juliet. It was rather good. The dances were good, the fighting was cool, all of the roles were done very well. I very much enjoyed it. In particular, my mother's friend's daughter did an excellent Lady Capulet. My mother's friend also showed us a review of the ballet from Modnay in the Guardian (I think) that agreed that Lady Capulet was fantastically done. It was cool.
The next Cowboy Bebop CD showed up today, so now my laptop contains twice as much awesome as before! Now I have Tank, and Spokey dokey. Every track is full of cool.
Today, in addition to being my birthday, was the first Maths Matters meeting (as they're now calling it). This is the thing I did last year where I presented to schools about how cool maths is. I don't think I'll be presenting this year, though. I'm not sure I can afford the time. The morning was quite fun, grouping up with random people and discussing a question in only a minute or two and coming up with an answer. Some of the things were what superhero would we be, what is the meaning of life and doing a live news broadcast for an alien invasion. It was quite fun. I also got to see some snippets of the presentations from last year that I hadn't seen before. I quite enjoyed it. I was exhausted when I got home though, and had a bit of a nap.
Hmm, I think that shall do for now.
|
|
Comments: Read 8 or Add Your Own.
|
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
rhuben's journal
amused.
contemplative.