The Temple of Dysonism

Here it is, my Boo tattoo! It’s still healing and slightly...

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:48:19 +0000

Here it is, my Boo tattoo! It’s still healing and slightly bruised, hence the odd colouring, but I actually love it. I just want to show it off to everybody.

Already thinking about my next one!

Clean On The Inside

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 01:07:38 +0000

Up until last year I couldn’t see myself getting a tattoo at any point - I’d sort of disregarded them as quite ugly little things that would look a bit shit when I got older. But the more tattoo’s I saw on people I knew (and some who I wouldn’t have expected to have them), and the more I thought about it, the more the idea started to grow on me. As long as you don’t go and do something silly (like get the name of a fling you’re seeing tattooed across your face, only to have them leave you after a week because you look ridiculous), you choose something that has meaning to you and helps defines you and it’s somewhat concealable then what have you got to lose? And let’s be frank; none of us are going to look at our best once we hit our 60’s or whatever, so who cares what it’ll look like at that age.

The big question is of course, what do you get? And as the idea started to grow on me as the weeks went by, I had a few ideas. Obviously, what with gaming being such a massive part of my life it was going to be gaming related. There were the typical video game icons (which I haven’t totally dismissed) such as the Triforce, the Mario sprite, Space Invaders, Sonic etc etc. At one point I was seriously considering the Sex Bob-omb logo from the film Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World as it is my favourite film (as I’ve written before, it’s as if someone sat down in a board room of writers and said ‘Right, we need to make a film for a Mr. Lewis Speller. This is what he likes, this is what he is like. Go.’) but I dropped that the moment this idea popped in to my head about 8 months ago.

In the Mario series there are numerous characters, enemies, items or even scenes you could potentially take as tattoo ideas. One of the characters that has been with the series almost from the very start is the ghost, Boo. Boo is a relatively simple ghost but with one huge characteristic that defines him - he is incredibly shy. When you are in a room with Boo, he will chase you and try to bite you so that you’ll lose health - but, if you look at him, he freezes on the spot, turns transparent, covers his eyes and blushes.. and is no longer a threat. And it is this image of Boo, covering his eyes, that I’d like to get.

Top right Boo. Not pixellated.

And ever since the idea came about in my head, I’ve loved it. It’s original, it’s inoffensive and it’s personal to me. It carries the extra stroke of brilliance that whenever you look at it, it will of course be hiding from you.. and yeah. The Mario games are absolutely classic, and core to who I am as much as they are core to gaming itself. I look forward to getting it done.

The last thing I settled on this week was where to get it done - obviously it needs to be somewhere concealable for I don’t want it to affect me in a professional sense - and that leaves me with two real options. The first was on my arm somewhere, which I decided against in favour of my shoulder, or more precisely, just below the shoulder on my chest. I’ve also had a recommendation on which parlour to get it done at, so I’m not going in blind.

I’m pretty damn excited, if not a little nervous. I’ll let you know what happens!

speller: Processor Layton I’m so witty.

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:27:43 +0000

speller:

Processor Layton

I’m so witty.

Nobody said it was easy, no-one ever said it would be this hard

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:09:46 +0000

I’m in a writing mood again! It’s been slowly building up over the past couple of days and as I hit my Tumblr bookmark I realized I wanted to write something. My mind is completely full of all sorts of things to write about but alas - a lot of them are about the people that read this blog. It’d seem incredibly passive to talk about such things openly on here and not expect it to have ramifications. I suppose this is the issue with having people you know read your musings, it ends up restricting what you can say.

I mean a few years ago when only my close friends (we’re talking two or three here) read my blog I could write about whatever I wanted - be it work, college, university, family, my personal life, friendships, relationships or completely inane chatter - and have very few worries about it as it used to be mostly private. But it becomes hard to maintain that freedom once you start to worry about what might happen if you write a certain thing online, there could be unknown ramifications. Frustratingly it works the other way as well, in that if you don’t have anyone reading your blog you feel as if there is no point in writing as there will be nobody to read it. The ideal solution would be to have a group of completely random, anonymous people following you and follow a selection of completely random people to maintain creative freedom, but then it doesn’t feel like there’s as much of a point either, I suppose.

Anyway, writer’s frustrations out of the way, hi again. In case you can’t remember who I am (and I wouldn’t be surprised given how often I update), I’m Speller. I am a Senior Sales Assistant in a Game store in the UK, a massive, massive gaming fan (Xbox 360 and Steam mostly. Represent!) and I currently live in Aldershot, which is just under an hour away from London on the train. Though this may soon all be changing if things go to plan in the coming weeks (except the gaming part, I totally love gaming).

There is a job opening for a Deputy Manager in the Surrey Quays GAME store which I plan on applying for, for several reasons. Point one, it’s natural progression. Moving up from Senior Sales to Deputy Manager is the next step in the ladder at GAME and I intend to climb it.
“Okay,” you may be thinking. “But why Surrey Quays? That’s London! You can’t commute that!”
Which brings me on to point number two: It’s 10 minutes away from Shoreditch. Which just so happens to be where my girlfriend (Rocker94) currently resides. Which means that moving is very possible all of a sudden, and therefore means taking a big step in almost every single direction all in one go. Obviously, it’s all ifs and buts as I need all sorts of clearances and permissions to apply for the job but I can’t help but wonder if I might be overdoing it a little bit by making so many big decisions in one go - assuming it all goes ahead of course. I just feel like I need to start making big steps in my life so I don’t get stuck in a rut.

It’s strange.. I’m 22 in under two weeks. That’s the start of truly growing in to adulthood I think. No more landmark birthdays, the next number starts sounding older. I’ll be mid-twenties before too long, and I’ll stop getting ID’d, and I’ll start getting shocked at how I can have coherent conversations with people who were born an entire decade after me. That really is weird. And it’s this feeling of “It’s growing up time!” that’s sort of kicked me in to gear a little bit and got me moving forward. When I saw the job opportunity pop up on the GAME intranet I instantly started thinking about it, and it fits quite nicely. But I should stop talking about it; for before too long I’ll find out I can’t apply for the job because I’m too inexperienced or something equally disappointing. Let’s hope this is not the case.

In other news, I’ve been seeing a lot more of some old friends recently and it’s been fantastic getting back in touch with them. I had an amazing night about a month ago in which I saw at least 8 people whom I hadn’t seen for half a year (some even more) and met a few more faces and had an incredible night with. I want to do that sort of thing more often but it’s really hard finding the time to split between the all-consuming work, being at home, seeing family, friends, Lucy and of course alone time, so that night was a total breath of fresh air. I hope to do something like that again soon - perhaps for my birthday?

Finally, I’ve been listening to lots of new music recently and getting in to a whole new selection of bands and albums that I had previously dismissed as ‘not being my thing’. After a poor show at Reading Festival 2009, I had written Deftones off as a completely overrated and overhyped band not worthy of my time, and tidbits I had heard since then had not done anything to change my mind. But having recently acquired Saturday Night Wrist as my friend Rory recommended I listen to, I found myself listening to the fifth track off of the album, ‘Mein’, and loving it. I listened to that track several times in a row. I then went on to listen to the whole thing through and suddenly it clicked, and I discovered what everyone else was talking about. To be fair, I do need to check more of it out and I have Diamond Eyes to look forward to next.

I’ve also been appreciating Nero’s debut album and listening to quite a few tracks repeatedly over the past few days, as well as Chase and Status’ No More Idols. The fact that a lot of the tracks get played at GAME every day probably helps break the tracks in so to speak, but the simple way they want me to listen to them again in my own time shows you they’re doing something right. Having just grabbed another 3GB of music from the internet I’m looking forward to checking out albums from The Bluetones, And So I Watch You From Afar, Dillinger Escape Plan (yeah, really, *head explodes*), Adebisi Shank and loads more. It’s a good time to be getting in to new music as it’s so easy to find and listen to and discover things you didn’t realize you’d like, but also very easy to slip in to the trap of finding something new and playing it a little too much. The same thing happened with Coldplay a couple of months ago and I went on a total Coldplay binge, getting their discography and listening to 15 or so songs constantly for a few weeks. As a result, a couple of the songs that used to send a shiver down my spine (Talk, Charlie Brown, God Put A Smile Upon Your Face for example) have been played to the extent that they don’t have that effect any more, which is a shame. The Scientist, however, remains one of my favourite songs of all time and I intend to keep it that way.

Anyway.. it’s just hit midnight and I need to sleep, for tomorrow at work we have some of the biggest names in the company coming to visit the store and I should rest up for the work load that’ll face us in the morning. Hurrah!

Promise me you’ll come back soon, my lovelies. And I’ll try and have something new for you next time. Thanks for reading, once again.

A clever cat who was thrown from a car stunned an RSPCA...

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:28:00 +0100

A clever cat who was thrown from a car stunned an RSPCA inspector by leading him to her litter of four tiny kittens hidden in a barn.

RSPCA inspector Jon Knight had been called out to rescue the young cat, after she was spotted being thrown from a car in the town of March, Cambridgeshire, last month.

The concerned caller had been monitoring the cat and started feeding her, and after two weeks managed to confine the cat in a green house in Upwell Road, March and the RSPCA was called.

The cat was taken to an RSPCA vet for treatment; she was quite thin and had a grazed face as a result from being thrown from the car, she was also treated for fleas and worms and given a good feed.

However, the cat had to be returned to the location as it was clear that she had only recently had kittens and she would need to get back to them as soon as possible.

When Jolie, as she has since been named, was returned she began calling out.

At first inspector Knight believed she was calling out to her kittens so he watched and waited to see what happened. But it soon became clear that she was meowing at him.

Then, amazingly, as soon as the inspector began to follow her, she moved forward meowing all the time and led the inspector across country straight to where her kittens were.

Inspector Knight said: “I had taken her back to the location she had been picked up at so that she could get back to her kittens. But it was such a rural area, I had little hope of finding them myself.

“When she started to get really vocal at first I thought she was calling to the kittens, but then it became clear that she was actually calling to me!

“I began to follow her and she took me through the rear garden, across a ploughed field and into a farm yard. All the time she was calling me and waiting for me to follow.

“She then took me into an old farm machinery barn and led me to behind a stack of old wood and there were her four kittens.

“There is absolutely no way I would have found these kittens without this cat’s help. She was a huge distance away from the garden she had first been found in, and was clearly doing all she could to lead me to her kittens.

“The kittens were tiny and still had their eyes closed. I collected them and took them and mum back to the RSPCA Block Fen Animal Centre, where they will stay until they are all fit, healthy and old enough to be rehomed.

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Ely/Amazing-story-of-the-clever-cat-who-led-RSPCA-rescuer-to-her-kittens-04102011.htm

—-

Cats are amazing.

I’ve just renewed my www.dysonism.com domain name for...

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 22:15:40 +0100

I’ve just renewed my www.dysonism.com domain name for another 2 years. It’s so cheap it’d be silly not to. £15 and it’s done.

Anyway - and I know I said this last time - apologies for the lack of updates. I constantly find myself with less and less time to sit down and write a lengthy blog article, but I am available on the internets in many other formats. Facebook, Twitter, I even have another Tumblr blog at speller.tumblr.com that needs followers so head over there if you want more goodness (disclaimer: may not be goodness).

I’m not going anywhere any time soon, anyway.. at least not for another two years :)

HAY GURL HAY! Clearly they are Annoy Moose. ~~

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 21:58:37 +0100

For real. Also I dislike how Tumblr won’t let you answer asks on different blogs. Frustratingly these always go to my main blog when they’d be better off landing in my speller blog. Silly Tumblr. :(

"Grace under pressure, Cooling palm across my brow, Eyes of an angel, Lay me down"

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 21:55:58 +0100

“Grace under pressure,
Cooling palm across my brow,
Eyes of an angel,
Lay me down”

- Grace Under Pressure - Elbow (Cast of Thousands, 2003)

Hay again.

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 21:53:56 +0100

WHAT. WHO ARE YOU. Also what do you want? ._.

Hey

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:05:59 +0100

Hi! You’re anonymous. How mysterious!

CATS MAN

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 00:19:09 +0100

CATS MAN

The Future's Not What It Used To Be

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 01:02:00 +0100

Photographs.

I was just talking to Lucy on the great wide internet, sorta bumming around on Facebook and the like when I glanced over at my photo section and realised I’m quite upset by the lack of photographs I have in recent times - both of myself, my friends, and the world. And it got me thinking. And talking. And writing.

I’ve always loved looking at photographs, I think. I mean I’ve never been actively enthusiastic of them as such.. but in the past few years with the rise of things like Facebook and Twitpic where everything is instantly shared and viewed over the internet in an instant, I’ve been subject to a lot more photographs of other people. And seeing these has made me realise that I don’t have many at all.

Back in the days of college people used to take a camera to all the social gatherings, and even in day to day life there would be photos to take and share. It’s a moment that can be captured instantly and shared with anyone to relive the experience. It’s something a little bit magical.

I suppose the argument would be that we’re growing up, so we don’t have time to take photo’s. Or even think about it. But remember the feeling when you used to grab a bunch of friends, pull a stupid face and have a photo taken - even if you “hated it”? There was always something to look at afterwards.

What I’m worried about is not having anything to look back on, or share with people. I go through what few photos I do have - Reading Festival, University, a handful of photos from work - and I’m instantly remembered the time it was taken, regardless of how long ago it was. I don’t want to look back and have this massive gap!

So to my friends, family, myself and whoever reads this thing. Take more photographs. Share them online. Print them out. Look at them. Don’t be afraid of having your photo taken. Enjoy it. Because you don’t want to be left in a situation where you go to look back at what you’ve done and you can’t see how you’ve grown, or changed, or what you got up to, or what the world looked like.

And please. Tag me in ‘em. Blurry or sharp. Under or overexposed. Wonky or framed. You know I wanna see ‘em all.

Urban Legend: 1994's Most Bizarre Suicide.

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 23:36:00 +0100

completelybackasswards:

At the 1994 annual awards dinner given for Forensic Science, AAFS, President Dr. Don Harper Mills astounded his audience with the legal complications of a bizarre death. Here is the story:

On March 24,1994 the medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald Opus and concluded that he died from a shotgun wound to the head. Mr. Opus had jumped from the top of a ten story building intending to commit suicide. He left a note to that effect, indicating his despondency. As he fell past the ninth floor his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast passing through a window which killed him instantly.

Neither the shooter nor the descender was aware that a safety net had been installed just below at the eighth floor level to protect some building workers and that Ronald Opus would not have been able to complete his suicide the way he had planned.

“Ordinarily,” Dr. Mills continued, “a person who sets out to commit suicide and ultimately succeeds, even though the mechanism might not be what he intended, is still defined as committing suicide.”

That Mr. Opus was shot on the way to certain death, but probably would not have been successful because of the safety net, caused the medical examiner to feel that he had a homicide on his hands. The room on the ninth floor, whence the shotgun blast emanated, was occupied by an elderly man and his wife. They were arguing vigorously and he was threatening her with a shotgun. The man was so upset that when he pulled the trigger he completely missed his wife and the pellets went through the window, striking Mr. Opus.

When one intends to kill subject A but kills subject B in the attempt, one is guilty of the murder of subject B. When confronted with the murder charge the old man and his wife were both adamant. They both said they thought the shotgun was unloaded. Thed old man said it was his long-standing habit to threaten his wife with the unloaded shotgun. He had no intention to murder her. Therefore the killing of Mr. Opus appeared to be an accident; that is, the gun had been accidentally loaded.

The continuing investigation turned up a witness who saw the old couple’s son loading the shotgun about six weeks prior to the fatal accident. It transpired that the old lady had cut off her son’s financial support and the son, knowing the propensity of his father to use the shotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that his father would shoot his mother. The case now becomes one of murder on the part of the son for the death of Ronald Opus.

Now comes the exquisite twist. Further investigation revealed that the son was, in fact, Ronald Opus. He had become increasingly despondent over the failure of his attempt to engineer his mother’s murder. This led him to jump off the ten story building on March 23rd, only to be killed by a shotgun blast passing through the ninth story window. The son had actually murdered himself so the medical examiner closed the case as a suicide.

What an incredible story!

"And all these complications, they make me something I’m not."

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 04:35:10 +0100

“And all these complications, they make me something I’m not.”

- Reuben - Stuck In My Throat (2003)

For those of you that are Tumblr literate..

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 00:48:03 +0100

For those of you that are Tumblr literate..:

I just started a Tumblr over here at speller.tumblr.com for my reblogs and random nonsense. Follow me up :)

I genuinely feel something in my heart over these riots....

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 22:14:50 +0100

I genuinely feel something in my heart over these riots. I’m not entirely sure what it is - anger, sadness, nervousness, anticipation, or worry. I think they’re just hitting a little too close to home for me to ignore and I’m starting to worry about the people I care about.

Those in London, do take care. There are some nutters out right now just looking to cause trouble because they think they can get away with it. Just be sensible.

shelteringsky:

Jolly old England.

Nintendocore

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 00:38:00 +0100

On Wednesday the 20^th of July I went to London to play Nintendo’s biggest upcoming games. Here are my views on the games I played. Apologies for the blurry photos..

Ok, wow. If you have a 3DS, you guys will all be buying Super Mario 3DS when it comes out. The game is incredible. In each level you have to get from start to finish whilst collecting coins in typical classic Mario fashion, but the game is in 3D, Mario 64 style. Think New Super Mario Bros style gameplay, but in the 3^rd dimension. I was really impressed by the subtle 3D on the game, too, making it a lot easier to judge distance. One problem I had was Mario feeling a bit slippery at times, and grabbing the flagpole was a particularly tricky feat, but I got there in the end. I loved it.

Unfortunately Luigi’s Mansion 2 was a huge let down and almost unplayable as it seemed to run at 15 frames per second, with clunky controls to boot. The demo we played didn’t really give us much direction or hints as to what to do and as such the game fell flat on its face. Total disappointment. Unless there is a lot of work being done on this game between now and release, I worry that this simply won’t perform well enough to achieve solid sales.

Mario Kart 3DS was brilliant, with your Karts turning in to gliders as you take off from a large jump, and this allows for some really cool timesaving shortcuts if you manage to make it - but potentially turn in to pitfalls if you mess them up. The customization looks to shake up the way Mario Kart is played, with the player being able to choose from different Kart types, wheels and accessories before the race begins. It felt more like Diddy Kong Racing, which for me is a great thing. I also didn’t see any blue shells, so either I got very lucky and didn’t get any sent my way or my prayers have been answered and they’re making it a bit more skill based! :D

Kid Icarus looks to be a great game. You control the movement of Pit with the Circle Pad and aim/fire with the touch screen, which is an interesting control method but is fatally flawed in one area: it’s not suitable for left handers like myself. You use the circle pad and the stylus at the same time meaning you’re forced to use the stylus with the right hand, or use your thumb.. but when you’re trying to aim with precision this becomes very difficult. I asked the attendant and he said that there wasn’t currently a left handed mode implemented, and unless they consider it, it’s just going to be a completely awkward and not fun experience for us lefties (which is a shame because the parts I did struggle through were brilliant, the on-rails flying sequences felt like Starfox and felt a lot more solid than the on foot sections, which were still fun despite grappling with frustrating righty only controls.)

Resident Evil: Revelations was extremely impressive, providing probably the best visuals I’ve seen on the 3DS so far. The controls felt great and the atmosphere was well constructed, still making me want to turn my character around and run away when a zombie comes running towards me. This looks like it’ll be a success and something to look forward to for any Resident Evil fans as they look to have kept things like ammo conservation and weapon choice key choices for the player. I wish I’d spent a bit more time with this game but it was the first one I got to and my mind was telling me to hurry it up so as not to miss out on Skyward Sword and Super Mario!

Starfox 64 3D was brilliant. I really enjoyed it, it’s been my most anticipated game on the 3DS since I heard of its unveiling and it did not disappoint. The circle pad and the gyro sensors work in unison to bring fantastic precise shooting which builds tenfold on the old analogue stick from the Nintendo 64. The 3D effect was great, similar to Pilotwings, and really added an extra layer of immersion to the game. At times I thought the enemies bullets were going to come out of the screen and hit me, which was impressive. This should sell well to anyone looking for a great, accessible game on the system.

Probably the most surprising game appearance at the event was that of Sonic Generations 3DS, which featured Classic Sonic gameplay, Modern Sonic gameplay and a boss fight which I didn’t do. To my surprise I actually preferred the Modern Sonic level to that of the Classic Sonic - Modern Sonic felt a lot like Sonic Rush gameplay, with a building boost bar and homing attacks and a great sense of speed that built up as you went along, but for some reason Classic Sonic felt – like Mario - a little bit slippery. I’m starting to think I don’t get on with the Circle Pad on the 3DS. The 3D wasn’t as effective as it could have been, but the gameplay and level design felt solid and will be a great platformer for 3DS owners.

And then there was Metal Gear Solid 3D, which suffered from a few frame rate issues and a case of far too many loading screens, but the gameplay felt identical to that in the PS2 version, albeit with slightly fiddlier controls. Despite the great 3D, it wasn’t quite as impressive as I was hoping due to the awkward controls, and I was left slightly disappointed by the game. I have a feeling it’s the sort of game that doesn’t lend itself well to a demo environment, you need to spend some time getting used to the controls in your own time. This said, it is Metal Gear Solid 3 which almost sells itself.

On the Wii side of things, the moment I saw the Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword demo area I ran over to find a demo unit free and instantly jumped in. The first demo was a flying section that demonstrated the power of Motion Plus – requiring you to aim the remote in the way you wanted to fly whilst also flapping to gain speed. It was a fun little minigame, but nothing too special. The second area was more like it – classic Zelda gameplay in taking on a Dungeon. This is where the real meat of the game lies.

You use the Wii Remote to unsheathe and swing your sword – and with Motion Plus it comes alive as the directions of your Remote swinging directly corresponds to where Link swings the sword in game. This made for an interesting fight against an enemy in which he would defend high, so I’d attack low. You can swing, stab, uppercut, and if you raise the nunchuck you pull your shield up. It felt natural and fluid and ultimately – fun. The graphical style of the game is amazing, falling half way between cel-shaded (Wind Waker) and the gritty style portrayed in Twilight Princess. It gives the game a really unique feel, and you can tell the game is a labor of love for Nintendo. Zelda fans are going to absolutely love it. I certainly did – the dungeon even had me stumped for a short while so the challenge is most definitely there!

Just Dance 3 was a surprisingly great experience, as me and Mike from Camberley battled it out to Party Rock by LMFAO. The controls felt like they worked and despite only using the Wii Remote (not Motion Plus enabled) felt solid. Simply put, fans of Just Dance will love Just Dance 3. And I’m most definitely pleased to report that I beat Mike.

Mario and Sonic at the London Olympics was another game that Mike and I played against each other in 5 events (and which I won 3-2 – representing Guildford!) and the game was fun, if not a little outdated. Relying on simple controls, things like horse-riding and canoeing are mini-games that take about 2 minutes to complete, and are great fun when played competitively, but it doesn’t bring anything new to the Wii. Again, I expect this game to sell well to people who have played the Mario and Sonic games but also those who have yet to try it since it’s based in London, which gives it a nice local feel.

Last but by no means least, my absolute favorite game of the event, Kirby Wii. I cannot stress enough how much I loved this game. Anyone who’s played the old-school Kirby games from the SNES days will know how addictive the gameplay is - using the copy ability to steal the power of enemies and using said power to solve puzzles, find hidden objects and levels and bonus areas. There hasn’t been anything that’s come close to this sort of fun since then (although Epic Yarn was a fantastic game, it wasn’t classic Kirby) until now.

The game has been given a makeover to 2.5D for the Wii, meaning it is brought kicking and screaming right in to the modern day, but retaining the feel of the old games. As Kirby, you have to get to the end of the level by sucking in enemies and taking their power. This’ll allow you to perform a multitude of new moves, some of which can be used to open certain doors or kill certain enemies that block your way. The game is quite challenging for a platformer, but not overly so. I lost a couple of lives through the course of the 2 level demo but neither of which felt cheap or lame.

The next thing I knew, I was joined by 3 other players as I was playing the level – the game has 4-player drop in/out co-op. Whilst the co-op partners don’t enjoy the copy ability of Kirby and definitely play a secondary role (Kirby is the only one with a life counter, and the only one who can choose which door to take for example.) to the pink puffball, the guys that joined me for the gameplay demo had a blast. You can pick each other up, inhale them and use them as weapons, ride on their backs and all sorts. It was just gaming bliss and the best game experience I’ve had on the Wii. If I didn’t already have a Wii, I’d buy one for this game. I cannot emphasize how much fun it was.

All in all, it was a great day. The staff were friendly and the games were great fun, with all of the attendees walking away with a lot of new experiences to share. And the fact that our Guildford store beat Camberley in both the multiplayer games we played just adds that extra edge to it all. Mike won’t be forgetting about that any time soon.

Waiting for the bus to leave Farnborough station. Am late to a...

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 18:58:15 +0100

Waiting for the bus to leave Farnborough station. Am late to a friends’ party because some poor bastard threw themself off a bridge and on to the train tracks. Cue hours of waiting for trains and subsequently buses. Man I hate buses..

Babies tasting lemons for the first time

Sun, 03 Jul 2011 23:55:16 +0100

Incredible.

Me And All My Friends Are Poets Of The Deed

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 02:52:08 +0100

My “Oh God No They’re Listening To Enter Shikari” face.

(I don’t think it’s possible to be any more unattractive)

Here we are again, Tumblr. You tell yourself you’re going to go to sleep two hours ago and you don’t do it, and thus you decide in your infinite wisdom that writing a blog post at 2am in the morning is a good thing. But I don’t think I’ve got that one wrong in the years I’ve been writing here, as we generally know, the best inspiration comes at night when it’s too damn late to do anything.

It’s a pleasure to see you again, though, regardless of the time of day. I could do with an empty space to scribble down some notes on nothing in particular. So let’s get cracking!

It’s been a good few weeks recently. I’ve been bridging and rekindling old friendships and have started to be more social once more. For a few months I wasn’t really doing much besides going to work and keeping tight with my colleagues, though I believe this is mostly down to the fact that my student friends (or I suppose I should call them ex-students - congratulations to everyone on completing their degrees!) were knuckling down and tackling the toughest part of Uni, the third year. Man, if I struggled with the opening months of University I can only imagine the sort of breakdown I’d have had if I stuck it out. Not for me. No siree.

Right now I have more important things to be worrying about. I have three days left working with my colleagues and good friends at the GAME store I work at in Camberley before I start a two week trial at the Guildford branch as a Senior Sales. There’s a very small pay increase and it’s a 40 hour contract rather than a 20 so ultimately I’ll be moving up the ladder in that regard. I just wish I could’ve taken the job in my current store, but sometimes you have to make sacrifices in order to progress. I’m sure I’ll keep in touch with the guys at my current store through social networking, gaming, pub visits and most likely live music gigs.

Saturday just gone, me and Lucy went up to Camden to see Talking Endlessly, among others, play at the Barfly. Annoyingly we only got there in time for the last song in their set due to public transport issues (and people who wanted to take out £600 at a hole in the wall and use multiple cards, holding up a queue of 7 people behind her, and not getting it when it denied her her cash); but we got there nonetheless. The final song was one I’d heard before and enjoyed hearing live, but then again I can say the same for most live music. Talking Endlessly are certainly worth giving a listen - I’ll put a song of theirs on my blog soon.

The band that followed looked to be a disaster as they carried a huge keyboard and accordian on stage with them but were aurally very pleasing to listen to. Combining the musical nuances of bands such as TV On The Radio, Arcade Fire and The National sounds like… well, actually, reading that back it sounds like it’d be brilliant. And to be frank they did sound different, quirky, original, but not for the wrong reasons. If I could remember the band name I’d give them a shout out but it escapes me. Sorry, pretty-good-band-that-played-in-the-Barfly-last-Saturday!

I’d put something down about the last band but I’d be wasting everyone’s time and electricity. Let me just say they may well have been the worst band I’ve ever witnessed live (and I’ve seen ~~Guns ‘n’ Roses~~ Axl Rose’s Ego Stroking Stage Show). The singer comes on stage and just starts sort of.. bizarrely shrieking and pulsating and singing whilst wearing a blazer and flicking the microphone with his hand and strumming an acoustic guitar but oh, wait, plugged in to an amp because he’s too damn cool for school. Like a camp hipster. Do they exist? If they didn’t before they certainly do now. We left shortly after the first song finished, deciding we couldn’t take much more punishment.

Unfortunately we took plenty more punishment in the form of a shed load of alcohol. Going from the ciders in the bar to several vodka and orange’s in the fun bus home, and ending up foolishly putting away a double shot of Lemoncello (never had it before - was always curious. Wish I’d left it that way) and a double Tequila (new personal rule - NEVER Tequila.) does not equate to a very pleasant next day, especially when you have to catch a train from Woking back to Aldershot with a restricted Sunday service. And boy oh boy was the hangover awful, truly punishing me for my sins the previous night. It wasn’t content with ruining my morning, it lasted with me the whole damn day, causing me to sweat like mad and feel like I wanted to die (melodrama - though I wasn’t far off). But would I do it again? …Hell yeah!

Those are the moments we live for. It’s times like that that make the daily grind worth it. That payslip we get every couple of weeks with a little number on it telling us how much our time is worth should ultimately be put to use in the pursuit of good times. I am a firm believer in this. Live for the moments you get to spend your time and freedom, rather than worrying about the times you don’t.

Anyway, philosophical moment over. This blog has been brought to you in classic Speller style; I’ll come up with the urge to write and not know what to write about and end up on a completely bizarre tangent. Documenting my escapades wasn’t what I had planned when I started writing, nothing was. It’s just the way my mind seems to work, and the way I write. And it seems to have been that way since I started this patch of the internet back in late ‘08. Some things never change.

Oh, and because I like to share amazing things with you guys, check out my newest addition to my desk.

It’s Mr. Pilgrim! I fear I may have begun a figurine collection..