Night.

Yes, I forgot my key on Wednesday. And I wouldn’t be able to get back in the house until my mum came home, at about 7.30. So there I was, outside my house, with the prospect of waiting for three hours.

I thought I might as well make it worthwhile, so I went up to the Co-op and bought a copy of PCGamer. I read that for about an hour.

Meanwhile, over the road, loads of people were filing into a garden for some kind of fireworks spectacular. I though, why not? So I joined the queue (nobody knew me), and wactched the show. I left before the end, taking some bbq food with me. =]

Still over an hour to go. So I went for a walk. Back up to the coop, and bought a small tin of sardines, and a bread roll. Back outside my house, I made a (fairly messy) sardine sandwich.

Was good.

I would now go on to say how awesome it was, but if you know what Portal is, you probably know that already anyway. Atm, I’m downloading Portal: Prelude, and the Flash Map pack, both of which I’ve heard good things about, so that should be fun.

Rik.

Some of it I seemed good at the time, but then I just realised that I didn’t like it at all and around twelve to fifteen minutes later, hated it. I didn’t do anything until now, because until just now, I’d thought that having a blog was about volume, not about the content.

So, I’ve made another resolution, in addition to the one I made twelve to fifteen minutes ago: I’m not going to post crap up here anymore.

I’ll probably regret this one in… twelve to fiteen minutes, but I’d better stop typing now because the full effects of my earlier psot are just starting to hit home.

But I’ll be strong.

Rik.

I’ve narrowed down the problem to two possible sources: (a) I think too much. Maybe I should stop thinking about things I’ve just done and focus on what I’m doing next so I can pay full attention to what’s hapening around me and avoid the next awkward situation, rather than being distracted by what I can’t change. (b) I’m not quick enough. For example, someone would say something. I would then say something back, which would not be something I would say if I weren’t trying to avoid talking to them (This is also a problem, which I shall come to in point (c)). Now, since I wasn’t really paying attention to what they were saying, I would say something which, is not something anyone else would say. I realise, just after I’ve said it, or when I do want to next talk to them, that I’ve just said the most stupid/arrogant/ignorant thing that someone could say at that point. I then proceed to metally abuse myself, which distracts me from stopping me doing it again, which just leads to further distress on myself.

This is why I’ve resolved, suddenly at 4.15am, to stop doing this. Maybe it will make be a better person. Or maybe it’ll just make being a bad person a whole lot less awkward. Either way, it’d be good.

Rik.

(I’ve just realised that I’ve forgotten to explain point (c); perhaps I’ll come to it in a later post, to talk about it now would ruin the effect of what I’ve just said. Which I’ve probably already done, by putting this.)

TF2 is soo much better when you have a decent PC (Dual core 2.7GHz, Nvidia 9600M, 4Gb RAM) to play it on. No fps lag, instant control, and a better sense of being in the game. Oh, and the fire is beautiful. ^_^

All in all, my laptop is great. Well worth the £650 I paid for it.

Now for other stuff… remember that engineeering scheme that I talked about in the unusually long post earlier that nobody commented on? I didn’t get into it. I was a bit gutted, tbh.

Also, lots of my friends have gone on this expensive trip to Vietnam that I couldn’t afford to go to. (£1800!!) Though I was kinda happy that I’d saved £1800, I really did want to go on it. Seeing them leave school early, with their custom Vietnam themed shirts was a bit disappointing.

Add to that, my grades weren’t good. Straight B1s, except a B2, B3 and a C2. Hopefully, my mum won’t find out. >_>

All in all, not the best week ever. Really the only highlight was being able to play the games I already owned properly for the first time (Playing as a heavy on my old PC was lag lag lag lag shoot lag shoot bang lag lag shoot lag shoot die lag lag doctorrr!!), which was nice. ^_^

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£20 was on presents for my Mum, as her birthday is tomorrow. I got the usual stuff, bath salts, chocolate, a card etc - it was a bit more difficult choosing which bath salt this year because I had to remember to 2 years ago if I had bought those bath salts before (last year I got her Russell Brand’s Booky Wook) - the same with the card. I hate buying cards only to find out that the person you’re giving it to already received that exact same card with the exact same message last year (Once, this happened with my Grandma; she had kept the old card so it was even more embarassing >.>).

Anyway, the other £60 was on Vista for my new laptop (which is arriving tomorrow after six weeks of waiting) … unfortunately that doesn’t arrive until next week so I’ll have to install Linux and then install vista again just so I can use it. Great, three hours of my life wasted.

Seriously, what?

If you don’t know what happened, go here: 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/7636821.stm

What?

I don’t get it. 

Why would a simple argument about Advance Wars Tactics between a moderator and a lesser member provoke  the lesser member into flying over 1000 miles, going into his home, and stabbing him? Was he that angry, that he didn’t cool down in the five or six hours it took to get there?

Seriously, some people, are fucked up. 

And, no doubt some of the media are going to completely misunderstand this and blame in on the ‘violence in the games of today.’ I’ve already heard BBC news infer that Advance Wars was a violent game, calling it a ‘war game’, and showing scenes of the trailer which show vehicles exploding and infantry flying back… Advance Wars is basically chess. Just as violent, just as tactical. Are the media blaming knife crime and murders on chess? No. I don’t understand why the focus is on games specifically - the guns etc found in games are exactly the same as those traditionally given to small boys playing ‘war’. 

I don’t get it.

RIP Matt Pyke - I never knew you, but I kinda wish I had.

UPDATE:

Apparently the guy was jealous of Matt’s girlfriend. I suppose this makes more sense… but still.

I’m going to try and write more from now on. 

I LOST MY IPOD.

I lost my iPod. Thursday at breaktime, I think. I was putting it into my pocket, and that was the last time I remember I had it. I suppose someone could have taken it from my jacket when I was in the sports hall, but… anyway, it’s unlikely I’m going to find it. 

I have asked everyone I could possibly ask… but nothing. One teacher did say he’d found an iPod but it wasn’t mine.

WEB DESIGN

I made a web design site, and I’m making custom designs. the link is sorrelmedia.co.cc, if you’re interested. I’ve emailed a couple of local businesses to see if they want a website… hopefully they do and I can start saving for a new iPod. 

I also redesigned rikkit.co.uk, if you haven’t noticed… as well as changing the layout of the VOX archive. My next thing to do is customise the layout of this here blog, to match it.

HOMEWORK

Graaah. I’m doing Further Maths for A levels - it’s split into mechanics, pure and statistics. I’m finding mechanics quite easy, and pure is ok too… but statistics is mind boggling. It doesn’t help that I have a teacher who teaches at twice the speed of light, and shouts at/embarrases you if you ask a question. At least I’m not planning to do economics or accounting.

ENGINEERING

There’s this thing called the Engineering Education Scheme at my school - basically, you are put into a group of four and are partnered with an engineer from a local company (such as e.on, or British Gas), in order to solve a porblem they have. At the moment, there are about twenty people who want to do this - so I have to fill in a form online and sit a couple of interviews… the first real interviews I’ll have ever done, so I’m a bit nervous.

The reason I’m doing this is because I’m interested in engineering (obv.), but this would generally look good on a UCAS form. I chose my subjects to cater for either engineering, architecture or physics at uni (maths, physics, art), so for now, I don’t have to decide.

GENERAL SCHOOL

I’m doing five AS levels. That’s one extra than most people in my school - I’m doing Italian as an extra subject. I have to do it before school though, so I only get 1 1/2 hours a week; I get about five in my other subjects. >.>

That’s it for today, I think…

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Waking at 4pm and sleeping at dawn can’t be good for me. That’s why I’ve resolved to go to sleep no later than 3am. And it’s 2.42am right now. D:

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Shitty opening sentence, I know, but I always have trouble with starting posts - I suppose it’s because blogging gives a sense that I’m talking to myself, a well known sign of madness; but I guess that’s the risk I took when I set this thing up. ^_^

Anyway.

Like most internet savvy people, I use torrents to get stuff for free - this was all well and good when I thought that the internet was anonymous; however, since I have now realised that whatever I do on the internet is not secret (my ISP is Virgin Media), I’ve decided to use torrents a bit less illegally and start to attempt to legalise my (fairly large) music collection. eBay is a good place to get CDs - though it is a bit frustrating that I don’t actually have a working CD drive to rip the tracks from them - and iTunes is a good place for downloads and stuff. It’s just that MUSIC IS SO FUCKING EXPENSIVE. Of course, things like Keane giving away their new song for free helps - and it’s quite a good one too (only available until 11am today though :O), but it’s putting a bit of a strain on my bank balance. I may just have to start torrenting again. *shock horror*

To the title: You may know of an Australian Electronica band called Cut Copy. Then again, you probably don’t.

Electronic-y music happens to be my favourite kind, along with more folky, rocky and poppy stuff, so naturally, Cut Copy is one of my most played bands at the moment. It started when iTunes put one of their singles, Lights & Music, up for free download. At first I didn’t like it - I was probably in a bad mood - but it sat on my iPod for a while, not being played. Then, one day, I was watching random Trackmania videos on YouTube, and I came across this video:

Apart being in awe of the AMAZING Trackmania skills on display, I also liked the music. I liked it enough to go and find out what it was, anyway. It turned out to be Cut Copy - this prompted me to ‘get’ their album, In Ghost Colours, and I have to say it is one of my all time favourites. It may just be that I’m slightly obsessed with it at the moment, but I think the way one track blends into another, whilst still keeping a great hook, is fantastic. Feel The Love and Hearts on Fire (from the video) are two of the best from the album. As well as Lights & Music, which I came round to after a few more listens.

I then discovered that Cut Copy had made another album previously, in 2005, called Bright Like Neon Love. The name intrigues me, so I decided to get that as well. Hmm. In my opinion anyway, it isn’t as good as In Ghost Colours - rather than having sophisticated rhythms which merge into one another, you get repetetive loops which grate after a while. Even though I like them all. I hate this album, but I also love it at the same time. It’s confusing, to say the least.

Bright Like Neon Love.

Anyway, there is one song which I don’t hate at all. In fact, I quite like it, even though it’s a bit slow. It suits it though. It’s called Future…

It is a pretty odd video, but I like it for that.

Anyway, I’ve spent far too long on this post, so I’m going to leave it there.

Morning all.

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Despite the general horribleness of my patrol, the meals were good (only because I cooked them all…) - awesome meals like Spicy Sausage Ragout and Bacon & Pesto Tagliatelli were made. I also got to make up a meal for the ‘Skip’ - we had a proper three course meal. For starters, I made Toasted Paninis with Roasted Pomodori and Melted Mozzarella (lukewarm mozzarella and sliced cherry tomatoes on crispy bread), Basil and onion Meatballs on Spaghetti with a Tomato, Pepper & Basil Sauce (Meatballs on pasta with tomato sauce), and for dessert: Seasonal fruit on crushed meringues with whipped cream (fruit salad and meringues). It was fanTAST(y)ic.

While we were there, we went out on visits a few times. One day, we went to Wookie Hole, and ‘explored’ the ‘mystical’ caves. It was a bit confusing when we came out of the cave and there was a massive plastic King Kong and a set of dinosaurs, though. What was better, was when we went to Wells - the place where Hot Fuzz was shot. I went into the Somerfield! :O

In the park near the Somerfields, though, there is this a-maz-ing public toilets. They talk. When you go in, the first thing you hear after you lock the door is: “Welcome to Wells. Please be aware that your time here is limited, and you will be alerted as to when to leave.” It was a disabled toilet, but I’m not sure if people in wheelchairs go into public toilets by themselves. The best thing about the park though, was what happened in the queue for the toilets.

One of the other scouts looked round at this girl sitting on a park bench about ten metres away with two of her (I presume) (male) friends, turned back and said to me, rather loudly, “She’s hot,” completely unaware that she had now walked up behind him and joined the queue from the toilets. She then promptly returned to her bench and told her (male) friends about it. A few minutes later, after I had decided to not say what had just happened, the girl’s two (male) friends came up to my friend and said “She thinks you’re well fit”. My friend just shrugged this off as a random incident, but then, another few minutes later, after we had moved to another area of the park, the girl came up to my friend.

She said, “Hi - I’m Lizzie” (NB. She had braces so she could have said Lisa, or maybe Izzie)

He said, “Hello…”

She said, “Do you want my number?”

He said, “Urrmmm… I don’t know you..”

She said, “That doesn’t matter”

He said, “But I don’t live near here”

“So?”

“I don’t know you”

“Yeah…”

“And I don’t have a phone”

“But you could write it down..?”

And he says, “Sorry - I don’t come from here and I don’t know you.”

She then looks down, turns around, and walks quickly back to her bench.

Basically, the point of this story is that my friend is a bastard. (If it makes anything clearer, Lizzie wasn’t the most pretty girl in the world, but you wouldn’t say no if she asked (Which is what my friend did))

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