The goggles, they do nothing!

So it's been over a year, but hey, might as well scribble something.

So, highlights?
Went skiing again, was awesome.
Got some goggles from www.girlgeniusonline.com and a hat to go with them, cos they're great.
Got made redundant from Rockpool, got a temp contract at Swordfish Studios testing World in Conflict for 360 before they got sold by Activision when they bought Vivendi and WiC got sold to Ubisoft, who promptly cancelled the 360 version so as not to compete with their EndWar (big shame, WiC was far superior)
After that was unemployed for 6 months or so, got Wrath of the Lich King and played tons of it, also caught up on a bunch of other games like Dead Space, Red Alert 3, Diablo 2, Call of Duty 4, Strong Bad and Wallace and Gromit adventures.
Went to Paris for the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational, was the best holiday ever, played a bit of Starcraft 2 and was there for the Diablo 3 announcement, got a Mini Tyrael pet for WoW :D
Just started a new job at Tt Fusion, who make the LEGO games, and it's brilliant!

Yay!
*/w

I'm in charge in Malaysia!

Was talking about a less-all-pervading internet meme 'imma chargin mah lazer!', wherein a 'blackface' is imposed on a character that then charges or fires its lazer. Google for more info, it's very silly, some sort of Dragonball outtake or something. Anyway, while the original is good in the right context, I saw a brilliant version with a picture of the (apparently recently-elected) Prime Minister of Malaysia, and the caption 'I'm in charge in Malaysia'.

Aaanyhoo, not much happening atm, but felt like a blorg. Hit 70 on Deathknell at last, is a pain cos there's soooo much to do at 70, even more so when you know where it all is and can wander round ticking off stuff all the time. Got my awesome giant-snake-head-shoulders, which I've had my eye on for Deathknell, so woo. Made a roflcopter too, which suits the crazy grey-haired loon perfectly.

Sonic's neeeeearly done. Hope it goes soon, then we can get on to something else at last, whenever that comes in.
Beh, onward!
*/w

So, the week is over, and in all I found it relatively easy... mostly because I think my lifestyle is pretty simple and flexible, so I can adjust to a different routine quite quickly. The hardest part was actually preparing food, not just making it last. However, were I really in the situation of a 'living ghost' I think the hardest part for me would be the things not simulated in this challenge - the lack of a permanent living conditions, no job or anything to do - I'd go crazy with boredom, or probably find myself some kind of volunteer work or just work at trying to reapply for asylum or something, I dunno.

I suppose I just don't get homelessness in general - I don't get how you end up on the streets without any support, but I suppose that's the next step of charity - getting to know people you meet on the streets and finding out how they got like that, and if there's any way you can help, however small.


On a different note, work took those who wanted to see Body Worlds at the Museum of Science and Industry - that in/famous anatomy exhibition now in its fourth iteration that provokes equal digust and praise.

The premise is this guy Gunter Hagens invented a technique of removing fluids from tissue and replacing it with plastic resin that effectively preserves it in plastic, allowing it to be studied without decomposing but also without having to have it in a big tank of formaldehyde or freezing it.
Entire bodies can then be preserved in this way, and disected and examined much more easily, but also exhibited more clearly, which is what this is, and exhibition of real, preserved organs and bodies, showing the entire workings of the human body (and a gorilla thrown in too).
It's a brilliant tool for studying anatomy, and really allows the viewer to see exactly where all the parts of the body fit together and what everything actually looks like up close (minus anything liquid, so it all looks a little unreal)
The controversy is twofold: they are actual corpses, bequeathed by the people in their lives to Dr Hagens to preserve and exhibit them after their deaths, and that doesn't sit well with a lot of people, both because they find it disturbing, or that they don't think it's right to treat the dead this way.
You can tell they have a bit of an agenda for standing against the cultural and religious flak they've had, as while the exhibit labels themselves highlight certain organs or body functions, the walls around the place have a history of the study of anatomy, from Da Vinci's habit of grave robbing to various methods of preservation, and how this 'plastination' is the next big breakthrough in the field, and also various philosopher's quotes about 'what is man?' which are a little jarring - Nietzsche quotes etc, seeming to be deliberatly atheist and provocative.

Still, agenda aside, I found the exhibition educational and not distasteful - all the subjects were voluntarily given bodies, and why not put your body to such a use after you die, it's not like it's any use otherwise, or that anyone even knows who it was (besides those involved in the process), and seeing how God put our bodies together is very exciting and awesome!

Sonic time! Mori-san from Sega Japan is apparently around this week, so must get Sonic done for him!
*/w

Weekenderrrr

Food for Fri, Sat and Sun, and I'm all finished! Survived!

Fri:
Breakfast: Pain au Chocolat once more, last of Milk
Lunch: Beans on Toast
Tea: Baked Potato and a carrot (with a little cheating - butter and cream cheese I had left that needed using up, but as I've not spent much of my official budget I could have bought them?), Cup of Tea (milkless :( )

Sat:
Breakfast: Lie-in!
Lunch: Pasta Bolognese (Plum Tomatoes, Hot Dogs and Onion all mashed together and heated up) and last of Orange Juice
Tea: Baked Potato again (with butter, as all that's left is Chick Peas and they don't really go :p), cup of tea

Sun:
Breakfast: Lie in again :)
Lunch: Pasta Bolognese again, Semolina for pud, cuppa tea
Tea: Plant food!

So the week is at an end, and I've got a little left over, mostly stuff that doesn't go with much like chickpeas and leftover rice/pasta.
Still, it was certainly a challenge sticking to only eating what I was provided, but I managed without cheating except the butter.

More thoughts tomorrow on the week in general - got a guild to form :o
*/w

Fourth verse, same as the... third?

Day 4 food, pretty much the leftovers of day 3, so largely the same:

Breakfast: 'Pain au Chocolat' x 2 slices, orange juice
Lunch: Tuna sandwich x 1 1/2
Tea: Peas/corn/onion and rice

Now they're all used up, so something else today...

Gblearh, nothing to say today. Same old, same old. Yay!
*/w

Wensdy! Wensdy!!

Breakfast: 'Pain au Chocolat', that is, 2 slices of toast wrapping 2 squares of chocolate per slice, and a cup of tea. A tasty treat, and good use of chocolate rations!
Lunch: Tuna sandwiches - just tuna, and bread - and an apple. Work water too.
Tea: Rice, peas, sweetcorn, a bit of onion and the other 'half' of the stock cube. Tea, bit of choccy.
Snacky peanuts and biscuits throughout the day at work.

Regular old day really, getting used to the food routine. I'm sure loads happened yesterday that I wanted to blether about, but like when someone asks you 'What have you been up to, how was your day', nothing important ever springs to mind (unless something particularly outstanding took place).

Skiing! I can talk about skiing - went to Austria with Caleb and Oak Hall, met loads of nice Christian people, most of them young married couples and teachers (it being half-term time) but a selection of older/younger others as well. Skiied all week! Was teh awesum!

Overdid it a bit on the first day, as I was still in indoor slope 'must get as many runs in as possible' mode, and my legs fell off afterwards, and I got a bit heat-slapped and dehydrated from not enough suncream and high altitude reducing thirst, but I learned from this and had a regulated and fun rest of the week. No injuries, though a few spectacular wipeouts, a deliberate faceplant into a (padded) tree in the middle of a piste that was begging to be hit, and surviving crossed skis on a T-bar lift, managing to right myself with a little help from Caleb.

Wore silly Headcrab hat all week, it was awesome!
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c150/NiceMissMayonnaise/WTFLOL.jpg
Came over a hill one day and some crazy Austrians had written in l33tsp34k on the hill, made me and Caleb laugh and everyone else go 'huh?'

Also was introduced to an Austrian dessert: Germknödel! It's a 6" ball of yeast dumpling with a fruit puree filling, covered in butter or vanilla sauce and sprinkled with poppy seeds - yum! Very filling though -not for skiing afterwards!!

Back home and to work now though. More tomorrow!
*/w

Day 2 on Day 3

It's easier to update the day after, since I know what happens in the past better :p

Brekky! 2 pieces of toast, cuppa tea
Luncch! 2 sardine sammiches, a pear, water and work-provided orange (perhaps cheating, but perhaps comes under banana allowance)
Tee! Chicken and Mushroom soup, 6 squares of chocolate, tea

Also, cashwise, actual outgoings so far come to £3.65, but that's £1.10 for a bus on Monday cos it was raining and I had the entire food parcel's worth of shopping to carry, so may be written off as preparation expenditure, and £2.55 to a pair of homeless guys on Deansgate in the form of food of their choice from Sainsburys and the leftover change, but this can also be written off as if I were actually a rejected asylum seeker I would be more likely asking for charity than giving it. But on the weekly walk down Deansgate at 8.30 after Japanese, seeing homeless people and with cash in my pocket, I felt it was time to actually work up the confidence to say hi and offer some food and a friendly greeting, and hopefully develop more of a charitable attitude to those in need in general, that being the point of the exercise!

Hopefully things are going smoothly and I'm not going to run out of food come the weekend - I'm not really planning, just taking each meal as it comes. So far the biggest challenge is actually preparing meals in our bombsite of a kitchen, and knowing what to prepare from the ingredients I have, which is more a challenge of learning important skills than surviving on little. Still, either lifestyle works ok, awesome as my studenty/recent graduatey living situation is, it can't go on forever, but I'll just adapt to things as they happen and trust God to give me all I need!

It does make marriage look even more appealing - having a place of your own to share with a wife you love, but again, the best plan is to devote my life to God and let Him guide me to His purposes, for His glory. I'm content both in singleness or to get married, so let's see how things go. If I do develop a friendship with a suitably godly woman who is an appropriate match for me, and I can think of a couple who may be, but it's far too soon to tell, I'm determined to do things right next time - started reading a book called Boy Meets Girl - Say Hello to Courtship by Joshua Harris, it has very good advice about building relationships properly in a way that honours God, and with a focus on whether or not to get married, and not indulging your own desires and emotions until you are married. It's a great guide and insight into a holy way to conduct relationships that honours primarily God, and also each other's feelings and behaviours, although it does come from a rather American social background so needs a little editing to translate to a British culture.

Anyhoo, prayer and consideration and wisdom be the order of the, well, day and beyond. Onward, to God's glory!
*/w