This is not a blog

You know what single thing makes my game every time it happens? No matter what the venue, or who the character is?

It's quite simple really.

It's the point where I realise I've just discovered something new about my character. Something I didn't know before. Something that makes them what they are.

In some ways I'm quite of the belief that characters we create are something of ourselves - some part of our conscious or subconscious that surfaces and emerges primarily through the roleplay of that character.

Rocker for instance is an expression of my anger, the collected rage and emotion bottled up inside. (And there's a revelation for you as well)

But that gets away from the point of this post.

Last night, Laine revealed to me a lot. I know his goals, I know why he wants to expand his business, I know how he treats his friends and I know he hates being torn between keeping his Freehold safe and being Courtless.

So, yeh, Laine told me a lot last night. And it's up to me to act on that for him.

Tell me, do I sound a little bit crazy? Because it sounds to me like I am...

Must have been a couple of months…

I’m enjoying myself in general at the moment - apart from the uni stuff and work.

Dissertation’s going to pot - really need to pull my finger out over the hols. Work just plain sucks. But if I stick with it, I might get a managerial post (maybe) which is a better position to apply from.

Need to read more. Need more books to read. Need more money to buy books… And to play for a flat deposit…

Cam stuff is fun. I’m muchly enjoying Changeling and now Forsaken as well. They want me to run a Mortals venue in Edinburgh too… I’m thinking I might. I also seem to be going to be playing Promethean with [Rebel].

I spend far too much time on Facebook. Not actually doing much though… Also spending lots of time on IRC with the Cam lot. Not that that’s a bad thing!

Also still watching lots of anime - need moar!!! Seen lots of films too - Unlimited cards are useful things!

Laptop still broken - still need to get it sorted.

Originally published at DoC 3.0. You can comment here or there.

The parents are awesome. I only have Wii Sports, Carnival and one Wiimote, but is quite quite cool.

For those who have similar tech, the address is 6009 7928 9720 3813

Originally published at DoC 3.0. You can comment here or there.

I should really say real stuff, but I’ve been forgetting to say this for a while.

Thursday 29th of November, I turn 21.

Saturday 1st of December, I’m getting pissed. Or at least this is the plan.

It’s going to be out in town somewhere - attempting the Rose St Crawl was

suggested. It’s me and Calvin (since his birthday is the Tuesday before) and whoever else we can drag along.

More details closer to the time, but if you want to know where we are at any point, you can always text.

I may need to viciously poke work in the face to make sure I have the day off as well…

Originally published at DoC 3.0. You can comment here or there.

And I don’t have that much to say really…

WoD game is going well - possibly too well… I mean [Sam] advanced the plot!

Been to cinema lots recently - definitely getting the use of my card. Ratatouille, Stardust, Res Evil 3 have all been seen this month and I’ll likely go again on Wednesday

Work sucks. Don’t think I’ll be getting anything out of McDonalds I don’t already have, so am considering applying other places. I mean if I’m going to have a dead-end job for the next year, I’d rather have one I enjoyed more. Waterstones perhaps, or The Hive…

Been watching much anime. Am now watching Black Lagoon which has pirates, Gundam 00 which is new, Rental Magica, Hero Tales and a few others as well as the staunch favorites. Also read Book 1 of A Song of Fire & Ice by George R.R. Martin - need more!

Still partially deaf and back hurts like hell at times but am surviving. Have only skipped one day’s work due to back so am being good.

And now, since I want to see how peoples’ views have changed, a meme.

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Originally published at DoC 3.0. You can comment here or there.

So what have I been up to since August you might ask…

Well, not a hell of a lot really. I had my resits, got my results (E for Langs & Defs, F for Comp Comms) and managed to get into 4th Year.

Now if only I had Dissertation ideas…

Haven’t had any shifts all month, discovered it was down to a misinterpretation. Also managed to talk my boss into giving me a bigger pay-rise which also means I can go for a promotion which will give me another pay-rise.

I’ve not done some things I was supposed to do, done things I wasn’t.

Downloaded and watched lots of anime. Including Ikkitousen Dragon Destiny (which seems essentially to be fighting hentai. It’s continual fan service…), D.Gray-Man, Night Head Genesis and Innocent Venus as well as more Kenichi, Zombie Loan, Bleach (and the movie!), Naruto, Devil May Cry…

Also started watching Stargate Atlantis again. Due to torrenting problems, only have half of seasons 1 & 3 so far, but I’ve seen 1 & 2 before so big deal. Watched what I have of season 3 then moved on to season 1 again. Definitely interesting watching it over.

Read many books (as usual). Finished the first 5 Horus Heresy books, the 2nd and 3rd Temeraire books, Grey Knights, Neuromancer (again), Good Omens (again) and am vaguely wondering what to read next.

Which reminds me! Went to the GEAS murder mystery pub crawl last week. Met people I met last year, met new people, got a few drinks in and left with an extra book. I now have a copy of Machiavelli’s The Prince which I should read at some point.

Also discovered a couple of new webcomics. First up, [DM of the Rings] - which covers what Lord of the Rings would have been like if it was a roleplaying campaign instead of a book. I found DMotR through [Irregular Webcomic] Then we have [Chainmail Bikini], the new webcomic written by the guy who did DM of the Rings. It’s just started and it’s about roleplayers.

Been to see Shoot ‘Em Up, Superbad, Evan Almighty, Rush Hour 3, Run, Fat Boy, Run and Knocked Up recently. Didn’t manage to see Stardust or Day Watch at the festival, but they’re out soon enough anyway. Also been through most of my DVD collection. With the laptop issues I was having, having something to watch while laptop recharged was a good thing.

I’ve joined Nick’s (Turelio for LARPers) Shadowrun game this summer as well. It’s run by my flatmate, in my flat so I figured it was worth a shot. Also joined back in with my Earthdawn group since that’s been held here over the summer as well and with no work, I have Sundays free again.

I have a plan for a campaign to be run at Gamers, and will be looking for players. Not decided when I’ll be running it, but I have a cunning plan which hopefully Gamers as a whole might implement.

There’s also been LARP geekiness, especially in the wake of Xanthe’s death. I’m working on IC documents at the moment for House Vel and the Sapphire Court and it’s all part of a devious plan! I also have my backup ready to roll for when people decide my new character’s gone crazy.

Laptop still fucked up, but not as badly. Well, it’s worse actually but I found a way to control it. Kind of. I found out why it crashes. It crashes when the fans are on “normal” mode as opposed to “silent” mode and the power is plugged in. Since the de-facto mode is “normal”, this meant is was crashing all the time. Now, it only crashes when I forget this. Though it may be getting quite hot…

This post is a real mess. I mean I go rambling all over the place about all kinds of things.

Oh, I joined Facebook should anyone care and not already have me added. I’m using a ‘pseudonym’. Have to say, the Facebook Mafia game is addictive.

I’ve also revamped the [Watt Gamers] website with new stuff. Not that people can tell most of it’s there.

Unicorn Parliament dates are confirmed. The 2nd - 4th of November. Booking form out by the end of the week hopefully.

Oh and [Kit] had me half-naked last week as well, but that was all perfectly innocent.

I think I might be done rambling for now. Back to your regularly scheduled nonsense?

Originally published at DoC 3.0. You can comment here or there.

From the new flat that is.

Still moving in - have got most of my stuff here now, but it still needs unpacking.

Have finally caught up on LJ from the last few days.

We even had a big proper dinner last night - with courses and everything!

Right, shower and then more unpacking… Need to go back to [Sarah]’s as well… and Asda…

Originally published at DoC 3.0. You can comment here or there.

Should I start by mentioning the girls at work whos’ goals include stealing my hair (because it’s longer, prettier and generally better than theirs) and stealing my (sexy) top hat, my recent trip to a different store or my increasing collection of burns?

Or possibly the fact that I’ve (finally) been “trained” on front counter. By which I mean they gave me a float and told me to do front counter for a day. But they had confidence in me.

Shall be moving next weekend. Or at least this is the plan. Have taken Friday, Saturday and Sunday off to do “moving”, so should at least get the internet sorted, and that’s all I need really.

Have been watching many animes recently. Including, but not necessarily limited to: History’s Strongest Disciple: Kenichi, Heroic Age, Zombie Loan, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, Claymore, Naruto, Bleach, Devil May Cry, Today in Class 5-2, Ojamajo Doremi Naisho…

Have also been reading lots. Have reread Sandman 1-4, and almost all of the New Jedi Order series. Also read Nikolai Dante, Sinister Dexter, Global Frequency, and Order of the Stick: Start of Darkness (all graphic novels). I have a Douglas Coupland book from Jen downstairs to read as well as the 4th and 5th Horus Heresy books. (Oh and I read HP7 as well, but I already mentioned that on here)

Been to see Transformers, Harry Potter and Die Hard. Not seen the Simpsons film yet, but will soon-ish I think. I want to see Day Watch and Stardust over the festival as well.

I need to get gaming again - either GMing that Orpheus game people wanted me to run (which seems unlikely) or actually playing in a game of some sort… I did acquire the “phonebook” recently, so that may distract me enough… Need a LARP fix as well really.

Talking of LARP, me and Christine have bought a new shiny tent.

Shit. I need to send in that bloody resits form. Need to remember to do that tomorrow at work somehow - keep forgetting to grab an envelope.

And I’ve kinda strayed away from the work part, haven’t I? Thursday I was at P2 (Princes St, East End) instead of my usual store (Asda Chesser) which was interesting. Made quarter pounders and “Big BBQ”s for most of the day which made it different from normal work. Though the fact that the grill area at P2 is about the same size as the entire kitchen at Asda Chesser amused me as well.

Oh yes and the burns… they look like they’re shaping up to be ugly… They’re all off toasters, so they’re high-temperature dry burns - fun.

Ah well, Ben & Jerry’s will cure all

Originally published at DoC 3.0. You can comment here or there.

While at work yesterday, a thought struck me - I know! - and I realised what my first fandom was.

It wasn’t Star Wars despite what you might think. But it has defined who I am and certain parts of my personality since I ran into it.

Either that, or there’s a fecking huge coincidental relationship between it and my personality.

What I believe to be my first fandom was in fact Gladiators - you know, the TV show where ex-wrestlers fought “normal” people for the entertainment of the masses.

Some evidence:

The first CD I recall owning myself? The Gladiators TV Show Soundtrack (with such classics as “Holding out for a Hero”, “The Final Countdown”, “Wild Thing”, “Bat Out Of Hell”…) - i still has some of favourite pieces of music on there. And it’s going to be pretty much what got me into rock and metal proper.

Favourite animals? Wolves, cobras, hawks… Favourite Gladiators? Wolf, Cobra, Hawk… Talking of Wolf, I’ve always preferred the bad guys, and Wolf was the baddest.

The show was just so cool when I was a kid. *goes and relives some of his childhood memories on the intarweb*

I’ve just gone and signed a petition to get Gladiators put on DVD - so am I sad or what?

Originally published at DoC 3.0. You can comment here or there.

Yesterday (or the day before), I got mail from America - the ICHC buttons! They’re schweet!

Today, I got the Maelstrom mailshot through the mail (though it arrived in Shetland a while ago). It’s shiny and now I have less excuse to not play.

Today in Shetland, I got the second of my sets of the Star Wars: Legacy comics delivered (well ok, they arrived a while ago) (they sent two sets by accident and said to keep both sets! :)) as well as a letter from the Heriot-Watt Comp Sci dept.

Now I asked my mum to open it when I got home. Inside it contained one very important piece of news… I got into 4th Year!!! So so schweet…

Of course today had to have downsides as well. Yesterday I worked a 2-close (9 hour shift) and got asked to come in early today. (I was supposed to do another 2-close, but did a 12-close instead). I said ok since I wasn’t doing anything else today.

So first things first… 11-hour shift. I’m beat. Really really beat. I have been for the last 5 hours. I had trouble using a lobby-scoop earlier. Secondly, damn I get bitchy after working that long. Thirdly, ow my feet… really ow… and god the sweat…

Now it was my own fault, but I was up till like 2 last night. (But I did a lot of work on the Sapphire Court ley) And got up at 9. So so far, I’ve had a 15 and a half hour day, 10 of which was actual work plus an hours break on 7 hours of sleep. If it was a normal uni day, that wouldn’t faze me at all, but damn it’s hit me hard today.

And I start work at 11:45 tomorrow as well. And my uniforms are in the wash, so I’ll have to dry them in the morning. Yay..

But tomorrow, I should be finished by 8pm, so I may hit the pub, or the cinema, or both… Anyone doing anything specific tomorrow night?

Originally published at DoC 3.0. You can comment here or there.