The cake is a lie.
12th. Oct, 2007 | 06:12 pm
mood: 
sick
music: Still Alive - GLaDOS and Jonathon Coulton
Scary week.
I started noticing a slight blurriness in my vision around Mondayish. This developed into lightheadedness, cold sweats and shaking by Tuesday which worryingly seemed to occur before or after mealtimes. You might know these are some signs of Type 2 diabetes and being a largish guy I was getting panicky. I went to the GP and got some bloodtests done, he wasn't so sure it was diabetes but agreed it was possible. The main symptom of diabetes is an unquenchable thirst and needing to piss every five minutes which I didn't have. I was nervous to say the least waiting for the results.
Then on Wednesday night it got real bad and I started drinking litres of water and running to the bathroom over and over and I was fucking terrified. I went to the doctor again on Thursday fully expecting the worst. No more alcohol or carbs for the rest of my potentially shortened life.
Turns out it's just a viral infection with a sick sense of humour. My fasting BGL was right in the middle of the normal range. Gave me one hell of a fright and will be the kickstart for the great slim down. I don't think I could go through this again with a different outcome.
In other news, Portal is incredibly awesome. yes it's only 3 hours long and fairly one dimensional gameplay wise but it is just so slickly put together and the character of GLaDOS is adorably psychotic. Go and get the Orange Box now if you have a PC or 360. Portal is only one of the 5 things in there that are indivudally worth your $50.
If you're not a gamer nerd or you have no intention of buying it for some unknown reason then at least listen to the end credits song. It's so cute. (Spoiler alert if you plan on finishing the game though).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6ljFaKRT
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Ok I promise... nothing nerdy in this one.
19th. Sep, 2007 | 10:45 pm
mood: 
tired
Another crazy week of work. Got a huge amount of stuff to do but things are actually looking good.
Have started getting involved in *gasp* regular sport again. Been playing goalie for a work indoor soccer team and looking very much like an ex-rugby player on a field of people doing fancy things with their feet. Good thing I'm in goal. I can't handle the size of the court in futsal, my only real soccer skills are using my size and a lot of space to keep people off the ball and long, reasonably accurate passes - neither of which works on a cramped basketball court in an indoor gym. Oh well so far I haven't made a total fool of myself.
This is all a leadup to the Great Slimmening before the snow ninja's do Japan. Gonna make an effort this time to get in shape or I'm gonna die by the fifth day. 10 year school reunion in November is a half decent reason as well I guess. I don't really give that much of a crap about meeting up with people I went to school with but I do have a certain desire to laugh at all the merchant bankers, dentists and accounts administrators while I can say I make PS3 games for a living. Any scary goth gals out there willing to put up with tedious conversation for a free meal so I can really mess with some North Shore conservative christian upbringing?
Ok one tiny bit of nerdness...
Just finished Red Seas Under Red Skies which is the sequel to the sublime Lies of Locke Lamora which pretty much blew away almost every other fantasy novel I've ever read. Red Seas isn't quite as good... I didn't think Scott Lynch came up with quite as cool a solution to the horrible mess the protagonists get themselves in again but it's still pretty awesome. It also has lots of funny lines about kittens.
You can never go wrong with kittens.
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Holy crap... people are remembering what a console is for!
6th. Sep, 2007 | 01:40 pm
mood: 
ecstatic
Warhawk was released for PS3 the other day. I was mildly interested. At just under fifty bucks the price is right but it looked like Battlefield 2142 Lite on a console. There'd be problems with playing it on a pad, there probably won't be any mods for it, there aren't as many vehicles yada yada. Then one tiny line in a review changed my opinion completely.
"...4 player split screen online play..."
Four people, playing on the one TV vs 28 other people online. Dear god someone's remembered that consoles are all about sitting down in front of a TV with some beers and playing some games. I bought it right away and it's really fun. It's much more arcadey than BF, powerups and fantastical locales etc. but they've really nailed the flying elements. The way the Warhawks go from standard flight to hover mode is inspired. Only small problem is it makes my great big cheap arse lo-def TV look like complete shit.
It looks like this co-op trend is only getting started however. Army of Two looks is completely designed around co-op. Haze is promising four player split screen co-op as well as deathmatch and team play. Looks like an excellent time to be moving in to a new house (sorry Kalina).
Finally consoles are moving away from being dumbed down PC's and concentrating on what they are fucking excellent at!
"...4 player split screen online play..."
Four people, playing on the one TV vs 28 other people online. Dear god someone's remembered that consoles are all about sitting down in front of a TV with some beers and playing some games. I bought it right away and it's really fun. It's much more arcadey than BF, powerups and fantastical locales etc. but they've really nailed the flying elements. The way the Warhawks go from standard flight to hover mode is inspired. Only small problem is it makes my great big cheap arse lo-def TV look like complete shit.
It looks like this co-op trend is only getting started however. Army of Two looks is completely designed around co-op. Haze is promising four player split screen co-op as well as deathmatch and team play. Looks like an excellent time to be moving in to a new house (sorry Kalina).
Finally consoles are moving away from being dumbed down PC's and concentrating on what they are fucking excellent at!
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Is this the finest ad of all time?
5th. Sep, 2007 | 08:36 pm
mood: 
amused
music: Baba O'Riley - The Who
It has everything you could ever want.
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It's still good!
2nd. Sep, 2007 | 04:28 pm
mood: 
pensive
music: Banquet - Bloc Party/The Streets mix
Hmm... can almost smell the neglect around here. Not sure why I've not been posting, not that much to talk about I guess - at least not the way my mind works anyway. Yes I'm moving in with
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
fest_of_claw and letthembleed which is very cool. Can't wait to get out of here. It makes my wallet ache though, add to this paying for Snow Ninjaing, tickets to Muse and the spectacularly brilliant timing of my green slip etc. and it's not going to be an interesting few months.Finally finished Bioshock. I think I'll dial back the game of the year opinions a touch. It's definitely a masterpiece but it's not the ground breaking super smash hit some people are talking about. It feels a little rushed towards the end and the combat doesn't really change all that much. I won't spoil the story but the last boss fight is incredibly easy which is odd seeing as getting there was actually quite tricky. I'm also over the use of tape recorders to outline the backstory. It must be the laziest plot device ever devised. Hooray we don't have to spend any time or effort on making characters with decent lip synching, conversation mechanics or worry about what happens if the player shoots the most important NPC in the game in the face. Half Life 2 still blows it away in this department (though having seen first hand what's coming next even HL2 is going to look old).
I'm getting a little nervous about the PS3 at the moment. Lots of rumblings about difficulties with getting games to run on the hardware (though not from the guys I work with.) Add to this the rather suspicious gaps between release dates on PC/360 and the PS3 and things like GTA4 getting bumped till next year etc. I'm note really sure why it's happening, the PS2 was a tricky beast when it first came out as well but they managed to sort out the problems. Hopefully the PS3 will be the same.
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Bioshock
21st. Aug, 2007 | 10:41 pm
mood: impressed
music: Eve of the War, Jeff Wayne
Got the PC demo today... what an incredibly pretty game. The effects are just superb - fire, smoke, lightning and most of all the water. So much better than any other game I've ever seen. I can't help feeling it would have been better if they'd fucked off the consoles though... just a few glaring texture wtf's due to the pissy amounts of RAM the Xbox and PS3 has compared to PC's. (They've only got about 512Mb each, lols my video card has more than that!)
It's going to be a massive hit I'm sure, it's scary as all hell, it's gorgeous and the game is fun.
I'm not sure it's going to be the huge megahit say Half Life was though. The demo was reasonably long (and well worth downloading, if only to see if your machine can run it) but I didn't feel the need to play through it four more times to play it 'every possible way' like some people have been saying. I hope it will have some legs beyond the single player somehow... I'd hate to play it through, maybe twice and then leave it on the shelf.
I'm going to be so broke by the end of the year... why did everyone just switch off when WoW came along and then dump all their good games on the market at once?
Bioshock, Stranglehold, Hellgate: London, Crysis, Fallout 3, Warhammer Online, Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts, GTA:IV...
I'm only one man, I only have so much time and money!
My new favourite of the list is probably Hellgate. I used to think it would be decidedly average but something's inspired me about it. Maybe it's because I'm moving out soon and it will be the perfect co-op game. The combination of 3rd person melee and 1st person shooting also looks brilliant.
It's going to be a massive hit I'm sure, it's scary as all hell, it's gorgeous and the game is fun.
I'm not sure it's going to be the huge megahit say Half Life was though. The demo was reasonably long (and well worth downloading, if only to see if your machine can run it) but I didn't feel the need to play through it four more times to play it 'every possible way' like some people have been saying. I hope it will have some legs beyond the single player somehow... I'd hate to play it through, maybe twice and then leave it on the shelf.
I'm going to be so broke by the end of the year... why did everyone just switch off when WoW came along and then dump all their good games on the market at once?
Bioshock, Stranglehold, Hellgate: London, Crysis, Fallout 3, Warhammer Online, Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts, GTA:IV...
I'm only one man, I only have so much time and money!
My new favourite of the list is probably Hellgate. I used to think it would be decidedly average but something's inspired me about it. Maybe it's because I'm moving out soon and it will be the perfect co-op game. The combination of 3rd person melee and 1st person shooting also looks brilliant.
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Give me fifty cc's of "what the fuck am I doing?" STAT!
15th. Aug, 2007 | 10:15 pm
mood: 
shocked
music: Mgmt - Kids
So work needs some first aid peoples as nobody in the office has a certificate and that makes OH&S have kittens or something.
Anyway I did a course with St John's about 10 years ago so I volunteered to do another course to get back up to speed (and hey the company is paying for it, all $160!) It's with the Red Cross, cool says I, they're a big organisation. They know what they're doing. I walk in the class which is being conducted by this bony lady who looks older than my grandmother.
"Aha!" says I. "Some old ex matron who will be tougher than steel wool and whip us all into shape, we'll be saving lives in no time."
Unfortunately no. Turns out she's just some old secretary who IS older than my grandmother and does first aid training on the side... and even from my hazy knowledge she doesn't know FUCK ALL.
Now I don't want to be arrogant about this... I'm no MD and there are a lot of you who know a LOT more than I do... but holy shit this course is shady.... The St. John's course I did 10 years ago was run by this fire breathing registered nurse who's name had probably been Helga or Inga before she changed it to something less testicle shriveling. She knew her shit and made damn sure you knew when you did something wrong.
I remember doing CPR on these electronic dolls and being amazed at how much effort it took to do it properly... this old chook would barely be able to burp a baby let alone get someone's blood flowing again and there's no feedback because we're using what amounts to little more than a shop mannequin to train - as a result everyone in the course is pussying around. She spent all morning blabbering on about how urgent it was to put someone in the recovery position and talking about rolling people over and back and over again and then an hour later barely mumbled that you shouldn't move people if there's a danger of spinal injury.
It just makes me mad. There are so many gaps, contradictions and useless information it's scary. One of the few things she said that made sense was how few First Aid trainers there were these days and they really must be scraping the bottom of the barrel. I'm assuming most nurses are off being exactly that instead of teaching first aid.
Scuse me for steering dangerously close to an editorial here.
Anyway I did a course with St John's about 10 years ago so I volunteered to do another course to get back up to speed (and hey the company is paying for it, all $160!) It's with the Red Cross, cool says I, they're a big organisation. They know what they're doing. I walk in the class which is being conducted by this bony lady who looks older than my grandmother.
"Aha!" says I. "Some old ex matron who will be tougher than steel wool and whip us all into shape, we'll be saving lives in no time."
Unfortunately no. Turns out she's just some old secretary who IS older than my grandmother and does first aid training on the side... and even from my hazy knowledge she doesn't know FUCK ALL.
Now I don't want to be arrogant about this... I'm no MD and there are a lot of you who know a LOT more than I do... but holy shit this course is shady.... The St. John's course I did 10 years ago was run by this fire breathing registered nurse who's name had probably been Helga or Inga before she changed it to something less testicle shriveling. She knew her shit and made damn sure you knew when you did something wrong.
I remember doing CPR on these electronic dolls and being amazed at how much effort it took to do it properly... this old chook would barely be able to burp a baby let alone get someone's blood flowing again and there's no feedback because we're using what amounts to little more than a shop mannequin to train - as a result everyone in the course is pussying around. She spent all morning blabbering on about how urgent it was to put someone in the recovery position and talking about rolling people over and back and over again and then an hour later barely mumbled that you shouldn't move people if there's a danger of spinal injury.
It just makes me mad. There are so many gaps, contradictions and useless information it's scary. One of the few things she said that made sense was how few First Aid trainers there were these days and they really must be scraping the bottom of the barrel. I'm assuming most nurses are off being exactly that instead of teaching first aid.
Scuse me for steering dangerously close to an editorial here.
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RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH
10th. Aug, 2007 | 06:42 pm
mood: 
stressed
I really really appreciate all the people who have been asking to do stuff for my birthday this weekend but at the moment shit is just fucked.
I could smash into a beer like Nic into a rant about some modern remake of a favourite 80's cartoon but it has to be postponed indefinitely for now.
Stay posted. I will need alcohol soon.
I could smash into a beer like Nic into a rant about some modern remake of a favourite 80's cartoon but it has to be postponed indefinitely for now.
Stay posted. I will need alcohol soon.
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A milestone of no special importance.
7th. Aug, 2007 | 09:12 pm
mood: 
contemplative
music: Grandma Sitting In The Corner With A Penis In Her Hand Going "No, No, No" -Frogs
Twenty Seven today.
Not really sure what I'm supposed to feel about that. I want to go "Oh God I'm so OLD!" but half the people I know will probably hit me if I do. In a way I don't really feel that way inclined. I think ticking off at least one box marked "viable career" makes me at least a little comfortable with my run so far. Five years ago the only box I would have had marked was "Once drank a glass of my own spit just for laughs."
I think if I'd been hit by a bus the next day I would have been a little sheepish when it came to handing in my soul to whichever divine being loaned it out. "Sorry 'bout that, never really worked out how to get out of first..."
As for the music today... it's a real song. It was awful. I still had to post it.
Not really sure what I'm supposed to feel about that. I want to go "Oh God I'm so OLD!" but half the people I know will probably hit me if I do. In a way I don't really feel that way inclined. I think ticking off at least one box marked "viable career" makes me at least a little comfortable with my run so far. Five years ago the only box I would have had marked was "Once drank a glass of my own spit just for laughs."
I think if I'd been hit by a bus the next day I would have been a little sheepish when it came to handing in my soul to whichever divine being loaned it out. "Sorry 'bout that, never really worked out how to get out of first..."
As for the music today... it's a real song. It was awful. I still had to post it.
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Retro is the new black.
5th. Aug, 2007 | 02:36 pm
Wow I didn't realise how big the retro remake scene was. There's some spectacular remakes out there.
Probably none more so than this remake of the Spectrum/C64 classic Head Over Heels.
Not only is at %100 accurate port gameplay wise, the graphics are simply gorgeous. Go, download it now.
Probably none more so than this remake of the Spectrum/C64 classic Head Over Heels.
Not only is at %100 accurate port gameplay wise, the graphics are simply gorgeous. Go, download it now.
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Oh that hurt so much.
5th. Aug, 2007 | 01:49 pm
mood: 
sore
music: True Faith - New Order
Most of you probably know I don't get hangovers... I still don't exactly know why but the best theory I can come up with is that I sleep through them. This morning was no different in that respect. Non stop drinking till 4am at the Townie and Ascension, having one of just about everything behind the bar and still not a sign of a hangover.
I do however get other things - including eye wateringly bad cramps in my calf muscles which lately have had a habit of happening while I'm asleep. Somehow I manage to lie in just the wrong position for too long and my whole lower leg knots up until I stretch it out again. It feels a bit like pulling chewing gum only with your calf muscle and a lot more pain.
Anyway this morning I managed to cramp not one but both of my legs in a new first for agony, it's a pretty scary experience to wake up screaming and I really don't recommend it. I'm now limping around the house feeling sorry for myself.
Playing:
Ghostbusters Retro Remake - PC
The controls are terrible, the graphics are abysmal. The gameplay is almost impossible to understand and the music is like scraping out your ears with a Dremel sander... but it's still fucking awesome. I think I played this game on the old C64 more than any other. I'm still not sure why - maybe it was because somehow under those 8 bit graphics and stone age technology it was the first game that almost lived up to the movie it was based on. Somehow it still managed to make you feel like a Ghostbuster.
Verdict:
Like a 10 minute trip back to the decade that taste forgot.
I do however get other things - including eye wateringly bad cramps in my calf muscles which lately have had a habit of happening while I'm asleep. Somehow I manage to lie in just the wrong position for too long and my whole lower leg knots up until I stretch it out again. It feels a bit like pulling chewing gum only with your calf muscle and a lot more pain.
Anyway this morning I managed to cramp not one but both of my legs in a new first for agony, it's a pretty scary experience to wake up screaming and I really don't recommend it. I'm now limping around the house feeling sorry for myself.
Playing:
Ghostbusters Retro Remake - PC
The controls are terrible, the graphics are abysmal. The gameplay is almost impossible to understand and the music is like scraping out your ears with a Dremel sander... but it's still fucking awesome. I think I played this game on the old C64 more than any other. I'm still not sure why - maybe it was because somehow under those 8 bit graphics and stone age technology it was the first game that almost lived up to the movie it was based on. Somehow it still managed to make you feel like a Ghostbuster.
Verdict:
Like a 10 minute trip back to the decade that taste forgot.
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I am James's overused Fight Club quote.
24th. Jul, 2007 | 11:40 pm
mood: stressed
music: Simian Mobile Disco - I Believe
Gah what an annoying week so far.
Not only has half the office disappeared for holidays/weddings/funerals/births, somehow they all managed to break something just before they left.
Gone from reading a very good book to reading a bloody awful one. The Farseer trilogy and its two additional trilogies by Robin Hobb were brilliant books. Not staggeringly original but really good, gritty tales without too many elves with long silly names and far away mountains and boring crap like that. Then she goes and writes a trilogy starring a bloated fat wizard who runs around a forest naked trying to save a bunch of hippies. I read fantasy novels for escapism, the heroes don't all need to be muscled barbarians and noble assassins but this guy is just impossible to like. Everyone in the story hates him it seems and I can see why. He gets pushed around, mopes about turning into a fat sack of shit and gets loads of people killed because he's an incompetent turd.
I think she tried to write a deep allegory about the earths environmental crisis but I can't help rooting for the faceless empire trying to chop down the forest and burn all the stupid tree huggers. I might actually have to stop reading it... that's rarer than me walking out of a movie.
Red Seas Under Red Skies where are you?
The house hunting continues. I really hope I'm not being too picky but I really haven't seen the house that has even one feature that's screamed out "Rent me!". Everything has just been kind of 'meh!'.
Not only has half the office disappeared for holidays/weddings/funerals/births, somehow they all managed to break something just before they left.
Gone from reading a very good book to reading a bloody awful one. The Farseer trilogy and its two additional trilogies by Robin Hobb were brilliant books. Not staggeringly original but really good, gritty tales without too many elves with long silly names and far away mountains and boring crap like that. Then she goes and writes a trilogy starring a bloated fat wizard who runs around a forest naked trying to save a bunch of hippies. I read fantasy novels for escapism, the heroes don't all need to be muscled barbarians and noble assassins but this guy is just impossible to like. Everyone in the story hates him it seems and I can see why. He gets pushed around, mopes about turning into a fat sack of shit and gets loads of people killed because he's an incompetent turd.
I think she tried to write a deep allegory about the earths environmental crisis but I can't help rooting for the faceless empire trying to chop down the forest and burn all the stupid tree huggers. I might actually have to stop reading it... that's rarer than me walking out of a movie.
Red Seas Under Red Skies where are you?
The house hunting continues. I really hope I'm not being too picky but I really haven't seen the house that has even one feature that's screamed out "Rent me!". Everything has just been kind of 'meh!'.
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Bit of an odd week.
20th. Jul, 2007 | 09:14 pm
mood: 
busy
music: Skazi - Anarchy (Action Remix by fest-of-claw)
Be still my aching wallet.
The family's silly season is in full swing with 5 odd birthdays in the space of just over a month including the nephew as the latest addition.
Finished Black Man. Wasn't quite as good as Woken Furies but still has sufficient amounts of ass-kicking. Very much a 'message' kind of book - it's clear Richard Morgan is not fond of religion and he lays into fundamentalism of any kind pretty heavily. In the book the Northern and Western United States basically tell The South to fuck off in a sort of reversal of the Civil War as they're sick of them being bigoted bible bashing fuck wits. In doing so they take most of the economy with them and the whole of the southern US descends into a 3rd world fundamentalist republic. He also brings up some interesting ideas about civilisation and the decline of the male-dominated society.
I'm wishing I'd never played Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox... I downloaded the PS3 demo of Sigma and it's amazing - just not quite amazing enough to get me to go through the entire game again after nearly finishing it.
Playing:
Super Stardust HD - PS3
It's like asteroids but instead of a flat plane it's around the surface of a planet. Oh and instead of ancient vector graphics its Super HD colours and particles and lighting effects going off like Chinese New Year. It's also super hard - really, really difficult but I can appreciate that and I've already played it more than anything else on the system (unless you count LA Noire :P)
Verdict:
Cheap and fun beats expensive and crap yet again.
The family's silly season is in full swing with 5 odd birthdays in the space of just over a month including the nephew as the latest addition.
Finished Black Man. Wasn't quite as good as Woken Furies but still has sufficient amounts of ass-kicking. Very much a 'message' kind of book - it's clear Richard Morgan is not fond of religion and he lays into fundamentalism of any kind pretty heavily. In the book the Northern and Western United States basically tell The South to fuck off in a sort of reversal of the Civil War as they're sick of them being bigoted bible bashing fuck wits. In doing so they take most of the economy with them and the whole of the southern US descends into a 3rd world fundamentalist republic. He also brings up some interesting ideas about civilisation and the decline of the male-dominated society.
I'm wishing I'd never played Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox... I downloaded the PS3 demo of Sigma and it's amazing - just not quite amazing enough to get me to go through the entire game again after nearly finishing it.
Playing:
Super Stardust HD - PS3
It's like asteroids but instead of a flat plane it's around the surface of a planet. Oh and instead of ancient vector graphics its Super HD colours and particles and lighting effects going off like Chinese New Year. It's also super hard - really, really difficult but I can appreciate that and I've already played it more than anything else on the system (unless you count LA Noire :P)
Verdict:
Cheap and fun beats expensive and crap yet again.
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He beat me, straight up. Pay him his money.
15th. Jul, 2007 | 10:35 am
mood: 
annoyed
music: Muse - Starlight
Pocket Queens and the flop comes down Queen, Ten, Five. "Whoohoo here comes the cash!" I think. Slow play it and check the flop, everyone checks but Andy on my right who raises and scares everyone else off. Call and the Turn is a Two, Trip Queens are looking mighty good. Andy raises to 500, I raise him to a Grand... blinds are only 150 at this stage... he thinks about it and calls. The River is a Six, so the board is Q,T,5,2,6. Trip Queens looks unbeatable when Andy puts me all in for 6k plus change. I swear he is making a last effort to scare me off... he can afford to lose the chips so I call.
He turns over 3,4 suited, he hit his up and down straight on the last card and I'm fourth to go out of 16.
/cry
/rargh
Oh well... I'm still not valuing my hand properly. Should have made it really hard for him to see that last card when I had him over a barrel. To his credit he knew exactly what my hand was by the flop and I didn't have a clue what he had.
At least poetic justice was served when Andy went out just before the bubble on his own pocket Queens :)
He turns over 3,4 suited, he hit his up and down straight on the last card and I'm fourth to go out of 16.
/cry
/rargh
Oh well... I'm still not valuing my hand properly. Should have made it really hard for him to see that last card when I had him over a barrel. To his credit he knew exactly what my hand was by the flop and I didn't have a clue what he had.
At least poetic justice was served when Andy went out just before the bubble on his own pocket Queens :)
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I'm going with khaki.
14th. Jul, 2007 | 11:52 am
mood: sick
music: Random Drum n Bass that won't mix properly.
Let's play a game called what colour goo will come out of James' nose next!
It's kind of funny when you've only had two drinks and you're friends (bless 'em) worry if you're ok to drive because you've been staggering around the house making groaning noises all night. To be honest I was weaving all over the road and microsleeping the whole way home even though I would have passed a breath test with flying colours.
My first big poker tournament today, well when I say tournament I really mean a 16 player home game but there's still a decent amount of cash to play for. My game has grown in leaps and bounds since playing with workmates. Not dumping shit on the friendly games we played but there's something about playing with people you have a professional relationship with. Everyone is a LOT more focused and taking it a lot more seriously - it's still just a casual game of poker, everyone's drinking and joking about but at the same time you really want to take everyone else's money. I'm not sure I could bring the same kind of attitude to a table with old friends.
Maybe we should hit up some pub games, apparently they are full of chumps.
Playing:
Nexus, The Jupiter Incident - PC
Continuing my interest in cheap indy games while waiting for the end of year blockbusters. It's a bit like Homeworld only at a slower pace. The storyline and voice acting is surprisingly good and I admire the effort in keeping things realistic or at least plausible. Oh did I mention it only cost $8 US on Steam?
Verdict:
A solid, engaging space opera at full price but for the cost of a movie ticket it's staggeringly good value.
It's kind of funny when you've only had two drinks and you're friends (bless 'em) worry if you're ok to drive because you've been staggering around the house making groaning noises all night. To be honest I was weaving all over the road and microsleeping the whole way home even though I would have passed a breath test with flying colours.
My first big poker tournament today, well when I say tournament I really mean a 16 player home game but there's still a decent amount of cash to play for. My game has grown in leaps and bounds since playing with workmates. Not dumping shit on the friendly games we played but there's something about playing with people you have a professional relationship with. Everyone is a LOT more focused and taking it a lot more seriously - it's still just a casual game of poker, everyone's drinking and joking about but at the same time you really want to take everyone else's money. I'm not sure I could bring the same kind of attitude to a table with old friends.
Maybe we should hit up some pub games, apparently they are full of chumps.
Playing:
Nexus, The Jupiter Incident - PC
Continuing my interest in cheap indy games while waiting for the end of year blockbusters. It's a bit like Homeworld only at a slower pace. The storyline and voice acting is surprisingly good and I admire the effort in keeping things realistic or at least plausible. Oh did I mention it only cost $8 US on Steam?
Verdict:
A solid, engaging space opera at full price but for the cost of a movie ticket it's staggeringly good value.
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...the end of the beginning.
8th. Jul, 2007 | 09:13 pm
mood: pessimistic
music: Lift Me Up - Moby
It seems I can no longer resist the rampaging juggernaut that is LiveJournal. Apparantly I need one to comment on other people's personal lives even if I don't really want to splatter mine all over the internet. I can already imagine the hideous angler demon that spawned this thing is cackling with glee as another fish drops glassy eyed into the bottom of the boat.
I believe he may not have counted on one thing though, my apathy.
"The only way to win, is to not play."
That freaky computer from WarGames knew what it was talking about. Then again I think it was hacked by a fourteen year old with bad hair and a ring pull off a coke can so whaddya know.
Real life things.
Just started reading Richard Morgan's new book Black Man. Woken Furies was my all time favourite Sci-fi novel but unlike his Kovacs books this is set in the near future rather than thousands of years ahead. I only read a few chapters but it seems to be even more depressing than usual. Something about a soul destroyingly bleak dystopia set only a few years after I'd be dead had I lived to a ripe old age conjured up a lot of disturbing thoughts while I tried to get to sleep.
Still persisting with the shaved head angry beard of doom look. I actually kind of like it, but it is odd seeing that tiny flash of fear on the face of people when I appear in their bus/convenience store/darkened alleyway/peripheral vision. No it's ok, I'm not going to kerb stomp you or try and have you deported.
Playing:
Jade Empire - PC
Wow... if this is what happens when one of the best RPG developers there is focuses solely on consoles then I hope they never make another game. Apparently Bioware believes all console gamers are either: 12 years old, have the attention span of a ferret on speed, the IQ of your average piece of household furniture or all of the above.
Verdict:
Like going to Tetsuya's and being served a bowl of cold gruel at fifty bucks a plate.
I believe he may not have counted on one thing though, my apathy.
"The only way to win, is to not play."
That freaky computer from WarGames knew what it was talking about. Then again I think it was hacked by a fourteen year old with bad hair and a ring pull off a coke can so whaddya know.
Real life things.
Just started reading Richard Morgan's new book Black Man. Woken Furies was my all time favourite Sci-fi novel but unlike his Kovacs books this is set in the near future rather than thousands of years ahead. I only read a few chapters but it seems to be even more depressing than usual. Something about a soul destroyingly bleak dystopia set only a few years after I'd be dead had I lived to a ripe old age conjured up a lot of disturbing thoughts while I tried to get to sleep.
Still persisting with the shaved head angry beard of doom look. I actually kind of like it, but it is odd seeing that tiny flash of fear on the face of people when I appear in their bus/convenience store/darkened alleyway/peripheral vision. No it's ok, I'm not going to kerb stomp you or try and have you deported.
Playing:
Jade Empire - PC
Wow... if this is what happens when one of the best RPG developers there is focuses solely on consoles then I hope they never make another game. Apparently Bioware believes all console gamers are either: 12 years old, have the attention span of a ferret on speed, the IQ of your average piece of household furniture or all of the above.
Verdict:
Like going to Tetsuya's and being served a bowl of cold gruel at fifty bucks a plate.