On Fashion I Wish I Could Pull Off At Work

Okay Internet Kids, gather round and I shall tell you the story of how I met the future spouse of Tiger Bailey...Oops - Wrong concept - I shall try that once more.

Hey there Internet people, today I'm going to tell you a tale about having the confidence (or lack of caring?) to say "Hi!" to someone you've never met before. It all started this morning, when I was sitting at the bus stop, listening to the strained indie electronica that is Hot Hot Heat (specifically the song YVR, in case you are wondering.) Well, okay, technically it started before then. The bus-stop is, if you will, a kind of prologue episode that you hear about right at the start, and then come back to later. Anyway, the important thing is that I was sitting at the bus stop, staring intently ahead of me, struggling against the urge to air-drum/keytar my way to embarrassment in front of the pentagenarian and high-school students who surrounded me, when I saw a man chasing after a regular school bus, apparently mistaking it for the University/TAFE bus. My eyes followed him, as he walked dejectedly (and slightly embarrassedly) back to the timetable stuck to the glass of the bus shelter.

It was then that I saw him.

Flash back to the week previous, when my friends over in the Call Centre at DIT (at CSU, where I work...) were taking shifts working downstairs in the Learning Commons, sitting on their hands for hours at a time assisting first year students in setting up their laptops to work with our wireless network. For the most part, this was apparently quite an uneventful experience (I spent one of my lunch hours down there, and there was one issue the entire time, so yeah - I can see how that might get a little boring...) On the Thursday, however, X-Man sent me a little message over Communicator (the Microsoft Office Suite's answer to a local area MSN) which went something along the lines of...

"Dude - This guy just came in wearing goggles, a top hat, suspenders, and awesome shoes"

Naturally I was curious, but the fact that I was half-way through a particularly tricky line of code prevented me from running off to inspect what visual treasures such an outfit could present. "Spoot", I thought, "There goes the chance of a lifetime. The only outfit in Bathurst that comes even remotely close to what I just missed is that girl who used to walk around dressed like Vincent Valentine 24/7..." And I gave the whole thing little thought, other than the grilling I gave X-Man about the general style of the outfit. I mean, it's no secret really that I absolutely adore the steam-punk movement - if I thought I could pull it off and not get in "trouble" at work, I'd probably do it myself.

Gimme Clothes!

So this brings us back to today, and the guy I found myself looking at whilst waiting for my bus. Standing roughly four benches down from me, fiddling with his hair, and adjusting the goggles on his top hat, was a guy dressed in the most awesome way ever. Granted, it's not full period steam-punk, but still, the effort he put in just to travel on the bus was incredible - I had to introduce myself to this guy. He replaced his top hat, and my bus pulled up shortly thereafter. Silently I hoped that he'd be getting on too, getting to meet someone so comfortable in themselves in a town like Bathurst is a rare treat, and it had been quite a while since I'd exercised my "confidence muscles" in this way.

Just Another SteamPunk Photo

All the way to the uni I bounced with anticipation - would I still have my old flair for a trouble-free first impression? Or would I suddenly find myself unable to speak and end up making a total tool of myself? I was soon to find out, as the bus slowly ceased at my stop, and he alighted just prior to me. I thanked the bus driver, steeled my resolve, and opened my mouth, whereupon the following conversation took place:

Dirty Tiger: Excuse me Steam-Punk Guy!

Steam-Punk Guy: Hi there!

DT: I just wanted to tell you how awesome your gear is - seriously, you're the most awesome thing I've seen in a while...

SPG: Thanks man - I'm [Name] by the way.

DT: Nice to meet you [Name], I'm [Name], but everyone calls me Tiger.

SPG: Nice to meet you Tiger.

DT: You wouldn't mind if I took a photo would you - only this is just too cool to pass up.

SPG: Go right ahead *poses and the photo is taken* Hey - You wouldn't happen to know where W9 is would you?

DT: Sure, I think it's over there - that's West Campus, anyway.

SPG: Awesome, thanks man, I'll see you around yeah?

And then we fist-bumped, and the scene exploded with awesome.

Following this encounter, I walked off to my work, and he walked in the opposite direction (because W9 isn't in the same direction as my office building...) I turned the corner and received the biggest delayed rush of either adrenaline or endorphins that I've had in quite some time. Apparently, I still have it, and it still feels awesome.

This Is SPG - Hello SPG!

The moral of this story (because it's been a while since I've done a moral, I believe) is that, even though SPG is likely in TM, that doesn't automatically make him someone I should (as a mathematician/computer scientist/nerdling) avoid. Indeed, if he's into D&D or anything of the sort then I'd really be interested in seeing if he'd like to join our gaming group - he'd likely fit in quite well with us, given our collective leaning to adoring all things steam-punk (Spud, Squiggles, Encey, and I do plan on making our own gear at some point, for weekend wear, you know...) and I just think it'd be cool to have another friend to say hello to as I walk around down-town. As it stands, at least I have a new acquaintance.

There Once Was Something Here [Fiction Friday, Part 4]

Link To Part 1

Link To Part 3

It was almost three hours later that Tyson completed the mammoth task of unpacking his room and creating a suitable harmony between cleanliness and disarray that would create the comforting illusion that the space he now occupied was indeed his own. He tossed the final black pillow onto his bed, with a sense of apathetic finality, and threw himself soon after.

"Right...Now all I have to do is..." his mind quickly snapped back to the issue at hand - how could he justify replacing his old friends, and so quickly, too? He debated against himself, throwing reasoning backwards and forwards. "Can you imagine the hurt look on Dean's face if he found out you'd forgotten him like this?" He spoke internally to himself, and was briefly distracted by a stinging guitar chord - his music collection had shifted to a punk cover of an ABBA song. The masterfully thrashed guitar beat out a rhythm that Tyson found perfect for an internal debate.

"You aren't replacing them - you're simply adding to them..." the logical side of his mind countered.

Take a chance, take a chance - The oddly sweet voice of the lead singer worked its way into his head, intertwining itself with his own thoughts.

"Yeah, and when I go home to see the old crew I bet they'll want to hear all about the things that we've been doing down here. I'm sure they'll all be thrilled to hear just how much fun I've been having without them."

Take a chance, take a chance.

"Sure, wait the 11 months until you go back to that little town - if you do end up going back - to spend a single month with people who've more than likely made new friends themselves. In the meantime, just hang by yourself - be alone - because you know how good that feels, don't you?"

Take a chance, take a chance.

 "And when I embarrass myself in front of them because I'm not into whatever 'cool' things they are, I'll not only be alone for the rest of the year, but everyone will think I'm a loser, instead of just antisocial."

Take a chance, take a chance.

The main vocals of the song were coming to a head - the instruments building up to an intense level.

 "Stop being pathetic and take the damned chance - you're being deliberately antisocial and you know from experience that this gets you nowhere. Now get up, get changed into the clothes that you feel comfortable in, and meet these god damned new people or I swear all you're going to do is lie on your bed for the rest of your life." Tyson stood himself up, a decision finally having been reached. It was not unusual for him to treat himself like two separate people for the purposes of decision making. It was, however, quite unusual for him to be quite so strict with himself - when logic and emotion fought it out inside his head, logic was not usually quite so forceful in its tactics. He dressed himself in his favourite black cargo pants, and a relatively nice (and atypically clean) black t-shirt.

A stereo knocking at his door interrupted his last-minute preparation, and he performed one last "messing" of his own hair. "OPEN" he yelled, realising that his music was still blasting from his speakers - he reached over and switched it off as the door swung in, revealing his new near identical friends - the pair of whom were currently busy taking in the sights of Tyson's now set up room.

"Nice digs, dude..." Lachlan seemed genuinely impressed at Tyson's ability to brand his space with his own mark.

"...and nice clothes too." Leo seemed more overjoyed at the fact that Tyson was clearly ready to head out to dinner. "We just knew that you'd decide to come with us - you're going to have such a good time."

"We guarantee it." They ended in unison. Tyson shuddered - it still didn't sound quite right when they did that. He looked the two over, finally pushing his nerves down through his sneakers. He smiled inwardly as he realised that no matter how different they may want to be, there were still parts of themselves that they couldn't separate. Lachlan was wearing a blue tee, with black three quarter pants and red/white sneakers - just what you'd expect a product of the surfer culture to wear. Leo, on the other hand, had on a black tee, blue three-quarter pants, and white-red sneakers. Tyson tilted his head sideways slightly as he pondered on whether the pair had done this deliberately - his musing cut short by the shrill sound of a horn being blown.

"Taxi's here!" Lachlan shouted, with the excitement of a puppy about to be taken to the park. The pair grabbed Tyson's hand and dragged him outside, before piling into the taxi, and staring expectantly at Tyson, who clambered after them, his "I don't care" attitude following close behind.

Link To Part 5

On Obsessive Tendencies - Finishing What I Have Started

When I was very little, about 7 or 8, my parents bought me a Sega Master System II - the type that had Alex Kidd in Miracle World (you will notice the lack of the definite article 'the' in that title, please) built in to the console. Along with this gift, and its two magnificent controllers, we also happened to receive Wonder Boy III: The Dragons Trap (which is still one of my favourite games of all time), Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic The Hedgehog II, Lemmings, Bart Simpson vs. The World, and Teddy Boy. We may have had one or two other games, but I don't recall anything, so they obviously were not very memorable.

Anyway, my story begins upon the completion of Wonderboy III, without cheating, whereupon I had a remarkable sense of self satisfaction. I kicked the butt of the dragons Meka, Mummy, Zombie, Captain, Daimyo, and Vampire, and I had rightfully gained the Salamander Cross to restore myself to human form. Right...well then...who needed saving next? I picked up the cartridge for Teddy Boy and inserted it into the system, shooting my little 'pew pew' gun at wave after wave of creatures as they came rushing towards me, preventing me from rescuing my girlfriend. All the while the time I received to clear each level became less and less, and the number of enemies just grew.

This Is One Of The Earliest Stages Of Teddy Boy

This Is What The Main Character Is Supposed To Resemble

It was difficult, to say the least, but I stuck with it and (as the days became weeks, and the weeks became months) I finally managed to memorise every strategy required to clear every level up to 50. Level 51 looked awfully familiar. I pressed on. I made it to about 75 before I was reduced to a game over scenario. The game had beaten me once more. I tried again. For years I came back to this game, only to be defeated time and time over. I needed to reach the end of this game. I hungered for the satisfaction of a nice credit scroll. But I was never sated. It was not until late last year that I discovered that the game only has 50 distinct levels, that loop infinitely. There is no end to it. Teddy Boy is, if you will, stuck in his own infinite hell - trying to find a girlfriend that no longer exists. And, for what he put me through all those years ago, he deserves it.

Flash forward, then, to earlier this year, after several episodes of behaviour at varying times in my life that should have been indicative of some kind of brain disease, including (but not limited to): watching entire TV series in a marathon sitting; reading the entirety of the available Goosebumps collection one after the other; attempting to clock every video game for the N64 that I could get my hands on; and digesting entire webcomic archives in a day. Andy and I are browsing the web at my house, when we come across Not Always Right - a collection of stories of the idiocy inflicted upon people by their hideously moronic clientele. We read the first couple dozen pages that day, pointing out the ones that manage to amuse us the most. Overall, a rather good experience.

But that's not where this story ends (because, let's face it, that's kind of pointless as far as stories go...) Instead, this is a story of addiction and...well...okay not betrayal, but definitely...well...okay not really addiction either, but certainly a story of fulfilling OCD needs. You see, over the past two months, I have completed the entire 429 page archive of Not Always Right. I have stayed up quite late, at some points, because I just needed to read a little bit more. There was no point to finishing the task - other than the fact that it had to be done, of course - but still, it needed to be completed. At least it's done now, I suppose, and all I have to do is read the daily new additions.

I Just Thought This Was A Cool Picture

As bland as that story may have been, it serves the purpose of highlighting my need to see certain tasks through to the end, lest my brain collapse in upon itself and form some kind of knowledge based black hole. It is with great confusion, however, that I find myself without the drive to actually complete important tasks, such as completing my diploma of education (so I could have been a teacher), or making my iPad app (so I could potentially be moderately wealthy.) Instead I am focussed on the completely inconsequential - almost two years ago I spent an entire night finding every single Pokemon in the picture below, because somebody told me that one of them was missing. Don't bother looking, they are all there. I know. I have counted them.

Click To View Full

But all hope is not lost for me. I'm seeing someone at some stage...Possibly tomorrow...I forget - but they'll text me later today if it is tomorrow. This person is pretty cool - they're from a free psychology service available to Australians under the age of 26 (they say "people up to 25 years old" but they include 25 year olds, so their wording is kind of ambiguous...) called HeadSpace. If you need help for anything at all, I strongly suggested that you check them out. They have free psychology and medical services. I'll be going to try and help fix a bit of the...um...anal retentiveness that I experience from time to time, and to try and get over some of my more crippling phobias (fear of the ocean, fear of flying, fear of failure, and fear of loss/being alone to start with...)


The moral of this story is that I just realised that I forgot to list a Sega game, and I am exceptionally well aware of why. The game was called "The Ninja", and it involved you running around a whole bunch of scrolling (either horizontally or vertically) levels, throwing shuriken at enemies, and generally not being at all stealthy. You were tasked with (I believe) saving a princess. The issue with this game was that you only got three lives for the whole thing. That's it. There was, in my recollection, no way of getting more lives. I completed it, after almost breaking my controller and having been sent to other places in the house to 'cool down' so I didn't hurt my younger brothers when they asked me why it was so hard. Still, that's completion nonetheless, and so it ranks higher than Teddy Boy on my list of horribly torturous video games of my youth.

On Me, On What I Stand For, On The Internet, On My Break

Why howdy howdy there, Internet People, and a little how-do-you-do, too. I'm fairly chipper, today, as you can no-doubt tell, for virtually no reason other than that I managed to get a decent, uninterrupted sleep last night. No loud noises waking me up, no nightmares disturbing my slumber, no random texts to burst my sleep-bubble. Nothing. Truly, it was just pure bliss. And because of this, I'm going to gift to you two blog posts today! Are you not lucky? I mean, sure, you could look at it as my attempt to reconcile the fact that I didn't post last night because I was too busy learning how to sew, but where will that get you? No-where! And it certainly won't make it seem like I'm exceedingly generous and am giving you all a nice little gift.

Today's first post comes from a posting made on the forums over at 20sb, which suggested (well, it almost demanded, but that was the point of the thread...) that I do an "about me" post, so that people knew the person behind the ramblings behind the blog. To this end, I have gone about asking various people for questions that they want me to answer, and (in some kind of crazy anti-personal-privacy moment) I am about to attempt to answer them all. Before this, however, I should give you a little bit of background.

If Only I'd Found This Gif Sooner...

My name is (for the purposes of this blog, and a large chunk of my actual life) Tiger - whilst I'm not displeased with my birth name, various people didn't think it suited me, and decided that Tiger suited me better, and from the seed of one well chosen MSN avatar (see above) and the twisted words of my friend Emz, came the moniker by which I am now widely known. I am, at the time of writing this, 24 years old. I live in Bathurst, Australia (a relatively small city, known primarily for the Mt Panorama race track, and - I guess - Charles Sturt University), and I am employed at the university here as an applications developer.

I tend to split my days into thirds. The first third is spent at work, attempting to upgrade programs so that they are more useful to the administrative staff, and just making them generally more awesome than anybody could ever imagine. The second third is spent sleeping (well, it's roughly a third - if I can get 8 hours sleep I'm generally pretty happy...) which isn't too exciting, but by gum it feels good. The final (see what I didn't do there) third is generally spent hanging out with my friends Spud, Encey, Squiggles, Elmo, and Emma - recently Kylie has been hanging out with us a lot more, too, which is awesome, and now that X-Man and is back from Sydney, I imagine he'll spend some time at my place for D&D games. So now that the background is out of the way, I guess I'll just get on to everybody's questions!

R...Rawr: "Christian Bale is having one of his epic rages about 5 meters away, what do you do?"

Well, Rawr, in a situation like that one I'd probably do one of two things. I like to think that I'd have the guts to walk up to him and, in a calm manner, ask him just who he thinks he is. Just because he's Christian Bale, does that suddenly mean that he's better than everybody else? Does it give him the right to bully those who earn less than he does? "You're just an actor, Mr. Bale..." I'd say, "Dime a dozen. What you do has no substance, no real merit. Were you to retire tomorrow, you couldn't say that you've made a positive and lasting effect on the world, and honestly believe it - without being terrifically conceited, that is. I mean, I know that I'm just a programmer - I'm neither a doctor, nor a teacher. I don't put out fires. I don't take care of people who can't look after themselves. But I least I know that my work is relatively asinine. Fuck you, Christian Bale."

I would like to think that I'd have the guts to say that, but I know that I don't. It is a shame.

Shibby: What is your favourite book in the whole universe, and why?

My favourite book, in the whole universe, would have to be Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass, And What Alice Found There, both by Lewis Carroll, read back-to-back. These books hold such amazing memories for me that picking them up, and indeed just thinking about them, makes me feel at ease. Each time I read them, I discover something new the Charles slipped into his work that I had previously missed - a new mathematical oddity, a new lexical quandary, a new piece of gibberish to use. I simply do not tire of this story. It is, for me, the epitome of fantasy - a journey to a magical land filled with excitement, and adventure. The stories have excellent morals, they are brilliantly written, and the plot never ceases to fill me with joyous goo.

Amanda @ LongRoadSet: Why is the sky blue?

The sky is blue due to a principle called Rayleigh Scattering. Basically, what happens is that, as the light from the sun passes through the molecules that make up the air/ozone/whatever, the blue frequencies are absorbed and "thrown" in a whole bunch of different directions. The other frequencies get absorbed as well, but not nearly as much, and they tend to just get thrown in the direction they were coming from. That's also the reason that sunsets go that really pretty colour.

Gary: Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

I would love to have opened my arcade in five years time. Whether that happens in Australia, or in England (around my wonderful England friends whom I miss terrifically...) is yet to be determined. It all depends on whether Birmingham has a greater call for arcades than Bathurst. Also, it depends on my funds. Oh, but then I don't want to leave Spud, so he and Encey would have to come to England with me - as would Squiggles and Emma. Elmo could come, but I don't think he enjoys the English very much.

I do see myself continuing this blog, however, for quite some time - I hope to still be writing for it in five years, and I hope that you guys are still enjoying it well after then. I mostly see myself surrounded by loved ones, and having a great time

Cheva: UUUUUummmmm...'What is your favourite type of pasta?'

Well, I was going to answer "Ramen" to this question, because I flipping adore ramen, but then Cheva told me that no, noodles do not count when selecting a pasta. If this is really the case (but I have my doubts - ramen should be allowed to be my favourite everything) then I guess I'd have to say lasagna. It was a pretty tough decision for me, this one, not because I particularly have an affinity with multiple pasta varieties, but because the thought of it actually tends to put me off my meals a little bit...So I'm going to stick with ramen, instead.

X-Man: How about...um...'Have you ever cause damage to property during sexual intercourse?'

Yes. I've accidentally broken part of a university bed because of the way we used the rope. Is that what you wanted to hear?

Chrisopha: Why did you start a blog and is the reason the same now? 

I started my blog to document my challenge to finish 100 lists of 100 things to do - a noble cause, I suppose, but not one that lasted very long...I soon realised that, even if I did something every day it would still take me until about age 40 to complete the challenge - and there was no way I was doing a thing every day.

I'm much more fond of what I use the blog for now, and I think that it really has started to take on good shape and life.

Spud: Let me ask you and forgive me if this seems like a naive question, but 'What is you favorite type of cake and why?'

My favourite kind of cake would definitely have to be chocolate bavarian...No wait - dark chocolate cheesecake...But then, lemon meringue pie is really good too (does that count as cake?) Basically, I love pretty much any baked dessert, as long as it doesn't really contain any huge chunks of fruit. Huge chunks of chocolate, on the other hand, are perfectly acceptable...There is no why...Only cake...

Colm: Do you share an affinity with any kind of ancient god?

Not really...I mean, I kind of like the idea of Bacchus/Dionysus, but then I don't like to drink (I just like the whole free-spirit thing...) And Hermes is pretty awesome. Loki would be cool if he weren't such a colossal jerk (but that's part of his charm, too, I guess...) Hmm - I'm not really sure...I don't think so. I can't pick one, anyway.

On Just How Much Tea It Is Appropriate For One Person To Own

Hey there everybody in Internet Land - I know that it's a Saturday, and I don't normally post on a Saturday, but I didn't post last night (due to an awesome Mutants and Masterminds session - thank you Squiggles...) and so I figure that I'll make up for it tonight. I have been, for a little, while a member of a 20-something's blogger website - both in order to make some new friends, because who the hell doesn't like that?) as well as to improve my blogging technique (and thus amuse you more.) It's all for you, babies!

Anyway, it has been suggested (by people from the 20SB site) that I do a little bit of an "about me" post. So...I've given it a bit of thought, and I've decided that it is something that I should do. But not tonight. I mean, I need a little bit of time to plan this kind of thing. Plus - I don't even know what you want to know about me! So, guys, let me know what questions you'd like to me to answer, what kinds of details you would like me to cover, and just how much personal information I should divulge...

Thus, for now, you get a request that was posted by LeakySpider on Thursday night's blog. For those of you who don't read other peoples' comments...well...shame on you (hehe.) LeakySpider wanted me to go into a bit more detail about the kinds of tea I have, and my experiences there-in (I assume - I mean, why bring it up if you didn't want me to go into an ever increasingly elaborate amount of detail about the entire scenario.) Before I do this, however, I should prepare for the task in front of me...So, I'll be right back. I'm going to make some tea...

Okay so I'm back. The tea has been made, the tea has been consumed, and I've even had a little time to eat dinner as well. Hmm - Okay so I may have just slipped away for a moment there, in between that last sentence and this, to put on the kettle for another set for everybody. Tea, at my house, is quite an important thing, it would seem. Of course, it wasn't always this way, oh no-no-no. Why, I can recall a time when nobody in this house even knew that tea existed (okay, so I exaggerate slightly - they all knew of, and quite adored tea, but still it was not consumed in my abode...) I remember it like it was only two weeks ago...

Stare At This For A While - You Should Get That "Flashback" Effect Going On...

A fortnight ago today I was clearing up my kitchen, having one of my fits of obsessive re-arrangement, when I felt quite like tea. So I did what any self-respecting person would do - I up and made myself some gosh darned tea! But this, I felt, was not quite enough, and I decided that it was high time (or tea time, or high tea) that I put my teas on display so that I drank it more often. And thus the tradition began, and now we have it every single night. This is, you would think, all well and good, but wouldn't we get sick of the same old drink every single night? Well, first off, the English haven't gotten sick of it in all of the years they have been drinking it (nor the Chinese, nor the Japanese, and so forth...). Secondly, we have so many different kinds of tea here that it borders on the silly.

Oh...I'm Just Admiring Your...Um..."Tea Collection"

Seriously - every time I go to the supermarket I come back with a new type of tea. And, just in case you think I'm exaggerating, the above photo is actually a picture of my tea collection - that's right, I broke with my usual convention and have actually uploaded my own images instead of stealing one off the net! In the image above the astute observer may notice the following varieties of tea: Vanilla Sleepytime (thank you Scott Pilgrim); Morrocan Mint Green Tea; White Tea; Rose Black Tea; Lemon and Lemongrass Green Tea; Prince of Wales; Blackcurrant Scented; Traditional Afternoon; Lapsang Souchong; Darjeeling; Russian Caravan; Chai; Irish Breakfast; English Breakfast; "Creativity" by Alchemy (it comes in a test tube!) - And at this stage, I'm sick of listing teas, so you can just identify the rest from the picture. Probably not the biggest list that people have, but still - I feel it's kind of impressive.

Anyway - tonight's tea experience had us consuming the following teas (because, I mean, you pick a tea and you stick with it for a night...commitment people...): Spud is drinking Apple & Cinnamon Tea; Encey is supping upon Chamomile, Honey, and Lemon; Kylie is having Blackcurrant Scented Black; Squiggles has Prince of Wales; Elmo has (after deciding that it wasn't too hot for tea after all...) Traditional Afternoon; and I have a great cup of Green with Lemon and Lemongrass.

The Tea That We Decided To Drink (Less Elmo's, Because He Thought It Was Too Hot At This Stage), Plus My Teapot

Truly, this is a splendorous evening. And it gets even better because we just managed to convince Emma (who has always stated rather emphatically that she is the most anti-tea person on the planet) to try Alydd's Apple & Cinnamon - and she really enjoyed it. We made Emma drink tea. Oh frabjous day, my dear readers, caloo-calay indeed!

Emma Was Not Impressed That We Forced Her To Enjoy The Tea...

Elmo Was Too Busy Playing Pokemon To Have Tea The First Time...

Spud Is Reasonably Classy With His Apple & Cinnamon Tea

Squiggles, However, Enjoys His Tea Just A Little Too Much

But yes, I don't think that this blog really needs a moral - rather I shall end it with a question for you all. What are your favourite kinds of tea? What kinds of tea should I endeavour to try? Is there a great place online, or near you, for buying tea? If there is, maybe I'll make a trip to buy some one day (or, you know, just order a shipment...) But this, of course, all relies on you leaving your answers to my question (oh - and the ones I asked at the very beginning!) in the little box below...Night all...

On Organising My Life Into Manageable Subportions

Hello my dear Internet Friends! I do trust that this blog post finds you well, and that you day has been as filled with mirth as mine. Given that the first half of my day was filled with me desperately wanting to go back to sleep, you would probably assume that it would be quite easy to get as much joy from your waking hours as I - but then you'd be discounting the latter portion of my day, which included a reasonably challenging programming problem, a trip to Dick Smith to visit Emma at work, a switch from Vodafone to Telstra as far as mobile providers go, and finally several cups of delicious varieties of tea. The last couple of hours have rocked the socks right off my body!

Don't You Realise How Delicious That Actually Is?!

I have plans (which may be a surprise to some, who believe that my ability to forward think is limited by quite a number of factors - anecdotal evidence being one of them...) that I wish to implement by the end of the year. One of the plans of which I speak involves me breaking the lease on my current house, which would make sense for several reasons - not least of all because I don't have enough flipping room for all of my possessions in this house! And so, to this end, Spud, Encey, and myself have made the pact to move in to the same house as each other. Preferably the house that Spud currently lives in - if only we could get the people who currently live there (minus Spud, duh) to move out.

One thing that I plan to do, when I eventually do live in a house with the terrific two of whom I spake above is to have an area dedicated to each activity I partake in often. "Madness!" I hear you cry, "Preposterous!! How could you possibly have a room dedicated to each of these things?! How could a house be that big?! FIE YOUR ROOM COUNTING ABILITIES, BAILEY - IS THAT WHY THEY CALL YOU A TIGER?! BECAUSE YOU LACK THE CAPACITY TO TALLY ROOMS?!"

Well, first of all, you'll notice that I said "an area" and not "a room", so if you'd kindly take a little more notice of my musings before you burst out like that, then it would be greatly appreciated. And...If not...I must ask you to leave, I'm afraid. Otherwise, I shall continue! Yes, this house is quite large, and has a number of different "areas". There are four bedrooms in the house, as well as a lounge-room, a dining room, a partially covered courtyard area, and another little open office-like area. And those are just the parts that I have seen. Even with all of these spaces, each is quite sizable and could easily accommodate more than I can in the equivalent space in my current abode. It shall, verily, be awesome.

What this might indicate to you is that my life, if you will, is easily split up into nicely manageable little chunks, based on the things that I like to do. Yeah, you may think that - and you'd be...well...right I guess... But that's not the point! The point is what these chunks are, and how they shall be split up into rooms! The first such chunk is television and video games, which play a rather important part in my life. This, of course, will take place in the lounge-room (which, in the - hopefully - new place I'll be moving into, is nicely open and quite large...)

Seriously - Who *Doesn't* Want To Spend Their Evening Like This?

The other areas are dedicated to eating and table-top gaming (the kitchen, obviously), computer gaming and study (the office area - most likely to be placed in one of the spare bedrooms - because we will have two, as Spud and Encey will share a bedroom, or at least that was Encey's conjecture...), the music room (to be probably set up in another one of the bedrooms, along with some other things I suppose - maybe to be used as a spare room for when people come over?), and finally a lounging lazily outdoors in my wading pool (the...the outdoors area, obviously...I can't believe you'd need to question that!)

There may be other areas that I've forgotten, but at this stage I'm not really sure. My life is, it would seem, quite simple...

The moral of this story is that when I eventually move out of my current house, it will be awesome - everything will be wonderful on this day. Gold shall rain from the sky, and the rivers shall turn to the sweetest ambrosia. So...you know...when I do move...well - it'll be obvious. Unless you aren't in the surrounding region, in which case you might just get showered with yellow, funny smelling water.

On His Mutants & Masterminds Characters For Squiggles' Game: Locki Sparkes

Howdy Internet-Folks. Tonight I'm going to take a break from rants and provide you with a little bit of fiction. Well...kind of fiction. Recently(ish) Squiggles introduced a portion of our D&D crew to the world of superhero role playing with the Mutants & Masterminds system. This is basically a system which lets you step into the shoes of a comic book superhero (it's pretty DC oriented...) and use your superpowers for good (as in Squiggles' latest game) or Evil (as in the game that Andy was running for us while he was down a couple of weeks ago.)

For Squiggles' current game, I have chosen to play a Time-Manipulating Electricity Wielder, named Lachlan Sparkes (The Fourth...But he's always resented having an ordinal tagged onto the end of his name...) who attends Strangewood Academy For Learning - a fine, upstanding institution, where...well...weird things are prone to happening. Lachlan, or Locki as he prefers to be known, has yet to really get a good back-story. He's just been...well...I've been developing him "in the moment", as it were, and letting the good times flow as we play the game. This, however, has led me to really not know where I'm taking him (obviously...) and so I'm not really sure what I want to do with him, character development wise. I mean - what are his motives? Why does he care so much about helping people? Why does he so desperately want everyone to know him, and be his friend? Why is he so darned happy go lucky? And why is his school uniform so untidy all the time?

Well, tonight, I am going to answer these questions - both for you, as well as for me (and for Squiggles, who will probably find his story writing assisted by the extra information...I hope.) So buckle yourselves in, my dear readers, and prepare to know all you ever wanted to (or didn't, whatever...) about the character I'm playing in 'The Strangewood Academy Saga'...Apologies if it seems kind of poor, as far as writing style goes - I'm just developing as it comes to me...

Lachlan 'Locki' Sparkes IV

Locki was born as the son of wealthy Laurensvale socialites Patricia and Lachlan Sparkes III and, having been given such an excellent lot in life as far as privilege goes, you'd think that he'd be the happiest kid on the planet - and he is. On the outside at least. Locki is a lot of things on the outside that he isn't really on the inside. Everywhere he goes, Locki is seen as the typical 'happy-go-lucky' kid, just out to have a good time - he doesn't let anything get to him, and he's always trying to make every body else just as happy as he is. Really enjoy reading? Locki will go fetch you a book. Interested in craft? Locki will try and get you the best arts room he can find. Love miniatures? He'll spend his own money just to get you that single rare piece you are missing.

But this cheerful, bright exterior - what he wants everybody to think he is - has been carefully crafted, after years of observation about what people like to be around, about what makes them happy, and it hides a sad, lonely little boy within. Locki's parents have never particularly had any time for him, seeing him more as a hindrance on their social life than anything else - upon arriving home from his final day of 6th grade at the Laurensvale Private School For Juniors, his father's only words were "Aren't you an adult yet? Hurry up and grow up, would you?" His mother's reaction was even less affectionate.

That would be fine, you would think - after all, he spent 11 months of his year away at school. Why should he care whether or not his parents show him affection? It's not like he ever sees them - Can't he just hang out with his friends from school? Well...yes...that...Locki is...different from the people at Laurensvale Private, and in a world built on who you know, and how you act, different is bad. It's not the fact that Locki isn't interested in girls that is what is frowned upon by his "social equals" - it's the people he opts to hang out with. Locki doesn't dress in the latest fashions. He doesn't keep himself prim, proper, and tidy. No - the opposite indeed. And tending to dress in clothes that are a size too large for him, having what could most definitely be called a complete apathy for hygiene standards as far as his hair and socks goes, and keeping company with the local public school "skater" group is not how one wins friends in the world of the powerful. And even the skaters, bladers, and snowboarders ditched him once (at the beginning of 6th grade) they discovered that he was "one of those rich kids." Distrust and difference is powerful, no matter where you are from.

And so it was that Locki found himself in 7th grade, being shipped off to Strangewood Heights by his parents, in a last ditch effort to get him out of their hair. It was on the long bus trip to his new home (and oh how little did he realise how literal that was to become) that he started to craft his new self. If he could suppress the grubby little skater boy within him, and become the prep that seemed to win everybody over, then he could finally put all of his life behind him, and develop himself into a fine, mature adult. That would show his parents. He'd win them over yet.

His plan was going fine, for the first couple of days. He made a heap of new friends - everyone seemed to know and like him (and his exceptionally wide array of knowledge and interests was actually coming in handy!) And then it happened. During an...shall we say...incident at the mall involving a crazy 18 year old and a laser gun, Locki discovered that he could fire electricity...and that he could travel through time...oh yeah, and that not only was he suddenly 13 again, but he was no longer aging. He was stuck, for all eternity, at the most awkward, painful time in his life. Great.

Still, he made some nice friends (a girl who can turn invisible, a guy who can move at super speed, another girl who controls the elements, and finally a crazy girl who controls magical ether...) and things seem to be settling down...But you can't hold back the real you forever, sooner or later people will know who you that you're not that preppy kid who needs to "save the day"...Because the little grot in Locki isn't done fighting. And his clingy tendencies are starting to wear thin even on himself. Sure, he enjoys being the "happy go lucky" kid...But maybe...Just maybe...He could relax and start to be himself some more - after all, he's got a long time to be a dirty skater kid.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. No moral tonight - Just a crappily written piece of fiction. Blah.

On Why Wikipedia Is Not A Reliable Source (When Writing A University Essay)

It may surprise you, Internet folks (though I must admit that if it does, then I myself shall be quite surprised in turn) to learn that a portion of my friends (and, on occasion, myself) are what I like to call "Internet Deviants." Not, however, in a 4-chan, /b/tard, moronic kind of way, mind you (although some of them are getting there - you know who you are...) but more in a...petty vandalism of areas of public interest that have never done anything to harm us in any way, shape, or form, kind of way. We are, if you will, a special form of Internet guerrilla artist.

It's A Gorilla...Um...I'll Go Away Now...

Indeed, and yes, Internet friends, the web is our canvas, and our media are merely words and images, videos and sounds. Our brush is a WYSIWYG editor, and our paints a well placed piece of text. Okay, slightly dramatic, I know, but please - have you met me (not necessarily in a literal sense, but...well...you should have a good grasp of me as a person by this stage, right?) In short, though, I suppose you could just say that we like defacing free-to-edit websites with interesting content. Material that will amuse people for the short time it is up there (I mean, it shouldn't be up there too long, it's peer reviewed for goodness' sake.)

Well...okay...we would be Internet vandals, and our canvas would be the great repository of all human knowledge, were it not for two major stumbling blocks that we hit time and time again. Issue the first is that we are just so lazy, to the point that thinking up the ideas and having our laugh is most often the point at which we go "Yeah...I'll do that later..." Issue the second is that, by the time we have actually gotten over how funny we think the idea is...well...we kinda tend to think that it's lame. I mean, sure, changing all references to Tori Spelling so that she becomes that seahorse from Drawn Together may seem like an amusing way to spend your afternoon at first, but come on - do you have that much time and follow through?

Why They Dissin' On Tori? She Knows What She Did...

And so, and alas, dear readers, we tend to be left with thoughts of adventures that could have been. Still, of the few times that we actually have defaced a Wikipedia entry two awesome things came from it. As the story goes (and so shall you, too, soon know) I was explaining to Spud about some of the plants that are in the belladonna family, and just how toxic (when consumed correctly) deadly nightshade actually is. To emphasise this point, Alydd quickly jumped on Wikipedia and changed the article's description to "deadly deadly ever-so deadly nightshade" - a change which was actually up there for (what I imagine is) quite some time. The only real benefit of this, besides our amusement, is just how much it annoyed our friend FacelessJ, who is like the Batman of Wikipedia. It's a fair city - and he is there to defend it...

Huzzah For Pointless Captions!

The moral of this story is that, on "International Pretend To Be A Time-Traveller" day, I plan on going onto Wikipedia and editing a bunch of articles about future events to seem like they have occurred in the past. When asked for sources, I shall give only "I'm from the future - I was there" and I shall expect everybody to believe me. Well, okay, the second part of that logic is actually how Wikipedia works. Also, I know I'm just too full of apathy to really give this a go when the day comes around, but oh how fun pretending I could be bothered is...

Of Nightmares And Men

As I sit here, my Internet Land compatriots, sipping my SleepyTime tea (with vanilla) and watching Doctor Who's Season 12 masterpiece "Genesis of the Daleks" (in which the fourth doctor starts the whole Time-War off by trying to avert the creation of the Daleks, upon order by the Time Lords) one would find it difficult to imagine that I was almost brought to the brink of death by a terrible illness not five days previously. That fact could, however, be due to the fact that I only had a bout of the flu which latest until half-way through Saturday. Still, I am rarely sick for such an extended period of time, and (man-flu being what it is) I felt that surely my world was coming to an end.

 It's...It's Labyrinth..."As The World Falls Down"...Jeeze...

Still, I'm better now, and my posting shall return to its usual hustle and bustle pace...Well...Tomorrow we shall return to my "hustle and bustle" pace. Today, I'm just going to do some kind of ADD throw-together thing. I'm not feeling particularly coherent at the moment. This could be for a number of reasons. It might be because my mind is bringing itself back up to speed, missing all of the action that it missed while I was sleeping myself to oblivion.

Wait...How'd I Get Here?

It might, however, be because I've been fairly over-stimulated in general today. I mean, it was my first day back at work since I was ill, and I finally have access to everything that I need to really really get into my job. I learned so many new things, and I've been learning more as the day went on. Plus I got my bookshelf on the weekend, and I've been reorganising that area of my house. Oh, and speaking of houses, I'm looking to move in with some friends. All of these things make me quite gleeful!

You Expected A GLEE! Joke, Didn't You?

I would say, however, that the reason I'm not particularly in the mood to be irreverent and such tonight (ala my usual blog posting style, you will no doubt recall - it hasn't been that long...Jeeze) is because I was visited by a quar(as Roo rightly pointed out)tet of night shaded mares whilst I tried to sleep. That's right, people and popplers, four nightmares last night. Three of which I'm willing to explain here (and one of which I can't go into for reasons of privacy, and other things - plus it's more traumatic than the others are entertaining!)

Nightmare the first was the least threatening of the triumverate of failures, on my psyche's account, to distress me into a cold sweat. It started off as your usual zombie fare, and quickly progressed into a L4D romp through the country-side. I managed to piss off a witch, and be chased by a tank the height of a three story building, until...suddenly (quite suddenly)...I was Ezio, and I was in Left Assassin's For Dead Creed. Then, just as quickly as that all happened, I was Sack-Ezio, and was playing Little Big Left Assassin's For Dead Creed Planet. Fail you, subconscious.

My Peril Was Still Too Adorable For Words

The second and third...um..."episodes"...whilst not quite so interesting, were slightly more worrisome in terms of subject matter. The first basically involved me being stuck in the middle of the ocean - a dark dark ocean - where I know that there is something beneath me...just waiting to strike. The second was the story of an axe-murderer who just kept killing me. He'd find me and kill me, then I'd wake up. I'd go somewhere else, do something different, try and avoid him. But he'd find me, and kill me. Every time. No matter what I did.

He was there.

There was no escape.

So anyway, that's pretty much the story of last night, and the reason why (perhaps) I seemed a little out of it if you spoke to me today. Over the course of writing this blog post I have attempted to watch many different shows - I ended up on Mythbusters. I've looked at a couple of houses, and have found one that I really like, and a couple of others that are quite nice too. Of course, there is one "holy-grail" of housing (as it were) but the odds of that happening are, alas, slim.

Cannot Brain - Have The Dumb

Still, we shall see.

The moral of this story is that writing my blog and watching Doctor Who at the same time is a bad idea. Seriously, don't try it. Pick one. And trust me, Doctor Who will always win if I pit the two against one another. Especially if it's one of my favourite Doctor's, too (1st, 2nd, and 11th - although 10 is really also quite good...) Still, there's nothing quite like watching Tori from Mythbusters tell Seth Rogan that he's just plain wrong.

Damn You Internet! Stop Making Everything So Accessible To Me!!

Howdy howdy Internet Land! I trust that you are all well tonight? Brilliant news and a cause for joyous celebration, I'm sure. Just a quick blog post tonight - as I am coming down with a headcold that is putting me out of commission quite badly. Really, it's amazing just how much a soar throat and a bit of a fluffy head can impair my ability to be overly verbose and produce spuriously witty rhetoric. Ugh - Even that didn't make a lot of sense. Jeeze.

This Is Your Brain On Cold-Medication

Anyway, recently I have started (as I have previously posted about) my new assignment at CSU, in the Application Development department of their Division of Information Technology. Pretty much what I do is edit the online forms, subject outlines, webpages, and so forth, ensuring that they all work to the standards of the university, and that they all look pretty (I even get to check grammar and so forth!) This not only means that I'm now no longer answering phone calls informing people of service disruptions (or worse...) but it also means that I got a nice little pay rise - and I was made permanent, so now I get sick leave and so forth (which I may need to take tomorrow...)

Because of this slight...uh...windfall, as far as money is concerned, I have set away a small portion a month to spend on myself. This may come in the form of a massage, or a culinary treat on the weekend, or even something for my friends. More often than not, however, this is going to take the form of a couple of little online packages from The Internet (yes, that's right - the place where you all live!) I'm going to set about $100 aside a month, I think (as well as the money that I'm setting aside for my arcade...) and see what little treats I can get.

Perhaps I Will Buy Puppies!!

Of course, this month I made a little bit of a dent in all amounts I will have to spend each coming months, as I made what I consider to be quite the nifty little purchase. You see, the people over at J-List are capable of shipping things from Japan to me...Right to me!! One of the things that they ship - the thing that caught my eye - the sparkling diamond of my searches recently has been a monthly ongoing subscription to the manga-digest Shounen Ace. This means that, for $8.50 a month (plus shipping, which I understand may vary) I am rewarded with over 500 pages of a variety of Japanese comics (including: Lucky Star, Angelic Layer, Steel Angel Kurumi, and Neon Genesis Evangelion) as well as a nifty little prize for being a subscriber. Go me!

Well...I Guess It's Lucky That I Can Read Japanese...

There are, of course, other things that I want to get from J-List - a bento box, for example, as well as a couple of other nifty little random things. Not to say that J-List is the only place I want to shop from online, oh no no no. Far From It! There are also a couple of really cool books that I want to get from BookDepository (which has free shipping worldwide), and there is a butt-load of merchandise that I want from ThinkGeek. Oh, and clothing from Topatoco/Threadless. And DVDs from the UK. And video games! Food you can't get in Bathurst!! Ah - the choices! I appear to have sent myself into an online frenzy.

These People Are Missing Out On All Of The Real Shopping Deals...

The moral of this story is that webcomics are very dangerous things. Were it not for Randall Munroe and his comic XKCD, I would never have realised just now much I enjoy receiving packages in the mail. I would also not have realised that I could receive packages myself if only I bought things on The Internet. Well...All I have to say to you, Randall, is...I LOVE YOU - PLEASE HAVE MY MATHEMATICAL BABIES!!

Aspirations, Goals, Failure, And Success - How Do I Make A Formula?

Hey there Internet Land, how's it going? Oh, that's pretty good to hear! Me, well...not so well recently. I mean, I had an absolutely smashing weekend - I saw someone who I haven't seen for a while, which was really cool. I played a bunch of games with the usual crew (Spud, Lydia, Squiggles, Emma - and Elmo and X-Man returned as well...) which is always nice. I went to Spotlight looking for stuff for my costumes, which was interesting (and eye opening...) We tried to play the WoW board game (more "interesting" than anything else!)

Don't Let Its Cute Appearance Fool You - This Is The Most Complex Game Since Riskopolynaryial Pursuit

And still, there's something that just feels like it's...missing...recently. I am really not sure what it is, and for the life of me none of my internal subconscious workings can discover it either. It is most frustrating, Internet People, as I'm sure you're no doubt aware. I mean, I think I know what is - but I can't be sure. I hate not knowing. I loathe uncertainty. Get thee back, yon probability density functions, I shall have none of your Gaussian trickery! Do not tempt me Chi Squared distribution, for I know only expected values. Verily, my rounding is precise.

Aww - How Can I Stay Mad At You?

Anyway, mathematical irreverence aside, I think that what is kind of eating me up inside is what (were I a Sim) would be my "Life Goal". For ages now I've wanted to open up a store that caters to people like me - a store where people can go to play video games either alone, or with friends. They could win prizes and such either through a "points" system, or directly from the machines themselves. They could snack away to their hearts content, and just have a good time. What - these kinds of places already have a name?! Surely you jest!! They are known as 'Gaming Arcades', you say? Well then, I suppose since I was in about my fourth year of university I have wanted to open a gaming arcade. In Bathurst. And it would be awesome...

This has, however, always just been a dream. Something about which I have though "Yes, well, that would be jolly nice but as if that's ever going to happen..." I mean, there's a lot of planning that goes into this - I have to figure out if it's feasible, I have to find a space, and of course there's the issue of the money. On average, arcade machines go for about a grand. That's the single player ones. Others - the cooler ones - are significantly more expensive. Given that I want to have a DDR machine, some claw machines, air hockey, shooters (like Time Crisis), and so forth...well...I'm going to be saving for some years yet. Decades. Hell, I'll likely die before I get that capital up.

That Is *NOT* What I Meant, And You Know It

Of course this should lead you to the inevitable problem. I've got all of this want - this drive - this passion - this need that burns through my very being. And yet I can do nothing with it. I'm stuck in a job that I don't hate (it's actually pretty good), but it's not what I truly want to be doing. I could be bringing joy to many and all, instead I'm becoming a pretty good cog in a well oiled educational hierarchy (I'm not saying that my current job is bad, after all, and I'm not saying I'm bad at it - it's just that there are things I'd rather be doing...) And my subconscious knows this. And I think that, after three years of pussyfooting about and not doing anything about it, it is starting to rebel. Apparently, enough is enough, for various bits of my brain.

Would You STOP Deliberately Misinterpreting Me?!

So I guess in order to get out of my progressively worsening funk, I need to actually start acting on this - maybe that'll shut my self-gratification urges so very rightly up. What I've started to do is create a survey that I can distribute to people - perhaps I'll see if I can get people in the shopping centre to answer some questions for me as well. The problem at the moment, however, is that any setback (no matter just how minute in size it is) seems to push me too far into the negativity zone to achieve anything else. Case in point: I was using Survey Monkey to create my online surveys, but I discovered that I'd have to pay to include anywhere near the number of questions that I wanted to, in order to properly extrapolate the correct data. The result: I almost didn't blog tonight (heck, I almost didn't cook dinner tonight.)

I Said...Well...Okay, Close Enough...

But still, I know that in the end I'll get there - or I'll get close at least. If I try my hardest, I can achieve great things. Go me. Woo.

The moral of this story is that the instrumental version of Andy Williams' "Music To Watch Girls By", rehashed by Bob Crewe Generation, is the most incredible music to set a spy drama to. Especially if it is entirely nonsense. Really - I just had one of the most bizarre moments of my life (I wanted to say surreal, but we weren't riding giraffes naked eating jello through mushroom hats whilst singing the lyrics to La Vie Boheme in reverse through clarinets...) XMan and I were performing a spoken word duet about a spy walking down the streets of Havana who left his pants in a bar, and he met a man who cupped his genitals whilst asking for the time...Okay, so I guess maybe that's kind of surreal. We'll do a good version using mics tomorrow, and I'll share it with you - promise. In the meantime, here is the song - try and come up with one yourself!!

 

LISTEN TO THIS SONG! YOU WILL BE AMAZED!!

In Search Of The Ultimate Costume, Part Two, Part Two or Looking For A CosPlay Character Part 3

Konbanwa, Internet Land, and how are you all this evening? Energetic, I trust! Another late evening blog post for you all to sink your teeth into, and (for now) the finale in my trilogy about determining just who I shall go to Supanova dressed as - I'm sure that you must be champing at the proverbial bit for me to return to my usual irreverent self, and return I shall (but not before I let you know the results of all of this non-legal filibustering...)

The first selection for my costume should be, really, no surprise...Well, okay, it might be a little bit of a surprise because (technically) he was never in the running - but only due to an oversight on my own behalf...Well...actually, the option is kind of mutable...Okay, enough wank-arsing around with words. My first choice was Altair, however after Sarcastic Cookie (correctly) pointed out that Ezio is, in all actuality, cooler by a factor of three (this has been scientifically proven - well, okay it hasn't, but you almost believed me there, didn't you.)

Sorry Pops, But The People Have Spoken And I'm Just...Well...More Badass Than You

So, now one would assume (and almost rightly so) that Saturday's CosPlay costume will then be Ezio. This is not quite the case, but only because Altair and Ezio are quite similar in appearance, and if I have trouble with the Ezio costume, I can at least fall back safely on the Altair alternative. Hopefully. Unless I completely suck at making costumes. Still, we will see how it goes...

Now for the announcement that is slightly more anticipatory - not that I suspect that any of you were really on the edge of your seats over this (unless my life is significantly more thrilling than I think it is...) Before I tell you just who I will be going as on the Sunday, however, I would like you to guess. Seriously, I'll wait. Go on, make a small bet with the person next to you (and if the person next to you isn't reading my blog...well...they should be.)

Bet Bet Bet! No Bet - No Get!! If You Want To Accumulate, You Must First Speculate!!!

There we go.

Right! No More Bets Now!!!

If you thought the answer was Hayate Ayasaki then you were...sadly mistaken. No, instead I have decided to not take the easy way out, and instead go as Allen Walker - the badass exorcist from D.Gray-Man. I'm going as early series Allen, and not in weaponised form. I mean, sure, it's be awesome to have to drag a giant claw around with me all day but...wait...no it wouldn't! Anyway, the reason I picked Allen over Hayate was partially because I think Allen is just a bit more awesome, and partially because I'm fairly sure that (without Nagi, anyway) Hayate just wouldn't be that recognisable. Trust me, there is little worse than walking around having a large group of nerds going "Who is he supposed to be." These people are nerds. If anyone was going to know it would surely be they!!!

Dear Loser - Worst. Cosplay. Ever.

So anyway, the next step that I have is the planning, which will take me a fair while in order to actually do it correctly. It will, however, also correspond with the creation stage, so as I make things I'll probably post updates on here, so you can see just how it is I am faring as I try and learn to sew, and so forth (no really, I don't know how to sew, and I am being taught - I can foresee no problems at all with this...)

I Wish I Drew This :(

The moral of this story is that decision making gets much easier when you have a panel, jury, or some other kind of peer based group that have my best interests at heart...Wait, what was that? The Internet doesn't exist just to look out for me? How dare you Sir stroke Madame. I shall take my business elsewhere. Good day!

I Got That Cosplay Complex or Picking A Costume, Part Two

Ko-na-nachiwa!!! Hey everyone out there in Internet Land and how is it going? It's almost 10pm and I feel great! This is, apparently, what happens to me when I leave it until night time to post my blog...Man, I should do this more often! So, in case you are wondering why I'm doing this about...oh...twelve hours after I usually would...well, the reason is simply because work has picked up and I'm finally out (by which I mean inside the office), about (by which I mean stationary behind my desk), and doing stuff (by which I finally mean programming!!)

So I figure that today, for my first "late-night" blog, I will do a simple follow up of yesterday's post. In case you didn't actually read yesterday's post, however, here is a slight refresher (in point form!) I'm going to SupaNova later this year. I want to CosPlay. I want to CosPlay well. I have a list of potential CosPlay characters that I want to pick from. I need to pick two. Help me.

Well, if you haven't checked out yesterday's post at all today, then you wouldn't know that since then I have taken my list and whittled it down to three last hopefuls. This is pretty good, considering that I started with, I believe, 36 (and some extras were added because of reader comments!) Still, the process of shrinking down the list was...well...very difficult for me. And three is still not good enough. So tonight we make the decision. Tonight we get rid of one of the characters. Three will enter this ring - two will leave.

So without further ado...I present to you...Our three last contenders!!! LET'S GET READY TO DELIBERAAAAAAAATE...

Costume Idea #1 - Altair (Assassin's Creed)

Altair Picture Number 1

Altair Picture Number 2

Successful Altair CosPlay

Successful Altair Cosplay Again!

Costume Idea #2 - Allen Walker (D.Gray-Man)

Allen Walker Picture Number 1

Allen Walker Picture Number 2

Successful Allen Walker Cosplay

Another Picture Of Successful CosPlaying For Allen Walker

Costume #3 - Hayate Ayasaki (Hayate The Combat Butler)

Hayate Ayasaki Picture Number 1

Hayate Ayasaki Picture Number 2

I Can't Find Any Good CosPlays Of Hayate - Maybe I Can Be The First?

 So there you have it - my three final choices. You may have noticed that a couple of "crowd favourites", shall we call them, were not in this list. There are many reasons that these were not included, ranging from the character being too old for me to pull off well (for example, Iroh), the character having entirely the wrong complexion (for example, Ganondorf), or me just...well...not really 'feeling' there character (for example, Alucard - possibly one of the most popular characters amongst you guys - but someone for whom I just feel nothing...)

Anyway, regardless of how the cuts were made, made they were - and made they shall stay. And, except for my moral for today, to you I must now say the following: run, run while you still ca...no wait, that's the message I have to give the first year Games Technology students this year - the message for you is to consider who you want me to dress up as, and let me know! If you could offer any pointers or help, that would also rock. Oh, and if you are going to SupaNova and you'd like to meet me then please let me know - I always love to meet you guys, and I'd be so willing to write about my exploits in meeting you on here.

The moral of this story is that sometimes decision making can be hard - especially when it involves killing your thoughts and ideas off - a process possibly made more painful by the fact that I think of all of my ideas as my little mental children. Still it is worth it, by weeding out the weak, as it were, you free yourself up for some exceptional things in the future. And I know that my future is full of some kick-arse costumes.