Torn

Do I wait until next year when my phone contract ends, and grab a G1 on pay monthly, or do I save up prior to going to uni and grab an iPhone on pay as you go just for the sake of free internet and email and better battery life?

...After all, I wouldn't need to get a 3G-S, I could even do without a 16gb model; I have an iPod for my music after all. Okay, this was less of a question and more of a statement; despite the fact that I want a G1 very muchly, there's no point waiting a year if I can grab something with similar awesomeness within the next few months. Still, it's £350. We'll have to see...

Dunno what the hell happened to Owen today; was meant to meet him after work, he told me he wanted a few more hours sleep, and hasn't yet surfaced. Tch. Sveta's coming round in a bit for a walk, though really I wish she wasn't because my legs are still killing me.

Confusion is always the most honest response

Things I Read. That's right, I READ!

That's right, I got my reading back ^^

Just a side note before I start, I'm gonna be writing blogginess in The Journal (to which there is a link in the sidebar) about books I read in detail. The reason for this is that I want to keep a reading journal. Haha. You thought you'd get a proper reason. You were wrong.

So I started reading Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell way back in February (on the plane to Benidorm), but I've had real issue sitting down and actually reading for reasons I can't place. Ah well, long story short I suddenly started reading again the other day and breezed through the second half of the book like it wasn't even there. Bernard Cornwell is an amazing author who just holds my attention completely the whole way through his stories; I think it's probably the masterful way in which he writes from the point of view of the protagonist years after the end of the story, but without spoiling anything that's to come. He's the shit, basically.

I then moved on to reading the sixth Halo book, The Cole Protocol by Tobias Buckell. Buckell is the newest writer on the Halo block and he's dived into it head first and come out laughing. I should explain; the Halo books are done in a ghostwriting manner, that is, each book in the series can potentially be written by a different author (three have been written Eric Nylund, one by William Dietz, and one by Joe Staten) but the key to it is that they all write in a similar (or rather, similarly brilliant) style. And Buckell has joined the fold perfectly; it seems as though they are all the same author, writing seamlessly from several (conflicting) perspectives, in stories full of betrayal and second guessing. I'm 130 pages in and I started reading at midnight last night... Damn. Addict.

Yeah, I love reading. Why ever did I stop???

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body

Tidying

I started clearing my stuff out earlier. It's a mammoth task... I have so much shit. In the end I just wound up clearing and rearranging my bookshelf. I've done so many pointless bloody blogs today just to burn time, and I'm really just putting off going to bed now. I finished Sword Song at last and was so happy I did, I really got back into it near the end and can't wait for the next one. Because of the little rearrange I know exactly how many books I have on my to-read pile (fourteen), which is nice.

Okay, I'm gonna grab some food and a drink, then I'll head to bed and start on a new book. I've got work all day tomorrow so I suppose I should get to sleep fairly early, then when I get home I'll do my week's PM video. In the meantime, I think you should probably watch this video:



It is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatsoever for supposing it is true

Flash Games FTW

I've found (or been pointed to) a bunch of flash games recently. Normally they only serve to piss me off, but there's some real gaming gold here;

Super Mario 63 - A 2.5D remake of Mario 64. It's seriously fun. It incorporates bits from recent Mario games to allow for huge amounts of content and actually has a working save function. Brilliant.

IndestructoTank - You play an armoured car with limited fuel. You aim to get hit by explosives from the passing helicopters to bounce you up and crash into them. Your fuel refreshes at the end of every level, and with each new level you can add to the enemies that appear. It's hours of fun and when it appears on WiiWare later this month I'm picking it up right away.

Thing Thing Arena 3 - Arena Deathmatch with more guns than you can imagine. A tipped hat to how addictive it is would be that I went to get the link for this, and spent an hour playing it instead. Oh dear.

Far from idleness being the root of all evil, it is rather the only true good

Mangatimes

So new manga out this week are... Shaman King 298, Bleach 365, Naruto 455, and Fullmetal Alchemist 97. In reverse order of epicness we have:

FullMetal Alchemist 97
The two Philosophers (an apt name for them since they both have bodies made from Philosopher's Stones are still at it from last month; they exchange verbal blows, then Von H explains that he lives in harmony with the fifty thousand souls that make up his stone, and that would be how he beats Father. However, his "little friend from the flask" changes into a monster that resembles a combination of Pride (Shadows with lots of weird scary eyes) and the Truth (Black body, massive fuckoff smile). He taunts that Von H is not the only one who's "evolved". Izumi wails on a soldier who has information on Father's plans, while Colonel Armstrong decides not to take the President's chair stating that it's an "easily sniped position". Wrath arrives at the gates at this point and proceeds to defeat a tank and several Briggs soldiers with just his sword. The chapter ends with Greed jumping down to challenge Wrath, supposedly for payback for Wrath killing the previous Greed. Overall the chapter was nothing amazing, but it was far better than last month's tripe. I really wish these chapters were shorter and came out more often...

Naruto 455
Having this low on the list is deceptive, because I actually think this chapter was great, just not as great as Bleach and Shaman King. Danzo picks his two adjutants for the Kage meeting and sends a group to watch over Naruto, because he apparently harbours doubts as to Sai's loyalty. Cut to Naruto, who has taken a beating from the Lightning Ninja he refused to rat out Sasuke to. Sai jumps in to help and questions Naruto's bond with Sasuke, he then takes him to Kakashi, and questions him as well. Kakashi does his whole know-it-all thing and tells Sai he knows that he's assigned to spy on Naruto, but reminds him that it was his bond that had him help Naruto, as there was nothing of the sort in his orders. Sai looks surprised by this realisation. Naruto says he wants to meet the Raikage to ask him to remove the kill-on-sight order he placed on Sasuke's head, but is told he can't. Naruto reveals that he spoke to his father during the battle with Pain, and divulges everything he knows about Madara-- Kakashi does the same. Danzo is attacked on his way to the meeting, but reveals a Sharingan eye. Merely conjecture here, but if his eye is bandaged up, it means his Sharingan is always active. This means he's not an Uchiha, and that the eye is a transplant. Thus, he is definitely not either Obito, Tobi, or Madara. Simple as.

Shaman King 298
The third last chapter opens up with Yoh waking up inside Hao, that is, inside the Great Spirit. They have a friendly chat about killing all the humans; Yoh compares humans to cancer cells-- I wonder if he thinks that of his friend Manta, too? However, Yoh tells Hao that there's no future inside the Great Spirit, because he wants to have a family and he can't do that in the afterlife. At this Hao tells him to disappear (and expects it to happen, he is God, after all), but Yoh says "nope", and Hao realises that he has the Shaman King's power as well. Chocolove, Lyserg, Ren and HoroHoro as well, and Hao comes to the conclusion that they have the Five Elemental Spirits. Everyone except Yoh goes to town on Hao with the Elemental Spirits, even though they know they can't beat him. Hao brags that he cannot be beaten as his Spirit is equal to the five of theirs put together. They team states they didn't come to overthrow him, but to make him realise his errors and become "a proper King". Hao takes offence to this and ends the chapter by activating his OverSoul. I seriously cannot wait for the next chapter.

Bleach 365
The Vizards greet Aizen sarcastically and then all but Shinji and Lisa state when asked that they have nobody that they want to catch up with before fighting. Lisa goes to Shunsei and wakes him with a stomp on the head, then upon being called pretty kicks him in the chin, telling him to watch how much stronger she's become. Meanwhile Yamamoto is bricking it because he thinks Shinji and co have come for revenge. Just when he goes to draw his sword Shinji states that they are against Aizen, but that they're on Ichigo's side (which just happens to be Yamamoto's side as well). Old man Yama is left speechless while Lisa and Shinji return to the Vizards. Wonderwiess screams, which causes that fucking monstrosity to vomit out thousands upon thousands of Gillians; while the Shinigami look on in horror, the Vizards all hollowfy and go to work. The ending frame is a picture of all of the Vizards with their Hollow masks on for the first time. It's epic.

Here's hoping next weeks are all this good...

Here to say farewell to destiny

New Things

I just got home, and I've found some little things in my RSS today.

1) The use of the CC and BCC fields in an email. CC is Carbon Copy, which essentially sends a copy of the email you're sending to everyone you list. BCC is Blind Carbon Copy, which does the same, but without listing the other addresses that received a copy. Sneaky.

2) Do not write in this space.

3) Expiration Dates aren't all that accurate.

4) The best way to kill flies is a bowl of vinegar with a drop of washing up liquid. Long story short, lots of drowned flies. If you're not of a fly-murdering nature, you might just want to deter them.

5) The most important note of the day; how to open a banana properly. If you read nothing else I've linked to, watch this.



Everybody lies, but it doesn't matter because nobody listens

G1

I want this.

For those that do not know, this is the G1, or Google1, the Googlemiester's answer to the iPhone, and boy of fuggin' boy, does it deliver. Essentially it has everything the iPhone has, but it also fixes two of my MAJOR gripes with the thing; first of all it can send and receive MMS, which for the record should be a fucking given on any current gen phone, I don't care how otherwise awesome it is Apple, that's just shit. The second, and perhaps the most important bit, is that LOVERLY slide out keyboard-- a KEYBOARD AND A TOUCH SCREEN. It's perfect. The only minor MINOR downsides are the lack of video playback and the stock 2gb space on the memory card (however, obviously this is expandable), although that's being dealt with in the next update, I'm informed. What makes it more perfect is the price; it's the same as my current contract with O2 with no upfront payment (i.e. the phone costs zilch on Pay Monthly), but with like twice what I get in bonuses.

The offer states "Save £180", which I gather is probably a bit of an understatement. The G1 costs £30 a month on an 18-month T-Mobile contract, and comes with unlimited texts and internet, 800 minutes, and the phone itself is free along with a 2gb memory card. The closest iPhone 3GS equivilent to this is £44 a month with a £175 price tag on the phone upfront, netting you free internet, 1200 minutes, and 500 texts. I think I know what I want. Badly.

...Fucking shame I still have a year on my contract...

Nothing is as simple as we hope it will be

Remains of the Day

Can't actually remember work, it was completely uneventful. Went out with Darcy and Vic, that was okay. Learned that I had exactly no money left, but without even asking her, Mum gave me back the months rent to last me till next Friday... Can't help but think that was a bit ambitious, as I'm already down to £24. Oh and also, I found a nifty little script for Firefox that makes my Google Reader nice and compact. It makes me almost as happy as getting handed a G1 would.

I detest life-insurance agents; they always argue that I shall some day die, which is not so

Work Whining

I arrived at work this morning to Claire (different one from the other day; they all have issues. Comes with the name-- more later.) asking me, in a particularly rude fashion, if I'd reported her Tropicana machine as broken. Well the short answer is no. She asked me at 16:32 on Monday to report it, and I told her in no uncertain terms that I would not be reporting it, but that I would ask Trish too, and leave a note reminding everyone that it needs to be done. Back to the present, and she's telling me it was my responsibility and as such my fault that it wasn't done. I quickly filled her in on the fact that I had gotten a councilling for lateness and as a result was making a point by coming in on time, but was not going to be staying late for any reason. She insisted that my "personal shit" shouldn't impede her department. As a big fuck you I added that I was a systems clerk, not the admin manager-- to take it up with her.

It was left at that until I walked into the Canteen for breakfast, where she actually stood in my way and told me that if I was in the office and took he call it was my problem and to "take responsibility". It took me a moment to remember what she was complaining about because I had just pushed it to the back of my mind, but as I did, a tannoy went out for me, so as I was leaving I told her in my best Lisa voice that "the proper procedure for reporting damaged equipment is to fill out the equipment repair form and have it countersigned by a senior manager"; I (/Admin in general) do them a big favour by just handling all that over the phone and filling it out ourselves, but I felt the need to point this out to her. That was all
that was said, I didn't see her again today.

The tannoy was Claire from personnel wanting to know if I want to transfer to frozen. No. Duh.

EDIT: I'm never going to post from my iPod again; the layout was fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked.

If it weren't for my lawyer, I'd still be in prison. It went a lot faster with two people digging

Overcoming Tiredness

...or rather, being overcome BY tiredness. I've started randomly falling asleep again which, besides my little drift off at Owen's on friday, I thought I was over. Apparently not. And this random sleeping isn't helping with my actually BEING tired, anyway; I'm sleeping and sleeping and feeling none the better for it. It's not as though I'm not totally used to my shifts and perfectly able to (in theory) have sorted a decent sleep pattern by now, it's just not working out. Annoying to say the least. I slept from 9pm till 7am last night and I woke up feeling as though I'd forgone sleeping altogether. All this talk of sleep is making me sleepy.

*Yawn*

I just kinda wanted a blog post that wasn't all about my RSS bits and bobs for a change. Work was really seriously sucky yesterday, and slightly better today. I got a councilling for being late five times in one week (you get one for three latenesses), but having gone through my swipes, they'd highlighted 1 and 2 minutes late, which *goes into droney official voice* as per the employee handbook do not count as lateness. With this in mind, I was late twice last week, once six mins and ones seven mins. So erm... Go jump off a bridge please Claire. Kthnxbi.

...Oh. And the right click on my laptop is fucking playing up again.

EDIT: Just deleted my Last.FM account. I don't use it for finding new stuff to listen to anymore, and I don't care about keeping track of what I play or how much I play. Boooooooring!

Girls are always running through my mind. They don't dare walk