Hollow Halo - 22/10/07

Man it’s beginning to get colder over here. I know that sounds like a kid but maybe I was cosseted a little too much in the glorious Florida warmth. It’s seems Autumn is well and truly on us and Winter is just round the corner. Getting up to a colder bedroom and darker mornings isn’t that much fun either. Still at least I can wear more clothes and dust off those jumpers and tops.

Wednesday (17^th Oct) was national pasta day and if there is one culinary day that would resonate with me, it would be this day. Ok I haven’t got it carved into my wall and I only knew about it from a work colleague but hell I had to celebrate it and I don’t need much of an excuse to throw together some pasta (that sounded very chef like didn’t it).

The LCD turned up on the same day and I became obsessed with how to correctly set it up. Should I stick with the component lead that came with the X360 and simply switch it over to the HDTV settings or go and get a VGA lead and calibrate the picture to its sharpest settings. Very nerdy eh?

My brother was going to be off work and as he enjoys tinkering, unlike myself, I was going to ask him to set it up so that come the weekend I could just sit down and play it. That makes it sound like I was being lazy but I was worried that with the fiddler that I am once I started tweaking the settings, colours, brightness, backlighting, gamma intensity……… that I would just never stop. I’m bad enough when trying to get the audio just right on the TV in the living room and that’s only really got four settings with three settings within each one. The AV forums (http://www.avforums.com/) were incredibly useful with people printing up what they thought were the very best settings to enter into your TV along with an image that you could use to calibrate the LCD TV to the very highest setting.

For those in the know, and after a few postings on the forums, I decided to go for a VGA lead which would mean that my TV would display the very best picture that it possibly could. Frustratingly this meant that my brother needed to take my X360 online to download the latest Microsoft update that helped with the VGA settings. Meanwhile I belted over to Bluey to pick up the relevant lead and also the bits for the pasta. Combine the two events I thought.

We got it running and I have to say that it looked pretty impressive. I didn’t want to run Halo 3 on it yet but Gears of War looked good and the DVD of Terminator 3, especially the scene at the beginning with the hunters flying and the robots moving around was utterly stunning.

Did very little else during the week. I certainly can’t be arsed to head back to the gym yet though of course I am going away again in a few weeks time. Seemed to spend my time unnecessarily mooching round the internet looking at trailers, game previews etc.

As I said last week there are quite a few games coming out in November that look very interesting and demand to be played on a HD TV. I did begin to think that maybe I’d made a mistake buying a 32” and should have gone for a 37”. Hey, I’m a bloke and thus I’m going to have a pre-occupation with size. The TV is still impressive but it’s the thought that if I’d paid another £100 or so it would have been even bigger. It’s fine for gaming but when you are running 300 or Transformers through it the extra size could make it even more incredible. As P pointed out and stopped my bemoaning in its tracks, I could use the extra £100 I’d saved on buying some of the aforementioned games instead of feeling guilty that I was spunking my money away when I should be saving for a place. Very good point.

Talking of Transformers, the film score, as opposed to the selection of unrelated pop & rock tunes cobbled together in the official soundtrack, was released in the US after much pressure from fans. It doesn’t come out over here, along with the film, until 3^rd December but YouTube provided me with the chance to hear my favourite piece of music from the film that plays when the soldiers are fighting against the scorpion robot. The way the music builds in typical Zimmer fashion (it’s actually a guy called Steve Jablonsky who works within Hans Z’s studios) as the increasingly frantic soldiers pull more and more big guns in to defeat the machine was a stand out highlight the first time I saw the film. Here’s the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHJT0Fec_Yc The really wicked bit is at about 2.30 in.

Friday night came and after pissing around on the web I headed home. I got in late but in typical fashion started to get excited about Halo 3 the next day. Hence at like 12.00pm I started dusting, polishing, tidying and moving stuff around to ensure that the TV was in the right place, speakers were set up correctly and that nothing would distract me. I even got the limited edition helmet out and placed it on the side next to the TV. My attire for the days gaming was laid out. Underwear, long sleeved ribbed white t-shirt, my orange Nasa flight suit and my Nasa baseball cap. Oh yes. By the time I eventually turned in it must have been about 2.30 – 3.00!

Up at around 8.30, which is unheard of considering I wasn’t actually going out. Prepped some morning scram (bacon sandwich), jumped in the bath and slid into my flight suit. Three years had built to this. Fired up the 360, the TV and the Yamaha amp. The distinctive Gregorian chant swept over me and it was game time. I didn’t look around too much on the main screen as you don’t want to look too much behind the curtain when getting ready to start a game. I wanted to put it in, hit play and be amazed.

Started the game and the opening seemed a little abrupt. There wasn’t the lead in that I expected and Masterchief was somewhere that I didn’t remember leaving him at the end of the second game but there again I hadn’t read the latest book so they may have moved him. Never mind, I started playing the game and it looked pretty cool. The graphics looked great though I was unsure whether this was down to the TV or the game. The sound effects were also good though I thought the score was a little disappointing. I didn’t hear a great deal of new music. I broke for some lunch when I completed that level which certainly took longer that what I knew brother had done it in. I felt like I was doing well and shooting a fair chunks of bad guys but maybe I hadn’t got my eye in and thus was moving slower than estimated.

We were heading out that night to see the Rugby World Cup but I had time for a few more hours of gameplay. This level was also enjoyable though I was surprised when they killed off a fairly major character and then you had a ‘driving to get away from a ticking bomb’ style scenario. I completed this level and then…………….well the credits came up. Initially I thought I’d got some corrupt disc that had jumped to the end whilst loading up the next level. What had actually happened though was that where my mate had borrowed my X360 whilst I was on holiday and had played Halo 3, his progress, though on a lower skill level, had been saved and without realising it I’d somehow managed to select to play the second to last level.

How this happened I’m unsure because I didn’t mess around with too much stuff when I started the game but I basically had just played the last two levels of the game and completed it. I was gutted and just stared at the screen. You wait three years for something to come along and then manage to effectively read the last two chapters. All of the energy and excitement just kinda left me. I watched the beginning of the first level to ensure I wasn’t being a fool. Granted the game is good fun and the enjoyment comes from playing it but there is something about doing it through again when I know the last two levels. It really couldn’t have turned out any worse could it? Feeling a tad dejected I folded up my Nasa flight suit and got ready to go out.

Picked up my brother from work and then onto M’s to head into Blackheath to try and watch the Rugby. Two good friends also met us there that I hadn’t seen in an age. I had called ahead to Cave Austin who after saying they weren’t showing the final, later in the week changed it to that they were. Unfortunately when we walked in we were told that there wasn’t any sound coming from the TV! We decided to try some of the other pubs. O’Neills was rammed and had queues outside so we tried, against our judgement, the remaining pub opposite O’Neills that was showing it. Unsurprisingly it was packed and pushing our way through to the bar the place just stank of old trousers. It was so noisy we couldn’t hear the TV and after avoiding the pikey kids going through the crowd for change for Halloween we thought watching it with no sound and at least a little space back at our original location might be better.

Headed back to Cave where we discovered they also had no Corona, which was a body blow for M and brother. We desperately tried to sort out the volume for the TV which wouldn’t come on because it was all apparently linked into the main speaker system for the bar. We tried to tune in the radio of the bar and eventually suggested getting a portable radio from the kitchen which we tuned in and placed in the main seating area for the most amount of people to hear. It was kinda fun for encouraging people to talk with others and bemoan the lack of sound.

Sound or not it was an exciting game, though we conceded too many penalties which allowed South Africa to kick their way into the lead. Our defence was valiant and heroic unlike our football team who sometimes get the same descriptive words used for them. When South Africa nearly had a try at the end of the first half the efforts required to stop them getting that final couple of feet were truly Herculean. This is one thing I like and admire in Rugby. When the players try hard you can physically see it. You can see they are trying, you can see they are straining and you can see that they are prepared to risk physical injury in an attempt to win.

We came out in the second half and nearly got a try right off the get go but it was judged out. An incredibly close call and it would have made for an even more exciting game had it been given. It wasn’t and the South Africans managed to extend their lead. They eventually won the game which was disappointing but I was still delighted that we had beaten the Aussies and then the French in their own backyard.

Stayed there for a few more drinks before waving goodbye to our two friends who’d come out that night. We then headed off to the Venue. It was good to be back in there but there wasn’t anything going down with regards to the ladies. Had a good little boogie but the KFC at the end of the night was far more memorable.

Sunday was a lazy day (as ever) and as my heart wasn’t in picking up Halo 3 again I decided to check out a film that P had lent me. It was The Holiday and I confess I’d been fairly dismissive of it when it had come out. I’m not a big fan of Jude Law. I’ll concede he’s good looking but he is a little cocky with it. Anyway this film also stars Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz as two women from either side of the Atlantic. I hadn’t expected to like it but I really got into the film and identified with a lot of what Kate Winslet’s character was saying. A good film and worthy of checking out if you want a slightly more heartfelt rom-com.

Ended the weekend by going to see The Kingdom. I wore the Marino football shirt that I’d bought in Florida and it felt pretty damn good. It’s very bright and vibrant and I love it. The film was excellent. There was a little shaky cam which I could have done without but the story was intelligently and sympathetically told. The script and acting were uniformly good and the final action scene, including the fight in the room with the video camera, was superb and genuinely nerve biting.

A great smell and a scent of victory - 15/10/07

Ordered a couple of DVD's this week. 300, which comes as no surprise bearing how much I liked it and docu film called The Bridge. I saw the trailer for this on Apple about a year ago and knew I wanted to see it. It's about people that go to the Golden Gate bridge to commit suicide. Granted it might seem a little morbid but the music in the trailer was very melodic and the subject matter very thought provoking. What makes someone go all the way there to commit suicide. It never got released at the pictures but I'd like to see it. We are having a postal strike at the moment (lazy, whinging bastard postmen) so god knows when either of them will arrive.

Although I didn't seem to advance much further, well nothing basically, on my trip report (writers block from the amount I guess) I did get some more stuff down on trip advisor. I'd put one question on the forum about what shows affected you emotionally and No 1 on my list was one of the shows from SeaWorld called Blue Horizon. It really was something special and I copied my thoughts to SeaWorld just so the people involved could receive my praise. Amazingly they responded a few days later with a non generic email thanking me for my comments and making reference to some of the things I'd said (ie it wasn't their bog standard response). It made me like them even more. From the posting someone on TR contacted me and I told her all about SeaWorld and Universal's Islands of Adventure. From this (though I'm not taking complete credit) she decided to hit these very places based on my detailed reviews of them. Hope she likes them.

I also wrote a report on my day at Kennedy Space Centre in response to a question that someone else had posted. This review went down really well and helped act as a bit of a spur for me to get on with the long report.

I also ordered my Samsung 32" LCD television. I've been meaning to get one for some time and as I had a little money left in the holiday coffers thought I would treat myself. My existing TV is an ok size but the widescreen is ever so slightly on the wonk and I can't correct it. Also being CRT it takes up a lot of space and hence the flatter LCD will help. I'm primarily getting it for gaming which many might think sad but what the hell. There are some good games coming out in November and I think it's time for me to start playing them in HD. Despite my wariness of the quality of Halo 3 I am still looking forward to playing it and what better way than on a glorious new LCD. I went away this Saturday as you will read and thus want it in time for the following weekend when the days of Saturday and Sunday will be turned over to Halo 3.

Talking of Halo 3 I have been guilty of looking at / skimming a few more online reviews, almost to prepare myself for what I'm expecting it will turn out to be. I found this one that even though slates it is incredibly funny.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/zeropunctuation/2304-Zero-Punctuation-Halo-3

His delivery is very fast (hence the zero punctuation title) but his reviews are well considered and very entertaining. His arguments and opinions seem very similar to my own and the examples and illustrations that he uses are also familiar to me. Admitting to this may complete my journey and acceptance of full blooded geekness but you can't live in denial forever. Check out some of his other reviews, particularly his overview of the next generation console market and of Tomb Raider: Anniversary.

Headed up to my Aunt's in Reading on Saturday for a surprise 50th birthday party. It was good fun. I'm not terribly social at the beginning of these events but I helped where I could and kept myself entertained in the kitchen. Decided to wear my new and ultra exclusive fragrance, Colonia Assoluta by Acqua di Parma. P had got a sample of it and then by coincidence read about in a book. We did some research and it used to be a fragrance worn by movie stars such as David Niven and Cary Grant in the 50's but with the emergence of new aftershaves etc in the 60's and 70's faded away. The company was revived by a trio of Italian businessman, one being the head of Ferrari, in the mid 1990's and is doing well I believe. The smell is just lovely, the packaging simple, classy and very well designed and it's exclusivity is maintained by it being unable to buy in High Street chemists. I'm not being a snob but it's nice to have something, no matter how small that not a great deal of people have got.

After the England Rugby teams stunning upset of beating Australia in the Rugby World Cup Quarter Finals, I was adamant that I was going to watch the semi final which was on whilst at the party. I hadn't watched us beat Australia because after being hammered 36-0 by the South Africans in the first round I assumed, like many others, that we would be humiliated. Far from it. We stuffed it to those arrogant Aussies and went through to face the French in Paris. Like I was going to miss this. It was a great match. Full of drama and tension. We got an early try but France clawed it back through drop goals etc to lead 6-5 for what seemed like an age. We were playing stoically and taking the fight right to them. The scores went up to 9-8 but the French were still in the lead. Where I had started off watching the game alone in the kitchen by the end there were at least eight or nine people in there with me.

I couldn't help contain myself and emotion was bubbling over whether in the form of hopping up and down or hurling encouragement & obscenities at the TV. At one point the French made a break and would have got away and scored a try were it not for an English player who at full stretch clipped the French guys heel so it clattered into the other one and he came tumbling down. With about ten minutes to go we got a penalty which Jonny Wilkinson put home depsite having initially been given a non match ball to use (something dodgy there methinks). This took us into the lead 11-9 but it was still anyones game. Then with about five minutes to go Jonny went for a drop goal which put us 14-9 up and sent our little kitchen into wild cheers. We hung on for a few more minutes, the whistle blew and we'd done it. Beaten the French, who were the hosts, in their own back yard and were on our way to the Final where we found out the next day we would play our chums, South Africa. With the self belief and the bravery that the team have re-found I think next Saturday could be a hell of a game and I intend to enjoy it in the fervent atmosphere of a pub.

It was great that some of us had shared the exhilaration of us winning and I was pleased that it had bonded us in some way. I chatted to a few more people and eventually went to the bed that had been made for me at about 1.00am. I slept like a dream and was woken at 11.00 with a five minute noitce of breakfast being served. Managed to take a shower, brush my teeth and get changed in that time to join everyone else for a fine cooked breakfast. Headed home later that day and hooked up with my brother for a pizza, Top Gear and a chance to discuss our respective weeks.

Thanks for stopping by.

Back to reality - 08/10/07

Back from hols and back into the office with all the food goodies that I'd picked up from my travels with most of those coming from Walmart. There was Hershey bars, Oreo's, Chips Ahoy cookies, freeze dried fruit and ice cream from Kennedy, fried pork skins, smoked cheddar cheese kettlecorns from Universal, assortment of M&M's and some beef teriyaka smoked steak bites.

Gave the pressies to those that I'd got for and bored everyone with my tales of the holiday. Talking to others about it made it seem that we'd achieved even more. In some ways things seemed different, like I had changed or maybe become a little more worldly wise, yet in other ways the normality was crushingly depressing.

Discovered with alarm that my friend had completed Halo 3 with relative ease on the normal level. I read a review on IGN that said on normal it could be completed in 6-7 hours. That sucks man. Wait all this time and that's all you get. Also the graphics haven't really improved even though it's a new generation console. Now I haven't played it and it's another few weeks until I do but what's the point in taking three years to release it if it doesn't look like you've spent three years doing it. It would appear that from skimming other reviews that the single player campaign is ok but it's the multiplayer that bails them out. It's a shame I think that gaming companies are so obsessed with turning out games with poor single player experiences but a multiplayer that is basically Unreal Tournament with more bells and whistles. Creatively, it couldn't be weaker. Provide the tools and let the players write their own stories.

The TV advert and accompanying website have gone some way to restore faith and a little excitement but I don't know, the disappointment bandwagon is in town. Roll on Call of Duty 4, Mass Effect and maybe a look again at Bioshock I say. I tried to order a Samsung 32" LCD from Amazon. I kept umming and aahing about it and once I'd eventually committed I'd left it too late to guarantee delivery for the Friday. Hence I cancelled the order.

Was nice to return from a long absence and discover that my site had received few visitors. I know I'd hardly gone mad with handing out cards in the US but it would have been nice to have had a little spike in interest, maybe just as a pleasant surprise. All it did was re-inforce that nothing really changes. We celebrated my birthday on the Friday meaning we had a lovely chocolate cake for elevensies and I opened my pressie which was this wicked Timberland leather wallet. My friend thought that it was about time I had a wallet that didn't open with the sound of tearing velcro. Lunch was a Pizza Hut pizza which was mighty fine and in a reasonably relaxed afternoon I showed the troops my holiday photos and videos. I did want to load one that my brother did of our hotel room in a rapper, mtv style but at 161mb it's too big for Youtube. I'll see if there is anyway I can compress it to be able to get it up.

Stayed late that night. Wrote some responses on tripadvisor but couldn't be motivated to start the trip report yet. Stayed in bed for some time on saturday as I struggled for motivation. There was a shit load of stuff to put away, mounds of washing and crap to sort out and I was feeling a little drained. I don't think from tiredness but more from how the idea of Florida had been with me for the last seven months yet now it was gone. Granted I'd done it and had the memories but I think it was just not having it there in the back of my mind if that makes any sense.

On a positive note I continued to enjoy all of the CD's that I bought while in the US. It's amazing that all of them would be so good. Normally one or two are poor but I liked them all. As I'm sure you are dying to know the five CD's were. Pirates of the Caribbean : Dead Mans Chest (Zimmer delivering the quality goods), The Passion of the Christ (only one track about a year ago but it always stuck with me and is an excellent CD), 300 (inspirational), Armin van Burren : A state of trance 2007 (great selection of tunes, particularly on the second CD) and finally the music from the Blue Horizons show at SeaWorld (This was by far my favourite show in Florida and one that I found quite moving. The music had a similar effect on me when I played it).

Started sorting out stuff and attempting to be brutal in clearing out unused items. By the Sunday afternoon I'd managed to fill 4 black bin bags full of pointless tat. Watched Lewis Hamilton crash out of the Chinese Grand Prix which in an exciting turn of events means the championship will go down to the final race to decide it. Hit the local shops very quickly to get the ingredients for a spag bol. I wore one of my baseball hats and didn't want to talk to anyone. I don't feel very sociable at the moment and I don't know why.

The new series of Top gear was entertaining as ever to accompany our spag. They always look like they have a fun time and their taking of a supercar each to Europe to find the best road is so what I want to do if I was ever to win the lottery. How people can talk about being bored when they win so much money is beyond me. Having seen the fun my brother and I had abroad we could do that for a good few years.

Talk soon and thanks for checking back.

Service temporarily disrupted.

This would be quite a clever strapline if the disruption wasn't already so evident in the fact that I'm two weeks behind in my entries. Not a great deal happened to be fair apart from smacking my head in a wall resulting in a bruised eye that sailed dangerously close to impacting on my Florida face. I managed to get below (maybe by 0.1 of a lb) 13 stone which I was pleased with, though I didn't managed to achieve the adonis like figure hewn from stone that I was aiming for.

I'm going to be in Florida from 14th Sept to 1st October and then it will still probably be an age before I get back to posting up the journals. This is primarily because I want to concentrate on writing up the trip report while it's still fresh in my mind.

Even if the holiday is pants, which I hope it won't be, I want a memory of it for the future and just like with Vegas, a trip report is a nice keepsake. That and of course 7,000 photographs.

I had printed out some cards to hand out if we come across anyone interesting whilst over there but with having only handed out practically 10 in the last two years, I will more than likely come back home with them all.

I don't know how this table will turn or how the formatting will look but for those interested this is our plan of attack. To be fair most of my regular readers have already been bored, sorry presented with this but new readers might be interested to see where I am and what I'm doing.

Take care everyone.


A quiet weekend becomes a busy one - 03/09/07

Started the new week, ok Tuesday, by at last ordering a new mobile phone. I must have had my current Samsung D500 since I started at where I work now. It's served me well and I could never be bothered to upgrade it as I was always waiting for something that I really, really liked to come out. The Up cursor key had ceased working a good few months ago but the phone still performed all it's other functions. The approaching holiday was a good catalyst for getting a new, better looking. It would please M & P as they'd been riding my arse for not getting a new one.

The Samsung served me well and I always remember the free MP3 tune that came on it as I used to continually play it whilst I would do the washing up or tea making in the old office. The little kitchen area was through a few doors and hence would be very quiet without anything playing. The tune became synonymous with my first few weeks here as I became accustomed to a totally different way of working and being treated.

Anyway I decided to upgrade to the MotoKRZR K1 black which is the first flip phone I've ever had. It looks quite cool and I'll look forward to it arriving. The t-shirts that I ordered last week for the two of us to wear on the day we fly to Orlando arrived and looked great. Of course one can't be sure of the weather in the UK when we go so I can't be sure if I'll have to wear a jumper but I hope not. We've decided that we will take the train up to London Bridge and then take another down to Gatwick. It will be a pain lugging the suitcases around but no more hassle than sitting in traffic on the M25, the cost of parking or the begging for someone to give us a lift. Besides having done the commuter thing for enough years it will be nice to sit on the train with all the other people going to their jobs safe in the knowledge that I'm heading off somewhere far more exciting.

Started work on compiling three playlists for America. The hire car might have an MP3 jack if it is the very latest model of the type that was mentioned on the tickets. If not I'm going to burn three disks. Pop, rock and soundtracks. I'm going to have to be tough, and hopefully maintain the quality, by limiting them to just 78 minutes. After much deliberation of which track to get went for a tune from the third Pirates of the Caribbean film to include on the soundtracks playlist. I've only seen the first in the trilogy but I like the music and it is an iconic Disney ride so it needs to be on there. As does the brilliant Armageddon theme for when we drive to Kennedy.

Pushed hard in the gym on Wednesday and when I weighed myself had dipped just below the 13 stone mark. I realise that it won't give a completely fair representation of my weight when I've probably sweated off so much perspiration but at least the previous times I've weighed myself have been at the same time.

I contemplated hitting the gym again on Thursday but decided to do a little further internet research in an attempt to claw back the week long backlog that I've got on my journal. I was also looking for a cow print/patterned (I really like cows) suitcase for the holiday. I've got a suitcase but my brother needs one and if I could find a cow print one I'd have it and give him mine. I did see one in Matalan about a year ago but naturally didn't need it at the time. I couldn't find anything online. Well nothing reasonably priced that is. I did however stumble on a blog called http://www.foreveramber.co.uk/ . I like the writing style of the author. She's honest, self deprecating and can't stand Little Britain which is a huge plus.

Spent a good few hours chatting online with Kentucky Girl, which was great. What with her and me being busy at different times we've managed to pass other and it was nice to be reminded that humour levels are still there.

Friday was still busy at work though more for the company than me directly. Went out that evening on an impromptu whim as a friends of M's was going to be out. It meant that M drove for a change and my brother and I could drink. We had a relaxed timetable meaning that we didn't get to the bar until around 10:30 so it wasn't going to be a massive session. Still we bumped into female cousins on my step dads side who I hadn't seen for sometime which was good. It was nice to hook up with them and remind them what a great guy I am.

At one point I was dancing with them on the dance floor and these two full of themselves girls seemed to be doing everything they could to get my attention. Pussycats Dolls style dancing and accidental-deliberate brushing. I noticed them but I didn't pay them any attention. I wasn't being arrogant but I had noticed them earlier and I could have been invisible to them at that point. Now though, I think because I was dancing with some other women, they were desperate to get my attention. It was clear that they weren't interested in me but rather the challenge on trying to get me to appreciate them whilst I was with other women.

Walked two of my cousins home, whilst M kindly drove the other one home. As most women are, they seem shocked and surprised at our chivalry but if girls 'hang' with us for a night we like to ensure they get home safely. It also allowed my brother and I to 'tab' the three miles back home which is only beneficial for fitness levels for the holiday.

Saturday was the norm of a big lie in followed by a big gym session. I'd ummed and ahhed about going out that night as I wanted to save some money for the holiday but you can't keep a middle aged single man in on a Saturday night can you? Started off in Blackheath and M and brother started hitting the beers. Moved onto the Venue which had a great proportion of women to men. As we went up on the main floor I saw a girl as soon as I walked in and knew immediately that I fancied her.

We started dancing near her gang whilst she and her friends seemed to fend off the attentions of an assortment of guys. Later she was dancing and although we had not exchanged any eye contact she was dancing very close to me. She wasn't blatantly rubbing up against me and looked a little too classy to do something like that but she was brushing against me. It's so hard to know whether it's deliberate or that the confines of the dancefloor just led to the coincidence of her proximity. Her and friends moved away and these two girls who had on respective black and white short and top outfits came over. They could certainly dance and the girl in black was truly stunning. If anything though she was almost too good looking that I couldn't think of her romantically.

She was so clearly capable of pulling and/or receiving the attention of anyone in the club yet she was over dancing in our vicinity and making eye contact. I don't think she was interested in any of us so I was bemused why she over here. At one point I thought maybe they were just fishing for a drink but when M offered to buy them one they requested water. They left about 30 minutes later and were even polite enough to say goodbye as they were going home. Strange.

The alcohol was hitting the boys hard now and I could see it getting to my brother. The girl that I'd seen early was trying to find her friends at one point and I pointed them out to her, for which she threw her arm around my neck and kissed me on the cheek with a thanks. Again was this because she was interested or just an affectionate friendly person. I saw her 15 minutes later on the dance floor and she gave me a beamer of a smile and a high five. Time was short by now as I could see my brother was very hammered. It's so difficult to talk in these clubs but I approached the girl and said

"I'm not very good at approaches but you are the loveliest thing I have seen all night"

She smiled and then went for another high five. It wasn't quite the approach I was expecting and made me uncertain as to whether she had actually heard me. Oh well. I should have given her a card as I had them with me but I wanted the chance to explain that I wasn't being arrogant with them but just wanted her to see a little more about me. Shame, she was very pretty. We had to evac and swung by KFC for our usual pitstop. Unfortunately the guys were so blasted by this point that they only managed a few mouthfuls. Well actually M had a few crispy strips yet my brother still managed to consume a zinger burger.

I left M's and genuinely thought I might get another chunder explosion in the car on the way home from my brother. This time a plastic bag was to hand but it wasn't need and he managed to sleep most of the way home. Bluewater on Sunday for more t-shirts and shorts for the holiday. Cooked a wicked tuna pasta and then went and saw the film Death Sentence with Kevin Bacon. It was ok but still not quite the passionate revenge film that I want to see. If these films could just provide a character that when he has a crack at his sons killers actually wants to kill them and take pleasure in avenging his loss.

I'm not meaning to come across as a psycho but if someone killed my brother and I had the chance to exact my revenge I would make sure they knew how painful the loss was and how they were going to pay for what they had done.

Apologies once again for the delay in posting. Prepping for the holiday has thrown me completely off hasn't it? Talk soon.




Final pieces to one and opening foray to another - 28/08/07

A quiet start to the week though at least I got myself down to the swimming pool, which for me is no mean feat. Over the weekend I'd read an article in the paper about a video that was doing the rounds on Youtube called "Battle at Kruger". Here's the link to it  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM

It's an amazing video. This herd of Buffalo are wandering down the edge of this river when they come across a pride of lions. Naturally the lions had already spotted them and charge them just as they get wind of them. The herd scatters and the lions manage to separate this calf from the bunch and drive it down to the rivers edge. About three of them pounce on it crashing it into the water before they start trying to suffocate it's neck. With three lions having a go, the calf's fate gets even worse when a crocodile comes out of the water and sinks it's teeth into the calf.

There is then a tug of war as the lions try to pull the calf up onto dry land and away from the croc. Eventually the croc lets go and slips back into the water. The lions turn their attention back onto the calf but are then surprised to see that the buffalo have rallied themselves and now angrily circle the pride. One of the buffalos steams in and literally throws this lion way into the air as a couple of others come in to retrieve the calf. With each lion that they annoy, the buffaloes chase after them to ensure that they have been driven away. You are then finally left with this one lion, who amazingly still thinks it can take the buffalos on singlehandedly. Even this one is eventually chased away and the calf manages to, albeit shakily, rejoin its group.

It's one of the most amazing vidoes I've seen. I know that buffaloes are big and tough but the idea of them plucking up the collective courage to 'front up' to the lions is pretty cool in my book.

On Tuesday M & P mentioned about how they were thinking of ideas for our Christmas trip. I knew the time was coming around but wouldn't have been as presumptious to assume that we would be treated again. Becoming complacent about their continued generosity isn't something that I want to happen to myself.

P gave me a loose list of places that she had been thinking of and gave me free reign to have a gander round for places that might be worth us checking out. It's like being a kid in a sweet shop. We wanted something of a similar price to our Barcelona trip and that was within a 3-4 hour travel time. I listed some of the places I fancied. Rome, Monte Carlo, Krakow, Lisbon and we chatted about where to go. We didn't want somewhere that was the choice of a million stag parties (all of Eastern Europe) or that was warm bearing in mind the last two trips had been to warmer climates.

To be honest I don't know how we got there but P and I ended up looking at Austria and in particular Salzburg. The scenery around there is stunning and P fancied the idea of seeing some of the Christmas markets that they have in those areas. Considering the hedonism that my brother and I hope to enjoy in Florida, the notion of a fresh aired, clean living break had a lot of appeal. Using Expedia and TripAdvisor I had a look around for some decent hotels. The ones within Salzburg itself looked very nice but I do enjoy the idea of a pool and leisure facilities at a hotel. Especially after how much I liked the ones at both The Bellagio and Hotel 1898.

I discovered a hotel that was about 12km outside the city. Initially I thought it was too far out and M & P wouldn't entertain the idea of somewhere that either needed a hire car or plenty of taxi's to get to but they seemed to like the idea and the notion of getting a car from Avis wasn't a stumbling block. Here is a link to the site and I think you'll agree it looks pretty cool. It's positioning on the lake looks fabulous and the views from one of the main restaurants looks spectacular.

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/luxury/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1366

There seems to be plenty of things to do in the surrounding areas; gorges, ice caves and salt mines. Hitlers Eagles Nest is nearby and the area is considered Austria's lake district. Unfortunately a lot of the things including the ice caves and Hitlers nest are seasonal and close at the end of October. Still, the salt mines are open all year as naturally are the lakes. I confess to getting quite excited about it. I've never been to this area of Europe and it's good to be able to look forward to Florida knowing that I've still got another trip in the bag.

Wednesday was spent, as well as working naturally, adding the final pieces to the Florida holiday. My brother and I wanted to check out an ice hockey game whilst we are down in Tampa. The Tampa Bay Lightnings won the stanley cup in 2004 and hence are a useful team. The actual season won't have started when we head down there but they are playing a pre-season game against the Detroit Red Wings, a team that I don't like and are the equivalant of Manchester United over here. Ticketmaster were handling the sale of the tickets but didn't start selling the tickets online until the Wednesday. I'd gotten advice from Kentucky Girl, whose been to a few ice hockey games, where the best seats were. She'd suggested the second tier, opposite the players bench about half way up. Ticketmaster ran on a system of automatically generating tickets for you and if you didn't like them searching again for another selection.

The very first ones that it displayed were in exactly the place that KG had suggested but unfortunately I needed to check on how I was going to collect the tickets as well as get my account details to hand. The system only gave me two minutes to secure the tickets before it generated another set. These new ones were on the other side of the rink and not where I wanted. I then started a campaign of repeatedly logging on in the hope that it would 'cycle through' and offer up the tickets it had at the very start.

It didn't want to play ball and I became increasingly frustrated, worried that I'd blown my chance for decent seats and in the end it just stopped allowing me access. Whether the whole site had come down I doubt but it refused to let me go on until the afternoon of the following day. I even phoned up St Pete's Forum, where the hockey is taking place, but they couldn't help me. I was so pissed off and angry that I might have ruined the chance of getting perfect tickets that I couldn't bring myself to go to the gym.

What I did work on though was the t-shirts for my brother and I to wear on the day we travelled. From the money I'd already spent on spreadshirt they had provided me with some vouchers which I used to create some final t-shirts. They looked quite cool in light blue with Broz in Orlandoz on the front and the numbers 1 and 2 in an American college fashion on the back of the respective t-shirts. 

Thursday came and after some more Salzburg research the ticket master website let me back on in the afternoon. Amazingly the first tickets it offered me were the very ones I wanted. I hurriedly snatched them up and then felt pretty cool that we'd managed to get exactly where we wanted. All I needed to do was sort out the accommodation in Tampa and everything would be in place, bar final bits of clothing etc.

Made sure to hit the gym that night for a particularly hard and sweaty session. I don't normally go on a Thursday, and if I do it's normally to the pool, so this made a change. When I got off the bike all wobbly legged with a sweat darkened t-shirt I noticed this cute little honey with her mate on the cyclic machines. She had a lovely curvy figure and a short blond hair, which just emphasised her curves even more. I looked over a couple of times and when I looked out of the window I think I caught her looking over. I got the impression, or at least my mind occupied itself with psycho-analysing her whilst I worked out, that it was her friend who normally got all the attention.

She got off with her friend about 10 minutes later (I mean dismounted from the machine rather than engaged in a little 'hot action) and went round to the mat areas. I finished my session as normal and deliberately didn't rush it to prevent missing them. When I walked round they were both lying down with their feet towards the window and their heads and cleavages pointing into the room. I'm not a perv but it was a nice view and I defy any man to admit that he wouldn't have quickly glanced at the same sight.

I flopped down onto a mat and started doing some crunches. I had the nano on and my eyes closed. I'm not going to look over I told myself. Just carry on doing what you are doing and concentrate on your reps. I must have hit somewhere in the mid 20's when I shot an impulsive glance over. Just at that moment she had her head craned right back and looked at me. I looked away sheepishly, cheeks flushing and feeling like a 12 year old that had been caught gawping. You could say that she must have been looking at me but maybe that was in fear from the gym pervert. Oh well, maybe I'll see her in there another time.

After a bad lunch on Friday and much internet research I booked the accommodation for the two days we are in Tampa. There seemed to be loads of hotels to choose from and not many with great write ups. In the end I went for the Embassy Suites which is not only directly opposite the ice hockey arena but also comes with a full cooked breakfast which looks great. The hotel was completely renovated about a year ago, the rooms all have a bedroom and separate living room, there is a pool and every night a free 'managers reception' where you get drinks and canapas. It runs from 5.30 - 7.30 pm and with the game starting at 7.30, I'm sure we will be partaking of this benefit. With all of this the per room cost was about £80 a night, which seems excellent value to me. Driving home I felt very contented. All the major stuff was booked and paid for.

Saturday was the normal long lay in followed by a punishing gym session. There was a woman in the sauna who started rubbing herself down which I thought a little vulgar. There's nothing wrong with rubbing your face or an aching limb but basically exfoliating in the sauna is out of order in my book.

Coming home I felt fine until I exploded into an uncharacteristic moment of road rage. I approached this mini roundabout at the same time as another car did from the left hand exit. As you know you have to give way to the right, so I had the right of way. Anyway this guy left his braking ridiculously late and overshot where he was meant to stop. This also forced me to slow as I wasn't sure if he was going to carry on. As I slowly drove past him I shot him a long look. He then had the audacity to flip me the bird.

I exploded with rage. He was in the wrong and driving like an idiot yet he gives me the finger! I hit the brakes just over the roundabout and glared back at him. He also pulled to a stop just over the roundabout. That was it. I lost it. The handbrake came up, the door was flung open and I was steaming out of the car at a rate of knots.

"What the fuck is your problem?" 

I must have looked a sight with my wet hair, arctic combats and headphones swinging around my neck as I marched towards his car. He gesticulated the wanking motion at me and started to pull away. This only added petrol to my anger and I started chasing his car down the road screaming at him to

"Get out of the car then you coward"

He clearly shat himself as he sped away and I turned to storm back to my car. Nobody said anything to me and all other traffic seemed to have miraculously taken other routes. I was shaking a little but more at the outrage. This guy was in the wrong yet he felt he could fight fire with fire rather than simply admitting he'd made a mistake. It's amazing how a simple acknowledgement that you've made an error can defuse someones anger and I've certainly apologised when I've done something wrong. This guy assumed though that he could go around acting like a prick. Lord knows how many people he has intimidated with that approach but not with me and not today.

I can't abide bullies and although I'm not a fighter and could well have been battered senseless, though a quick glance had sized up that I could take this guy, something inside me snapped that I wasn't going to take this guys bullshit. I'm not a violent yob nor do I profess to be tough but his attitude incensed me and it demanded a confrontation. Whether this will be my last entry because I've pulled the same shit on a complete nutter I don't know but on this occasion I had to do something.

We were uncertain how many people would be out over the bank holiday weekend going on previous occasions but still decided to give it go. We might as well not have bothered. Our usual haunt was virtually empty and once you feel the rot of 'this is going to be a crap night' set in, it's hard to reverse the trend. We stopped in at a friends for a cup of tea on the way to dropping M off. Managed to take a gander a book called '1001 natural wonders to see before you die'. A pretentious title but it did mention some places in Austria which if close could be worth checking out. I think one was Lamprecht's Cave, which is supposed to be one of the deepest and largest cave systems in the world.

The Turkish F1 grand prix was on Sunday but it was a little boring despite a puncture from Lewis Hamilton which dropped him to a fifth place finish, which makes the championship even tighter. After this brother and I headed up to Bluey to get some holiday bits. I ordered the light blue Nike Air Rifts that I've been dithering about for the past few weeks aswell as getting some shorts and t-shirts. I know everyone has said that I can get Nike's in the US but I know from making a few phonecalls that you can't get these ones where we are going and I can't even find them on the internet. So I can't even bore you with a shot of them.

Hired out Wild Hogs and Alphadog on DVD that night. The first one was genuinely funny and although far from earth shattering was more entertaining than we thought it might be. The second film was just poor. Stupid, white rich kids playing gangsters. I know it was supposed to be based on a true story but these punks looked about 12 and already seemed to be living the party, flash car lifestyle due to their rich and disinterested parents, so why they needed to be gangsters is beyond me. Justin Timberlake was in it and he was ok but the real star was this guy (Ben Foster) who played the older brother of this kid who was abducted and murdered. He just loses it down the phone at this rival gang leader and it was an awesome spectacle. He reminds me of a younger, more talented Sean Penn. Go about six minutes into this clip and you'll see what I mean. The lip synching is off a little which is a shame but I think his power still comes across.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yLLhB8cYKA&mode=related&search=

Annoyingly this was this last characters scene in the film as after this they completely forgot about him. Other characters in the film were just annoying, including the abducted kid who decides to stay with his abducteees because 'he didn't want to make things difficult for his brother'. I'm sure it was meant to come across as an eye opening warning but in reality was nothing more than a piece of pretentious wank.

Bank Holiday Monday involved a little more shopping locally and then a trip to the swimming pool. I wasn't sure how busy the pool might be but there are few better things than walking out to a virtually deserted pool. I managed to nail out 102 lengths without stopping or putting my feet down. It was knackering and took me just over an hour but I felt good. Followed this with a trip to Bluey to catch a film and something to eat. Such was our contempt for Toasties that we decided to try TGI's. The burger was better but the chef was still a stingy chip giver. They also laid underneath the food this greaseproof branded sheet of paper. It might make it pleasing to the eye but when you've given me a knife and fork and a selection of sauces have a guess what might happen to that paper base when a little sauce is added and I need to cut up my food.

Followed this with The Bourne Ultimatum. It suffered from a ridiculous amount of shaky cam which is still incredibly frustrating but my eyes thankfully managed to adapt to it quickly. I found the film really entertaining. Practically every scene involved a healthy dollop of tension and some clever work. I know the guys didn't rate it but I felt it certainly delivered and going on first impressions was probably my favourite of the three.

Take care.