darrenkerwin

Bone idleness..

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:20:14 GMT

Well, for anyone that actually bothers to read my blog, I thought i'd post something here. The reason I no longer do so is because I think it's pointless to explain how i'm feeling and let other people read it. If I have problems, i'd rather keep them to myself or just tell close friends. The only thing I will say is that at the minute, I have mixed feelings about my life. Improvements have happened, but i'm sure something is going to happen to change things.

Anyway, i'll post here again sometime, hopefully sooner than the last gap

Valentines day

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:04:46 GMT

Well its that time of year again, valentines day. I thought this year I would be spoiling someone rotten, but it hasn't happened for me. Maybe i'm not looking hard enough, maybe i'm too picky or maybe its just me people are not interested in. Not sure what to say other than I hope if you have someone special in your life you show them exactly how much they mean to you every single day, not just for valentines day.

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 13:02:02 GMT

Sorry this is short, but a Merry Christmas to to all my friends on Live Journal!

Facebook

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 12:34:58 GMT

Its been so long since I last updated this, but its because of facebook. That site is probably the best site i've ever visited ever! If you haven't signed up to it, I strongly reccomend doing so, its amazing!

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 10:30:50 GMT

I haven’t updated this in forever, I guess I neglect this more than I realise. Things have been a bit up and down with me recently, I’ve had a job interview from Greenwoods recently, and so far I’ve had no answer back from them, but at least it was good experience! I’ve also had two other interview offers that I’ve had to turn down for reasons such as distance and for the fact that it just wouldn’t be worth it. For example, a Saturday job in Hull, it would cost me more in train fairs than the wage itself! It would have been fine if I were at college in Hull, but that is no longer possible. In fact, college itself might not even be possible now; I might just have to settle for a couple of part time courses.

But not all is lost, I have another interview on Tuesday for Woolworths, I believe its to work on their entertainment desk, which will involve me selling games, videos, DVD’s and such. I guess that’s a bit better than working in Greenwoods selling clothes. I’ll let you know how I get on with that afterwards. At least I’ll look the part, I was looking for a suit at my work placement (Oxfam, at least its good for something!) and all I found was crappy suit jackets that were of absolute rubbish quality. However, just before I gave up, I noticed in a cupboard in the back room that there was a dry cleaned suit bag, and when I opened it, I was quite surprised. I had found a 200 quid Hugo Boss designer suit! I quickly tried it on and not only was it in immaculate condition; it was also a perfect fit! I didn’t think my luck could get any better, but it did when I managed to get it for a ridiculously low price of 15 pounds! (Beat that Robin!)

Speaking of Oxfam, it’s starting to get a little bit boring now, there are a few problems still going on such as bitchiness that really isn’t necessary. Actually, it’s quite pathetic. Plus, one of the volunteers there has it in for me; I think it’s an age thing. Not only is there ageism going on there, but also one of the volunteers is homophobic, which isn’t a good thing. Anyway, I’ve had to make several complains and hopefully things should be straightened out next week. They’ll have to be; otherwise I’ll be leaving there. I got bored one day, hence the picture:

(Sorry it took so long!)

You can see it as a caption competition if you like, who can come up with the best phrase?

Anyway, today is my day off (I bloody deserve it) and I’m going to get a nice salad or something for lunch.

I'm still alive...just!

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 11:19:12 GMT

Well, its actually nice to know that people actually do read this blog, I’ve had a few requests that I update it with something recently, and you know who you are, so this is for you!

Well basically a lot has happened over the past few weeks, I’ve been ill with glandular fever, which actually turned out to be tonsillitis, even though that wasn’t 100% confirmed. I had to take a week off work and most of the time I was laid in bed with severe headaches and a chest infection on top of it all.

I was just going to rant about my problems regarding my family, but I decided that it’s probably not worth mentioning as I have it under control at the moment. However, it does involve lies, deception and learning that even the people you trust the most in life can let you down. Heh, sounds like the plot to a bad movie or something…

I’ve also been addicted to face book, I’ve had numerous requests that I sign up to it, but I never bothered to. In the end I gave in and joined to see what all the fuss was about. It’s a good job that I did, I found that most of my friends use it, and I actually located a couple of old school friends, one of which I’ve been trying to find for years!

Games wise hmm…well, I recently bought the new ‘More Brain Training’ the sequel to Brain Training on the DS. This version is a bit more difficult than its predecessor; not exactly the most fun game in my vast collection of games, but it does make you feel smarter. Plus, it was only 19.99 so it hardly broke the bank. As for upcoming games, Paper Mario for the N64 has just come to the virtual console on the Wii, so I will most likely be buying that. It will be my first virtual console download, and I can’t wait to finally play it. Also, October the 26^th is the release of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, one game I have been waiting for an extremely long time and my most anticipated game. The game looks absolutely fantastic, better than I could have even imagined it would be. Second to that, is Super Paper Mario, which brings classic Mario together with RPG elements to make a fun and exciting game. Again, this will also be in my collection by the end of the year. It will be released on September 14^th, but I think I’ll wait for a price drop.

Oh and speaking of games, my most recent gaming achievement, a score of 1286 in Warioware Smooth Movies, has made it to number 2 in ONM (Official Nintendo Magazine UK) which I am quite pleased about. I shall try and get a scan soon, or if you still don’t believe me, go buy the magazine now and see for yourself!

Erm I guess that’s it for now, I will try and update this a bit more often from now on, sorry it took so long!

And now, the present!

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 11:15:40 GMT

Firstly, here's a little trailer I made, enjoy! :)

Ok now for a more recent update. The trip to visit David went quite well, the trains ran smoothly and the visit itself was quite a decent one. I am starting to be more confident with the trains now, and its nice to break free of familiar surroundings. This may sound very silly, but it’s actually the first time I’ve used a train since I was six years old! We’ve never had any reason to use them in the past, all our family live close to each other and if we’ve ever visited anywhere, it’s been in the car or on coach. However I do like traveling by train, so it’s something I shall be doing more often from now.

Oh and look out for this Fridays copy of Official Nintendo Magazine, hopefully I will be number one in the Tower Tennis challenge! If I do make it, I’ll be sure to put a scan of it here for you all to look at!

Sorry, meant to update this last week, so its a bit out of date o_O

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 11:16:24 GMT

Still feeling quite stressed, but knowing I have people around me to help me if I need it is a comforting thought. The job placement is going extremely well, a month into it and I’m learning quite a lot! I also help out at the Oxfam book shop now, so that’s two shops I’m working at now! The only downside is that I have yet to look into this New CLAiT course, I really want to take it up, but I simply don’t have the time to do it! I don’t want to travel miles away just to do it, I wish it was available to do closer to home. I have heard that I can do it online though, and apparently there is a CD rom of some sort with the units on it that I can work on, then send off. Not sure if this is true or not, so if anyone knows this, please let me know as it would help me greatly!

Last week, I made a visit to Hull, and went to stay with my sister at her new place. Because of this, I managed to get online and chat to many of my friends for quite a few days. It was great to be back online again and catching up with everyone (You know who you all are!) Plus, it was good to catch up with old friends who I haven’t spoken to since I left the Internet! It’s amazing how they have changed considering it’s only been a year.

This weekend, my friend David is coming to visit again, and then I get to go back to his place for a few days. Another nice break away I think! This also means I’ll be able to go online and chat to people once again, but probably not for long, can’t be ignorant to the host! I am thankful that he is going to allow me to use his wifi so I can update my Wii with two major system updates and also so I can download the Opera Browser while its free. I may even buy a few Wii Points to purchase a few Megadrive games. The two games I have in mind at the moment are Streets of Rage and Gunstar Heroes (love em!) But maybe I should wait for Paper Mario, if they ever decide to release it on the Virtual Console over here…

Speaking of games, I have just submitted a high score to Official Nintendo Magazine for a game called Warioware Smooth Moves on the Wii. On the game is a mini game called Tower Tennis. The game is pretty easy to start off with, but it gets faster and faster as the game goes along. The highest score was 800 or something, so I hope I have done enough! This will be the second time I’ve managed to get my name in ONM, so anyone who buys the magazine, make sure you give it a look (I’ll probably scan the picture to prove it if I do beat it!)

I’ve also had a change in hair colour, its blonde again, but this time, its much lighter. I’ll try and get around to taking a picture or two to put here so you can see how old I’m looking these days. Also, I’ve finally stopped biting my nails! It’s been four or so days so far since I last bit them, so hopefully I am getting out of the habit (thank goodness!) Lets hope it continues!

Over the next few months, I want to start writing a song. My plans for songs based upon my favorite videogames have been put on hold for a while until I find a decent composer who will be willing to write music. I had someone perfect for the Metroid song I wrote, but he’s very busy. However this week, I am going to post something on OCRemix (a videogame remixing community) and see if anyone is willing to take the project on once the lyrics are finished and polished up.

I guess that’s it for now, I’ll try and get around to updating this again soon when something new comes up!

Long time no see..

Tue, 08 May 2007 11:07:10 GMT

Wow, I haven’t updated this in a long time…

The reason for that is because I have been under a fair bit of stress, and instead of boring other people with the details; I decided to keep it to myself for once. Besides, things are looking up for me now.

Last week I started a work placement with Oxfam, and so far it’s going fantastically well! I am working extremely hard, focusing all my energy into the job and hoping that I get a good reference from it. The fact that its only a voluntary job means that I can learn and build my confidence levels, learn new skills and prepare myself for a job in the future. It will also look good on my CV, so at the moment everyone is a winner! Perhaps this is the key to finding a decent job over here. I am also hoping to take up New CLAiT, which I’m sure everyone has heard of. For those of you who don’t, its simply a basic ICT qualification that is recognized by many. I’m sure with the work experience, new qualifications and improved confidence, I will be well on my way to achieving something great in life.

I’ve also been obsessed with a new game recently, Pokemon Diamond. Yep, the long running videogame series continues, and its probably the best one yet. I have actually completed the game, but I am now working hard to train up a decent team to take online and battle against my friends across the planet. The game itself is not much different from its predecessors, and maintains the same graphical power with a 3D effect. The attacks have improved, and attacks such as Solarbeam, Fireblast and Surf look fantastic. The music has vastly improved in quality, but remains true to the series. Of course, the fact that these games take full advantage of Nintendo’s Wifi servers mean that we can now battle, trade and play against the world. Oh and may I point out that Pokemon can’t be considered ‘kiddy’ anymore, you should see the amount of IV, EV and stat training you need to do in the game in order to make your team strong, not to mention pokemon’s natures and abilities! It was never this simple with Red/Blue…

For anyone that is interested, my friend code for the game is: 3522 – 8557 – 9946

Well I guess that’s it for now, everything else I wanted to say is just depressing and boring, so I won’t bore you with it all. Until next time…!

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 10:34:19 GMT

Just a quick message to apologize for my comments about the PS3 in my last entry. I wasn’t being biased, I think all consoles have their good points, but it’s just how people react over graphics and don’t care about how much it costs. Plus my predictions have been confirmed, the PS3 has already had a price drop on Play.com and the price is now 399.99 (A 25 pounds drop just a week after release) so does that mean that retailers are set to follow? I’ll be keeping a close eye on it for those who are interested.

Oh and if anyone is interested, Argos are doing a clearance of videogames at the moment. If you look on their website in the games section, or in the clearance section, you should see the deals. For example, Metroid Prime Hunters is selling for a stupidly low price of 9.99 (Which used to be 29.99 and still is in most shops!) and games such as Twlight Princess is selling for 20 quid! (Sells at 39.99 in most places!) So if you want a bargin, reserve yourself a few copies of the games you want and run like hell to your nearest Argos to pick them up! Especially Twlight Princess…

We went to Cleethorpes on Good Friday, it was a nice day out, but there wasn’t that much to do. I was tempted to have a go at DDR, but chickened out. I messed up big the last time I played it in public. Some pictures:

My niece insisted she take a picture of me buried in the sand…dang, should have escaped while I had the chance!

The Pier (Which has a pub, very nice!)

Me on the Pier

Hope everyone is having a good Easter so far, I don’t have much else to say, so here is a picture of Link looking all evil and cool like…enjoy!

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 14:59:41 GMT

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been taking part in some days out with a company called Endeavor, which have helped to improve my confidence. Its part of a two week course that the job center has asked me to do that should help me find a job. Thankfully they didn’t make me feel like I was some bum that didn’t want a job. They actually understood my circumstances and have helped me with a lot of issues.

On some days during the course, our group went out to Market Raisen to take part in some team building exercises. These involved things ranging from problem solving puzzles to building a bridge!

On the first of the three days, we did some map reading, which involved us pairing up and trying to guide the rest of the team towards posts with letters on them. At the end of the day, we gathered up all the letters to some anagram (If I remember correctly). It was quite fun, and I realize more than ever now that I am absolutely rubbish with directions! (As you very well know Kieran!)

The second day was all about communication and teamwork in order to overcome certain challenges, such as guiding each other through ‘minefields’ with imaginary plots and stuff. Some of us were blindfolded and we had to walk through the ‘minefield’ by our team mates shouting directions at us. The others were absolutely rubbish, I got killed about 12 times, but I did quite well, shouting ‘Sidestep to your left, turn 90 degrees to your right, walk forward’ and so on. Yep, reminded me much of Knightmare, couldn’t help but think about that. The final challenge of the day was to build a bridge out of logs and rope. We had to build two A frames and the bridge and tie them all together in such a way so it was safe for us to walk from one end of a ditch to the other. Surprisingly it was strong enough to hold about four or five of us at a time, as the picture proves. (I wasn’t looking at the camera when they took the pic)

On the final day, we went back to take on some high rope challenges. These varied in height from 15 feet right up to 40 feet. It might not seem high, but believe me when you’re up there with an extreme fear of heights, and you’re only held there with just a rope as your fallback… Each challenge got more and more difficult as we went along. In the morning we did simple balancing exercises and some shorter and lower versions of the ropes that we would be doing in the afternoon. Of course this was extremely easy and I flew across them with no problems. However I was only one or two feet off the ground for those…

Here are a few pictures from the first challenge. Sorry about how small these are:

I have videos of the higher and tougher challenges, if anyone would like to see them then I will gladly send them to you. However please be warned that they involve a fair bit of swearing (mostly on my part when I have to jump and when I thought I was going to die!) Speaking of jumping, I did a fair bit of that, mostly from great heights. The feeling you get from it is indescribable! I wouldn’t call it an adrenalin rush, but it’s certainly a leap into the unknown. You have to have a lot of trust in people, which is something I have difficulty doing these days.

Overall the experience was good, the course has helped me meet some new friends, built my confidence, social skills and its even given me the incentive to try new things.

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 12:26:14 GMT

Copied from Billy and Bex, bleh!

You.
Can.
Only.
Type.
One.
Word.

1. Where is your cell phone?
Close

2. Describe your boyfriend/girlfriend?
Nonexistant

3. Your hair?
Short

4. Your mother?
Downstairs

5. Your father?
Drunk (probably)

6. Your favourite item?
Mobile

7. Your dream last night?
Terrifying

8. Your favourite drink?
Tea

9. Your dream car?
BMW Z3

10. The room you are in?
Bedroom

11. Your ex?
Dunno

12. Your fear?
Heights

13. What do you want to be in 10 years?
Alive

14. Who did you hang out with last night?
Mother

15. What you're not?
Boring

19. The last thing you did?
TV

20. What are you wearing?
Boxers

22. Your favorite book?
Few

23. The last thing you ate?
Chicken

24. Your life?
Stressful

25. Your mood?
Energized

26. Your friends?
Amazing

27. What are you thinking about right now?
Sleep

28. Your car?
Nonexistent

29. What are you doing at the moment?
Typing

30. Your summer?
Unknown

31. Your relationship status?
Single

32. What is on your tv?
Football

33. When is the last time you laughed?
Today

34. Last time you cried?
Weeks

35. School?
Nonexistant

Copy.
Paste.
And.
Answer.
The.
Questions.
In.
One.
Word.

Oh and I survived the high rope challenge yesterday, I have videos and pictures if anyone wants them. I may upload some pictures to here in my next journal update, but if anyone wants the videos, just let me know!

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:40:57 GMT

Last week was the release of Casino Royale on DVD, and I was stood outside HMV before they opened, was the first person in the shop to buy the DVD and probably one of the first in the UK. It was great to actually watch it all again, I missed a little bit of it when I was in the cinema because I had to leave to use the toilet…ahem anyway!

Yep there it is, alongside my poster that I bought a few weeks ago. Four long years since the last bond movie, but just another two until the next. I’m starting to hear little bits of information for Bond 22, but to be honest at this stage; I don’t take any of it as gospel truth until it is confirmed officially. All I know for certain is that Bond 22 will be a direct sequel to Casino Royale staring Daniel Craig (obviously) and will begin shooting in January 2008 for a November 2008 release (date still to be confirmed, but I believe it to be the 7^th at the moment).

Last week also saw the release of the Playstation 3 in the UK. The console retailed at a ridiculously overpriced 425 pounds. Some places opened at midnight for the launch, and some opened very early the next day for people to buy the console. I don’t believe PS3 is exactly hard to come by; the Wii was released almost five months ago now and are still extremely hard to come across. However I have finally seen one preowned in Gamestation, so I am guessing that anyone who hasn’t yet been able to get one will probably get one easily very soon!

So who has bought/seen Casino Royale and what do you think to it compared to the other 20 bond movies in the series? Also who has bought themselves a playstation 3 and give me good reasons to prove it’s worth every penny?

Oh and this week I’ll be walking across a rope 40 feet in the air and doing a spot of bungee jumping! Yep, bet nobody was expecting me to say that! It’s with a company called Endeavor, which also includes team building exercises and confidence building. Should be interesting, I’ll let you know how it goes!

Oh and if anyone knows the location of the Reekfish on Zelda: Twilight Princess, please speak up! I've tried the fishing hole and I can't find anything x.x

I think I have too many games...

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 14:18:02 GMT

I can’t believe how large my games collection has grown! I took a count of all my games (excluding my Spectrum, Amstrad, Commodore and Amiga games) and I have 94 games! 12 of which are for the SNES, 22 for the N64, 21 for the Gamecube, 10 for the GBA, 11 for the DS, 5 for the Gameboy/Colour, 2 for the Wii and 11 for the Playstation 1.

The latest addition to my games collection is Starwing for the SNES. I thought a fiver was quite reasonable for such a classic game. It wasn’t on my want list, but I am still glad I got it. I also saw Yoshi’s island, but decided it was easier to come by than Starwing. Since I have moved house, I have had my games stored in a glass cabinet and will soon be attached to my wall when the decorating is done…if it gets done!

We are almost a quarter of the way through 2007 already, and it feels like its just flown past. Before I know it, its going to be 2008…2009…probably 2017 at this rate! Even though I’m keeping myself busy at home by learning all these new skills, I still don’t feel like I’m achieving much. Job searching has gone a bit crap, two of the jobs I was not qualified for and one of the others were in high demand and someone else got it. The really bad news is that Gamestation aren’t taking on any staff, and even if they were, there is a huge amount of CV’s and applications for people that want to work there. With no work experience, I doubt they would even give me the time of day. It’s a shame though, I like to think that I get along with all the staff in there, and I just know I’d fit in well. Bleh, does anyone have any tips/advice they can give me that might help me get this job?

There is hope though, a local mobile phone shop close to me needs staff, I have applied for it, hopefully I can get some sort of work to tide me over for a while.

That’s pretty much it I suppose, I think I’ve updated my journal quite a bit recently, I don’t like to update too much because I rarely have anything to say that’s worth commenting on, but thanks for putting up with them anyway!

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 14:28:23 GMT

Yesterday, I went along to South Kelsey to a place called Hall Farm. It was mostly for my nieces benefit, but I still took part in a few of the activities with her to keep her happy (that’s my excuse for I wanted a go!)

I managed to nag one of the go-karts and raced my niece. This is me at the finish line, with my niece not too far behind. Yeah I think I took it too seriously and competitively. Blah!

This is me on the Dingy ride. The whole slope is made from polystyrene (I think) and works pretty well. Much fun, if only I did these things more when I was younger. I look so silly doing it now. I decided to be a bit daring and go down the slope standing up!

We also looked around the farm at a few of the animals. I thought I recognized my sister in law, but it turns out it was just the pig. I would have uploaded pictures of the animals, but I’m sure you’ve all seen farm animals before. However we did see a Llama, which I thought was a bit unusual. If anyone wants the pictures, let me know and I’ll e-mail them.

For the rest of the day we were basically sat down in the café drinking tea and being boring. Before we went home, we went on a tour of the farm. It was actually on a tractor ride, which was strange but different. At least it was somewhere that got me out of the house, I rarely get to places these days so I took the opportunity to just go for it. My mother even had a go on the Go Karts and the dingy ride, and anyone that’s actually seen my mother will know how hilarious that would look.

For anyone who has a Wii and has the latest Zelda game Twilight Princess, I am currently up to the Gerudo Desert part, except I am stuck in the temple trying to find the final poe. I am actually considering going back through the other temples and exploring a little to get some more pieces of heart containers/upgrades. It seems there are some mini temples I’ve missed too. Got to go back and explore those! So far I haven’t had any help, and I want it to stay that way. I’ve needed the odd hint/help with a Zelda game in the past, but not this time!

There was one other picture I couldn’t add in my last journal entry because I had to convert the picture. So here it is:

In August/September 2005, Hull (The place I used to live) got quite a big lightning storm. I was watching it for about an hour through my bedroom window. I decided to capture the storm on video, and I managed to capture this lightning bolt. Of course this would have been almost impossible to take on camera, so when I played the video back on my computer, I freeze framed this moment.

Fri, 09 Mar 2007 12:10:13 GMT

Well now that I’ve found my way around LJ, I can see how great it really is. I should have moved to it sooner! I am not sure, but is it possible for LJ to have personalized layouts? If it were possible, I wouldn’t mind a Metroid related one if anyone would be willing to make it for me!

For goodness sakes, why must Twilight Princess have a water temple? That place is what stopped me progressing on Ocarina Of Time for months! Gah…I really hope I can complete this game before I have to return it. It’s such a cool game! I’ve never really been a fan of Zelda in the past (don’t hurt me!) But for the past year or so I’ve really enjoyed the franchise. For Twilight Princess, Ninty really put the effort into making the game so great, anyone who has a Wii and does not own Twilight Princess must go out and buy it. Hell, if you own a Gamecube buy it! Although be quick as I noticed the game has become pretty rare since Nintendo has stopped making first party Gamecube games. Hence very few copies of Twilight Princess for Gamecube have been made. (Made the game go up by a fiver in Gamestation, it’s now 44.99!)

Casino Royale is released on March 19^th Woohoo! Anyone who knows me well enough will know I shall be buying this on the day its released. I shouldn’t have a problem getting my hands on a copy, HMV are getting 190 copies in! When I got back into Scunthorpe after my trip to Hull, I managed to pick up the official poster for Casino Royale at Woolworths, which is now blue tacked on my bedroom wall.

I’ve noticed some people on here have uploaded pictures of stuff they have taken on their camera. I’m not really into photography, but I have taken quite a few nice pictures over the last couple of years, allow me to share some of them with you:

The two pictures here were taken at The Deep when I used to live in Hull. It’s basically a sort of sea life center, its pretty cool. These were taken through some pretty thick glass, hence the magnified effect. I was actually on a date at the time! Thankfully we still talk to one another, so at least he didn’t think it was a weird place to take someone!

This picture was taken at Alton Towers when I visited there with college back in 2005. It just stood out to me, so I had to take a snap of it. There was also a very nice waterfall I spotted, but that didn’t come out as good as this one. I’ll try and upload it when I get the chance.

Finally, this is a picture of the sunset from my bedroom window here in Brigg. It was taken last summer when we had all that good weather. I am quite happy how this one turned out.

Oh and some good news! Finally there could be a chance of me getting a job. Three in particular have come up that interest me. All of which are part time, but who says I cant get more than one of them? Then there is the fourth job that I’ve also applied for, but I think it’s unlikely I shall get it…Gamestation! Yeah, I know, would be pretty cool. I do however have an advantage, I am friends with most of the staff in there and I think they can put in a good word for me. Also while I was at college, I had to study a local Business to see what products and services it offered. Well, Gamestation was the business I did. I studied and researched almost everything about it and apparently one of the staff said it would be a good idea to pop it in! So I have made a few changes to improve it and I am taking that in too.

Wish me luck!

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 14:12:44 GMT

The trip to Hull was much shorter than expected; however it was still fairly enjoyable overall.

I think I knew deep down before I even went there, that something would happen regarding the family, and my thoughts were confirmed when I reached the house. Due to the commotion in November, he now will not even let me enter the house under no circumstances, which I think is rather stupid considering I did nothing wrong. I did get into the house before we got there though, gave my nephew and niece their presents way back from Christmas (We don’t get there often) and I managed to stay about 20 minutes before I knew my brother would be back. So to save arguments, I left and went to my friends’ house that lives just around the corner. Unfortunately though he had to leave, so I ordered a taxi from his house to go to my dads. However, there wasn’t going to be another taxi due for another hour, and he had to leave very soon. I called my mother and asked if I could at least stand in the front porch while my taxi came, but my brother wouldn’t even allow that! So I ended up standing outside the house for 45 minutes in the rain. Eventually the car came, and I was on my way to my dads.

When I got there, I was made very welcome; the complete opposite to what my brother and sister in law had made me feel. I spent the night over there and enjoyed chatting to my dad and his wife Linda. If you were also unlucky enough, you may have even had the unfortunate encounter of speaking to me online! It was weird speaking to all my friends; I haven’t really done so since I moved. I also managed to chat with Billy, Kieran, Fury and a few others, but there was so much to say in such little time online. Also, I apologize for not been able to say goodbye, at 4am I was simply too tired, I just had to disconnect. While I was there, my dad gave me a video that I never thought would see the light of day again!

Back in 1997 I was part of a production called ‘Round The Block’ and before you ask, it was nothing pornographic! It was made by a company called Wakey Wakey, and was focused on children’s stories such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Miss Muffet and Cinderella. Except what made this production unique is that most of the characters were props, the three bears were made entirely from sponge for example, spray painted and it was amazing how they managed to make them look that way. Out of the three acts, I appeared in two of them. I was a web (yes, a spiders web) in the Act II, which involved me dressing in black, on my knees, spinning an umbrella that was decorated and moved in such a way to make it look like a spiders web. It involved me turning it and shaking it for example.

My main part was in Act III where I stood alongside five others, as…ahem…a lottery ball. Yes, I was in a giant yellow sponge ball, which involved me bouncing, dancing around Cinderella, jumping and other things! The plot was that Cinderella couldn’t go to the ball, so she got a lottery ticket and won the lottery, which made her dreams come true. As a 10 year old, it was quite fun, but to look back at it now, I cant even watch it, and cringe at the thought! Ah well it was all good fun back then! I would rather burn this (probably quite rare to find) copy, but for some reason I think it would be wise to get it put onto a DVD or something. I would also like to try and locate some of the children that did it. I know of only one that I could find, but one of them was quite a good friend of mine back then. Much searching on the Internet I think! Anyway, onwards with the rest of this entry!

The next day I was informed that I would be leaving a day earlier than I expected, which resulted in me having to change my plans very quickly. Luckily I managed to do that. I spend the afternoon and evening with my dad and his wife in the local pub. I’m not much of a drinker anymore, but every time I finished my pint, my dad had a fresh one on the table for me! I also had the pleasure of hearing him sing again, he did a few Billy Fury songs (No relation to the ones I know!) and some Elvis. He tried to get me to have a go, but I simply didn’t know the words. I did promise however that the next time I get up there, I’ll learn some songs, and have less beer before I do so. I wasn’t about to put myself in a position to look stupid. Yep, I’m boring like that.

In the end it was time for me to get the taxi to my next location, my good friend Gavin’s. I arrived at his place at around 8ish, and Gavin wasn’t leaving work for another hour. I ended up speaking to his mum and her friend about what had happened between my brother and me, and received some good advice back. I haven’t really been able to express that to people, so it was nice to get it off my chest. Eventually Gavin got back, it was good to see him again after such a long time. We immediately went upstairs and opened yet more beers, which I managed to get down me, goodness knows how! Me and Gavin have a weird tradition of getting Fox’s Triples (Chocolate biscuit type things) and mini muffins when we meet each other. We had the Triples, yet we didn’t have the muffins! Well, this was just not good enough, so we decided to walk over to our local Tesco’s at 1:30am and get more beer and muffins. We ended up with three packs of muffins and eight more beers. Goodness knows how I was still standing and walking, but I do remember us almost falling over a couple of times. Was quite funny.

The next day I woke up with quite a headache, and looked at the results of our evening together:

Muffins + Beers = OMFG

We eventually got out of the house and made our way into town to meet up with a couple of other friends I have. I decided it would be best to get all my friends together in one place instead of meeting them all separately. I met Phil and Ian at around 12ish and we ended up walking around for a good 40 minutes just chatting before agreeing on a pub to drink in, then we went over to Subway. The afternoon was good, except the constant Gay jokes my friend Phil kept coming up with. These things I normally don’t care about, but goodness sakes, when you keep hearing it, it becomes very annoying. I actually left him behind at one point and had no intention of going back for him. Apart from that, everything went fine and it was nice to see them all again. It was also good that I could be myself more this time around. I then met my mum in the town center and we got the bus home. Overall it was a nice trip, but it would have been nice if it lasted longer.

And so it begins!

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 13:31:43 GMT

Ok well, here is my first official Live Journal update!

Firstly, thanks to all my friends who have added me to their friends list. Unfortunately for you lot, you will know exactly what I’m getting up to from now on! The change from xanga to LJ seems to be a rather sensible decision, considering most of my friends have LJ and not xanga. However, due to my very limited time on the Internet at the library, I probably wont be able to view everyone’s journals as much as I would like to. However I shall definitely get around to viewing them and possibly commenting on them as much as I possibly can.

As many of you know, I used to be online almost every single day without fail in the past, but due to the fact that I have moved house, I haven’t been online at all at home. Instead, I get online at my local library and sometimes at my friends/family house when I get back to see them. Because of this, for the last nine or so months, people have seen very little of me. not many people know exactly what I’ve been up to, so allow me to take this opportunity to fill you in on what’s been going on.

I moved into my new house towards the end of May last year, and at first it was nice to be in a new place, a new area with new people. It was a fresh start for me, and I thought that I could really make something of myself over here.

However for the last nine months this hasn’t been the case. I was unable to find a suitable course to enroll into and I have been trying to find myself a job in the local area since. However, there aren’t a lot of jobs to go for in this small town, so it’s not as easy as I first thought. I am now considering moving back to my old town of Hull in order to get into a course at college and hopefully a job.

I haven’t really made any friends over here; I’ve mostly just stayed in the house in my spare time. The only time I leave the house is when I go to the library or when I go shopping with my mum in Brigg or to Scunthorpe. My life has got rather boring now. I would love to say that I’m happy, but to be quite honest, I’m not.

However it hasn’t been all bad, I have had a few nice moments over the last nine months. In January, Kieran came over to my house to stay for a few days. It was strange, yet nice to have him here. He’s exactly how I expected him to be. I also had a visit from David, who recently stayed over for a few days. It was nice to see him again, the last time I saw him was when he helped me move house. The only downside to his visit was that he gave me the flu! (Note, I am not speaking of Drassil)

I have also been keeping up with Deal or no Deal too, I really miss the MSN chats that Billy, Lord Fear and myself used to have. A recent contestant called Darren was playing the other day, I think we have only ever had one other Darren in the past. Except this time around, this Darren had box 17, which is the box number I usually play with when playing the game! Also, he was almost left with 500 and 250K, which was also the final two amounts I had remaining when playing the game in KM Chat. Finally, when I played the game I was left with 500, and guess what? 500 was in box 17 too. Yeah I am probably looking too far into it, but Darren, box 17 and 500 pounds…weird coincidence!

Since I have moved, I’ve really missed most of my friends in real life as well as online. I am quite lucky to have friends who have remained in contact with me. Some have lost touch, but others have actually proven themselves to be good friends. For example, I have come out to a few of my closest friends and they have been really supportive and fine about it. I guess I was a little worried about how they would react, but apparently one of them already knew!

So what’s been happening recently I hear you ask? Well not a whole lot. I’ve been playing on my Wii recently, Twilight Princess has consumed any spare time I have (Which tends to be quite a bit since I don’t have a job) and I am heading off to Hull this week to see my dad and some of my friends. Hopefully this visit will be a nice one, and not as bad as last time.

Oh yeah, allow me to tell you about one other problem that’s been getting me down. My family! Yeah I guess in one form or another we all have problems with our family, but this has got way out of line. I wont go into details on here, but it involved my brother almost punching me and him breaking a bone in his hand. He punched the wall you see, but it was meant for me, I could tell. My sister also caused a huge argument at my dads grave when we went to visit it, and she said some very hurtful and unforgiving things. I haven’t spoken to either of them since November, and it seems that’s what they wanted me to do. My brother has banned me from visiting his house, for absolutely no reason at all. They have also said that since I am not talking to my brother or sister, it would cause an atmosphere, and thus I cant visit regardless. So you see, because I am not speaking to them, they are using it as an excuse against me.

Ok I am going to stop right there before I start rambling on. Apologies.

Yeah it’s a bit of a mixed update, I wanted it to be a positive one, but to be honest my life is pretty fucked up at the moment. Hopefully I will have better things to say when I come back from Hull next week.

My very first update here at Live Journal!

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 13:55:22 GMT

Just a quick message to say hello, this is where my future blog will be if anyone is intereted! Basically feel free to add me to any friends list you might have on LJ. I'm still getting the hang of this new blog, so hopefully it will start coming together in the next few weeks or so.