Not Much Here

Not that I have been using this much, especially not for technical affair commentry, but I think this is relevant.



In case you can't tell, it's in reference to the Sony DRM rootkit controversy.

Continued Wait

I'm sick of apologising for not updating. That doesn't mean I'm not sorry.

But I should be coming to the end of my dry patch. And I need to make an update because so much has happened.

November has started. That means that Hallowe'en was yesterday. It means that I had a chance to enjoy Hallowe'en properly for the first time. Previously, my Hallowe'en parties had consisted of putting a costume on, and doing very little. This year, Emma planned an amazing Hallowe'en party, and implemented it perfectly to be what I regard as the best party I have ever been to.

I had a use for my party peripherals, such as my smoke machine, my strobe lights, and my colour changing light. I used them all, to amazing effect. The smoke machine was modified so that instead of just pumping out smoke, it piped into the back o Housei's carved pumpkin, and his scary, terrifying face poured out a wonderful volume of smoke, that flavoured the evening perfectly. Almost everyone we invited turned up, as well as Genki, who we didn't expect.

Ki had suggested that we dress as droogs from Clockwork Orange, and after a mad dash on Saturday morning, I had everything, save actual braces and a broom handle for a stick. But I used masking tape for braces, and it worked. Ki did my one eye make up, and she came dressed as one as well, making us a rather terrifying pair. Emma bought enough gauze and bandage to make a horrific mummy, and Housei used the same masking tape as earlier to make a somewhat lacklustre but amusing skeleton. Mizuki was a witch, Dan was a vampire, it was all very uniform. Ultimately, it ended in everyone dancing in a line in a dance that Emma and I had perfected earlier. There was no television, and there was good music until very late. I gave Laura a lift home, and when I came back, some of us watched Alien, though we didn't finish.

I can't describe the perfection that the party had, and I just hope that one day I can recreate it, hopefully with the help of Emma. There was so much dancing, and I really will remember it.

The day after, we watched the rest of Alien, then Aliens, then the second half of Gremlins 2, then Austin Powers Goldmember, then Audition. It was a day of movies. Kiana came over to watch Audition with us, and after the film, when everyone else went to bed, we started chatting, and we didn't stop until 9:45 the next morning. It was the first time that I've had to send someone home because I was too tired. I'd have thought that it wouldn't happen, but it did, and she shamed me with her stamina. Maybe it's the diet.

Anyhow, I have a JCS meeting tonight, and dinner afterwards, I need to go and get ready.

My Fault

Sorry, apparently over a week without updates. That's awful for me. Really awful. Imagine, that's less than fifty two posts per year, and I remember when I was doing more than fifty two per day.

Natasha pointed that out, so thank you, Natasha. Thatasha.

Yayoi, if you are reading this, I tried to email you before you left, but I think you must have cancelled your phone because the email came back saying that you did not exist. Please email me your new email address, and have a good time in Australia.

Whenever I've been on my computer at home, I've checked my torrents and started a few more, and occasionally watched an episode of South Park. So now I'm in Uni, and there are no torrents or South Park, I'm making an entry. Katou's gone. Carrying on the thread, Megumi left today. She came around for a while yesterday, and even with a few minutes notice, we threw a surprise party in the same vein as Katou's surprise party. We hadn't taken the balloons down, so it wasn't too hard, we just opened some party rings and crisps.

I've been seeing Qian a bit more. She's started her year and she's made new friends in the first year with her, but I sometimes worry about how she is, so I have been making an effort to speak to her and make her happy. I'm going to try and see Finding Nemo with her.

Or we could watch Robots. I just finished downloading that. And it's a DVD ISO, just like Madagascar, so I'm enjoying these computer animated films by the truckload. God bless the torrents. Of course, as soon as they come out on DVD I will buy them as I owe that to the studios.

Dan and Natasha went home early the other day, so Helgi and Vishal and Kelly and I followed their bus in my car, storming their kitchen, and after being chucked out, bombarding their window with conkers. It was hilarious, but I don't think they appreciated it as much as we all did. As in... Dan wouldn't talk to me. I think he's forgiven me though. Though he doesn't like me spending time with Qian, he thinks she's using me, but I know it's not the case. And besides all of that, being with Qian makes me extremely happy. I feel content and I start singing when I see her. It's because she's lovely. I still have her picture in my wallet.

Anyway, it's a small update as usual. If I continue in this trend, the next time I update will probably be after I move my computer over to the new house and have internet.

24Mbit, 24Mbit, 24Mbit I can't wait!

October is the Month of Exodus

Not long ago, Tsuka-chan left, and Katou's leaving tomorrow. Perhaps Tsuka wasn't technically in October, but it's close enough. Katou leaves tomorrow, and Yayoi is leaving for Australia the day after. Yayoi's travels don't really affect my life that much, but still, it's a rather large episode for her, and it's a large episode for Katou, and it's a large episode for Hosei, who is leaving shortly after (I'm not sure precisely when, but this month).

So it's the end of an era for the house. It was through Katou that we met most of our Japanese friends In England. It started at the Horse bar all those months ago, and it ends with him going back to Tokyo. I'm going to miss him a lot. He's a great guy, and although we never spoke on the level I wanted to speak at, I'm going to miss speaking all the same.

So last night, we had his leaving party. We celebrated his time here and we made him a ton of delicious food (okonomiyaki, cake, jelly), and we played many games, like DDR and Point Blank 3, and I received the dubious compliment that during DDR, I danced really well, but it looked like I was struggling for life the entire time.

This would have been a better day had I not been horribly ill. I wanted to work on Saturday, to get it out of the way, but I was too ill, and I slept. I wanted to go to the London Dungeon with everyone, but I was too ill, so I slept and watched The Office, Series 1 Ep. 5 and 6, and all of Series 2. That's all good, but I missed out on fun. What's more is that I've come home to work today, and I still don't feel great but I have to do it. I don't get ill often, about three or four times a year, and it usually doesn't last long either, so it's really annoying when it happens.

So I've been coping with that. And I hate it.

Anyway, after a brief 6 hour diversion of work, I'm about to go home and meet with Dan. I have a little money now, so that's a bit better. I'll make an entry soon. A lengthy one, with pictures and music and Live FMV from my living room...

Interim Update

While my internet is limited, my updates will be sporadic and short. However, today I received a request to update, and duly I shall comply.

Last night was the first meeting of the JCS. And I was quite impressed. I went along to the lesson and I acted an language assistant for the second time in two months, and for the whole lesson, well, much of the lesson, I corrected grammar and I helped people describe themselves with many adjectives I'd never seen before. That was disheartening, but hey, I lived. Then the meeting started, and practically everyone stayed for the meeting. It was huge, and Mizuki had trouble talking over them, so I took over the shouting and calling to attention part. Carlos was off finding a Cowboy Bebop DVD, so we organised many of the events without him, and it felt good to have an active part in the society as more than just a member. Then for the rest of the evening, they watched Cowboy Bebop, Azumanga Daioh and Read or Die, which I missed as I went home to speak to Ai, who I hadn't seen for a very long time. She pointed out that I was wearing her name on my shirt.

Then something surprising happened.

My first encounter with a Kaori was at Oxford. My second was in SSX Tricky. My third was my current housemate. I've had a few since then, but the second and third ones are the ones relevant to the next segment. I carried over a ton of technology to my new house the other night, including all my Playstation2 games (that I could find). On inspecting them Kaori noticed I had SSX Tricky, and said one of the characters was eponymous with her. I knew this, as she had been my favourite character when I played it (due to her size and versatility). Last night, Kaori told me she wanted to play. Against everything I expected of the XBox at my home, it brought me, Kaori, Katou and Mizuki together until two thirty in the morning, swapping the controller around, all playing for hours. I didn't expect everyone to enjoy it all so much, and I had a great time finally impressing someone with the tricks I had learnt the night before.

But this wasn't SSX Tricky, this was SSX3 for the XBox. I can't find Tricky anywhere, and I'm still looking. But that's not important. I'm getting the other XBox controller around and I'll get Dan to bring his, we'll have a full on party.

I also managed to finish the downloads of Hitchhiker's Guide and Madagascar, both of which are full DVD rips, and are amazing quality. With the installation of Alcohol 120%, I can run the ISOs and burn them easily, and my computer is nearing completion.

Dan and I noted that last year's computer crash was due to installing that program, leading us to jest that putting Alcohol in your system greatly decreases stability.

I can't be long, I must be off and all that tosh, but I hope I can update more frequently than before. I am registered now though, and that means I can get library books. Fantastic. EBooks are better. You keep them.