Peggle Master

Something truly shocking has happened. Something I never saw happening to me. You'll never believe it.

I've become addicted to playing a computer game.

Shocking isn't it? Me? Yes, me who's mocked Steve and his friends for this kind of thing for the past 5 and a bit years, I've succumbed! It's the wonderful Peggle that's got me. Basically it's like an updated version of the very old game, Wall, only here you destroy Peggle pegs with a ball, and collect various magical powers as you go which allow various trick shots. It doesn't sound like much, but it's very addictive and great fun. I think it might the wonderfully over the top end to each level as you wait to see where the ball lands and how many points you score, as the fireworks go off and the celebratory music plays that does it. Anyway, it's great fun and I spent the weekend playing it while Steve was off at Joe's place playing computer games! Who'd have thought I would be doing the same, eh?

Well, I didn't spend all weekend playing Peggle. I also Luke for the afternoon on Saturday. That's always fun, and this was no exception. This time round we went out cycling for an hour or so. Back in the day, there used to a BMX track in some of the woods behind Crown Wood shops, and we set out to see if we could find it, if it was still there. Luke was very pleased to find out that it was. Well sort of anyway. It was a bit overgrown and neglected, but still the track that I used to Jonathan to when he was young. Luke spent half an hour tearing round it before going on the swings and the roundabout that was nearby. Funny isn't it, how despite all the great advances in games and things to do, swings and roundabouts still offer so much to kids. Just got to get them out to use them.
We came home and he had a great time playing with all the Doctor Who figures we've got. Lots of great adventures were created on the living room floor, though I'm not sure Terry Nation would approve of Luke's Dalek characterisations! He wanted to know which was the oldest Dalek and spent a while putting them in age order and then we spent a little while on youtube finding the relevant clips of the various monsters and the various Daleks.
He, of course, wanted to watch a Doctor Who DVD and after a while deliberating, her chose The Leisure Hive. Perhaps not the greatest choice, but he enjoyed it, but he did say it wasn't as good as some of the other old Doctor Who's he'd watched before. He laughed at Tom Baker's snoring on the beach, was sad when K9 blew up and was a bit disturbed by the first episode's cliffhanger, but laughed when Tom appeared in pt 2 on the screen and winked! "Arrest the scarf!" got some giggles too. So it wasn't all bad and he seemed to like the Foamasi too.

I'm looking forward to the weekend. We're off to stay with Muz and Nicola in Bradford. It's been mooted for ages, and it's good to know that we're finally going to go. It'll be a long old trip after work on Friday night, but I'm sure it'll be worth it.

Noises Off

We had a good weekend. The pub visit on Saturday night was great fun. It's always good to catch up with everyone and have a few pints. I suppose as we all get busier and everyone moves further apart, it gets more difficult to see every time. Chris is busy in Derby, the other Chris is with Michelle and as busy as me and Steve are, Paul and Fran have their climbing, James and Tim are in Bristol, Ian is often on call... it just gets tricky trying to get everyone together. Still, we did fine, staying up until 2am chatting, Steve having secret burgers, Joe having the traditional kebab and me drinking tea.

Sunday we went visiting. First to Jay and then to Vic and then off to see Mum and Adam. It was Adam's birthday, so we went up to give him his presents on behalf of everyone. He's not big on birthdays, for several reasons, and wasn't somewhat quieter than usual, but he seemed to appreciate the effort we'd made, which was nice. He liked the beer too!
I saw Mum again yesterday for lunch. This was after a good driving lesson where I did my first three point turns (not good- I was going too fast and wasn't paying attention to what was going on around me) and reverse parking... that was slightly easier. Anyway, me and Mum had a good lunch at the Golden Retriever and a good chat. There's always lots to catch up on.

We went to the theatre last night. In one of the few perks to come my way for library work, we were offered free tickets to see Noises Off at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking. It was absolutely superb. What a great ply- a farce about the making of a farce! Very, very funny and very well played. The cast were uniformly brilliant, with Maggie Steed stealing the show as Dotty. Colin Baker was pretty damn good too. A great night out and if anyone has the chance to catch the rest of the tour I'd definitely recommend it.

Online life and death

We found out that a member of the forum died today.
It reminds you of what a strange world the online one can be. I didn't even know his name until today. Martin. We knew him as Buglass, and while he wasn't a prolific poster, I'd talked to him on PS quite a bit as he was the other Crowded House/ Finn fan on the forum. None of us knew he was ill. That's the thing, members come and go, some make a big thing out of leaving, making grand gestures, others just fade away, and disappear altogether and you never know what happens to them. That's the nature of the online world- it's easy to lose track of people and then something like this comes to remind you of the relationships you build up with other posters without even meeting them, or indeed knowing their real names even. It just made me stop and think for a moment.

I suppose I've been lucky to make a lot of great friends, and get to know people through the forums. People I've met online have turned into some of the best friends I've ever had. But what of the people I've never met. Are they still friends? It's difficult to say isn't it? I think they are, there are a couple of people on PS who I'd count as a friend despite never having met them- people I've trusted some personal things with and vice versa and who've been supportive at difficult times. Anyway, let's just say I appreciate it. Hopefully there will be the chance to meet a couple of people sometime. That would be nice. Situations like this make you think about it a bit more than usual.

Another night in

My bad mood didn't last very long, but it was fun all the same to rant for a bit and then forget it! I'm not very good at being in a bad mood. They tend to dissipate as soon as I start thinking them. That's got to be a good thing!

It's a quiet week here. Steve is out at the moment, and he was out yesterday too. I'm here at home pottering around doing what I want! Seems to be working out OK, though it would perhaps have been nice to go out to the Tav tonight and see Jonno. Ah well, it's just too difficult to get into London now I'm not working in Bracknell and am not near a train station. By the time I got into town it really wouldn't be worth it. I've done some writing (finally finished my Star One review for The Vervoid- just need the screen grabs) watched some DVDs and made the most of the time alone. It's not something that happens all the time, so it's best to enjoy it. Hopefully Steve is having a great time at the Tav tonight. I suspect he'll be home very late tonight!

We're getting close to Lisa's maternity leave now and I'm beginning to wonder what's going to happen staffing wise at Birch Hill. There are rumours rumbling that I might get someone for the maternity cover, as all the hours the library is open will shortly need covering. That means for the first time in a very long time I'm probably going to have to do some interviewing. That'll be fun! With any luck an established member of staff (or two) might want some extra hours and go up for it. We'll see. I know I have at least one who'd like to take it on. We'll see in the next month or so. Lisa is beginning to look quite big now, and the baby keeps kicking while she's at work (always around lunchtime!) and it's all very exciting!