Well

Well.

Well.

Well.

Somebody just made me feel like the luckiest person on this planet.

Human Buckaroo

At the studio on tuesday, we went to our usual spot to eat our lunch. There is a cafe on campus that has an area with some beanbags and imitation grass, so we eat there and hang out.

Although I must point out that the rule is 'NO PICNICS' and there are numerous signs attempting to guilt trip you like "you wouldn't bring your own food into a restaurant"... but to be honest I really couldn't give a firetruck. We do it anyway because the campus does not provide a designated area for eating packed lunches. Also, not all of us bring packed lunches so the ones who buy food would be left out.

Anyway, it is tradition for people to have a rest on the beanbags in between studio time. Charles, the only other person on my course with a Y chromosome, often takes 'resting' a step too far. He has been known to fall asleep, and it is common practice to play human buckaroo on anyone who is asleep. For those of you unfamiliar with human buckaroo, you just keep putting things on them until they wake up.

A classic example was Big G. We got drunk while watching Flubber, and I bet him he couldn't fall asleep on the kitchen floor. Well, I lost the bet, but we had a good game of Human Buckaroo with kitchen utensils.

He eventually woke up when I put a cold spoon on his face. Damn. Charles on the other hand, does not drink, and has no excuse for such a heavy amount of sleeping. I mean come on, it was the middle of the day! well, I won't keep the suspense much longer.

As he fell asleep, we put apple cores on his hands. He didn't realise. In fact, we exhausted our supply of lunchtime rubbish on him. We then all looked at eachother with a knowing glance. We slowly picked up our things, and made our way...

We snuck away. It was hilarious. That'll teach him to fall asleep near us!

Re-educating James Wade with Wumpa Fruit and Lame Snakes

Today Wade was over and we played some of my video games. It surfaced that Wade, coming from a childhood that was rather lacking in consoles, has never played the vast majority of games I consider 'essential' to have played in order to count as a human.

First in line was Crash Bandicoot 1. 

Wade said he recalled playing it back when supermarkets had creches... I told him this was simply not good enough. We started playing, and it soon became clear to me that Wade was having considerable difficulty performing even the most simple of tasks, such as jumping to avoid obstacles. For quite a while he was just muttering to himself "why am I so sh*t?..."

The whole charade quickly became a to and fro between us, as Wade consistently lost a whole bunch of lives and then me having to earn them all back. For the first 15 levels or so, we were hovering around the 3-5 lives remaining mark. 

Although, at points, I was impressed with Wade's enthusiastic approach to play. After navigating a reasonably challenging part of the course in one go (one that even I have trouble with) he recklessly dived straight back down the cliffside to retrieve ONE wumpa fruit he had missed. For those who aren't sure, wumpa fruit (colloquially referred to as 'apples' by crash noobs) are the staple item for collection, similar to coins in mario, rings in sonic, and gems in spyro. 

The whole game is littered with them and the is no extra points for getting all of them apart from the standard rule of 100 fruit makes one more life. The only instance where one would dare to return for ONE wumpa fruit is if you are on no lives and have 99 wumpa fruit. We nearly did have to do that anyway at one point.

Also something we noticed was how well rendered the bats were in the game, compared to the snakes. Considering that the game in Wade's words is "old as f*ck" (not sure how old 'f*ck' is, apparently mid 90s?), the bats look fairly realistic. However, the snakes are hilarious. They just pop up, sway and wiggle their tongues non-threateningly at you.

As we progressed through the levels, Wade slowly picked it up and pulled me out of sticky situations a few times. I know feel that Wade is part of the way to honorary 90s child status. Its a long road and there are many games he missed out on, but we have plenty of time and if Bro House is anything to go by, we'll get there some day.

Racing in Reading

Well, as you know, my training at the moment has been going rather well of late, and I seem to be injury free touch wood. Last sunday, I took part in my first race in Reading since I moved here. It was called the "Reading St Patrick's 5 Mile Scurry", which is another novel title that I like to see.

I represented South Devon AC this time, as my Reading membership doesn't start until March. Interestingly, at the start line, an old man saw my South Devon AC shirt and said, 'your a long way from home aren't you?' in your standard curious old man voice. He said he had run the Brixham 10k, back when we used to organise that race.

Anyway, the race began on University campus at 11am, and there was a fairly good turnout.

As it says in my running book, something will always happen on race day that stops you from having a perfect race- so just accept it. This time, the course had to be altered because campus was still covered in a blanket of snow and ice! This made the path treacherous and in some places awkward to keep up good pace.

The race started out well, with me leading the pack of 120 or so runners for the first few miles. Me and the person in second (from Reading Roadrunners) broke away from the pack and gained about 800 meters on the people behind. But then, DISASTER!

One of the marshals sent us the wrong way, and it took us about 45 seconds to realise. By that point, we had lost about 4 places and had to start gaining them back. Now, I'm not going to say I would have won the race if it weren't for that, because I wouldn't. The guy who was tailing me was tailing me for a reason, because after that mishap he went on to win the race, good on him.

Personally I fought really hard to get back and managed 3rd place, so I won a bottle of wine! woo! Also for the first time in years, I really appreciated my speed training. I managed to kick in the last half a mile or so and power past someone to take a podium place.

All in all, good race despite everything. Looking forward to next one :)

Happy Valentines Day

Well, Valentines day has come around again and it is just as uneventful for me as it was last year. I don't mind being single, and I find it hilarious how some people get so depressed about it every year if they aren't with someone.

I go through these days preferring to casually observe a silver lining rather than dwell on things that may or may not ever come to be, and although its not the best, its fine. The ever poignant Martin Harley Band will explain in some very fitting lyrics.

"In a world of misunderstanding, 
tell you one thing that I know
its a rich, rich man that has a hand to hold."


So this year I spend valentines day with Ryan and Wade playing a bit of worms (TRIPLE BRO FIST), and watching montages of Arnold Schwarzenegger quotes on YouTube- pretty awesome huh? I spent the day in the studio printmaking and broke out to play the piano and had the company of people who appeared to be genuinely enjoying my playing. I contemplate tidying my room, but maybe I'll just write some more.

Who knows what next Valentines day will bring. I would very much like things to work out for me, but for now my thoughts and feelings must stay inside my head until the moment when it becomes appropriate, if it ever comes. And if it doesn't, at least nobody can stop me thinking my own thoughts.

Happy valentines day folks :)

Super Bowl!

I have watched the last 3 super bowls now, and I feel it is becoming a bit of a tradition for me. For those of you who may be unaware, the Super bowl is one of the largest and most widely watched sporting events in the world. It is the championship match between the two best American Football teams in the NFL.

I was introduced to the Super bowl back in 2010, when I was at Bath University, by Phil Murphy. Phil likes and plays American football, and advised me to come and watch the super bowl. So, I went along to see what all the fuss is about. To be honest, I had no idea how to play american football, so the whole game for me made almost no sense. However, it was a hilarious evening and was entertaining to watch. Well done to the New Orleans Saints.

I was advised to choose one team in the whole NFL to support and stick with for life, as none of us as british people have any allegiance to parts of America in terms of residence. So I chose at random, the Minnesota Vikings.

However, they have had a considerable amount of bad luck since I started supporting them in the season of 2010...

• They came last place in the NFC north
• They signed star player Randy Moss only to waive him a month later
• Their quarterback Brett Favre went under investigation for inappropriate texting 
• Even their stadium collapsed under snowfall
• Their head coach Brad Childress was fired after the Vikings got stuffed 31-3 by their rivals, The Green Bay Packers.

Although they haven't been doing amazingly in the last few seasons, at least they have a new head coach and what seems to be a good replacement for Brett Favre after he retired for the third and final time.

In 2011 my super bowl was spent at home with Ricky and the gang, where we attempted to drink 'light beer' (failed, some of the cans are still there from last year they were that bad) and watched the packers beat Tom Wood's favourites, the Steelers. At the end of the game, we sent a text to Tom saying "woooh packers". We thought it was hilarious.

For this super bowl, I was down in the Sibly bar watching it on the screen. This year, it feels like I had a bit of role-reversal on the go. Usually I am pestering Phil or Ricky to ask what is happening and why, but this is the first super bowl I have watched where I actually understand 90% of the rules and scoring system, so can enjoy the game and explain the rules to others for a change. 

I wasn't drinking because I am building up for a race this Sunday, but Ryan and Fin sure were! They ordered all their drinks before the bar closed, and proceeded to get absolutely battered quarter by quarter. Ryan was very drunk and often got confused as to what was happening in the game, whereas Fin fell asleep and missed the last crucial quarter. We woke him up to tell him that the Giants had got a touchdown, but he fell asleep again before we could finish our sentence.

All in all, a good win for the New York giants in the last quarter- and as Ricky said, 'the the New England Patriots can suck it'. Next year when I'm living in my own house, we are going to have a big Super Bowl party with Nachos, Chicken and lots of beer. Who knows, maybe even the Vikings could win... please?

Sleepover in the corridor

On thursday, we had another Sibly Hall social. This time the instruction was to all go out to town in our pajamas! I went out in my Atari lounge pants and my green lantern shirt, it was pretty sweet. A good time was had by all who intended.

When we finally got back home, ethanol had made its way through our systems rather a lot so we had a bit of a laugh back in the flat. When all of a sudden, Matt had a brainwave! Well, sort of. He just triumphantly stood up and said 'We are having a f***ing sleepover!'. He preceded to grab his duvet and pillow from his room, and set up camp in the corridor.

Never one to turn down an opportunity to be a bit silly, I duly followed suit and retrieved my bedclothes too. We nestled down right outsides Ryan's room (much to his dismay) and went on to have a nice deep conversation with each other (I think) before falling sound asleep.

When Fin walked passed us later that night, he couldn't resist an opportunity to be a RUGBY LAD and covered us in cardboard and tin foil. He later said performing the 'standard' rugby lad ritual of putting egg and other foodstuffs on people who have fallen asleep would have been harsh, as we 'aren't rugby lads and probably wouldn't have found it funny'.

And to even more of Ryan's dismay, he was awoken by the sound of Matt chuckling to himself in his sleep in the early hours! Matt is a genius, he is the only person I know who can laugh in his sleep and wake someone up!

We stayed there until about 8 o'clock in the morning and had a nice cosy peaceful night :)