Chatterbox Monday

Running very late today. Not helped by cancelled trains. Was it the broken down train or the overhead powerline? Conflicting messages from Scotfail.

TV. Derry Girls. Amusing enough but not helped by
a) All 4 no longer being on freesat.
b) All 4 not having an android TV app.
c) all 4 not having subtitles despite their claim of 80% of shows having them.

Games. GTA. Waiting for my pal to complete the online tutorial before joining me. My shonky VDSL that doesn't like the cold went down just as he'd finished. Hopefully tonight I'll get him on as it's the last day of bonuses on biker sales.

Work. Giving a talk/workshop on 3d printing/AR this afternoon and the next two Mon afternoons to a star gazing group. Really cannot be arsed.

Meh.
Morning!

Morning,

Quiet weekend, no hangover cure needed here. Only real gaming was several hours of Wii sports with my nephew. Also got to watch a load of kids TV.

Last ever uni assignment for me this week. Which is nice.

It's all downhill from here. For me uni was 3 years of lay-ins, parties and occasional essay or lecture. Then the real world comes and it's suits, commuting, early starts and having to be nice to everyone. And it never ends.


 

Morning all,

The last few months of Uni are bizarre, suddenly folk realise that their friendships aren't likely to sustain past the summer when they move away and a lot of couples go through the 'so now what?' discussion. Oh, and the exams.

Played some DnD yesterday, didn't roll too badly and advanced through the main quest quite nicely. We all now have our own set of dice, including a small bag.

Morning all,

It's a two-dayer people. The humanity. Found some irn bru and had a bacon sandwich, so have pretty much combined everyone's hangover cure into a super remedy.

Nandos- never going back, food is atrocious now and the service was appalling. Ordered a takeaway online, I was sat there 20 minutes before they told me my option was run out. No apology. Followed up with refusal of a refund because I paid for it online..

@derrygirls - does anyone actually find it as good as other place made it out to be? My other half loves it but she's Northern Irish. It doesn't even come close to the inbetweeners for me

Nandos success baffles me. My friends dragged me there several years ago when they first appeared on the high street and I was stunned that kind of approach to dining worked, in other words offering chicken and sod all else. And the chicken isn't even nice. In the hierarchy of high street eateries the ordering is middling chain French and Italian restaurants, bistro pubs, Pizza places, dodgy pub food, Nandos and then Kebab shops.

I've got All 4 on my Android tablet

Other Things That Matter: That weekend went too quickly. Monday already?

TV: Mad Men, everyone being weird as usual, Don Draper having more flashbacks.

Games: turns out my other half really likes Skyrim! Not playing but watching. This is huge.

Games chat: I watched an update by Hawaii's representative Chris Lee who has taken it upon himself to fight loot box systems in video games. At a public meeting he was grilling an Entertainment Software Association lobbyist, and not only did Lee get in some grade A snark by talking about a "sense of pride and accomplishment", but there's also the bearded bloke who, it turns out, was there in his capacity as a concerned citizen and was better informed than the industry representative.

The other story I liked was how Ubisoft created a great educational tool from its Assassin's Creed Origins game by taking out all the assassination bits and instead giving us guided tours through Ancient Egypt. Unfortunately they thought that getting rid of the stabby and throat slashy bits wasn't enough to get this version a lower age rating; they also needed to censor the nudity. What nudity? That of the statues that decorate the historically accurate architecture. How did they do it? They copypasted seashells over the naughty bits. Oh, Ubisoft...

Morning!

Lots of cooking, bit of WoW and, because of the Age of Empires remaster, a bit of Skyrim VR.

Found I get quite a bit of motion sickness from Skyrim VR. Might be due to my choice of seat (a very soft sofa) or it might just be a reaction to playing the game again. Jumping off cliffs elicited the feeling of a drop on a rollercoaster. I may, or may not, have jumped off several more cliffs after discovering this. This may have been another contributing factor to the sickness. Either way, I'm currently on my way to the Greybeards. It may take some time to get there though, depending on how much the better half wants to Bogart the PC.

TV wise I got caught up on X Files before going back to my re-watch of the classic episodes. Scully has just been 'abducted'.

I had a Katsu burger in a Sports Bar on Saturday and it was awful. Had to go to the bar to order the first round of drinks as we were forgotten and finally I intercepted a waitress to get the food ordered. Real shambles, and the burger was shocking with barely any sauce.

I actually think this is a sign of things to come in modern British dining at the weekend, we'll have to fetch our drinks, politely inquire about the late food and offer basic cooking tips to the chef when the food does arrive. All of this while the bar staff hang around checking snapchat updates on their phones.

visiting the Greybeards can be a tad tricky if you are at a lowish level, there's usually a troll hanging around up there which will require fighting (inadvisable) or running away from (more fun).