Three months later…
Yup, I’m getting worse. Again, I’ve had a few odds and sods in development but not progressed to a finished article. However, I’ve some clear space to get a few jottings down.
What’s the headline news? My 40th birthday. No, that’s not quite yet – I’m still choosing to call myself 39½ – but I’ve been planning like mad for the birthday. It’s all arranged, now I just need to show up. I won’t commit to telling the world what it is just yet but I think it’ll make for some good reading. I’ve been considering some vlogging as I’ve never done that before and I’m fairly good at making stuff up on the hoof. I can work the video edit software on my iPad so will see.
Since August/the last blog entry – Griffin Games has recommenced but at the Owl & the Hitchhiker in Holloway. Bigger pub, nice food but lousy lighting. As for the Griffin – its deterioration continues. The former ruby lounge has been turned into a pool room with the ceiling being decorated with fake ivy…ugh. My quiz team have been going to the Southwark Tavern where they haven’t won yet but have come second a bunch of times.
Gaming news – I’ve added a few more titles to my collection (and haven’t weeded out some of the rubbish): Super Mario, Star Trek TNG Fluxx, a couple of room escape board games and a couple of micro-expansions to Munchkin. On the console front, I’ve bought Jackbox 5, Far Cry 4, Jedi Academy (now that original Xbox titles are on the console) and downloaded most of the Games with Gold titles on offer. Still quagmired in Fallout 4’s survival mode with the game becoming increasingly unstable and prone to repeated crashing. Whilst the no-save feature is challenging, it means that you can lose a great deal of progress if the Xbone has a fit and dies. I wondered if the Xbone X might run the game more smoothly but I’m not shelling out all that money on a new console just to finish that damn game. That said, Black Friday is coming up…
Oh, and my favourite piece of news is that I saw an app version of 7 Wonders has been released so naturally I snapped up a copy together with the Leaders and Cities Expansion packs. More on that soon.
The bathroom – in late September/early October, the bathroom was refurbished and it looks pretty snazzy. I’d offer a photo but do you really want to look at the porcelain wot I sit on and defile? The two weeks of the work were quite an ordeal to get through. The sheer amount of dust kicked up by the project was ever omnipresent and forced me to keep all the internal doors closed. This reduced the amount of light in the flat as well as impeded air flow. Also, I really should have put up dust sheets, especially over the electronics. Dunno how much contamination seemed into the TV, Xbone et al through the heat vents. Anyway, as the lounge and kitchen were contaminated, I felt compelled to retreat to my bedroom as that was a relatively dust-free environment for the two weeks. It was amazing how this “retreat” affected my mood as I just felt like hiding away from the world until the works were done. Once the flat was back to normal – or whatever passes for being normal – first thing I did was to get out the house and have a day of indulgence.
Travel – I’ve been to Swansea twice in the past few months, and to Southampton (for the first time ever) to try a new driving test simulator we’re funding. Although I crashed the car a bunch of times (note that I’ve never, ever driven an actual vehicle), I didn’t roll it unlike la Ringsell. I’ve a week off next week and was thinking about a couple of days out the office but nothing is springing to mind. Not essential though.
And to bookend this blog post with the last one – t’other week was the last London Video Gaming Market for 2018 (back on St Patrick’s Day 2019) and I convinced Darren to come along for this one. Bought the below, this is cross stitch rather than bead art.
Imperial Centre 