*CROAK*

I'm ill. It was bank holiday weekend over here (Monday off! Yay!) - but me 'n' the wife spent it all wrapped up on the sofa with various complaints including shakes, shivers, mild temperature, various snot and aching heads.

And it rained for the first time in over a month. For three days. Which is good, as the plants were starting to need it I think. Rain's gone now, but it's cooler than the 20-odd degrees (celcius) with clear blue skies and hot sun we've had since the wedding (!) Honeymoon period is over now, I guess... 8o) hee hee

It's also my final week in work - then I have a week off (during which we will sort out S's new visa in London) (and go to see a theatre production and generally do the 'London thing') - and then I'm in a new job!

I'm very excited!

Current Location: Work
Current Mood: sick - head cold

Went to see Jump last night. I got free tickets from Wales Millenium Centre for the opening night. Jump, by the Ye-Gam Inc production company, is very successful in Korea for a couple of years and has just started branching out into an American and European tour.

All I can say is: What a fantastic show! 

Tags: comedy, live comedy
Current Mood: weird

I hate popups (and popunders.) I have blockers gallore and the latest IE7 - and yet they STILL keep appearing!

When will we ever have the technology to destroy these annoying things once and for all?

DON'T CLICK HERE!

Current Mood: grrrrr

From the following article at the BBC Entertainment news website...

Apparently, British Airways edited a small walk-on appearance by Richard Branson and a Virgin plane out of Casino Royale for it's inflight movie. How silly is that?

Maybe they'll edit American Airlines out of World Trade Centre, United airlines out of United 93 (OK, maybe they'll never show these films on a plane, actually...) - Well, maybe they'll edit Chitty Chitty Bang Bang out of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang incase people decide to build their own flying car instead of sitting, cramped up in an imperialist flying battery farm with only a tiny pillow and warmed up pizza for company for 8 hours??

I mean, I understand why they did it, but are they really that worried about losing customers? I can see the scene now - someone stands up in their seat in the middle of the flight and shouts "WHAT?!?! What are those planes with the red tails? You mean there are OTHER airlines I could be using??!? I want to get off now! Get the pilot to land as soon as possible!"

I love this world, but it embarrasses me sometimes.

Current Location: Work (Tho not too much longer)
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: Just the song in my heart...

I did two online personality tests based on Jung - Myers Briggs Topology (click here - Test 1 or click here - Test 2)

More info by clicking here.

I like these tests! It's been a while since I did one, but I always seem to come out fairly consistently even though over the years I feel my emphasis and experience have changed (and the relative strength values change a little accordingly) and according to Belbin I'm always a 'Finisher' at heart.. even though I do like making something new and , I will not lose interest in a project just because it's already in motion.. well, not usually, anwyay!

Current Mood: thoughtful

Just for my reference (or anyone else interested... probably not you, believe me!) Here I wanted to record the descriptions of my 'personality type's ENFJ or ENTJ to read later... I think I lean more into the ENTJ side than the ENFJ side... a Thinker with a little dash of Feeling when it's required...

It's one thing knowing what you are - and accepting that; But to achieve things, you really need to know where you are going.

I quite liked the guidance notes and the 'top ten tips' for success at the end of the sections suggesting things to look out for or emphasise about your character to help you progress in life.

No, I'm not being racist, xenophobic (isn't that like a glockenspiel, but made of wood?) or anything - I was just thinking (not for the first time) about all the stupid pronunciations there are in the English Language.

I just found out that a shop I've gone to for years (John Menzies) in not pronounced 'John Men-Zees', but 'John Ming-iss.'

It came from the common question "Why is the leader of the Liberal Democrat party in the UK called 'Mingis Campbell' when you hear it pronounced, but written it is 'Menzies Campbell?'" (a good article is here, leading on to the BBC Pronunciation Unit Blog)

I am obviously not the first to notice this, so don't say 'tut tut duh! didn't you even know that?!' - but things like this sometimes wash over you until you start taking notice rather than just accepting how we say and write things. Especially English, because it's made up of so many German and French words!

And it's all down to that whiley character, the miscievious old 'yogh!'

Current Mood: amused

We went to Reading this weekend for my Aunt's 60th birthday celebration. We visited the New Forest on the Saturday, and went shopping and generally scouting around on the Sunday - including a visit to Reading Town Hall, where they have a 19th century (Victorian) copy of the Bayeux Tapestry deplicting the struggle over Normandy in the 1000's, culminating in the Battle of Hastings (y'know, 1066 and all that!)

A lovely time was had by all.

Current Mood: relaxed

I am currently a Lead Video Game Programmer at JvH Gaming, a Dutch company producing AWP-type (Amusement With Prizes) games for the HoReCa (Hotels, Restaurants, Casinos) market in the Netherlands. These would be what you could call 'video fruit machines' or 'quiz machines.'

This is not the 'cutting edge' of computer gaming as many people may know it (Playstation, Xbox, Wii, PC) - but the hours and the pay are certainly better, even if the sense of achievement and kudos is not as high. I must say I enjoy my job! I get to create games and animations, have fun learning and using up-to-date technology and software engineering techniques - and get paid for it!

As for entering the 'cutting edge' - I sometimes feel a little upset that I'm not producing amazing gaming products like you see on the shelves of your local computer game store, but I'm quite happy that I've resigned myself to the fact that to be at the cutting edge I need to be cutting edge: A lot hotter, more obsessed and even younger than I am at the moment.

Console and Arcade Computer Game programmers are notoriously badly paid, with the basic requirements for a computer game programmer becoming higher and higher all the time. Apart from being able to produce software of an excellent standard, they need to know a lot about maths and physics and also come ready-loaded with an immense and indepth technical knowledge about a particular computer or game console-type.

I have some basic knowledge of these areas, but probably not enough to make it working for the next Xbox 360 game!

However, I am in a computer gaming industry of sorts -  But how did I get here? What do I do now? What will I do in the future?

To answer these general questions, I wanted to write a little about the infuence of computers and computer games on me and my generation and how my current career and interests fit into it.

In this entry - Gaming History - I take a quick look at computer gaming history from the perspective of a computer programmer.

Tags: games, programming, work
Current Location: Work
Current Mood: determined
Current Music: Classical (reading documentation)