Things I Did Yesterday 16/03/10

Okay, we're on the clock! Yesterday I:

- Got up fairly early and sat with a coffee on the internet. This was the first real day off I'd had in some time. Okay, so I've been on holiday for a month, but this was the first real day since before we left for SA where I had nothing to get done, nowhere to go and no one to see. So I read feeds. My feeds need trimming, really. I don't keep up with what I've got, and that's not even that much compared to some I know. But every time I go to unsubscribe, the interest which brought me to that feed in the first place kicks in. I suppose by keeping them on my feeds I will at least remember they exist some time in the future. In a way, RSS has really hamstrung how I use the internet. I can't remember the last time I opened my bookmarks folder, not counting the bookmark toolbar icons I have for frequently accessed sites (banking, etc). Still, it means I don't miss any posts when my access is patchy. How much time do I spend on the internet a day reading now? Not sure, but considerably less than I used to. Maybe an hour, on average? Hour and a half? Anyway, every now and then it's nice to kick back with a coffee first thing on a day off and really take my time to catch up on things. Spent a few hours on it yesterday.

- Wandered down to Angel to have a browse around the shops. Mainly checked out Game, HMV and Waterstones to see what shiny new things had come out in the last month. Not much to be honest. Final Fantasy XIII is a bit tempting, but really only due to FFVII nostalgia. I tried VIII when it came out, but it didn't grab me at all and have barely looked at the ones since. But this one seems to have a VII kind of feel about it. Well, best finish Dragon Age and both Mass Effect games first. Bought some vegetables to make a soup for dinner.

- Went home and got on the Xbox. Oh yes. Played a few demos I had downloaded ages ago. Trials HD is a great stunt bike platformer, leaving you to control a rider going through some kind of hellish warehouse environment of ramps, exploding barrels, swinging platforms and gouts of flame. It has that vital ingredient for gameplay: easy to learn, difficult to master. Lovely graphics too, especially the ragdoll physics when you come off the bike. Alien Breed SomethingorotherIcantremember is a fun, isometric 3D shooter. A sequel to an old series of games, it's surprisingly atmospheric as you run around a damaged spaceship shooting hordes of aliens. All very Space Hulk. Lastly was Bayonetta, which I heard a lot of good things about. To be honest, it's that type of modern game that I'm really no good at. It involves incredibly busy environments that you negotiate around at high speeds while enemies constantly come at you. Enemies you defeat by using one of any number of combos that manifest in the most spectacular manner possible. It's just too much. I'm button-mashing my way through levels with virtually no fucking clue what's going on. The graphics are lush and the designs look crazy in the good way, but I've no time to actually enjoy them. Does this mean I'm getting old?

- Settled in with Dragon Age for a good 4-hour session. Got some important main quest stuff done, too. Ahh...I'll miss this game when I'm finished. I do love this kind of computer RPG.

- Alex came home, so I made dinner, a kind of chicken/vegetable/mushroom soup which didn't quite come out how I wanted, but was very tasty anyway.

- Enrolled in a course which focuses on novel revision. To be honest, I've been floundering a little on the novel revision, and I really need something to give me a boot up the ass. It's a 22 week course that you take at your own speed. It'll be nice just to give me some focus and advice on what to do next. Be gentle...it's my first time.

- Watched a really good little horror called Triangle. It premiered at last year's Frightfest, but I missed it, and since then it has largely sunk from trace. It's a pleasantly complex little film about a group of people who find themselves on a ghostly ship after being stranded out at sea. Best not to mention more than that, as the less you know, the more you'll enjoy it. It'd be a shame for this to sink into obscurity, as it really deserves to be seen if for nothing more than its ambition. It stands out from most of the horror fare out there at the moment.

- That's it!