Man in a Suitcase

joeoconnell @ 2009-11-21T14:42:00

2009-11-21T14:42:28Z

Keepin' it alive.

luke doodle

2006-10-30T18:07:21Z

[edit:nevermind]

joeoconnell @ 2006-10-16T17:15:00

2006-10-16T16:17:18Z

I'm getting really stressed again, and its scaring me. I've really gotta calm down, but I don't know how, I know if I don't watch out something bads gonna happen to me. I'm having trouble sorting everything out in my head - theres just too much, and I'm really really....i don't know... depressed, worried, anxious, terse, angry, .... I dunno... Even the coming half term is looking grim. I need ... time away from work. Half term doesn't look like it's offering me that. I've gotta calm down before I make myself sick.

joeoconnell @ 2006-10-01T20:32:00

2006-10-01T19:34:27Z

I went to Ann-Maries this weekend, and it was awesome to say the least.
the main attraction per say was going to Corrosion, this club in wolverhampton. I never really liked clubbing when we went to Canal, the other, more emo club, but when I went to corrosion I surprisingly had the best time out I've had in ages. We arrived at about 11 I'm guessing, and stayed til about 3, and pretty much danced all night. It was really really fun. when we wernt dancing we were still having fun ;) :) but yeha, it was great, so thanks ann marie :) I hope we go again soon.

Recently I purchased Okami, Karaoke Revolution and today Tales of the Abyss. So yeah, thats pretty cool. I spent the other £40 of my bonus at ann maries on food and drink, but thats ok. I needed to treat ree cus i havent in ages. I still feel like it wasnt that great so hopefully i can properly treat her soon.

Today I realized how much I'm looking foward to the rest of my life with ann marie :)

What You Will

2006-09-25T21:27:41Z

Sir And. I am a fellow o' th' strangest mind i' th' world: I delight in masques and revels sometimes altogether

Twelfth Night, Act I Scene III - 110

baka

2006-09-18T22:08:19Z

i stupidly left it up to ann marie to book my ticket.

...hah hah... ¬____¬

Waiting for Winter

2006-09-08T21:09:06Z

As I wait for the bus that will take me home I make out the soft ding-ding-ding-ding of the train station. In the distance, past the trees that border the bus bays I see the light pouring from the platforms, high above ground. The combination of the sound and the sight cause memories to come flooding back...

Winter is approaching and with it comes the ever earlier darkness, taking over our days as if it were gaining ground in a futile war. Soon enough the tide will turn and the darkness will be pushed back, but for now I welcome it.

Last winter is a happy memory for me, for it's my memory of when my life with you truly began. Whether it is the late winter of March that causes me to fill with nostalgia, on that night when we shared a blanket to fight the cold, looked to the stars and proclaimed our love for one another, or is it the early winter of august, where we lay in bed and explored not only each other, but ourselves?

I think back to these times, cold nights in warm beds and foggy windows rush back in a bittersweet way. We've come so far but paid with the innocence of our naivety, the feeling of discovery of all things new. These faded away with a time we'll never recover.

But the sacrifice was worth it, more than I could have ever imagined and in ways I never knew existed. Back then, lying next to you and feeling a euphoria, a contentness I never felt before. I felt like I never wanted any of it to change, but change happens whether you like it or not, for better or worse.

Our relationship matured without our consent, our love evolved beyond anything I can comprehend and I cannot even begin to explain in words the feelings I feel for you today. Change came with change and in my mind they began with the simple decision of coach over train.

Gone where the trains I now long for, along with the winter I miss so much. So much change happened when I was so foolishly steadfast against it. None of the change was bad, I know that now. Your beauty grew with each visit, your figure more enticing. Even without the feeling of newness your body became more irresistable each time I laid my eyes upon it, and we both truly grew, independantly and as a couple.

So now the winter draws near again, and the change sets in once more. Dark arrivals and foggy windows make a more than welcome comeback, and with them come the trains. And as I wait for the newness once again, I can hear the soft ding ding ding ding in the distance. I board the bus and hope to god to wake up in a carriage in wolverhampton, disembark and see you standing in the cold dark station, waiting patiently as you do in my memories.

And if it's true and upon your pretty face with smiling eyes my own do fall upon, I will embrace you in my arms, protect you from the cold and say the words I long to say.

"I love you Ann-Marie, so very, very much."

An optimistic post of epic proportions

2006-09-06T15:32:19Z

Things are... looking up! Recently I've been a bit depressed, a lots been on my plate and to be honest it still is, but I went out with a positive mindset and things started going well.

Recently I went back to school, which bummed me out bad, but it's not so bad anymore. In fact I'm enjoyiing all my subjects, which is definetly a good sign. I finally got my room back from my relatives, which is DEFINETLY a good sign (probably the most cheering up I've had in ages) and although yesterday I was uber depressed for the realization that my group of friends is definetly gonna split in about eight or nine months (end of A2 year) the future holds encouraging thoughts. After a bit of courage gathering and putting my pride and worries aside I asked my SSM to help me through the enrolement process for University. She said she's going to take me through it hand in hand, which was reassuring. I've been worrying about that since the start of AS year, and now I finally feel like going to university is actually possible. Along with that promise I'm finally moving out of this house to the respective Universities town/city I decide upon and, if all goes to plan, will not be alone in moving, but in fact be living out a dream I've always wanted to do (but never thought it would come this early in life) - living with my girlfriend. That thought alone really keeps me going through school life and with her by my side I really feel I can do anything - get the grades I want, go to uni, live with her, become a journalist - she's so full of optimism that it's hard to not become optimistic myself. Of course I have worries and doubts, but I've figured what the hell - I can only do my best, so that's what I'll do.

I woke up at the luxurious time of eight thirty, two full hours extra than I usually have and put on a great green t-shirt I got from my beautiful girlfriend a while ago. It's tight fitting I didn't really care; my bodies fine. So I've got a stomach, so its a bit big, who cares. Then I put on my most comfortable trousers, big baggy tracksuits, and felt great. I wanted to wear some nerdy shorts (Those who've seen them know the ones I'm talking about) but I wasn't prepared to wear them, I wasn't that confident.

I kissed / handshook'd my relatives goodbye for by the time I returned from school I knew they would be gone and my room would once again be mine and mine alone. I got the bus and dived straight back into my current literary expedition Angels and Demons. It's great, but check PHttM later for a small section on all of dan browns books.

Speaking of Pay Homage to the Moron, it's really going great. I'm really enjoying writing on it, and am definetly going to be doing so more than I have been recently. Other than the DB Article a Tales Of article is coming up which I'm really looking foward to.

Anyway, I got to school and went straight to Graphic Art as I was a few minutes late. That lesson is great, it's undeniable. My teacher is fantastic and has to be one of the funniest guys I've known. The workload is gargantuan, there's no doubt about that, but the lesson itself is very fun - as is the upcoming Personal Study I've been focusing on recently. Today I found out the massive workload cut down a bit thanks to a misconception I had about it. I thought we had to advertise 3 products, but it turns out we only need to do 1, which eased the pain considerably. I'm going to be working on that once I've finished this post.

I slipped out of the lesson (which is another reason to love it - it's so relaxed and trusting - Dan just leaves in your hands and only helps when you ask) and went to the finance office to get my EMA sorted. It had been putting a downer on me at the moment; with a £90 debt and £0 in my bank I had been feeling pretty glum, especially with the fact I need £11 a week for bus tickets and £38 for my graphic art resource kit. When I turned up at the office I was met with a friendly woman who helped me through the process and told me not only should I be getting my backpayments around October (by then they will have reached £90) but also a £100 bonus for returning to college for my second year - a heartwarming fact indeed. I returned to the graphic art room feeling elated - my financial crisis had been putting a real bummer on my thoughts recently and the fact that I should be getting £200 soon cheered me up a lot. I had a chat with Jamie, my GA buddy, about another problem which has been bumming me out recently...

Sex is something which I get pretty self concious about, especially when I talk to everyone else and they seem much better. Although talking to Jamie didn't help me in a traditional way - he's just as good as everyone else I speak to, which is far better than me it seems - but talking to him was reassuring, in the fact that I could tell him things he didn't know. I felt like I wasn't so alone in sexual discovery after all. People think that once you've been devirginised you know everything, and you're either stuck with greatness or shitness and that's that. I think (and hope!) this is wrong, and can only hope I keep learning and never reach 'my limit'. I want to keep finding new things, and for now I'll be pleased with my sex life, because even if I can't do all the great things other guys say they can, I still find it an incredibly beautiful experience I share with the equally as incredible girl I love

Lunchtime swung around all too quickly, and I found myself wanting to stay, continue talking to my GA friends, but I left and found Dom. Dom is great, and defiently falls under the category of a best friend. He'd brought in his DS and Akeesha gave him BLEACH DS which she bought in Japan. Dom had already had a quick go on the training session (styled in exactly the same environment and charactervschracter as Ichigo went through in the anime series - nice touch) and then gave me the honour of playing through Arcade mode as he ate lunch and watched in awe. The game is amazing to say the least, but I was heartbroken to find that Yoruichi was not readily available from the beginning (She is almost definetly an unlockable). I'll say more later on PhttM, so check it out there.

In media we were watching Van Helsing, a movie which holds a special little place in my heart. Critics hate it but I really enjoy it, and love using it to study (the three Dracula movies were getting very boring very quickly, despite my incomprehendable love for Keanu Reeves - does it stem from Bill and Ted? Most probably). Media studies was great anyway, I can't wait til Trev has finally burnt off a dvd copy of my documentary; when he has I'll rip it and put it on YouTube for all to see, so keep an eye out for that one :)

Then I had an enjoyable bus journey home with A&D again. When I got home I received two new comissions for £10 each which boosted financial hope. Now I guess I'm gonna go work on that graphics, but as I said - keep watching PHttM, its gonna have plenty of articles coming up, three definetly VERY soon. Keep an ear out for the release of Smoker's Life, and finally I'm starting on the final ten or so pages of Armada part 5, the final part in the series, so along with the art I'm producing at the moment productivity in Joe-San studios is going up tenfold.

zombies are cool

2006-09-01T00:13:12Z

lets try and turn something boring into something interesting

#1 the coach

With an almost routine feeling of sadness joe turned from the woman he loved and wandered over to the ticket checker. They nodded, bored by their days work no doubt, and let him through the barrier to the station. A few steps past further and Joe turned, looking back at Ann-Marie and waving. A sad smile adorned both of their faces and Joe realized he was going in the wrong direction. Feeling stupid he bowed his head and turned around towards platform three, allowing himself one last glance in her direction before she dissapeared from sight.

The first carriage Joe boarded on the 1.37 to Birmingham New Street smelt of pee, a smell Joe would grow to hate before the day ended, but he was not aware of this yet. He walked to carriage C where the air was cleaner and the cabin was quieter, and Joe had to laugh quietly to himself at the sheer laziness of some people, sitting in a crowded, smelly carriage simply because they couldn't be bothered to walk a few metres into the next area. Joe sat down and reached for his bag, the heavy luggage he would be burderned with for the next hour. Unzipping the zipper on the side he let his fingers touch the spine of the paperback stored in the carry all before thinking better of it and zipping it back up. He played with the pound fifty in his pocket and kept his spirits alive with promises of chocolate at the coach station. 'M 'n' Ms maybe' he thought, allowing his mind to wander.
"Tickets from Wolverhampton" said a thin blonde woman at the front of the cabin, walking down the cabin and somehow finding those she didn't recognize and asking them to display their £3.40 orange and white passes to birmingham. 'how the heck does she remember who was on before wolverhampton and who wasn't' Joe thought, soon to give himself the answer 'she must see hundreds of faces every day, some regulars, some not... how?'. He waited, ticket in hand but out of sight, as the lady approached, continously asking for wolverhampton tickets, deciding to test it himself. 'will she realize i wasnt here before?'. As she got close Joe got worried for some reason; he had paid, but it didn't stop him from a feeling of dread, as if he didn't have that ticket allowing him the freedom to go where he pleased. Sure enough, as she passed and glanced at Joe the ticket was proffered without delay, and Joe felt stupid. A stamp later and Joe was alone once more, left alone to wonder how he could trick the system. 'If i bought a ticket every day, the next year - would they recognize its the wrong date? what if i doctored them.... would theysee the ink shining?'

Half an hour of mindless ponderings later and Joe was walking, his thoughts now on the automocy of his legs. After nearly losing his money to a big issue seller with a sad face Joe made it out of the train station and into the Bullring, a throbbing centre of shopping activity. Joe knew three things about the bullring. The location of the toilets, e-play and game. E-play was straight there at the entrance, and Joe gave it a glance with no real meaning as he passed. The image of a hundred zombies caught his eye and Joe stopped. Joe liked zombies, and Joe liked games, and the two were always a good mix in his opinion. Like a hungry begger at a bread store Joe approached the window, trying to take in all the detail of the poster. Scouring the rotting faces to see if it matched his criteria of a damn good game. The tagline read '1 mall full of zombies, 100 shops, 250 weapons and 72 hours'. It was love at first site. He rushed into the store and picked up the nearest copy of the game, scanning the back of the box and his infatuation deepened. Not only was it developed by Capcom, but it seemed as if the game had been made specifically for him.

#--#
Ok, im gonna stop the story here for a bit just to friggin drool - this game seriously looks friggin AMAZING. 250 weapons right, think about it. All of them found in a mall. So you have your usual GTA style gun weapons; now add on everything else. think EVERYTHING. bowling balls, axes, LAWN BOWERS. MOW THE FUCKERS DOWN. spades (cut off their heads!) chainsaws, garden shears, weights, battle axes samurai swords, barrels, chairs, golf clubs, plates (throw em like frisbees, cut off their heads), fruit, *chuck a watermelon their way) vases, widescreen tvs, pot plants, cactuses, signs, umbrellas, buckets, (stick em on their heads) or amazing hand to hand combat (use zombie corpses and chuck them at other people) seriously, think ANYTHING taht you can find in a mall - i swear to you it'll all be there.

now add classic zombie shit, them pouring over other survivors and eating their intestines. add other life shit- eat(anything you find food wise) shop (take a trolley, mow doen some zombies whilst bagging groceries) get clothes, find survivors and help them to safety - whatever. its up to YOU what you do with those 72 hours (before you are rescued) you can search for the source of the outbreak, or if you want hide in a closet for 72 hours - seriously, holy shit htis game is gonna rock. there can be 800 zombies on the screen for you to battle through at one time. holy crap i need a fucking xbox 360. BAD.

trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C91IYcj-3Og
#--#

after seeing that it was only for xbox 360 and consequently getting his heart broken for the second time that day Joe moved on. He arrived outside game and coulnt help himself. After admiring the lara croft statue he quickly left and went to the coach station with fifty minutes to spare. A tramp asked him on the way in "got any change mate?" and Joe said "no, I only have notes" rather qucikly. The tramp shrugged and moved on, and Joe felt pretty proud of his diversion. Another tramp, an irish one which Joe see's EVERY TIME he goes to digbeth coach station says the EXACT SAME LINES joes heard tonens of times. Feeling that it worked pretty well last time, joe says "sorry mate, ive only got a twenty".
"Could you buy me a sandwhich then?" the tramp says quickly
"...." the tramp is met with silence. Joe wasnt expecting this. 'MY CHOCOLATE MONEY' joes head screams, worried, and blurts out "no im waiting for my coach". The annoying tramp doesnt look too pleased but walks offa nad bugs someone else. Joe is now met with a dilema. He wants to buy chocolate from the vending machine but if either tramp sees him he's probably in trouble, or at least he'll feel bad. He wandersa round the machine shifitly for 10 minutes as if hes going to steal something before grabbing a chance and popping in his change. He spots the mnms, but then out of the corner of his eyes a package reading Crunchie Nuggets beckons him. He likes them, and thus proves a problem of choice. "bugger" mutters joe.

2 minutes later and crunchie nuggets are in joes hands and soon in his mouth and finally in his stomach. As he eats his hard earned feast Joe tries desperately to read Twelfth Night but gives up after he realizes he's really not up for the language today. instead he uses the book to cover the large hole in his trousers which is there thanks to a broken zip.

on the coach Joe sat in the back row, which he had never done before because ...? he doesnst really know. he was then joined by three girls (who couldnt have been older that 18) and a baby. Joe thought the baby stank, but it was actually the nearby toilet. For the rest of the two and a bit hour trip, every time someone opened that toilet door the most awful stench made its way to the back rows nostrils and everyone groaned. At the end of the trip Joe couldnt wait to get off, so when one of the girls let him out he said "thank you very much" but she just kind of.. stared at his crotch. In horror Joe thought "oh crap my zip". later he thought "wtf, get over it, i have underwear on too". He went immediately to the toilet in the bristol bus station cus he needed a pee real bad. this old lady was infront of him in the line for the loo (the only other person there actually) and she was fumbling in her wallet for a twenty pence coin. After Joe's twenty first birthday he'd decided he'd waited long enough (RANT: WHAT A FUCKING SLOW BITCH - she was there for like TEN FUCKING MINUTES without hinking of saying "do you want to go ahead of me?" FUCK she pissed me off) and pushed past her and climbed over the rail, peed very angrily and came out where the (rant: DUMBASS BITCH) old lady was still looking for a (rant: Fucking) twenty pence coin (dumbass idiot). he got on a radstock bus and went home.

>end../

***

Six hours is a long commute, especially when you do it twice every fortnight (sometimes more). It never gets any easier either - it always scares you. Until you're sitting on that coach you don't feel safe. Possibilities rush through your head however early you are. On the way back its worse, for along with the anxiety is the dread of returning to a dead life, at least for me.

Today I thought I was ok when I came home, lots of things took my attention away from my situation, but now, with everyone offline and me left sitting alone in front of a keyboard. This happens too often to me...

im sad. really really sad and lonely. and my nans coming round tomorrow til wednesday with an aunt and uncle and i have to relent my awesome roo mfor them and sleep in the bunk bed with my sister. damnitdamnitdamnit to HELL.

I think zombies are my favourite creation in the whole fictional world.

joeoconnell @ 2006-08-19T14:55:00

2006-08-19T13:55:13Z

lol, I'm Joe, lol.

AS results

2006-08-17T11:59:29Z

AS Results:

Media - A
English Lit+Lang - B
Philosophy - B
Graphic Art - C

satisfied I guess.
joe out.

joeoconnell @ 2006-08-15T04:47:00

2006-08-15T03:47:16Z

today i tried to send one of my poems to my brother Luke, but it failed. The title of the poem was Waking life, and my screename was 'The Fifth Horseman"

Luke says:
I didnt like the error when I read it quickly:
Luke says:
You have failed to receive the file "Waking Life.doc" from The Fifth Horseman
Luke says:
sounded a little scary
The Fifth Horseman says:
hahahahah!!!!
The Fifth Horseman says:
im so putting that on my livejournal

Bible Black Origins

2006-08-14T01:59:00Z

hahaha! bible black = one of the funniest things ive ever seen. heres a quote from the witches in it

witch #1: What will we do once we summon the devil?
witch #2: We'll get him on our side, and make him use his power for us

now these are schoolgirls ok? schoolgirls think just cus they know a BIT of black magic (cus they can make people fall in love with other people, ooooh) they think they can not only summon the devil, but then get him on their side and - heres the best bit - MAKE him use his power for us. They think they can enslave the devil.

THE DEVIL.

In the end the devil rapes all of them, which i find rather fitting and very humorous. stupid idiots.

joeoconnell @ 2006-08-13T01:27:00

2006-08-13T00:27:42Z

Today I did a review of PROJECT ZERO 3

I also did a review of the film FEED

you can find PZ3 REVIEW HERE AT WORDPRESS

(18, 96MIN, WATCH THE TRAILER HERE)

Today my sister came into my room and handed me a DVD which simply had the words 'FEED' on it. I'd never heard of the film, but she handed it to me and said "watch this". In my opinion, my sister has good taste in film, so later that night I began to watch. Let me start off by saying this: There was not a single moment in this film that I enjoyed. That really is all I should need to say, but as this is a review I'll continue anyway.

I love films with gore in them (Sin City, Kill Bill) and I like films which are gross (Jacobs Ladder, Seven) but this film was so gratuitous, so unashamed of itself that it didn't just step over the line, it soared.This film is very uncomfortable to watch and horrifically disgusting. Don't go into this thinking it will be anything like Saw.

The film begins with a scene of someone cooking their own body and devouring it with a friend. You see a penis in a frying pan, and this is probably when I should have turned it off. For some reason, this never comes into the story ever again. Instead, the remainder of the film centres around an internet detective tracking down illegal stuff on the web. He comes across sites where 'Feeders' continually feed 'Gainers' who just want to become fat and be looked after by their gainers. (according to the films pretext, this actually happens and is going on all over the world) So our main man Phillip is chasing down one particular feeder. This is our story.

Straight away the faults of this movie come pouring in, and by the gallon. As soon as it begins you can tell the director tried really hard to be artsy with the cinematography but failed abysmally. Quick shots and short pans become routine and unnecesary very quickly, and the handheld camera trick gets old. Fast. Sometimes the shots almost look as if they were meant to be bad, as if the director was poking fun at the film himself. The scipt compliments this perfectly, making me wonder if this film really is supposed to be taken seriously. The lines some characters say are unbelievable, others ridiculous. Worse still is the acting; its bad enough we have to sit through the atrocious dialogue, let alone the terrible acting. The music is just as poor and basically this film has absoloutely nothing to offer anyone.

At five minutes in I found my hand on the mouse ready to turn off. thirty minutes later I finally did so, walked into my sisters room and said "...this is shit. Are you sure you liked this?!"

"yes" she replies "keep watching, it gets better".

So I go back into my room, and (painfully) watch the rest. It doesn't get better. In fact it gets worse. It's just trying to gross people out as much as it can, and in that aspect it suceeds. It grossed me out and sucked every sexual urge out of my body - probably for a long time to come. If you are a priest, watch this movie. You'll stick to celebacy like gum to a shoe.

The protaganist, the guy we are supposed to relate to and like, is completely the opposite of what you'd expect. For a minute you think "hang on - is this guy actually the bad guy?" As I watch films I write down notes and thoughts I have as I watch it, so that I can use it in reviews later, and under 'protaganist / phillip' I had the following scribblings:

main character

a pussy

an idiot

a wife beater

as sick as the antagonist

Seriously, the guy is an IDIOT. The antagonist gives this dude a coffee and burger, and he eats and drinks it. How stupid can you get? Then he's suprised when he's all "OMG OMG OMG *falls over*" Then he goes to church, wearing a cross, then when the priest offers him the bread and wine he's all "I'm not catholic lol". And as the words leave his lips I'm thinking "wtf, why wear the cross then?!" I know you dont have to be catholic in real life to wear a cross, but this is a film, something like that is supposed to be taken as a sign of ones faith.

The antagonist is no better. He comes to the protaganists house to talk for NO REASON. At least in James Bond James Bond goes to the bad guys house, gets captured and THEN the bad guy talks and gloats. In this one he goes out of his way to come to the enemy, to talk.

Basically, this film is a LOAD OF BALLS.

0/10 (and thats being generous)

Blam

2006-07-30T00:19:29Z

I'm gonna point out the good things and bad things in my life in this post, so that I can keep track.

Sooo... What have I been up to lately? Oh you know, the usual, games and ann marie. That seems to be all that my life is comprised of right now, but OH WELL. Right now I'm waiting for a call that PROBABLY won't come. brb.

*phones ann marie himself*

Hmm. She's not picking up. Ah well.

So my life hey, well there IS some things which don't fit into the two categories above. Recently I did a lot of setting up stuff online so that I can manage all my money from my PC (online banking) and got myself a paypal account and bank funded it and all that so that my money can directly feed in and out of paypal from my bank. Only problem is...

LIFE ATM PROBLEM 1: I HAVE NO MONEY

So thats a bit of a bummer yknow. No money means I can't buy things I want (i.e games (and manga, but we'll come to that later)) and shits. It also means I have to be on the receiving end of the hand of charity from various people, which I detest. I'm still actually in debt quite a bit, the currents standings are... *checks 'Joeconomics document* £69 in debt. but oh well, just as long as i can scape enough together to pay my way to Ann-Maries next week all should be good. Which brings me to...

LIFE ATM AWESOMITY 1: A WEEK AT REE'S W/OUT PARENTALS

Damn striaght! First off I was invited to Anglesea for a week, which I admit I was really looking foward to, depsite being nervous. A holiday with ree would be totally sweet, but then we opted to stay home for a week alone (except for her brother whos on night shifts so who cares). So I'm really pumped. Already some pretty awesome things are getting lined up and supposedly we'll be able to sleep in her parents heavenly bed...*drool* Anyway, aside from that theres swimming, gaming, movies, clubbing, WHATEVER. It all sounds like a great time. Just gotta get that money.

So I'm looking around my room to find things I can sell but its a hard task. I really don't want to be helped financially by my girlfriend. She doesn't understand why and I guess I don't really either, but I just don't want to get into anything bad moneywise with the one person who means the most to me. it can ruin relationships. Plus, this week when ann marie came HERE i acted ok with the small amount of money I had, so I think I'm kinda even with her now. Kinda... But yeah, I'm really looking foward to next week. Oh, that reminds me

LIFE ATM AWESOMITY 2: THE PREVIOUS WEEK WITH REE

HELLA YEAH! last week was nothing but AWESOME. Basically she came round from monday to friday and i had a really great time. I sometimes really savour the times when I'm alone and i do appreciate being away from my girlfriend at times when I just want to buckle down and game seriously (oh holy crap I'm such a geek...) but recently I've just wanted to be with her in every waking moment. So last week was great, though uneventful. I can't really remember much... i dont think monday and tuesday were very packed with stuff to do, but wednesday was good - we went to Wells and went swimming, then to insanes. I was let down by the latter because quite frankly, insanes are going downhill with needs I have. Dreamcast and Gamecube collections are dying all over the place I know but it just saddens me cus i love insanes so much. My DC, sitting next to me now as i type, all plugged in and pleading with me to be played, has not been in a while. I should, but ... I dunno. Too many games. I'll talk about that later. But yeah, then we went back and got a chinese takeout and all was good. Thursday was pretty good too, we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest which I reviewed on my newly created wordpress . Which brings me on to...

LIFE ATM AWESOMITY 3: MY WORDPRESS

I'm really excited about this. I figured I needed to start reviewing again, I've been in a lull whilst writing armada (FOR A YEAR!) so I set up a dedicated review and media life wordpress. I uploaded my first review yesterday (pirates) and I feel ok with how it turned out. Filmwise I'm planning to review Silent Hill (ive watched it already, but i started downloading it so that i could refresh my mind and I'm watching on monday with Dom when he comes round for a sleepover!!) and games wise I'm planning a LOT. a few ones im pretty certain on: Shadow of the Colossus... hmm, thats all so far :P

LIFE AWESOMITY 4: DOM ROUND FOR A SLEEPOVER

Yeah. I have no life and I rarely see my friends so this is a big one for me. MAYBE I'LL GET TO PLAY CASTLEVANIA AGAIN (fucking love that game). Gotta remember to ask dom to bring the DS and a charger or something. I'm sure he'll get to read plenty of GTO as well...

LIFE ATM PROBLEM 2: I HAVE NO JOB

I guess this isnt MASSIVELY bad, but id really like an income :( but the thing is, school is coming up fucking fast so whats the point? Supposedly I only have 3 weeks left and with Ree's house taking up one of those weeks and the upcoming week being another, i just cant see the point of getting a job for one lousy week. Yeah... so school supposedly starts on August 23rd (WTF?!)

LIFE ATM PROBLEM 3: SCHOOL!?!

WHAT THE FUCK?! school!? so soon!? it feels like I haven't had a holiday at all. It really sucks something wicked, Summer holidays used to be legendary, they felt so long and you just thought they'd never fucking end, but now I'm thinking "WHAAAAT THE HELLLL??" It also brings me on to

LIFE ATM PROBLEM 4: GRAPHIC ART MOTHERFUCKER!

Oh god... I have to intereview an artist for graphic art before the end of the holidays.... waht the hell am i going to do? This is the biggest weight on my mind, and I'm starting to think that the problems in my life are beating the awesomities. So this one is really worrying me, but not enough to make me start doing somethign about it. I might just wing it but I'm not sure thats possible. By wing it i mean FAKE IT of course, but hell... its gonna be the shits! fuckfuckfuck... just thinking about it scares me. My GA teacher scares me when he gets upset about something, cus he's so nice usually. THAT BASTARD HAS MY FUCKIN' DVDS DAMNIT!
But I can't really be blamed, my life HAS been full up recently.. .right? I mean.. today, all I did was...

LIFE ATM PROBLEM 5: GUITAR HERO

...heh, yep. Today (saturday) all I've done is play Guitar Hero pretty much. I've got 2 goals in GH at the moment;
1. To complete all HARD songs with a five star rating. So far I've done this to about 17 of the songs (out of 30) but I'm stuck on this one motherfucker, a song called HEART FULL OF BLACK by ..someone. It's really bugging me, I've got 134,000 on it and can get through it pretty easily, but its just... arghh! for some reason it wont give me 5 stars :( I *BET* that you need 135,000... those fucks. theres one note in a scale which gets me EVERY time, i just CANT PHYSICALLY get my finger to hit the fucking button in time. oh well. Today this is what I focused on, playing this again and agian and again, until finally my hand actually started cramping up. Undeterred I reached for the guitar again but then this immense pain shot through my hand and the back of my neck got REALLY cold and straightaway i thought "oh shit its the zombie girl in my room telling me to stop" so, withdrawing my hand, i actually mutterd "ok ok i'll stop...." aloud and went on the PC to do this LJ update. weird.
2. To complete all songs on EXPERT difficulty. Now, I've completed TWENTY NINE of the fuckers, thats out of THIRTY rememeber. Once I do this i will be considered elite cus it really is a task of incredible difficulty. But yeah. The song is COWBOYS FROM HELL and Pantera - heres a video of someone kicking its ass:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H77UfN22H0
this guy makes it look easy, so bear it in mind that it REALLY IS HARD. if youve ever played the game you'll know just how hard this is. enjoy it and be in awe of it, and wish me the best. I can get 8% of the way through the song before I fail :(

LIFE ATM AWESOMITY 5: GAMES GAMES GAMES

at the moment I have a lot of games. this makes me happy.

LIFE ATM PROBLEM 6: GENERAL SELF DISLIKE

notice how i didnt say "self loathing" or "self hatred" because I quite like myself really. At the moment the only things that bug me are my mouth - cus i havent worn my retainer in a while - and my stomach - cus its getting tooo biiiiig and i want it to go away for ever but i just dont have the staying power for a diet cus im WEAK. WEAAAAAK.

CURRENTLY...
Playing: Guitar Hero
Reading: Da Vinci Code (although I'd prefer to be reading Tandia)
Watching: Welcome to the NHK
Loaning: Alien Quadrilogy (ree) D2 (tom) 3 Anime DVDS (Dan)
Lending: Socrates in Love (akeesha) lots of money (akeesha+mum)
Anticipating: GAME: Twilight Princess, Guitar Hero II FILM: Spider-Man 3, Sin City 2, Harry Potter 5 BOOK: HP7
Working on: Armada part 5, Armada perfect collection, PHttM (wordpress)

Now I'm sure theres so much more to say but I really cant be bothered. Ree still hasnt called... oh well.

Revolution!

2006-07-23T15:34:30Z

Life is based in Livejournal, and I shall adhere to this rule... for the time being. Stick with LJ and read about my personal life.

For anything more creative, the future has arrived. My future, whatever that may be, can be found right HERE

The future is here. Update your bookmarks, because part of me is gone.

joeoconnell @ 2006-07-22T23:27:00

2006-07-22T22:27:10Z

I like escalators cus they can never break - they can only become stairs.
- Mitch Hedburg

comments about one of those jumpy scary movies:

donationH (22 hours ago)

Faggot, my friend has a weak heart and just had a heart attack.

thumperings (4 hours ago)

saved his family years of bills

So...

2006-07-18T03:52:04Z

I trolloped (?!) off to Ann-Marie's house last thursday, which i'd been looking foward to since.. last sunday! I'd been ill last weekend so the weekend was wasted cus I was like X___X;; Anyway, so I journey'd to Birmingham - City of Crap, and arrived to wander around like this; *wander wander*. I felt like I was in shadow of the colossus! (not really, in joke)

Anyway, I met Ann-Marie at the train station and we were all *kiss kiss (bang bang)* cus for some reason I'd missed her more than ever. On thursday I can't remember us doing much other than playing Disgaea, my birthday present to Ann-Marie. Her birthday was actually on Saturday but she alreadyk new what I was getting her so I gave it to her early. We played more of Fatal Frame 3 (i cant call it project zero, its just so shit - plus it takes me a LOT to remember the english name) and me and ann marie played a bit getting significantly freaked out until i topped my ever changing 'scariest moment in gaming / in life' experience' at one point. It made me throw away the controller and jump onto ann marie in a state of complete terror, for some reason, screaming and clawing at her back as i hugged her SUPER TIGHT in fear. im so lame. She was screaming too but she said it was cus i was so scared :P heh, it was fun though, but made it harder to pick that game up again. we tried again later (saturday or friday methinks) but we're stuck and reluctant / too lazy to look at a walkthrough.

On the friday ann marie told me to leave her house. she was joking but i packed up all my things and left anyway. I sat on the pavement and read The DaVinci code for half an hour / 45 minutes until she finally called me and said "WTF GET BACK HERE YOU IDIOT" so i did. we went off to swim, which was really really fun. But before we swam we stopped off at the most awesomest of places, FORBIDDEN PLANET! I love that store, and i was like *KACHING* and bought some manga; Death Note vol 1, GTO vol 17 and Genshiken vol 5. Genshiken was amazing, as can be expected, Ree's got GTO 17 (but she gave me volumes 14, 15 and 16 whilst i was there and which i'm reading now - they're awesome) and Death Note was kind of a rollercoaster of feelings. I started off loving it, then thought "wait, this isnt so great", then ended up loving it all over again! all in all I love it, and think my trepidation was caused by my sudden realization that i'd never seen something done like this, especially in manga (its almost like a film noir from an alternative perspective.. ALMOST) but yeah, it was really good.
Swimming was AWESOME, we were like *splash splash* and a lot more. ...i love those memories already. I knew going swimming with ree would be amazing, and i was pushing her to do it for a while before she finally agreed, so i'm happy now. She looked so good in her two piece that I finally realized why men complain about siwimming pools and tight trunks.

On saturday I woke up early (and told an almost awake ann marie to go back to bed) so that i could run run run to the shop. It was ann maries birthday and she was EIGHTEEN!! i picked up some flowers and walked walked walked back to the house, where I gave them to ann marie. After that she got the rest of her presents, all of which rocked probably better than mine, even though she got an iPod Nano, which meant we couldnt be friends any longer.
Afterwards I took her out to lunch at the Imperial restaraunt, and i even let her get DRINKS!! so i wasnt a cheapskate. I would have taken her to dinner but she already had plans :O:O When we got back we started getting ready and soon enough her friends arrived. We sat around for a bit on her patio, then went off to Sophies house briefly, where me and ann marie defiled her bathroom by making sweet sweet love in there, then we went to Danis and then finally, with everyone in tow, we went to TOWNN!!!11 We tried to go to a pub before but the bouncers were strict there so we wernt able to get in (cus im only 17, aww) anyway, in the end we just went straight to Canal, the club, where we managed to get in (which suprised me, but i was supah happy) and we got our hands stamped with the words HELL and i was like LOLLERCOASTER! the night started slow, it was pretty empty at 11 so people just drank. I drank half of everything ann marie had and we both managed to stay pretty much completely sober, which is a GOOD THING, to all those people who think you cant have fun without getting drunk, and the night would prove how.
Soon the club started livening up. The dj was SHIT, tbh, and only played 5 or 6 good songs throughout the entirety of the night, but we still managed to dance dance after a while and i had an absoloutely great time! I was really suprised - i thought id hate it and end up sulking and ruining ann maries birthday, but I was like "LOL" and had, as aforementioned, a really great time- probably the best time ive had in ages. dancing with ann marie was really fun. She did really well about not smoking as well, she had so little - probably not even a whole cigerette to herself, and i was really proud of her. It annoyed me each time she took a drag but afterwards each time i just told myself "dude, shes amazing, shes hardly having any" and i was fine.
The rest of the entorauge apart from brett did silly stuff that night, all four of the girls, but as i said brett was fine. He was quite fun but I'm not sure if he really had any fun. i hope he did.
We left at 2am then me and ann marie went home and were all like "yay" cus it was a good night and we had spaghetti bolagnese (saturdayl ol!) and it was awesomez.

On sunday we went to town again and went to buy games and DVDS. ann marie had, by this time, played LOADS of disgaea and had decided she loved it. I told her of other Nippon Ichi titles, especially Phantom Brave -which i was particularly interested in- and we got that for £20 along with Ghost World and West Side Story on dvd. I hear Phantom Brave is awesome (what i saw looked great) and Ghost World was a movie I instantly fell in love with. West Side Story left a lot to be desired and we didnt finish it, but i hope we do sometime cus im actually interested in seeing it still... ish. Music seemed to suck , at least what i heard of it anyway. We also started playing Obscure on Hard on sunday.We played an awesome game of CART WARRIORSSS which is like football but with a trolley full of cleaning fluids.... nevermind. We also managed to make some new trends which suprised me, i thought we'd sucked that game dry but it turned out not. Its such an aweosme game and you really can have a laugh and a lot of fun with it if youre with the right person. I was, and it was a lot of fun :) i upset ann marie and was a real jerk on sunday and im still feeling bad about it :( i cant believe what i did, it wasnt very nice when i think back to it... but ann marie crying is sooooooo sad in a cute kind of way... does that make me sick? :X i was just like "aawwww..." as well as "omfg youre an idiot joe"

on Monday i had to leave :( we played some more obscure (not very sucessfully though) ann marie gave me her old mp3 player which i was thankful for, and then i caught a bus to wolverhampton, a train to birmingham, a coach to bristol, a bus to bath (where i met akeesha suprisingly) and finally a super delayed bus to radstock where my journey finally ended. I had a much wanted bath and then just recently finished watching / showing my dad pulp fiction. he liked it, so did I. I love that movie. Anyway, im tired now, its nearly 5. I was really really sad to leave ree today cus i had such an AWESOME weekend as well as thinking i wouldnt see ann marie for MONTHS, but it turns out that ann marie CAN (if she wants) come over to my house next week and make it the FOURTH consecutive week i'll see her.

to ree - my dad of all people insisted you visit again, and i said next week would be good, like not next weekend but next monday to whatever. Im sure you'll be allowed round til at least thursday, AT LEAST, maybe friday. phone me asap and ill talk to you about it , that is if you want to come. My dad, once again, of ALL PEOPLE, said that i was allowed to sleep in your bed o____O;; he was like "we (mum and him) where stupid, we should just get over it, youre allowed to be in the same room" and i was just like "TF? :O:!O" so yeah.

ANYWAY. cbf to write anymore. too tired want bed. its light outside - ugh. see y'all.

i laughed

2006-07-10T23:16:52Z

laura!!~ says:
i wanna get a laptop
laura!!~ says:
a mac
Alien Loves Predator says:
BOOOO
Alien Loves Predator says:
mac spelt backwards is crap.
laura!!~ says:
lol doesnt tom use macs?
Alien Loves Predator says:
tom spelt backwards is gay

Two bums walk into a lift, and one starts speaking shit LOL i made that up myself.

2006-06-28T12:16:04Z

I'm back fuckheads! I wrote this on a plane, so whatever:

'My last day at orlando was odd. I got upset at leaving luke - I won't see him again in ages.
Then I made a stupid gaming-otaku mistake and a selfish one at that. I spent money that I should really be paying debts back with - yesterday I'd calculated I'd spent just over $500 whilst in america, and today i withdrew another $40 to buy a music game for the ps2 which id heard nothing about before (Taiko Drum Master anyone?). (so totally now I've spent $550 whilst in america. go me) It was by NAMCO who are usually trustworthy, bringing games like Katamari Damacy and Soul Calibur to the gaming table, and in music games they simply rule the roost (right? Or is that Konami? I think its konami D= ) Ayway, I fully started supporting my decision after I saw that one of the songs you play along to is the theme tune from FRIGGIN KATAMARI DAMACY ITSELF!

I got that along with Penny Arcade's first compuilation book of comics for the measly sum of $1, a hearty volume of awesomeness entitled 'Attack of the Bacon Robots!' and has abouit A BILLION strips in it. It rocks, and has entertained me during this nine hour flight (I lauhed out loud on several occasions much to the freakiness of my other passenegers - 'how dare he be laughing on a plane! he should be in hell like us) As I write this its about 4.49am in your tyime and i have two hours fifty minutes to go. Not bad. My internal clock already feels fucked but a hsort snooze once im done here should help that a bit (editors note: Yeah right) I plan on uploading this to LJ when i get home. (see - i stick to my word!)

I really couldnt have asked for a better flight though, We were slightly delayed by - get this - a tortoise on the runway - when the pilot announced it everyone laughed, then wathced their monitors as it waddled away. After gettuping up in the air I read PA then watched the feature film; Fun with Dick and Jane, which was a lightheaerted fun film and ate away at some of the time, tten a short break to eat (ewewewew food was AWFUL) before i plunged into the second movie - GOAL! Bear with me, i too had trepidation as i started to watch it. I'd never really been interested in it, i even poked fun at it with friends, but I watched it and - to my embarrasement - loved it. It was predicatable (SOOOOO predicatable) and tame, but the acting was superb and the story was nice and it carried a charm i cant describe to you. It miade me cry in the middle of the plane and those passenegers must have been thinking "WHAT IS WITH THIS GUY?! LAUGHING NOW CRYING?! IS HE INSANE?!. Several people heard, although few understood as they were all watching Goblet of Fire instead.

so as I watch the time to arrivval tick away (2.30 to go) i think back to my weeks at america, several things stand out; gaming being the biggest, (SAD) next - the food - too good; i can see why americans are all like (Editors note: here i drew a hilarious little picture of a fat blobby person with an american flag on their shirt which is far too small for them - i am funny)
Next is walmart and its awesomeizing prices, which i shall miss the most, and finally the theme parks - mgm studios being my favourite. I loved the rocknrollem coaster which was a terrifying ride all about aerosmith, whom i love, and i couldnt help feeling a bit superior to those who couldnt give a damn about Aerohammer or whatever their name is . I also loved getting my picture taken with a stormtrooper, which i never got the chance to do as a kid. The end of day display was one of the most amazing sights id ever witnessed and i wont defile it by trying to describe it in words.

Now im returning to the real joe world i find myself getting worried about my exam results, but theres nothing i can do about them now, but also annoyed at the couple more weeks of A2 schooling (whoever thought of that was an idiot - go straight back? FORGET ABOUT IT!)but at least im not going STRAIGHT back. Instead Im opting to go for a 4 day break to ann maries as ive missed her too much and just say 'FU!' to school, responsibilities, debts and work. Ive missed everyone so much but no one comes close to the cosntant ache ann maries abscence caused to my heart on a day to day basis. Im also saying "FU" to family as ive had enough of them til next summer. they are not a good unit to be with up close and personal for 2 weeks. anyway...

joe out (i'm thirsty!!)

Hooray, and thats what I wrote. Man, i just did all this travelling and now ive got a six hour journey to rees tomorrow... oh well, the end justifies the means :DD:D:D:D:
i love england.
its good to be back.

joeoconnell @ 2006-06-17T16:52:00

2006-06-17T21:17:54Z

So, america, america, america. Bleh. cant be bothered to tell you how hot and obthered and burnt i am feeling right now. Heres just a list of what i got so far.

PS2 + Controller + Leads
Metal Gear Solid 3
Brotherhood of Steel: Fallout
Gui tar Hero + Guitar
GTA: San Andreas
Red Dead Revolver
Final Fantasy X
Killzone
God of War
8mb Playstation Memory Card
Official Controller
Blood Alone vol. 1

Heres what I wanna get

Grandia III
Tales of Legendia
We *HEART* Katamari
Shadow of the Colossus

But I need Tom's help! What games should I get to kickstart my PS2 collection, cus i wont be able to get any anytime soon. Should I get either G3 or ToL? Disgaea is $60 over here for some reason - its quite rare!! :S:S Any other games I should pick up whilst I'm over here? just help me out and give me as many recommendations as possible!!11 any games which are ONLY american? not engish? Also, is Tales of Legendia ONLY american? cus if so i'll get it

WHO LAST...

1. Slept in your bed besides you? Ann-Marie
2. Saw you cry: Ann-Marie
3. Went to the movies with you? lol, Ann-Marie
4. You went to the mall with? uhh.. Luke
5. You went to dinner with? My Family
6. You talked on the phone? Ann-Marie
7. Said 'I love you' to you and really meant it? Ann-Marie
8. Broke your heart? Annie Dampier OR Megan Lockwood, THE FIRST TIME she dumped me =P
9. Made you laugh? My Siblings

WOULD YOU RATHER?

1. Pierce your nose or tongue? Tongue, I hear its great for Cunnilingus, nose piercings help nobody.
2. Be serious or be funny? Funny
3. Drink whole or skim milk? Green
4. Die in a fire or drown? ugh... both are horrible. Drown i guess.
5. Spend time with your parents or enemies? Parents

ARE YOU..

1. Simple or complicated? How long have you got?
2. Gay? bi? or straight? Straight

DO YOU PREFER...

1. Flowers or candy? Sweets
2. Gray or black? Black
3. Color or Black and white photos? Depends. B&W is sexy though
4. Lust or love? Love
5. Sunrise or sunset? Sunrise
6. M&Ms or Skittles? Skittles.
8. Staying up late or waking up early? Depends. Late though i think.

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY !!

1. Do you like anyone? yeah
2. Do they know it? yeah

ABOUT YOU!

1. What time is it? 5pm / 10pm england
2. Name? Joe
3. Nickname(s): Tael / moronjoe / dickhead / kitten?
4. Where were you born? LONDON FTW
5. What is your birthdate? nov281988
6. What do you want? Happiness
7. Where do you want to live? England
8. How many kids do you want? Two or Three
9. What would you want to name a girl? Noel / Jennifer / Evangeline (Eve for a nickname - awesome)
10. What would you want to name a boy? Gabriel / William /
11. You want to get married? damn straight

UNIQUE!

1. Nervous Habits: dunno, none?
2. Are you double jointed? yes - thumbs
3. Can you roll your tongue? Yes
4. Can you raise one eyebrow? yeah, it freaks ree out
5. Can you cross your eyes? uhuh
6. Do you make your bed daily? yeah, otherwise its crap to get into later
8. Which shoe goes on first? right
9. Ever thrown one at someone? all the time
10. On the average, how much money do you carry with you? none
11. What jewelry do you wear? stud in my winkie

1. Do you twirl your spaghetti or cut it? Twirl.
2. Have you ever eaten Spam? Not that I can remember.
3. Favorite ice cream: dunno
4. How many kinds cereal are in your cabinet? 10 WHOLE KINDS!!!..
5. What's your favorite beverage? uh... i dont really know...
7. Do you cook? a little

IN THE LAST MONTH, HAVE YOU? (YES OR NO)

1. Had a b/f or g/f? yeah
2. Bought something you didn't need? yes!!!
4. Sang in front of people: yes
5. Been kissed: ...hmm.. last month.... yeah
6. Been hugged: i think so
7. Felt stupid: most probably
8. Missed somone: sigh, yes
9. Got drunk: No, never have iether :S
10. Got high: no
11. Danced Crazy: yeah! DDR FTW
12. Gotten your hair cut: Yes! =D
13. Cried: ya, i do that ALL THE TIME
14. Lied: probably

joeoconnell @ 2006-06-14T21:12:00

2006-06-15T01:27:02Z

so, updating from america here. woooooo.

Anyway, I arrived yesterday at like 4pm here, 9pmish over there. It was weird, thinking "Oh yeah, I can't wait til i call ann-ma-..oh, her house will be asleep.
It sucks, and its the creepiest thing about being here, that everyone else is like 5 hours ahead.

Anyway - america is SO FAR awesome, ive only been here for like 36 hours but its been cool. its just like all the things on movies and tv, which is really weird. the motorways are just like those in True Crime! The neighbourhoods are just like all those tv shows, wal mart is awesome.. it just NEVER STOPS. but yeah, so far - cool. my brothers become addicted to midori no hibi, which is even weirder than america.

me and luke are watching the weirdest show ever, its selling us stuff, but this dude is... hilarious. its worth staying on the crap channel just for this.

im tired, but happy. In two days though, ive spent a lot of money already :| conversions courtesy of XE.com

Guitar Heroes with Guitar NTSC PS2 - $70 / £37 - WAL-MART
NEW NTSC Slimline PS2 Console with MGS3: Snake Eater and Brotherhood of Steel (whatever that is) - $70 / £37 (just as much as guitar heroes ?!?!?!)

Heres what lukes about to get me on amazon:
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, Katamari Damacy (PS2) and Final Fantasy X-2 for $46

and what I'm planning on getting in the rest of the holiday:
DS Like with Brain Training - $129 (£67 - a £33 saving! woo!)
San Andreas PS2 - $19.99 (£10ish)

altogether thats a lot.. around... $400 or something RIDICULOUS like that. i cant count quick enough, my laptop battery is dying. SEE YA!

joeoconnell @ 2006-06-05T17:23:00

2006-06-05T16:23:12Z

joeoconnell @ 2006-06-04T19:48:00

2006-06-04T18:48:10Z

I don't really know why I'm writing a livejournal, I posted a big one the other day. I'm sitting here deseperately trying to make myself work - either revise or work on the manuscript, meticulously editing so that I can send it off to the publishers as soon as part five (which I'm also working on) is finished. But desperately trying isn't working, so I thought I'd write a livejournal instead.

Who thought of the layout of the keyboard? Did they do loads of tests to find out what was an easy format to type with? Did they study the way words are structure, so that when you type can do it really quicky because it just works between the two hands? If it were a straight A to Z across three rows, would it be possible to get so good at typing? It's really confusing, its one of those things that really intrigues me.

Here is a list of what I think about myself. This isn't emo, there are some good things in there too, its just what I've felt recently about myself; I realized I could fill an A to Z about it. Some of them are all the time, (A) some of them are only occasional.(O). Click on the weirder words for definition courtesy of google. All this is true. None of this is angst. Do not be confused!

The A-Z of Joe

A Artistic (O)
B Bastard (O)
C Creative (O)
D 'Dickhead!' (A)
E Ecchi (A)
F Funny (A)
G Geek (A)
H Hard-Working (O)
I Insecure (A)
J Jealous (A)
K Kick-Ass! (O)
L Loving (A)
M Mull Historical Society (A)
N Nerevarine (A)
O Obsessive (A)
P Possesive (A)
Q Quentin Tarantino (A)
R Rugged (A)
S Satyriasis (A)
T Trustworthy (A)
U Unreliable financially (A)
V Vexing (O)
W Wrong (O)
X X Chromosome (50%) (A)
Y Y Chromosome (50%) (A)
Z Zealous (A)

Copy it and do your own bitches!

Huzzah, another long post!

2006-06-01T21:40:05Z

So last ... thursday? tuesday? I think tuesday, I took my english exam. It went as well as I could have freakin' hoped, and left me open to be all happy happy and looking foward to Ann-Marie's arrival on Friday. Other than that, nothing much happened other than playing Oblivion for FAR TOO LONG and writing armada part 5 for FAR TOO LONG.

So Ann-Marie came down on friday, a rare occurence indeed to have her at my house instead of the other way around. We had a freakin' great time. As usual from such an awesome week with ree I'm left feeling lonely and sad, but the week was frikkin GREAT!! Here's a run down of what happened:

Friday
On friday Ann-Marie arrived and we got on a couple of buses to get to my house, where we partied hard doing... well, not much as far as I can remember ^___^;; Basically we watched School Rumble, a great anime, and a few movies - as far as I can remember the movies we watched at my house were Ferris Bueler's Day Off and ... well actually I think that might be it. We found enough to do anyway, I'm pretty sure. We also played games like Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures and other such awesome titles. We then went to the park and swung on the swings and played on EVERYTHING there for about 2 hours, then came home at about 12.

Saturday
On saturday we went out to Bath to continue the hard partying. We wandered around unsuccesfully looking for a good co-operative videogame to play through, even though we spotted some ones we wanted (Warioware Inc. and Project Zero II - Crimson Butterfly) We had a McDonalds as well, which was nice because for some reason it was especially nice at the time then we went to watch X-MEN 3: The Last Stand which was great, suprisingly so!! It was a really good movie, one of the best I've seen with Ree in a cinema. One specific part of it just made me go =O and nearly cry. Anyway, we came home and went and got some chips which we ate once again at the park and swung for an hour.

Sunday
I honestly can't really remember what happened on Sunday, it all seems so long ago. I think basically we did what we did on friday, played games, watched movies, did some other stuff I just CANT REMEMBER.

Monday
It was time to leave, so off we went to bristol where I picked up Killer 7 vol. 3 at the comic book shop, the Travelling Man. after that we got on our coach and had a relatively pleasant coach journey, really pleasent actually, where we had masses of conversation, read bits of books, ate Peanut Butter Kit Kat Crunchys and generally had a good time. We arrived in Birmingham at about 3 and so we popped off to shopz0rs!! We went to the massive gamestation, the best one on the planet, and went to buy the aforementioned Warioware and Project Zero but unfortunately (or as it turns out, fortunately) Project Zero wasn't there, even though the case was!? anyway, befuddled and saddened (at least I was) we went over to Primark where I picked up two awesome shirts and the best jeans I've ever owned, with a sweet looking belt, all for the relatively (in comparison to places like TOP SHOP and such) cheap price of £15 (I'm now a lover of Primark btw, and shall be requesting that Ann-Marie takes me again as soon as I have money)
Anyway, we went back to wolverhampton and back to Ann-Marie's house (which is practically my second home now - I certainly feel at home there) and we prepared for THE NIGHT OF DOOOOOOM. AKA a socializing extravaganza?! Anyway, Ann-Marie had invited her friends over and so I sat there looking mellow and ...pink, whilst she bathed, but DUNDUDDUN her friends arrived before she was out so I played Host's boyfriend for a while to two of the hardest people to talk to, KC and Ash, before the saviour that is Sophie, a really great person, rang on the doorbell and i was saved from my "omgomgomgomgthesilenceisKILLINGME" state. Sophie is a really awesome chickz0r, and I'm glad Ann-Marie, and consequently I, befriended her. So they all started to drink and get drunk, which I find hard to do because I drink when I'm thirsty and to be honest I just ... dont get thirsty enough to get drunk off drink. Anyway, I sat there sober as the party drunk'd up after retrieving Dani, who I haven't seen in over a year and who I'm really fond of, and I really got into the conversation. It all ended without anyone getting too inebriated, which I was happy about, but the smoking really depressed me for a long time, and still does I guess. I talked to Ann-Marie about it on tuesday, see more there. But other than that, Monday was fucking AWESOME!

Tuesday
Tuesday was pretty sweet, perhaps the sweetest day of the week. Me and Ann-Marie partied hard by waking early-ish and made out way into wolverhampton. I was shocked and appauled at Top Shop and the realiziation of how much people are willing to spend on clothes (£40 for a pair of ugly-as-fuck jeans?!) but I was happy when Ann-Marie got one of the nicest shirts in existence, which I probably pressured her into getting just cus I fucking loved it so much. I like to ignore the price because it makes me feel better about myself. Anyway, then we ventured once more into Gamestation, where we proceded to look once more for the aformentioned games of awesome. Warioware and Project Zero II was nowhere to be seen. Project Zero 1 and Project Zero III where there, which was odd and oddly curious - I want to get both, but obviously it'd be better to start with number 1, so maybe next time I go over there (hey Ann-Marie?) but yeah, saddened once more we searched desperately through the titles for a game we could play together. Ann-Marie hopped and skipped her way over to me with a case in her hand, a game named Obscure. I'd watched the trailer and at one time I was psyched up about the games release, but now I wasnt interested at all. I looked at it with trepidation and - not thinking much of it - agreed reluctantly. Ree bought that and a .Hack game. Once again we left a games store with me thoroughly saddened but on the positive side I had managed to aqquire a ICO/Shadow of the Colossus display box which wasn't needed anymore, and later became home to my laundry for easy carrying around on the coach. Now it sits empty beside me. We made our way to CEX to try and find a horror DVD with my remaining £11. We really wanna see the Descent, but it will have to wait, because I found, completely unexpectedly, a game I've wanted since its release for a measly £10!! True Crime: New York City, which is really quite recent, for that much, was a must buy, so sadly the Descent and the Perfect Akira boxset was forfeitted in favour of that and Burnout, a game I know to be awesome and had lent for some time off Dom. We mosied on home after Ann-Marie purchased perhaps the coolest belt in history with AC/DC embossed upon it and lots of cool little studs.
Once home we started the massive task of INFILTRATION, STEALTH, STEALING, and other METAL GEAR SOLID like activities just to achieve our ultimate goal of setting Ann-Marie's PS2 in her room instead of her brother. We were panicking and screaming, Ann-Marie yelling "JOE!! HE'S COMING FOR THE DOOR!!" As the big boss, her brother, got out of his car and lumbered towards the house!! Hurridly I fumbled with the back of the PS2, "WHICH WIRES WHICH?!!?" I screamed, yanking at plugs and cables. There we stood in Andrew's room, PS2 in arms as Andrew burst in. Ree fought verbally and fiercly and we stumbled from the battle badly wounded and pretty scared, but with the PS2! VICTORY WAS OURS!!

2 hours later and we still hadn't set it up. Ree's parents had removed the TV in her abscence and confunded the leads and wires and jiminybobs which made her TV work, and it took me those two hours alone to set the TV up to what it had been like before the theft. After doing that - for which I later received praise from Ann-Marie's dad [/pride] we set it up briefly in the lounge and finally began playing OBSCURE. Read my review below in the MEDIA REVIEWS section to find out what my final verdict was on it. After half an hour of gaming we were told to shift it in favour of the television, and so I left another throughly screwed TV in our wake, went upstairs and attempted to fix up the games machine again. Replacing a faulty wire and, with my immense knowledge thanks to 11 years of setting up games consoles (which meant I should have taken 2 minutes, not 2 hours ¬__¬) I realized that i was plugging the PS2 in the out port instead of the in, because I DIDNT REALIZE WHAT THAT LITTLE ADAPTOR WAS FOR, DUUUUUUH. Ugh, much annoyed I finally got it working perfectly, and we played long into the night.

At about 12 we went for a walk and I told Ann-Marie about the smoking thing, which had been really bugging me since the night before. I felt like shit asking her to quit, and being one of those "PLZDONTDOTHAT PLZCHANGE4ME" kinds of boyfriend. but she said she'd try and quit and that really made me happy, and it still does. If she really does try, for not only me but herself as well, to quit smoking, I'd be so so so happy. I know it'll be hard but I reckon she can do it, I really do. It's the only thing at the moment which really depresses me, so if that happens i'll be super happy. So that sorted out a large problem... hopefully

Wednesday
Wednesday - oh man! we woke up a bit late and we rushed off to the Imperial, a chinese foody thing, and had an all-you-can-eat buffet for the measly sum of £5.50 per head. a feast we had, and it was all super frikkin delicious. That was Ann-Marie's treat, so thankyou very much ree ^____^. Anyway, On the way back from the tables for our 3rd time the food from our first 2 plates settled and we were like "...wait, we're not hungry anymore" so when the waiter came around to collect the plates he found a heaped plate of utterly wasted food.

"But ann-marie" I had said previously "we cant waste all this food, its awful"
"well eat it if you want, but i dont think the waiters will care" said ann marie, and went off to get us some desert.

So there I was as the waiter came, a guy who looked kinda mean, and looked at the plate. Ann-Marie was off, and i started to bite the nail on my thumb as he stared dumbfounded at the plate.

"Wah' happened to all da food?" he said in a chinese accent.
*Shrug and grin awkwardly* said me.
""The foo'" he said, motioning towards the waste.
*grin + red face + bite*
"If I take dis into da cook, he'll be like 'Wah happen' to all da foo'?"
*silence*
*carries off plates*

it was awful, quite frankly, but provided ann marie with hours of laughter afterwards. we had some awesome ice cream then left. At home we played Obscure for a while, watched lots of school rumble, and pretty much partied hard in general.

Thursday
And today, we completed Obscure. I left, saddened by my departure but utterly awesomified at the whole week. I left at 1.30 and arrived home at 7. At Birmingham Digbeth/'Dicbett' station I chatted to some old guy who had an amazing life for an hour, at least what I heard in that hour was amazing, and then got on a coach. I slept for an hour, and then - prompted by me reading the True Crime manual - some dude behind me struck up a conversation.

"You like games?" he said, with a really heavy accent
"Yeah" says I
"Wanna read this" he says, shoving a PCZONE magazine through the games of the seats at me.
"Sure!!" says I, glad to have something to do for the remaining hour of the journey. The guy was pretty old, looked about 50, so it made me happy that people can stay gamers that long. I hope to be the same. It also showed me that there are some really nice people in the world.

Anyway, as the magazine was great because Ive been wanting to read a games magazine for some time now, and it brought a lot of things in the gaming world to my attention. I was reading that mag cover to cover until the coach stopped, where I got off and got a lift from my dad and sat through 2 hours of traffic out of bristol. Ugh X___X and now I'm home.

it was really great. Thank you so so so so so much ann marie, I had such a great time. I love you ^___^;

Now on the agenda is playing games, worrying about exams, reading books and finished Armada part 5, which is in its super final stages. I probably wont see Ann-Marie for a long time, unless we sneak a visit in on the 9th til the 13th, but its an unlikely possibility. This time next week I'll have finished all my exams, but I'm really worried about both of them now :S Media I'm super scared about, philosophy I don't really CARE about so much but I'd still like to do well. I think I'll be dissapointed with myself if I got lower than a B for either. the prospect of exams is what really gets me, cus it makes me feel as if I can't have any fun til they're over. After them though is my holiday, meaning that I wont see ree for about a month most likely or more, then I have 2 weeks of A2 and finally the awesomenss that is 7 weeks of freedom and hopefully a summer job. maybe. I haven't decided yet. Anyway yeah, thats my life.

Films I wanna see:
Poseidon (which is out today btw ann-marie)
Night at the Theatre
Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest
FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT (kidding, ugh)

PS2 Games I want (Ann-Marie) to get:
Warioware Inc.
Project Zero I, II and III
Guitar Hero
Buzz

XMEN3 was great

Obscure
I can't tell you how fucking awesome this game is. It's easily the best multiplayer I've had in ages, and was the source for much, MUCH laughter between me and Ree and many, MANY screams too. It's a survival horror, but get this - it's 2 player co-operative. This feature makes it insanely awesome, basically, imagine Resident Evil but with 2 players. Got that? Now awesomify it more by making a lot of dark places which you have to carry torches through to illuminate it all. Sure, that doesn't sound THAT great, but it is, trust us. The game sadly pulled a Dark Alliance on my ass (or at least my characters ass) right at the end, which has pissed me off to NO END, but hopefully we can rectify that next time I go round to Ree's. The sound is great, ambience being kept scary throughout along with the use of darkness (which i seriously cant stress how awesomely its used) and the characters are all really loveable (apart from Ashley). The 2 player is what makes this game, in the words of IGN 'this is a sweet buddy experience right here. After all, friends don’t let friends get pulled up to the ceiling by horrid mutant beetle creatures.' Words to live by. I don't think it'd be as great single player, but 2 player its probably one of the best games ive played all year. But yeah - seriously, AWESOME GAME. Stan the Man/Josh Hartnett and Josh 'emo' Journalist FOREVER!!

BANG!

.Hack Infection
This game looks REALLY fun, its a (get this) SIMULATED MMORPG. It's all NPCs and computer characters, but they act as if they were people online. There are message boards and mail being sent to you and all this ka-crapple, and basically its super awesome. I can't wait to play this game myself, cus it looked like a lot of fun when Ann-Marie was playing it. Wish it was multiplayer :(.

True Crime: New York City
I immediately warmed to this game when I heard 'Across 110th Street' by Bobby Womack, a song I loved off Jacke Brown, then came a song I recognized from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, 'Bring The Noise' by Public Enemy, that intensified my musical love for this game, and then whenever I hear a song I recognize just out of my own collection, like Honest Mistake by the Bravery and Beat on the Brat by the Ramones, well, musically I'm happy. Other than that, its a fantastic game, and my original "AW WHAT NO CHINESE GUY JUST SOME BLACK DUDE THEY PROBABLY PUTIN THERE FOR ETHNIC FAIRNESS BLAHBLAH" thoughts were blown out the window when I realized that the black dude is just as awesome as the original asian super-cop from the original Streets of LA. This game is as awesome as I hoped it to be.

Minor point worth mentioning:
Zelda: Twilight Princess
Everyone seen the fishing video? Gotta love it, gotta love the chick on the boat, gotta love her (and links) outfits, and you just gotta FREAKING LOVE THAT "FISH ON" MUSIC WHEN YOU START REELING IT IN!!

So thats my post. I'm looking foward to yours Ann-Marie. I missed a lot I'm sure but MEH, I'm done. hope you who NO LONGER READ LJ POSTS enjoyed it. seriously. LJ is dead.