I like this song, it makes me feel better that in the snow-leagues, Northern Ireland is dragging along at the very bottom with a miserable 0 points. Still ey, any reason to sit in and get a move on with Lost Odyssey.

Will have to be quick, there are no less than 28 DS games coming out before the end of June that I plan to have played, as well as Persona 4 and Devil Summoner 2 for the PS2. Too many games, way way WAY too many games.

Quick post to say thanks to Adrian, Andi, Chris and Sadie for their lovely hospitality, and also Stel, James, Christian and Neil for the wonderful company as well.

Fun times all around, as well as exceedingly large amounts of pizza.

Pictures at some point later...

Okay so my big event for the day is to finally get my iPod sorted out. Since I got it, I've refused to use iTunes simply because it feels like a horribly bogged down piece of rubbish. Whenever I first tried to use it, I added all my folders, then before it could get through about a 10th of my songs it decided to just crash. Instant failure, so I decided to go with the ultimately easier option of just send-to'ing songs through Winamp which worked like a charm.

Unfortunately I'm fed up with my cover-flow being a dauntingly long string of ugly ?'s, so I want to go the route of iTunes. Now, just out of curiosity, but if anyone knows exactly how I can do this without causing my computer to completely cack up and the program to shut down, please please PLEASE tell me.

Now, more pleasant things!

Found a link to a rather pleasant little post-rock band called Parabtruse, 5 track EP, very relaxing and, most importantly, very good :

http://ia311243.us.archive.org/2/items/Parabstruse-BackAndForthEp/Parabstruse-BackAndForthEp.zip

Finally, ATEI on Tuesday with cube_hard for a while, which is an excuse to generally have video gamey fun and doss about London. Also see 8D i_am_fuse  and possibly dj_damien . Oh my!

Going to be a cracking week, until Laura has to go back home on Sunday. Boo :(

Came back home with two Kung-Fu Chicken sandwiches ( minus the cream cheese >: | ). The lack of cream cheese pissed me off so much that the resulting transactions occured :

• Domo-Kun DOMO t-shirt (£5 in HMV)
• Pair of comfy new Skullcandy headphones to go with my lowriders
• 4,200 live points
• Guitar Hero World Tour Complete Band Pack

Now, I'm not going to admit to any of these purchases being mistakes. Admittedly I was tremendously hungover, therefore I probably didn't understand quite how monetary transactions work out ( especially the part whereby I lose money when buying things ), but after an afternoon of rocking the drums on expert, with Laura on guitar, The Cockheads ( our band ) made it quite a bit through career mode. The only one thing that I absolutely fucking DESPISE so far however, is that within 30 minutes of playing the game decides to dangle its all-tool-songs-gig-penis infront of your face, then demand 8,000 notes before you can play. Currently at $5,680 or something, so much seething was done.

Anyhow, now that I'm even further into debt, life is actually getting better. It seems the old spend money, make happy, is very true for me. Don't know whether to smile or cry to be honest.

It's really rather pretty, it makes my ears feel like they're going to pop off and run away into the distance, shooting streamers and fireworks every-which-way. Joyous!

I just got a taxi back from Laura's

Asked it to call at a cash machine, lifted a tenner, paid £4 for the taxi.

Walked towards house, found a fiver

SHINE SHINE SHINE!

Acquired 3 big hitting RPG's lately, which do I go through first? You decide! Poll #1331921 Newfound RPG Heaven... Which game do I tackle first?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4

Which RPG goes first?

Never done an entry like this, but recently I've acquired a nice amount of clothing (see : swag).

P.S. Included are pictures of the UK/Ireland Diru tour merchandise, well, the nice stuff, there is a Skull Tee but it looks like horse shit.

Anyhoo, hit the jump for pictures!

( SWAG! )

Dir en grey merchandise, is as said, the new tour merchandise.

All 5 extra t-shirts were bought from Terratag in their 40% off sale (5 t-shirts for £51 shipped is nothing to snort at in derision). The pyjamas (the Mint Humbugs as I have named them) are from Primark 8D. The beginnings of a beard comes from my own face.

Also :



Shinya meet at the Kerrang tour, although false advertising led me to believe the entire group would be signing albums.

Just back from the KERRANG! tour and it was absolutely superb.

Didn't catch really any of the two lesser known bands. Bring me the Horizon were awesome though.

Most importantly, Dir en grey only played 4 songs, Dozing Green, The Final, The III Empire and Agitated Screams of Maggots, disappointing yes, but made up entirely by the excellent selection of merchandise (picked up a rather splendid hoodie, as did my splendidly wonderful girlfriend Laura, along with a really fucking nice tour t-shirt with UROBOROS on the front)

As an aside, I also got a copy of UROBOROS signed personally twice by Shinya (win)

Fantastic night, that is all :)

• I am attempting to grow a beard, so far it's nearly a full week without shaving. Imagine what it would look like if someone pritt-sticked your chin then rubbed a darkish haired cat on it.
• I saw Flash Harry tonight in The Odyssey Arena. They were playing with the Ulster Orchestra and the Magee College Choir from Derry. I  can honestly say that (as an almost secret Queen fan : my first words were "Radio Ga Ga" and I am not shitting you) it was an experience that is just completely beyond this world. Harry Hamilton just, he is like Freddie Mercury's channeled spirit on earth forced into the physical form of a man from Northern Ireland. Fucking. Magical. The rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody with a full 54 piece orchestra and 30 choir singers sent ripples of pleasure and awe through my spine.
• I bought a 360 today, partly through i_am_fuse's achievement whoring and general dick-spoutings about EXBAWKS and a bit of egging on from cube_hard's (my lovely lovely girlfriend Laura, she wins repeatedly) mother. I'm still not sure whether this is a good idea or not.
• I have an interview with the civil service on the 19th of January. Very much looking forward to this, seeing as the world of retail is going down the pan faster than a man who shits at the speed of light. Mucho Excitimento, of course I'll probably be a smart arse and ace the aptitude test... oh my 8D
• Going to see Diru on Tuesday night, along with MSI (8D), Bring Me The Horizon (8|) and some Northern Irish Metal bands (8|||||||)
• ATEI on the 27th to kick it with some english friends (you know who you are ; ) ) and also my good friend Rob and some of his buddies in Earls Court. I'm still disappointed that no ATEI will really compare to the year when they had Mushi King/Dinosaur King and a certain someone figured out how to rape cards from the machine and make a tidy profit.

Those are my musings so far... Also might I just recommend that http://www.terratag.com are having a 40% off all orders deal right now. Quality t-shirts peddling mecha to the masses since 2002. Bring it on!