Pyreo's Journal

"As a professional theoretical physicist, I go through a lot of crowbars"

pexory@googlemail.com — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:16:34 GMT

Snooooow! We got some yesterday and not it's really coming down. We always get less around here than the majority of England, but it's actually piling up.

I ordered a box of stuff from Valve. MY MONEY. :c Omgomgomg merchandise. My sister was going to get a DSi that came with Pokemon Platinum and I could've had it 'cause she didn't care, but we ended up getting the DSi somewhere else because they didn't have the colour she wanted. But then, I was stuck with the idea of Pokemon Platinum and suddenly WANTED it despite having written it off totally. Whatever I'll probably get it. It'll amuse me until February and Bioshock 2. And then Pokemon SoulSilver in March. ..When are we getting Diablo 3?
Come to think of it, when did I turn into someone whose tastes and social life revolves completely around games? I can't remember a time when I WASN'T playing one, but then everyone does as kids. I guess I never realised how much of a geek I am inside.

LET'S VALIDATE THAT RIGHT NOW

Graffiti in Episode One. IS THAT YOU GLADOS?

Episode Two's background is awesome. Look at the city, it's ripped out of itself! I was THERE two days ago! :0

What is this? I found it in the antlion cave. If you tilt your head to the side it's a bit like a face. I KNOW THIS IS ON PURPOSE, VALVE. I FOUND THE BIG BAD OCTUPUSSES.

TF2 style lols

Thanks I could help, bro!

The M stands for Microwave. In my head.

WE DO WHAT WE MUST BECAUSE WE CAN

I have no idea if we know who the crossed out one is. Freeman, Kleiner, Vance.. is Microw-- Magnusson on the far right? The pasted on faces are probably Valve employees :|

Magnusson you are a dick and nobody likes you.

I think we made it clear in the preamble that it would be a big bag of conkers.

pexory@googlemail.com — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 03:36:07 GMT

Okay, so... yeah I played games all day.

Started on LittleBigPlanet for no reason and just DAMN YOU BUNKER gave up even with my sister helping me.

Began HL2: Episode One. IT'S SO FREAKIN' COOL. Thank you for letting me see more ~~Hug Tower~~ Citadel madness after the end of the first game. Oh my god, Stalkers are just SO wrong. (Screw you, falling-junk-on-glass-platform puzzle.)

After that, ended up getting into some Left4Dead games with buddies. Got some pictures despite what I said about it not being screencappable. Here's an arm I found. I don't think this was supposed to happen. Or this, hi zombie stuck through hospital floor. All four of us finished that campaign, making it my first successful escape.
Then we did the farm level, it has a cornfield, ohgod. This is us inside a caravan. While I stood against a wall Mantonio decided the most useful thing to do was marking my silhouette without hitting me with a bullet (...ignore the banter).
And something I'm really proud of, you get an achievement for killing a Witch without startling her. She's startled if you shoot her so that means a one-hit kill. She has 1000 HP, and a point-blank blast from a shotgun deals a little over this if every pellet hits.
Guess who got it on their first try.

Happy No Year

pexory@googlemail.com — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 04:16:06 GMT

Today I finally finished off Half-Life 2. Wow. The final level is just the best level. They disintegrated my crowbar but that's okay because after winning through the rest of the game to get there, they give you a superpowered epic weapon. Also, there's so much to look at and be horrified by.
Best of all I can move onto the sequel RIGHT AWAY. Well not now, tomorrow maybe. I've gone through Lost Coast, which I also tried to do while away for Christmas but that was on a family laptop which only choked out a lurching FPS when I manutally nuked the graphics to hell. I also didn't expect it to be that short.

And then as the new year came along, I was trying Left4Dead for the first time. I was placed as Louis so I got to point at things and yell PEELZ HERE. It's very very fast-paced and I didn't manage to even win the campaign, so there's not much time to grab screenshots, and nothing very amusing to take them of.

But I did grab this one, because that kind of on-screen message was initially quite funny before I learned to fear it.

Home from Christmas

pexory@googlemail.com — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:01:36 GMT

Christmas always happens elsewhere. I came back today, wow, am I glad it's over.

My grandparents still give me stocking stuffers from Santa for Christmas morning. We're one of those posh families that don't open the real things from the family until teatime. The "stocking" (which this year was just a bag) isn't that great except for humorous reasons. I got fruit, cheap jewellery, a cheque, a tinsel headband and, something I honestly didn't expect, a calendar with paintings, painted by people who don't have hands. Simultaneously the funniest and most depressing Christmas gift I've ever had. I also got Creature Tech from Tora. :3

As for actual presents -
Grandparents gave me a digital picture frame (cooool)
Uncle gave me a blouse I'm going to try and ignite somehow
Dad got me a PC case cooling fan
Mum gave me the new earphones I bought for her to give to me
Kathy paid for some convertible fingerless glovemittens
And my sister put some money in with a new iPod Nano case.

So yeeahh, that was pretty good.
To pass the time I started up Pokemon Crystal out of nowhere. Continued on a save from yeeears ago and beat the E4 before I came home. My thumbs hurt a bit because my GameBoy Advance's buttons are so worn, but now I'm primed for maximum nostalgia value in March or whenever we get HGSS.

So now I'm home I opened my new iPod and set it up. It's so tiny and aww! Got a new, smaller dock, too.
So glad I finally finished this.It's up late but whatever, it took so long.

Oh and also I just bought Left4Dead for absolutely no reason.

Rated M for MANLY.

pexory@googlemail.com — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 13:31:38 GMT

Well let's see. I'm getting to the end of Half-Life 2 and spent the last few gaming hours constantly reloading to try and save as many of my sadly retarded team mates as possible. And then the game forced them to DIE, ffff.
I've actually finished page 50 and I can't believe it's taking me so long but by now I just have to rush up to the ending before I ccompletely lose interest, goddamn I'm a fickle fandom person.

I've been working my butt off on something for Christmas for my buds but it's going to be a bit late. I would've wanted to get it up on the day but I caaaan't now so yeah I'm working on summat guys. 'Cept I can't use my art programs for a while starting NOW so ghhhk great it'll happen later.

Merry Christmas n' such!

"The cake is a lie." "No. You are the cake."

pexory@googlemail.com — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 03:04:25 GMT

Sniper had to start his garden all over from scratch. :C I'm sorry Sniper, it was a disaster. ...Well okay, not a disaster, it was a glitch. ...Well, okay, not a glitch, it was an incompatible mod.

Spy's classy enough to visit the park in a robe.

C'mon Scout, even Caps can keep things not on fire for longer than you.

Sadly I think he's the kind of scientifically objective kid who'd pin and collect dead butterflies.

NA NA NA NAAAA SPATULAAA

Over on the bad side of Simtown there's some "abandoned" warehouses. That taxi is Spy heading over to hunt for illicit activity.

Wow, that's not a suspicious entrance to a warehouse at all. Sadly Spy didn't find much at all, despite me being able to hear Simlish gangster-talk (including penguin noises) from all the way outside.

I don't even know why this exists, they all started STARING right at me. Except Sniper? I really don't-- okay caption contest, guys! Yeah. Explain what's going on here.

The best I can come up with for this is "Wanna see MY large hadron collider?"

"When I get married there's gonna be, like, a huge cake. You have NO IDEA how epic huge this cake is."

"What IS Elmo? ...Like, a seal or something?"

Sniper's stuff's growing back and he wiggles his ass in fruity joy.

No, Caps. That is not okay.

I need to stop letting these three ever be in the same room.

Because there is some kind of love triangle going on somewhere, either that or Sniper enjoys going shirtless and doing his impression of constipated Superman.

Apology?

...That doesn't help.

Caps shows the world she knows just how to deal with errant cucumbers. (I need to cool it on the innuendos in this update. Sorry, it's like 2:30 in the morning and I can't do anything above this. At least I didn't make that joke about Sniper's bush earlier.)

Christophe wants to know why the police work Agent does required her to dress as a hooker.

Sometimes, becoming a father changes a man. Not Heavy.

He, ADORABLY doting, though. "WHO TOUCHED MY BABY."

Little Sasha has her first birthday party. Heavy was all about the birthday until he noticed that Spy came, and brought a pie.

That probably wasn't as much of a dilemma as it should've been. (Spy's spying makes me think he planted that pie and intended this all along. HE'S WATCHING.)

I think Medic wants to know who let a BLU Spy in their house.

Every time a baby moves I just hear Soldier yelling "MAGGOT".

SHIT WHAT

JDSFHSDFJGK

Sasha is Heavy's face on a toddler's body, this is just.

...Okay let's leave that house as fast as possible. 'Nother birthday.

Nobody is excite.

Welder's an adult and looks absolutely no different. After that, RScout takes her up to the barn's balcony.

For some of this.

A diamond ring so big you can't even SEE it.

Squishies all around.

Before I crash into bed here's what happened when I talked TF2 to a chatbot.
PS. I didn't like Ravenholdm.

Illustrated Christmas Tour of London

pexory@googlemail.com — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 01:24:20 GMT

So I'm celebrating my release from uni for 3 weeks, and yesterday, I went around London YAY.

My dad and my sister came, and we wandered around and found a café that decorated using those electro mine things from Half-life 2.
We swung by Hyde Park to check their Wonderland again. It was full of Germans and Germans are great 'cause they cook meat.They had cute little huts and also there were rides. U shudnt come here. The big wheel was just the same. This thing was a ride. It didn't look Christmassy enough so this guy was flailing around beside it. Giant snowman. This wasn't Christmassy but it was badass.
I stopped by a Dutch pancake house and it was so bloody expensive!!! but worth it.

Then we went wandering again and checked the cinemas but there wasn't anything we wanted to see on at the right time. Instead we found another fairground at Leicester Square. I went flying over the Square in one of these, yes, I think I'm in that picture somewhere.
Lots more walking, also it was dark, busy, and around freezing temperature. We ended up at Trafalgar Square and there's not much more like Christmas than a choir singing under a gigantic Christmas tree. After that we limped away to GTI, got underage banned from the Wheatsheaf instead, and went home.

1/2!

pexory@googlemail.com — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 00:27:16 GMT

Oh my god I just printed off 49 pages

My portfolios are done you guuuyyyss. I've been working on them non-stop for the last 3 days. D:/ Two essays, a proposal, a short story, and a script.

Now I give these in tomorrow and I'm free! I'm halfway to getting a degree, wow.

"Maybe that's why they didn't see it on the x-ray. It was out fighting crime."

pexory@googlemail.com — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 01:22:07 GMT

lol oh my god these guys are amazing

So, that's it for uni this term. My last class was on Wednesday, we just went over doing the final essay. It's funny how class is compulsory and we start the term with like 25 people and at the end there's like 6. Including me.

I thought my last class was Thursday, but nope. I was terrified about having a one-on-one tutorial for 20 whole minutes because I thought she'd tell me I haven't worked hard enough. But actually Liz is the best tutor in the world and told me that a LOT of great writers are procrastinators and perfectionists, she was all "Douglas Adams did it" and went on to usefully crit what I had. And then said btw no lesson. Awwww.

So now I've gotta finish both portfolios and do two final essays to give in on Wed. That's like 1 day for each thing, so today I edited my short story for (hopefully) the final time. Yayyy.

Alongside doing that, I totally want to enter the TF2 Propaganda Contest. Comedy arts, I could totally do it if I focus hard enough! It's gotta be in by Wednesday too, argh.

Oh yeah, I just went and spent £170 on a new iPod and accessories. I'm a student what am I doing. It's mostly because nobody knows what to get me for Christmas so they can take these and pay me back for it? Eeee it's a purple iPod Nano. :3

"Our first mess"

pexory@googlemail.com — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:09:04 GMT

Protip: Never let Meike decorate for you.
She covered me in flowers so I put a fish on her face.

We made a hanging box with plastic stars (HURR) which dropped glowing balls and had a Weasel on top of it. Also, it spawned flamingoes.

<3

Rhubarb is a controversial pie variety.

pexory@googlemail.com — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 21:21:48 GMT

So... this was a fun server. |D
I tried to get up on top of that people stack like crazy, but I was the little Scout who couldn't. :c

Remember the guy I smacked over the fence in the other entry? Yesterday I joined a 2fort game and he was on the other team, but still greeted me. I typed back a short hello, but before I'd even sent it he backstabbed me while I was standing still. That guy's too much of a bastard for his own good. :P

Sniper's making sure Liam knows how to walk, while his parents are working most of the day.

OH NOES PARADOX. Scout's taking Tech to the fancy restaurant for a date, but he didn't plan on RED Scout being there.

STOP. FALLING OVER TABLES.
...The most expensive restaurant in town and she gets a burger?

Uhh... is RED Scout staying to watch them eat? Is he staring at Scout and thinking about working out? At least Scout has the decency to just think about himself.

This incredibly buff, and quite frankly camp-sounding cook thinks RED SCOUT IS AWESOME.

I don't. Even. Did Red stick around and wait for them to finish their meal, just so he could jump in and claim to be a better runner?

Scout does not know what to make of this.

And then, suddenly, formal clothes!

This sequence speaks for itself.

...Only then does RED Scout leave.

Oh come on. Now? They're trying to enjoy their engagement night!

Then the burglar forgot about going in the front door completely becauase WOW THESE GUYS HAVE A POOL

Caps is here, don't worry, she's got this. Agent's doing that "THINK OF THE CHILDREN " thing.

And then they sank into the ground thinking about desks.

... ...You LOST? Thanks Caps, way to be useless.

It's okay, Scout's here, he'll damn well straighten this out.

Hell yeah! Also essays!

That's one angry Scoot.

Yeah, and he beat you only wearing BOXERS.

I clearly don't have the hang of this. The burglar was beaten up, yet she ran off, and the police turn up in time to say "DERP, BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME".

Your guess is as good as mine.

Some people slept through the entire thing because there's more important stuff on their minds...

Heavy has such a one-track mind.

IS GOOD DAY TO BE GIANT MAN

Beds... and.... spilling see-- okay no I just can't make that joke

Okay, this is the WooHoo icon now? A heart on fire. It looks like it ought to be a Microsoft Word assistant. "I see you're trying to have sex!"

And THIS is my weapon
(Note to self, find a way to turn down bloom, jesus christ)

Don't look at me, Scout got happiness points for doing that. Their blank faces when this happens never stops amusing me.

CURSE YOU AQUA SCUUUM

I just got the latest game patch and ran into a bug... so every single harvestable plant in the town disappeared. As well as the ingredients in the refridgerators. Welder's starting their garden anew... ...I feel so bad for poor Sniper...

Fish make an alternative food source in the meantime. I know it's tiny, Welder, but keep trying.

Red is actually completely obsessed with the sprinkler.

The next Sim day I got a message pop up that I did NOT expect. I ran back to the Sandvich house to find...

sgdfhfjghk when did THAT happen

And then it was the cutest thing in the universe so I didn't mind that they did it without me. Heavy has named her Sasha.

Gordon Freeman is now these hands

pexory@googlemail.com — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:23:54 GMT

I actually skipped class on Wednesday. :< I was pretty sure it was gonna be useless, the topic was Dialogue and I'vehad classes on dialogue. Last year. So instead I stayed home and all day worked on my short story for that class's portfolio. I got all the way to finishing the first draft!

Thursday was... different. I slept too long and missed my train, and the next one wouldn't arrive until the time I had to actually get there for a group tutorial. So I went some other way that involved speeding to Clapham Junction and running to another platform in time to see a train about to leave, check the board, find out it WAS going where I wanted, but by that time it was leaving. ...But another train going the same route arrive in 2 minutes on the opposite platform, yay!

Then I had the choice of walking 15 minutes in the cold wind and possibly getting lost or waiting for a bus to turn up through a traffic jam. I went for the bus, it got me there in 5 minutes, and guess what, the tutor was late! So even though I should have got there 20 minutes before, I was just in time for the start of the tutorial, and basically I was unbelievably lucky. And she told our group to come back to meet her after our project has been graded, to discuss sending the idea off to ask to be commissioned. We were like WHAT. Then she said to send it to Aardman and we were like WHAT. Apparently she doesn't usually do this, she's just that impressed. And she knows what she's talking about, she usually teaches MA level and has been a screenwriter herself for decades.

Anyway, last weekend the internet went out all afternoon and we had to fix it ourselves by unscrewing the phone connection things and messing around. Our telephone wiring is complete shit. I thought we wouldn't get it back, and in the meantime, I finally started playing Half-Life 2. So far, WOW. You know what, everything in the Orange Box is a friggin' work of art, each in its own way.

It's really hard to position a helicopter for a screenshot, y'know

I just want to stare at everything so much. Also this game is 4 years old, this makes no sense to me.
So far each time I've played I've screamed at some point. XD Headcrab zombies are sneaky. The headcrabs themselves are sorta cute, in a way. Half the time I'm freaking out and the other half I'm just all SAVER OF HUMENS and HUG TOWER and laughing whenever I find the John Freeman model. And since City 17 is actually set in Europe it feels more familiar, especially the backwater industrial sections. A lot of it looks just like what I see taking a train into central London, and yeah I'm a dork so it's somewhat freaky.

That's not all I'm playing, have a screenshot pile.

This would be your typical game screen. A RED Demoman is on fire and a Medic in a Pickelhaube is coming to his aid. A Spy disguised as a Pyro is in the middle of decloaking, and on the other side, a Sniper was just backstabbed by a BLU Spy in a top hat. Just another day at the base.

...Hey guys. Uh. S'up.

Bein' stuck in the ground's a good job mate

Hey... nice hat.

Act nonchalant. Nobody will know you're dead.

Sometimes I wish that shirtless mod was real.

What is it with Snipers and falling into these positions?? It's always Snipers! And sometimes Spies. But mostly Snipers.

At one point we dominated the other team so badly that they all ragequitted. With three of us left on the server, we all went Spy. I Spycrabbed my way from our base to theirs, and on down into their intel, unharmed. A RED Medic followed me down there, constantly spamming the "Well done!" and "Schnell!" commands. I Spycrabbed around the intel room laughing my ASS off, then we just jumped around as Spies waving our knives or disguising as each other.

Then everyone turned Scout and we hung out on the roof of the bridge. This guy was all "See if you can bat me over the fence!"

I could.

Best "Sorry chucklenuts, ya got in the way a' my bullets!" pose. I know I know they're dominating me but it's not that hard when the Scout has a sentry for backup and nobody was trying to help me clear the sewer.

...It's always Snipers

"It's 99% penis free!"

pexory@googlemail.com — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:40:54 GMT

On Torchlight:

McT: The main storyline is EASY after them. |^^|; Haha.. there's.. that bit where. That evil guy sends that HUGE DEMON after you, before the dwarven fortress?
McT: The thing came at me and I summoned the crap out of my pants and my little army just ran at him and.. he died. Before I even got to him.
McT: My guy just kinda stood there near the dead demon and was all ":("
Pyreo: Summoned... the crap OUT OF your pants.
McT: Wherever he summons stuff from!

McT: (my character heals by hitting on stuff. |~~| )
Pyreo: ..Hitting ON?
McT: Yes. |~~| *Snf*
Pyreo: "Hey there, baby." +21 HP
McT: Yeah. |~~| *winking-fingerpointing gesture* +40HP
McT: ..my gun's now named Fanged Fanggun? ..how lame's that?

Okay so, I'm nearly at the halfway point of my time at university, and I've been taking the same route there for the past year and a half. I get a 15 minute train, then hop out and get on a bus for 35 minutes. Most of the time I'll exit the station in time to see my bus go right past me, meaning I have to wait 10-20 minutes for another, which is pretty eurgh in the colder weather. Like now. It also likely means I'll be a bit late.

The other week though, I realised something about the bus route. It goes into a loop and comes back towards me. I could actually have easily outrun the bus to the next stop up and got it there. Every time. Here's a visual aid (traced from Google Maps!)

In short: I'm an idiot.

Shut up Meike this is totally me working, okay

That's not what you put in meatloaf! That's not what you put in meatloaf at all!

pexory@googlemail.com — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 01:28:34 GMT

Here y'go, floorplan! So you guys can tell where stuff is and shit.

And so on. Upstairs is the attic. which is small and mostly bare except for Sniper's bed and dresser.

And from behind. Man, I really want a Seasons expansion so it'd feel worth using the pool during summer and the fire pit in winter.

Agent is STILL on maternity leave after having Liam, so she's getting the negative "Anxious To Advance" mood impact. But to make something useful of the time off she makes social connections.

Sniper's starting to teach Liam to talk.

I'm not sure why. Sniper hates art?

Hours of trying and all he's learned to say is "filthy convict".

Agent-- NO. Come on! I leave you alone for ten minutes!

Scout looks pretty pained just WATCHING this mental battle between a scientist and a kid genius.

Pained.

Scout, you're an ADULT, it's not nice to make fun of people.

Scout! Have some goddamn tact, for the love of--

Oh forget it

Agent got pretty mad, but mostly I was distracted by the buttcrack of that statue in the courtyard.

Matching chair and jammies = Liam is cute!

That night Tech had this GREAT idea to visit the cemetary.

It's not like it's haunted or anything.

Like some kind of ridiculous farce, they never manage to look at the ghosts behind them, nor take notice of the floating bench.

"Wot's that?"
"UHH DUNGEON ENTRANCE?"
"I dun like the look of it."
"C'MON WUSS IT'LL BE JUST LIKE DIABLO"

"I AIN'T goin' in there."
"WUUUUSSS."

"You go ahead. And I'll..."
"STAY THERE? KEEP A LOOKOUT?"
"...Yeh."

As soon as Caps disappears into the crypt some sleepy ghost wanders up.

Uuuhhh... hi? ("Happy thoughts HAPPY THOUGHTS")

Meanwhile, Scout's insulting people while they work out.

Sure is great being left by yourself in a graveyard!

dfghkdfg awww

......wut

Yeah, just sit there until Caps come back. So you're not in danger of HURTING yourself.

Finally! She explored the crypt for hours and came back with a rare plant seed and a lump of shiny treasure. They then discuss getting the hell out of there for obvious reasons.

Christophe HATES this toilet

Spy cooked Perfect French Toast for breafast. Techie is a spazz.

Sniper's grown himself a steak bush. :3

Caps puts out her shiny crypt treasure for all to see.

And then Caps also joins the others in adulthood! ...Caps has this weird habit of staring AT ME through the screen. What's that coming in on the right?

....Oh. Hi Agent.

Spy, they're just HUGGING, stop staring

Why did he get a relationship boost from that

Every time Sniper makes a catch I have this personal challenge to get the screencap at the most dramatic pose and angle possible.

HITTING TOILETS WITH A HAMMER MAKES THEM BETTER

Hey.. Scout... her eyes are up there.

I'm so proud of Sniper's crop. Tomatoes, onions, steak and cheese!

Oh my GOD MAN WHAT THE HELL WITH YOUR ARM?!
...Das ende

Flawless victory! ...Now do it again

pexory@googlemail.com — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:10:28 GMT

Yeah, more already! ...And some new surprise additions.

We have A CAPS. The first thing she does on arriving? Run inside and shove her hand in the fire.

Spy wants his son to get a lot of Achievements. Also the beginning of Christophe's dislike of Spy's demanding job, and from there, his aversion to the police force.

"YOU SHOULD. LIKE. PUT A SHIRT ON. MAYBE? NO OFFENSE KAY."

Removing the second floor bathrooms gives us space for more children in the kids' room and for Caps to have her own personal space.

Sniper's a nice guy, he'll be there to massage you if your pregnancy puts a strain on your back. (Good thing Spy didn't see... sitting just out there playing chess.)

Caps doesn't actually move her fork, just flicks food up from the plate into her mouth.

Someone's water breaking is always good cause for celebration! (Caps is still eating)

I'm not going to lie. I only took this because of Scout pulling the dashingest face ever. Anyway, Agent calls a cab and heads to the hospital. Again.

And Sniper wakes up, in the middle of a nap, to rush down to the hospital himself so that she can have some support.

Spy? Spy was busy cooking steak.

Pyreo says: ....Sniper woke up and rushed to the hospital.
McT says: Not his job, but good idea.
Pyreo says: Well, Spy's busy cooking steak.
McT says: Which is more important than baby. |^^|;;
McT says: Steak > Baby.
Pyreo says: Sniper's mood is now "Too many people 8("
McT says: Sniper thinks that Steak > Baby, too.
McT says: ..hopefully nobody thinks Steak = Baby.

Some woman just... went and played a seranade on her guitar outside the hospital as Agent came out.

Pyreo says: Oh shoot oh shoot, what do I name this baby.
McT says: STEAK.
McT says: Wait, no.
McT says: Spy Jr.
McT says: Unless it's a girl then.. dunno. Milla.
McT says: No.2?
Pyreo says: .....
McT says: Name him Waldo. |~~|
Pyreo says: I'm never letting you name my kid.

The baby's name is Liam, okay. Household babby No. 2!

Agent's current wants at this point:

Hold baby
Fuck Sniper

To Spy's credit, he tutors his son quite a lot. I don't think homework is what he's thinking about here, though.

Today is Tech's last day as a Young Adult! She and Caps go to catch a movie to celebrate. ....Edward Cullen snuck up behind them. So seriously, look.

After that, they meet up with Scout and have dinner at the Deep-Fried Diner. A hobo in a top hat decides he does not like Scout.

"HEY SCOUT?? ... I LIKE YOU!"
Having yelled that across the street, she went in and applied for a job at the Diner. And got it.

After which, Tech ~~ages up~~ turns into a vampire. Edward must've got to her earlier!

There's no difference physically between Young Adult and Adult. :| That I can see. Anyway, Tech went over to the Spa for a full-package treatment. Scout went with her. He was here the whole time, and avoided showing up in any of these pictures.

Good idea: Helping out by babysitting children.
Bad idea: Caps being alive.

Sniper catches a... a... scarf!

I think that was a pretty dang good birthday.

This morning is Monday. Everyone's back to work. It's Christophe's first day of school. Caps wakes up earlier than anyone else... so they can't stop her from trying to fix breakfast. She does a Dramatic Chipmunk look at the blender.

...Hey, that went pretty well.

She and Scout are the only ones with afternoon jobs, so they play catch.

I just laugh when Scout pitches. It's so damn right.

Of course it's impossible to catch any of them, every one's a fastball and then he just shrugs. What do you want him to do, go easy? Pfft.

RUN TO WORK IN OUR UNIFORMS

Spah sappin mah turkey

With all these adults around, the turkey worried who was looking after the baby.

It's for Scout's party! Yaaaaay

And then HE was a wampire.
(Scout didn't change either)

Working that "Genius" trait there I see.

No guys c'mon that's not how you

There, okay. Better.

Caps and Sniper were obviously off rehearsing a synchronised cheering routine.

Toddler No. 2. Liam... the vampire?

Hey, we also now have Welder! Welder acknowledges RED Scout's superiority.

They got this house. Which I love because it's got the RED barn!

And a vegetable garden around back. Sooo picturesque.

Welder's gonna be taking care of the gardening, just because.

...Hahaaa okay.

You appear to have trodden on a mine!

pexory@googlemail.com — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:53:44 GMT

Well GAH, I had a stressful few days being behind on my work. There's only a month left before handing in so I'm slipping into the "oh shit FINISH STUFF" mentality and it's not that helpful because I feel I have to do everything at once.

Wednesday was pretty bad because I stayed up late typing stuff and STILL didn't think it'd be enough. Then next morning I ran all the way to the train station thinking I was gonna miss it, to find the train had been cancelled. And the air was cold that morning, so my lungs broke a bit. Got a later one, had a tutorial where I was told to not worry so much about being perfect the first time or I'll NEVER get anywhere etc. Found a canteen that was serving roast pork for lunch and I was like FFFF yes.

And the seminar that day was just being talked at for a couple of hours. I actually watched other students falling asleep. I dozed slightly too, having like 5 hours sleep or whatever, until the tutor said writing for TV was less about writing and more about editing, and to think of ourselves as "script engineers - try to solve problems" and then I kinda perked right back up. :|

Oh and the hot Greek guy wore an open shirt. I could see his chest, but he looked really cold. Wtf man.

Anyway I've got a pretty big screenshot dump to stick in here.

I'm hot-blooded, check it and see

I got a fever of a hundred and three

W-- oh god. (Yes, he's dead.)

I don't think there was a single second on the Mario Kart map I wasn't screaming WHAT THE FUCK?

'S been a while since one of these so there's quite a lot. First off I've moved both the families. The possibility of more kids in the future meant the previous houses would've been a bit small.

RED Headquarters with Medic, Heavy and Nurse. I called it Sandvich House.

I really couldn't think of a reason for him to do this although there IS that football helmet of Heavy's...

He's also not very good.

More of this, Heavy's like candy to the ladies or something. Fat candy.

Don't he know it.

Nurse trying out the game system later.

She can do it with her eyes closed, even.

This would be where I've stashed BLU and YLO. It's really a nice house to play in. This point's where I took a break, and when I next loaded the game, we had...

Christophe messing around with toys

Sometimes I worry about this kid.

Sniper getting in a nap after early morning fishing trips

Spy making himself at home in their uberfancy kitchen (watermelon?)

Agent finally getting her disguise.

And trying out their NEW POOL.

The fire pit is adorable, I love it.

You idiot.

Hi, awesome house!

Dawn shot, asdfdsfgd. This place was originally red brick. I manually recoloured everything because yeah duh.

This might be an innuendo but with Scout it's hard to tell. Can't you guys play nice?

Come ON EA, his legs look so broken.

This might amount to "filthy convict". Sniper has the best FFFFF face.

Damn, these guys sure are shirtless a lot

At least the girls are more civil.

Photo of PLATEFLIES

Scout waves a TV remote and the fire turns BLUE-- WHAT

SCOUT IS MAGIC

Agent's been promoted to her namesake - the Special Agent brance of the police force, so she finds Sniper to go and celebrate. Some huge-nosed woman wanders into the conversation.

Spy's at home, diligently teaching his son how to walk. And he now wears that suit daily to his job as International Super Spy.

Agent's having fun without him by taking Sniper to see a movie.

But, overall, they're pretty decent parents. Despite both having demanding jobs, Spy always working extra hours for criminal busts, and Agent holding up a social life, Christophe learned to walk, talk and use the toilet just fine.

Scout, you don't have to prove anything.

.....Okay don't go too far

Sniper and Agent are quite innocently chatting and thinking about each other but Spy's no idiot, he can see Sniper's shirt is off. So he just.. raises his hand in the back? "I could bring you flowers...!"

"You'd like ze flowers, right?"
He's ignored because Sniper has a TROWEL.

Then an argument erupts, and Sniper just smiles to himself in a "my work is complete" sort of way.

Wow, Sniper's being a pretty big ass today.

Well, there's only ONE reason anyone ever throws up in these games.

Just because that is a REALLY good *wibble* face.

Tech's maxed her handiness skill. She can fix ANYTHING.

Next screenshot: broken tap. Also pregnancy.

Christophe has to grow up, And Agent wanted to get a party going. First time I've tried this. Sniper freaked out about the number of people and ran up to his attic.

Nurse and Heavy came along, and I think her dancing frightened this bodybuilder.

Turns out I have no idea how to handle parties. After 3 hours everyone left, and I got a message saying the party was a failure because nobody aged up, even though they were ON THEIR WAY TO THE CAKE.
Oh well. The family was there.

I think he's come out less ugly than I thought!

Yeah, definitely a mini-Spy. I gave Christophe the Genius trait for childhood, since both his parents really wanted it, and I'm going to turn him into a child prodigy (he's also got Virtuoso) who grows to hate his parents for never being around because they were too busy fighting crime. :V

Yes, I admit it, I only took this because it was cute. :3

"MEIN LEBEN"

pexory@googlemail.com — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:41:36 GMT

I'm not at uni this week although I REALLY SHOULD be working on a few things. Also, drawing. But drawing's not coming easily to me right now, so.

HOWEVER, I AM KICKING SO MUCH ASS you don't even know. This game's BETTER than Diablo. Everyone has an animal familiar (and mine make a great meat-shield while I'm shooting from afar), it's so much more fun to look at, GUNS ARE COOL, and it's not like it could be WORSE since it basically copied every aspect ever. And then added a couple useful things.
The only thing that worse is that in Diablo, you used to be able to watch your character become more and more armoured for battle as you found higher grade loot. Torchlight falls in that category of games where more visible skin = more protection! Apparently my armour value is higher now that I have an exposed midriff.
At least, it's like that for the female class, not sure about the two male ones.

It's a bit tricky to stop and frame a dead body in the middle of a fight, but I do it anyway. I think Sander Cohen would be proud.

Sniper YOUR LEGS sdfgdhfjgh

Eeerrrmmm

One funky Soldier.

Polite avenging Sniper is polite. :3

That's me! 9D (Dangit I hate losing to other Scouts, if I meet one it's usually a flailing luck scuffle)

I... I don't think he was dead. 8( Just gave up.

I main Pyro... yet I find this terrifying.

Haha, I had to pause in a hallway to take this. I got the shot, but as soon as I'd stopped and faced the wall a Spy attempted to backstab me. I was turning back around, so he missed, ran, and I set him on fire.
I then made fun of them for being such a failSpy while my back was turned and I was busy taking pictures of dead Scouts. They told me to take more screenshots so they could try again. :3c

This one doesn't need a caption.

Pyreo says: I always imagined sleep was the brain defragmenting.
McT says: Yeah, supposedly it is. |~~|
Pyreo says: And then I seriously wondered if that means.. when a computer does it, the computer dreams.
McT says: ....hmmmm.
McT says: That'd make an oddly sweet little story, aw. *Snk*
McT says: ...though I can only imagine what it dreams of. Oooh, Word.
Pyreo says: Paperclip. = =
Pyreo says: "I see you're having a dream!"
McT says: .....aaahllsdkfj.
McT says: And then it does that suggestive look it always does. |; ;|
Pyreo says: "Want me to spice it up for you?"

"Because sliced bread is known for its sixpack."

pexory@googlemail.com — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:02:29 GMT

brb Torchlight

ps. buy it

"Supercollider." "...Super noodles?"

pexory@googlemail.com — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:40:18 GMT

oh god I'm laughing so hard seriously

Iiiii saw 9 this morning. I liked it, I really kinda did, but you wouldn't know from hearing me talk about it. I've been complaining about the plotholes. None of that shit made sense I swear to god. It's like. There wasn't really a purpose to the story or much of a meaning behind it, not much meaningful interaction, it just happened because it did. It felt so. Shallow. I could come away and never think about it again (that is if the plotholes didn't nag me). It was more like a kid's story.
But the setting? Death! War! Extinction! Terror-inducing steampunk monsters! So who the HELLS knows where their demographic was. I liked everything visual about it. The ruined city, the house just perching on its centre struts, the world being war-ravaged and humans losing control of the weaponry they were using. It was chilling. And that snake/spider-esque lure monster. Oh my god. It was using their friend's dead body to give them epilepsy!

I have some kind of huge THING for industrial settings and this fueled the hell outta it. The ending was major WAT. Life will EVOLVE again? Yeah sure - a few million years AFTER the Stitchpunk guys who were left wear out and die! Unsatisfying end and too many deaths means I lost my emotional investment.

UH BUT ANYWAY. So Kathy's fireworks party tonight, fireworks weren't that great and more like distracted from me trying to catch up with her. Still didn't have enough time to say everything. I have a sore voice now 'cause I'll talk a LOT when I have a friend around but since I hardly ever do, all the talking is this massive single burst.
She made this cheesecake (nicknamed AidsCake after how predictive phone text understands it) and I took home a slice.

I guess I didn't write anything about my classes but they were kinda standard. Fiction seminar is just urg early and my group never shows up any more. I did finally get the guts to show her some writing and she just pointed out minor dialogue flaws and told me I have a talent for this. Screenwriting I dreaded way, way too badly and then it turned out nobody cared about the work I thought we had to have done, as a group, so we all just did it there in lesson time. And I like our group project, we've all contributed stuff and moulded a pretty good world and story. Luckily it is still relevant to my interests.

"They must be getting kinda derperate."

pexory@googlemail.com — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:15:09 GMT

Yeah so I'mma make an update instead of going to bed!

Thursday's class was fuuu-uuun, my series proposal went over pretty well and even though we had to discuss and make decisions on it as a group, a lot of what I liked got into our agreement. I did my 5 page treatment, somehow. I don't think I started it until 3am. Then I got talking with Alan and Meike about it and they were all HAVE IDEAS and something came out. I surrendered for bed at 5am, then got back up at 10 and carried on until 5 pages were had. (In fact it would've been more, my line spacing was 1.5 when it SHOULD have been 2.)

The funniest thing is that the whole script is like NEVERHOOD MADE INTO HUMENS. And while I TRIED to divert the similarities, Alan kept unknowingly putting them BACK, lollll.

Also in that class we played some status impro games. I was like FFFF NUHH. I DID THAT ALREADY ONCE DO I HAVE TO? That and the group system got me talking to a bunch of people and getting a bit over my tendency to assume I'll be shunned for some reason.

And then on Friday, I saw Up. With my mum and sister. Pixar, I love you completely, you know that, but something about Up didn't stick with me quite like all their other films did. A good, good movie overall, just not on par with the brilliance of WALL-E or the classic humour of Toy Story or the cute factor of Finding Nemo. It was just kinda THERE. The flying house was a bit of a gimmick rather than being a memorable piece. In fact I was just following the points of the story arc the whole way as it plodded along. Oh, there's the story goal. Oh, he's got a dilemma choice. Look, we're at the lowest point now. Made it feel rather formulaic. In fact it stuck to the formula rather rigidly and left out explanations so it had to rely on coincidence.
I could criticise it, but I liked it on the whole. The talking dogs were freakin' random thematically but they were the best part. Alpha Dog's voice was the only thing that got a real full laugh from me. And the Old Man Fight. *snk* And HE'S FIGHTING AGAINST A SWORD WITH HIS CANE JUST LOOK HOW MUCH WE CAN REINCORPORATE GUYS. LOOK.
The theme was so damn cute once I got it, y'know, "you don't NEED to fly your house to the wilderness to have an adventure - adventure is wherever you find it" or something, but then it's like... okay, his is already over then! And he's old! :D ...Maybe I'm too pessimistic.

So Halloween... the most Halloween-y thing I did (apart from scoring dozens of trick or treat points on (fluff)Friends to get that cat...) was playing a lot on TF2's Halloween Event map. It has vague backstory, and a ghost! And I won a hobo hat. :D I suck at that map though. KOTH is hard so I just went back to 2fort. And got in group circles with people and did the Thriller dance taunt over and over. Got an epic amount of points as a Pyro, including a huge Spy massacre and walking right into their base, taking their intel, and wandering back out alone and finding no resistance. Twice.

Darp

"Nobody came. Especially me."

pexory@googlemail.com — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:43:46 GMT

Oh today didn't go well. Stayed up way too late just to put together another TV series proposal - I didn't get any good ideas until 2am. Then discovered I couldn't even email the work in because Firefox doesn't open email windows with the 'Reply' option visible and IE just doesn't work at all now.
And I had to come in for a tutorial, they're only 10 minutes but god I hate being put on the spot. Maybe it'd be okay if I had some conviction in what I was writing. Or even if I did, I'd end up being told I don't know what "good" is.

I'm just trying to remember that of my classmates' work that I've seen, I'm actually the only one who's managed the correct rules of grammar, so I can't be THAT bad.

I just missed my bus home and waited forever for the next (while 3 of EVERY OTHER BUS went past - why do they do that??) and then eventually found that since I'd got a later bus I had to get a later train... which had been cancelled. And I panicked because I didn't want to be stuck for an HOUR. ...But in the middle of a phone call asking if I should attempt taking a cab, they un-cancelled it. ....Okay sure.

And now I'm supposed to give in at least 5 pages of a treatment tomorrow and I don't know what to start with. ..... *flop*

So instead here's some quotes and screenshots.

McT says: ...seeing that the headcrab zombies still gurgle stuff all creepy-like, my head just went something like "*garble* Gentlemen...."
Pyreo says: YABBA MY ICING
McT says: I ain't touching your icing.

Pyreo says: ....This is what happens to me from reading this gay-ass comic. :|
McT says: Gay ass-comic.
Pyreo says: ....YES.

~faceplant~

Somehow a glitch in Sudden Death turned everyone into a Spy, with the weapon they were just using hovering on their shoulder. What the Christ.

Nice halos guys.

I was killed by someone who was that very second killed by a jubilant Spy.

Hardcore.

Okay that.... ....ow.

????

Aw Scout, you were so close. :(

"I gave you a chest with a hand in it! ...And you threw it in a volcano. :("

pexory@googlemail.com — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:04:26 GMT

I just spend the weekend in the country, it was boring, not much got done. I did sort out my work due for Fiction Writing this week, but I've also got my treatment due on Thursday and, on top of that, a pitch that's meant to be emailed in by... tomorrow. That's so not going to happen.

It took 3 hours to drive back and then we basically went straight on through to London for Showstopper. :3 Which was amaziiiing. Pirate themed this time! Because the first word suggested for the theme was "Buccaneer", and apparently Dylan just did a 29-hour show which was also about pirates, but he hadn't done a musical about them yet so he didn't mind. For song styles we got Fiddler on the Roof and Elton John. Also some drag.

So the musical started out in Seville and from there onto a ship called the Green Horn. Which in the next sentence became the Green Hornet. I hadn't seen the guy playing the main character before, but he was this worthless orphan cabin boy. And Pippa was the Captain (with a hook for a hand) and Ruth turned out to be the villain, the former Captain who wanted her ship back. They had a pretty damn good hook (...pun whoops) tune for "It's A Fine Life Being A Pirate". Ruth's character convinced the main guy to steal the key to Captain Pippa's treasure chest to help steal the money and then he'd get his VERY OWN ORPHANAGE.

And Dylan was great, as usual. He seemed even more exasperated than usual, possibly because the actors went on very weird tangents and he'd just done a 29-hour show and his voice had partially gone. And near the end he basically just had to let them all run away with it. Best bits were... the ship reaching Tortuga and there being a song about how great life in Tortuga is, with special European dance choreography, a mimed parrot battle going on behind them, and when the song ended the two burlesque girls announcing their departure from the scene with "...Let's tempt some men!" and running away.
Dylan asked for suggestings to help with setting up the pirate land of Tortuga with, y'know, the dancing girls and the parrot pet shop and then some kind of pirate Starbucks which only served rum. I tried to supply ARRbucks for the name but got overlooked. :<
And then the story went rather weird, the chest only contained the Captain's old cut-off hand, which pointed the way to a volcano where the orphan guy threw it in and trapped their crew, so Ruth's vilain could steal their ship. Ruth had the best character in the entire thing. She started off just repeating fragments of what anyone said in a dramatic manner, then turned into a villainous tour de force. She said things such as "Sit down, boy, or I'll cut yer face off" and she got into a real piratey insult contest.
Anyway she got killed by the orphan boy who'd had to sacrifice his own hand to free his crew, and then he found out Captain Pippa was his mother. From there they just went insane and claimed to all be related and gave everyone an extra name, and Ruth officially renamed the ship the Green Turtle because Dylan kept getting it wrong.

Haha. ....I'm so tired.

VICAR FIIIIIGHT

pexory@googlemail.com — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:43:26 GMT

THURSDAY WAS INSANE

Okay so. Tuesday night I stayed up until 5am to write out some of a damn short story for my homework. I had to get up for uni 3 hours later. But I was surprised in that I didn't get too tired, was completely attentive, and took notes even though the class was dull. Critiqued other students in a group, and I dunno, it all feels pointless when I'd reviewing work by some guy who feels that dialogue such as "Hey man, relax your balls!" contributes to the story.

Wednesday night... I accidentally did the same thing. I didn't expect to, but putting together work where I have to force out ideas is hard! So there I was having to stumble out of bed, 4 hours sleep again, ended up sitting at my desk again to finish my work, part dressed, hair wet, document open, no make-up... and the train leaving in 7 minutes.

And I actually made it.

The whole journey before a tutorial is so nerve-wracking though. I always think they're going to tell me I fail too hard and what was I thinking. And I did get some very serious, probing comments, but overall I guess it wasn't worth being terrified over. She told me to watch a TV series called Madmen because it had a similar theme to what I was going for.

So after we'd been tutorial'd, Chris and Frankie and I hugpiled for moral support and went for lunch at the uni carvery (uni carvery!) and then we had an actual lesson. We talked about writing treatments and we watched Sex and the City (Oh god WHY, turn it off turn it off MY EEYYYEESSS).
Since we'd all been to see her personally, she let us out early, and then Frankie was saying she was disappointed because she'd been awarded free tickets to be in the audience for Harry Hill's TV Burp, but her buddies suddenly couldn't go, plus it's first come first served and the lesson times would've meant she'd get there too late to probably get a seat. But... the session ended early, and there's no way I wouldn't be up for it, so we just went and got on a bus that we VAGUELY THOUGHT went the right way.

Turns out BBC HQ is only 15 minutes away by bus. We got in a queue for the audience entrance that curved all around the outside of the building. Then we got bored and Frankie chose to listen to vintage Sims tracks on my iPod. They separated the queues, because Jonathan Ross was recording his at the same time and we'd all lumped togeter. And we got stickers that told us we were placed 156 in line. We had to shuffle through airport-level security.

BBC is actually a fantastic place to look at. A lot of the time I was remembering how my mum did exactly the same thing, walking into work here 20 years ago. Unlike at the QI recording they left us in a special audience waiting room, which was pretty fantastic. Everyone got two free beers each! I only drank one and that got me dizzy enough. They had a coffee shop counter for drinks and panini and I got a slice of chocolate fudge cake. 9D Also, surprise surprise, a gift shop. I found the DVD of Madmen and since I was told to watch it that morning, and happened to go to the very source to find it, and was a ittle tipsy, I paid the extortionate gift shop price.

Next to the gift shop was a life size model Dalek.

Unfortunately this is the ONLY photo I have of the whole place because I neglected to charge my phone, since I didn't know I'd be coming to this. But there we go. I don't know why it had a button that said "do not press", but I pressed the fuck out of it.

Eventually they called us in by our label numbers from the outside queue and then we were in the studio with the TV Burp set all laid out like a cute living room |3... and guess what, we came in at exactly the right time to start a new seating block, and SAT AT THE VERY FRONT. We got all excited and they tested the lights and the warm-up guy, aww he was lovely, kept us amused until he introduced Harry Hill, who entered walking past about a foot in front of me.

It takes a while to set up, but then the show was going, and they recorded it all the way through in order, only having to stop once or twice. He tends to do stupid things like squirting condiments all over his desk, and instead of saving these for last he just does it and then they pause, and stage hands with towels ready rush over and mop up, then onto the next clip. Hurr. And Harry Hill's great, he doesn't stop being funny when the cameras are off. He sits there singing to himself, making odd noises, or telling endless run-on jokes between takes.

The best thing was probably a sudden over-the-top sequence relating to Leslie Ash. It took three takes to get it right, but the final one was perfect, so we all went wild. Oh and my other favourite, Campest Sigh Of The Week. Ahahahha. If you're in the UK then WATCH IT. :| 7:30 tonight, IVT1. Remember I was in the front row. DO IT.

OMG! My First Hat

pexory@googlemail.com — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:56:59 GMT

8'D

Urg I still have to start writing my short story for tomorrow. Only up to 500 words, it SHOULDN'T be hard, but I have to formulate the whole idea first before I begin so this seems fairly unbalanced. 8/ I should just START already because the idea is to work on it as we go.
And I'm falling behind on my homework to watch TV. Yeah.

GUDAAAAAYYYY

pexory@googlemail.com — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:47:38 GMT

Today we got a new character... and two returning ones.

Oh come on I left you alone for 5 minutes guys!

Yeah... take that... you recently pregnant woman.

Oh Spy.

....OH SPY. ..What.

WOO HEY BABY PARTY WOO Sniper get your hand away from there

............OKAY

I know I said the baby gameplay was lazy but SHEESH. They couldn't even straighten out clipping for the ONE time in a baby's life that matters?

So, now it's a toddler, and Scout's the only one who bothers to feed the little maggot.

Oh c'mon Spy that's harsh. :(

OKAY SO NOW NEW HOUSE AND

HEAVY AND MEDIC
And the Nurse

....Woah what

Yeah um Medic don't like this
And Nurse looks like G-man or something holy crap

This so isn't going to end well.

OR MAYBE IT WILL. Okay whatever.

.....I give up