Tuesday, April 24, 2001  

It's suddenly a quiet time around here. My birthday's come and gone, my parents have come and gone (to Paris for a brief trip), and with University looming large I figured this is the perfect time to fill you all in on what's been happening.

For once, I'm actually really happy. I can't quite put my finger on it, but things just seem to be going well right now. I've been on holiday for the last three weeks, and my parents arrived last week, so I had a nice run of going out and partying mixed with seeing my folks again. And of course, there was the gifts. I got my GBA, I got a new phone (the Nokia 8250, just what I wanted), a fantastic book on James Bond films, but most importantly, I got an incredible book on Peanuts. It's a big book on the history and evolution of the Peanuts (Snoopy and Charlie Brown Peanuts, not the food...) with loads of comic strips from the last 50 years. It's quite possibly one of the best gifts I've had in a long time.

Speaking of birthday-related stuff, a big thank you to all of you who sent cards. Thanks to Haneal, Ramon, Laku, Cameron, Sabrina and Kavi for sending those new-fangled interactive e-card thingies, and to Nicola and Anand for doing it the old fashioned way and sending me something that doesn't need a phone line to survive.

Also, thank you for remembering how old I am, because my aunt sent me a "Happy 21st Birthday" card... when as you all know, I'm only 20.

Incidentally, while I'm on about the phone and Internet, another Reason To Be Happy is that I have DSL now. For the uninitiated, that's high-speed Internet over regular phone lines. It's always on for a flat rate AND I get to use the telephone at the same time. Awesome deal, really.

More Internet-related sillyness. Visit this site and have a great time laughing at the pure genius of it. Trust me, it's incredibly funny.

What else? Liverpool just can't stop winning. Everton on Monday night (described in the last post), then Barcelona on Thursday night, and now Tottenham on Sunday. What makes it especially brilliant is that we're in another Final, and Manchester United crashed out of Europe to Bayern Munich. Yes, yes, YES! I saw the Lewis-Rahman fight live too, and although the result wasn't quite what I wanted, I did at least see a bit of history--perhaps the greatest upset in boxing history.

My birthday itself was a low-key affair. I don't really like making a big deal out of it, and this year was no exception. I didn't do much in the day other than sleep in and go for a bit of shopping. Dinner was again a small thing--my parents, my cousin Anand and I all went to a Japanese restaurant nearby (you know, the one I rave about all the time) and had a quiet dinner. And that was it, really. Nothing big, but that's the way I like it.

University starts again tomorrow... yikes. I'm not too keen to go back again, but what can you do eh? Not too much longer before it's all over for this year though, and I can't wait for that.

I've probably forgotten a few things, but I don't care... I'm happy. Weird, isn't it? Let's hope nothing spoils this. Like a Liverpool loss. That would REALLY foul up my mood...

Currently in my...
Consoles: F-Zero (GBA), Perfect Dark (N64)
DVD Player: GoldenEye
Toilet: Edge (the Peanuts book is WAY too valuable to sit in the toilet)

Posted at 8:46 AM

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Wednesday, April 18, 2001  

Well, as you can see I added a new section. To be honest, this site is rather blah. The Journal is too serious and long-winded, and I want a bit of fun here. So I made a reviews section, which is less of a "review" section than an area for me to spout off and poke fun at various games. Hopefully it lightens the mood in this place...

I don't have too much to say really--I'll probably be cracking out a few more reviews for old games soon.

I do have something to say about Liverpool though. Just as I talk about Liverpool looking good and then dying at the last... this happens. We played local rivals Everton and took the lead in the fifth minute. Then Everton equalised. No matter, we take the lead again and then get a penalty for a chance to seal the game... which we miss. Alright, 2-1, not bad, we can hold on. Then a Liverpool player gets sent off. Then Everton equalise with seven minutes left. So it's pretty much all over for Liverpool... right? For once--no. Enter Gary McAllister, who takes a free-kick from miles out (or 44.6 yards, to be precise) and scores. With the last kick of the game. Liverpool win 3-2. And I'm very, very happy. Bring on Barcelona!

What's currently in my...

Consoles: Winning Eleven 5 (PS2), F-Zero Advance (GBA)
DVD Player: Dogma, Men in Black
Toilet: EGM, N64 Magazine

Posted at 2:31 PM

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Monday, April 16, 2001  

Long time since the last update. I've been very busy with my dad visiting, so I haven't had too much time. I have some time now so I'll squeeze something out...

I got my birthday present early--a Game Boy Advance. It's the new Game Boy, and it's much, much better than the old ones. The screen is the first thing that strikes you about the machine, because it is huge... and yet the unit is the same size as the Game Boy Color, only turned on its side. It also plays all old Game Boy games, but it's the new games that are the exciting part. I got Mario Advance and F-Zero Advance with my machine, and both are easily above the Super Famicom in terms of graphical quality. F-Zero is also a lot of fun and very challenging (feels just like old times, I tell you they don't make games like they used to!). Mario though pains me. See, I love Mario games. I grew up playing Mario games. If I gave you a list of my favourite games of all time, 90% of those games would be Mario games. So why don't I like Mario Advance? Because it's a remake of the American Mario 2. For those who don't know, here's a quick history. Most of you probably remember what the original Super Mario Bros was like--you know, Mario running around, jumping in pipes, jumping on enemies, etc. In Japan, the sequel to that was more of the same, but much harder. Nintendo thought it would be too hard for Americans, so instead of that they took an obscure Japanese platformer, added Mario characters and elements, and released it as Mario 2. It didn't play anything like Mario. It did involve running and jumping, yes... but there were weird enemies and vegetables you had to pick up and throw at enemies. In fact, there's a lot of picking up and throwing in this game. And... I don't seem to "get" it. Nothing in it is fun to me. I don't see the point of all the pots scattered around. Or any of it, really. It's rather depressing to say it, but this Mario game sucks.

There's a lot of sport going on in the next couple of weeks too, and a lot of it is live on TV. For once, I'm happy with English TV coverage of it. Saturday saw my usual fix of Match of the Day (football highlights), Sunday was the San Marino Grand Prix (F1) followed by Football Italia, Monday sees another Match of the Day, Tuesday is Champions League highlights (football again), Wednesday is Bayern Munich vs Manchester United LIVE, Thursday is Liverpool vs Barcelona live... and then alongside the usual Match of the Day and Football Italia on the weekend is Lennox Lewis' latest fight live (boxing for the savages that don't know). Great, great stuff.

Speaking of those sports, anyone catch the Grand Prix? David Coulthard is THE MAN. He might have finished second, but he's been very consistent thus far this season and is the joint leader of the championship. I really do think he can win it all this season--watch out Schumacher.

And my obligatory football bit now. Liverpool are doing it again, and are blowing their chance to get into the Champions League by losing games and playing badly at the wrong damn time. Liverpool do this to me all the time. They play so well for most of the season, come up with big wins against big teams (4-0 against Arsenal? 1-0 and 2-0 against Man United?), promise so much, look so good, and then when you just start to dream of glory it gets snatched away as Liverpool suddenly lapse into "utterly hopeless" mode. This week will prove our biggest test yet. On Monday we play old rivals Everton, who always seem to beat us no matter how bad they are. If we lose that, we can kiss the Champions League goodbye. Then on Thursday it's Barcelona. If Barcelona so much as score a single goal, I have the feeling we'll crash out. Quick explanation--this is the second leg of a semi final. The first leg finished 0-0 in Barcelona, and now they're playing in Liverpool. If the game is a tie, the team who scored the most goals away from home wins. Given that we scored none when we went away to their home, it's not looking too great. Especially since they've drawn both their last two games 4-4. They are very, very capable of scoring, and although I'd suggest a Liverpool team on good form could take them... I fear for the downright crap Liverpool I've been watching over the last two weeks. A quick mention of Man United's game against Bayern Munich (United lost the first leg at home 1-0, so they're in some trouble). I've said it many times already, including before the first leg, and I'll say it again--Bayern are a very, very good team, and their manager Hitzfeld is a genius who has tactically outsmarted United on 4 seperate occasions in the last five years. In fact, I believe Bayern Munich and Ottmar Hitzfeld are the only team and manager that United and their manager truly fear.

Alright, almost out of time, but before I go, I need some help. This journal is way too serious. I need something on this site to balance things out and make it more fun. I need some sort of funny, original section to put a smile on faces and generally lighten the mood. Any ideas? Use the "Discuss" button or email me, because I don't have the slightest clue. I really want to revamp a few things soon anyway--maybe change the graphics, add links to the Archive section (did you know I had an archive? I didn't), and add SOMETHING FUN AND FUNNY!

Currently in my...

Consoles: Winning Eleven 5 (PS2), F-Zero Advance (GBA)
DVD Player: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Toilet: World Soccer, EGM

Posted at 12:51 PM

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