| Cold Callers. |
[Jun. 26th, 2009|12:59 pm] |
Just got an unsolicited phonecall from a company offering for a fee of £40 to help me reclaim all bank charges for the last 6 years. Figuring that this is relevant to my interests (reclaimed over £100 of charges yesterday, as it happens) I decided to hold on and hear what they had to offer. Sounded like they would be just sending me an info pack telling me how to get a 6-year bank statement and things to send to bank asking for reclaim etc. Needed to comfirm address details they had on file etc, phone number, and my debit card numbers. Wait, what? At this point the SCAM bells start ringing and I google them and find this thread which while not confirming them as a scam put me off for sure. I informed them I was uncomfortable about giving my debit card numbers out on the phone to a cold caller, they gave me some bluster about how I totally did want to give over my card details and I just said "no thanks, I am no longer interested" and hung up. Cue them phoning me back until ring-out twice.
Their details, to avoid:
Reclaim Experts
European House
93 Wellington Rd
Leeds
LS12 1DZ
0845 0171 120
As a final lol, googling that company led me straight to a site which offers what they do for free. Brilliant. |
|
|
| Hnnnnnngggggg. |
[Jun. 26th, 2009|04:53 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Dream Theater - The Shattered Fortress | ] |
LANs are weird. Getting 4 hours sleep after and THEN the ProPlus kicking in is weirder. Decided at almost midnight to go the Swan and possibly the K to kill my energy. They sell Carlsberg at the K now, in cans. Noticed for the first time a sign at the bar which proclaims that the City Council banned them specifically from serving drinks in glass containers. Forgot until I ordered that Thursday still has old-school prices that they had when I was 16, i.e. all drinks £3 2 4 1. So, 2 cans of Carlsberg for 3 quid. Not too bad.
Chatted with Viking Dom for a bit. Ran into Matt Chall and Jay, chatted to Chall for a bit. Chatted to a variety of random people - asked to see some dude's ink, compared mine, found he's an artist apprenticing in Hunts Cross. Got into a long conversation in the mens about audio after some dude recognised the brand of headphones that were falling out of my jeans side pocket.
Eventually left, tried to scab a fag again, failed this time and realised that what I was really after was chips since all I'd eaten in 24 hours was a 2 bacon rolls and some leftover chicken. Only place I could find open was the shitty Kebab shop on Dale St. Remembering that they'd sold the worst Doner I've ever tasted* I decided for a different option. Chicken Kebab. Only £4 with chips and how can you fuck up chicken, really?
Turns out that their counter to their tasteless Doners is to marinade their chicken in enough chilli that it made me think my mouth was bleeding. Once I'd got through the layer of salad which was totally not the "just lettuce and mayo" that I'd ordered. There was definitely onion in there which ironically due to being yet another foodstuff horribly mongled by that shop was not rejected by my mouth as immediate Satan. So, after rushing home and chewing and rechewing the pitta provided with the hope of absorbing some of the caspacin which was soaking into my gums and tongue, I got to the fridge for a drink of milk. Those of you who follow my Facebook may know that 4 days ago I took a sip of what turned out to be cheese from the fridged carton which fairly quickly came back up. Having wanted to make a cup of tea at the time I took another well-within-date carton of UHT from the cupboard, made a cup and fridged the rest. Swigging this as I arrived home.... also sour. Not completely separated into cheese and brown, thankfully, but certainly still distasteful. This also got sinked.
I am left wondering, what can cause a perfectly "good" carton of skimmed UHT to go sour in only 4 days? The only reasoning I can make into sense is that the heat of summer is turning the milk even while in the cartons.
Going back to the K, I saw two topless guys hugging by the end of the night and, since they obviously were doing so in a friendly manner, said "Woah, that's definitely the gayest thing I've seen all night." Long story short, one of the guys and I got into a gay-off that ended up with me sucking on his nipple. I have, I think, gained his girlfriend's phone number from this. I understand not exactly why.
- End Transmission.
* The best and worst Doners I have ever had have both been in Liverpool. The worst being some watery tasteless pap that was barely identifiable as meat from Dale St, and the best being some thinly sliced ribbons which tasted actually fairly strongly of lightly spiced lamb that I got on Berry St. |
|
|
| We're Back. |
[Jun. 16th, 2009|12:07 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Porcupine Tree - The Moon Touches Your Shoulder | ] |
Hi Gareth,
ROLE PLAY AND GAMING
Please be aware that the McAusland Lounge and Library have been reserved for use by your society each Wednesday during term time of the 2009/10 academic year, as per your recent request.
Regards.
Oh hell yeah, who da Man. Now I just need to sort out website/forum, library and events. |
|
|
| Final Plan |
[Jun. 12th, 2009|02:05 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Opeth - Porcelain Heart | ] |
I am heading off to Leeds with Dave in a minute. People who are coming to my party please double-check the following:
Turn up from 16:00 onwards.
BYOB & Pizza money. I've got a Crate of Lagers in from Asda and some Tequila but that certainly won't provide for everyone (or many more than myself :P ).
If you're Rob, bring the set of 1000 Blank White Cards & our Library. If you're not Rob tell him to check LJ.
Phone me starting around, say, 15:00, so I will be awake, showered and dressed. After I get in from my Leeds all-nighter my body will want to sleep until Sunday. Do not allow it to. Apologies in advance if I answer and swear at you.
Have fun or I'll kill you. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Jun. 12th, 2009|01:00 am] |
I am Birthday.
Frantically trying to unlock songs on Rock Band 2 to play on Saturday. It keeps throwing random stuff at me like Pearl Jam that doesn't then show up in the QuickPlay list. V. Tempted to buy a load of MS points and download the Iron Maiden and Rush packs. |
|
|
| Dates and shiz. |
[Jun. 5th, 2009|01:56 am] |
LAN Party is now officially Mon 22nd/Tues 23rd of this month, since Father's Day conflicts.
As for events next week, Tuesday I am electing to go to a CV/Recruitment Seminar which is an all-day event and thus I am not bunkering. Thankfully, it a) counts as doing stuff towards the Super Happy Fun Club and b) is across the road from my flat. So I will be home and ready no later than 17:04, depending on which floor the lift is stopped at.
Wednesdays from now on are Super Happy Fun Club days also, they want me to attend every other week at 4 starting with next week. Next week also I will be negotiating Housing Benefit at the One-Stop-Shop at 3. So I can't really do anything RPG related.
Housing Benefit, I have discovered, is hilarious. Apparently if you are under 25 the Government says "NO YOU DO NOT NEED MORE THAN £53/week / £235/month TO PAY YOUR RENT!" Presumably they assume that there is no possible way that you could have, say, graduated College or University with some qualifications and found a job with a decent salary which you have then been made redundant from due to some kind of a credit crunch or similar. As a random example. Not actually what happened to me but still it's strange how a lot of things automatically assume you need more money to live just by turning 25.
Bed now, I think. |
|
|
| Star Trek Drinking Game |
[May. 31st, 2009|07:34 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Anathema - Kingdom | ] |
BAR TREK- you need 2 or 3 eps of TOS, lots of booze (which you can dye blue & pretend it's Romulan ale) and a list of Trek clichés. Then just fire up the Trek & knock one back every time a cliché comes round. It's funnier than it sounds.
I'd recommend some of the best episodes, say... The City on the Edge of Forever, The Trouble With Tribbles and Space Seed
There'd be some "easy level" ones to drink for, say:
Kirk gets beaten up.
Kirk makes a joke about Spock's Vulcan heritage.
Scotty performs an engineering miracle.
Chekhov claims something as a Russian invention.
And some "Hard level" ones.
A redshirt dies.
Kirk punches someone.
Kirk sleeps with someone.
Shatner... speaks likethis.
This might happen on my Birthday. |
|
|
| June |
[May. 31st, 2009|06:50 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Opeth - Serenity Painted Death | ] |
It occurs to me that it's less than 2 weeks to my birthday, and less than 5 to the end of my lease on my flat. Plus I want one last LAN. So, I need to sort out some parties.
Borat has already Bogarted Friday 19th for HIS Birthday celebration.
I am going to a gig with Dave on Friday 12th and returning early on the 13th.
LAN party needs to be on a weekend for Mike to come.
I want to try and get as many people as possible here and Maelstrom is running 5th-7th.
With these in mind, and saving money and pub trips etc, my Birthday will be held:
Saturday June the 13th, 16:00 hours onward @ GazFlat
BYOB and Pizza money. I will clear some space and people can Eckx-Bawks and shit.
With regards to LAN party, and I am aware that this is short notice and thus subject to change given sufficient complaint, dates for GazLAN4 are:
Saturday June the 20th, 12:00 hours to Sunday June the 21st, 12:00 hours.
Normal rules apply re: Food, drinks, set-up and list of installed games. Requests may be added to the list if everyone agrees. Speaking of which, /nominate TF2.
Finally, a going away party would be cool. If people aren't all partied out, then I might have a repeat of the Birthday party on the 30th.
In case you're not sure, if you can read this you are invited, to any/everything. |
|
|
| Yoinked from Borat. |
[May. 31st, 2009|01:53 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Pain Of Salvation - Cribcaged | ] |
1. Can you cook? A little. Mostly just make stuff that goes in a pan or 20 mins in oven.
2. What was your dream growing up? I guess to be a scientist or an engineer of some kind.
3. What talent do you wish you had? Art. I've always wished I could draw.
4. Favorite place? Liverpool really.
5. Favorite vegetable? Potato.
6. What was the last book you read? Er... Started reading Inquisition Wars but never finished, probably Cain's Last Stand.
7. What zodiac sign are you? Gemini.
8. Any Tattoos and/or Piercings? 2 Dream Theater tattoos on upper right arm.
9. Worst Habit? Procrastination.
10. Do we know each other outside of lj? Yes
11. What is your favorite sport? Sp...ort? I guess I've taken a bit of a liking to Cricket, though probably mostly out of patriotism.
12. Negative or Optimistic attitude? Mostly optimistic but it swings.
13. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me? Probably fart.
14. Worst thing to ever happen to you? I have to pick one?
15. Tell me one weird fact about you: I have never been able to get behind the idea of retro gaming, do not think that older games are automatically better, and think that most old games are, in fact, shit. Notable exceptions being ones such as classic Zelda games which didn't think that insane difficulty was a good way to make people spend time playing, rather than actually having a decent amount of game. If, once cheats are activated, you can do a game in 20 minutes flat, that usually means it's not actually a very good game. For those who care, my favourite retro game of all time is Lemmings.
16. Do you have any pets? Nope.
17. Do you know how to do the Macarena? No.
18. What time is it where you are now? 14:37
19. Do you think clowns are cute or scary? Neither really. Kinda sad.
20. If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be? Drop the weight and I'd be happy.
21. Would you be my crime partner or my conscience? Crime partner. Borat as a conscience lol
.
22. What color eyes do you have? Brown.
23. Ever been arrested? Nope.
24. Bottle or Draft? Draft.
25. If you won $10,000 dollars today, what would you do with it? Pay 6 months or so rent, save rest for bills.
26. What kind of bubble gum do you prefer to chew? Strawberry Hubba Bubba.
27. What 's your favorite bar to hang at? Bar bar, Ca Va. Any sort of alcohol serving establishment; The Phil, the AJ or the S&M, depending on company and weather.
28. Do you believe in ghosts? Yes and no. I believe that there might be some strange and currently unexplained scientific phenomenon that causes a lot of the ghost sightings, but I don't believe that they're the spirits of people.
29. Favorite thing to do in your spare time? Music.
30. Do you swear a lot? Fuck yes.
31. Biggest pet peeve? People. Specifically the ones who never think about or question the world and how it works. Generally, the intellectually stagnant.
32. In one word, how would you describe yourself? Neeeerrrrdddddd. |
|
|
| Windows 7 |
[May. 28th, 2009|04:42 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Pain Of Salvation - Disco Queen | ] |
Planning to install Win 7. Stability on my box has taken a huge downturn the last month or so - gone from 3 weeks easy uptime to getting total freezes daily, so I need a format and reinstall really anyway. Want to plan this to make sure it goes smoothly. So, things I'll need to reinstall:
Hardware stuff:
Windows 7 OS
ASUS MoBo drivers
MoBo update tool
Graphics drivers
Sound drivers & X-Fi panel
Creative update tool
Keyboard drivers
Backup and reinstall Keyboard macros
Razer Mouse drivers
Video stuff:
VLC
CCCP codecs
FRAPS *
Sony Vegas Pro
XviD codec
Quicktime
FLV Player
BBC iPlayer Desktop
CDisplay
Sound stuff:
Winamp
Ozone plugin *
FLAC plugin & tools *
Last.FM plugins
NCH Wavepad audio editing *
DVD Audio Extractor
mkw Audio Compression tools *
Exact Audio Copy
Trader's Little Helper
Ventrilo
Ventrilo Mix
iTunes
CDex
Other apps:
Firefox (back up bookmarks and settings)
uTorrent
Open Office
Adobe Photoshop *
Adobe Acrobat
Nero *
WinRar *
AVG
AdAware
Daemon Tools
Curse Updater
Citrus Alarm Clock
Trillian (maybe)
Games:
CoD4
Dawn of War & X-Pacs (maybe just need reg hack)
RTCW?
RA3?
Copy Savegames from anything retarded that puts them in MyDocs
* marks apps I at least have a disc or an .exe for.
So yeah, that's my Friday. |
|
|
| Once you see it... |
[May. 21st, 2009|02:43 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Porcupine Tree - Nil Recurring | ] |
You'll shit brix. Just stare for 30 seconds at the red dot in the middle and let the psychedlic shitstorm unfold.
 |
|
|
| Gentlemen |
[May. 20th, 2009|02:34 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | The Beatles - A Day in the Life | ] |
Spy video being leaked? A lie! Those cunning Valve trolls. |
|
|
| The Most Elaborate and Awesome Prank ever? |
[May. 18th, 2009|07:20 pm] |
http://www.thefutureshock.com/
Herein is a tale. Of future war, time shifting assassins, cyber-space, wizards, Super Nintendo, heroism through the ages and one poor bastard from Chicago. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you may pee a little. If you're like me you'll lose a couple of hours to this incredible tale of a prank that kept itself going for three years.
If you really need to know more, click: ( Spoilers within ) |
|
|
| Moar Star Trax |
[May. 14th, 2009|01:08 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Strapping Young Lad - Far Beyond Metal | ] |
Your results:
You are Geordi LaForge
| Geordi LaForge |
| 75% |
| Chekov |
| 65% |
| Jean-Luc Picard |
| 65% |
| Uhura |
| 60% |
| Leonard McCoy (Bones) |
| 55% |
| Worf |
| 55% |
| Spock |
| 54% |
| Data |
| 51% |
| Mr. Scott |
| 50% |
| James T. Kirk (Captain) |
| 45% |
| Beverly Crusher |
| 45% |
| Will Riker |
| 40% |
| An Expendable Character (Redshirt) |
| 40% |
| Deanna Troi |
| 35% |
| Mr. Sulu |
| 30% |
|
You work well with others and often
fix problems quickly. Your romantic
relationships are often bungled.
 |
Click here to take the "Which Star Trek character am I?" quiz...
|
|
|
| Because why not? |
[May. 11th, 2009|10:56 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Apocalyptica - Fade To Black | ] |
My life according to Google
Type in the following and choose from the first description found.
Be honest, don't just pick one out to be funny.
1: Type in "[your first name] needs" in the Google search:
Gaz Needs is on Facebook, a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. [Boring]
2: Type in "[your first name] looks like" in Google search:
Looks like the Gaz Coombes from Supergrass. [No.]
3: Type in "[your first name] hates" in Google search:
RonFez.net Messageboard - Threads Tagged with gaz hates paulo
This is the ultimate site for Fans of Ron & Fez, the creators of the Big Ass Card, and and XM Satellite Radio best talk duo, on The Virus XM 202 from 12pm [Unusual tag.]
4: Type in "[your first name] goes" in Google search:
GAZ goes for growth. Thursday, 01 November 2007. The GAZ Group has announced it is to embark on a $2bn (£1bn) investment programme to spearhead further ... [You'd better believe my economic growth initiatives.]
5. Type in "[your first name] loves" in Google search:
MySpace profile for ♥gaz loves baby kay♥ with pictures, videos, personal blog, interests, information about me and more. [*Vomit*]
6: Type in "[your first name] eats" in Google search:
after lanna complained she had a rank bit of tough skin hanging off the bottom of her foot.. gaz was blagged in to eating it.. sick fuck.. [*Double Vomit* This is a video! Why so many feet ones!]
7: Type in "[your first name] has" in Google search:
13 Apr 2009 ... Truckmaker Gaz has unveiled a new truck in its range. ... The new move by truckmaker Gaz, has drawn plaudits from Nizhny Novgorod Regional ... [Russians love me.]
8: Type in "[your first name] works" in Google search:
For more information on GazWorks Graphic Design and Artwork please contact us: [A Phone Number for a UK Design Firm... website last updated 5 years ago and contains no content other than a logo, e-mail address and phone number.]
9: Type in"[your first name] lives" in Google search:
where does damon albarn or gaz coombes live? - All In London Forum ... [Him again, stealing my thunder...]
10: Type in "[your first name] died" in Google search
10 Nov 2007 ... Gaz died also. As far as 'The Mile High Club', I think that was Soap. not sure though. [CoD4, of course.] |
|
|
| Of Memorabilia. |
[May. 11th, 2009|03:37 am] |
|
Want! If only I had a Canadian Monkey going spare. Also is it my imagination or does that guy look like a less orange Dale Winton in the first picture? |
|
|
| Star Trek: Update |
[May. 6th, 2009|12:43 pm] |
|
I have employed the one method of complaint appropriate to an Englishman. I have sent Odeon's Customer Services an angrily toned but exquisitely polite e-mail expressing my displeasure! If that fails, I will write to the newspapers! That'll learn 'em not to mess with me. |
|
|
| Star Trek, and the lack thereof. |
[May. 6th, 2009|12:42 am] |
Most stupid thing I've seen in a long while. Booked tickets for an Advance Showing of the new Star Trek, for Wednesday, 06/05/09 at 12:30 AM at the Odeon. Checked on the website, was slightly surprised to see that it was the only Weds showing and that normal showings only started Thursday morning, but there it was, a single Wednesday showing just after midnight. So we pre-order 6 tickets, wait around at mine, go to collect, they print off... and show as Thursday, 07/05/09. Confused, we try and enter the Cinema, doors are locked. We knock. Sure enough, the tickets are for the correct day, it's just not on until Thurs after all. I assume there's been a cock-up on the Website. I get home and check the Booking Confirmation e-mail, lo and behold, underneath the confirmation of 6 Tickets for Star Trek at 12:30 AM Weds 06/05/09, and underneath the list of adverts for other services and movies, in the section with the "Under 12s must be accompanied to 12a rating movies." entitled "Things you should know" in blue text on a blue bar (great design guys) is a paragraph declaring:
"Please note the performance of Star Trek listed at 00:30 on Wednesday 6th May is actually showing at 00:30 on the night between Wednesday 6th May and Thursday 7th May and therefore is showing in the early hours of Thursday 7th May. The Orange Wednesday offer is not available for this performance."
Wait what? Why the cunting fuck are they advertising a showing on Wednesday if it's on Thursday? Why the wanking shite is it not fucking well just listed as Thursday? Would there be some problem if they listed the film times as being "Thursday: 12:30AM, 11:00AM, 12:00PM, 01:00PM etc..."? Is that confusing? Why not "12:30AM*" with "* This is a half midnight late showing in the night between Weds and Thurs." in case people find that difficult. Surely that is more sensible than LYING ABOUT THE DATE WITH SOME SHITTY SMALL PRINT*. What the Jesus is wrong with people sometimes?
*And when I say small I mean fucking small.
I go back and check the site, there seems to be nowhere does it tell you that the date is a lie until after you have bought the tickets. What? What the fuck kind of way to do things is to advertise and sell a ticket and then put in the post-purchase confirmation in the small print "You have actually bought tickets for a different date."!? Wankers. |
|
|
| Dungeoneering |
[Apr. 17th, 2009|02:24 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Yes - The Revealing Science of God - Dance of the Dawn | ] |
The one-shot dungeon crawl I was running has turned into a 2-shot, thanks to a combination of some people not turning up until 2:30 (fairly expected), some people needing to finish off sheets, other miscellaneous buggering about and that a mid-level appropriate challenging encounter apparently takes around an hour to complete. It is the last bit that surprises me the most really, since I've always considered that the long fights at RPGSoc are caused by usually being against a named NPC or some type of sub-boss etc. It just seems that this is a pretty systematic consequence of the general 4.0 trend of moving to a little less damage and a little more HP.
I'm enjoying it. It helps a lot that the DMG and Monster Manual are designed in such a way that it's surprisingly easy to make an encounter of an appropriate level and size for a group. There are lots of well designed ones that are pre-tailored to a theme or similar and since it's now designed to work by XP and CR has gone out of the window it's a relatively simple matter of just adding another enemy or two to a pre-gen encounter that your party might be a little too high level or large for - or for removing something if you're underlevel or undermanned. The DMG even has a handy little table for working it out.
Also it helps that I know the people I'm DMing for and that they signed up knowing it would be a Monster Manual Dungeon Crawl Old-School style. I'm still fairly inexperienced at that side of the screen and the more room I have to manoeuvre and get used to messing about with things the better. I've noticed a couple of occasions where the players have done something which seems kind of a subtle suggestion as to the where the narrative direction might go, or an excuse for me to steer it. Which isn't surprising considering how much some of them have DMed before, and is fairly nice to have. Really DMwise, both my creativity and my wingit-fu need a fair bit of practice, especially before I'd consider running something more like Rob where the games are NPC heavy and you move around from town to town on missions a lot. I tried to make my Time Nazis game like that a bit more as well, and I'm still not sure how well that really worked overall. In retrospect that one could have done with a healthy dose of planning/sketching out maps and a loose campaign diagram rather than trying to wing it (and occasionally failing) every week. Still, it had its moments.
"Is this bunker going to be swastika-shaped by any chance?"
"...It is now!" *redraws a bit*
Running a dungeon crawl does have other consequences though, it's the first time I've seen people rationing their healing and daily spells and such in 4thEd, since in game terms the players have been exploring a cave for a mere couple of hours, slaying troglodytes, Drow and spiders, and searching for the captives which may not be alive for much longer. They could camp up and get a 6-hour rest and regenerate everything, but then the helpless miners could die... It does reinforce some of the strengths of 4thEd over 3rdEd though, since by the end of the set of encounters they've been up against so far (enough XP to take them from 12th to 14th) in 3rdEd all the casters would be out of spells and pretty fucked.
On a final note, it should be pointed out that I couldn't help, when throwing a party into a nice system of caves and caverns, to put in a large yawning chasm with a rickety rope bridge... upon approaching which they got attacked by a Satyr riding a Chimera. Alas, no Chemists. |
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
razerwolf's journal