By the powers! Another month has passed us by again! I hadn't really realised that today was the last day of the month even though i was entirely concious of the fact that the end of the month marks the time honoured celebration of ye olde pay day. Since starting my new job i haven't had quite as much free time on my hands as my previous freelancing role allowed, but its certainly been a welcome change to shake up the usual routine and build a little more structure into my daily work and personal habits, even if it has thrown my perception of time completely out of whack. Although time is steadily ebbing away, i'm trying to keep my hopes up for me and McKnee finding a place of our own somewhere in Scarborough. After living in Bridlington for 23 years, i think a change of scenery is in order!
Once again, circa pay day, the great item hunt begins! I've been madly obsessing over buying a new MIDI keyboard of the semi-weighted variety. Behold the M-Audio ProKeys 88sx, isn't she a beauty? I'm refraining from buying it, which may appear to be practical to ones bank balance, but forcing myself to prolong the end purchase has simply encouraged me to search for more things to add to my list of future procurements. I've spec'd up the overall price for a new office/studio setup and it's not for the faint hearted! Amongst the many items on my wishlist also resides a shiny new MacPro. I figure (or rather hope), if i start saving for one now, by the time i can afford to keelhaul me an 8core monster there will most likely be an entirely new generation of shiny macs for the taking! I had originally set my sights on the MacMini seeing they're pretty swish for their equally small price tag, but decided against when i uncovered the horrible truth that the supplied graphics card doesn't support dual monitors. Whilst it's not a major shortcoming, after getting used to having three monitors on my desk, (yes, three.) it's quite a chore coming home to a single monitor and trying to remember that your windows machine doesn't have an Apple/Command key!
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Another leap year, another dollar, another day. Today has marked, amongst other things, the grand event of receiving my first meaty pay cheque from my new full time job as a PHP & MySQL Developer. Needless to say, i'm pretty stoked about having cash again, but the booty wasn't in my account long before a small portion of it was wisely spent on my soon to arrive LEGO Mindstorms NXT! It's expensive, but i've wanted that bad boy for ages and i felt it was about time i bought myself a gift that would allow me to spend some time away from my pc. True, you can program your awesome creations (using Java and/or C afaik) but i'm betting most of the fun will be in building each and every robotic companion the old noodle can cook up. I can't wait for it to arrive and have started reading Daniel H. Wilsons' How to Survive a Robot Uprising again in search of inspiration to prepare for the ensuing fun and games. I'd actually forgotten just how amusing a read it was, so it's been quite refreshing to read through again. For now, I'm off to set up a makeshift fort by the postbox! Happy Leap Year!
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Avast ye scurvy lubbers! The new year be upon thee and already the fantabulous month of January has brought around many twists and turns to hinder the already painful endeavour of quite simply, living. Amongst striving to keep our heads above the water (after loosing two grandparents over the last month), i've been keeping myself entertained with the Nightmare Before Christmas piano tabulature which has proven to be quite challenging and has driven me to the conclusion that Danny Elfman is most definately insane! I've been scouring the internet and local music shops for a copy of "The Breakfast Machine" and another track by Squire Elfman but haven't had any luck so far, but whats a pirate without a booty to yearn for? :D - Speaking of booty, i remembered this little treasure from our Black Books DVD boxset and just had to share it with those of you who have yet to experience the awesome comedy of Dylan Moran. Enjoy!
Other than the awesome NMBC sheet music, i also was lucky enough to receive The Orange Box which has so far entertained me to no end! I had previously played Half Life 2, but had neglected Episode 1 in favour of waiting for the Orange Box which also includes Episode 2, Team Fortress 2 and Portal! After hammering away at Portal and replaying Half Life 2, i fed my long overdue addiction to Team Fortress Classic with a long bout of Team Fortress 2 matches, reliving the good old days in a much shinier, more entertaining and wildly engrossing form. Then, i was given a gift via the magic of Steam from a friend i frequently talk to (and now game with) whom i met on deviantArt. The gift, you ask? The greatest gift of all, i proclaim! Garrys Mod, we both cry! Huzzah, let the entertainment begin!
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Ahar! Merry Christmas ye scurvy blog readin' lubber! Here to spread some festive cheer, a jolly old fat man and his flying reindeer. (Did you see what i did there?) My present to you guys this year comes in the form of a comical Christmas animation, made by some crazy individual on deviantArt. Behold, this video had me in creases, i laughed so hard i cried and i cried so much i laughed even harder and almost coughed up a lung. I hope it spreads some festive yuletide cheer, it is Christmas isn't it?
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Huzzah! This morning i received a package. A rather large A4 sized parcel; one chock full of monochromatic scawlings of the inaudible nature. I'm talking, of course, about my most recent purchase; Dream Theater Keyboard Anthology.
It. Is. Awesome!
I've been attempting to learn Dream Theater tracks for a good while now and have managed to play most of it by ear so far, but some of their riffs and tasty chord progressions are far too intense to even begin to comprehend without the aid of some form of tabulature to glean from. Cue the anthology book: Sheet music to the rescue! Imagine my suprise when i remembered how completely inept i am at reading sheet music... Well, theres no time like the present to start brushing up on something i haven't bothered to nurture since taking piano lessons all those years ago. So off i fly, from one keyboard to another; long live the metal!
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