Dream

I had a strange dream within a dream last night a la Inception.

Myself, Tasha, Arthur and some others (unsure which) were in a typical flat on the stairs. John Younge was there, eager to go on a rambunctious night out but we were telling him to pace himself.

Someone (like but not exactly Robin) was saying let him do he wants to do. We clashed so much I got in a fight with him, I remember getting a good kicking.

Then I was on my way through a city and was accosted by 2 hard men with knives. I think they were cohorts of himself above. I kept fighting them off, even disarming them but they kept producing more knives. I managed to reverse their attacks on me and injured them quite severely but they didn't seem fazed.

They started to query me, did I believe they were real and I was in the city. They said they were actually two salesmen that had come to my door, my defence had killed them and that I was unconscious in my flat wallowing in my own drunken mess.

I awoke in this flat as they had described, dishevelled and ruined (and looking a bit like Bill Bailey, sorry Bill). But a voice/conscience called "Neil" told me to get up and get out. Even when I tried to slouch back down again, the voice pushed me on. I scrambled around the flat as the police were coming. On the way out I glanced over and saw the two dead men and just as I reached the door I woke up.

Weird huh?

I always have very “cinematic” dreams and it’s rare that they feature people I know (or that I recall) but this is the second featuring Mr. Younge.

Wexford

It was a shame to miss Finn’s liver farewell party on Saturday but we a had a nice break in Wexford even so. We hadn’t managed to get down there all month what with something being on each weekend.

We went shopping on Saturday and Tasha got a big Italian cookery book so I’m sure that’ll yield some wonderful dinners. I contemplated some more classic fiction but can’t justify it as I have to many to read already. That evening we went for dinner in town. We were going to go to Taste but an open air traditional Irish concert right beside it put us off. So we went for a nice Chinese meal down the road.

On Sunday we visited a few touristy places on our way back home. First up was Duncannon Fort which we thought was a ruin but had been rebuilt after the first World War so it had modern buildings. There was an art display, lots of history but mostly we enjoyed wandering around the grounds itself.

After that we headed to Kilmokea Country Manor and Gardens. We had lunch there and didn’t get to see much of the house but the gardens were fantastic. It had undulating paths through varied trees, ferns and plants, a hidden but large trout pond and a comprehensive vegetable garden; all the charms of manor garden. As you can see in this map, the gardens are actually separated by a small road which was actually a nice aspect of them.

After that is was back home to feed our birds and get some rest.

PopCap Platinum Pack

The previously mentioned PopCap Games Platinum Pack I got had the following games…

• AstroPop
• Bejeweled
• Bejeweled 2
• Bejeweled Twist
• Big Money!
• Bookworm
• Bookworm Adventures
• Chuzzle
• Dynomite!
• Feeding Frenzy
• Hammer Heads
• Heavy Weapon
• Iggle Pop!
• Insaniquarium
• Peggle
• Peggle Nights
• Pizza Frenzy
• Rocket Mania!
• Talismania
• Typer Shark!
• Zuma

While it cost €80, the saving is about %78 compared to buying them separately so that’s pretty good.

I’ve put a decent amount of time into Peggle, Insaniquarium, Zuma and I’m playing Pizza Frenzy at the moment.

They work perfectly on the netbook and are ideal if there’s no wifi connection while on the move.

Will have to buy Plants vs. Zombies on it’s own though :(

Gaming

I finished up with the epic Fallout 3 a few weeks back. It was a shame to come to the end of it. Nearly 200 hours invested, all quests completed, all expansions completed so there’s little left to explore. Oh well, had to end sometime.

So I jumped into F.E.A.R. which is a much more linear affair. I completed that in a few days. It had some great creepy moments but felt very clinical compared to the diverse environments and scope of Fallout 3.

I’ve moved onto the F.E.A.R. Files which is the 2 expansions for F.E.A.R. Same mechanics and had one hell of a scare last night. Creepy music, torchlight died, poor light, screaming ghoul splat up against maternity room window in hospital. Holy crap!

Not content with one game at a time, I’m also playing Braid on Xbox Live Arcade, multiple PopCap casual games on my netbook in work at lunch (Peggle, Insaniquarium, Bejeweled, etc.) and finally Farmville.

I held off on Farmville for ages and was initially critical of it but it has some good gaming elements, ribbons (achievements), progressive levelling tools, etc.

I’ve been using a service called Raptr to capture all of these. It tracks when you’re playing, achievements you get, when you install new games, etc.

Norfolk

We headed off on Friday after work to the airport and got there very early, like 4 hours early. Good thing too as our flight was delayed 3 hours which would have it arriving in Stanstead after midnight. Luckily as we were so early we got bumped to an earlier flight (also delayed but matched up with our initial arrival time). Once we got there, we picked up the rental car (dead handy) and headed off to Gabi and Simon’s. Chatted for a bit then off to bed as we were all knackered.

On Saturday, we headed into Norwich town for a wander, tea and some shopping. Simon picked up Red Dead Redemption which looks as awesome as I had read (will pick it up once I’ve completed some other games). We all went out for an Indian meal that night.

On Sunday we went to a big county fair; sheep, cows, pigs, horses, old cars, crafts, food, games, etc. All great fun. We had a Chinese take away that evening which left us stuffed. More Red Dead Redemption finished off the night.

We all had a very early start on Monday as Gabi and Simon had to head to work but it allowed us to make the most of the day. We meandered around Cambridge for a bit then headed off to the airport but were still too early. We spotted a zoo near the airport called Linton Zoo. It was a charming zoo with lots of bird species and even some humping tortoises! Wish I remembered my camera.

We headed off to the airport and were back home by about 11. As usual with travelling though, we could both do with a day to recover.

Here’s some of my holiday purchases:

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

F.E.A.R.

Disintegration (Deluxe Edition) by The Cure

Ultimate Collection by Eurythmics

The Best of the Human League by The Human League