I’m unsure of the reason for them hunting me. It could be to do with my alignment with the Shirai Ryu, or it could be something else completely. Regardless the end result is the same: me, lying in bed with 2 duvets, the heating on full, and I’m shivering my ass off and can see my breath. I’m so glad I live in a dull, cold, ground floor, end flat. I reckon if I lived in an upper-floor flat with a downstairs neighbour, it’d be a lot warmer and my hidden ninja friend wouldn’t be bothering me so much.

That’s right, the past week has had me traversing through the evil halls of Dracula’s Castle in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. I’m a relative fan of the series, and figured that it would be a good one to mop up achievements on while unable to do any multiplayer. Naturally I finished it the other day, and after destroying the Dark Lord in his true form, I realised I had nothing left to do and so went to my parents to use the internet.

So, when I got home I discovered just how screwed we all are. I’ve not checked it for a while, so I had a whole lot of interesting things in my feeds. Naturally, 2 came to the top of my interest pile.

The first thing was The Rapture. That’s right, it had come for the time for the Christians to be accepted to the Kingdom of God. Interesting for me, since I’m one of those that would be left to burn in flames over the next 5 months, but also because I have a few religious friends. All of whom are still here… although not all currently speaking to me. I may have made a couple of sarcastic comments. Anyway, since that has been and gone; and I saw no bodies in the sky; I figure either it was wrong (and the dates need to be revised) or else God has forsaken all his followers. Either way, not much difference to me.

The other thing was the one that really caught my eye, and it went slightly more-so because of the timing with The Rapture. The CDC has posted information on Zombie Preparedness. Yeah, seriously. I’m not sure if it’s some joke, or a hacker following after Sony being hacked into, but the site has genuine Zombie information on it.

It’s hard to say if this could be a sign that they know something, but I suggest we be ready for it. I’ve had my plan ready for a long time, and I know where I’m going and with who. All that I need now is to learn to properly hot-wire a car, so I can escape. Weapons aren’t an issue since pretty much anything works against zombies, although I’ll be favouring the baseball bat I got from a raffle when I was 10.

So, the thing to keep an eye out for now is when it happens. Obviously, the threat may not apply to us, as the CDC is a Federal Agency, so only really matters for America, but let’s be prepared. Until then, keep an eye out here: when it happens, I’ll be there to stop it.

Last month I finally got a job, after 2 years of searching. Right in the centre of town, 4 doors along from Rowland’s, doing an IT related job which was perfect for me. Or at least, it seemed that to begin with.
Within the first couple of days I had phone calls and visits from several people telling me not to take the job. Every last one of them told me that the boss, was a nasty, sneaky little man, who would screw me over. I heard all the recommendations, but decided to give him a chance: after all, it was a good job, was exactly what I wanted, and I figure that I’ve had so many chances from people it’d be wrong for me not to give them.

God, I wish I’d just listened. From the first of April I was employed, and after the first couple of days, suffering from working with what I have to describe as one of the most irritating, ignorant person I’ve ever come across. I’m not sure how the man got into IT, because I spent the entire time there being called upon to sort everything for him: even the slightest of problems. He didn’t know how to find out the ip address of a computer, install programs, access FTP, or basically do anything remotely computer orientated. Hell, I had to reinstall Windows XP on a couple of the office machines, and he was astounded at my skills. For installing Windows!

For a few weeks this continued, and I struggled to stay and get everything organised. I was subjected to a lot of verbal abuse, and even violence a couple of times, however I realised that these were actually meant to be friendly from a person with absolutely no social interactive skills whatsoever, and I ignored it. I wasn’t happy with it, the name I were called were coarse, and the violence although just ‘congratulatory’ punches on the shoulder, irritated and upset me. I’d spend my lunchtimes going around the corner to the Fleece, where I’d sit and have a chat with people who hated the man even more than me.
He wouldn’t take my payment details, or give me a valid contract; opting only to provide me an offer letter; and would leave whenever I brought anything up, or else call a client, or completely ignore me because he was busy. As I was meant to be getting paid monthly I let it slide for a while, figuring it would all be dealt with come payday. That was fair enough, and I did eventually get him to take the details, but on the day I was due to be paid there was no money transferred to my account. “It won’t go through until close of business” I was told when I asked him, and I accepted this.

I was off for the next few days due to the Easter Holidays, and during this time, no money came through. I spoke to him when I returned, and he explained that it was because of the holidays the payment hadn’t gone through. He’d go to do the transfer now, and it should be in ASAP.
The week trailed on, and I started to really struggle. My home services were suspended due to lack of payment, and I was left without telephone, internet, gas, and by the end of the week, no electric either. I was forced to borrow money off of friends to get food, and spent the weekend at my parents house, instead of staying at mines where I had nothing.
I was called on Sunday night by a friend, and told that he was going to the Fleece. I figured that since all I was doing was sitting at home watching TV with my little sister, i might as well go up. I was meant to help somebody with a computer problem, so I went up to do that, and sat around chatting, with a glass of water.
After a couple of hours I finished, and went through to the main bar. A friend offered me a drink, which I refused; not wanting to owe people any more; but they insisted an ordered one anyway. I accepted it gratefully, and had a mouthful.

After a couple more mouthfuls, my boss came into the bar. He sauntered over to me. “Oh, you found some money then, that’s good” he said.
“Actually, no!” I replied. “I’ve no money, I’ve been staying at my parents house. I need money”.
He looked at the pint on the table. “You seem to be doing alright”, then he turned his back to me.
I stood up to speak to him. His wife was standing beside him, so I took the advantage. I knew he would try to hide the happening from her as she was obviously the one who wears the trousers, so I spoke to him.
“I need to be paid. I’ve been working for 5 weeks now without anything. I need my pay”. He muttered something under his breath, but I didn’t hear him, and he wouldn’t repeat it when asked. I left the bar, physically shaking with fury, deciding that the fresh air would do me well. My phone rang at that moment, and I went away to speak for a few minutes.
When I returned to the bar, his wife was standing outside. “I’m going to get you £20 from my bank just now, but you shouldn’t have done that in there. That wasn’t the right way to do it.”
“No, speaking to him at work would’ve been, but I’ve tried that and he won’t speak. This was my only option”. She left, and I went back inside, and straight through to the other bar. Her judgement really ticked me off, since I felt I was the one who was wronged, not them. After a couple of minutes another friend came through to tell me that that the bosses wife was waiting outside to speak to me. I figured she’d have to wait, and I stayed to calm myself and take my inhaler, the situation beginning to set my asthma off.

After 10 minutes I went out to the main bar, and found her standing at the door. She gave me the £20, and promised me that everything would be dealt with tomorrow, then she left. My employer stood around for 5 more minutes to finish his pint, then left too. There were a few cheers and congratulations from people for me standing up to him, and then it calmed down to a normal night.

I went back home, and got up the next day to go to work. I made sure to be early, that way I couldn’t be complained at for timekeeping as well. 0900 came and went, and Ken didn’t show. I sat waiting until 0945 before I called him, and asked him when he’d be in. “Later” was all he’d reply, so I asked him to call me when he came, and I left. I certainly wasn’t doing anything further for him until I’d been paid. I went along to BordersPrint for a coffee, and got a call while I was there, telling me to get back, so I went.

I walked in and sat down. He didn’t look up, so I took the initiative. “So where are we?” I asked.
“With what?”
“With money” I answered.
“Well, we’ll get to that in a minute, I think we need to have a discussion first.” He waited a couple of moment before speaking again. “Last night was very embarrassing for me.”
“No more embarrassing than me borrowing money from friends and sleeping on my parents sofa.”
He looked at me. “Do you think I have money?” he asked.
“It’s your business! I work here. If clients aren’t paying you then it’s up to you to get them to. You need to pay me. I can’t work for free!”.
“Well, I think we should just call it quits now.”
“Fine.” I agreed, quite happy to leave.
“I need your keys”.
“Ehm…” I patted my pockets. I don’t normally take my keys, because he doesn’t lock the door, but I had them then. “Ok, here”. I put them on the table, and turned around.
“And your key fob”. I took it out, and went to hand it to him, but then had second thoughts. “Ok, I’ll give you this as soon as you tell me when I’m getting my money.”
“Give me the fob, and get out” he said. He actually swore at me, but as I’d like this to go around, I’m not repeating that part.
“I will, as soon as you tell me when I’ll be paid” I said.
“You’re no getting paid” he shouted, again swearing. “You’re no getting a penny. Now get out before I call the police”.
I turned around to my desk. Although the computers were provided by work, the input devices were mines, so I turned around to collect them, and stuffed them in my bag.
“That’s it, I’m calling the police” he shouted at me, and picked up the phone. I’m sad to say I lost my temper. I’d found out that while working there a number of previous staff had had issues being paid, and the last one had been charged with theft for removing stuff from the computer. I took the key fob and threw it at him, and turned to leave. Then I turned back, and went to smack him. I was so angry I was ready to throttle him, although I doubt even my giant hands would fit around his fat throat. I caught on to myself, and stopped before I got to him. I realised that if I I hit him, I’d lose all chance I had, and I’d be the bad one.
“People were right, you are scum.” I told him. “I was advised not to take this job, and the JobCentre has a record on you anyway.” Luckily I had been warned before I signed off, and I made sure that it was noted that I had huge reservations regarding the position. “I will get that money.”
“Aye, how.” He replied. It wasn’t a question, he was sure of himself.
“I’ll take it to a Job Tribuneral” – The spelling isn’t a mistake, I was so angry I was stuttering over my words.
“Try it!” he said, a sneer on his face.
I turned to leave, and he shouted to me. “You’ll finish tonight wi a broken leg. You think you’ve got friends?”
I turned back to him, “No I don’t actually”. I’d never at any point spoken to him about my friends, and even if I had, I don’t believe have any that could ever lower themselves to his limboing standards.

I walked out, and called a friend, refusing to stay on my own. I took the threat seriously.
I have since reported him to Citizens Advice, who are going to follow through for the money for me. I have also made a statement to the police, so they are aware of this threat. I spent a day worried, and had to get my little brother to accompany me. Even if it was an idle threat, it was still a threat to me.

So now, I will be pursuing all I can to get my money, but in addition to that, I want everyone to realise what an ignorant specimen of humanity this cretin is. Most people around the town know it. Hell, even his clients have said they thought little of him to me, but I want more than that. I want potential clients, and even people who pass him in the street to realise just how low he is. Not only did he hire somebody when he apparently didn’t have the funds to accommodate them, but then tried to screw them over, leaving a good person; a volunteer at a local charity, expecting his first child; in severe debt, and to threaten violence when that person stood up and merely tried to assert his basic, legal right to be paid for the work he did.

So, for those who persevered through this gruelling tale, or for those who have come across this by accident, I warn you to steer clear of this local entrepreneur, (and apparently mobster), of Selkirk. Do not do business with the man. Do not even acknowledge him in the street because he’s not worth it. Furthermore, help me out. Let everyone know of him. I am apparently not the first person he has done this to; in fact, I seem to be the one who got off lightest; but at least help me make sure I am the last one it happens to.

On a side note, I have been in a low place for a long time now. I have been at home, upset about lack of friends, and spending my time feeling sorry for myself. This incident has been an eye opener to the people who have flocked to help me, and I am eternally grateful to every one of them.

Last night we went on a road trip to Edinburgh to get a gender scan. I’ve seen scans hundreds of times before but I’ve never been able to actually make sense of them. That wasn’t the case yesterday though: I could see pretty much everything and make sense of it. I’d been terrified that I wasn’t going to understand any of it, so I’m very glad it finally made sense to me.

Anyway, the end result is that I am no longer going to be a father, but a father to a baby girl. This gives me a little more help for getting stuff, as I don’t have to worry about neutral colours. Now I just have to sort out everything that’s needed.

Well, for those who don’t already know it – I’m going to be a father. That’s right: despite the intention to take things slow, and all attempts to prevent such, Kym is pregnant.
Today marks the 12 week mark – apparently a safe point in the pregnancy, with greatly reduced chances of anything untoward happening. It’s also the day we received our Fetal Heart Monitor Doppler.

Below is a recording that we’ve taken of the heartbeat found using the Doppler. It’s good and strong, and we’re taking it as a very positive sign.

Heartbeat

That’s right, I have accepted the PS3. I’ve been at my girlfriends flat, and she has a PS3 instead of a 360 or Wii. She never plays it; she describes it purely as “a glorified Blu-Ray player”; but I figured I needed to at least try it out.

I’ve been impressed with a couple of things, and disappointed in others, but on the whole it has done well enough for me to accept it. Not everything is how I’d like it, obviously, but I can’t expect everything. However, I have ended up comparing it to the 360.

The biggest comparison is the difference between Achievements and Trophies. I know, many people still argue the Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD angle, but let’s face it – Blu-Ray won, and Sony were on the winning side. Granted, I personally expected HD-DVD to win, but that’s neither here nor there. Anyway, back to the point.

I have already given my opinions on the XBOX Achievement system, but Trophies are not exactly the same, although they do share many similarities.
The Trophy system was Sony’s answer to Achievements, and was not available at launch, but added on as a later update. I think it was a fantastic idea, but does leave the one major problem – not all games support Trophies, while I have yet to hear of an XBOX game without Achievements.
What the Trophies have done better however, is different levelling. While the XBOX gives an arbitrary points value to each Achieve, Trophies are done in Bronze, Silver and Gold varieties, which I think is much better. There is also a Platinum Trophy available if you manage to collect all the others: a feature I think is much better, as I have always thought every 360 game should have a 100% Achievement. The biggest failure of the PS Trophy system is that it requires manual syncs of Trophies, while the XBOX automatically syncs Achievement.

I’ve been very impressed with it. I am struggling a lot while trying to play through Prince of Persia, because the controls seem to be far more sensitive on the PS3 than the 360, but I can hardly count this as a flaw of the system. Quite the opposite in fact, it’s just that I am not adapted to the system properly, and that will likely change in the future.

Sadly, due to Microsofts money-grabbing tendencies, I have recently been put off the XBOX a bit more. My Live subscription ran out, and was automatically renewed – something which I had neither authorized nor been informed of. This has given me the very awkward situation of being completely unable to play my XBOX, as the £40 which was removed from my account was the only money in my bank, and so now I have no electric or internet at my flat. This alone has steered me more towards the PlayStation, as I have the chance to play it.

While waiting I got a call from Parisienne, asking if I was there yet, and was quite perturbed when I told him yes. He was just at the airport now, 40 minutes after his sister was meant to land, and had forgotten to ask which flight she was on, so he had no idea where she was. I may have to walk home. Fair enough I decided, when an old friend from school, and one of my few non-cult contacts. I asked for a lift home, cheekily, but worth a try, and lo and behold I got it. Score 2!
Meanwhile, I was getting calls from Northampton. Three of the cult were in store there, wondering when I would be online for some co-op. Another dead launch by all sounds of it – there were only 40 people in a relatively large store there. Either way, I informed them of my plans, and went and got the game.

I got home to the phone ringing. They were on, wanted to know how long I’d be. Turned on the console and off we went.
8 hours later, the game was finished. On Heroic. Agreed, should have been legendary – I advocated for it, but the others wimped out. Now it’s up to me and Paris to do the Legendary and find out if there is a special ending.

All in all, been a good week of gaming. Reach may take a while to put down, but I think I’ll be finished with it in time for Dead Rising 2, when I can stop killing aliens and move onto my one true love: killing zombies.

I have spent the last month now with the same person, constantly battling for more achievements, while more and more ‘members’ show up. It’s possible that I have hit the grand-master status myself, since I am always there, and seem to have control. Frankly, if this was a pyramid scheme, I’d be up a lot of cash.

Sadly, this does not rule out my side of it, as Microsoft have limited Giant Bombs information, and means I will likely have to create a database just to get the correct GB game found. This won’t be a huge undertaking, and again it will be open for all to add the games they want, but I hope to find a better solution in the end.

If anyone has any requests for the script, such as features they may like to see, please let me know in the requests thread.

I couldn’t ignore it. Naturally it speaks to the gamer in me.