Summer Days

So, it's summer here and everyone's starting to disappear into the sunset on holiday. This got me thinking about what everyone's got planned for their summer, so now's your chance to spill the beans! :)

What I've got planned for my summer: (which seems a lot less full when there's no school -yay for leaving school forever!)

I'm going to be going around town with some friends a bunch, since there's some interesting and pretty parks nearby to play games at etc. and in July/August I get to take a trip out to the US with my little sister to visit my grandparents and cousins who I haven't seen in ages since I moved here to the UK 7 years ago (sigh!) so that'll be great fun! :)

Oh, and among lotsa other things, I have to find a part-time job for when college starts, and find a new kitten to join the crew of awesome fuzzies in my house :)

Now it's your turn, what're ya all up to for summer? :)

First Time for Everything...

Well, having finally finished my exams today, I felt it was about time I got round to contributing to this. As my first post on this blog, I'm not even sure if I'm doing this right, a problem only exacerbated by the fact I have never before blogged.

Well, I guess I should introduce myself... I'm Jake (alter ego Pine Ofthaven) and have been playing Guild Wars since Christmas 2006, although I took a break for about six months up until now. I'm eighteen years of age now, and have just, as aforementioned, finished my exams, which culminated in AEA English today. With any luck I'll be at the University of Birmingham in September this year, studying Medieval English and History. To continue the theme of pets, I have a cat, called Cookie, and a red-tailed buzzard, called Lute (pictured). I've been a falconer since I was a mere whippersnapper at the age of eleven. Lute is now three years old and I've had her since she was eighteen weeks.

Hopefully you'll find me appropriately approachable, so feel free to talk to me in-game whenever. I'll most likely be ranting about how stupid the boss locations are in Prophecies as I attempt to skill cap...

Jake

More pets!

Aha! finally after I finally got my camera to work I have almost perfect pet pictures! (i stole your alliteration tee! :P) some pictures may be a bit dark, sorry ^^;

First off, my completely senile cat, Cleo, she is growing old and in this old age she has found out that if she stands in the bathroom and meows as loud as she can in the middle of the night, it wakes people up lol. My dad found her on the way back from work and we kept her, we have had her for almost 17 years now.

Next is my first dog, wolf, we have no idea what breed she is and suggestions would be nice XD. she tends to just sit on the couch but when shes happy or hyper she just has to run all over the house and knock anything she finds over.

Thirdly, my boxer dog named Benson. hes a big grumpy smelly old man who seems to find it funny to fart when everyone is in the room. he also has a tendency to wink ant people o_O.

last but not least, my second cat named smithy (or as I used to call him when i was small, Smiffy XD). Smithy was also found, by our ex-next door neighbour and the couldn't keep him so they gave him to us :D.

I also have a few other pets, a snake named jack, 2 rats named Peaches and Ronnie and a hamster named Polly but taking pictures of them is rather difficult.

great success!

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, started my A2 lessons on monday, and they wont let me drop one of my 5 AS's till results day, soooo im stuck with a history lesson which I just really cba with, seen as Im going to drop it next year anyway. Ive yet to buy any more stationary or equipment for A2, which is presenting a problem, in that I don't have any paper and found myself completely penless on monday, though the kindness of people with regards to both paper and pens has kept me going, so far since the beggining of A2 I have amassed maybe 20 or so free sheets of paper, and three new pens (all of which were just found lying around with no-one claiming them, hey, nothing wrong with resourcefulness :D)...I wonder if I can manage to go the entire next 4 weeks without having to buy any more equipment of any kind.
The great success in the title is a reference to the fact that ive just been informed by my sisters fiance that he just got offered a job, finally and they have to move out within the next month or so, now, ofcourse Ill miss the pair of them, but this means I get the big bedroom, oh and there will be much more peace and quiet (and food) in the house.

I haven't had a tech/internet update as I promised I would, but Ill tell you about something I discovered which made the long hours when I wasn't being taught last week much easier....an awesome little game called Tank trouble. Its quite a simple1-3 player tank game where you have to kill eachother, though being on its own site rather than a games site means most filters don't block it, so I recommend it for your various work/school establishments, suprisingly addictive.

You guys got any favourite wastes of time, speciffically java game related?

Pets Pets n Pests

Luke and Tiri, you both have lovely pets.

We have a lovely Dog and Two Cats, plus some Koi Carp in our pond.

The best pet by far has to be Mr Mc Flurry (one of the cats) who seems to get everywhere and kill everything. I've seen him eating Shrews, Rabbits, Squirrels, Moles and various birds.



Here he is on the porch roof, no doubt scouting out his next kill.


The dog is a lovely boarder collie named Harry. He's getting to around 15 years old now, so he's kinda elderly.



HAHAHA, CAN HE ESCAPE BEFORE HE DROWNS? Poor fluffy :<

Jazz the cat [Luke]

Because Tee asked about our pets and I cba coming up with my own proper post today I thought id tell you about my beasts.

Right now we only have one, Jazz the cat, shes roughly two now..and is absolutely bonkers 95& of the time, here she is as a kitten, because she's just a meany nowadays:

Weve had loads of other pets in the past, including 5 hamsters, another cat, lots of fish, two budgies and a rabbit.

Id love to get another hamster, but my parents think the cat might eat it...I just think they don't want one, hmph.

Cute Companions

We don't seem to have a proper pet post on here, so I'm making one! :)

(And yes, I do love alliteration!)

So, I know not everyone likes them, and some people think they're boring, so maybe some interesting pics of some of my fuzzy buds will cheer you up, you grumpulous folk!

Pet A: Pagan the Russian Blue Kitten

He's a funny little fellow, and he enjoys his time staring at the red light on my camera before attacking it, and hopping into a shoe or two for some fun with the laces.

He even has the oppurtunity to get shoved into my little sister's dollhouse on occasion, too, what a lucky fellow!

Pet B: Mercury the Blue Merle Border Collie

A cute little puppy for all your guys' cute factor to sky rocket, just look at him! Isn't he adorable?

Ok, so you tough guys may not want to admit it, but we all know he's an awesome pup! ;)

However, as he grew up, he lost a lot of his puppy charm, though now he's still a head-turner with his gorgeous furry coat, so here's what he looks like now, all grown up (mostly):

They're just the two main goofy pets I have, I also have a murderous gerbil (quite literally, he killed his roommate!) :( and I've had a couple other crazy cats about, too. ^^

So, folks, do you guys n' gals have any funny felines or rude rodents of your own? (told you I liked alliteration) And what are your views on other sorts of animals in general? (My favourite animal is the Fossa, or squirrels and foxes, they are all soo awesome!) :D

Sheds and other assorted nick nacks [Luke]

Before you watch this I think you should know that I was so amused by the many mundane things I found in my shed because I was looking for reasons that made the experience of cleaning it out any good. (sorry the audio is out of synch, i tried uploading several times, it wont rectify itself :/ )

This picture doesn't really do justice to the amount of crap in the shed, this was taken about halfway through during one of the many tea breaks.

Some of my favourite finds of the day:

I wonder if any of those rations are still edible...surely vacuum acked food goods don't degrade in a mere two decades?
Anyway, I challenge you guys to raid your assorted sheds and/or hidey holes and see if you can dig up any unknown treasures better than my mighty horde:D.

Oh and I hope the fact that I almost clawed my own eyes out because I accidently deleted all the pictures in this post twice and had to upload them again twice will make it all that bit more appreciated.

The, I was so bored that I made a video about it post. [Luke]

I decided to go with a change of format today...tell me what you guys prefer, normal text based blog posts or vlogging?
Sorry for the slightly fuzzy audio quality...I will buy a new mic someday. And I also hope that me swinging it around like im Darth Maul didn't break whatever it is :S

Banksy does it again..

Banksy, the famous yet anonymous graffiti artist has created his biggest exhibition yet.
A 3 month free exhibition at the Bristol Museum, which was created in absolute secrecy, I just think its best you check this one out for yourself.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/8094839.stm

If youve never seen any of his previous work, here is a good place to start:
http://weburbanist.com/2008/09/07/banksy-art-and-graffiti-the-ultimate-guide/