Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Oh I wish I was a Gundam Pilot, that is what I’d truly like to be, for if I was a Gundam Pilot, everyone would be in love with me/I would make lots of money/I would be as happy as can be (delete as applicable)
Hey everyone. Hope y’all are having a good week. today is a special day. why? Because it is my younger brothers 17th birthday. BUT that’s not why it’s special…its special because I AM BAKING A CAKE. Yes. PH34R M3!

Anyhoo, in response to comments from my last post:

Ikuu-nyuu-kon: “Now here's the nerdiest question on earth, what's the name of the tunnel/bridge that connects England to France? And have you been through it?”

To which I reply: The tunnel (there is no bridge…that would be insane) is called the Channel Tunnel (being that it goes under the English Channel) and yes, I have been through it. several times in fact. I’ve been across on Le Shuttle which is a train that ferries road vehicles through the tunnel. I’ve been on that four times (to france and back twice) and I’ve been on Eurostar, which is a passenger only train that goes through the tunnel, normally to Paris, but also goes to other places too. I’ve been on that twice (to france and back once). So I’ve been through the tunnel SIX times. (there and back three times) Hope that answers your question!

Angel Zakuro: “Random lady coming down stairs!!”

That’s not a random lady! That’s my mother!!!

Anyway, this week has been an okay week so far. Yesterday I went down to Charlton and finally managed to get Gundam SEED DESTINY vol 6 on DVD… most of the places I normally go haven’t had it, so I'm glad I’ve managed to fins it without having to order it off the interwubs…tis a tedious process.

Petrol in England has finally broken the £1 per litre mark. For you Americans, its about 2 US Dollars to the GB Pound and just under 4 litres to the gallon. So we are paying approx 8 US DOLLARS TO THE GALLON! So stop your bitching and complaining about gas prices cuz you guys are better off then a whole lot of others people…

I’ve also finally got my credit card through the post, and I have paid off the first payment for next years Camp America trip. Yup, seems I'm gonna be spending yet ANOTHER summer in America… that will make it my…8th trip to America? Something like that.

I watched March of the Penguins the other day. it was kinda cute, but very pointless as a movie. Who ever decided to make a documentary into a full blown motion picture was either insanely brave or insanely stupid. Fortunately it was a major hit at the box office.

I also had a good clean out of my room the other day and found some stuff I didn’t realise I had, and I got rid of some stuff I didn’t need. I always feel bad throwing out stuff though, I feel like I'm letting it down. For example, I used to be a big Micro Machines freak and I had tonnes of playsets. The crowning glory of these was my Sea Air Launch Aircraft Carrier playset. I LOVED this toy. To pieces. But, obviously, in the last four or five years I’ve grown out of playing with Micro Machines, and its been sitting on my shelf gathering dust and taking up space. So I finally got round to putting it up in the attic. This is great, because it frees up space on my shelf which I have gone right ahead and filled up with excess manga and anime. However, as I put it into the attic, I couldn’t help but feel like I was letting the playset down, that by putting it in the attic I had betrayed its trust in me. Looking at it from a Toy’s perspective, wouldn’t you be upset if the person who played with you suddenly turned around and retired you to a chilly dark room where you sat and gathered dust instead of fulfilling your purpose? I realise this is all very Toy Story-esque here, but I genuinely feel that way, especially about possessions that played a big part in my life. This is why I have this annoying habit of hoarding stuff, why there is no room in my room.
I also realise that some day, my precious Gundam models will either have to be put away or sold. Even if I manage to keep them forever, when I die, what will happen to them? I guess I know deep in my heart that having material possessions is ultimately futile and pointless, but now is what’s more important when I order a new kit. I gain happiness from them now. That’s all that matters. But I will still be sad when the day comes that I will no longer require their services. Because by then I doubt anyone will ever find value in them the way I do.


Anyways, enough with the introspection. Let’s look at some Gundams shall we? (can you tell I'm on a Gundam kick today? XD )




This is my 1/100 ASTRAY collection. From left to right, MBF-P03 Gundam ASTRAY Blue Frame 2nd L, MBF-P01-Re2 Gundam ASTRAY Gold Frame AMATSU Mina Custom and MBF-P02 Gundam ASTRAY Red Frame.

And also in the ASTRAY line we have…



SD MBF-P01 Gundam ASTRAY Gold Frame Original Version! Kawaii!




My 1/144 scale BuCue. Its fun to pose a model shaped after an animal.



Gaia Gundam, my favourite Gundam from SEED Destiny


Gaia Gundam Mobile Armour Form.



My Master Grade Freedom Gundam on my newly acquired flight stands. These white stands are so awesome, I love posing my Gundams in different ways to make em look like they’re flying.



SO. MUCH. FUN. XD (yes, I'm a nerd. XP)



This ISN’T a Gundam, but it is my newly acquired 1/35 Master Grade Patlabor Unit 1 a.k.a Alphonse, from the anime series Mobile Police Patlabor. Its pretty sweet. Was a pain in the arse to make up though…


So yah, that’s enough of me showing off my Gundams for now. ;p

I'm gonna finish here with the next two parts of the CDD:S4 project…


Aw, poor Darke. Its his comic strip, and yet he’s been left out of the adventure!


More colour? Sheesh, I'm a glutton for punishment…

Hope you enjoy! More on the way soon. Have a good week!

“see, there’s a lot of differences between Britain and America. For example, Americans do this *sticks up middle finger* whereas we Brits do this: *sticks up two fingers* I don’t know why that is. Something to do with the exchange rate apparently…” - Lee Mack

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Sunday, November 11, 2007

Another day, another …day. yeah.
Hi folks. Thanks to the five of you who commented on my last post. Your thoughts were appreciated.


This week has been pointless and not worth talking about in so much as the fact I have done NOTHING.


So I'm gonna talk to you about my splendid little holiday in Weymouth instead. So there.




Weymouth is a small little beach town on the south coast of England. There wasn’t a huge amount to do there, but the idea of the holiday was a little R and R, so that’s what we did…

As you may have seen a few posts ago, we stayed in this sweet place called Old Beams. This is the interior…











My room was at the top so I got some killer views of Weymouth




To get into Weymouth we had to walk down the quay a little way and cross the bridge:






Well, it is a harbour after all… ^^;



The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is operated by trained volunteers and is a registered charity, and relies on donations and fundraising to acquire the 130 million pounds ( 260 million US Dollars) that is required to run the service for a year. considering the UK is an island, and thus has a heavy maritime industry, this service is NECESSARY to the UK, and yet it gets no funding from the government, and is non-profit. And the crews risk their lives to save others. That’s pretty spectacular for a charity, no?
The boat in the picture is a SEVERN-class Off-Shore lifeboat designed to operate in all weathers and far out into british waters.


There wasn’t a huge amount to do in Weymouth, one thing we did do was go to a fort called Nothe Fort.




Another place we went to was a motor museum









Lol

Just down the coast a little way was Portland, and island, but not quite…its kinda attached to the mainland by a small beach and a bridge, but its called an island and so it is.




On Portland is a small Coastguard base that used to be part of a naval base, but now is just the SAR flight, with one of the UK’s smallest runways, measuring at 229 metres (751 ft). but its just for helicopters, so that’s ok. The helicopter on the left is INDIA JULIET, which starred in a documentary series on British Television about the RNLI and HM Coastguard called Seaside Rescue. ^^



At the south side of the island is a place called Portland Bill.



There used to be two lighthouses here, a big one and a little one, but they got decommissioned and they built the one you can see in the photo. The two old lighthouses got turned into a Bird Watch Sanctuary and a house respectively.



The lighthouse is fully automated, but you can go up and have a look round.




And by “go up” I mean take the stairs. There are no elevators in the lighthouse. Don’t be so freakin lazy.



It was pretty cool at the top, but there were better views to be had elsewhere…





So yeah…we had a good time at Weymouth. It was very relaxing.

On the way home we stopped off at Monkey World…I wanted to leave my brother there but they said they had enough monkeys, but thanks anyway. Heres a few pics…







So there we have it. I hope you enjoyed. ^^


To finish off I give you the first two parts of the Chibi Darke Days 3rd Anniversary project:





Wanna find out what happens next? Stay tuned!!

Till next we meet folks!

“The ship is sinking! We must try and save it. Help me get it into a life-boat…” - Spike Milligan

“The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t” - Douglas Adams.




EDIT: Oh yah. ^^;;;; TODAY is Rememberance Sunday. so take some time to remember all those who have fought in the two World Wars for our freedom, and remember those who are currently fighting out in the middle east, and spare a thought for ANYONE of ANY NATION who is fighting. even the enemy. War is not right. its not big and its not clever. but humanity often feels it needs to participate. and probably will continue to do so forever and always. so spare a thought for anyone who goes out to fight for their own measure of freedom.








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Wednesday, November 7, 2007

...
FESTE: "Good Madonna, why mourn'st thou?"

OLIVIA: "Good Fool, for my brother's death"

FESTE: "I think his soul is in Hell, madonna"

OLIVIA: "I know his soul to be in Heaven, Fool."

FESTE: "All the more fool, Madonna, to mourn for your brother's soul being in heaven." steps back "Take away the Fool Gentleman."


-extracted from Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" Act 1


why do we grieve? why, when someone leaves, or more importantly, someone dies, do we feel pain and sadness in our hearts? is it the knowledge that they have gone forever, never to return? is it the lack of knowledge of what happens after someone dies? When a person or animal who is a target for our affections and love shuffles off this mortal coil, is it the void that remains that causes us grief? is it that the death of a close person causes us to face our own mortality?


i dont know.

My Grandad passed away on Sunday. in the evening. When i first heard the news, i wasnt sad. partly from disbelief, and partly because a year and a half ago the doctors gave my Grandad 6 months to live. he exceeded that mark and so we all knew that every day after that was borrowed time, and that sooner or later he would succumb to old age and illness. so we were kinda expecting it. and so when we first heard, i wasnt sad. i knew i should have been. but i wasnt. it wasnt till much later in the evening, when i was thinking about my Grandad and the life he has lead that it hit me. yeah, i cried. who wouldnt? but it was only for a little while. now im back to feeling sad and melancholy about it, but not grief struck.
my little brother took it the worst. but even he's getting over it pretty quick.
i guess life wont let us grieve. there's so much to do after someone dies, in addition to the normal burdens of life. there's the initial grief. then there will be the funeral. i guess everyone will let it all out there. but currently, life goes on.

yet still, behind everything we do there is a cloud of melancholy, a depressed and sad atmosphere. the grief is still there.


but why do we grieve in the first place? surely now my grandad isnt in pain any more. and despite any religious dogma i have been taught, im certain he's gone on to a better place. im certain he's gone on to reunite with my nan, his wife, and their dog, both of whom died quite a long time ago.

so why the sadness? i guess it's just human nature. and not just human nature. some animals are known to grieve for fallen comrades too. we are just genetically wired to feel this complex emotion when the body of another organism just stops working.

i dont know about any of your beliefs on the subject, about the existance of the immortal soul, about the afterlife, about death in general. all i know, for certain, is that my Grandad is gone. he is not coming back. and he left behind a legacy that was not particularly great or spectacular. but it was honest. and it was often for the good of his family.

everything else is Faith.


...



sorry everyone, i know i said i'd have pictures up today, but as you may have guessed, im not feeling up to it right now.

what i do have, after thinking about it for a little bit, is a small guide. its partly for a laugh, the best medicine for any ailment is laughter. but its kinda got serious undertones too.

so here it is:
The Anime Guide of DO's and DON'Ts to dealing with Grief.


When somebody you feel close to dies or you feel stricken with grief:

DONT flip out and destroy everything: Chise (Saikano), Raduim Lavans (ZOE: Idolo), Quatre Rebarber Winner (Gundam Wing)

DONT try to resurrect the object of your grief: Edward and Alphonse Elric (Full Metal Alchemist)

DONT blame everything on your best friend: Kira Yamato, Athrun Zala (Gundam SEED)

DONT get all manically depressed thereby causing yourself serious mental and physical degredation: Rakka and Reki (Haibane Renmei)

DONT act like the entire cast of Evangelion.

DONT reject your values: Akito Tenkawa (Martian Sucessor Nadesico)

DONT nurture your grief, cuz it only leads to hate: Shinn Aska (Gundam SEED Destiny), Sochie Heim (Turn A Gundam)

DO keep fighting: Domon Kashu (G Gundam), Vash (Trigun), Spike Spegal (Cowboy Bebop)

DO have a good cry about it: Alfred Izuhara (Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket)

DO make the most of what you've been left behind with: Gene Starwind (Outlaw Star)

and most importantly

DO honour them in death by remembering what they did in life and respect that by making the most of your own life: Azmaria Hendric (Chrono Crusade)



till next time folks.


"...but i always find it interesting as you walk through a graveyard, and it says things, like y'know, on the base of a grave, it says things like: "Asleep"

...

I dont think so. DEAD. GONE. Absent! F'king INERT!
well, if he's asleep, he's gonna pissed off when he wakes up aint he? "c'mon lads, you've had your joke..." -Billy Connolly
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Sunday, November 4, 2007

VICTORY IS MINE!
-text message to my dad after succeeding in getting a ticket for the museum.

Heya folks. Hope you all had a good week. mine was…interesting to say the least.

So, on Thursday I went up to see the Terracotta Army exhibition at the British Museum. I had to be at the museum for 9:15 AM in order to get one of the 500 tickets they release each day. I seriously underestimated the great British public on both the trains and in the museum… I arrived slightly late because the trains were packed with the morning commute, and there was already a HUGE queue waiting for tickets when I got there. Luckily I managed to get a ticket to the exhibition. I have no pictures of the exhibition, photography was not allowed, but it was awe-inspiring. If you don’t know about the Chinese Terracotta Army, you should look it up, its quite an interesting story. The basic thing is that over 2000 years ago the country of china was split into 5 different warring states. The king of the state of Qin (pronounced Chin) managed to conquer and unify China, dubbing himself the First Emperor of China and the Universe. For his burial tomb, he had his entire Kingdom re-created underground, including a life-size replica of his army guarding the tomb in perfect battle formation armed with real weapons and each and every one slightly different from the rest. This tomb was the size of a small city and completely forgotten in the ravages of time until some farmers in 1979 discovered the army quite by accident.

That’s the gist of the story, but it is truly amazing. What really is astounding is seeing these figures, made out of clay but with superb detail and craftsmanship, and thinking: these were constructed over 2200 years ago… 200 years before Christ is said to have lived. And yet here they are today, silently standing guard, doing what they were meant to do. And the public have the privilege of being able to see these artefacts up close… it really does put things into perspective…I’ve been alive 20 years. These guys have been in existence 110 times that amount. 110 of my ENTIRE life back to back… its mind boggling.


Anyways, I’ve also managed to bag myself a job! I was on the way home from London when I got a call from Forbidden Planet, asking if I could come for an interview. (Forbidden Planet is a huge comic book/sci-fi/anime store, and I love it to pieces and have always wanted to work there). Then when I got home, I got another call from the place I went to interview at before I went on holiday, the Cotswolds Outdoor Store. And they offered me a job! So now I had to choose between a guaranteed job, and a potential job in a place I have always wanted to work.
So I went to the interview for Forbidden Planet anyway, and then when I got home, I learnt that I didn’t get it. but that was ok; I just turned around and accepted the Cotswolds job. But if I had succeeded in getting the Forbidden Planet job…well, I would have had a massive decision to make… ^^;;;

And then a bookstore called me this morning wanting to know if I could go to an interview. ^^;;;;; I swear, you hear nothing from these people for ages, and then three job opportunities come along at once!!!



Whilst I was up London, I did a bit of shopping. I bought manga: Junk vol 4. and I bought anime: Gundam SEED Destiny vol 7 (though I have yet to find vol 6). And I bought Gundam model: SD Gold Frame Astray… XD and I bought a book called “Great British Wit” which I am finding to be quite a funny read. XD

Yesterday I had to help my parents and brothers in the garden…we have several apple trees and my mum wanted us to pick the apples. We didn’t have a big crop this year though. We ended up doing a lot of clearing work too, a whole chunk of the garden has overgrown, so we spent the morning chopping it up and clearing it out. I still have thorns in my clothes…

I’ve written quite a lot today, so I am gonna leave you with a few pics and then next week, hopefully I will write up a little bit about my holiday in Weymouth.

Here’s a few taster pics:



This is the place we hired for the week, “Old Beams”. Its pretty sweet, although its pretty noisy... the floorboards all squeak and there’s no sound proofing…I was on the third floor and my parents called me on my cell phone from the ground floor to ask if I wanted a drink, and they could hear my phone ring! Lol



The double bed I had all to myself. XD



This is the view of the town Fourtuneswell on the Island of Portland, just around the coast from Weymouth (which would be on the right hand side of the photo right on the horizon almost). And my older brother. For your enjoyment. Yah.


So, I hope I have whetted your appetites for more Weymouth piccies. Hopefully I’ll have em up for Wednesday!

Till next time!

“I am no longer a “lazy worthless burden on society”. I have been downgraded to merely “Lazy”…” - myself after learning I had got the job at Cotswolds.

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Wednesday, October 31, 2007

This is Halloween, everybody make a scene Trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of fright It's our town, everybody scream In this town of Halloween
Good day to you and Happy Halloween for those of you who care to celebrate it.

Yes, I have returned to the world of MyO after being away for a short holiday in Weymouth, a quaint little beach town. Oh, and before I forget, in answer to Ikyuu-Nyuu-Kon’s question: “The other day on the Travel Channel there was a show on talking about the different things people do on the beach. And they said speedos & bare breasts were very European. Do you wear speedos & see women baring their right to bare breasts on the beach? XD Gotta ask!

To which I reply: HELL. NO. Going “European” is a BIG no no for British beaches. XD

Anways, my holiday was fun, a bit nippy, but the place we were staying in was great. Its sort of a beach house, but we don’t own it, we rented for the week, and it was HUGE! It was meant to sleep 9 and there were only 5 of us staying there. I had to go up three flights of stairs to get to my room! And I had a double bed to myself (no one to share it with… T.T) and it was just a really awesome place. Weymouth itself was pretty cool too I guess. We did a whole bunch of stuff there, including going to a fort, going to a car museum, going to a lighthouse and more. It was a nice relaxing week and I really enjoyed myself. I’ll have piccies up soon.


Speaking of piccies, I realise I still have about half of my summer camp pics left to put up, but to be honest, I'm feeling really lazy and most of what I have left to show is just more of the same. If you really wanna see them, you can look on my photobucket site, but I don’t think I’ll be posting anymore up here on my blog.
I'm also planning to go back to Camp Pecometh next year too. ^^ it should be fun.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v247/darkeangel/Pecometh%2007/?start=all

-the URL if you are still interested….


Still looking for a job, apparently the one I went to an interview for I didn’t get it. (well, I haven’t heard from them, so I'm gonna go right ahead and assume I haven’t got it.) so I'm still looking. >.<

Anime wise I'm doing pretty good. I finished watching the Patlabor New Files OVA which I enjoyed thoroughly. What amuses me most about Patlabor is that it was released about the beginning of the nineties and depicted life in Tokyo around the year 2000, with cops and the army using humanoid vehicles called Labors to do their work, as well as industrial labours too. The funniest thing is at the end of several episodes it says “This is a work of Fiction now, but in ten years…who knows?!”

Well, I KNOW. Here we are 17 years later and still no giant police robots. Humanity has failed us…

Still, now that I'm on a Patlabor kick, I’ve ordered two Patlabor models online. They should be here in a day or two. And I’ve ordered a third kit with them, a Kaempfer from Gundam 0080. ^^ it’s a sweet kit.

I'm now moving on to re-watching my Evangelion collection, but I’ve also recently taken to downloading and watching Gundam X and Turn A Gundam from this cool website. Its costing me $10 for a subscription, but if it means I can get my hands on those two Gundam series, which were never released (and probably never will be) in the West, then it’s a worthy price. I just hope Midori has enough space to store it all…if not, I'm gonna have to buy some DVDs and start burning! Heh heh ^^;;;


Other then that, life is pretty slow at the mo…I got a tonne of stuff I wanna get done, and I'm methodically working through it. if all goes well, by the end of this week I’ll be able to drive a car again (insurance has just been paid), I’ll have a credit card again and I’ll have been to see this cool exhibit at the British Museum, The Terracotta Army of the first emperor of china…tickets are hard to get, so fingers crossed!!! And next week, I'm off to see Meatloaf! w00t!

Welp, that’s it from me today. Have a special Halloween themed CDD COMIC!:



I wish I had a Chibi Darke to scare the living daylights out of trick or treaters with…oh well. *digs out a paintball gun* I guess this is fine for now…


Oh, BTW, the 27th of November is CHIBI DARKE’S BIRTHDAY!!! His third birthday to be precise. I was gonna have something special done for it, but I don’t think I’ll be able to get it done in time. Instead, on the run-up to the big day, I’ll be doing a special series of Chibi Darke comics. It’s a ongoing story of about 15 parts. We’ll see how it goes. Stick around!


Till next time!!

Toodles…



“Two Nuns are travelling through Eastern Europe on the night of Halloween. Suddenly, Dracula appears in front of their car, blocking the road and baring his fangs.
“Sweet Lord!” says the Nun in the passenger seat. “What shall we do?”
“I know!” Says the Nun driving. “Get out of the car and show him your cross!”
“Right!” So the nun gets out the car, squares up to Dracula and says “GET OUT OF THE F*****G ROAD YOU GREAT FAT B*****D!!!!!”

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Wednesday, October 17, 2007

   i dont have pictures for you today. Gomen Nasai...
i know i know, i fail pretty badly. ^^;;

sorry folks, but you're gonna have to wait almost two weeks for the next photo update. starting this saturday for a week im going on holiday to a little beach town. We'll be staying in this cute little cottage/apartment thing, and i doubt we'll have wi-fi there, so i'll be offline all next week. ^^;;


This week has been pretty good i guess. I started and finished watching Tenchi Muyo: Ryo-Ohki on monday (its only 7 episodes after all, the final 7 to the original 13). Its still got that irrepresible charm and delight that most tenchi series have, and its still funny too. But they introduced a whole bunhc of random new characters into the equasion, and did some pretty weird plot twists. most of which i could deal with but as a hard core fan, the one change i didnt agree with at all (and its probably just a minor oversight) was that Ryo-Ohki doesnt transform into a spaceship any more. Ryo-Ohki the spaceship appears randomly from somewhere, and Ryo-ohki the cabbit/girl is its computer core or something random like that. eh. its just be being pedantic. The art work is great, the dub (english) is alright (though Ryoko's new voice doesnt suit her at all, and Mihoshi's new voice is TOO squeeky). all in all its a good series. the only other thing that annoys me is that you seem to need to have a passing knowledge of "Tenchi Muyo Galaxy Police" side series for everything to make sense.

anyways, enough ranting on that...

yesterday was my Dad's birthday. i wont say HOW old exactly, but it was a quiet affair, nothing dramatic or flamboyant.

also yesterday i had a job interview for an outdoor activities and clothing store. It seemed to go pretty well. they said they'll contact me next week if i got the job. the thing i, the store i will be working at isnt even THERE yet (they're still building it ^^;;;) so i wont even be tasked to work until mid-november, and that'll be for training and stuff. then once the store is complete we gotta stock it and prep it for opening. so the store doesnt even open until like...14th December. ^^;; still, makes life a lil interesting...and it also gives me time to do stuff i wanna do.

like, for example, go to a concert! my brother has managed to purchase tickets to the Meatloaf Tour at the Wembley Arena on the 6th November. i've never been to a rock concert before, so this should be cool. and i really like Meatloaf. (the musician...i suppose the foodstuff meatloaf is something i enjoy also)


seeing as i will be away next week, im going to miss Halloween, though lets face it folks, i ALWAYS miss halloween...every year i never go out and people barely ever come trick or treatin' down our street. it isnt really that big of a deal over here...not where i live anyway. so i dont really make a big hash of halloween, and its really got to be my LEAST favourite holiday of the year. (lets face it...its not even a holiday)
but still, in the spirit of the occasion i did some halloween art. i would post it onto MyO but
MyO doesnt like my art for some reason... probably cuz im not a "senior artist" or something. whatever. it can be found on my DeviantArt page HERE


well, thats it from me for a while. I shall return the first week of November...jeez, where has the time gone? it was summer like...the other day... 0_o;;;

Anyways, i shall leave you with this groan-worthy DOS:




;p



Till Next We Meet!

"Apparently, 1 in 5 people in the world are Chinese. And there are 5 people in my family, so it must be one of them. It's either my mum or my dad. Or my older brother Colin. Or my younger brother Ho-Chan-Chu. But I think it's Colin."
-Tim Vine, Comedian





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Sunday, October 14, 2007

BANANARAMA
Don’t ask...



Heya folks. Tis another blog with lots of piccies and stuffs.

This week has been…productive…I guess. I'm currently working on my Halloween art piece, as well as several other projects.

This week I finished watching Outlaw Star. It’s a really good anime, an older classic. If you get the chance you should watch it. ^^ now I know why Living Doll liked it so much. ^^

And I have managed to acquire myself a JOB INTERVIEW!! w00t w00t! its for an Outdoor Activities and Climbing Store in London that’s just opening, and I got an interview on Tuesday to work as a sales assistant. ^^ wish me luck! ^^

Anyways, onto the pics…. There are tonnes! ^^ remember, these aren’t in any order and if you want the full Darke experience, hover the cursor over the pic to read the alt text (might not work on all computers).

Here we go!




Tubing! The most fun I had on one single activity on camp. Its like flying, kinda… only really close to the water…



The infamous Incline Log on the challenge course…its much easier if you are a small person.



My week 2 campers: adventure camp…



A “low element” on the challenge course: the dreaded turtle crossing. Much easier when you’re allowed to have your eyes open or allowed to speak… he he he…



An outside college group tangles with the 3D spiders web. Heh heh heh… “Tangles.” Getit? ROFLMAO



This is from AFTER camp when I went to visit my dear dear friends in Tennessee. We were driving towards Knoxville and I saw these crazy towers in the mist and it looked like they were floating. ^^



This is my luxurious closet of a hotel room in New York City, which cost me a little over 1300 dollars for three nights stay. Well, it was the end of the summer holiday season. It was indeed very small, but it had a bed, a bathroom and a TV…what more did I need?



This is the USS something-or-other berthed in Baltimore Harbour which I visited along with two of my friends from camp…we had dropped a friend off at the airport and spent the rest of the day in Baltimore city, and we saw this submarine there and my Hungarian friend just HAD to go on, and my other friend and myself thought it would be a laugh so we went on it.



This is one of many friends I made on Camp. This photo was taken at the Staff Dinner we had at the end of the summer. This is Andrea. She is crazy.



Baltimore Aquarium



Baltimore Inner Harbour



This is Demitri, or Dem, or Dima. He is from Russia, and is a REALLY nice guy. ^^ He drove the tractor a lot.



Looking down 5th Avenue NYC.



My week 8 (and week 2, believe it or not) co-counsellor Erica Heitchew, and a bowl of chocolate pudding. On her head. The campers did it. I let them.



This was during the last week where we had a whole bunch of outside college groups come in and use the challenge course. This cheerful bunch are my co-facilitators. Loretta (centre) has been going to Camp Pecometh as a staff member for 9 years. She’s also REALLY nice. ^^



This is at Liberty University where I went after camp to visit some friends. I even attended classes! This was a college football game in which all my friends were involved somehow. The half time show was pretty impressive actually…



The “Blue Ford” lawn mower. Loud, vibrates your guts to liquid and awkward to drive. But so much fun. XD



The very lovely Julia Robinson, at staff dinner.



Oh Pat… *shakes head* This is Pat and Karen, who were permantly on the Challenge Course all summer…Pat was in charge and Karen was his assistant…poor Karen… Seriously though, these guys were fantastic and the weeks I spent working with them during the summer were the best times I had all summer.



A monochrome picture of Karen. Y’know. Cuz.



The wonderful Kate Howell, pool manager and crazy person extraordinaire…



Katie Scott and Megan Baker. Wisconsinites. Need I say more?




I know that I’ve said a lot of people were nice (and they all are) but if I were to give an award for the nicest person, Kelly Rose (that’s her first name btw. Yes. Both bits.) would be up there in the top three. Insanely super nice…



Levi. Submarine. Some pictures don’t need a caption…



Jess Howie, Canteen and Gift Shop Manager. ^^



Jordan Foltz. Imagine famous comedian Dane Cook, but hairier and built like a brick wall. That’s Jordan.



The irrepressible and one-of-a-kind guy that is Juju.



The awesome Julia Minei. There were a few Julia’s, a few Megan’s and a whole bunch of Sarah’s, so things got confusing the first few weeks of camp…



Our awesome lil golf-karts we got to cruise around in if we were working maintenance or Challenge Course duty. They weren’t the fastest things in the world, but who cares?



A church nestled between the skyscrapers in New York



More monochrome college antics



I actually sat through the whole game. Go figure…




The glass towers at Columbus Circle, 59th street and central park west, New York City.

And last but not least for today…



The Chesapeke Bay Bridge, which links West Shore with East Shore Maryland. Its quite an impressive structure.


That’s it for today folks, we’re about half way through my pics. I’ll post some more up later this week, or if I don’t, you’re gonna have to wait a while. Next week (as it just so happens) my family are going on Holiday to a little beach town called Weymouth. So I’ll be away (again) but only for a week this time.

I’ll leave you with yet another Chibi Darke Comic. w00t!



Ok, this one might need a little explanation. ^^;;; basically, “The Big Issue” is a genuine magazine publication that is given to homeless people to sell on the streets of London(and apparently Australia, according to Wikipedia). It’s a professional publication that the homeless buy for really cheap, then sell it to the public for a reasonable amount, thereby generating their own source of income. However, the Big Issue is full of CRAP, so barely anyone buys it, and the streets of London are still filled with homeless people. What can ya do?

This has been Darke Angel. “The More You Know…” XD


Toodles.




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Saturday, October 13, 2007

PLEASE IGNORE THIS POST!
im just posting now so that my last photoblog will be pushed into my archives when i post tomorrows photoblog, so that way you dont have to sit there whilst your browser tries to download umpteen hundred pictures. aint i considerate!

so yah. pls ignore. come back and read tomorrows post.


kthnxbye
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Wednesday, October 10, 2007

if you do not have a degree, you may only read every other line of this blog...
just kidding folks...


i havent any pictures for you today, i have not had the opportunity to write up the code and stuff for it all yet, so you're gonna haveta wait until sunday for em. if you REALLY want to, you can browse through my photobucket gallery and have a look at them: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v247/darkeangel/Pecometh%2007/

but you wont get the full Darke experience. XD patience is a virtue folks.

so far this has been a pretty good week.

the other day i saw the FIRST episode of the brand spankin new Gundam 00, which has just been released in Japan, and fansubbers had it up on Youtube already. ^^;; its pretty good, the storyline is kinda reminisent of Gundam Wing, as are the pretty boy pilots, but its only the first episode, we shall see how it progresses. the director is the same guy who did FMA, so it should be good...

i also returned to kung-fu on monday and it dammned near killed me. ^^;;; its gonna take me a while to get back into the swing of things...


do ya like my new intro? i was drawing up a storm this weekend, and this is one of the things that came out of it... its a pixel ID based on a character select screen from old-school games... there's a big thing on DeviantArt where lots of people are doing it, and i decided to jump on the bandwagon, just this once...


Yesterday i was up London helping out my aunt at this Deaf Interpreters assesment thing. basically i was paired up with this deaf guy and we were to hold a conversation, which an interpreter would translate whilst being recorded on videocamera. the point of the exercise was to see if the Interpreter could translate a two-way conversation, i.e between two people other than themselves. its was kinda interesting, and my part was over pretty quickly, so i had the rest of the day to myself. i headed over to Forbidden Planet (of course) and picked up the Tenchi-Muyo: Ryo-Ohki box set for a really good price. i know i said i wouldnt pick up any more anime, but i doubt if i would see a price as good as this again.

i also went job hunting, though most places needed me to fill out an application form, which is annoying, cuz it means i gotta go BACK to hand it back in...
there was this one book store, called Foyles, that was hiring christmas staff, but get this: you need a DEGREE to work there. no joke. i cant decide whether its discriminatory or hilarious.
"so ya spent three years hard work on this degree and you're getting paid the same as a regular joe who walked into that bookshop over there and got a job with half the qualifications. how's that work for ya?"

i was also setting off shop alarms left, right, and center yesterday. apparently the CDs in my backback (which i had bought with me from HOME) were still magnatised (or at least one of em was) which set off store alarms everytime i left a store. which meant i kept getting stopped by security and had to empty my bag EVERY FREAKIN TIME. arrgh!

its was also pissing down yesterday and is doing the same today. luverly english weather...

well, thats it from me today. hope y'all have a good week.



sequel to sundays comic...


toodles!
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Sunday, October 7, 2007

   Warning! Lots of Pics coming up!!!
Hi folks.

This has been a fairly quiet week. I think I'm finally settled back in…now I really oughta focus my energies on finding a new job…I’ve already applied for two, we’ll see how that turns out. This week I’ve also been focusing on sorting out photos from the summer, and watching some of the anime I bought. I have finished watching “Tenchi Universe”, and am about halfway through “Outlaw Star”… I also gotta watch “Patlabor the new files” and in the mail today I got the first and third volumes of “Tenchi Muyo”, so gonna try and tackle them before I start watching those anime I listed in my last post. I also made up my Gundam models, they’re looking pretty sweet.



Anyhoo, I promised I’d have pictures from Camp today, and so I have. Unfortunatly, I have 123 images I’d like to show you and that makes for a WAY to big of a post, so I'm gonna split it up into easier to digest chunks… probably over the next 2 weeks or so, so you’re gonna have to bare with me folks. Also, I haven’t had the chance to get these in any sort of order, so I'm just gonna post em up with a small explanation of each photo… if you have any questions about camp life in general or anything at all, please don’t hesitate to ask.


So here we go… remember, these are in no particular order….




Camp Pecometh is a Christian Youth Camp in Maryland, USA, and it consists of 9 weeks worth of one week periods…that is to say, kids came on Sunday, left on Friday and we, the staff, had Saturday off. Then the next week would bring a new set of campers. Pecometh offers a whole bunch of different camps, including Splashdown, Adventure, Horseback, Riverside, River Runners, Wilderness, Rock N Roll, Sailing on the Chesapeke and more… Archery was one of the activities offered to several of the camps. This was from week one, and I had a group of ten year olds.



This photo was taken by my co-counsellor. Between us we had about 12 kids look after…6 girls and 6 boys, or thereabouts…



This is whats called a Belay team, and these are my second week campers. The girl on the far right is Erica, my co-counsellor. This is on the Pecometh Challenge course, which I spent a lot of time on over the summer. ^^ twas my favourite part of camp. And this group were my favourite group all summer. ^^



Back to my week one campers. ^^;; playing field games. Girl on far left is Billie, a lifeguard.



Oh Bob…so much to say about Bob… what a guy… anyway, this was for Movies Week, where we had a themed dinner where we were to dress up as characters from Movies. This was Bob’s costume, as Tom Hanks’ character from the Movie “Castaway”.


Bull’s-eye! ^^ am I good or what… ok, so it was the only bull’s-eye I got all summer, but still…



My first ever campers, from week 1. I cant remember their names… ^^;;;; I wrote em down somewhere…



Carlos and Jacob… Carlos is from the North of England...Jacob is from Hamburg, Germany. Carlos is about 300 different types of weird. Jacob is gangsta. Both of them are undeniably cool.


This is the Incline Log on the Challenge Course…its on of the “easier” high elements there…



Debriefing after a climb. Girl on the right is Megan Shitama, Camp Chaplain, Harry Potter Fanatic, and an all round nice person.



Sunset over Rec Field…we were treated to some of the most spectacular sunsets in the world during this summer… this is one of the not so great ones, but still pretty awesome.



One of the “low” elements on the challenge course, a 3-D spiders web. The object of the exercise was to remove the coloured ropes and the elephant without ringing the bells, “Entrapment” style…



This is one of my fav pics from the summer. Nuff said.



Another sunset at Pecometh, I liked the way it played with the clouds…



A lot of the counsellors on Camp were from different countries, and every week we had an activity called “International Spotlight” where we stood up and talked about our countries… there were 6 of us English folk, so it was easy. Tim (in the picture) claims to hail from New Zealand, along with a girl named Kim. We loved it when New Zealand stood up for Spotlight, cuz Kim would sing the National Anthem, and sang it beautifully, and Tim would do the Maori war dance known as the Haka, which can only be done by males. He did the version that the New Zealand Rugby Team, the “All Blacks” often does before a game of rugby. It’s big and manly and psyches you up… loved it. XD



Another “high” element.



We had these special services called “Galileans” every week, as a sort of culmination of the weeks events…some were good, some weren’t…usually depended on who was taking it and whether it was outside or not…this is a photo of an inside one…



Week one was “Super Heroes” week… I had limited resources, so a quick trip to a K Mart and some minor altercations to some socks later, I had a costume for theme dinner… XD



This is the face Levi (or Levente, from Hungary) pulls when he drinks Cranberry Juice. The weirdest thing? He KEEPS buying it all summer. Why? Cuz “we do not have it in Hungary”. Ooookay then…
Levi was my co-counsellor during special needs week. we both took it in turns to freak out. That was a tough week. BUT WE SURVIVED!



The “Little Zig Zag”, with my week 2 group. It looks easy at first, but can be deceptive….



Yah, so apparently, I WAS MARRIED for about a week. long story folks. Basically during Special Needs Week, all staff members had to be married to each other. The reason for this is that the Special Needers (aged between about 12 and 70) are very affectionate people and have been known to PROPOSE to staff members in previous years, and after the inevitable rejection, would become VERY heartbroken. So to avoid this, we were told to wear these rings and pair up with another staff member to try and avoid such situations…and it worked…kinda… there was still a lot of heartbreak that week. ^^;;; also, there were times when you needed a “partner” pretty desperately, so you grabbed whoever was on hand…I think I ended up being married to about 5 girls that week. ^^;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;



More fun on the challenge course



MUSIC TIME! We had these several times a week and I loved them. Sure, they were just Christian songs, but everybody got really into them and there was so much energy and fun put into it. I miss it, I really do.





Heh, we made up alternate lyrics to this song too… XD



Pecometh is set on the banks of the Chester River and one of its most prominent features is the pier where they tie up the boats. This is a sunset taken from the pier.



This is my favourite sunset shot, taken from the Outdoor Chapel.



Tim Whale, Myself and Mike Doyle after Superheroes Theme Dinner. Tim is “The Deodorizer” , I am “L337 N1NJ4” and Mike is “Boston Red-Sox Man”



My week one co-counsellor Jamie and her campers at super hero week. Her campers were “The Crayons”.



Tim Whale, New Zealander, as “The Deodorizer”



Megan Baker and Katie Scott as the Wizard of Oz and The Good Witch of the North for Movies Week. Both these girls live in Wisconsin and are also hella awesome. I went and stayed with them a while after camp was over.



A pretty spectacular sunset.



That’s it for today folks…I’ll have a bunch more up for you on Wednesday, if I get my act together. Hope you enjoyed them!!!

And now, to finish off:




I have a whole bunch more Chibi Darke stuff coming up. Stay tuned folks!


Till next time!

Toodles.



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