Thursday, November 30, 2006

Lets Fight to Find Our Future.
Hey folks. sorry i didnt update yesterday. i didnt wake up till like 11 AM and had to go straight into work. ^^;

on tuesday i had my interview for the Royal Air Force. i didnt do so well. i was a nervous wreck and that really didnt help things. and there were quite a few areas i could improve upon in other aspects of my life. they said they were gonna delay my application for 6 months. so i got a minimum of 6 months to figure out what im doing with myself and try to turn my life around. i think a new job and maybe joining a gym are on order. ^^; and some other stuffs too. But hey, look on the bright side, it means i could well be around in the summer time for when some of my friends are looking to pop over for a visit! ^^ we'll see eh?

still, i was more then slightly bummed about not getting in this time, so i went on an anime binge. ^^;;; i bought Gundam Seed X ASTRAY vol 1 manga, vols 4 and 5 FMA DVD and vols 1 and 2 of Panda-Z on DVD too. vol 1 came with a lil Panda-Z figure which kept me amused. ^^ i also picked up the latest edition of NewType USA, which always keeps me occupied. so yeah, not too bad all in all.

So tomorrow is December! crazy. it means all the christmas tunes will start to play on the radio. ^^;; im not ready for christmas yet! i havnt even drawn up a christmas wish list. ^^;; tomorrow i have the day off, so im going to go into crayford and pick up some awesome cards which are essentially blank so i can do custom x-mas christmas cards. ^^ i gotta get them done soon or else they wont reach their destination by christmas. some of em have a long way to travel!!!

next week i have another Raleigh information event that i have been asked to help out at. i might ask the Raleigh guys if they have any jobs going or if they need any volunteers for other events. *shrugs* we shall see.

and thats pretty much it from me today. i dont have a comic or nuthin. sorry.

well, till next time!


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Sunday, November 26, 2006

   jeez, it would be easier if i just hibernate for the winter...
hiya folks.

so november is almost over. like october, i blinked and practically missed it. i really gotta start thinking about christmas presents and christmas cards and stuff. especially since it takes a while to do this sorta thing. ^^

uhm...i guess i really dont have much to say...


Thursday was your typical average day. hope you guys in the USA enjoyed your turkey day.

friday i worked a late shift. it was really hectic when i first got there at 10:3AM but luckily when it got to the end of my shift at 7pm it had quietened down alot. ^^

saturday....oh yeah, i spent a large chunk of my time getting ready for my RAF interview on tuesday. i hope im ready. *fingers crossed*

also yesterday i went to a christmas fair my brothers school were having. my brother is going to the Amazon next year with some of his school friends as part of something called World Challenge, which is a lot like Raleigh(the group i went to Malaysia with) but not as good. ^^ anyways, their group had a stall and they were trying to raise money.
other then that the fair was pretty lame. ^^;;

and thats it. today i have to work and sometime today or tomorrow i have to get this mop of unruly hair cut short. i also need to shave and get my suit ready for the interview. *sigh* its a lot of hassle, but it'll be worth it.


oh yeah, do you guys remember that "Design a Gundam" competition i entered a lil while back? they finally put all the entries up online. not wanting to blow my own trumpet, but i think mine are some of the better ones there.

My entries are the Seraphim and Fallen Gundams. The winning entires are the Zero Degree Gundam, the Phantom Gundam and the Yoinokuchi Gundam.
see what you think. the entires can be found HERE

and i guess thats it. i leave you with this CDD.
its a special occasion tomorrow, but i was unable to think of a good idea, and unable to put the special time and effort it requires, but it gets the point across.



Tomorrow marks two years since i started doing the chibi darkester and his wild adventures. he's amassed a lot of fans over that time, and he's changed quite a bit too.



this is one of the first three "prototype strips" that i did.


another one of the first ever strips, but i had already changed the style a bit. this one was a big hit.


this contains the perfect design for darke. unfortunatly its changed since then and i cant seem to get it back.


this one shows the human characters, Jen, Faye and Rachel. and of course, Darke. ^^



introducing Luna. ^^


the first of my Darke One Shots, which i did due to time constraints.


and this is typical of my style today. i dont know if its as good as the ones i did earler, but i still get enjoyment from them.


so yeah, Two years of Darke. i hope you guys have enjoyed em as much as i have. if so, then Chibi Darke's job has been worth while. ^^



have a good week! see ya on Wednesday, or there abouts!
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Wednesday, November 22, 2006

It’s always been hell, From when I was born, They make me violate them, No matter who they are
"Red Fraction" by Mell, OP theme to "Black Lagoon" anime



hiya folks. do ya like the new intro? i think it suits me rather well. XD


first, the news.

Again, been working mostly, so not a huge amount to talk about. and my huge apologies to 29 for unintentionally rubbing my l337 driving skills in her face. i didnt mean to, i forgot you...well, lets just say i forgot. ^^;;;

really the biggest thing that ive done with my past three days is download some new manga from a Scanslation website.
the first i downloaded was the first chapter of a Manga called Black Lagoon which is about a group of modern day pirates who are (and i quote) the baddest motherf*ckers in the Asian Sea! (end quote)

the art work is really crisp and the story line is really cool. and i found out theres two anime series derived from it too. "Black Lagoon" and "Black Lagoon: second barrage"

the other one i downloaded was a whole series (about three vols)called Tende Freeze. its kinda like the manga "Hands Off!" in story line (people with special abilities and a kid who has a power to amplify these abilities but doesnt realise it) but its a lot more comical. and its aimed at boys rather then Hands Off! target audience, which seems to be girls. there are a lot of females in this manga. ^^ lol

both are very good and im enjying them, though i wish there were more chapters of Black Lagoon available to download. but supposedly its beeing licesenced by Geneon, so i might see an english version soon. ^^ which would be cool.

today i have to go drive somewhere and buy stuff. i have to pick up a new suit cuz my old one is all nasty and horrible. i need it for my RAF interview which is freakin next tuesday!!! AHHHHHH!!!! im gonna pick up some other stuff too.

ok, so judging by the position of the moon and stars and cross-correlating it with the pattern on my bedroom wall, then multiplying the number of hairs on my chin by Pi, i believe it is Thanksgiving tomorrow. (which also means alot of you wont be on tomorrow)

now, i dont celebrate Thanksgiving (im british...i have nothing to be thankful for... LOL. im just kidding folks)

but every year i have been here on MyO for thanksgiving, i like to give a short list of stuff im thankful for.

so here it is. in no particular order, i am thankful for:

1: Luna. obviously.
2: the opportunities i have had this year to go travelling. Malaysia and Tennessee especially, but Wales and Ireland were a total blast too.
3: having a job. as much as i loathe it, it beats being penniless and nagged at by mum.
4: all the neat stuff i have. my tv, my dvd player, my laptop, all my manga and anime stuff.
5: MyOtaku.com. for letting me have some vague sembalance of a social life.
6: GundamMad.com...for all my Gundam needs. ^^;;;;

7: the fact i passed my drivers test! yes!! (sorry winnie!!!)

8: My family. as much as they annoy me. and especially my big bro this year. been a great help, lots of support.

9: God. i dont care if you're not particulary religious, i believe in him. and i wanna thank him for every day i wake up and see something beautiful in the world. even if its just a blue sky or something that makes me smile.

10: My friends here on MyOtaku: 29 (you'll get there!), Astraea, Black Pearl, chainedangel, chickenburger, chie (always Chie), Chobit Chi, Clair Chanteur (where'd ya go lil sis?), Dark Phoenix, dramaqueen2007 (always reply to my comments. awesome.), Grifter99 (awesome stories dude), Jangalian, Living Doll (your stuff always bows me away), luicifers wife (hey Jen! you rock!), Mew Wem (you rock too!), Mourghan (great to see ya again), Number 5, princess ookumae, Purgatory (hey kitten. ^^), red tigress (hey red. you rock as well), Samejima Mamimi, Shireishou (your english is brilliant. ^^ ), sitarose, TravelingDisciple (hey buddy! whats shaking?), Vamp2004, Weaver, xanth reborn (its been a pleasure getting to know you) and of course yukina123 (you sexeh thing you)


11: My sistuhs: lil Riss-riss (the annoying younger sister i never had. ^^ just kidding), my psuedo twin sister Mina-chan and my deeply respected and very dear older sister Katy-neesama.

12: My bestest best best best friends in the whole freakin universe, my second family: Amber, Chrissy, Mindy and Kyrie. and of course, Nic, Paddy and Rhian. they wont read this, but i gotta include them too.

13: me. bwa ha ha!!! well, okies, maybe the stuff that i do. Chibi Darke and his cohorts, Boxman and all my other series, as many as they are. ^^;;

14: and last but not least. Blue.

...

...

15: oh yeah, and Butterflies. Butterflies rock man....they just...do...

anyways, thats my list. a bit long winded. ^^;;

anyways, i dont have anything else to say really.

lookie at my beautiful Master Grade GunPla!!

WING GUNDAM ZERO CUSTOM





FREEDOM GUNDAM!!





*happy sigh*

anyways, enuff from me.

Have a great Turkey Day! stuff your faces and stuff. ^^

Toodles.
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Sunday, November 19, 2006

The Name's Angel....Darke Angel. (darke prounounced the same was as Dark)
hiya folks. tis me again. *loud sound of indifference*


anyways, since i updated on thursday i havnt done much in the interim. but i got enough to construct a decent post. ^^

thursday was mostly work. but that evening i watched "Gone in 60 Seconds" on DVD. i really enjoy that movie. its very good.

on Friday, my brother and i went to see Casino Royale, the new Bond Movie, at the out of town shopping centre called Bluewater. The movie (in our opinion) was fantastic. we loved it. the new guy portrayed a brilliant Bond, had all the elements of previous Bonds and added something of his own to the mix. the action was intense, and there was little gadgetry and stuff that would make it unbelieveable. my fav scenes were the opening chase scene and the airport chase scene, but the whole thing was brilliant. 10 out of 10 fom this movie goer. ^^

After the movie finished it was getting dark and it was rush hour, which meant the motorways home were jam packed with cars and other vehicles. so my brother (who hates sitting in jams) decided to take a detour home. im not quite sure which way we went, but it involved several small country lanes and a lot of looking at the map. i belive it was called the "Scenic Route". not that we could see alot. it was absolutely pouring with rain, and all the leaves on the trees had already fallen, clogging up the drains, and thus alot of sections of the road were like mini lakes and rivers. it was nuts. but alot of fun. ^^

that night i went to snorkelling club and played some more octopush and got my butt whipped bad. so not a good game. ^^;; i also busted open the wounds that were healing from last weeks game. ^^; c'est la vie. at least i didnt get any new ones.

yesterday was a beautiful bright and sunny day (though pretty damned cold). i went jogging in the morning (not fun), then i chatted to Blue online for a bit.

then i drove down to Crayford in my brothers car cuz i needed to get some stuff for my model making. and i discovered both the best thing about driving a car and the worst thing.

the best thing i like about driving is the sense of power you get from sitting behind the wheel, but more then that, i love just cruising along listening to the CD player. you cant really do music on a motor scooter to easily, so i really enjoyed blasting away to the TOP GUN soundtrack, with my sunglasses on and the car and road to myself, more or less. its a great feeling.

on the other hand the two things i hate about cars is finding somewhere to park (though when i did i managed to reverse into the bay which was between a van and a banged up car, and i was pretty damned pround of myself for reversing in there with lil difficulty. ^^ )
and the other thing thats worse then that is having to sit in traffic. in cars, you have to sit in the traffic. it sucks. on a motor scooter you have a greater sense of freedom that can only be gotten with two wheels rather then four. traffic would have been no problem to Luna. to my brothers car...well im glad i had the cd player... lol

anyway, i picked up some paints for my model then came home. i was gonna pick up some more clay too, but i decided against it.

that evening i mde up my Freedom Gundam model. i started it whilst watching Akira, which is a good movie, but was a little heavy for me that night. so after it had finished, i watched the last two DVDs of Azumanga Daioh. I had started rewatching the whole series ages ago, and i finally got to finish it. I LOVE Azumanga Daioh. its up there with my fav animes of all time.i love the sense of peace it often leaves me with, but also i enjoy the crazy antics of Osaka, Tomo, Chiyo-chan, Yomi, Sakaki, Kagura, Chiyo's Dad, Mr. Kimura, Miss Yukari and the rest of the gang...it always makes me smile. although the last coupla episodes also make me slightly regretful that my leaving school wasnt a big a deal as it is portrayed in the anime. when i left school, there was no ceremony, no big hoo har. i just picked up my certificates from the school office and walked out the gate. *shrugs* oh well. i probably wouldnt have turned up to a ceremony anyway. XD

so thats it from me today. i have no pictures or comics or anything (which should mean this page loads up a wee bit easier. ^^;; )

so till next time!

"Revvin' up your engine
Listen to her howlin' roar
Metal under tension
Beggin' you to touch and go

Highway to the Danger Zone
Ride into the Danger Zone

Headin' into twilight
Spreadin' out her wings tonight
She got you jumpin' off the track
And shovin' into overdrive

Highway to the Danger Zone
I'll take you
Right into the Danger Zone

You'll never say hello to you
Until you get it on the red line overload
You'll never know what you can do
Until you get it up as high as you can go

Out along the edges
Always where I burn to be
The further on the edge
The hotter the intensity

Highway to the Danger Zone
Gonna take you
Right into the Danger Zone
Highway to the Danger Zone"

Highway To The Danger Zone-Kenny Loggins, TOP GUN OST. ^^

toodles.
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Thursday, November 16, 2006

Don’t worry….about a t’ing…cuz ev’ry lil t’ing…gonna be alright…
Hiya folks. Sorry I didn’t update yesterday. I been hella busy this week too, so I'm grabbing five minutes to type this up. ^^

First off, thanks for the kind comments on my lil CDD models. To the two people who said they know someone who can do better, I say: I'm sure you do. ^^ Clay isn’t my forte, it’s a new medium I'm experimenting with. I was happy with em, and that’s all that matters.

Tuesday was my lil brothers 16th birthday. He got this huge remote controlled Mini Cooper that has working lights and sounds and everything. My brother is a Mini maniac, so he was thrilled to bits. He also got a lot of CDs of albums to bands I’ve never heard of. *shrugs*

Work has been very hectic and busy. Blah-de-blah. I’ve also entered a syndicate at work for the Euro Millions Lottery. We all pitched in and bought a bunch of tickets…about 40 lines of numbers in total. *fingers crossed* here’s hoping we win something! ^^

Yesterday I got a lil SD Gundam model in the post. It was my consolation prize for entering the “Design a Gundam” competition. Whilst I was pretty happy with the fact they sent me a Gundam kit as a prize (even an SD kit) I was very pissed off for one very basic reason…I ALREADY HAVE THAT SD KIT IN MY COLLECTION!! They sent me a SD Wing Gundam Zero Custom which is exactly the same kit as the one I bought in america a year or two ago. However, I'm still gonna keep it. I'm gonna give it a Custom Paintjob. ^^ I’ve also seen two Gundam kits that I almost want more then I want to get into the RAF. (and that’s saying a lot)
It’s a Master Grade CrossBone Gundam (a pirate Gundam. ^^ ) and the Gundam Astray Gold Frame Amatu. However, I will have to have a hella lot of will power and try not to purchase it until after my birthday in the new year. besides, I still have my Master Grade Freedom Gundam to construct still… ^^


Congrats to Blue who had her two year MyO anniversary the other day. Also congrats to Shireishou who also had her two year MyO anniversary earlier this week.

Heh. I got an email when I got home yesterday from work asking if I was willing to help out at a Raleigh Info evening that night! Considering it started at 5:30 and I got home at 6:15, I had to decline. To be fair, it was uber short notice. As in…same day!

I’ve been really getting into the anime Macross lately. I’ve been playing the Robotech game on the ps2 and watching Macross Zero on YouTube, which is a most excellent series. I used to not like Macross, but the later series, Macross Plus, Macross 7 and Macross Zero (which is a prequel to the main Macross series) are brilliant. And as a kinda side effect, I'm sorta getting into the main series as well, though I'm not in any major hurry to watch the original series, which is quite a dated anime now.


The other series I'm getting really into at the moment is Torchwood on BBC3 which is a spinoff of Doctor Who. Torchwood is sorta like Doctor Who for adult audiences, it’s a lot darker and handles more adult themes. Don’t get me wrong, I still love Doctor Who (cant wait till the Christmas special!!) but Torchwood has me glued to the screen every week without fail. Fantastic.

Okies, I’ve rambled enough for today. Two things left to leave you with. First is a comic which I managed to churn out for you at great personal expense (h’yeah right)



A lil word of advice…NEVER give Darke (either Chibi or real-type) food to look after. For it will not be there when you return. XD

The other thing I wanna post up is a new character design which, to be quite honest, has been haunting me.



This design started off as a doodle in my scrap book cuz I saw someone with that style of hair on a TV program and I really liked it, so I tried to recreate it in a new character design. But that doodle had me transfixed. So I decided to do a full size character sketch to see if that would exorcise it from my head. But no. if anything, it got worse. I tried to decide on a name for the character and nothing seemed to fit. I was about to give up (which I hate doing…I hate having significant designs without a name for the character) when… I swear on all that is otaku this is true…I could “hear” a voice telling me not to give up. So I kept on trying for names, with this voice giggling in my head, telling me If I was getting closer or not. Eventually the letters “M-E-L” just popped into my head and I thought... “Mel…Melanie!” and the voice replied “yep. Pleased to meet you!”

Yes. A character I came up with told me her name HERSELF.

I would put it down to mild schizophrenia brought on by sleep deprivation and too many years of character design. In fact that’s probably what it is. She hasn’t spoke to me since. But still…there’s something about the image…


Okies, enough crazy talk. I shall see you guys on Sunday, probably.


“Well you showed me
How it feels
To feel the sky
Within my reach
And I always
Will remember all
The strength you
Gave to me
Your love made me
Make it through
Oh, I owe so much to you
You were right there for me


In my dreams
I'll always see you soar
Above the sky
In my heart
There will always be a place
For you for all my life
I'll keep a part
Of you with me
And everywhere I am
There you'll be
And everywhere I am
There you'll be…”

“There you’ll be” Faith Hill.

For Blue. ^^

Toodles.

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Sunday, November 12, 2006

WWVD?
heya everyone. sorry i didnt post earlier in the week. so damned busy at work and just burnt out. luckily ive had two days off, friday and saturday, and i have this morning off so i will post now. ^^

oh and BTW, today is rememberance sunday (or veterans day yesterday) where we remember those who died in all wars fighting for peace. i hope you guys all took a few minutes to remember.

as i said above, most of last week was work, so im not going to post about that. on friday i dedicated my afternoon to a special project (the results of which you shall see below).
and friday evening i went to snorkelling and had another rousing game of Octopush (which as you may recall, is like hockey, but underwater, and with shorter sticks).. i had a really great game, and even drew blood! my own, of course, not someone elses. my knuckles on my right hand are quite sore now, but i dont care. its the sign of a good game. ^^ i enjyed myself at any rate...


yesterday i spent talking to Blue online, and then i had some stuff to do in the afternoon. i spent the best part of the evening making up my Master Grade Wing Gundam Zero (Endless Waltz Version). its a tad smaller then most of my other Master Grade kits (which is true to scale) but the Wings more then make up for them...HUGE!

I was also in a Dr. Who mood last night and watched a bunch of the 9th Doctor episodes. i still like "Dalek" as one of my fav episodes. Oh yeah, the spinoff, "Torchwood" is on tonight. im loving that series, cant wait to see tonights episode. ^^

okies, im gonna get political/moral/weird on you for a bit. if ya dont wanna deal with that, skip to the bottom and look at the pretty pictures.


So Saddam Hussein has been sentanced to death. now i dont disagree with this judgement. to be honest my first thought on hearing the outcome of the trial was "good. kill the bugger", which, to be honest, has been bothering me. Yes, Saddam should pay for what he has done, and yes, there is probably few people more deserving of the death penalty than him. What's bothering me is the ready acceptance i have for him to die, the way i laugh at jokes made about his upcoming execution. should we be so easily accepting of killing someone. and this is where i go off the deep end. i found myself wondering...What would Vash do? Vash the Stampede, the Humanoid Typhoon. who always, ALWAYS tries to find a resolution that results in no one dying. yeah, ok, its an anime/manga, its not real life. but is it possible? is it possible to come up against villans like Sadam and Osama Bin Laden, and show compassion? is it possible not to kill people on purpose, out of hate, or because they did something wrong? or is that just naieve? we have been brought up in a violent world, where media tells us that killing is happening everyday, that its almost ok if the person did something heinous. we even have games where we stroll around and point guns at people and pull the trigger to kill. i even play them...i even enjoy them. but is that right? is that the right thing to do? or is there some other way?

okies, enough of the serious stuff. i should leave that for my younger brother. He told us the other day that he was Emo. now im worried... lol



so pushing the weird crap aside, i will now show you the results of my special project i was working on on friday.



yup, i finally finished my project of making lil clay models of my Chibi Darke Days characters. i made Laura (the blonde) ages ago, and i did Darke a while back, but it failed miserably. so this time i made up Rose and Luna, and remade chibi Darke and i almos ran out of clay, but they all turned out spectacularly.

im just gonna put all the pics up in one go, so if you wanna read my comments, look at the alt text.

ROSE






LUNA






LAURA






and last but not least, Darke (ver 2)





and there we have it. my only wish is that they were alive and real...that would be awesome. ^^

i might even make the human members of the CDD cast with clay some day...or even Box Man! maybe. ^^ but i'll have to buy more clay first. lol.


well thats it from me today. yeah i know, another post with lota pics. sorry. i'll try to post wednesday, but i got another busy week ahead of me. *shrugs* we'll see.

"Do ya mind not farting whilst im trying to save the world?"- Dr. Who, from the Episode "Aliens of London"


Toodles!
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Sunday, November 5, 2006

Remember Remember the 5th of November…it comes after the 4th and before the 6th…
Hiya folks. It’s the 5th of November, a.k.a Guy Fawkes Night, a.k.a Fireworks Night, a.k.a Bonfire Night a.k.a unless your british and/or studied british history or spent any significant time with a british person or in Britain you will not have a fucking clue what I'm talking about.

Basically a long ass time ago somebody tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament where the government of Britain (and I think the King at the time) were hanging out, but they failed miserably and got hung drawn and quartered for treason. And being the strange beings that we are, we celebrate this failure to destroy Paliament by making huge colourful patterns in the sky, contribute to noise pollution and increase the chance of seriously injuring ourselves by playing with explosives.

That’s the gist of it. (me? Cynical? Heaven forbid!)


Now that our British History and Sociology lesson is over, I will continue with my post.

Not a lot has happened since Wednesday. I had a good day off on Thursday. I made up my Ground Combat Gundam. now I gotta find the time to make the Freedom and Wing Zero up too…

And I'm now working everyday this week till Friday. Work is shit like usual. On Friday the idiot builders on the floor above us screwed up and we had a delightful little shower of water coming down through the ceiling on us. Luckily it was in an area where nothing was stored, so we didn’t get food contamination or anything drastic…

On a lighter note, I'm getting to know the ward hostesses a bit better. A lot of them are a right pain in the arse, but there are a few who are pretty cool. ^^

Anyways, I know why you’re all really here. You wanna see my Dublin Piccies. Well, I'm am happy to oblige. Remember, normal rules apply. Hover your cursor over the picture to get the alt text to appear with a lil caption of wit and intellect. My apologies to the people who’s computers wont let them see photobucket pics. I will try to mae this interesting for you.

So here we go.

DARKE’S CRAZY DUBLIN ADVENTURE!

After a short flight (I blinked and missed it practically) we found ourselves in Ireland. A quick hop by bus to our nice hotel ensued and we went straight to bed…we were knackered…

The first day we were in Dublin my brother and I went into town and checked out the scene. We stopped off in the tourist information office and got ourselves geared up ready for a weekend of crazy touristing. Afterwards we headed to this massive glass shopping centre (which reminds me of a dream I had) and then had lunch in a nearby park. In the afternoon we stopped off briefly in a bookshop which had wide selection of books, from recent editions to ancient stuff. Some of the books were like…seriously ancient. One of them I picked up seemed to be pre-20th century as far as I could tell… 0.o;;
Afterwards we went into the National Museum of Ireland and checked out the exhibits, which was cool. Then we headed back to the city centre and picked up a fish and chip dinner from Dublins oldest and most famous Chippy. We sat on the wooden promenade next to the River Liffey that runs through the heart of Dublin and ate our dinner. I also took some pictures.



I really liked the green lighting under the bridge. I thought that was a nice touch.





The next day we had a lot to do. We started off by catching a Tram to the West of Dublin.



To be honest, Dublin is such a small city that you can walk from one end to the other without too much bother, but we figured a tram ride would be cool.

We started our Touristiness at the Kilmainham Gaol, which played an important part in the Easter Rising, which was the event that eventually led to Ireland gaining its independence from Britain.



The main hall was amazing to behold, and back in the day, was a revolutionary design in jail architecture. The guide said so.





This is the older part of the Gaol.


This is where the members of the Easter Rising were executed, except for one, who didn’t have the strength to make it to that end of the yard, so they shot him at the other end.



The members of the Easter Rising who were executed in the yard.

Okies, enough of the grim stuff. After the Gaol, we headed back towards the center of town and stopped off in one of Dublin’s most famous tourist attractions.



The Guinness Storehouse! This is the site where Arthur Guinness set up his first brewery, and its still going strong today. It’s a good thing it is too…Arthur Guinness rented the site on a 9,000 YEAR LEASE!!! That was 247 years ago! So he’s still got 8,753 YEARS of the Lease left!!!

Inside you learn all about how Guinness is brewed. (BTW, if you’re wondering, Guinness is a famous beer, very strong. They say it tastes better in Dublin better then anywhere else in the world.) and after you do the museum bit, you take your ticket to the top floor where they give you a complimentary pint of the Black Stuff. Nice!



Me and my pint.



The lil card we left to say that the Weston boys had visited and approved. ^^



After that we headed over to ChristChurch Cathedral. It was quite an impressive building, so much so that we went there twice! (lol, only cuz they closed whilst we were there the first time, so we went back to see the rest of it the next day)


This is the outside. Quite an imposing building.


Gothic Splendour comes to mind.

That evening we went to a Pub where we sat and listened to a Troubadour strum away at his guitar and sing what were probably old Irish drinking songs. It was a lot of fun. Me and my bro downed a couple of pints and discussed stuff, which was nice cuz we don’t get to do it too often.

The next day was also due to be a long one. ^^ We started off by heading to Dublin zoo.


A snow leopard.


And cub.


There where several tigers there. One of them was pacing restlessly, this one just didn’t give a damn. We also heard a Lion roaring, but by the time we got to the enclosure he had stopped, so I didn’t take any pictures of it.


Orang-utan and baby.


Gorilla and Baby


This guy is the Daddy though. Huge! And an impressive Silver Back. XD he’s going grey…like my dad. LMAO!!

I saved the best zoo pics till last though…



The Grey Wolf. Majestic, ne?



Wolf’s Rain fans (and fans of Canis lupus in general), this one is for you. ^^

Afterwards we headed to Dublin Castle, which isn’t really a castle as such, but more of a Georgian Palace. It USED to be a castle, but one time there was a party and it uhm…burned down. Yah. So anyway, the “castle” as it now stands is still used by the Irish Government for official stuffs, but there’s also a guided tour. It was very extravagant, very posh. I got a few piccies, but the only one I'm gonna show you is of the throne.



Officially nobody has sat on the throne for donkeys years and nobody is allowed to sit in it. UNOFFICIALLY someone has sat in it recently…a guy was allowed to have his GF sit there whilst he proposed to her. She said yes, supposedly…

We finished the day off back at ChristChurch cathedral doing the bit we didn’t do the day before, namely the crypt. Very cool. We also stopped off in this very nice pub/restaurant and had what was called an Irish Burger…homemade and huge. ^^ filled me up.

On the last day we headed to the Jameson Distillery, where they used to make Jameson’s Irish Whiskey. They don’t anymore, they moved somewhere else, but this was the original site. And of course, we got a complimentary whiskey. ^^ Irish Whiskey is Triple Distilled, unlike Jack Daniels, which is only distilled once, so it’s a helluva lot smoother and established in taste. But JD is sweeter cuz its matured in brand new barrels, whereas Jameson’s uses old barrels.

Anyways, after that we did some souvenir shopping (and I also managed to pick up Trigun vol 7…I now have the whole series!!!), and then we headed back to the distillery to do the Chimney Observation Tower, which gave some impressive views of Dublin. And that was it. We had to come back home.

I'm gonna finish off with some pictures of Dublin and a few comments.


This is the view from the Guinness “Gravity Bar” where we got our complimentary pint. The text corresponds to a site in Dublin you can see from that particular point and references it to a piece of literature in which it appeared. James Joyce…man I hated doing “The Dubliners” in English Lit…what a mind numbingly boring book…





The Gravity Bar as viewed from the Jameson Distillery Chimney Viewing Platform.


The distillery is now mostly housing…I think it would be awesome to live there…



Typical weather for Dublin, unfortunately.



You have to understand, Post Boxes in England are RED. So seeing a green one tickled me pink…uh…green. ^^



This is the Dublin Spire, which stands at 150 metres tall (and has a lil light on the top). It is a monument to Dublin’s Millennium Celebration.

I had a great time in Dublin. The people were cool (and we adore the accents) and the city itself is full of cool buildings, excellent things to see and do and holds an awesome history. I really enjoyed myself and I'm sure my bro did too. Its something we have been wanting to do for ages, and we’re glad we both managed to get some down time to do it. Next time we wanna branch out a lil further and see some more of Ireland, check out some of the more rural areas. ^^

And that’s it from Dublin. I hope you enjoyed the pictures (if you could see em). Hopefully I’ll get round to posting the crazy dodgy comics up soon that I did whilst I was out there. Sorry this post is long. If you read all of it, have a cookie. If you skipped to this part, shame on you. Go back and read it all, or come back when ya have the time to read it all. Go on. I’ll wait…


…


…


…


…I'm fed up with waiting. Here’s the return of that fella we all know and love…in bed. (j/k)



Based on the Guinness adverts. Honest to the Powers That Be, watching a pint of Guinness being poured properly is like watching poetry in motion…its ART I tell ya.



See ya on Wednesday folks. Have a good un.


BIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

(a special person will get this)


Toodles.





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Tuesday, October 31, 2006

well top o' t'mornin' to ye lads n lassies...
hiya folks. tis darke. i return triumphant (and vaguely intoxicated...well i was anyway)


Dublin was a blast, i had a most excellent time out there. you're gonna have to wait for pictures and the like because i only just got in last night and i have already been summoned back to that hellhole of a hospital to do my masters bidding, so you're gonna have to wait for a full report and pictures. this is more of a "hey im alive! i think..." post.

i didnt win the Gundam competition...i havnt seen the winning designs yet but they sound like several kinds of awesome, so i accept my defeat graciously. i will have to try harder next time. bit bummed about it, but oh well.

tell ya one thing though, it was weird in Ireland...i'd be walking around a building or something when all of a sudden my bandana would fly off without warning...or i would be on the bus and my arms would start hurting and when i check later, there would be bruises everywhere...it was like someone (or something) was following me around and beating me up...very strange...

oh and BTW, happy halloween to all you who give slightly more then a crap. ^^ sorry, tis not my fav holiday of the year. i will try and do some halloween art later today to acknowledge its presense, but thats about it.

i also have a CDD idea brewing around, that will be up soon. and i also did my infamous "drawn-with-a-biro-so-it-looks-realy-crappy-and-you-can-barely-make-out-the-handwriting" holiday comics. so i might post em up somewhere soon. ^^

i also visited Forbidden Planet in Dublin (i can sniff out an anime store from miles away) and bought some bits there. ^^ lol

well, i got a bunch of stuff to do so i'll just say toodles for now and i'll see y'all soon, hopefully with pictures of my visit to Dublin!!

^^


btw, the whole "bandana flying off and mysterious bruises" thing was a lie. i did it on request of a friend in order to freak someone out somewhat. have a great day!


Comments (15) | Permalink

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Announcer: 24 HOURS LATER...!
hiya folks, tis me again. yah, i know, i only updated yesterday but i figured i wanted to fulfill my two posts a week quota, so im posting again today.

few things to say today.

first, i have finished my second design for the Gundam Comp and sent both designs in. the second design can be found BY CLICKING HERE.

tell me which one you prefer. the link to the first design can be found in yesterdays post.

secondly, tonight i am off to Ireland!!! w00t!!
im gonna have tonnes of fun, but i gotta spend ALL of today preparing for it...i still gotta pack blah-de-blah-de-blah....i havnt had the chance to do anything recently...

but of course this means i wont be posting on sunday and i wont be able to visit your sites until tuesday, earliest. so everyone, take care and have a great weekend. ^^ specially you Blue. ^^

Lastly, im am vaguely aware that i havnt posted anything of interest or funny recently. so to keep you amused till i return i leave you with...

ok actually its not that great, but look at it anyway...its a doodle i did yesterday at work whilst waiting for something to happen...



its a work thing...with kayleigh...and Box Man in the bg. he works at where i work too y'know. we're work colleagues. ^^


anyhoo, hope you lot have a great weekend. i shall see you when i return, hopefully with a few piccies. ^^

toodles!
Comments (11) | Permalink

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Just watch me...I'll become the God of Death once again! but right now....i need some sleep...
top o' teh mornin' to ye lads and lassies...


i havnt got a huge amount to report on today. i have been working solidly since saturday so i havnt had the chance to do much else.

things are definitely starting to roll on the Ireland front. i have to get some Euros today, or at least get some money out to buy Euros. i also gotta start thinking about packing.

yesterday i worked till 7pm, which is the first time i've done that. luckily it was pretty quiet. ^^

my entries for the "Design your own Gundam" competiton are coming on nicely. i have to get the 2nd one finished tonight and sent off tomorrow, else i will just be entering the one. shouldnt be too hard to finish the second one tonight though.

CLICK HERE to see one of my design entries...


in other news i went and bought Gundam Wing Box set and two Master Grade model kits, one of Wing Zero Custom, the other of the Freedom Gundam. i have been watching Wing again for the first time in ages. it was the first anime (not including pokemon) that i got in to way back when i was 14, and now i've come full circle and finally collected the entire series. looking back on it now with other Gundam series under my belt and a dash more cynicism then i had when i was 14, the dub is slightly dodgy, and some of it is just plain weird and dare i say it, cheesy, but there are bits that remind me why i loved this series so much, and why it remains one of my favs. its like reuniting with an old friend who embarreses you, but you like anyway... and now i have three Master Grade Gundam kits to put together whenever i find the time. ^^;;;;;; im gonna need another holiday...


well, thats it from me today. sorry for the lack of stuff. *shrugs* eh, what ya gonna do?


toodles.


"You're afraid of dying, arenn't you guys? well in that case...YOU SHOULDN'T BE FIGHTING AT ALL!!!" -Quatre Rebarber Winner


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