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If you read this blog regularly, then you’ll have noticed that I didn’t post anything on Monday! Is this the first time I’ve ever forgotten? Well, there was one time that I went to bed and then realised I still needed to write a blog post, so then went back on my laptop to do so, but this might be the first time I ever actually missed an update without first warning.

So why didn’t I post on Monday? Well, I didn’t actually forget to do that, I just forgot to say that I wouldn’t be able to post on Monday when I wrote Friday’s entry! You see, on Saturday I travelled quite far so that I could see a good friend of mine for their birthday.  Since I did have to travel quite a bit to get there, it made sense for me to stay a few days and I only got back on Tuesday. There was the tiniest chance I could have written a blog post, but it didn’t happen.

Overall, it was a lovely trip and I really appreciated the opportunity to see my friend on their birthday and to meet new people. My particular favourite moment was knocking on their door early in the morning; they weren’t expecting to see me and were quite surprised. Plus, of course, it was nice to get a chance to spend time with somebody I don’t see very often. I also enjoyed navigating a journey on the London Underground, which I had to do on both my way in and out.

So that’s why I did not post on Monday. I hope it’s a good enough excuse!

(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)

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Though I absolutely love my job, I still get excited as the week draws on and Friday gets closer. Why? Well, the reason is that I just enjoy the opportunity to catch up on my sleep. I usually get six hours sleep on week days an as much as I like on weekends! Anyway, I wanted to talk a little about my Friday routine; there are several things I do each Friday that get me into the spirit of relaxation, but I was just thinking today about how updating this blog is very much part of my Friday routine. My Friday blog post always comes at one of the last points of the day, just as I am starting to feel sleepy and am looking forward to my weekend rest. I think it’s quite nice that writing has become an important part of my regular routines and I think it’s something all writers should aim for. Friday wouldn’t be Friday if I didn’t write my blog post Writing regularly is a good habit to get into… Even if it’s just writing something quite empty an worthless like this blog post. Ha!

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The Gamecube was a console on which Nintendo carried out a lot of experimentation. Super Mario Sunshine was the main Super Mario game for the Gamecube and is, indeed, very experimental. Some dislike this game for being too different from other titles in the series, but I appreciate that it is very unique and actually find it very refreshing.Many of the staples you expect from the Mario series are gone; almost all the enemies are new, the game is not set in the Mushroom Kingdom and there are lots of new elements which have been incorporated too. Toadsworth (who I love) and Bowser Jr. are both introduced for the first time and much of the gameplay is based around using FLUDD (a sentient water pump) to achieve different tasks, such as putting out fires and cleaning up gloop.

The story has also had a lot more thought put into it than the average Mario game; Mario, Toadsworth and Princess Peach all go on holiday to Isle Delfino, Sadly, Mario is arrested upon arrival for scattering the island’s ‘shine sprites’ and putting gloop and graffiti everywhere. Mario then has to use FLUDD (who he wears on his back) to clean up the gloop, find the shine sprites and clear his name. There are loads of tasks to do across several levels and each one will get you a shine sprite; the more shine sprites you have, the more the story progresses.

There are two things I like a lot about this game: it’s setting and it’s weirdness. Isle Delfino is a tropical paradise and playing the game really does convey the feeling of visiting a sunny seaside resort. The sun is always shining brightly, Mario sometimes has to wipe the sweat from his brow, the water sparkles in the sun and the whole place looks like a fairly realistic holiday destination… But at the same time, Isle Delfino is populated by Piantas who are weird hilarious looking blob people. Every existing creature that returns in this game has a new design as well and have all been made hideous. I love it.

The only real downside to the game is that it is occasionally frustrating; some tasks feel a bit unfair or are based on things that don’t seem to work properly, but overall I think this is a very good experience. I hope one day there’ll be another Mario game that experiments as much as this one. Although, let’s not give Bowser that voice actor again.
Rating: 9/10

Buy it here.
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(Read on my new site.)

I recently started eating a chilli every day. It might, perhaps, sound like an unusual thing to do, but I think it’s actually very nice for quite a few reasons. Firstly, chillies are quite tasty – there are lots of different flavours. Some of them are sweet, some of their are savoury. I have to admit, that I think that the sweet ones taste a little bad, but I quite like the excitement of not knowing how it will taste before you try one. It’s the same reason I enjoy the sweets, Revels. Then, after a few bites, you get the spice; it’s a very pleasant tingly feeling in your mouth which is also comfortable and warm. Then, once you’ve finished it, you can have some water which mixes really nicely with the lasting tingle and after taste of delicious chillies. Plus, of course, there is a huge variety of chilli types and you can get the one which is right for you. I tend to find that, over time I gravitate more and more towards spicier chillies, because the ones I had before tend to seem less spicy as times goes by. Anyway, those are the reasons that I enjoy eating chillies and you must also remember that they are very healthy! As the new saying goes, a chilli a day keeps the doctor away.

For today’s blog post, I’d like to talk a little about what my ‘dream’ movie memorabilia would be. This was a blog post idea recommended to me by somebody from the auction site Invaluable and since I like to please anybody who takes the time to read this blog, that is exactly why I am writing this. As this is explicitly “dream” memorabilia, I’m allowed to choose things based on their fictional applications and also ‘props’ that are found in video games. Also, there’s a chance there might not be any props from actual movies in this post. Heh. So, anyway, here are three things I decided on.

The first was quite an easy choice; if I could have anything from the world of video games or movies then, of course, my first choice would be one of the guns from Portal. For those who don’t know, a Portal gun is fired twice, each time it creates a portal on whatever surface it hits, meaning that if you go through one of them you come through the other. Were I to own one of these in reality it would be enormously useful; I could fire one into the wall at my office and another in a wall at home, avoiding me ever having to put up with First Buses ever again! Or, even more excitingly, I could potentially use it in the home of one of my friends who live very far away – that way I could visit them so much more easily! I know Portal isn’t one of my favourite video games (not that I don’t love it) but the Portal gun is just such an amazing idea that I could not resist it.

My second choice would have to be something from The Waltons. The Waltons is one of my favourite TV shows and though there’s nothing in The Waltons that has an especially exciting, fantastical function, I still think it would be very cool to own something from it. But the question is, what? I suppose John-Boy did have some pretty nice shirts, but then I guess with an item of clothing, you’d want to wear it and if I wore it, I’d just worry about damaging it! So I guess, ultimately, I’d go for something else. Maybe the typewriter that John-Boy uses – that would be a nice ornament-type thing. I know The Waltons is technically a TV show and not a movie, but I still think this fits the criteria. Plus, it would be quite cool to learn how to use it, if only to produce a single piece of writing on it!

Finally, I have to choose something from Doctor Who, which, along with The Waltons, I consider my favourite TV show. What Doctor Who prop would I like? Well, the obvious choice would be the Sonic Screwdriver, but I am actually a lot more excited about the idea of owning the Doctor’s yo-yo. I love yo-yos. But then the question is, would I want the Fourth Doctor’s yo-yo or the Twelfth’s? Well, that’s easy – the Twelfth’s. No question. That’s a high quality yo-ing machine.


So those are three cool props I’d like. Ironically, considering the title I chose, I haven’t actually picked any ‘movie’ props, but never mind. Which props/fictional items would you like to own?

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The StreetPass 3DS games are little games which feature your Mii in various different situations where they have to do certain things by interacting with other Miis. This time, your Mii has found themselves caught up in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, which is quite a shocking and violent turn of events, if you ask me!Each time you walk past some people on the street and ‘StreetPass’ them, their Mii will appear in your 3DS and in StreetPass Zombies, the people you pass in real life take the form of survivors hiding from the zombies. One gives you a weapon (which are all comedic things, like a pop-up book, a Wii Remote, a pillow, etc.) and then you go through different deserted locations, fighting loads of kinds of zombies and rescuing the others on the way.

But it’s not just mindless zombie fighting, it has a story to it. Your Mii is riding along on a train when zombies attack the train. Before long, your Mii is contacted by somebody named Dr. Scarlet. She knows what’s going on and has a plan to resolve things – your Mii is the one who needs to carry out that plan! It sounds like it will be quite simple, but things actually take a rather unexpected turn towards the end.

What struck me about this game is the fact that it really is very dark for a Mii game. Many of the zombies you are fighting have personality quirks that are obviously supposed to be carried over from when that person was alive – it felt quite sad to me to know that I was destroying the reanimated carcasses of actual dead people. This darkness goes even further when you realise that the Miis of people you StreetPass can be turned into zombies! So, in this game, you can see fictional versions of real, every day people killed by zombies. This made me sad whenever I gave it much thought.

On the whole, this was a very enjoyable game. Every level was very atmospheric and there was more than enough charm and humour. What I also liked it that it saves every kind of zombie and weapon you encounter along the way, letting you find out their names and look back over them at your leisure. I appreciate little things like this and it gives a good motivation for completionists to replay the game. It’s definitely worth the price of the download! Rating: 8/10

(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)

(Read this post on my new site.)

“I’m crying now, because it’s just so nice to know there are good people like you left in the world,” a friend of mine once said to me, back in 2009 after I told them what I was thinking about something. You’d assume that, being tso close with somebody like that, I’d be in touch with them to this day, but sadly it was later that same year that I stopped seeing them regularly. Other than once briefly in 2010 and 2013, I’ve not actually seen them at all or been able to maintain any substantial level of contact with them.

In my experience, this is quite often the case; I have a very close friendship with somebody for two-three years and then they move away/move on in their life. Or at least that was the case earlier on in my life; there are a handful of people who I regret not having made more of an effort to stay in contact with, but these days I do all I can to keep in touch with everyone. It’s an unspoken promise that  I make to them and to myself.

Ultimately, I find that people still move away or move on with their lives after two or three years, but by keeping in touch, I still get to hear from them online and see them from time to time, which is a bit sad, but infinitely better!

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You may well remember that, in a recent blog post, I mentioned I'd been given a superb Christmas present: a domain name for this blog. Yes, that's right, I now own www.TrustyWaterBlog.co.uk! So, I'm actually in the process of moving over there. If you click on that hyperlink you'll find a copy of this blog in that new domain. For a while, I'm going to continue posting on this version of my blog and the new one, but I will eventually transition and only post in the new place. The current "everyauthorwhoeverlived" URL will be adjusted so that it redirects to the new site. I suppose now, as it will soon be completely replaced, I had better tell you why my URL contained "every author who ever lived"; the fact is that when I was putting the site together, I struggled to think of a URL and a friend of mine said "just put the name of your favourite author" and so that's what I wrote! This is an exciting step forward for me, as with the change in domain I am also moving from Weebly to WordPress (everything will look pretty much the same to you) and I am hoping I will be able to do an even better job of writing this blog. WordPress certainly seems like a better system, in my eyes. But basically, just bear with me as I make the change (with some help from the kind friend who bought me the domain, of course!) and be sure to check the new site instead of this one!

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Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban is the third book in the popular Harry Potter series of chidren's fantasy novels. It would probably be for the best if you read the first two before reading this one. I liked the second more than the first and now I like the third even more than the second.
   As per the last two books, it started with Harry getting on with his unhappy life living with the Dursley family and looking forward to the start of the next school year to start so that he can return to Hogwarts.There's also news of an insane mass murderer on the loose too... One thing I have to say about the opening is that I instantly felt that the book had a much darker tone to it than the previous two books - the first two chapters felt more like a surreal horror novel than the lighthearted fantasy that the first two had been.
   Once again several new characters are introduced and I was especially impressed with both Professor Lupin and Sirius Black. But it's not just the new characters I was excited by: the existing ones are taken in quite interesting directions. We really do get a glimpse of the dark side of Harry in this book and I don't want to spoil anything, but there's some added tension between the main group.
   It's a little hard to talk about the overall story without spoiling anything, but the general story is much more interesting and clever than what happened n the previous two books. There are a lot of revelations about previously established fact about the Harry Potter world and I found them all very exciting.  In fact, many of the things revealed in this book are quite sad and emotional, which is a definite strength.
   I feel like the first two book were both very good and this one was superb. Obviously I'm not going to tell you how it ends, but it was deeply satisfying. For the last five chapters or so, I simply couldn't put the book down. You should definitely read this if you enjoyed the first two . I hope the trend of getting a little better each book will continue as the series goes on...
   Rating: 9/10

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Things in life are constantly changing. I can't remember the last time I had a 'status quo' which lasted for more than two years and even I feel that I change a lot from time to time. As such, I'm always quite pleased when I encounter any one of the three constants that I'd like to talk about in today's blog post; they're only small things, but the fact that they always happen is both comforting and heartwarming to me.
   Back in 2010 I was in an English Language A Level class; I loved those classes, they were my favourite. The teacher once mentioned that there was a lot of (optional) work that we could do, and I said I happily would do it all and was even looking forward to doing so.
   "It sounds like you're very easily, amused," she replied and it's the first time I remember anyone saying that to me, but certainly not the last. When I visited my friend Mairi in London the following year, she also remarked that I was very easily amused and I quite liked that, since my teacher had said the same thing. I remember one of my first year university lecturers said the same thing about me and my friend Tülin often said it to me when I slept over when I was happy just sitting around doing nothing. When my friend David and I bought a pot of paperclips and spent an hour or so counting them to see if the pot had the correct number on it, I even found myself saying it, which is funny because I didn't really think of myself as easily amused until everyone started saying it! Just a few months ago, when I explained to my boss at RomanCart how much fun I was having while I got on with something, he said "well, it sounds like you're very easily amused."
   Back in 2008, while enjoying a holiday in Cornwall with a couple of my friends, I met one of their siblings for the first time, and because of my 'accent' they thought I was American. That was the first time I remember anyone making that mistake, and I've even made a whole blog post about it before, so I'll just link to that rather than retreding old ground! Just a few weeks ago, this came up again at my new office at Futureproof Digital Media.
   But I saved my favourite for last; over the years a lot of people have said to me "You're a very positive person" or "I like your positive attitude" and it makes me feel very happy every time. What's especially good is that people often say it to me out of the blue - when they do, I wonder why they said it, because I don't realise I've said anything especially positive. A few people have even said it's one of the nicest things about me - it's very affirming to be praised so regularly about an aspect of your personality. Every time somebody says it, it reminds me of all the other times people have said it to me and makes me feel good about myself. This, and the two other things I mentioned, seem to be the three constants in my life which will always happen no matter how many people go away and how much circumstances change. This is nice.