ill Nerd

Since some point on Wednesday evening onwards I've felt under the weather. Got a nice mix of a temperature, with flu-ey symptoms and a constant headache. Wonderful!

Anyway, I am on the mend and certainly don't want me being a bit ill to govern me. I still want to play football this week and I'll do my work and go to lecture/seminars the same as I would anyway.

Friday I watched Lord of the Rings Return of the King with some friends to finish the trilogy. Such an epic film (and trilogy), really need to be comfy and committed to watch them! I spent the film avoiding coughing/sneezing so no one would be likely to catch anything off me. Yesterday though I found one had so minor fail but its gonna go around anyway, until everyone is immune once more for the next strain.

Due to an impromptu fire alarm drill and general difficulty sleeping from being hot/cold Friday night, my Saturday started around 1 pm which is quite uncommon for me. I briefly went out for some medicine and to collect a book from the library but other than that it was uneventful.

Today I did a bit of general shopping and showed how I'm not fully with it at the moment by handing my card to the cashier instead of putting it in the card machine as is custom at Tescos... ah well! I also watched the Arsenal Vs Tottenham game at the pub, which finished 5-2. It was very entertaining and a great result for a neutral watching to enjoy the game for the spectacle of being a great game.

Right, its time to bring out the nerd in me. I've been spending a bit of my time lately watching the emerging videos of Guild Wars 2 and to be honest, it looks amazing and I'm massively excited. For those that don't know, Guild Wars 2 is an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) that is to be released some point later this year. To simplify once more, MMORPG's in general are games where you control one person in a virtual world, completing quests/missions with other players like yourself online. Other titles of this genre include World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, Runescape, etc. So why am I excited by this game? Well, the graphics look stunning on the game to begin with. The way characters interact with the environment is clever and new, like if you were to stand on a slope, the game automatically adjusts so you stand like a real person would on a slope. Simple but very noticeable. Next, the combat of the characters is smoother, with dodging and plenty of attacks, it looks good and seems like it could provide a lot of variety. Another point, they have added massive random events into the game which hasn't been done before. They may involve fighting big bosses or saving peasants being attacked in real time by enemies and their lives being in your hands (as compared to quests saying people need help and you go to the people who aren't in need of help at all). These events invite players to team up and work together, but in the sense anyone who is around the area can help out and play, people who have never played together before team up to achieve a goal. This is much better than needing to find a group to do something as on other MMORPG's. Finally, to conclude my rambling about this half a year ahead of time, the characters look really interesting. The races are varied and the professions, all available on every race, are again varied and each provides good depth for exploration and customisation.

On the back of this and once more thinking about the next university year and the house, I doubt my laptop I use at university could handle the game, hence I'm wondering if I should bring my desktop computer to the house next year. Also, at the same time it is getting older and maybe could do with an upgrade before then. So perhaps I will take the best parts from it and add those that could be made better to improve it a bit without massive expense. It remains to be seen if this will be a lasting idea but I have no reason to believe that it won't be! As it stands then I have a summer "project" sorted!

Right, I need to get sorted, blow my nose a few thousand more times and then go watch top gear which starts very soon!