On Saturday I ventured out of Woking again and this time I ended up at Thorpe Park with Emily.

It’s a lot like Dreamworld on the Gold Coast but probably more rides, and a absolute load more people. After standing in a huge queue to get in I had to stand in a security queue so I could be searched and then went to stand in the Saw: The Ride queue. That queue was taking ages (1hr 90mins according to the sign??) so we went and stood in the queue to get fast track tickets to queue faster…there was a lot of queuing.

Anyway the Saw fast track was sold out and I just couldn’t wait 2.5hrs so we got an ultimate fast track that allows you quick queuing on 4 different rides. One of them being ‘Tidal’ and considering it was already raining I didn’t like the thought of being soaked completely. After we went on a few of the rides we stopped for some Corona’s and it cleared up a little but this being England the moment we went back out it started raining heavier!

After the ‘Nemesis’ I felt quite sick and thought we should leave but after a tweet from Gavin I thought “we’re here now, we may as well go on the Saw ride”. The sign said 70mins so I thought why not, 1.5hr and some routine maintenance later we got on and I’m really glad we decided to wait because it was definitely the best ride of the day.

I don’t think I will go back to Thorpe Park, as it was mainly full of teenage chavs and mingas so I think I will give Alton Towers a go next.

_B

The other weekend was Matt from work’s Stag-do weekend and we headed out to sunny Santiago.

There is only one flight in and one out so I had to be up at the sparrows fart hour of 3:30 Friday morning to get ready, get a cab and then catch the hour long bus out to Stansted airport.
Once there I caught up with Neil, Matt, Paxton, Chris and John and a Weatherspoons breakfast and beers were in order.

The flight was pretty good and once the hatch door opened I could feel that magical heat I haven’t felt in almost a year.  After some negotiations we got a 7 seater bus but with luggage it was really only a 5 seater, so John ended up squashed in the back…top marks.   With that sorted we headed into town for some lunch and to meet up with Rupert. The tapas and beers along with the warmth made for a relaxing afternoon.

However that was all to change when the 7 of us piled into the car and headed out for some paintball action. We meet up with a young girl running the show and then ended up the the wood just outside a nearby village, it was great as it was only the 7 of us playing and asides from the basic safety stuff there were no rules.

After we had sufficently shot the shit out of each other we jammed back in the car and headed out to Ruperts villa to clean up and unpack.
The place was magnificant in all aspects but it was the shower that did it for me, ‘Best Shower Ever!’

Once cleaned up and a few more beers later in we headed out to a local restaurant for some home-made style local cusine. After a mix of stews, seafood, pork and devine cheesecakes we finished off with a local spirit (much like a scnapps) and then back for more pool at the villa.

Go Karting was first thing Saturday morning after a much needed sleep in. Rupert even snuck in a few quick laps before his wife noticed him missing.   John was kind enough to sit this one out and document the race for us. Neil was unsupprisingly the course leader but Chris and Paxton faught quite a battle for secon place, I clearly had a weight disadvantage but countered that with some thrilling drifting. 

Now Matt on the other hand was playing it very safe (either him just getting his licence or trying to protect his body for the wedding) but this didn’t last, 5mins or so in and a rouge tyre rolls past Neil, we look over and Matt has managed to park his kart on top of a tyre barrier right on the hairpin! He narrowly avoided being staked so we can be happy about that but I think if he just gave it a little more gas he could have launched the kart and created a course shortcut.

All that excitement had built up a hunger (which was surprising after the 7 meal bonanza from Friday) so we (eventually) made our way to the supermarket for more supplies for our big last night feast.

The rest of the day/night went pretty much as expected, plenty of drinking, loads of food, trying the swimming pool but not getting past my toes. After dinner and many more drinks there was some discussion and with some self help from Matt I threw him in the pool at about midnight

Sunday it wax time to leave and with only one flight in and one out it was important we packed up and left early, so it was really great when the GPS/ Matt/Paxton got us lost on the highway and we started heading in the wrong direction! I had resided to spending another day there but some tactical driving from Paxton and a spot of airport running meant we made the flight and were on our way back to the UK.

Congratulations Matt and Nikki! I can’t wait to see the wedding photos.  I look forward to seeing all the guys again sometime, I had a great weekend away.

_B

Not much to report this week, work is pretty full on as usual but I would probabley just complain I was bored otherwise.

During the week my modchip arrived, I bought a torx screwdriver, soldering iron and roll of solder…all ready to do the modding on Sunday. Taking all my previous experience into consideration this should have been a breeze however as usual with my Xbox projects things didn’t start so well. First of all my TV doesn’t have a remote, I have a set top box which auto-swtiches so I just assumed the Xbox would do the same, but as Leyton would say “Assumtion, it makes an ass out of you and me”.

So I had to go out and find a universal remote, having done that and confirmed the thing actually worked, I began the mod.
Once I opened the case I realised I was working with revision v1.0, the very first release. At first this was good news however as 4 attempts and quiet a few hours later it turned out to be difficult, the LPC port didn’t have holes like versions 1.1-1.6b so I had to opt for the wire install rather then the easier pin header install. At the end of the day I was still without a working mod, so tomorrow I am going to buy myself a solder-sucker and make my second attempt.

I’ll keep you updated on the project.

_B

Had an enjoyable weekend just past, Friday night I stayed home and watched new Lost, 30 Rock and The Office (US). Saturday I had to go to the post office and stand in a queue for almost an hour, which sucked but from now on I will get everything sent to work. Later on I attempted to go to the Natural History museum but the Darwin expo wasn’t on for 3hrs and there were screaming kids everywhere, nothing against them but it makes it hard to read. So I changed gear and headed towards Camden but not before coming across the Lamborghini showroom…OMG!

Back in Camden I felt more at home, so I bought a new hat and meet up with some friends for a few drinks at ‘The World’s End’ pub.

Sunday was a pretty lazy day, I slept in then wandered up the street looking for a second hand Xbox game as I bought an original Xbox during the week (for £19). Alas it was not to be and I’ll have to wait until the modchip arrives =)

Also really sad new about the fires in Australia, hope it rains hard for them today.

_B