So, my plan for the weekend hasn't exactly gone to plan. I was originally planning to come back to Oxford after visiting my parents on Tuesday, however circumstances quickly changed on Tuesday which meant that I didn't really feel as if I could go back.
Basically, what happened was, that on Tuesday my Mum was giving evidence (just to recap - in the trial against my Uncle for the murder of my Grandma, which started about 4 weeks ago) and she wanted me to come along.
Being in Oxford gave me a certain amount of escapism - a 200 mile cushion between me and Yorkshire, which completely evaporated when I was actually in Leeds Crown Court and then home with my parents. I don't have that any more, I'm having to deal with everything that's going on, and I can't do that in Oxford with my family and everything happening in Yorkshire. I have too much emotionally invested in the situation and my family to be a passive observer.
So that's why I've not returned to Oxford yet. My Mum's said that she wants me here and other members of my family think I should stay here, and I agree with them. Certainly on Tuesday it wouldn't have been safe for me to undertake a long-distance car journey considering the state I was in.
I went to the GP's today at my Dad's advice and got a sicknote for stress/anxiety. Which is weird, because I've never actually used a sicknote to get time off work, in fact I've only ever had 1 day ill off work in my life, even when I was diagnosed with mild depression after my Grandma died.
Anyway, I wanted to write about the trial too, but it's exhausting being there and it's been difficult enough to write this, so we'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow.
The local newspaper have decided they're going to do daily updates on the trial :/ http://www.pontefractandcastlefordexpress.co.uk/news/Molly-murder-trial-to-start.3955050.jp
Not sure if that's a good thing. I wish they'd just leave us alone though, the press was bad enough first time round. Wish they'd chosen a better photo too. I didn't really write much the first time round , just links to a couple of BBC news articles which probably says a lot about how I was feeling at the time. Anyone who knew me then will know though, especially my feelings on the press. It's weird, it all being there saved. The Look North video news report is still linked from the site to be watched too.
My Uncle got his bail extended though, which is a good thing.
Work was really odd today, I felt detached for most of the day (although this might have been a result of not sleeping much last night), but it got better as time went on. Just been to a pub quiz with my housemates too (which is the first pub quiz I've been to in absolutely ages! Can't remember when the last one was, possibly at The Mallard).
I found this when I was looking back through some old entries too:
I think I can say I've managed to do all of the things on that list. So from last year, to this year, I've done a lot better.
The next few weeks are going to be a struggle though. I can't really see the light at the end of it. I'll just have to take it one day at a time.
So, I spent the bank holiday weekend at i33, the Multiplay i-series LAN events held at Newbury Racecourse.
The Cast
Simon "Demented-Idiot" Mott
Niall "Rivernile" Scott
Shane "Dataforce" McCormack
Thursday
Thursday was fun. I got home from work and did what I normally did, went on IRC and made tea whilst pondering whether or not to go to salsa or not. Then the others came on IRC and basically swayed my decision for me (they were having all the fun 45 minutes down the road whilst I was at home...), so I quickly packed up, bought an Early Arrival ticket, hopped in the car and went to Newbury, the home of sweaty, smelly geeks.
I'm pretty sure I didn't play any games on Thursday. We went to Tesco's and bought a tent among other essentials (which for me was Coke Zero, oranges and crisps) and then had fun setting up the tents in the gales that were occuring at the time (with lots of innuendo: "Simon's pole is longer!" "No, put your pole into Shane's hole") and Shane saying "Ow, ow, ow" a lot when getting whipped by the tent in the wind, and still not moving out of the way until we told him to... Still, my Scouting knowledge came in use when it came to putting up tents (epic fail on Niall's behalf tbfh), and then we retired back to the Berkshire and played some more multiplayer Notepad...
Friday
Okay, this is the day I actually started playing some games: EVE Online, Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2 were the games of the day, followed by an amazing Chinese in Newbury, but then I decided to give up and head home for the night - I needed sleep and I wasn't going to get any sleeping in the cold and wind of Newbury (I only got about 4 hours the night before) so a quick trip home to Oxford later, followed by a solid 8 hours of sleep, I was set for the rest of the weekend.
Saturday
Despite having to travel from Oxford, I still managed to get back gaming before anyone else was up - catching up on gaming from the night before.
Saturday was the day of the DDR qualifiers, which I qualified absolutely no problem, alongside yet more gaming
(if the above video does not play,
click here, or download full quality here:
http://www.pling.org.uk/static/i33ddrqual.mpg)
This was followed by yet more gaming and then the big announcement, where Multiplay were holding i34. It didn't really matter because we weren't going to be there, but we went along for shits and giggles (and also free stuff, but we didn't get any), but it was good fun, and we then decided to try and get the Golden Tickets in the quiz, but failed miserably...
Anyway! After that fun, we headed off into Newbury, grabbing some food from Pizza Express before disappearing off to Varsity (which had a dance floor and women, including one who wanted to dance with me - a rarity in my life!)
Sunday
Sunday morning started off with drunken wanderings around the Racecourse with a camera, followed by tentage and yet more gameage, mainly EVE and then in the evening my nickname was called over the tannoy to report for the DDR final! Okay, only one other person in my class turned up, and only 2 in the Intermediate class turned up making the tournament a lot simpler than it needed to be (it was basically me vs. this guy called Sheriff) and after the finals, we were still neck and neck so TopTotty (the DDR admin) decided to hold a tie-breaker, which I lost by 3%, despite being marginally (0.07%) ahead at the final...
Still, it was pretty close!
(if the above video does not play,
click here, or download full quality here:
http://www.pling.org.uk/static/i33ddrfinal.mpg)
This was followed by a trip to the Toby Carvery, and yet more gaming into the night
Monday
Monday was the last day, which was kind of sad, but also a relief because I needed a shower and a real bed again. Sunday was just more gaming, then packing up and going home... So not much there
THE WHOLE WEEKEND!
Photos:
i33 set on FlickrVIDEO
(if the above video does not play,
click here, or download full quality here:
http://www.pling.org.uk/static/i33.mpg)
I got my car back today :D It's nice. Like putting on a comfortable pair of jeans.
(note, if you're seeing this on Facebook, my website, etc, LiveJournal doesn't export the YouTube correctly, so here's the link - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=p-VYu8L5AYs)
Sorry it's quite long, I need to learn how to be briefer...
