Skywalkers Stuff

I'm not Dead!

2011-10-02T08:10:00.002-04:00

Despite appearances this blog is not yet dead... technically. There are actually a number of reasons why I don't post much, and they are as follows:
1. Not much that is actually interesting enough to write about happens to me, which leads to
2. Even when something moderately interesting does happen to me, I really don't think there are that many people that care all that much, and even fewer read my blog, and
3. It just seems like a lot of effort.
Ok, I'll admit the last one is a a bit of a lame excuse for never posting, but hey, it is my blog.

One this that did happen, which I thought was of sufficient interest to inform the world of its happening was the release of Innistrad, the new Magic: The Gathering set. For all those who don't know of Magic, it is a trading card game (I know what you are thinking, and it is more awesome than that). Innistrad is the new set of cards that was released this weekend. Thus far it has been met with less-than-universal approval, as they introduced a new card mechanic that has people divided, I like it and so won't go into detail (as it would probably bore you non-Magic people, and already be know to the others). I think I'll probably collect the entire set of cards, which probably wont be too hard, except for maybe a few of the rares which are actually worth money.

I also won a WoW event. It turns out that the increasingly popular (though not with me) video game World of Warcraft has a card game which is not unlike Magic. I'd never played it before but they needed one more person to make up numbers and I happened to be there. I didn't really know what I was doing, so I just picked cards that seemed good, but didn't take cards that were (apparently) insanely good, or merely very useful with irritating regularity. In the end they may have been good choices, as I won (picking up a $30 card for a game which I had no intention of ever playing again in the process). So that was cool.

But yeah, a very card themed post, not actually intentional but there you go, apparently that is all that has been happening to me (Also doing a bit of study - on my holidays too )': gross.)

Skywalker out!

Justice! Freedom! Reasonably Priced Love! And A Hard-boiled Egg!**

2011-06-05T20:52:00.005-04:00

Heya world, haven't chatted to you for a while. How's it going?

Firstly I would like to give a shout-out to D.B. Echo, who is actually my only follower. =) He has a great blog, so go check it out.

Secondly: My laptop Hates me.*

Thirdly: I need a new phone. This may seem to have an easy solution (i.e. go buy one); but in fact, I have already tried that. The phone I want, the SE Xperia x10i (this one \|/),

comes on a plan. And as I dont have a job, they are reluctant to give it to me, despite the fact that I have enough money to pay for the entire plan up-front... ARRGH!

Fourthly: Me and MissE have a new blog up: The Victory Book-Sharing Challenge. We got tired of the other person not reading books ~~forced upon~~ given to them, and decided to do something about it. So we set up the Challenge, and made some rules. Now, on alternate months one of us issues a challenge to the other: to read a certain book. At the end of the month we write a short review of ~~how much we hate the other person for setting us that book~~ ahem, the book. We will also occasionally (i.e. whenever we feel like it) write a bit about what we have been reading recently - outside of the challenge that is. So yeah, go have a look, maybe you will decide to read something different.

Anyway, thats all from me atm, cya round.
Skywalker out!

* Yeah, I might put the full story up later, but basically I tried installing Ubuntu, and now it says I have potentially fatal disk errors that could destroy everything... and Ubuntu won't even boot. FML

** Yeah, that title really has nothing to do with the post, but I was just reading T Pratchett's Night Watch, great book, btw.

Work?

2011-04-03T05:43:00.004-04:00

Hmm, work... yes, I am familiar with the concept. What of it?
Oh, you lecturer people actually want me to do some?
How would one go about that then?

It is becoming apparent that I do actually need to do work so survive at uni. This is more than slightly irritating, mainly because I have never had to do so before. I'm sure many people are very good at it, and do it every day, with no effort at all, but I'm not. But it is not just doing work that they expect, they also want me to be awake for ridiculously early lectures every day (Ignoring that fact that I have had to be at school earlier than that for the past 10 years of my life).
I suppose some of this is my fault, I may have been able to juggle my lecture/tutorial/workshop times so that I dont have anything until 10 or 11 each day, but that would have involved the dreaded *whispers* work.

In other news, wheelchair is still going awesome, and I am planning to tempt MissE there, possibly with candy. She has managed to get me into Ultimate, so I will convert her to the ways of the wheel..

Well I suppose I should be going and finishing my Maths assignment...
Nah, Dragon Age 2 sounds much better. ;)

- Skywalker out!

Going down..

2011-02-24T01:42:00.003-05:00

Heya all (which I will admit, is probably about, oh... 2 people)

I am now all growed up and living away from home in a shiny (well not-so-shiny now) student apartment block in ADELAIDE (!). This is awesome. My uni is about 10 mins walk away, so I can get to my classes fairly easily. Although looking at my timetable, I don't really want to get to all my classes. I suppose the ridiculous timetable is my fault though, if I hadn't chosen to do a Bachelor of Engineering (Computer Systems) it wouldn't be so bad.
Of course, I did get free food during O-Week at the Elec Eng Preliminary thing, so I suppose it isn't all bad.

I have also found a place to play Wheelchair bball down here, and played my first game last Tues. I got blisters and we won; I'm hoping those two are related so that there is a good reason for my hands being wrecked. I also played ultimate, which, I found out, exercises many of the same muscle groups, with the added bonus of using all the muscles in your legs. I am now wishing I had done more exercise during the holidays.

Anyway, I am now getting a bit hungry, so I might go across to AUSSIE PIZZA HOUSE, which is literally right next door, and get some dinner.

s'later,
Skywalker out!

PS. Oh, btw MissE, you are getting really bad at this posting thing.

Finaly Done

2010-12-15T21:19:00.005-05:00

Well the year is almost over, and school is now finished, forever in my case.

Last post i mentioned that i had exams, then have been obliterated and the results (and my TER - now been changed to ATAR) are out. And now, ladies and gentlemen, I will now reveal the results.....

dun dun DUUN!

My final result, and university entrance score is......

*(This is the bit where you wait with bated breath)*

88.40

I'm in the top 12%!!

You may now bow to my epic awesomeness.

Thats all for now,
Skywalker out!

Gotta love the D20

2010-11-02T01:37:00.007-05:00

Recently I bought The Bag of Holding laptop bag ('cause I'm getting a laptop, duh) from ThinkGeek - awesome site - and it arrived very fast (9 days from ordering -> shipping monkeys -> Australia -> me). It was then that I made the amazing discovery; It's bigger on the inside. I decided to test it out a bit, and put pretty much everything except the kitchen sink in there (well, not quite, but all my school stuff + anything I could lay my hands on). I eventually stopped because I ran out of things that would fit through the opening... Oh well, lets just assume that it is infinite in size.

Here is a pic of the pile of things I managed to fit into The Bag of Holding (and a photo of TBoH)

Anyway, just in case you are interested, this is the list of things that went into The Bag of Holding:

Chemistry Essentials Textbook
Chemistry Essentials Test and Exam pack
Physics Essentials Textbook
Physics Essentials Test and Exam pack
2 x 320 page exercise books
Maths Studies Test and Exam pack
Maths Specialist Test and Exam pack
Diary
Powerade (well its empty in the photo, you didn't expect me not to drink it, did you?)
320GB external hard drive
2x USBs
Keys
Mobile phone
Pencil case
Graphics calculator
Umbrella
2x Magic the Gathering decks (Green/Black and Black/White, in case anyone is interested)
150+ random sheets of paper
And a zombie invasion book.

Wow, that list was slightly longer than expected...
On other news, I am now into my final exams for high school, joy.
Had English on monday, Physics today (which I annihilated), got Maths Studies on Thurs, then Chem and Specialist next week. THEN I'M FREE!!!

Well, that's all for now, I suppose I had better go and pretend to study.

Skywalker out!

The Black Prism

2010-10-11T04:13:00.000-04:00

I'm a blue magic drafter!

Take the quiz at Brent Weeks.com

Well I'm going into business!

2010-07-12T09:38:00.003-04:00

Heya all,
And yes, I am aware that 'all' probably consists of three people, but, Hey, whatever.

I recently realised that I need to make some money, after all, uni looms just beyond the horizon and I have been informed that it a) isn't free and b) my parents aren't just going to keep giving me money. I then asked myself how this is done......

It took a while but I came to the conclusion that I should start my own business. No, really. I am going into the one field that I both enjoy and have experience in: computing.

Yep, I'm starting a website business.

So if you (or anyone you know) wants/needs a website tell them to email me, I'm gonna start with affordable site for personal and small business use, and see what happens from there. Just to show how generous I am, mentions this post and get a DISCOUNT =) Go on, you know you want one.

-Well that's all for this post, later

Skywalker.

Post Secret

2010-05-20T22:59:00.001-04:00

I found out about PostSecret a few days ago, here is a compilation I found on Youtube

This, That and Other

2010-04-22T03:39:00.006-04:00

Love this one, just great.

Yay, Awesomely Epic Duo

2010-03-26T07:35:00.003-04:00

1. I got broadband, after months of campaigning, etc, etc. I have final got broadband.
Well, almost. Telstra still has to send the modem and stuff.

2. I scored 26 points by myself at wheelchair. Thank you, thank you, thank you very much; I'm here all week.

Yeah, that's all, I'm a bit tired to say more about my awesomeness.

Skywalker out!

It was User Error

2010-03-18T06:07:00.003-04:00

Well, for the past couple of days I have been without internet.

No one could figure out why this was, and so we all blamed Bigpond.

A few days later, I was messing with the connection settings, and guess what, I only needed to tick one box and the internet worked!

This one in fact:

I wont name any names, but I didn't uncheck the box.
It was User Error, but I wasn't the user.

That is all.

Skywalker out!

I am Epic Wheelchair king.

2010-02-21T06:52:00.002-05:00

So.. As you may or may not know, I play wheelchair basketball (despite the lack of missing limbs) and am one of the better shooters. So wheelchair started 2 weeks ago and I went back feeling awesome, knowing that I was just ultimate.... and didn't even score (though, in my defense we were using new chairs). Anyway, the week after that I was on a school retreat (so I didn't play).

And then we have last week's game....

I went out, praying that my l33t skillz had returned...

And scored 16 points.... until, with 5 seconds to go, I'm sitting just outside the 3-point line.

And someone passes me the ball...

And I'm like: "Why not"

And I shoot.

And end up with 19 points.

Yes, I know, I am just so awesome. Thank you, Thank you, I'm here all week.

Well at lest I'm not as bad as MissE

2010-02-15T03:38:00.002-05:00

Hey,
I'm back, after a (I will admit) ridiculously long wait between posts. I have seemed to have a lot to do, Just started year 12 (final year of high school (secondary school) for all those strange foreigners who may be reading =P), just started basketball (both able-bodies and disabled), created and website and am now administrating it and I went on a school retreat to Lake Bennett last week (And yes, I do realise that that will mean almost nothing to most people.).

So anyway.. yeah, that's about my life at the moment, school, bball and blogging. Nice lol.

Oh, and CoD: Modern Warfare 2. I won't start on this, because if I do, there is a good chance I will rave for hours, not only on my own awesomeness but also on how much I am addicted to that game.

So that's me,
Skywalker out!

NEW PC!!

2009-12-14T04:28:00.005-05:00

Well the title says it all really.. I GOT A NEW COMPUTER, which, as you may have noticed, is cause for great excitement.

It was custom made and is the reason why I haven't been posting for the last however-long-it-has-been. Now I'm pretty sure that you dont really care, but im gonna tell you what is inside.

OS: Windows 7 (64bit) Home (or whatever they call the base level one)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 3.16GHZ
RAM: 4 GB DDR3
Graphics: nVidia 8600GT 512MB

And here are some pics so you can see how awesome it is.

I know, awesome right?

Well I'm off to play CoD: Modern Warfare

Skywalker out!

Game Review: Red Alert 2

2009-10-21T09:01:00.004-04:00

Well its time for another review: This time in the red corner the Soviets, aannnd in the blue corner we have the Allies!

Yes, that's right, we are back to the Cold War days with Red Alert 2! Although, admittedly, I don't think they had attack dolphins or Tesla troops the first time 'round. Red aleart 2 is a Real Time Strategy (RTS) set in a world on the brink or war, it follows on from the first Red Alert, though is vastly superior in the graphics, game-play and, well... pretty much every other department as well.

RA2 was released October 2000 and because of its age require only the most basic of system requirements. A 266 MHz Processor, 64 Mb of RAM and a tiny 2 Mb graphics card. This means that even I can run it.. and run it well. While the graphics and interfaces may not be as smooth or as shiny as modern games RA2 still gives a decent account of itself.

The game focuses on the two campaign branches; Allies and Soviets. They each have the same basic units and structures, though with differing power, build time and cost. The units begin to differ then more advanced units and structures begin to be built. After a Battle Lab is built the Allies can obtain such units as the Prism Tank or Aircraft Carrier, while the Soviets get the Apocalypse Tank and Kirov Airship.

Each side has its own pros and cons; the allies seem have have more technologically advanced, though not necessarily more powerful than the soviets, while the soviets seem to go for the brute force method. While each are powerful in their own way it is up to the user to decide what they like best. (Personally I just cant resist the temptation of trying to get capture the enemy buildings and get Apocalypse tanks AND Prism tanks.)

There are a number of ways of earning money to purchase units and buildings; the most common method is simply using Miner trucks to collect the resources so wantonly scattered around the map. You can also capture Oil Rigs, which produce a constant supply of money, at least until the enemy get tired of you throwing tanks at him and bombs it into oblivion. You can also find power-up crates which will give various bonuses, sometimes a unit promotion, sometimes a speed upgrade, and of course, sometimes money.

This is a well built game, which still holds its appeal for those who cant run top of the line games (or the new Command & Conquer). Its graphics are well designed and the intermittent live-acting film clips give great breaks in the combat.

I'm giving it 91/100.

Correction.. I know your father.

2009-10-21T08:55:00.002-04:00

Hey, you may have seen my last article about Evony. I just read another blog in which some doubts have been raised about it. It seems that some people have had bugs messing with their PC after they played it...

This may just be a glitch in the game or coincidence.. but it could also be because Evony contains malware (not saying it is, just one possible reason). Because of this my legal adviser has told me to issue the following statement:

I do not take any responsibility for the users actions after leaving this site, furthermore I do not take responsibility for anyone's PC blowing up (etc.), them hurting themselves (etc.) when participating in activities I feature on this site.

Hehe.. that was fun...

Later all...
Remember.. I warned you.

Game Review: Evony

2009-10-03T00:18:00.003-04:00

I have decided to do a couple of reviews for games I play.

This week we go to one I only started recently: Evony

www.evony.com

Evony is a MMO, a massive multiplayer online game. The aim is to build your empire and bring more land under your control. There are, at the moment 82 servers, most of them pretty full, however new servers are being brought out, literally, every day.

The game can run on PCs with quite low specifications, as I can attest. I have a Pentium 3.0GHz processor, 440Mb RAM, 58Mb Graphics and a 56k Internet connection. Evony plays quite well, though with a little lag when I give multiple commands at once.

It is reasonably easy to get started, you just sign up with an email address and you are playing. You begin the game under ‘beginner protection’, a wonderful construct designed to stop you getting raided the moment you appear. It gives you 7 days protection from enemy attacks, meaning you have time to get some basic defences set up. Even for those who are completely new to the game it is fairly easy to pick up, with a few easy quest chains helping you to set up your town straight away.

The actual game play is fairly simple, though can get quite challenging as you build up your town. It gives you the opportunity to attack NPC (non-player character) controlled valleys which will earn you certain bonuses depending on their type; deserts will raise stone production while forests will raise lumber production. This brings a new element into the game: strategy. Should you attack a low level grassland, or a slightly higher level desert, you may get a better reward with the desert, but you may also lose the battle. Another NPC controlled area are the plains: capture these and, if you have enough resources and workers, you can build yourself another city. This is a great opportunity, but can result in difficult decisions: eg. which town to upgrade?

Like most MMOs you can join guilds or ‘alliances’. Personally, I highly recommend getting into an alliance quickly. These alliances are generally helpful and will give plenty of advice to newcomers. Alliances can also become allies, or even declare ‘war’ on each other.

There are only a few points against this game, mostly the long waiting times once you have established your basic town. Level three walls, for instance, take two or three hours to build, and some of the technologies will take just as long. This waiting time is offset by ‘speedup’ scrolls, which cut build time off a structure. These scrolls can be purchased with real world money, or by winning them in the daily lottery.

This game is great for those who can't be playing constantly: you can start building something, shut down your computer and come back in a few hours when it's finished. Those who like more action in their games should perhaps avoid Evony, but this game is perfect for the casual gamer or those fond of strategy.

Rating: 87/100

If anyone else is on Evony visit me at: server 82 (465,416) ROMAGNA, DarthLuke

Holidays!

2009-09-30T08:32:00.004-04:00

At last.. the holidays have come! It's time for sleep, food, games, sleep, more food, late nights, games... and yeah, more sleep! But, alas, it was not to be...

On mon and tues I worked, today I did assignments (and wrote my book, thanks to my awesome editor, the one with the English Lit Degree, yeah, you... dont get a swelled head.) I still have assignments to do for English, Physics, Specialist and Chem.. yeah, my hols aren't gonna be a huge amount of fun ='(.

On the upside.. my foot is pretty much better (see the post below) and I can play bball again! Woo! Got wheelchair tomorrow, should win.. but you never can tell =).

Anyway.. gtg now, try to post again soon!

2009-09-10T04:56:00.004-04:00

Well, Last night I had League Reserve bball, but no.. this is not a post about basketball. I got there just as we were about to forfeit (With not enough players) so they are like "Awesome!", and so we start the game....

A few minutes in I jumped to get the ball and came down wrong and hurt my foot... and something popped... Which, in case you hadn't guessed, isn't supposed to happen.

So I went off the court and realised that my toe was not where it was supposed to be...

Yep, that's right folks, I managed to dislocate my toe with no help from anything except gravity and the floor. You have to admit, I am pretty spectacular.

So we tried to put it back in, and that didn't work (though did manage to cause a rather large amount of pain.) So I was taken to the hospital and they took an x-ray and told me to wait and they would be with me shortly.

...
....
.....
Still waiting
......
.......
........
.........

And then.. finally three hours later some doctor calls out my name, so I go in. And the we discover that he has lost my x-rays and obs. *typical* So a couple on mins later he finds the x-ray and say "wow, that a fair bit out of the socket."

I was given a bit of local.. waited a min^ then he tugged my toe... and it didn't move. What it did however do was hurt, through the anaesthetic. Well he gave it a few more tugs.. still not moving.. then he took his glove off and tried again. Then he grabbed a peice of cloth and held my toe with that... and finally, with a suprisingly loud pop my toe went back to where it should have been.

He got another x-ray to make sure it was in teh right spot then told me to go home.

Well for 4 hours in the hospital all that happened was my toe was moved about 1cm in the right direction and I was subjected to aprox 0.15r of radiation.

Ah well.. there are worse ways to waste time.. just because I can't think of them right now...

^There seems to have been a lot of waiting going on.

What to talk about?

2009-08-31T04:28:00.004-04:00

Well, I don't really have a specific topic here, I though that I might just give my loyal fans (ie. you) an update..

My book is coming well, got just over 50 pages, got the plot going well. If you want a preview go here: http://www.the-shadow-wraiths.webs.com/

BBall: we are still losing, shouldn't be in div. 1. Ah well.. we ~~might~~ don't have a chance tonight..
Wheelchair is still going strong, haven't lost a game when I have played

Games and stuff: well, I am addicted to a few new ones:
http://www.funorb.com/ Steel sentinels and
Armies of Gielinor

Skool: Meh. Pretty much sums it up =P

Just because...

2009-08-14T04:45:00.002-04:00

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

2009-08-11T04:40:00.003-04:00

Hey all, I'm back again with a really short post:

If you want a sneak preview of the book I'm writing (The Shadow-Wraiths) go to www.the-shadow-wraiths.webs.com, there is a forum so you can say hi and leave comments and, of course, the first part of my book. This is just so you can see some of my writing and maybe give some constructive criticism.
----
Last night we had out first bball game in Div 1! It was fun even though we lost 40-29. I scored 5 or 6 so I'm happy. next game: Razzle (we might have a chance against them.)

Writers block

2009-08-10T05:20:00.003-04:00

Ahh.. the curse of all writers! I have wrote a few chapters all well and good, but now I am stuck on an idea. Oh well, I will manage.

What about you? Is there anyone out there who has started writing a book? Don't be shy, post a reply!
------
On other news:
We have been moved into Division 1 in basketball. Ohh.. we are gonna sooo get smashed.
Maths specialist isn't too bad, just long.. and complicated. But apparently we will be going into some year 12 calculus soon *shudders* Save me!

I'm Special..

2009-07-29T04:24:00.005-04:00

Or at least, a Specialist. Well we are into semester two now and we got the chance to change around out subjects. They decide to offer Specialist maths for those who wanted it (For year 11s its a semester, not a year long, course.). Specialist maths is an extension on ordinary maths for those who want to become engineers. It is, I imagine, very difficult. To take it I had to drop IT, but that's okay as I wasn't learning anything anyway.

On other news: We had our first Basketball game last Monday and we brushed Ansett aside 36 - 20. And they were the good Ansett. Ah well, lets just hope we can keep it up. we also have a new player.... whose name I can't remember.. oops, ah well, I will correct that when I remember it.
Edit: Daniel

A new PC!

2009-07-24T03:58:00.002-04:00

Hey all!

Well, as some of you know, my computer is somewhere between terrible and worse. So we have decide to get a new one! This of course will probably take a few months.* But, in the end, I will be better off (and able to play some decent games on here).

Hmm... this is strange, my posts are getting shorter.. maybe because I'm posing more regularly.

Ah well, Skywalker out!

* If you knew my parents the reson for this would be appparent.

Aren't we lucky?

2009-07-22T17:36:00.005-04:00

Well as it turns out our English teachers at school have decided that they want us to write a short thing about Odyssey. What it was like etc.. Now it occured to me that I have already done this, (if you look 2 posts down) so I don't really need to do anything except shorten it and add pictures. YAY!

And in other news:

Basketball is going back this Monday, first game is 8:30, this means I can't do U. Frisbee =`(, ah well.

Im doing Maths Specialist at school this semester. It's for those people who are really smart and want to become engineers.

I bought the Age of Empires gold edition. It comes with AoE 1, 2 and their expantion packs.
*LOVE THEM*

Not much else to tell,
Skywalker Out!

Don't we love books?

2009-07-14T09:17:00.005-04:00

Well, I thought I might do a post about books. I seem to have done posts about pretty much everything else that I'm into so I decided to even the field a bit. I love books, Fantasy and Sci-fi are the best but I will read other genres.

Some of my fave Series: Title (no. of books) - Author

The Belgariad (5) - David Eddings
The Mallorean (5) - David Eddings*
The Elenium (3) - David Eddings
The Tamuli (3) - David Eddings^

The Serrano Legacy (7) - Elizabeth Moon

Rangers Apprentice (9, so far) - John Flanagan

Discworld (millions, no not really) - Terry Pratchet

The Starwars books (There are actually millions of these) - Various Authors

Scarecrow series (3 and a mini-book) - Matthew Reily

Jack West series (2 so far, 1 more coming possibly more) - Matthew Reilly

Matthew Reilly's other books (Contest and Temple)

The Halo books (6) - Various Authors

The Tomorrow series (6?) - John Marsden

The Lord of the Rings (depends who you ask 6, 3 or 1) - JRR Tolken

The Night Angel Trilogy (3) - Brent Weeks**

Chris Ryan's Books (lots)

The various Tamora Peirce series' (14 total I think)

The Max Ride series - James Patterson

Artemis Fowl (6 now, but the first 3 are the best) - Eoin Colfer

The Shadow Wraiths - ME
Oh, don't bother looking in the shops for it yet, I still haven't finished. If you want a copy, watch this blog and I will announce its completion (or failure); you can buy one then.

*This follows on from the Belgariad
^This follows on from the Elenium
**Only just read these and they are the BEST

PS. Please post some of your own faves here, I might get around to reading them eventually ;-)

Odyssey!!

2009-06-27T17:31:00.022-04:00

OK, for all those who don't know what the odyssey is (other than the ancient Greek one): The Odyssey is a 2 week trip down the east coast of Australia. All the year 11 students at O'loughlin Collage can go but it costs 2 grand (that comes with all meals, accommodation and flights).

Our first stop was the Gold Coast Sports Super Center (where we stayed). It was a nice place, had a heated pool, served good food and had a basketball court. We stayed in Brisbane for 2 or three days, while we were there we visited Dreamworld (!!) and Dracula's, a theater restaurant (!!!) both of which were awesome.

We also visited Mt Tambourine. For those who haven't been there it is full of shops, quite a few of the selling chocolate or fudge... or chocolate fudge. We spent a few hours there and I bought a ridiculously expensive sausage roll, which turned out to the worth it. A few people bought fudge and I stole some off of them, the we go on the bus and drove to Harbour Town (a massive Direct Factory Outlet place with heaps of shops). That was cool and we moved on to Dracula's.

Dracula's is a theatre restaurant, they serve you food and entertain you at the same time. I had 'Furnace of Fish' which was 'Mouth watering seasonal fresh fish fillet baked and served with lemon saffron Beurre' Blanc.' It was fish covered in a lemon butter sauce. Very nice. The performance was half play half stand up comedy show, great but I can't tell you anything else, I have been sworn to secrecy. The Dracula's performance was on of the three highlights of the trip, the others were the snow and Origin. More about them later.

The next day we drove over to Dreamworld!

While I was at Dreamworld I went of the Tower of Terror (one of the three main attractions (the other two are the Claw, which was broken, and the Giant Drop, which I didn't get time to do).
Dreamworld also has a new attraction - AVPX or Alien vs Predator vs You. It is basically a huge laser tag arena (Like Zone 3 for those who know it) but there are a few different game types. There is the normal game, just two teams which fight it out, Infection where you can convert the other team and multi team, where there is 4 teams instead of two.

Oh and did I mention the arena fights back... Yep that's right, the arena has movement sensing lasers that can target and 'kill' you. You can disable these 'enemies' by hitting small targets near the lasers.

After we moved on from Gold Coast we went down to Surfers Paradise for a few hours, yes it was nice, but no, none of us went into the water. I mean come on, give us a break, it would have been like 3 degrees (Celsius that is, 37.4 F or 276 K). anyway, we looked around and most of the group ended up at a shopping center, it had an arcade, 10-pin bowling etc.

And then me and a couple of friends found the firing range..

One of the group I was hanging around with does cadets (air force, so he can also fly planes.) so he's like 'Oh yeah!' and we went to see what their prices were. It turns out that one of the guns they had was the same as ones he uses in practise. So we spent half an hour watching him shoot at targets, he did pretty well actually, every shot inside the 7 ring.

Then we went back to the SSC and slept.***

OK.. next stop Taree. At Taree we stayed the night and ate a a Chinese restaurant, for those who don't know me I'm not a big fan of Asian food but they did some really nice lemon chicken and fish of some kind.

From there we made the voyage down to Sydney. One of the first things we did at Syd was to go and see an NRL game; Panthers vs Bulldogs. Bulldogs won. The next day we caught the ferry across the harbour to the city centre. On our way past we say the Oprah house and the Harbour Bridge. when we reached the city we spend about 2 hours wandering around by ourselves* After that we walked over to St. Mary's Cathedral, went for a closer look at the Oprah house and rush back to the ferry as it started raining (it was stupid prissy southern rain, but it was cold).

On the next day (we are up to day 7 here - Sunday 21st) we went to mass at Dee Why (a suburb in Syd); then on to the Taronga Zoo. The zoo was pretty big, with lots of stuff to do and shows every hour or so. We got there about 9 or 10 and one of the first things we did was go to the bird show. they had a bunch of really cool birds; a few falcons, a condor** and, to finish off, a galah. Now it may seem a bit... Meh. after a bunch of falcons but the zoo bird person explained that they were actually quite intelligent. She got a person in the crowd to stand up and hold a gold coin in their hand. the bird flew to them, took the coin, flew back and put the coin into its keepers pocket. She like "as you can see they are quite smart, I think she has something to give you back." and then it flew her a ring. The guy next to her got a mic and popped the question.

Cute...
That was pretty much the highlight of the visit but we saw Lions, Tigers, Bears..

And on to Canberra!

Our first stop while in Canberra was Parliament House. It was big.^ We went and saw some of question time then got lead to a room and acted out our own political debate. *boring*. Anyway, the member for Solomon (that's where we come from) came and said Hi, we said Hi and he chatted for a while and left.

From there we went to our accommodation (a Carotel, don't ask). 8 person rooms, 2 heaters a bathroom per room (good deal so far). An then.. we found out.. that a student had been murdered just a few rooms down a while back. OK.. that was supposed to be scary but it didn't quite work... anyone know why?

Next we have THE SNOW!
Sorry if this seems like I'm making a big deal of it.... BUT IT IS!

For most of us on the trip it was the first time we'd seen *real* snow. I've been on a fake slope before but this was even better. We had snowball fights, made snowmen, the usual stuff. Went inside the complex and had pizza, went back out again. Had another snowball fight.

Eventually, tired and wet, we struggled back to the train that would take us back down the mountain, well through the mountain really. !! I almost forgot the mini donuts !! There was a shop that sold mini donuts, $5 for a dozen, they were the best donuts I have ever tasted, even on par with Krispy Kremes. Add to that the guy who owned the place. He was obviously a good businessman because we all went and got some. Probably because he would give you a few extra with each order. Thank You Donut Man!!

The next day we went to Old Parliament House and Questacon.

OPH was Meh, but we didn't stay that long and then QUESTACON! Questacon is an awesome science uuhh... not quite sure what the word is.. it's a science thing. It has hands-on stuff, mechanical dinosaurs and a tame lightning striker; everything you need to keep a bunch of school children entertained. The highlights included an enclosed roller coaster pod on a hydraulic system with a big screen at the front, so it didn't go anywhere but it felt like it was; A sort of giant centrifuge; a person sits at each on of a bar and it rotates around a central point, the people have to try to throw balls to each other^^ and, as I have already mentioned a lightning generator witch would strike for about 10 seconds every half hour or so.

After that we moved on to State of Origin. State of Origin is a rugby series between Qld and NSW, there are 3 games, one in Melbourne, one in Brisbane and one in Sydney (<- the one we saw). I don't particularly like rugby but Origin was soo much fun. The atmosphere was great and, well, you kinda had to be there. At one point we had a mexican wave going and it managed to get around the stadium 3 times before it died, pretty good if I do say so myself. The game ended at about 10pm and we had a 3 and a half hour drive back to Canberra so we all fell asleep on the bus.

The next day we went to the National museum (where they keep Phar Lap's heart) and cruised past the AIS and all the embassies, stopped for lunch and went the ANZAC parade. The Parade is a memorial to all the locations and times in which Australia has gone to war. The we moved on to the War memorial, pretty much the same thing but larger and with exhibits. It also contains the wall. The wall lists every Australian soldier killed in war. There is too many people on that wall. Lest we forget.

One the 12th day of the trip we had a full day of the bus, from Canberra to Melbourne. Not much to say about that really. We got to our (very budget) accommodation and slept. The last three days we could do pretty much whatever we wanted, there was The Queen Victoria market about 15 mins up the road and a DFO about the same distance in the other direction. Not much happened on those three days other than Wicked (The Broadway musical).

Wicked tells the story of the Witches of OZ, both good and bad.# It was pretty good, better than I expected. Almost everyone got reasonably dressed up to see it and when it finished we went over the the Crown Plaza Complex.## The CPC has heaps of shops, a cinema and some fire shows out the front (pretty cool) as well as a water feature inside which shoots streams of water into the air in time with the music playing (again, pretty cool).

Finally, it was time to end the trip we went to the airport and the group discovered that, since they had got there too early they couldn't check their bags in for another 1 1/2 hours. I, on the other hand, could. Unlike them, I was going to Adelaide instead of back to Darwin and my flight was considerably earlier. So about two hours before them I boarded a plane and was whisked off to MissE and my Grandma.

But that my friends, is another post.

I may do another post with photos / highlights in more detail, but then again I might not.

* In groups of 3 or more. Invariably everyone ignored this at one point or another and wandered off by themselves.
** For those who don't know a condor can have a wingspan of up to 5 meters.
*** Just to show we did sleep and it wasn't all running around.
^ I just like stating the obvious.
^^ In all modesty me and my partner were the best, we were on there for like 5 mins and the guy controlling it is like 'yeah, sorry guys, this is as fast as it goes.'
# Well, not so much bad, just seriously misunderstood.
## Which, yes, houses the Crown Casino, but as we were all minors, no one could go in.

Am I not the bestest shoe shopper in the world?

2009-04-15T05:14:00.000-04:00

As you may have guessed from the title I ~~recently~~ not-so-recently went shoe shopping; not just for any shoe though, these had to look good, feel great and make me jump high!

That right ladies and gentlemen, BASKETBALL SHOES!!!

and heeerrrrreeeee they are!

I like them.. They have served me well in the past season, bringing us from 5th to first in 4 weeks. Woo!

OK! Photos!

2009-03-03T02:33:00.003-05:00

I have now updated the post below, it now has more photos!

.I
.I
\/

What to do?...

2009-02-24T01:46:00.005-05:00

I have recently realised I'm not very good at this Blogging thing; I don't post regularly and most people wouldn't give a damn about what I write about.... but I will try anyway..

Problem no.1: I dont have a topic for this post
Problem no.2: After I find a topic i have to find a title...

OK.... Topic.... Whining N00Bs..
I don't really like people who brag about things they can do (or have done) and then, when challenged, fail miserably; but I really hate the people that, when challenged, find some stupid excuse not to even try. These both really irritate me, especially in online gaming (such as Halo 1 or Warcraft 3), it seems that the ranks of Whining N00Bs are expanding exponentially, every time I go online I encounter more of them...

THEY ARE TAKING OVER THE WORLD!!!!!!

Problem No.2 has, rather obviously, been solved.

Well I'm Back...... Again

2009-02-07T19:44:00.016-05:00

Well I'm back.. I know I haven't posted in a while but I haven't had much to post about.. My life is pretty boring. But I will try to get a decent post of what has happened on the holidays. Item no. 1: The Formal OK, it wasn't actually on the holidays buuut... It deserves at least part of a post. The formal is (for those people who don't know) an end of year event for Year 10s (at O'Loughlin) where all the chicks get dressed up in their best dresses and make up and the guys wear a suit (of equally boring clothes), this at least is unfair. Why cant guys wear different colours?? Any way.. I went with Simone. It was pretty good, the food wasn't bad and we had free drinks all night. ( I will post some pics later)

Here is me in my formal clothes.

Simone and Me

At the back: Surya, Luke, Sam
Front: Tegan, Pryanka (probably got that one wrong), KC, Simone, My head.

Pryanka, KC, and Simone

Amy, Tegan, Simone and KC

Item no. 2: The Great Ocean Road
I will just post heaps of pics now, I will comment whenever it seems necessary.

Our camper Van

Dinner at 'The Barn'

A boat.... no.. Ship

It was as you can see, very windy.. and cold

Yep.. Still Cold.

OK... My internet is going so slowly, I might do more later..

Well...

2008-02-03T06:20:00.000-05:00

Well I am back at school (had a whole 2 days so far) And yet I live, a miracle I'm sure. none of my teachers are new except my homeroom teacher (Ms Chapman, MissE you know her). I am also back at basketball. My coach tried to kill me today, my left arm protests when I have to press a button right of the R. Very annoying.

Our first game is on friday, but my coach also want me to play 18's and, occasionally, League reserve if not League itself. But I will survive I'm sure.

MechQuest and Runescape are updating lots perhaps you should go there and see for yourself.

Skywalker out!

Im Doomeedd!

2008-01-29T18:11:00.000-05:00

I have to go back to skool tomorrow. Does anyone else thing that is unfair??? Oh well.. I guess I can't change it... Unless a cyclone forms just off the coast later today... but I have to admit, that would be pretty unlikely.... Very unlikely..... OK... The chances of that happening are about... 1 to 99999999999 oh well...

In other news Mechquest has just released dozens of updates You should go there now.
Or even Runescape they have been doing a fair bit too

But if you don't want to I guess you might want to stay here and read my brilliant Blog posts

Skywalker out!

PS. MissE I am still having a little trouble with Dreamweaver... Got any advice?

My Adelaide Adventures

2008-01-15T01:15:00.000-05:00

As some of you know I recently decided to go on a holiday... I went to adelaide.

Compared to Darwin Adelaide is very big and has lots of stuff to do in it. I did lots of stuff...

I went to parties:

I went ice skating:
www.meanwhile-backattheranch.blogspot.com

I also played pool:
www.meanwhile-backattheranch.blogspot.com

But now I'm back, Back in the heat

On another topic:
For christmas I got Dreamweaver and Photoshop.
Dreamweaver is a program that lets you design websites, I had some trouble with if for a little while untill I decided to keep things simple. Hopefully i will get a website up and running within a few weeks.

Well Thats all

Skywalker out!

2007-11-03T21:56:00.000-05:00

This is Bob no. 1 The is made of ice, admittedly you don't usually see snowmen up here in darwin but here he is!

Annd in the red corner... We have Bob II

Yes he too is made of ice and yes they are both, sadly, dead

That all folks!

Skywalker out!

Weelllllll....

2007-10-11T02:42:00.000-04:00

Well, in this blog i don't really have much to say BUT you can go to my joke site: Here
Its a Joke site, i think you can put jokes in, if you can DO IT!! Both me and MissE have commented in it so you better too, unless u are MissE in which case: DO MORE

Skywalker out!

Aint this great...

2007-10-03T04:55:00.000-04:00

Well as you may know the Level cap for MechQuest is 3 which means that you can't level up beyond level 3 but as you can probable see from this pic, I have found a glitch.

The little number in the circle is 99 the thing next to that says 'your level'..... yes i did.. somehow have level 99!

Skywalker out!

Stuff, Stuff and more Stuff

2007-10-03T04:10:00.000-04:00

Well MechQuest is out if you don't want to go to the side bar Click Here! My character ID is 29834 if you decide you wanna try to kill me. MissE you have to create an account first.

In other news, we still haven't lost a Bball game, but we are playing the team 2nd on the ladder on Friday so we might have a hard time there.

Schools out! I get a WHOLE week, Yippee... no, really. I intend to spend 50% of it either on the Computer: writing stupid post like this one, playing MechQuest or similar; or on the Xbox or PS2. The other 50% will be devoted to eating and sleeping which I seem to have been doing a lot of lately.

Oh.... I almost forgot... Halo 3 id OUT!!....... Unfortunately I don't have an Xbox 360 so there is no point me buying it as I can't play it.... *sob* *sob*

Well thats all really If i think of anything else I will post again. If you have any requests send them to darthkraken@hotmail.com

Skywalker out!

Negelct and Camp!

2007-09-13T02:45:00.000-04:00

AGAIN I'm soooo sorry I have been neglecting you, this will (hopefully) be a reasonably long post to make up for it.

Firstly: Camp, We went to Lake Bennett for school camp, about 60 of us were there, 20 guys and 40 girls (yes, we made the most of this) and 3 teachers. There was a number of thing to do on camp. (OK not that much really).

There was Archery (which i excelled at), Rock climbing (at which I didn't excel but did OK at), canoing (at which, with a good partner or a kayak paddle, am am also pretty good). And last of all there was some stupid 'Olympic' thing (OK, not that bad, it included a ginger beer sculling contest)

There were some minor dramas: Steven, Jarred and some other guy got kicked off camp after the first night. They had brought a 3/4 full Listerine bottle of Schnapps and got, well... best not to describe it in full detail.

Idiots.

They got them selves caught and they should have done it on the last day when it doesn't matter if they get kicked out because they are leaving anyway.

Overall I would rate this camp 6 out of 10. Not bad, but Yr 7 camp still is way out in front!

OK, on news slightly closer to home. Bball we have won every game and are getting 2 new players from some other team (now we have 10 players) ) -`: We have also won all of our games for more info go to the DBA website (U 16's div 2: Warriors)

In wheel chair we are doing well, but not perfectly, we have lost a few games, last game we won by 2 points, close game that was, and I got a blister.

OK : this is a list of thing i want:
1: Broadband Unlimited
2: Guild Wars
3: A new graphics card to play Guild Wars (as well as the broadband)
4: Halo 3 and an Xbox 360 to play it on.
5: A million dollars while I'm at it.....
Well thats all folks!

Skywalker out!

Again: I'm sorry for neglecting you!

2007-08-18T03:46:00.000-04:00

Well blog reader people, I'm sorry for neglecting you, but now I will write A LOT!!

First: I have played 3 wheelchair bball games, we won the first by a reasonable margin, the second we lost, but that was expected as the other team is big mean and good and the most recent (in which I scored 10 points) 26 to like 14 or something, I was competing with one of my team mates to see who could get more goals, I won the only got 4 I got 5

Second: I have played 1 able bodies bball. (there have been 2 but I was sick for the first) We absolutely KICKED THEIR ASSES 71 to 24. it was a great game, and they thought they were gonna win. LOL! Anyway... We have a new player, Josh, he's a great player but is used to street and Coen has left (thank god, he was getting to be an *******, always finding something to complain about) so we still have 8 players, and 3 of them (Me, David and Josh) are over 6".

Third: DF has released their Xan updated, you can now defeat him.... Also MechQuest, which i may of may not have previously mentioned is going to release beta testing soon, SOOOO EXCITED!!! Runescape is doing a major revamp and lots of new stuff. I have also finished Ratchet and Clank 3 (Up Your Arsenal) 3 times. I am now onto Halo 2 (which i have borrowed from Thanh.

And Lastly: Please, if there is anything you need (related to gaming, that is) Contact me on darthkraken@hotmail.com

That's all for now, might think of more stuff to post soon but until then

Skywalker out!

Im back!

2007-07-04T00:11:00.001-04:00

This post has no particular topic at the moment (i might go on to a rant somewhere in it) but I figured you people would miss me so I'm back!
Things that are happening:
MechQuest pre-registration and (Soon) beta testing
Dragonfable dragon events
lots of games being downloaded by me so that you can play them!

O well I can't think of anything else to talk about adios!

Skywalker out!

Sorry!

2007-07-03T03:54:00.000-04:00

I'm so sorry...
I have been neglecting you.
I, like VSquared, am easily distracted; this time it was Morrowind and KOTOR (Knights of the Old Republic, its a StarWars game, not bad either)

Morrowind is a massive RPG in which you can do (literally) thousands of things, quests, guilds, adventuring, etc etc. it is rather large and so it distracted me for (again literally) days on end.

I shall post again soon but I have to go see Oceans 13 in a few mins.

Skywalker out!

Another game for ye masses

2007-05-22T08:23:00.000-04:00

*sirens* Alert, Alert,
The games have been moved...
Go see the post below to find them..

Skywalker out!

Some Stress Relief

2007-05-21T04:14:00.000-04:00

*Sirens*

"Alert Alert"

The games have been moved To: www.freewebs.com/skywalkerstuff,
if you value ur d/l thank me..
if not.. GO THERE!

Skywalker out!

NT Rep!!

2007-05-11T08:14:00.000-04:00

Oh yes, that's me selected for the NT team for wheelchair.

We played a game against Kuwait (better than they sound) and I was the 2nd highest scorer on the NT team (the highest goes to the same skool as me)

The end score was 64 - 8 how good is that!!!!!

We lost by less than 70 points!!! YAY

I scored 2 (and I'm one of the 2 youngest people in the team)

I am just too good.

Skywalker out! (before I get a swelled head)

Gamez, Gamez and more Gamez

2007-05-11T08:07:00.000-04:00

Desktop TD (the idea has been taken from Warcraft 3 and Starcraft)
This is a great (and sometimes addictive) game. Full marks

Desktop Tower Defense Save your desktop from invading creeps.

Skygolf. Good mini golf game set somewhere up in the clouds.

Sky Golf Miniature Golf course floating among the clouds.

Micro Tanks. Interesting, if repetitive, game that has a fair few levels.

Micro Tanks Game Retro style tank battle.

That's all I have time for today but MORE SOON!!

Skywalker out!

Good gamez

2007-05-08T03:47:00.000-04:00

hey People

When ever I find a kool net game I will put in a link to it (like the one below....)
So that all you people out there can share my joy......

Skywalker out

Tower defence tryout

2007-05-08T03:42:00.000-04:00

Flash Circle TD Tower Defense game.

Hey just posting this to see if it works...

Skywalker out

Be aware of the crazy psycho teacher!!

2007-05-03T03:33:00.000-04:00

Mr O'Donahue is a psycho killer, I swear..

OK we are in class and we behaving normally (like little ****s for the most part) but perhaps better that normal.

So he set us some work and most of us finished pretty quickly, and said ok, what do we do now?..... he said just wait for the others.

ok Holtham put up his hand and asks for help with question 4 and Mr OD just goes nuts

"SHUT UP AND DO YOUR WORK, I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANYTHING YOU HAVE TO SAY"
"okaayyyyy...."

But that's not all....

We all finish and say so but he just ignores us so we just star talking quietly (by quietly i mean we could be heard from across the school, but quieter than we normally are), he looks up and Mickie had been talking to Fletcher or someone and was going back to his seat Mr OD got up and when Mickie sits down he goes and yells at him

"How dare you get out of you seat without my permission! 1 more thing are you're going straight to the office"

Then he, WAIT FOR IT!, throws Mickie's book halfway across the room (making all the loose pieces of paper fall put. Then when Mickie went to get them Mr OD shoves him back down and full-on slams the desk into Mickie's chest.

All this time Mickie had been protesting and saying "I'm not allowed to come up to your desk and start throwing your stuff around, you can do that either"

Eventually the bell went (that is after about a dozen people got sent to the office) and we escaped.

Skywalker Out.

PS. he has an eyebrow problem... they keep twitching when he talks and when he gets annoyed

The HelpDesk

2007-04-26T07:51:00.000-04:00

The HelpDesk

Hey people this is the gamers helpdesk. if you need help (or cheats) with a game then just comment, and leave the games name and (if you want) an email address, if you don't supply and email address I will just put a post.

Skywalker out

Wheelichair

2007-04-26T07:36:00.000-04:00

Why didn't anyone warm me to wear gloves while playing wheelchair basketball?!?!

My hands got metal burn..... (does that exist?)... any way..
My hands are sore...

Skywalker out

Fun in Skool

2007-04-21T07:54:00.000-04:00

ok, we are in skool in humanities (for those not familiar with the new "better" schooling system, humanities is a combination of english and SOSE) and the teacher comes in and says
"ok guys you are having a spelling test today" (all groan)

ok these 3 tables (including mine) are doing one test the rest are doing another

well our words were........ wait for it...
cat, dog, ten, bat, ect......

Their words:
apoplexy
au revoir
chardonnay
(some expensive liqure)
and so on....

and guess what.. everyone that got 100% got a lollypop... (thats me by the way)

yeah... seem a bit unfair? its supposed to be, we're doing a thing on prejudice and discrimination....
yay for me

Hi pplz

2007-04-21T07:32:00.000-04:00

hey people,
I thought I might start a blog because i forgot the password to my website. i will mostly just put random stuff on, but i will regularly include gaming stuff and a gaming help desk (you need help with a game i will find some stuff for you)

Skywalker out

Oh... PS Can someone please tell me... What is the point of life??