… i have failed to write in here for a long time. Lets face it, everyone is on Facebook anyway so no ones going to come here to check my interests specifically when they get everyone's all in one.

I'm just going to leave this place open until i find a good use for it. Feel free to have a look around though if you are reading this, and check out my website http://opticon.hostultra.com/

James

Time: 3:47

For my project, to make it more personal i will be collecting items or memory over the years of my life that spark emotion and/or good memories.

6th: Badges (Birthdays etc)
7th: Music Favourite Bands over the years
8th: Games (Memorable moments with friends and family)
9th: Key rings (Places i’ve been or family have been)
10th Photos of family and friends memories

I shall start collecting key rings today. I have quite a few of all these items so i just need to sift through them to find memories and emotional times from them.

This way each item can be linked to an emotion or story listed on the same page as the item as a feature roll over/ animation etc

Time: 4:59

Here's the collection of badges i could find. Now i have to find links between these and my past. I Shall pick a few and use them in my work.

Time: 8:53am

Not even half an hour past and i had 2 people watching and one bidding on the broken laptop.
Now with half a day past its status is this:

The green numbers represent the price someone is currently bidding at before someone bids again.
A similar item yesterday went for £209, will be good if i can get that considering i got it for free.

Time: 10:25am

I want to mention this band and get it out of my system. I wanted to put this video up on here last night but i didn't have time.
Its a band/song i found a couple of days ago. The song itself is a bit bland but kind of catchy. the thing i like more about it is that its quite arty and has strange gothic fashion elements to it. I'm not sure if they are trying to look more gay than they are or if its just the way these German guys wanted to do it. There are a few bands out there that are completely straight but look camp as hell. Anyway heres the song and video link.

Cinema Bizarre – Forever or Never
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C39m74GCnYY
 
When i found this video above it reminding me of the song by ‘Dir En Grey’ called ‘Obscure’. It might be something to do with the hair. But that video is EXTREMELY mind blowing and disgusting in some ways. When you see it appreciate it as an art piece rather than just a whole load of blood and weird stuff. I've no idea what they are singing as its in Japanese so id have to do some research to find out. Its very gothic and nothing like i listen to. Comparing it to all my techno and punk style songs i listen to its really different.
Still, appreciate it as it is and not as a load of shouting and flashing images. Someone said to me its a metaphor for how bad abortion is, not sure i can source that but take a look:
Dir En Grey - Obscure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xknLWJhCRVE

Time: 5:55pm

It seems without knowing it the two bands i wrote about this morning both seem to have something in common called ‘Visual Kei’ If you do a search in google images you’l see what i mean. It seems to be Japanese glam rock, or in simple terms. Massive spike hair.
Link to Google Images:
http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=Visual%20Kei&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi

To quote Wikipedia:
”Visual Kei (ヴィジュアル系 vijiaru kei^?) refers to a movement among Japanese musicians,^[1][2] that is characterized by the use of eccentric, sometimes flamboyant looks. This usually involves striking make-up, unusual hair styles and elaborate costumes, often, but not always, coupled with androgynous aesthetics.^{[3][4]
Visual Kei emerged in the late 1980s, pioneered by bands such as X, D'erlanger, Buck-Tick, and Color.[14]}”

I only found out about this when i was reading up about Cinema Bizarre. They claim not to be part of this movement as stated below although i find it ironic that one of the tags for this band is ‘Visual Kei’


This explains where these game characters from the final fantasy series get their look from and that its not the other way around as i originally thought:


Time: 6:29pm

I've put three auctions on eBay:
Click the names of the items to open a new page to the auction.
All items end in 7 days (Sunday 8th March)

DV9000 HP Pavilion Laptop - HP DV9092ea -spares/repair
 
3 Jean Michel Jarre 12" Inch Records
 
4 Vangelis Records 12" (Inch) Albums (Record)

 

Music: She Waits For Me    Cinema Bizarre    Final Attraction

Time: 8:29am

Just getting up to go to work, isn't much to talk about yet. My Xbox is now in Barking, be here soon woo! haha. It apparently left the depo near midnight. Hopefully they will drop it off today and i wont have to wait till Wednesday for it. Wednesday was when they picked it up before and i specified a time and everything but it seems a bit random coming back so lets just hope im in.


My dad likes to buy old vinyl and gramophone records, and he's got a huge collection now he keeps all nicely sealed up individually for each record. I just paid for one via PayPal. I don't find it very interesting but here's what he's bought:
To quote what eBay sais “JOYCE GRENFELL ''AT HOME'' ORIG- 1958 HMV 1155 RARE- LP”

Time: 6:32pm

Just heard this song on tv http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YAEWrnOtrY
Fugees - Killing Me Softly
 
I haven't heard it fully in years and thought it was a remix when it came on but that's probably because its used a lot and re churned for a lot of things.

Work was dead today, i sold a couple of cameras and a few other bits, which isn't enough really. But times are hard and i just hope every other store is doing just as badly so we don't go out of business.

Lisa smacked me in the face at work today so she could be in this blog, so there's your name Lisa, well done.
Hopefully i will be able to think of something good for Nat and Aneesha’s party this Tuesday. Its a circus theme. I haven't got many bits so il have to see what i can rustle up. Im already looking forward to next Halloween just so i can look scary without seeming weird haha!

My xbox still hasn't come and according to this email it could take up to 7 days more even though its just sitting in Barking


My dad was given a laptop the other week that isn't working. I thought i was going to be able to fix it but it seems from what i can tell the graphics card is broken, which unfortunately is attached to the main component of the PC. Im going to sell it on eBay as it is but first i need to wipe the hard drives of all their data. The picture below is a duplicate of what the hard drives looked like when i took them out. Hopefully the guys in Maplin will have an [image below] to USB that i can just connect up to my pc to look at it as if it were a usb hard drive.

Music: Good Girl Gone Bad    Rihanna    Good Girl Gone Bad

Mood: Slightly tired from work as ive been standing all day but nothing bad

Time: 7:02pm

Just bought a 500gb external Hard Drive for backing all my stuff up. I reset my PC to factory settings every once in a while and it takes ages to back everything up. It will be nice to have a bigger hard drive just to store everything on. I wont have to back it up then if its not saved on the drive im going to wipe. One hard drive for programs installed, one hard drive for saved files, simple.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Essential-500GB-External/dp/B000WP0NM8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1235847809&sr=8-1


I'm going to apply for a new NUS card soon, it seems you can get 5% off on Amazon which is quite good as i use that site a lot. Up until now ive been using my UCA University card when i go out but i need a code to input online for discounts which that has.
http://www.nus.org.uk/en/NUS-Extra/

Time: 6:46pm

Ive just worked out i can save £300 by buying my mac book at uni with the url http://www.apple.com/uk/go/save while logged in at uni.

I'm going to check it out at uni because i cant access all of it here at home, hopefully i can still build it up into the mac i want and wont have to choose from pre made versions. 4gb of ram and VGA adaptor would be great if i can get it as part of the discount.

According to Chloe is national kissing day, hope she doesn't hurt me to much, my ulcer in my mouth kills haha!

Among other things, when you type CD Wall Art you get my image of my wall art! woo! First image aswell!

See Below:

Just want to say that i love the part of TTFAF at by Dragonforce at 5:25

Time: 9:10am

Its a nice sunny day outside, im just waiting for my time to go in today so i thought id write something on here.
My Xbox which has now been repaired is on its way back to me from Germany, it is currently sitting in Brussels

Info update:

BRUSSELS,
BE
27/02/2009
8:06
DEPARTURE SCAN

Hopefully today will be a good day and all will go well. Im going to try and catch Johanna at some point today to make sure writing on here is okay, if not il go back to writing in a book, but it wont be as productive that's for sure.
Im going to find out how i can get a general health test for everything, im always paranoid i may have something like cancer, i definitely feel i have arthritis in my fingers which would explain why my fingers ache and i cant write for ages with a pen. Pushing in buttons like this is fine though.

I just researched arthritis and it seems i have all the common symptoms in my fingers, o dear!

Music: Sober    Pink    Top 40 Singles

Time: 3:43pm

I have re-made my top and bottom banner to match me more as a person now rather than in 2006 when this was first made.
I have deleted all posts prior to this project, which leaves just these two posts so far in two days, it was nice seeing all the things i had written down in the past but at the same time nice to see how i have grown up. It was more to test how things work as with anything new on the computer i have to use it till it breaks. Im quite familiar with this system of working so hopefully all will go well with adding pictures etc to how im feeling at the time i am writing.

I spoke to Silka about my arthritis, ive had this problem for ages but i’ve just shrugged it off as my hands not working properly and that i should try harder but it really is a pain and even typing now its hard not to stop and click all my fingers after ever sentence to stop them aching. 

I handed in my work today have a look below:

Like ive said before everyone seemed to like it, i don't want to keep saying that as it seems big headed :p
Hopefully il get a good mark for it.

Ive heard about apple discounts from being at uca before but this hand out ive just scanned in pushed it to the font of my mind again today. Hopefully i can use this benefit and get my mac before i leave uni to reap the benefits. I already have most of the programs i need for it gathered from various sources, i just now need to get the hardware to get going. Not that i don't love my pc, its been good for the last 4+ years and still has an excellent spec for its age, its just i fancy something that will be seamless with design software, and i like to know how everything works, and knowing how a mac works will broaden my views on even more technology.

Music: Valley Of The Damned    DragonForce    Valley Of The Damned   

For a project at ucca i have to post daily, im going to try and add stuff ever day. Its going to be quicker than me writing it as i always find it hard to write and my hands spazz out quickly.

Ive done some of this in a little book but it hasnt been going as quickly or as fluently as this already seems to be.

Ive been at Daisy’s some of today, installing photoshop on her pc for her. Im quite worried that i haven't been doing enough for this project. So im trying to make it easier for myself to churn out thoughts by typing them out. im not a big fan of writing loads by hand, it hurts my hand and no one can read it because of my lack of writing skills.

I was going to make a new live.journal account for this but its easier to write in here as i have an app i can open for it rather than having to go to the website.

My hand in for my photo media project is tomorrow, hopefully all is well, everyone seems to like it.

Just little things ive been searching today in youtube, google etc out of interest:

Russel Howard (Comedian)
Fankie Boyle (Comedian)
Watched this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rItbcNGrA8s

Song playing as i type: -

Hot N Cold (Rain Factory Club Mix)    Katy Perry    Hot 'N Cold (Dance Remixes) 

Mood – Worried about not doing enough work!

I went to Bluewater today with Sarah. She was treating me for helping her out with her web design, she said it all went well so im pleased for her.
We got a bit lost getting there as we had to go via Dartford as bluebell hill was blocked off with an accident of some sort (which my dad later said that's the normal way anyway), but she wasn't that familiar and neither was i. Thankfully her dad was able to direct us from her home on the phone.
We had a nice meal and nearly got lured into an acupuncture theatre by a strange Chinese lady who took a stab at Sarah saying she needed something for her spots. Continuing this peer pressure i told her about Benzoyl Peroxide which i take to help me with my spots. She bought the 10% concentrate one so i hope her face hasn't burnt off!

Pancake Day!!

Today i spent time with my new found friends at  the halls of residence. Our pancakes turned out well, i had ham and cheese spread on mine just like in London. It was still awesome!
I was going to go out to source bar but everyone either didn't want to, didn't have any money or in Amy's case didn't have any id since the following Tuesday her bag got stolen with everything in it!I
I feel sorry that Chloe cant come out with me because of her age but in other ways i feel its good to distance myself from her so we can both breath and be with friends alone.

Music: Cat’s playlist

Mood: Nervous of new people

Ive finished my photography elective pieces ready to be printed tomorrow. Ive been doing it from 11am – 5pm today. Im very happy with the final results.

Music: All of the top 40 pop chart

Mood: Happy but tired

Working hard on photography, ive edited all the faces to now be adapted into the final idea for the project.

Edited images so far below:

I'm helping Sarah later with her web design project, hopefully she will be okay after today, i hope she is. Seems to be struggling and i don't like to see her like that.

Music: Kids    MGMT    Top 40 Singles

Mood: Happy

Working at Jessops, i made £3 from incentives but i feel a bit of a fool for jumping through hoops for so little money. Im glad i can help the company though by selling stuff they can make money from, after all its what they are paying me for, im not there to just lay about dong nothing hoping money comes in.

Music: N/A

Mood – Concentring + Teaching customers

I've taken photos of my subjects for my photography project today, these photographs need editing so i wont post their pictures until ive done some retouching to save embracement.

Music:  In this together (Flipside Club Mix)    Apoptygma Berzerk    In this together

Mood – Happy and concentrating on work at hand before it started raining outside

I went to London today with my absolutely beautiful girlfriend Chloe for fun, we had a good laugh and went to lots of different places in London.
Pictures from dslr camera:

I ate a pancake with ham and cheese in, it was awesome first time i have ate that combination together.

We saw lots of different things, but failed to find the man who sold jewellery made from cutlery. If anyone know where he is please let me know.

Music: N/A

Mood: Weary of thief's but happy over all to be with her.