This blog contains some of the parts of the blog that I was unable to post yesterday but much of it is still missing and I will continue working on trying reserect it but now onto more important matters, exam results!

This morning I got all my exam results back (if you want to know which exams I took read this blog, Exams!, or just scroll down to it) and I got an 'A' in Maths, Physics, Chemistry and General Studies and a 'B' in Biology.    I am obviously very pleased with these results but some of these A's were not high enough, as marks are carried forward into the next year, so I will retake some exams in January to make it easier to get A's at the end of the two years.    So all is on track for me to apply to Oxford (one of the best if not the best University in England)  later this year and I am going up to visit it on tuesday.

I have a new phone! I am probably one of the few people in this world who has downgraded their phone, I have gone from this,

(Nokia 3100)

 to this

 (Nokia 1101)

Why have I downgraded my phone I hear you cry? I shall tell you the long, heavily ironic, tale... A friend of mine was showing (ie. boasting) me his flash new flip phone so I decided to mock it and how easily it would break, I then stated how difficult it was to break my phone and started punching the pocket that my phone was situated and surprise, surprise, it broke! If any of you have been following my blog you will know how skint I am at the moment and the Nokia 1101 was the only phone that I could get under £20.

And now onto gaming, yesterday I put a deposit down on 'Lego Star Wars II:The Original Trilogy' and many of you may laugh but last year it's predecessor was a breath of fresh air to the platform genre, a game that both adults and kids could enjoy, and this game seems to improve on it in several aspects (and the fact that this one is actualy based on decent films)so I am looking forward to it.

I have also ordered Fable:TLC for friday, it will cost me hardly anything as I am getting it second hand and I am trading in the original. I own the Fable strategy guide I was thinking of selling it and getting the Fable:TLC strategy guide but I don't think it is worth it as they are almost the same game.

I will write again soon as I will soon be leaving you all again for another week.

Jack.

Thought for the day: Do not throw away your old disposable razors, with a little thought and ingenuity they can be transformed into a fashionable new hat.

I am not sure if that is the correct spelling but it clearly displays my mood, I have just spent a long time typing a brilliant blog but it will not let me post it, it either tells me I am not abiding the javascript: protocol or that my HTML is not well-formed.    I will try again tomorrow.  Goodnight! 

Just a quick blog to explain to you all what exam results I will be recieving this thursday.  I will be recieving my AS levels which can first be taken in England when you are 16/17.   The norm is to take 4 subjects but I have taken 5.    These results make up half of my A levels which I use to apply to University (the other half, the A2 year, I will start after the holidays).

The subjects I have taken are:

1. Maths
2. Biology
3. Chemistry
4. Physics
5. General Studies

I am hoping to get all A and B grades.   Next year I will be droping Biology and General Studies (so I will only have a half grade in these at the end of the two years) but I will be taking up an extra level in Further Maths.

Sorry for a blog totally unrelated to gaming and is not comical either, normal content will resume tomorrow!

Well, I'm back from that walking trip and it was good fun (that pitiful waterfall shown in the blog below was slightly more impressive than I thought it would be, I have a photo of it with me on for scale which I will try to post when I upload it).    As you probably know I am very skint at the moment and I almost bought Fable:TLC and Banjo and Kazooie while I was away which would have totaly used up the remainder of my funds and as I have to buy a B.day present for my little sis for saterday I managed to resist (does family come before gaming?)!

I will be online quite a bit during the next week (even though I am working a 5 day week from 9 to 5) but the week after that I will be in London visiting my grandmother so enjoy while you can!   Also during this week I will be recieving some rather important exam results so I have my fingers crossed (it is making typing rather difficult!).

In the short time I have been back I have tried to get back up to date with all of my friends list blogs so I am sory If I have missed anyone out and now I must go and catch up with all of my unions so I will talk to you all later!

I am leaving Gamespot for good, thats right I am leaving Gamespot for a good week. (I used a dramatic title to encourage more people to read my blog!)

I am afraid that I will not be logged on again untill Sunday as I am leaving at 6 o'clock in the morning to go on a walking holiday with my mother in the Yorksire Dales in England where I will be seeing some beautiful scenery as shown below.

We will be walking 13 miles (approx 24 km) each day for 4 days, it isn't an extravigent amount but it should be fun.   We will also be seeing the tallest waterfall in the UK (as shown below) but it looks like little more than a trickle compared to what you Americans are used to.

I am afraid that I will be going nowhere near the internet so I will miss all of you and my Unions and I will also miss Gaming but thankfully I will be taking my DS.

When I come back I may post pictures of myself (and maybe even a video blog if I can afford a web cam) so untill I come back you can have fun guessing what I may look like!

Goodbye to all and see you soon!

Jack (Retro Guru)

I know last blog I was stating my lack of money but I saw this in my local games stor for only £20 and I could not help myself!

It is such good condition and the PAL SNES is so pretty and couldn't allow myself not to buy it!    I think I may have a problem, not only do I already own a SNES and a copy of 'Super Mario All Stars' but I also own doubles of several other consoles (I have 2 Saturns, 2 Genesis/Megadrives, 2 PS2s and 3 PS1s). I just cannot help purchasing them when I see a good deal, do I need help?

My lack of money also means that I cannot by a Webcam to try a video blog so I will have to wait untill payday on the 24th but before that date I have my end of year exams and my sisters birthday to look forward to.

I also notice that GS has a 'King of the Hill' event on later tonight and I expect it will come with a emblem to those who manage to catch it live.   Not that I am someone that collects emblems fanaticaly (I would always feel inadequate next to Grambyte!) It is just that GS makes it very difficult for europeans to catch any of their programs live as they are shown at midnight(give or take an hour) so I will be missing 'King of the Hill' (and the emblem) tonight as I have to get my beauty sleep!

      Once again I have a multitude of topics to talk to you about and first of all apoligies; I am sorry I have not been logged on for a while but as it is the holidays I have so much time not to do anything in and having to wait for my ancient computer to start up seriously bites into my 'lazy' time ( I am not sure if that made sence but I am sure you can make sence of it).   I must also apologise for the standard of my last blog, it was terribly written, I must of been drunk or tired at the time (most probably a combanation of the two) but this one doesn't seem to be shaping up any better!

       I am now officialy poor after a massive spending spree yesterday where I bought the entire sound track to 'GTA Vice City' and Tenacious D's album as well as 'Spaced' series 1 & 2 and every epersode of 'Brass Eye' on DVD (these probably won't meen anything to you unless you are into cult Brittish comedy).   The most important purchase of yesterday was a fully functioning Dreamcast completing my 128-bit collection (hence the obscure title) so I now own the big four; a PlayStation 2, a Gamecube, an Xbox and a Dreamcast. There are still a number of consoles to go untill I own them all though.

       Thanks to my short attention span when it comes to games these days I have started yet another game, this time 'Fable' and I am enjoying it more than any other game I have played recently but the way I am feeling, who knows how long it will be untill I ge bored of it.

Recently I was saying how happy I was feeling that I had started my holidays but it does appear that I am now doing more work than I was while I was at school but atleast it is no longer of the academic variety, it is now of the manual labour (well, serving coffee and washing up) variety.   Fortunatly while I am working at the reastaurant I am being paid which I desperatly need not only have a wee, sorry, I mean a Wii (I appologise again, those jokes are getting a little old now arn't they?) but also to buy a car.

I have to ask myself, is the torment I endure worth the measily £4 an hour I get out of it? Not only do I get burnt about 3 times a day and work with morons but I also have to put up with wretched American tourists, I appologise to all Americans out there who are quite normal but you do seem to produce the most irritating tourists who seem to think everything in England is 'quaint'!

I apollogise again for that little outburst.    In my last blog I was commenting on how I would be playing on 'Deus Ex Invisable war' and comparing it to the original but I although it looks like a good game, I didn't find it engaging enough and my mind quickly moved to the stack of unplayed games by my side so I have been playing 'Midnight Club 3 DUB Edition' (possibly the shiniest game I have ever played) and Jade Empire and even though I have only played a little part of it, it looks like it could be an excellent game.  

You can ignore the video below if you have already seen it, I was just testing out somthing Oakbend told me.

[video=dnRil2b85bsMujDb]

I have a bewildering number of things to talk to you about today, the first being, I have reached level 10!   This may not seem like much to those high fliers out there but it is a good thing for me and to celebrate I have uploaded my first video which can be found here, Bill Bailey's Insect Nation, It is a song by one of my favourite comedians and is well worth a watch.  

I also have two things to ask the users of gamespot, how do I make a video like the one I just posted appear in my blog and how would one go about setting up an internet blog (I am a real computer dunce so what hardware and software would I require).

Another reason for my joyfull attitude today is that it was my last day of school yesterday so I am finally in my somer hollidays so to celebrate (I am doing alot of celebrating) four friends and I came back to my house for a four hour gaming session on 'Super Monkey Ball' then 'Maio Kart DD' then 'SSBM' then 'Virtua Cop II'(SAT) and finaly 'Golden Eye'(N64), all the while eating chocolate muffins and ice creams and drinking copious amounts of beer.

I have also bought the Xbox mentioned in an earlier blog (so far it has all been second hand so not a penny has gone to microsoft) and in less than 24 hours I already have an good selection of games, check them out and if you have any recommendations, please do.

1. -Halo
2. -Halo 2
3. -Deus Ex Invisable War
4. -Fable and official Guide
5. -Outrun 2
6. -Jade Empire
7. -Halflife 2
8. -Need for Speed Hot pursuit 2
9. -Midnight Club 3 DUB Edition
10. -Soul Calliber II

I am currently Playing Deus Ex Invisable War but I am only half an hour into it so I don't know how it shapes up to the original.

I may, after all these years, be getting an Xbox.   I know the majority of you will be wandering what I have been doing all these years without one but I haven't really had the need as there have been few exclusive games that I have actuly wanted and the constantly high prices have disuaded me further.   Even when I have got one I will still believe that the PS2 and GC are superior consoles for their catolog of games alone.    The reason I am getting one now is a friend of mine is willing to make me (what I think is) a very good offer, tell me your opoinion on this package (all second hand):

1. -Xbox and cables (unboxed)
2. -2 controllers
3. -DVD controller
4. -memory card
5. -Halo 2
6. -Deus Ex Invisable War
7. -Fable and official Guide
8. -Outrun 2

And all for £50 (approx. $90 for all you Americans, $105 for the Canadians and $125 Aussie Dollars for Brian!) Is this a good deal?