Well, almost.  Mum's machine is sorted, and my machine can connect via WinXP.  I'll have to give the people at Linuxant money to use the wireless adaptor with SuSE, and the 360's wire seems to have vanished.  Other than that, everything's peachy as far as the new network goes.

And I only needed one call to tech-support ("Well, I can talk to the router..."), who were very helpful and sorted the problem promptly.  They even gave me the link to Linuxant.

Now to throw some ad-blocking stuff Winside...

...in four... three... two...

 

What do you mean, "He arrived at nine and you were sleeping."?

 

Yep, I missed a package.  A rather important package, from my showless, out-of-contact-with-the-world viewpoint.  A package containing everything I need to set up a wireless network, although the 360 will be wired.  Like Hell I'm paying £60 for what seems to be £20-worth of equipment.  But once my business with the Job Centre is completed, and the bus trip home survived (black jeans + high heat = uncomfortable Sildra), then I shall collect the errant package and wreak a new breed of havoc upon the world (guess who's been nominated to set the thing up...?).  And that's before you've even considered my driving.

 

In my defence, I haven't hit anyone yet.

 

In other news, almost as soon as one guest leaves, another arrives.  My Grandmother, straight out of Virginia and into Birmingham International Airport at 7am.  She's been here since Friday and is still getting over the jet-lag.  It's good to see her again -- the 'soap opera' of my mother's side of the family has left her grounded for a good number of years, and Mum does worry lately.  The next three weeks will be... interesting.  There's already talk of a trip to London, and given Grandma's interests we're almost certain to visit every allegedly-haunted area within a five-mile radius.  And every stately home we can find.

 

What else, what else...?  Ah yes, graduation.  I did indeed get to wear the silly hat -- Dad has the photos to prove it -- but the ceremony itself was ever so dull.  No scroll, no handshake -- just groups of six, a bow and, "Next!"  Only in Welsh.

 

The money I got in reward for graduating was spent on a second-hand PS2 and copy of Guitar Hero.  Normal mode is beaten, Hard stuck on the 25th song and Expert on... Symphony of Destruction.  Damned solos...  Easy is reserved for the times when my fingers won't actually move anymore, which is more and more frequently as I try to climb those two modes (and fail, 82% and 63% of the way through respectively).  A lot of the indie stuff is irritatingly catchy, particularly the Acro-brats; their song can be summed up as, "Cord-cord-cord-cord, agh!  My hands!"

 

I strongly suspect Dad will try to play it when he's sure no-one's looking.

 

The only other gaming news is Prey, which I'm slowly working my way through.  The gravity puzzles and portals are what attracted me to it in the first place, and the fact that (after a certain point) you're effectively immortal makes it perfect for the Anti-Twitch ("Oh, another missile to the face.  OK... red bird, red bird, blue bird... hello again, have a faceful of acid.")  Love the acid gun.  Not so sure about the plot delivery, mind -- I don't like being forced to stay in one place when I'm supposed to have control either, Chom -- and the shuttle sections are slightly irritating, but I do like the living-ship aspect.  Even if that, "Behold!" moment is ever-so-slightly freaky.

 

As my time is now up, I leave y'all.  Hopefully the next time I write it'll be from the comfort of my own home.

AmeCon finally took my money!  Along with the impending dispatch of all the Fullmetal Alchemist DVDs Play.com had but I didn't (with the limited editions being cheaper than the normal, for reasons I'm not going to pry into), it's an expensive but good day.

 

Now I just need to get a job before August...