Ampugreat!

So just had a mini freak out. Was having a shower earlier (i'm just about to leave for work) and noticed that the aforementioned blood removal area has gone a yellow/green colour that seems to be heading in the direction of the vein where the lifeblood was sucked out. I'm hoping they're not going to have to amputate but you can never be too sure in Spain, they'll amputate if you say you've got a headache.

Brilliant

R

I'm fit

Had a couple of interesting days since my last update. As i briefly mentioned in my last post, I had a blood test due on Friday. The doctor was due in from 8 till 9 am so I had to get to work early, but thanks to the previous day's puncture I was late getting in. Stupid taxis. I've since learned that there is a bus that goes from a few streets up and takes me... well, nowhere near work, but it's better than walking the whole way.

So I arrived late which meant I was shunted in with the next batch, which wasn't so bad as it turns out a load of other people turned up late two. The queue was crazy though and we had to stand around for at least an hour, during which time I mostly stared out the window as everyone was talking in really fast spanish.

Finally get in and have to wait around longer for our 'doctor', who is really just some guy off the street with a white jacket on. It's funny how you can slap on a white coat and all of a sudden everyone will trust what you say. A bit like how you can put any old piece of random crap in a white room, put a plaque with some writing next on to it and call it 'art'.

Anyway, I was last. Hadn't done a blood test for years and the 'doctor' couldn't speak any English. Luckily my old flatmate translated and I get the weird sensation of having my veins sucked dry. Quite a bizarre feeling but not too horrible. What was horrible was about a minute later when I have some sort of epileptic fit, pass out and get one of the most horrible experiences of my life.

I don't really remember much of it now, I just remember a succession of images flicking through my mind incredibly fast, way too fast to make any sense of. It reminded me a LOT of the Flash Gordon film from the 80's when they wiped people's minds and you saw lots of imagines flickering up. I was desperately trying to pull myself out of it and figure out what was happening but at the same time had no idea of who, where and what I was. Apparently my body was 'spazzing out', I went totally white and "it was pretty scary to watch".

I felt better about 8 hours later and slept for a good 12 hours that night. I can't be sure but I think I had another smaller one whilst I was trying to sleep too. The 'doctor' said it was just psychological but I'm sure it wasn't, I didn't care about the whole needle thing and it was quite some time afterwards that it kicked in. Still on the plus side, I did manage to cover him, myself and various other people with blood, so that was some sort of victory.

When I was younger I used to pass out quite a lot, quite a nice sensation I always thought. This was like absolute hell... so definitely not a faint as far as I know. I donno though, but I know that I'm gonna do anything I can to avoid having any blood tests. Hopefully something will show up in the test that will shed some light.

Also had to have a urine test but couldn't pee, I wont go into too much detail but I had to resort to interesting measures, lets just leave it at that.

Have you ever had to change a bike tyre/tube before? I'm pretty sure I have, don't really remember it being too much trouble. Now imagine tryng to fit an average sized jacket on to a HOUSE and that's just a taster of what I've been going through trying to change my bike tire. Man, that thing is such a pain in the ass. I STILL haven't finished it and to be honest, I'm a little too scared to go back and attempt to finish the job. My thumbs and fingers are all knackered and it'll only make me scream like an angry girl when I try to do it again.

So I had to get another taxi to work yesterday. Yes, because I had to go in on my Saturday to record a load of kids for my current project. They're all mid teens, mostly americans and none of them had recorded before. I was a little worried how it was going to turn out but luckily the whole thing went great. Much of it lies on the people engineering/directing the session as you have to lead the actor in the right direction and get them excited about the character. This is especially difficult with self-conscious kids, so it was a lot of hard work for me as I was recording and directing the sessions. Luckily they were all really up for it and the end product should be pretty good. I'm looking forward to editing it all up and hearing them in game...

Spent the rest of the weekend setting up equipment and unpacking... still. It's nice to have the time to do this though. Glad I didn't go out and get really drunk this weekend.

Anyway, here is a video (my first on this website, lets hope it works) of my cycle home one night. This one was taken about a week ago and it was quite late so it's not as bright as usual. It was also the day after one of the storms we had so there was lots of crud on the beach. Notice the mountain range in the background that stretches right across the island, I love it.

R

The furniture has eyes

Ten days since my last update, blimey. What's happened... here's some random happenings:

Had a medical, complete with blue suckers being stuck to my whole body and an attractive spanish woman with a mole the size of a dinner plate on her face massaging my back. Apparently I have a good heart. I have my blood and urine test tomorrow, fantastic. I'm going to pee in a pot and throw it around the office, at least that's what I've promised. Wouldn't want to disappoint.

Got my stuff from England moved in. That was great. The movers were pretty quick and hassle free, everything appears to be intact.

Had a cigarette thrown in my face on a night out. Thanks spain.

Enjoyed the cycle ride to work repeatedly. Until today when there was a drawing pin in the wheel. I'm hoping it wasn't a deliberate act of industrial espionage by one of the warehouse men. Possibly payback for me leaving the door wide open when one of them was getting changed in the men's room so all the women can see his 'tackle'. Urgh, it's going to be a nightmare getting a new tyre :(

Had another massive storm here. 3 tornadoes flying around the Bay of Palma apparently. None of them hit ground but the weather was pretty bad and a Danish woman died according to the news.

Went out a lot, probably too much. Feel appalling now. Been going to that bar Soho I've mentioned before. We get drinks at about half price and they're already pretty cheap. I had this bizarre drink from Easter Island, the bottle is shaped like one of those crazy statue heads that's made of angles. Was really nice, in fact I've decided to take note of it as it will become my weapon of choice if I choose to become a alcoholic or bum at some point in the future.

Got annoyed at people staring. Seriously, it's starting to get ridiculous now. People will just STARE right at you and keep staring when you've gone past them. If you did that in England it usually means you either want to fight them or make love to them... therefore I get slightly confused when I see old madames giving me the sex/death stare... which one do they want? Either way I'm not interested.

Spent plenty of time with my parents whilst they were here. They're the first people I'd seen from my 'old life' so it was strange seeing them here. Visited some beautiful parts of the island, my current favourite is Deia, a little town up on the side of the mountains (bit of a sympathetic use of the word 'mountain' really, it's more like a massive rocky fold in the earth) that over looks the Med. Had an unnecessary argument with my father on the way home before saying goodbye. Just like old times.

Work has been up and down. But having heard so many negative rumours and general moanings I am starting to find it a little harder to enjoy my time there without being cynical. I'm naturally cynical when it comes to the games industry because I know what it's like and have been spun lies and misinformation for far too long, but I was hoping I could live in 'happy land' for a little longer. Oh well... best get working on my CV again ;) Seriously though, it's all good, just want to get this first project finished as I'm looking forward to starting something new rather than trying to resurrect a mouldy corpse from it's cold, hard audio grave. Getting slightly annoyed at the hierarchy of management, it's about two tiers too high and I'm having to get far too many head nods for my liking. You can never please everyone in audio, especially the more opinionated and/or insecure types. Stupid public opinion.

Trying to set my studio up but am finding it difficult to find the time. I've done a fair bit though, I'm currently sat in the bedroom i'm not really doing anything with. I'm surrounded by all the excess furniture that I dont need in the other rooms. There's about five cupboards in here.... and they're all ugly, they all have this ominous and monolithic presence about them, probably because they're spanish and are doing the furniture equivalent of the 'Mallorcan stare'.

again, too lazy to post photos. Use your imagination.

R

See no evil, hear no Mallorquin

I donno why I bother with that bloody 'remember me' setting on this website. It's useless.

So I had an interesting experience with a spherical looking lady in the hallway earlier. She was milling around the outside of the building whilst I was attempting to open my post box for the first time. Only problem was that I don't actually know which flat I'm in, so I'm randomly trying to open mail boxes (they're not marked well, if at all) and this old senora comes up and starts babbling mallorquin to me, which I don't speak (it's very different to Spanish).

I figured she was telling me off for trying to steal everyone's mail until I realise she's as blind as a cardboard box and is asking for assistance to open her mail box. Unless SHE was the mail thief. Either way, I helped her out and she's still screaming at me in some crazy cat-lady fashion while I try to help her up the steps like a good English gentleman.

I'd heard that over here you have to treat the elderly with the sort of respect the English usually save for royalty, so I was on my best behaviour for fear of being battered via her massive walking stick. I must have done okay because she babbled something about having a good evening (in Spanish) before rolling off down the corridor after I'd helped her out of the lift. I walked away feeling confused, mostly due to her getting annoyed at my attempts to communicate with her.

My parents are currently visiting. Went to Peurto Pollenca yesterday which is on the other side of the island. Super touristy and English. Didn't like it really. I was glad to get back to Palma which feels like a proper city for real people and not a construct for the visiting masses. I would post some nice photos of yesterday but it's late (due to me having somewhat of a heavy day) so I can't be bothered. But it was great to see more of the island, some truely amazing landscape out here, with vertical cliffs jutting right out of the perfect blue sea. Shame there were so many German tourists everywhere appreciating it at the same time.

Get my stuff delivered tomorrow and work has given me the day off so I get to sort all that stuff out (and go out with my parents if it doesn't take too long). Looking forward to being reunited with my... I don't know... stuff. Nothing really specific, but it would finally mean that I've 'arrived' at last.

R

Piso

Okay, here are the photos from my flat. It's all super nice, I think I've been pretty lucky really. Waaay more space than I need and the price is pretty darned reasonable. It's in an exciting part of town called Santa Catalina (or at least it's very near to it) that has a lot of bars and restaurants and generally feels in the middle of all the action.

I got three bedrooms, I figure of the two spares I'll turn one into a music/sound studio and the other into a guest room/gym. Funnily one of the extra rooms has a crazy painting on the wall of all this cartoon stuff. I kind of like it in a absract kind of way.

There's a balcony over-looking a park and facing a bunch of boring buildings which seem to house old women that have no doubt been getting excited at seeing me walk around in my pants when I've been hungover. The crazy thing about the balcony is the 'safety' rail, a somewhat overambitious title for something that's about as much use as a toothpick. The first time I looked over the balcony to the five floor drop to the hard tarmac below I freaked out... and I like heights. Here's to hoping I don't come home from a night out and start dancing like a madman on there.

The walk to work every day takes an hour in each direction. Sure, it sounds bad, but it's actually pretty nice given that I walk along the beach and marinas that align the path. It just sucks when it's raining, which it has been doing pretty consistantly of late :(

One thing that does bug me is the sound proofing. It must be the dubious quality of Spanish construction at play again, because I feel like I'm watching the tv with my neighbours it's so loud. They were watching Lawrence of Arabia yesterday, it's a long film.

Ooh, my washing has just finished washing itself. Best go check. I was a little worried as I had to bloody sellotape the waste pipe to the connection, which isn't the most secure way to connect a washing machine. I was crapping myself that I was going to walk in and see the hose snaking around the room spraying dirty water everywhere. I just got back, and success. No snakes.

So this week (i'm writing this on Sunday, not the Monday the date of this post suggests, I've come back to add stuff) has been quite social. Went out on Wednesday night to Molinar (near Portixol), Thursday around Santa Catalina, and Friday around the centre of Palma. Nothing much to report, all very good fun although I don't remember much as usual. Friday was my first 'fiesta'... a wholly unnexciting event, well, I say that as if I actually experienced something. Given that I didn't leave the house due to the crappy weather and bad hangover there wasn't much chance of me rockin' out too much.

Anyway, I want to watch a bad american film with bad Spanish dubbing to pratice my language skills. It's currently my 'weapon of choice' for increasing my language. I just hope something good is on, and not Sister Act 2 again.

R

Tor-nad-oh

Are you ready for muchos informaticos (that may or may not be Spanish)? Good, cos there's been much going on 'downtown' (which I've been told is a rude euphemism). In fact, I think I'm going to split this bad-boy into two entries cos I've got plenty of photos to add.

First off... weather. Yeah, sure, how English and boring of me to discuss weather. That's what you're thinking until I drop the rotating bombshell of the word 'tornado' into the fray.

On Thursday I was having a chat with someone in my studio (which has no windows to the outside due to it's isolated studio-esque nature) when all the power goes down again (note the use of the word 'again'). There's a bit of a ruckuss in the main dev studio and upon going out and looking out the window I see that everyone's going crazy and it's pitch black outside... it's 4pm. It takes me a good few seconds to twig that something is wrong. Seriously wrong. I've seen some crazy weather before but jeez. There was water bursting out of drains in the ground that were supposed to be draining the water away. I seriously thought there was a big constantly flickering light on the top of the building due to the crazy power outages, but it turned out to be CONSTANT lightning. After a few minutes it lightened up a bit, but that actually made it worse as there was apparently so much sand in the air that had travelled from the Sahara that everything took on a totally yellow look. It was like looking out across another planet, very odd.

The next day I learnt that someone from work was on a motorbike during the storm and the tornado came infront of him and ripped out a electricity pilon infront of him, he's totally covered in cuts and is lucky to be alive really. Luckily no-one on the island was killed, but many were injured and they may officially call the island a 'disaster zone' due to all the damage caused.

Being a bit of a tit, I actually love this sort of stuff and was a bit disappointed to not actually see the twister itself, but on driving around later in someone's car we saw a LOT of ripped up trees, presumably from either the tornado or lightning strikes. Went down to Portixol, a nice harbor that I've mentioned before and many of the bars were wrecked. Luckily the 'favourite' was perfectly fine... although the power was still down so our beers were slightly luke warm. Sat around discussing global warming and dolphinariums all night. Regretted it in the morning.

Friday was a horrible mess... but I'd organised to get my flat sorted with Angel for the evening and after a rather drawn out day we headed over only to find that she'd forgotten to confirm with the landlady and she had decided to bugger off to a party in a town called Inca for the evening. So it had to wait ANOTHER night.


Did nothing on saturday day, well, unless you count sitting around in your pants and watching the Simpsons 'something'. Around 9:30 pm met up (again) to get the keys. It was a bit awkward because I have to use Angel to translate for me, but it goes ahead and the place looks much better than the last time I'd seen it. I'm really, really happy with it. The ladylady had even left some strange Mallorcan liquor so had a few drinks with Angel on the balcony and then head out to some bars with some friends that were already out. It was a really great night, everyone had fun, although I don't really remember much. I was going to write loads about the night, but thinking about it there's not much to say really, great fun but not terribly interesting to anyone that wasn't there.

Actually, it's late and it's taking me over an hour to walk to work in the mornings so gotta be up early tomorrow. Therefore can be bothered to write the second installment of this...

Here's some unexciting photos from the night out though. I donno what's up with the one with the bike helmet, I don't remember that now :/











to be continued...

R
Oh, but before I go, here is a typical bit of Spanish parking. This is normal and she (Angel) was surprised that I thought it was amazing that she got out of there with no trouble whatsoever. Having said that, most cars here seem to have at least one 'battle scar' so maybe it's not as easy as they make out.

Superhero palabra

I really have to stop playing so much table tennis. My forearms are really starting to hurt. Although it may just be a 'free-gift' from the karate training from Monday that involved me repeatedly blocking punches for about 15 minutes. I was pretty bruised after that. I would say "you should see the other guy", but it was a girl, and she was punching me.

Had a good Spanish lesson the other day. The lady even said "super-bien" to me... which i presume is like a normal bien but better, it probably flies or has x-ray vision or something. All the other adjectives are probably insanely jealous of super-bien's abilities, I know I am.

As expected, the apartment is STILL not sorted. I'm bored of talking about it now. Hopefully it should be finished tomor... actually, I'm not going to finished that comment, I think I keep jinxing it with this stupid blog.

Earlier I heard someone on the floor above me tapping that insidious BOO, TAH-TAH beat on the floor. I thought I was going mad for a brief second.

Had some sort of Swedish sausage the other day. It looked seriously rancid, like an actual animal's "member". To make matters worse it ended up tasting exactly like hotdog... but imagine the WORLD'S BIGGEST HOTDOG and cover it in grease that has been smeared on a dirty industrial kitchen floor and trodden on for a few days. I also ate some reindeer today. Apparently it was 'one of the bad ones' though... probably Hitler's reindeer I imagine. I've been trying to eat a lot of 'meat' recently. I figure anything with a 'face' is good for me because of all the exercise I'm doing. Vegetables, soup, fruit and salad... none of it has enough 'face action' for my liking... so best avoided. (don't worry mum, I AM eating well)

Having a great week so far. Although I'm starting to get rather odd 'whats the point' feelings. I get them every now and then. That whole 'futility of mortality' thing again. I'm sure everyone gets it, but it hits extra hard when you see things advancing and you start accomplishing your goals because you're trying to find new goals i guess. I need a new goal. Or maybe I'm just getting bored again. Or lazy. Or old.

Finding the days are going by incredibly quickly. Probably because every second is packed full of stuff, from the minute I wake up to the point I get home. That's why I'm only updating this every two or three days. It's tough because I never get a chance to sit down and enjoy any of this. Must get some 'power sleep' now, similar to normal sleep only really intense. It's the sort of sleep Mr T would probably have.

R