I've got in to Staffordshire University for a Computer Games Design course. On 220 UCAS points. When they needed 260. I got two D's and a C. One of which was General Studies, which I was told countless times they did not accept. I mean... seriously... how on earth did I get in? Thousands of people a year apply for Games Design at both Stafford and Middlesbrough, yet I somehow got accepted into my first choice, when my insurance choice (who would accept General Studies and had a lower point requirement) refused. This has put my mind, not into a mood of sheer joy, but into a state of questioning. Have I really earned this place? I don't feel like I have. Have I denied a smarter person a place they surely deserve? I think I have. Did I get in because scores of people decided against Stafford and took a course at different University? Part of me thinks so. If they did, what made them choose differently? Am I now walking into a course that I will regret choosing later on? I certainly hope not, but I am starting to question how much of it I will enjoy. Ahhh it's probably just me getting all worried about nothing again. In my mind I was certain I had no chance of getting in, so much so that I didn't bother looking at UCAS Track since I applied or thought a single iota about buying things in preparation of leaving home. Now I find myself thrust straight into an uncoordinated mess; a dash, a rabble, a nervous, worried and almost survivalist buying and stashing spree in order to get everything ready so I can leave on September 20th. To make matters a whole lot more frantic, I've now received a couple of hefty envelopes containing accommodation offers and step-by-step "Welcome to Uni" guides. There's so much to do, many choices to be made. However I'm determined to get everything right (insert cliched action hero "... whatever the cost" quote here).
All I can say is thank Christ I bought a good laptop. Given some of the course's requirements, it looks like I don't have to spend a penny more on hardware. There are a couple things I lack at the moment however. I somehow need to get hold of a Wacom Art Tablet (you know, one of those art computer pen tablet thingy-ma-jigs; similar technology to what those interactive whiteboards have). The only place I can think of finding a Wacom one is online, unless I feel cheap, then I'll head for Argos. I also need to get hold of a copy of 3DS Max 2010 (this is a very large and extremely complex modelling and animation graphics studio; the sort of program that special effects and CGI for films are created on). I pray that the University will sell it cheap, if not I'm in deep excrement. Other things I have to do are sort out some sort of finance. All the various grants and loans just go straight over my head. I'm really not a finance man, despite taking Business Studies (all be it for GCSE), so I'll need some help sorting out all that no doubt. Things keep cropping up in my mind about what I should take with me. Like for instance I just remembered I have an external hard drive. I must take that. Oh god I've got to take some DVDs as well. Can't live without the likes of Band Of Brothers or Snatch for too long...
Now, in the way of books I am slightly stuck. Do I want to look like a complete geek and take my entire collection of PCZONE mags along? Seeing as I will be with fellow Games Design students, I might as well. Harry Potter is a big no-no whatever the situation. If I'm going along with the geeky look I may just go the whole hog and take Stephen Fry's autobiography "Moab Is My Washpot", a few good crime thrillers such as Jeffery Deaver's "Devils Teardrop", a couple of gritty true war books such as Michael Sallah and Mitch Weiss's "Tiger Force", and of course the inevitable game concept art and walkthroughs such as Half Life 2's Prima Guide. To complete the look I'll take with me my concept art posters for HL2:Ep2 and STALKER: Clear Sky plus the signed HL2 poster, so kindly given to me by Gabe himself. Sorry to go on about that, it's just oh so precious to me.
Anyway. Moving away from my rather unexpected acceptance into University. What else has been going on in the world of me? Last time I left you I mentioned about a little BBQ round a friend's house. I'm glad to report that the directions I had, although slightly dodgy, took me on the right path and I managed to find the correct house (without having to stand like a loon I might add). It all went very well, and I managed to take a hundred or so pictures which, for those who have my Facebook, are now up. Having a distinct lack of alcohol (such as WKD and Strongbow) at my house during that particular week, I decided to take a rather unusual step and took some Champagne. We have a surplus of bottles. Leftovers from past parties and Christmases way back, and our wine rack is on the verge of overflowing with the bubbly stuff. Only one space is "free", and that is currently occupied by what I like to call our "last defense when the bombs begin to fall". A fire extinguisher. Slightly nonalcoholic, but it fills the hole. During the occasion I found a good use for my fingerless gloves (widely dubbed simply as "the hobo gloves"). It is rather amusing seeing a Champagne bottle in a Marks & Spencer's bag being clutched in the hands of someone donning the hobo gloves. Gives the wearer a look of a slightly upmarket, friendly hobo. A regular scruffy hobo, but one that emits the impression that they aren't interested in asking for change. I think we overstayed our visit for the BBQ a fair bit. People started leaving around half 10 and 11. A select few of us including me however ended up staying until 1 in the morning. A threat to the daughter of the residence we were staying at from her parents of "locking her out" unless we all buggered off was the call to get on our way. Another night walk in the space of a week. No complaints here.
Ah yes and then there was the A-Level celebratory pub crawl. What was originally going to be a meeting down town at 8pm followed by multiple pints, soon turned into a 3pm meeting down at the local cinema to watch Tarantino's new movie, "Inglourious Basterds". I didn't have high hopes. Brad Pitt... in a war movie... guh?!? However I must admit when I finally emerged from the cinema a mere 3 hours later (damn adverts), I actually quite liked it. Unlike some of his other movies, I could actually follow the plot rather easily. Yes it's not historically accurate, and yes Brad Pitt has an annoying accent, and yes Mike Myers looked and sounded like Dr.Evil, and yes the subtitles showed some French and German words in French and German instead of English (eg. Merci, Danke and Wunderbar). But I couldn't fault the acting capability of both Brad Pitt, and the best performance in the movie came from Austrian actor Christoph Waltz who plays a high ranking German Officer called Landa. Oh and of course the narrator being the coolest guy in the universe, Samuel L. Jackson. Some left the cinema with mixed feelings but I thought it was very Tarantino. Which is never a bad thing. A trip to KFC and then to a friend's house resulted in us being 20 minutes late meeting up with others (as usual). Normally I would be drinking along with everyone else, but that night for some reason I couldn't stomach anything. I had 3/4 of a pint then followed everyone else. Cutting a long story short, I was left with 3 highly drunk people to usher along the sea wall back towards their homes. Around half 3 in the morning everyone was back where they should be. By 4am I slept like a log until 4pm the following day. This experience has left me never wanting to go out that late again, or at least for tomorrow when people want to do it all over again. It's a dodgy world out there, and being heckled from a few drunken rabbles at 2 in the morning whilst I was completely sober has me questioning why I waste money only for it to end up in the sewers. Fresher's week at Uni is certainly not going to be a massive booze-up for me. I need that money damn it.
Literally just as I'm typing this up my new passport has arrived. Apparently they don't send new ones through the post anymore, so a person from the company has to drop it off personally. Plus it's a "new design" whereby it has a large computer chip in it. So far as I can make out, this allows you to skip long queues in airports because you can just scan it in a machine and move along. Makes me want to go on holiday just to try it out. Earlier today I went to the dreaded dentists and found out for the first term of Uni, at least, I will have to keep on my braces. Fan-bloody-tastic. Grr. However I should be getting a funky new pair of glasses. Hell yeah. My current pair have been broken three times. Once via a football to the face courtesy of an absolute tit; once via randomly picking them up one morning and finding one of the arms snapped; and once because of a paint balling incident (damn masks never bloody fit properly). They've been through a lot of shit (not literally) and have run their course well. I'm not really into looking fashionable at all, but even I know they aren't exactly "in" at the moment. I mean jeez, just look at my phone. Only 5 years old but completely out of date and looks comparatively massive next to an iPhone. Flip phones have had their day already it seems. It's all touch screen and uber-quality camera from now on. Oh well.
That concludes my little update for you all. Currently I'm finishing off a bottle of Lucozade and listening to some Kaiser Chiefs. Neither of which I've done in the past year I think. Congratulations and commiserations to those who have now received their exam results. Until next time...
flump_3@hotmail.com
TTFN,
Matt.
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