Well, I guess it is slightly obvious I forgot all about this blog.

It's a Sunday, I'm not really doing a whole lot, so I figured why not make an update entry of what I've been up to since the last entry. I love Bank Hol weekends !

Lets see...

The 07 GZ weekender was an interesting and fun weekend. I haven't made it there this year unfortunately but it looked to be even bigger than the last player wise.

I finally got the hassle with my written off Honda Prelude sorted in November, and bought a new car after some serious hours working. I chose an imported Starlet GT turbo in the end, which is pretty much better in every way than the Prelude. Quicker, smaller, cheaper on tax and petrol, and a fair bit less common too which is nice.

Christmas was good, more so because I had it completely free of working due to quitting my job (out of hours merchandiser at PCWorld).

I started playing down at UCAP in Portsmouth from the start of this year. It is a truely superb urban site to anyone in the south looking for a dark, up close and personal game site. The site staff and players are sound,the game scenarios are a good laugh, and the ever improving game area makes it a great place to play.

Up until Feb of this year I was still unemployed while I made a serious attempt to get a job related to my degree. That idea crashed and burned after 2 months searching with little to no luck. It seems in Marine Biology demand far outstrips supply and many prospective employers don't even see a BSc as that desirable. If only they told you that when you signed up. The lying dogs.

March time I yielded to an ever growing need for cash (and an upcoming car tax renewal) and signed up with an agency working as a temp from March til the start of June. This was as you'd expect minimum wage *suitcase*, and not at all good in any way. 3 months, 40 hours a week, in a small windowless room sticking address labels on software update CD's does turn you slightly crazy. I'm surprised I hung on to it for 3 months, but it gave me some cash while hunting for a proper job.

N.B. *suitcase* eh, that is a new one to me, I thought *fruitcage* was the only swear word subsituted...

The proper job finally came to my rescue in June. I saw an ad for a company called Subspection. They deal with Cathodic Protection Services (In simple terms stopping offshore platforms and pipelines etc from corroding away) and the role I applied for was the first I'd seen that I felt I could probably have a good crack at. It also offered full training, and required a science based degree so potentially I had at least completed 3 extra years of education for something...

I sucessfully got the job a week or so after the interview and started as a report writer / data processor on June 23rd. Cue 3 weeks holiday while waiting for it to start. Good stuff. My basic tasks include learning a shed load of inhouse software used to process survey data, and trying to get my head around less than simple electrochemical reactions and goings ons in order to interpret what I find, and make it into a good report for the client. It is a bit of a struggle when you haven't so much as even looked at a chemistry book since back at secondary school, but I'm getting there.

Now about 3 months in to my job, it is going pretty well, though there is still a hell of a lot to learn and lots of questions daily from myself to just about everyone else. Unfortunately the senior report writer is leaving in a week taking 7 years of experience and knowledge with him, which will make things a little less comfortable than they have been for me up to now. In a further 6 weeks the second report writer is off travelling for 3 months leaving me to go solo in the office. I'm more than a little nervous about this but I guess we will see how things go.

I've also as a requirement of my job had an offshore medical examination, a shed load of immunisations for various diseases (inc yellow fever, hep a & b and typhoid all at once the first time) just in case I have to travel offshore somewhere in the world for a job, and in 2 weeks have a 3 day offshore survival course where I get to learn how to fight fires and escape from a simulated submerged helicopter crash amongst other activities. Good stuff

Airsoft wise I've been playing more regularly than ever, at least once a month since the start of this year.

My M249 para is fully sorted and running a dream now at over 1100 rpm @ 320fps

My MP7 still needs a new cylinder head, I might well sell it after I fix it up as it doesn't get enough use.

My MP5K is up for splits as I fancy a change and it has seen better days cosmetically after a years hard service.

As usual more money tempts more purchases and once again I'm considering changing my loadout or buying more shiny things...the same as always.

I think that about covers it.