Technology: Taking the fun out of a lot of stuff!

Is it me, or is everything that can be enjoyed on the Internet being spoiled? This includes gaming on consoles such as the X-Box 360.

I will place a long pause here, to allow you to ponder that question..........................................

Just watching my boyfriend play Call Of Duty *insert number and title here*, and there's all this talk of "modded controllers", which are basically X-Box controllers that have been modified to fire more shots at opponents. While some of you may be thinking how amazing that is, I am of the opinion that it is cheating, and what part of cheating is fun? Why would you spend so much money on a game, console and controller, and then cheat?

The other modern concept that is being spoilt, is social networking (within which I include Facebook, Twitter, forums, blogging etc). Twitter has been completely turned on it's head after "Spam-bots" took over. Thankfully, there has been an operation to rid the micro-blogging site of some of these pests, but many still remain. Numbers of followers used to be exciting to keep up with, now it's annoying to know that half of those followers might be only doing so to send Spam, or viruses, or dodgy pictures.

Having said that, some exciting moments have been brought to me by Twitter, including the following:







YES! That is the real David Lloyd, replying to lil' ol' me!

Also, what's this with Facebook allowing people to create themselves a middle name, or two...or three? I think Christianity may have something to say about self naming, (and yes I do know that "Christianity" is not the bloke off Eastenders!).

So for all that modern concepts and technology can bring, don't forget, they're not perfect, and I can't see them ever being so. It's not even possible to get a mobile phone to work for over about a year, so how is there any chance of defeating X-Box cheaters and Twitter spammers, to name but a few annoyances.

Views, please? :)

Should have gone to Specsavers...

...well I did!

My eyes have been getting progressively worse recently, probably due to computer use and general laziness. I've needed a new pair of glasses since mine broke (the lens just fell out, and I'm far to vain to use Sellotape!), so today was the day.

I was a bit nervous as I haven't been for years, and this wasn't helped by the grouchy optician woman who wouldn't crack a smile if her life depended on it. She asked: "When did you last wear glasses", to which I replied: "well I got some a few years ago...". She then butted in with: "NO...when did you last WEAR glasses". She almost rolled her eyes, but I think her professionalism slightly got the better of her!

Then I had that embarrasing task of trying to identify letters that I couldn't have seen if spent a year looking. Every time I was asked which line of letter I could see, I really wanted to say none, but did the decent thing and at least pretended I could see the middle line. They all looked like dots, so I just picked random letter, to which the optician patronisingly said "good" each time!

After all the testing was done, I wanted to dramtise the whole experience a bit more, so turned to her in an Eastenders style moment, and said: "Honestly, how bad is my left eye...it feels so bad these days".

*DRAMATIC PAUSE*

Optician: "Not really that bad"

Hmmm...

Long time no see. What have I been doing?

Well, it's been a while, mainly for 2 reasons: a) I have been very busy and b) I haven't had that much to say.

I had a great trip to Chester Zoo a few weeks ago for my Dads 50th. Me and my sister bought him an adoption for the lions, so we went mainly to see them. I took loads of pictures, but so far these are the only ones I have edited...





On Monday of this week, I attended Sega's Virtua Tennis 2009 Masters Monday, which I covered for WiiDS. You can find a full write up of my day here, as well as a sneak preview of "Let's Tap" on the Wii here.

I will post pictures of that event later :)

As for now, I have to revise for an exam on Friday, then I will no longer be a student. Very mixed emotions about that. Can't wait for the studying to be over, but I have made many great friends who I will miss very much.

That is all for now!

Valon Behrami

I really do love that man. Today he has confirmed that he will miss the rest of West Ham's season, but it is not yet known if he will need surgery for cruciate ligament damage. I hope not :(

The injury looked awful, and it certainly left me and many others feeling a bit down. He is a fantastic footballer and really has played a major role in getting our season really going. He also seems like a really lovely man.

I suppose I am mainly writing this blog a) because I'm bored and b) because there is no obvious way of telling Behrami how much he means to West Ham fans. That has become very clear in the last few months.

So, we wish all the best to Behrami and hope next season he is able to return to his best again.

What really grinds my gears

I love that episode of Family Guy!

I'll tell you one thing that I hate, and that's people that laugh at stuff that isn't even remotely funny. For example, I was on a train yesterday from Holyhead to Chester and two girls got on at some point. They were of school age. Now, I don't know if it's just me, but I was getting so irritated that they just wouldn't stop laughing at what appeared to be nothing. Every time they looked at one another it seemed they were bursting into a false laughter that only "the popular ones" can do and get away with.

Maybe I am a cynical old witch (at this tender age of 21!) but for goodness sake, if you're going to laugh, make it for a reason. I thank you!

This is one of many things that irritates me about school kids. I know I was one only a few years ago, and I knew people like that, but I for one was never like that. I didn't laugh just because it was cool, I didn't play music off my phone, I didn't smirk at adults...maybe then I was a geek!

When I have kids, they will watch 80's cartoons, dress in the least scenester way possible, have normal hair, and if they act with the above manners, they will be sent to bed for two weeks with only milk and a biscuit!

A few Paris pics :)

I did promise, so here you go! These pictures by the way are from my suprise trip to Paris for ny 21st birthday. I miss it already, and would love to go back soon.

So, we arrived in Paris Beaumont Airport after flying from Liverpool John Lennon. As it was my birthday, I wanted to do something memorable for it. We were very tired, so had a sleep first, then at about half 5 we took the metro to near the Eiffel Tower. It was amazing, and we just got there in time to see the lights flashing on the hour.


On the second day we did the Louvre, the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. It was all fantastic! Such a long day though and we were both so tired and our legs were sore! It was lovely though, because it was Valentines Day, so everyone was looking so happy and holding hands. This is the Paris I think everyone imagines :)


On the final day we intended to go the Lafayette shopping centre, but it was Sunday, so it was closed! We looked on a map and decided to go to Notre Dame instead.


Then we got the Eurostar back to Ashford International on Sunday afternoon and it was a great way to travel! It was quiet, extremely quick and comfortable too. Will definitely be doing that again.


So that concludes my brief Paris story! Now, I am not well and very tired...probably still recovering from walking down the Champs Elysees!

Bonsoir.

It's been a week!

I haven't blogged for a week now, and the reason for that is I am only just settling back into daily life after being whooshed off to Paris to celebrate my 21st birthday.

On Thursday 12th February (the day before my birthday!) I was told to pack my stuff, we were going to Paris for the weekend. My boyfriend had arranged everything!

So anyway, stay tuned to see a few pictures and an account of how I found the romantic city. I'm still coming down from the excitement, so every day life has not been resumed...I'm putting it off! That's why I'm being so lazy this week :)

Also, my boyfriend bought me a book that he had designed himself. It is a fantastic keepsake present. Take a look here: Lucy Woolford: The Story So Far

No snow in Chester, but I still managed to get stuck!

On Sunday night I was in the car with my Dad, taking my sister to Beverley in Yorkshire. We were travelling from Sale in Cheshire, and there had been some snow there earlier in the day, but nothing that settled.

Getting to Yorkshire was a completely different kettle of fish!

In my 21 years (nearly!) I don't think I've ever seen snow so bad. Beverley is sort of in the middle of nowhere, well to the like of me who only knows towns! So we turned off the motorway and hit country roads.

Already along the way we had experienced very heavy fog, and very heavy snowfall coming at the windscreen, so this was the icing on the cake.

We got STUCK!

Quite a few cars also did, but we had the sense to at least attempt a 3 point turn and head for main roads. I saw "we", I can take no credit!

It was so thick on the ground that the wheels on the car were spinning, and braking proved to be difficult. One car had already given up on going further and had pulled over, probably for the night.

So that was that excitement. We had to go through Hull and use main roads.

Such a shame that it was too dark to take pictures with my phone :(

Give me BBC football any day

For anyone who didn’t see the Everton V Liverpool FA Cup tie last night, you missed a cracker. No not the game (it was a bit rubbish to be honest!), but the monumental error that ITV made in showing an ad during play.

It wouldn’t really have mattered if this part of the game was as boring as the first 100 odd minutes, but unfortunately for the person in charge of the ads, it was when the only goal of the game came!

I did think it was strange at the time, and thought they must be contracted to show ads then or something, but when it came back and there had been an Everton goal, I could not believe my eyes...so much so that I went out to get chips and gravy while I pondered the matter!

I don’t think anyone really knew how serious this matter was until this morning. It seems now that there will be an FA investigation to see how seriously ITV take the football.

Too right...how can any channel that employs David Pleat to commentate, take anything seriously?

I think so far there have been over 1000 complaints from people who missed the goal, and as the problems seemed to last longer in the north west, most of those are probably from angry Evertonians.

It will be interesting to see what comes of this...

UK snowfall worst in 18 years...

...and I remember the last time too, as it was around the time my sister was born! We had to clamber through snow to see her!

Anyway, I don’t want to harp on about the snow- I know it’s been exhausted by the BBC! I only really want to write about it so that I remember that it happened!

I didn’t go out in it. I really did want to take my camera, but I was far too cold, and wasn’t in the mood to get soggy.

In Chester we’ve had far less than in the south of England. It snowed a bit on Monday, then it got quite heavy in the evening. Tuesday was horrible and icy so it was “big furry boots” weather.

(Image from Flickr)

Was hoping for proper snow in this part today, but it didn’t happen. Ah well...maybe in another 18 years!

I know it affected a lot of people going to work and school, especially in the south of England and the eastern parts, and I really do think Carol McGiffin (Loose Women, ITV1) should stop harping on about how people were being stupid and didn’t even try to get to work.

I think that the break from work has done people some good. Ok some may have used the snow as a lame excuse, but then I wouldn’t drive in conditions like that for anyone! Trains and buses were cancelled, so what more could they do? A story came to light today about a man who walked 18 miles to get to work, because he was a radiographer. Fair play to him, and I really commend that, but obviously not everyone has the incentives to get to work that he does. He must love his job!

I don’t agree that the Government should have a plan in place for such freak weather conditions as this because for goodness sake, we are in a recession. The last thing we want is for more money down the drain, when this might not happen again for another 20 years. Just chill out and enjoy the fun!

SPAM!

If anyone has ever watched Fonejacker on Channel 4 in the UK, you will understand why I find receiving junk mail so utterly hilarious!

Normally I try not to read junk mail, I filter it to just go to a different folder, where all the poor little unread emails disappear into a big black hole. Sometimes though, one claims in the title to be a reply to something I have sent, and it usually involves a lottery draw, which I have been lucky enough to win, without even entering! These ones prove to be great entertainment, and I'd love to know who writes them.

Today I read one with the subject "Your Ref. NG/ST/GBS", leading me to believe that maybe I ordered something with that reference number. But no...this was telling me that due to illegal activity that I had carried out, I was putting my inheritance money at risk. Hmmm!

Funny that I should be getting inheritance money from someone in Nigera that I never met.

I continued to read on...and then the REALLY funny bit came.

"This card centre will send you an atm
card which you will use to withdraw
your money in any atm machine in any part
of the world,but the maximum is
ten thousand,five hundred United States
dollars per day. So if you like to
receive your funds in this way please let
us know by contacting the Dhl
Courier Company"

DHL?! Aaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaha!!!

It then goes on to describe how DHL will deliver my card to me for a fee of $200. Seems like a bargain to me.

So that was the most entertaining moment of my day so far, and now it's 18:50, so I doubt anything more excellent will happen than that.

Also by the way, this story may resonate with you if you have read Danny Wallace's "Yes Man", in which he says yes to everything, including such a spam email as the above. Very funny indeed!

When picking a dissertation question...

...pick something you will enjoy!

To be honest, I don't think anyone can "enjoy" writing 10,000 words on one single subject! Well ok, I know some people can, but not 3rd year students like me who eat too much junk and sleep very little!

My dissertation currently look like this:

Ah only kidding! So far it's going ok. The above is the title, which is actually more engaging than it sounds. I just hope the poor soul who marks it agrees!

But it is a very stressful process. I think the worst part is thinking that you can't do it. I certainly got to a point last week where I was looking at a blank page, and had a blank brain too, because all I could think was "I can't do it!"

So, anyone else done a dissertation or currently doing one? What was your topic?

I will keep you updated on progress, and any interesting findings!

Reflection

Tonight I have been browsing other blogs just to get a feel of what people use their blog space for.

Personally, I wanted mine to be kind of like a diary (without the private stuff!) that I could look back on and remember things.

I found a blog tonight that truly reflects how I would love to write. I would enjoy writing about little things that happened, and explaining my feelings about them. Perhaps I just don't have the patience or the drive to write so poeticly any more.

Anyway, here is a link for anyone who is interested. You may even have already seen it...

http://ricksgarden.blogspot.com/

While I am feeling reflective, may I also take this opportunity to express my gratitude to my friends, family and my fantastic boyfriend for all of their love and support over the years, to get me to where I am today.

New Leader of the World

In a few hours, Barack Obama will become the 44th President of the United States of America/World.

This is more of a diary entry really than a blog, and a chance for people to share opinions via comment.

I have the live action on BBC News 24, and at the moment, everyone is getting a little bit excited.

Personally, I am not as excited as I hoped I would be. I just really hope there will be a change for the better in the world, and that the words are not empty promises. We shall see.

Oooohhh we are hearing on the BBC that George Bush has just been boo'ed. Interesting.

The day's fun continues...

West Ham United

I LOVE THEM!

Football is a strange thing. You find yourself addicted. It takes over your life sometimes, and then you realise that it's 22 overpaid men kicking a ball and falling over. But it's great!!!

Today I watched West Ham V Fulham and we played brilliantly. Zola is really starting to prove that he can infuse confidence, belief and tactics into a decent side. We've always been capable of being a good side, but we don't always execute it. Winning in such style as today is a joy. It lifts my spirits no matter what!

Oh, and as for Bellamy he is no longer wanted by West Ham fans. After chanting "Are you watching Bellamy" whilst being 3-1 up, I think that made it pretty clear!

Thank you West Ham for providing some of the happiest moments of my life over the past 20 years! I was lucky enough to be a season ticket holder for about 5 years, and witnessed the likes of Paulo Di Canio, Carlos Tevez, Teddy Sherringham, Joe Cole and Vladamir Labant!!!

(Photo courtesy of BBC News)

While we are on the subject of football, the current transfer rumour is that Kaka is going to fully loaded Man City for £100million. This is an absurd amount of money to put on a mans head. He would apparently be paid £500,000 per week. I couldn't take that money and be proud of myself. There are children starving in the world. By all means I would love to see someone of his stature in the English Premier League, but not for those prices.

Graduate Jobs

I'll be honest from the start. I am absolutely terrified about having to find a job in September in the current financial climate.

We are now reading stories saying that graduates are finding this the worst time to leave uni and find a job, because there aren't any. So, we leave school and are told to get into £20,000 worth of debt, because it will definitely help us get a job. Well thanks Mr Blair, Mr Brown and Mr Bank. Students are now screwed. Even if I'm lucky, I might find a job in a shop for which I'm over qualified.

My plan over the next year is as follows:

• Leave uni in June, hopefully with a good pass
• Return to Ireland for the summer and work (job hunting as we speak!)
• Move back to Chester having found a cheap flat and managed to pay a deposit
• Begin a job and work like a dog just to pay the bills

It's really REALLY scary. I am hopeful that I will get a good degree, and I am in contact with people to find a job in September, but so far, not good. How am I supposed to pay rent, bills, food and live with no job? I will be living with my boyfriend who will still be a student, so there will be little second oncome.

This is the first time in my life I have been genuinely anxious about getting into the big wide world, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

And just so I can show off one of my photos, I'm going to end with the phrase, "time is running out"!

Life Update

Well, the busy Christmas and New Year period is over. But I'm still busy!

Obviously, deadlines are a problem this time of year. I say problem, because it always seems as though they cannot possibly be kept to, even if a miracle were to occur.

Every time a deadline comes around, we all panic and think we can't do it, and it's gonna be rubbish even when we do get it in. This time is no exception!

But it will be ok. This time I am creating an 8 page magazine complete with design and photographs. I am making a teenage health magazine, hoping that it would stop teenage girls from turning to adult methods of staying healthy.

So, that is why there has been no writing for a while. Hopefully soon I will do something of significance to write about.

Happy New Year by the way!

Oh and Woolworths is now officially no longer.

Who has got the X Factor?

Ok, so it's not really an intelligent blog today!

It is the X Factor final tonight. Eoghan Quigg (or Eggnog!), Alexandra Burke and JLS are in the final. It is believed that Boyzone, Westlife (after Beyonce pulled out) and Rhianna are to perform with the hopefuls.

Personally, I hope Eoghan doesn't win. He's a lovely lad who has more talent for singing (and anything really!) than most kids his age. I am pleased that young'uns can be shown in a good light like this. But he hasn't got the most talent there. The only reason I believe he's still in is because the whole of Ireland is voting for him. Well, only the north can vote by telephone still...a lot of people!

Alexandra is by far the best singer. She deserves it more than the others after being knocked back by Louis Walsh a few years ago. If there is any justification in public voting then she will win, but as we know after the likes of Laura White and Ruth Lorenzo were voted off, there is not.

JLS are brilliant. They are a breath of fresh air for "pop" music. It's been a while since a new boy band came around that were actually very talented and made me smile. And they do really make me smile! I wouldn't mind if they win.

The biggest travesty of all is that the winner will release "Hallelujah". I don't mind a cover version being the first release, but why do they have to pick a truly brilliant song that has made it's mark in history, why not pick something rubbish that they could make good?

This piece is mainly to be put into the 'Time capsule' category...I would like to look back on this and remember my thoughts on the night of the final, rather than wondering "what happened to that anonymous who won X Factor?".

It's started, do I'm going to enjoy good Saturday night TV!

A Few Things

Change of format today. I have a few things on my mind, so I'm going to bullet point them!

• I sent a reasonable email to a tutor the other day, asking why we had to submit in a certain way. I wanted an explanation. What did I get back? Basically it said "do as you're told". I'm nearly 21 years old, not 12.

• I emailed X-Box services the other day, and complained about the mute button thingy on the headset. It says "Mute on/off", when really it should say "Microphone on/off". Work it out! So keep your eye out...any changes may be made by moi!

• Been watching Mark Beaumont in his mission to cycle the world in less than 195 days. He made a documentary about it for the BBC called "The Man Who Cycled the World". What a truly inspirational man. He deserves more recognition than he has received.

• I filled in a health and safety form yesterday so that I could borrow recording equipment from the Uni. I never saw such nonsence in my life! I explained that there wasn't really a box I could tick seeing as I was only taking it home, and I have no wind manchine, falling tree or axe murderer in my house. He told me to tick something anyway. I put "electrical hazards". Maybe I'll try and put it in the microwave...

Now excuse me, my Tesco delivery has arrived!

Who on Earth Would Stay up for Boxing?!

Me! Till about 6am tonight.

It is now 23:04 and I'm feeling the pressure! It's hard work, but someone has to do it!

I have stayed up for many fights, and to be honest I don't know why. I could think of much more productive things to do at 5am than watch two men battering each other in a ring...like sleep!

Ah well, here goes...

Always Take the Weather With You...

...whether you want to or not!

Why is it that people always want to talk about the weather? I know it's quite important, but it's not as if no one knows about it. If you bump into someone in the street and say: "Isn't the weather bad?", what are they going to say? They're hardly going to reply: "I don't know I haven't noticed", as their umbrella blows inside out!

I worked in a shop in Ireland over the summer, and my goodness do they enjoy revelling in miserable weather! To be fair, it was awful weather pretty much every day, but I didn't expect EVERY customer to talk about how rainy it was.

When I wake up now in the mornings, it's on the radio. Turn on the TV and it's on there too. Go into the shop and whatever cheerful soul serves you will ask you if it's cold out! The answer is always yes. Even Facebook is littered with status updates saying how cold people are!

So why are we so obsessed with weather? I suppose because it affects what we do, how we feel, how we dress. But I think one solution to make ourselves feel a bit less miserable about it is to not talk about it! Wrap up warm, bring a brolly and wear a smile on your face. Whatever the weather, make your topic of conversation how great the economy is in this country...

...oh wait!

Citizen Journalism...I'm Excited!

I have not been so excited about journalism since...well, I never have I don't think. So I'll rephrase that sentence to make sense- I have never been so excited about journalism as I am now!

I know that 9/11 allowed citizens of America to share their stories about the Twin Tower attacks, and videos of the London bombings were taken on a video phone, but the recent events in Mumbai seem to have opened up a massive door in terms of citizen journalism.

I was reading the live update feed about the Mumbai attacks on the BBC website. As the major events began to draw to a close (thank goodness), there were Twitter updates being used by the BBC to illustrate what was going on in real time. People in the city were updating their Twitter statuses to let the world know what was really happening, and the BBC used it as news. Which, I feel, is perfectly right.

The journalism may not be relying on sending reporters out to India, but it is still doing it's job; reporting NEW events.

Not only was Twitter used in the reporting, Flickr, Global Voices and personal blogs made contributions to news stories. Surely I cannot be the only one who is finding this quite amazing, and quite exciting, without meaning to be so insensitive to a terrorist attack.

I was up until about 5am yesterday, just updating BBC updates, Twitter and Flickr to get a real life view of what is happening in Mumbai. This is the only way to do it, I can't fly out there to see it for myself, so citizens are my best option.

Here is a link to a story about citizen journalism in the New York Times...that I found on Twitter!! http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/world/asia/30twitter.html?_r=1&partner=rss

What do you think? Excited or cheated of real journalism?

Thugz 'n' Yobz- What Would You Do?

I live in usually quiet Chester. Nothing much really goes wrong. It's a bit noisy at 3am sometimes when the alcohol has been flowing, but apart from that, everything flows quite well.

So when I heard loud noises just before 1am the other day, I was concerned. I was too afraid to look out of the window, so I was not sure what was going on. It sounded as though someone was being kicked or punched several times, and there was a lot of shouting.

I really didn't know what to do. As my boyfriend reached for the phone, the noises got less, and the shouting was quieter. Probably, the right thing to do would have been to call the police. Everything ran through my head: "What if someone's been stabbed?", "What if someone's lying on the floor and needs help?".

Unfortunately, these thoughts were mixed with the worry that if we did call for assistance, would the police come to our house, and make it obvious that we called them? It shouldn't have crossed my mind, but it did. I am one of those people who would love to help others, and feel a duty to if they are in trouble, but I am also over ruled by the though of someone seeking revenge.

This is wrong, I know, but I'm sure I'm not the only one. I'm also sure I'm not the only one who heard the commotion on that night, and nobody else called for help.

Last night, I found out that someone was going around the streets banging on people's doors. My housemate said that he heard people banging on doors the previous night, so the two incidents could have been related. After hearing this, I spent the night with the door locked, and the light on. I was genuinely afraid that someone would bang the door down, and come into my room.

This is wrong. As much as I am wrong to not call the police, it cannot be as wrong as terrorising people in their own home. What would you do in the above situations?

Spending in the Credit Crunch.

Are you doing it? Yes, so am I!

I find myself these days spending more in fact. Because I want to get an education, I am unfortunate enough to be almost £20,000 in debt. Does that stop me spending money? Clearly not.

We are waking up every morning to the radio alarm (or afternoon, whatever floats your boat!), to hear the XYZ & Co have cut 150million jobs, and are relocating to outer space. We hear that profitable businesses are no longer making profit, or at least as much as they used to. It is obvious that everyone and everything is feeling the pinch.

So am I doing the right thing in saying "ah well, I might as well still live a bit"? No, probably not. I like to think I have my head screwed on, and I am quite sensible. Scarily, I will be living off my own money in 6 months time, but I know if I keep throwing away money as I am, I will not be able to afford a cardboard box, let alone a flat. But how on earth am I going to find a job in this climate? Even the great Martin Bell admitted that as a journalism student, it will be very difficult to waltz into a job, even with a good degree.

But it's tempting isn't it, when special offers are filling the shops. After going into Chester on Sunday, I realised that although everyone is a bit scared deep down of losing their jobs, they are determined to keep shopping, and will not be cutting down this Christmas.

As I write this, I heard Mr Channel 4 announcer say that up next is a "Location Location Location Credit Cruch special". See, you can't get away from it! Just as a side note here, I love Phil Spencer.

This is partly the reason we are all so worried in the first place. If the media hadn't created a moral panic, would there be a credit crunch. My personal opinion, is no. Why would we be worried about losing jobs and saving money if the newspapers weren't plastered with headlines such as "We're going to have no money this time tomorrow" (Disclaimer: I don't know if that headline is real!).

I think the outlook is bleak. We are all going to find the next year difficult. My very boring but sensible advice is think before you buy. Do you need it? No, probably not!



Apologies that most of this does not make sense, but it's just a piece about feelings!

I died in World of Warcraft...oh how I cried!

Before you get the wrong idea, it was my first time. To cut a long(ish) story short, I am making a radio programme for uni, and my topic is World of Warcraft (WoW). I want to get inside the mind of those who play, and more seriously, those who get addicted. It will be my first real piece of investigative journalism, so getting involved is important.

So I took the step. I logged in to the WoW website for the first time. I clicked download FREE trial (I refuse to pay!). I then had to create some mad name that meant that no one would ever guess my real identity. All I was say, is that Chico had some influence on my final decision!

My player was created. He was short (like me), had facial hair (unlike me!) and carried a sword. Cool! He has a cute little run too.



Next I had to learn how to kill people. I'll be honest, I didn't really bother learning. I clicked and typed away, saying hello to dwarfs and gnomes alike. It was snowing in WoW world, so my poor guy must have been chilly. Despite this, he battled away. I got a thrill from when I sworded the other lads, and the little red bar went up (or down, I wasn't really looking!).

My boyfriend took over and got talking to a very friendly man/big dwarf/santa, who helped us to find some kinda land far away, and to download something to help us get a quest.

Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the quests. I was brutally murdered by a wolf/goblin/Joe Pasquale lookalike. So then I waited the 6 minutes to revive, or so I believed. REVIVE MY EYE! I was dead alright, and wandered around for an hour, wondering why no one was around, and all I could do was hide in tents, oh and type "x" to sit down!

Did I continue to create a new gnome? In a word...no.