And he loves me!

Yesterday evening Karin and I went out for a Chinese meal with Per, Ebba and Johan and then went to a bar called “Williams” here in Uppsala. I had never been to the bar before but had walked past it often. The windows have something covering them so you cannot really see in so I had no idea what kind of place it was. As it turns out, it is a more-or-less traditional English pub! To say that I was pleased with this revelation would be an understatement!

Sad though it may be, one of the things I miss most from the UK are pubs. Not just any old kind of bar, but a proper English pub (not necessarily an olde-world style affair, just a straight forward no bullshit kind of place). I think that the concept of a pub does not translate well to many other cultures. A pub is not about drinking as much as being social with your friends and others, being in a place where you can feel comfortable and, probably most importantly, being somewhere without any sense of pretension.

Over the years I have done alot of the design work for my numerous projects in various pubs and coffee shops around Reading, Brighton and to a lesser part London. It is nice to be able to go somewhere where you can take a seat in the corner with good lighting and settle down to some heavy thinking and note-making without being disturbed, but still have things going on around you. I find that it helps to clear my head when you can hear and see people moving around, more or less oblivious to your presence. The added bonus of being able to buy food and drink when required is nice as well!

And now, for the first time in many months, I can say: “If you want me, I’ll be in the pub”!
(as opposed to being in the coffee shop Ofvandahls which has been my mooching place of choice so far in Uppsala)

As I sit here, on my new IKEA chair, at my old IKEA table, illuminated by my new IKEA desk lamp, with Karin’s IKEA plants nearby and an IKEA shelving unit flat packed behind me together with an IKEA spare fold up bed and an IKEA double bed you would be forgiven for thinking that I am trying to recreate the apartment scene from Fight Club. This morning Karin’s mother took us to IKEA to pick up various bits for our room that we have so far done without. We have had a distinct lack of storage room up until now so when we move into our new room on the floor above on the 1st September things should be alot more organised. We have also been given an old chest of draws for out closet so that helps as well.

We did spend an obscene amount of money at IKEA though. I had never been to an IKEA shop before and I can understand why my mother does not wish to go again. It is not that the shops are horribly laid out or awkward - they have a good, efficient system. In theory. The problem is that the good efficient system is used to marshal bad, unefficient human beings through the shop and allow them to get what they want and, hopefully, push loads of random stuff that they didn’t know they needed into their IKEA shopping bags or trollies. It is an exhausting experience. I will leave it at least 5 years before I repeat it I think.

Still good fun to see.

My work is going very well, but I wouldn’t know what to start talking about everything is going so well. So I won’t say anything. Except that I bought a soft toy at IKEA that is strangely like the aliens in my main demo game! I may post a picture later…

This may not make any sense. In an effort to get back to a proper day-night cycle I have stayed awake all night (again - I seem to do this quite often) and it’s half 6 in the morning now. Anyway…

The other day I went with Karin to a dinner at her Nation (like a college at Oxford or Cambridge) in Uppsala university. I’m not really made for these kind of events, even though I scrub up quite well, as I hate formal occasions and, to a lesser extent, students (Karin never said she’d become a student when I met her!). To make matters worse it was a “Crayfish Party” (and I hate crayfish), we would be sitting outside (which I also hate), there would be singing (Swedish custom, very big in Uppsala - not my favourite thing) and I had to pay. As we set off I had the distinct feeling that someone, somewhere had conned me.

When we arrived it was a bit awkward at first as neither I nor Karin really knew anyone until Karin’s brother, Per, arrived with his girlfriend Ebba and her brother Key. We were soon taking our seats and things were under way. As it turned out it was actually not that bad (other than the mosquitos that bit me terribly) and I chatted to some Swedish girls who used to live in Brighton, one of whom was returning to Brighton to study at Sussex Uni (where I used to study). Instead of crayfish I opted for the vegetarian meal of a large baked potato and a whole (baked?) artichoke so I was happy and full by the end of the meal.

The Swedish custom for eating/drinking songs, I guess, must extend from the viking times and it seems that everyone is keen on it. The songs usually involve either taking a shot (or part of a shot - usually of Schnapps) at the end of specific verses or the song itself and help to carry the evening on as *everyone* gets gradually more under the effects of the alcohol. I should also mention that the schnapps taken is “proper” schapps and not the sweetened horrors that are often readily available in the UK.

All in all, it wasn’t such a bad experience, but I was let off lightly as this was informal compared to certain Nation organised meals throughout the year. I can’t say that it was anywhere near as bad as I though it would be but now I am concerned. Am I just being lulled into a false sense of security?

You’ve seen everything, done everything and your dead. What do you do?

Memory is a funny thing. In mine the comic book author Warren Ellis is associated with looking south along a short stretch of road in Brighton, the corner going around the King Albert pub under Brighton station. What is even stranger is that looking north from the other end of the road is associated with reading about the talks that Marvel and DC had with their writers and artists over creator owned titles a while back. Why is this? Also I associate the carpark at Sussex University next to East Slope Bar with the Neo Geo emulation scene.

I guess everyone has their own version of this effect. It is just weird as most commonly the two items associated to each other in my mind have absolutely nothing to do with each other.

This effect can be forced slightly though, which is useful. I play different kinds of music when I am working on different section of my project. Whenever I have to come back to a section that I have left alone for a while I put on the music I listened to when I last worked on it and hey presto!, I can remember nearly everything about it and and I find it easier to get into the required frame of mind to continue. You should give it a try if you don’t already, It works for me!

My family returned to the UK the day before yesterday so I have a bit more time now. I had a great time showing everyone around and they all seemed to enjoy Sweden alot. It felt a bit funny having them all over here, because until now it was as though I had two separate lives, one in England and one in Sweden, so it didn’t really feel like I was away from home that much. Now, with seeing my family over here, I think everything has finally sunk in. Moving to Sweden was either the bravest thing I have ever done or the silliest! But it does feel “right” being out here (apart from missing my family and friends alot) so I guess all is OK. It was definitely hard to say goodbye.

I’m just sad because my secret life as an International Playboy in Sweden has had to come to an end. :(

Work wise things are going well. I am spending alot of time creating art content for the demo now - not my area of expertise - but things are starting to look OK.

I have just spent around £70 on buying in content (seamless high-res textures and a few models) and more may follow. Finding good quality content that is in a suitable format and of a suitable quality is quite hard. Most online asset marketplaces (like TurboSquid or Renderosity) cater mainly to the high-res non-realtime crowd, but you can occasionally find a few gems suitable for realtime use without too much alteration.

Just a note to everyone who thinks I am ignoring them: I’m not. Just a bit busy and have a backlog of emails to respond to! I will reply to you!

To the person who sent me the Hare Krishna spam: Why?

Well, I haven’t updated for a while mainly because as I said previously I’ve been quite busy. Work has slowed down while my family are over as I’ve been out and about with them but things are still looking good.

I’ve just found an old video I recorded of the Demo Harness in action back in May so I’ve put it online here (WMV, ~4.6MB, Right click and “Save link as…”). It is hard to explain to non-technical people, but what you see in the video is not directly the demo harness itself, but rather something developed using it. My current demo showing off the harness is pretty different to what you see in the video. Maybe one day, if you are lucky, I’ll show you it.

Also, I just noticed that my spam filter has been filtering out all recent messages from Mike of Mono Effecto fame. Sorry Mike! I’ll email you later when I’ve got some sleep (it’s 6am currently…)! Everyone else: Go to Mono Effecto’s website and register to get an exclusive download-only new single!

EDIT: Just noticed that in the video although I mention using an Oren-Nayor shader to render the floor, the floor is actually missing. Oops. Oh well. I can assure you that my Oren-Nayor shader looks lovely though.