I do like to be beside the seaside

I live in a tourist city and this probably has contributed largely to my hatred of being seen as a tourist. Usually I actively avoid doing touristy things and don't even really know what attractions are in the area.

This isn't very helpful when I have family or friends visiting and they want to know where to go for the day. My usual answers are "the pub", "town", "Leeds", "cinema". However this week my dad's been visiting, and we'd already exhausted my normal suggestions. Luckily Cat has had a lot of foresight and had gathered up a lot of attraction leaflets, and we started by spending a great afternoon at the Yorkshire Air Museum a couple of days ago.

Today my dad wanted to go to Scarborough, having never been before. I was feeling a bit more open to the whole touristy thing but was still a little apprehensive as I thought it might be a little bit of a disappointment as the front is surprising small so there might not be much to do and it can be a pain in the ass to get to by car.

I needn't have worried. Had an easy journey in and by taking advantage of Scarborough's great park & ride service we avoided the usual problem of trying to find a parking space. As for there not being much to do, we just had a really good time slowly meandering up the sea front and taking in the atmosphere. It's amazing that despite the constant progression of technology and the tendency for corporations to take over everything independant and replacing it with identikits stores, a lot of Scarborough still feels very old-fashioned.

We saw old fairground equipment, donkey rides, deckchairs for hire, hideous traditional seafood (anyone for jellied eels or whelks?), people flying kites, and the classic bucket and spade for sale. We also partook in Fish & Chips and a Mr. Whippy 99 ice-cream. It was ace and a real nostalgic trip :)

Must go again soon. :D

1vs100 - I love it then I hate it

Well this is a surprise. Today I planned to write about how much fun I'm having with 1vs100 on xbox live. But then this evening's live event was so frustrating and tedious, now I really don't know how I feel about it.

At first I loved it. I really enjoyed answering along with the questions, competing for score, the tension of whether the "One" would take his currently earned prize or push his luck. Also would I or someone I know get picked to play? However today's episode was dreadful.

They say they select people for the "One" and the hundred-strong "Mob" for him to play against based on players past-performance. But there's no way this can be true as tonight the general performance was terrible. The easiest questions were being incorrectly answered, or at least being dragged out with lifeline uses. The questions get more interesting and harder the longer the current player has been playing, so when you get people consistently being knocked out early / taking the low prize you can get very bored.

It's also feeling very disjointed. Near the end of the game I felt like I was only getting to answer a couple of stupid questions before being shunted off to see the instructional videos / stat reports over and over again.

It's still in beta, and still shows a lot of promise so I'll try to keep an open mind. Definitely recommend trying it out, especially the live shows as it's certainly a unique experience and a good indication of the new kinds of entertainment we're going to see being offered on the current generation of consoles.

Rediscovering drunken poker

Today I rediscovered the fun of poker!

Too long I have been playing for money, regardless of fun. Today, me and my dad and Chris got absolutely drunk and had the most fun I've had for ages. Generally, I've taken poker a little too seriously, because of the cash I've been playing for.

This evening, we played for fun. And oh what fun it was!
Play poker. play it without money. You'll be surprised!

Mmmm curry

I love curry and cooking curries, but just can't keep all the ingredients you need to cook them
so I usually have to rely on those sauce in jars.

Sometimes they just don't cut it, so then I use Rafi's spicebox. You choose the curry you want and they measure out all the fresh ingredients for you, customised for the amount of spiciness you like, and put it in an airtight heat sealed bag for you to take home.

All that's required is then for you to cook it up with the meat and vegetables of your choice, add in some creamed coconut and/or tomatoes, and preferably leave it overnight to let all the flavours come out (not compulsory).

The closest thing I've ever had to restaurant/takeaway curry. If you're even in York, pop down Goodramgate and grab a curry or order online!