Story So Far

I thought I'd kick off my latest blog with a gratuitous picture of our fridge! So I'm nearly at the end of my forth week out in San Diego things are going well. Jodie has now come out here to join me for a couple of weeks so that's cheered me up very much.

I'll be back in the UK roughly mid May. Not had much time to take in the sights but when we have been out and about we've had a good laugh.

A couple of places we've enjoyed recently were two bars in Encinitas The Saloon and D street. Great bars with a great vibe.

http://www.myspace.com/the_saloon

http://www.dstreetbarandgrill.com/

Other than that we've been frequenting the Karl Strauss bar on an it's fair to say regular basis. :)
When we initially got here we were staying in a very comfy but unfortunately boring hotel with no bar! Shocking I know.

Anyway I'm a busy boy so more soon, hope all of you back home are well? and see you in a few weeks.

Sorry its late! A few stories to come this is the first.

Sorry it's been a while since my last post, we've been out in San Diego for about 3 weeks now, so I'll start with a funny story.

During our first week out it was Saint Patrick's day, now we do celebrate St Paddy's back in the UK but I wouldn't say it's always a massive night. Over here it's a big deal.

Everyone was out and almost everyone was wearing Green, the whole vibe was very festive. We decided to hit the first bar in Carlsbad Village. Now stupidly myself and one of the other guys Sean (who happens to be Irish) forgot our ID, the bouncer politely suggested we go get it then return and so we did.

Upon returning the rest of our party were in a different bar so we had a few in there then returned to the previous bar at which we were originally refused entry. This is where it gets funny.

So we're all queuing up to get in to this bar again I get in with my driver's licence as ID, one of the other guys gets in then Sean gets stopped and told that his Irish passport (which he'd previously been told to fetch) will not be permitted as actual ID! And this is on St Paddy's day of all Days.

So you've got a bar full of people (of which I would imagine very few are Irish) all wildly celebrating an Irish holiday, and an Irish guy stood outside being refused entry! Made us laugh anyway.

BIG NEWS!

Me and Jodie are going to be parents! Christ I've been dying to say that.

Hope everyone back home is ok, missing all you guys like crazy. Will do a longer blog soon, I've got some interesting stuff to stick up when I get time, busy at work at the mo.

Rapturous Response!

GTA CTW is now out in stores, as previously mentioned I was a little apprehensive about the forthcoming reviews. I always feel like this at the end of a game.

You put your heart and soul into something you genuinely love and all you want to do is produce a very good game that players will enjoy.

Without blowing our own trumpet it seems like it's job done. I'm so happy with these scores, I genuinely thought that this was the best project I'd ever worked on I think this confirms that for me....

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ds/grandtheftautochinatownwars

As you regular readers know I'm now out in San Diego (more specifically Carlsbad). The weather is awesome and the place looks great but I'm missing Jodie like mad.

Met some great guys out here, and I'm really looking forward to working with them, looks like I may even finally get my sleeve tattoo started, one of the guys here has some connections in SD so I'm going to see about getting something started. I mean it this time Hollie/Andy! :)

Offski's!

Well I leave for San Diego on Monday, I'm very much looking forward to getting over there but I'm going to miss Jodie massively. I think in all our years together the longest we've been apart is about 3 days. So a couple of months is going to be a big deal for both of us.

It's fair to say I'll miss the dog and the rest of my family and friends too. :) I've got some big news to reveal on here, but unfortunately it's going to have to wait until next week. I'll still be writing my blog from my temporary home so hopefully I'll be able to post some great images and stories.

Chinatown Wars will be hitting the stores imminently, I think I mentioned before that we're all very proud of what we have built, I'm excited/nervous to see the review scores rolling in. After 2 years you just want people to enjoy what the team have created.

Speaking of games if you have an iphone or an ipod touch pick up Zen Bound from the app store. It's a really funky little game that involves wrapping up wooden blocks in string, much better than it sounds. Pocket God is also worth a look for 59p, you don't really do much its just a bit of a laugh.

Finally I must say Happy Birthday to my brother, we're off to Hooters tonight for his 30th birthday, so that should be a laugh, Pete Tong is playing at Stealth. Be great to drag everyone to that but I doubt that's gonna happen.

Road Trip!

I've been very busy this weekend, it looks like I'm going to be out of the country for a couple of months leaving my lovely wife behind.

Which is one of the reasons I wanted to ensure my car was in the best condition it could be before I leave. As well as you know wanting to keep it nice. :)

On top of this we've been looking at new houses, it looks like this could all start happening in the space of a week, which is quite frankly insane! but also very exciting.

So basically its all go.

Nothing like a good swift kick to the place where the sun don't shine!

As I mentioned on here before my car was due in for a service. It's fair to say Mr BMW had my pants down. As you may or may not know I own an E46 BMW M3 (one in the pic above). I've wanted one for years, specifically that model the specific options it has and colour etc.

So yesterday I took it for its first service with BMW since getting the car around Christmas, I got the car in a private sale so it's expected that a few things may need addressing.

The car needs new wishbone suspension on the front, a new sensor for my alarm the actual oil service doing and a few belts that had perished on the air con and something else amongst a few other minor things.

£2000 later and I'm a little gutted, to be fair the guys at the BMW garage we're a little sympathetic dropping nearly £200 off the actual price and showing me through the garage and explaining exactly what needed doing and why.

Like me they are keen to keep the car looking as good as it should, the recent prang I reported was also not included in that quote, they would prefer to replace the whole rear quarter panel as the damage is just too awkward to put right by usual means and wouldn't look as good as it possibly should. They recommend I go through the insurance for that. :)