Shopping

Went into town today to buy some dishwasher liquid and some toilet paper (because I'm such a wild man).

Had a browse in Game. That's a computer/console game shop, by the way, not a magazine.

As I now have a working CD drive and a decent computer, I thought I'd have a gander at the current range of PC games. I nearly exploded with laughter when I saw a game called Forklift Truck Simulator, but as you can see here, it was not a mere figament of my imagination.

It turns out this game is part of a series of similar games. I espied a British Truck driving simulator along with a European Truck driving simulator. But what is the difference between the two games aside from driving on the other side of the road? Well, different designs of truck, obviously!

According to Wikipedia the company responsible for this game, Astragon, have also produced a number of other simulation games, as can be seen from the diverse list. We're certainly not spoilt for choice.

Still, I'm quite tempted to buy a car-racing game. The only trouble is most of the new games are being released on various consoles. Which is alright if you actually own one. I do have PS2 which I bought nearly seven years ago, but have no intention of getting a newer model.

I was also tempted to buy Fifa 2010, which is only £30 (or £29.99, or something in that range). I did not, however, as I am holding my breath that they will release a World Cup special. From what I read at the back of the game box, Fifa 2010 does allow you to play the qualification rounds of the World Cup, but I am not sure whether it lets you continue to the next round. I will do more research on this, as it seems counterintuitive.

I also went to Waitrose to buy the aforementioned domestic products: dishwasher liquid and toilet paper. I decided to be controversial and by some BLUE toilet paper. I should probably call it 'bathroom tissue' actually - Waitrose is a rather high-end supermarket, as we all know.

As I wandered through the drinks section I couldn't help but notice some of the energy drinks on display. There was a surprisingly wide range, including some I had never heard of before (hence the surpirse). Amongst the names of these newer drinks were 'alibi', 'Emerge' and 'POWER HORSE'. You probably find this list a little amusing yourself, perhaps without really knowing why. I will explain why I found (each of) them funny.

i) alibi

Once when I was in London in September (after playing a little 1/1 session at the Grosvenor with a pokerplaying friend of mine) we walked around Oxford Street in search of some food. We saw one 'trendy wine bar' called 'alibi'. My friend and I joked about the rather trite, casual, blasé names these places give themselves in order to be fashionable. A bit like the way student nightclubs use event names like 'Collision', 'Coup' or 'Dogma' to appear exciting and slightly student-politicky.

ii) Emerge

I found it slightly amusing that the first letter was capitalised and the others weren't. It made it look rather formal in a strange way. The idea that someone might 'emerge' from the physical/mental mess they were in simply by rolling a can of this drink from under their desk humoured me a little, as it reminded me of the worst excesses of student decadance. Also the word emerge, to me, has overt sexual connotations. I shall leave it to your imagination why this is.

iii) POWER HORSE

I wondered how they thought up this name. Maybe they modelled themselves on Red Bull; think of an exciting adjective, add a powerful animal infront of it. It's a bit like thinking up pub names - take what already exists and vary it. But my other theory is that it is simply Horse-Power with the words flipped over. Perhaps they should have a higher-octane version of the drink called CAR. Chortle! Furthermore, I find the word 'horse' pretty funny anyway, especially as I sometimes play H.O.R.S.E. poker.

Had a +$82 week at poker. Played first MTTs in a while, cashing in a $8.80 Rebuy and a $33 Freezeout. Really enjoyed playing, though I am still down $208 and £25 since December.

Will be posting quite a few blog posts over the next few days on a few subjects. Then on Friday I'm off to a conference in London and on Saturday I'm off to France for the day. Then on Sunday I'm going back to the conference. So there will be three more days with blog posts and three without.