Still have exams next month for all my subjects, though – and provided I don’t fuck them up, I’ll soon be moving from:

Bransgore

to

Aberystwyth

Here’s hoping I get in…

Firstly, VAT has just risen to 17.5% again, so expect price rises immediately, or phased in over time depending on the retailer. I would have thought it wise to have extended the VAT break to a later date, as a price rise whilst we’re only just approaching the end of the recession could run the risk of reducing sales, and leading to a double dip; many retailers, in deciding to freeze the increase for a while, seem to be thinking along similar lines.

Related to this, the UK, on May 6th most likely, will have a General Election. Unless a major upset happens, we’re currently looking at a Conservative Government with a small majority, or even forming a minority or coalition government from a hung parliament. But will a shift to a blue government really bring about much change, after all New Labour was an attempt to shift Labour towards the Conservatives, and Cameron’s Conservatives pull themselves towards New Labour? Yes, and no. Both sides promise dangerously low investment, and even cuts, in industry that desperately needs investment, such as eco-technology and energy, sciences, and education. Labour want to balance investment by cutting it in areas they don’t like, the Tories want to destroy the public sector, all the while supporting the renewal of hugely expensive, weapons of mass destruction. The Tories want to slash taxes for the rich, whilst doing little for the middle and lower classes, and Labour aren’t progressive enough to properly support those who need it. Labour risk destroying an entire sector of the economy, and people’s rights, with the ghastly Digital Economy Bill (which the Pirate Party, and non-party organisations such as ORG are fiercely opposing), whilst the Tories are so out of touch as to seem not to even care about the sector at all, with their pledge to scrap the much needed, albeit inadequate, “broadband tax”. So ultimately, we’re screwed either way.

But the winds of change do blow in politics this year. Approximately one-third of the House of Commons will consist of MPs new to the house following the election, with a likely small increase in independents, especially with Jury Team out there supporting them. Many of these new MPs will be replacing those corrupt, out-of-touch bastards who saw fit to abuse a ridiculously poorly regulated allowances system, squandering public money to pay for their first class seats, their mansions, their moats and trouser presses, and all the other crap they apparently can’t afford on their “chumps change” of a salary of £64,766 – some £40,000 more than the ‘average’ wage earner in the UK. Maybe, just maybe, these replacements will be less self-obsessed, more in touch with modern Britain, and able to represent their constituents properly. Maybe, but maybe not… I’m not getting my hopes up for this lot.  Assuming Mr Cameron has a brain, he’ll call an election in 2014 to coincide with the EU Elections, and that year, I feel, will be a big turning point in both British, and European politics. Indeed, 2014 is where I’m focussing my own efforts, not withstanding the results of the 2013 local elections, and where I plan to make my entry into politics under the banner of the Pirate Party of the United Kingdom if I do not do so in 2013.

Another change which will hopefully happen this year is the introduction of, or the preparations to introduce some form of electoral reform; however this will only happen if the Conservatives continue to fail to set themselves apart as anything other than “not-Labour”, and we end up with a Liberal coalition. Such a result is quite frankly the best outcome we could hope for. British politics needs radical change and sweeping reforms, and this would be the place to start, in this year. So let’s hope it happens.

Moving away from politics, 2010 will be bringing about many changes to my personal life. I’ve got exams in a few weeks, exams that will ultimately decide whether I get into Aberystwyth; my university of choice, have to utilise the terrible clearing system in a (post-)recession climate, or just end up not getting into university at all. This of course means I’m also finishing college this summer, and quite frankly I’ll be glad to be leaving, because that college was a pretty exhausting place to be, crushing and suppressing the hobbies, hopes and interests that I had when I first attended there. And running alongside all this, those few friends I do have will all also be heading off to university and whatnot themselves, so this year is really our last year together, and I want to spend as much of it as I can with them. In reality I realise I probably won’t see them much more than I did this past year, and that is upsetting to me; but even so, spending some time with them is better than none at all, right?

So there you go – 2010 will bring change right from the start, but it’s not necessarily good change, and that’s incredibly frustrating, especially for a powerless control freak like me, who just wants to be able to change things, make them better, improve on what we have.

Addendum: Whilst writing this post my  site went down, luckily I learnt long ago to always copy what I’ve written to the clipboard just in case something like this happens. Downside is I lost links and stuff I’d put in. Let this be a lesson to you all, copy to clipboard, and save drafts often. I also realised I never got around to talking about 2010 in technology like I planned, but I can’t be bothered to write more for this.

“The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.  Beheadings, electrocutions, hangings, lethal injections, shootings and stonings have no place in the 21st century” – Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

Akmal Shaikh, the first EU national killed in China in over half a century

You’re probably not aware of it, but this morning, whilst you slept, some time around 02:30UTC; China executed a mentally ill man, Akmal Shaikh, a 53 year old British citizen; the first EU national to be executed in China since 1951. Akmal, who dreamed of being a pop star, and had written a song he hoped would bring about world peace, was killed after being exploited into trafficking 4kg of drugs into the country; carrying just 50g is enough for China to execute a person.

But Akmal is not alone in his extreme treatment by the Chinese legal system – in 2008, China executed at least 1,718 people, accounting for some 72% of recorded executions worldwide. In the country, you can face the death penalty for some 68 offences, ranging from murder, to drug trafficking, to financial offences. Until recently, execution was carried out solely by firing squad, although China has now started to utilise lethal injection. Appeals against the death penalty are almost always unsuccessful, and cries for mercy ignored.

In my mind there is never justification for man to kill fellow man (excluding DR/provocation/justified self-defence), and most certainly not for governments to kill citizens, their own or otherwise. China asks us to respect that Akmal was guilty under their law, and was executed under their law; to that I say that I can not, and will not accept, nor respect, any law or country that will allow the state to get away with what amounts to murder. China, as an emerging superpower, and with one of the largest populations in the world, needs to be leading the way on human rights, not executing fellow man; and the world; government and public, should be condemning them for their actions.

We can only hope that as we move forward into a new decade, the world takes a step towards abolishing such inhumane acts.

Today, I have a most wonderful infographic for you, produced by yours truly. it’s 119540×700 pixels of distance-y goodness! I made it because I felt people didn’t quite appreciate the scale of the distances involved when it comes the Earth, the International Space Station, and the Moon. For added comparison I threw in Hubble, and Hawaii to America.

Anyway; enjoy!

Cropped Image Showing only ISS, Hubble, and Hawaii. Click for full size (cropped).

CLICK HERE for the full image, including distance to Moon.

(warning: picture is EXTREMELY long, although filesize is only 801kb. )

Note: you’ll probably have to download the image to view it, as most browsers do not render .tif in page.

Our carbon footprint is big enough the rest of the year as it is, so why not try to actually cut it over Christmas, rather than inflate it? After all, if our governments can’t agree on ways to tackle climate change, we just have to take it into our own hands: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Re-think.

As an added incentive to spread the message, the first person to retweet this entry by clicking the little button up near the top will be gifted a nice, green, digitally distributed Steam copy of Braid. To be eligible you must have a Steam account. I’ll contact the winner on twitter to ask for your steam ID.

Here’s some America-centric statistics for all of you:

Presented by Online Education

Have a merry, green, Christmas!

(Originally this was going to be a top 10, but I couldn’t think of enough major stuff, so I had to drop it down to 5…)

5 – Going to Forbidden Planet for the first time. It’s a Megastore filled with wall upon wall, shelf upon shelf of comic books and graphic novels, books, DVDs, collectables, posters, and just in general amazing stuff. Need I say more? It truly is Geek Heaven.

4 – Spending the weekend at MCM. October 23rd-25th 2009. For those who don’t know, London MCM Expo is a convention held every May and October at the London ExCel Exhibition Centre. It’s similar to Comicon, and what-have-you, only it’s British. Anyway, this wasn’t the first time I’d been to MCM, rather it was my 3rd outing to the expo; the first being in 2006 or something with my brother, who didn’t even want to be there. I didn’t get to stay long that time, but it left me wanting more. In May 2009 I got a chance again, and I went up with friends, again for only one day. Although fun, it was let down slightly by the travel. Finally, this October we went up again, but this time for the entire weekend, and in doing  so it became better by several orders of magnitude. We had time to hang out, we got to really explore the expo and buy overpriced swag, and we got to have a walk around London; and then return to a fancy apartment in the evenings.  London also has a habit of closing the underground or DLR on the weekend of the expo, but that just turns the journey into part of the fun!  A few cosplayers wandering around London, trying to find their way. Soon those few cosplayers have turned into a living wave of excited geeks and nerds all heading, in a round about way, to the docklands. So yeah, MCM’s always fun, and I’m looking forward to the next one in May; especially since it’s the last before everyone goes off to university.

3 – Seeing Zebrahead live for the first time.  Thursday 16th October, 2008.  Doors opened 8PM. Headline act was Zebrahead. Now, I’d lived a pretty sheltered life, especially when it came to music, so I’d never actually been to a gig until that night.  The show was in Portsmouth, and I went by train with a few friends from school, they’d been to countless shows before, they knew what to expect, they had the shirts, I did not. When we got through the doors, we were greeted by a small, cramped, and dark venue. By the time the main act came on, we were squashed in like sardines, hot and sweaty, and blinded by the stage lights, and it was awesome; and it was a night that I’ll never forget. I’ve now been to 5 gigs, 3 of which had Zebrahead playing, 2 headlining. I also have a further 3 already booked for 2010, two of which with Zebrahead headlining within the space of 2 days, the 3rd being Green Day at Wembley, it’ll be my first arena gig!

2 – Rediscovering Ska. The start of this century was a dark time for me, musically. I wasn’t really listening to anything in particular, I had maybe a few odd wav and mp3 files on my pc and nothing more. The later half of this decade had me picking up more and more music, and as of right now I have over 40GB of music, or just under 10,000 tracks, and over 20,00 scrobbled plays since January 2009 on last.fm. The genres of music I have is increasingly diverse, but it’s built upon a solid foundation of wonderful, incredibly uplifting 3rd wave and ska-punk. And let me tell you, if having a music library that resembles the collective soundtrack of the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series is wrong, then I don’t want to be right.

1 – The seating plan change in GCSE French. “What?” I hear you say, “how is this seemingly unimportant, completely trivial thing the biggest thing for you this past decade?”, you add. I’ll tell you how. I’d say that had it not happened, nothing else on this list would have happened either, most likely. You see, such a simple thing meant I was sat next to someone who I would become friends with, and through our discussions, would have a large influence on me. They’ve introduced me to a lot of amazing music, they’ve always had something interesting to say, they never fail to make me smile, and they’ve changed me – for the better, I’d say/hope. So that’s why a simple moving of seats was so important, because it meant I got to know someone who even now is really important to me, and who I still enjoy talking with, and  spending time with, when I get the chance.

So yeah, it’s not the major events like 9/11, or world cups, or wars that have the biggest impact; it’s those seemingly little things in life, the things that make you happy. Even when things get bad, there’s always those little things to remind you of why you’re still there. I look forward to discovering what little things await me in 201x.

The first half of the month was uneventful and unexciting. Just college day after day, waiting for the more busy second half to come. So not much to say there.

First event that happened was Aberystwyth Open Day. This involved getting up at 4am in the morning, and being taken by my father all the way to Aber. I’d have to say that the journey there and back was most certainly the worst part of the day. As it is I try to avoid contact with my father, and this journey was a prime example of exactly why that is. Firstly, he pulled over every 30 minutes or so to smoke several cigarettes, adding quite some time to the journey. Secondly, he was using an outdated sat-nav that he never bothers to update; this meant that it kept losing signal, or not displaying roads, causing him to swear and rant and rage, as is his way. Now imagine having to put up with several hours of this… yeah. That being said, the open day itself was pretty good. I got to look around Aberystwyth’s main campus, which is rather steep. The facilities are pretty good, although the exteriors look quite grey and dull. I didn’t go into town itself, because I left in the early afternoon to stop my father complaining, which is a shame, as from what I’ve seen, it appears to be quite nice. The Open Day also offered a chance to briefly talk with friends I hadn’t seen in quite some time, which was pretty much the highlight of the day.

After that was my birthday. Originally I had planned to go up to London to see Ross Noble, but in the end I sold my tickets because I could only find one person who wanted to go. Instead of that, I had a meal at the pub with my family, excluding my father, before returning to watch Question Time; it was the one with Nick Griffin on the panel. Pretty boring day, no different to any other birthday.

But the following day, after I finished my lessons I hopped on the train to London, where I’d be spending the weekend for London MCM Expo. My journey up to London was far better than the one to Wales. On the train to Waterloo I was at a table seat with a jittery talkative fellow, whom I believe may have had some kind of condition. We had a chat about some stuff, like how one day he wishes to take an old phone with an O2 sim to the O2. Behind me were some old women talking about the previous night’s Question Time, and how Nick Griffin was a “nasty little shit”, which amused me. Once I got to Waterloo I managed a transfer to the Jubilee Line with a perfectly timed tube train, I always seem to manage this when travelling long distances. On this tube is where it began, for as you get closer to ExCel, the more cosplayers you find, and here I was standing next to two of them, although I didn’t recognise what their costumes were specifically. Once we transferred to the DLR another guy popped up wielding a foam scythe and a Charlie the Unicorn shirt. The 4 of us got on the DLR to find a few more cosplayers, in our carriage there was maybe 8 or so heading for the expo, or so I thought – when we got off, so did about 50 people in costume, I have no idea how they got there, they most certainly weren’t on the DLR, yet they came off at the station.  Madness.

Cosplayers Play Lego Rockband

The Expo itself was awesome, with games such as Left 4 Dead 2, Assassins Creed 2, Tekken 6, and an assortment of Rock Bands and DDR set ups;  celebrity guests like Tom Baker and Craig Charles, lots of overpriced goods, and a few small freebies, and the upbeat and energetic atmosphere emanating from all the freaks in costume, as well as those of us who are more reserved.

Despite the high cost of most of the stuff for sale, I ended up paying out for quite a few things: A large Zombieland (Which I pirated rather than seeing in the cinema, nobody seemed to want to go) poster, the Cowboy Bebop Remix boxset, which I was later disappointed to find is not the newest high quality remaster, and then some series from ADV which I’ve already seen  – Coyote Ragtime Show, and This Ugly Yet Beautiful World. All great shows.

This was my 3rd time at the expo, and 2nd this year. It was definitely the best so far, too. Next one is in May, which I plan to attend for the entire weekend once more, especially since it’s the last expo before we all head off to university and whatnot. Looking forward to it.

The final event of the month, for me at least, was a concert at the Bournemouth O2 Academy on Wednesday. Headline act was Bowling For Soup, supported by The Leftovers, MC Lars, and Zebrahead. Before this tour was announced, I’d never actually heard of Leftovers or MC Lars, but now they’re both already integrated into my ever music collection. The gig was great, and all the bands, unlike quite a few artists such as say, Studioforce, are brilliant live. It also gave me a good chance to test out the camera on my new phone in dark conditions and in busy, high-movement areas- the result? Mediocre, overly dark, blurry pictures.

Bowling For Soup

This gig was my 5th ever, and just over a year since my first gig on October 16th ’08, when I went to see Zebrahead. Even with so few under my belt, the cost of tickets and transport sure has been quite high, but it’s totally worth it for the awesome music and chance to spend some time with friends.

Following the gig, only a few minor things really happened. At midnight the Left 4 Dead 2 demo finally went live, so I played through that,and from what I’ve played, I’d say it’s shaping up to be far better than the original, although with the limited character interaction so far, I can’t really comment on the new cast. Then, on Friday I downloaded a copy of Borderlands, which I spent the entire weekend blitzing through with a friend, trying to ignore the major bugs and flaws in the game due to just how addictive and enjoyable it is. After 17 1/2 hours we hit the incredibly disappointingly easy final boss, and today I plan to start playthrough 2, perhaps there’ll be some actual difficulty in the game this time around, although it’ll probably be even easier since I’ve fixed some issues the game had so that it actually works properly.

So that’s it for October, and November’s already started. Only plans for this month are Kids Can’t Fly at Southampton Joiners on the 7th, and a US Politics Conference on the 10th. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t really do much this month anyway, since I have so little money following last month, but oh well.

It's only a matter of time…

Zombies?

Yes, zombies. One of the most problematic events that threaten humanity is a zombie outbreak. We’ve all seen zombies in movies, games, and books, but just how realistic are these portrayals? Would humanity really be doomed, or would we be able to fight back? Are zombies slow, shuffling rotten flesh, or fast and deadly killers? In the event of apocalypse do we adopt a nomadic lifestyle, or do we fortify our surroundings? All of these are key questions that are posed whenever zombies are mentioned  in media and the arts, and I plan to address them as well as I can, as well as laying out rules and advice that I feel would, as generally as possible, help improve your chances of survival in case of outbreak.

Firstly, we’ll explore just what kind of zombie we could expect were an outbreak to occur. To do this we need to make some assumptions about the cause of zombification, and indeed, what constitutes a zombie. Princeton defines a zombie as “a dead body that has been brought back to life by a supernatural force”, a quite broad definition, but one that suggests if infection were possible, would occur via death and then reanimation. This poses the question of whether an infection could turn only the living, only corpses, or both. Meanwhile, the origins of the word zombie relate it to the idea of automatons and mindless labourers. Either way, zombies are not necessarily ruthless killers as seen in movies, merely mindless drones that may possibly act on instinct or instruction. On top of this, the means of becoming a zombie would have a massive bearing on just what type of zombie we get. If we’re talking reanimation, this would almost assuredly result in the festering, rotten, slow zombies as traditionally depicted. If infection of living beings is possible, then depending on specifics, we could be seeing fast-zombies as preferred in modern media; due to lack of muscle decay.

Trying to avoid being overly specific, we’ll consider the zombies to be discussed here as such:

• A zombie is a (near-)mindless entity that has the body of a human being (for the purposes here, we’ll ignore the possibility of say, zombie dogs)
• Zombies are created through infection and/or damage to the brain, removing sentient thought. As such living beings, and fresher corpses may be zombified.
• A zombie’s appearance (in terms of skin colour, decay, etc.), and ability would be dependant on the condition of the source body – Live vs. corpse

Of course, being this general, we run into issues: How is infection spread? Do zombies continue to decay post-animation? What level of intelligence do they have? etc.

In regards to spread of infection, we have several matters to look at. Can a zombie bite/scratch spread the condition to the victim? If we think in terms of Romero zombies, then victims are merely killed by the zombie attack, and reanimated separately by the cause of infection – be it an airborne virus or whatever. This could be extended, as is commonly done, to suggest that the zombie bite itself carries the infection, possibly through the zombie’s blood, and thus this allows direct living-to-zombie conversion, as opposed to living-to-dead-to-zombie as otherwise required. In reality this seemingly minor distinction could mean the difference between fast and slow zombies, as well as whether the zombie population increases as attacks increase, or whether the population is stagnant. So I’ll not be specifying this, as either could be possible.

The second question here, of the continued decay of zombies, is also affected by the previous question – as it is a matter of whether or not a zombie is formed from a corpse or a living body, and to what degree bodily functions are required to sustain the zombie. If the source is a corpse, then the organs would have shut down, allowing micro-organisms to begin to break down the body, and even if zombification were to result in the restarting of such functions, the decay could well continue; leading to zombies with a limited lifespan, albeit a possibly long one. Likewise, if a zombie, regardless of body, has an open wound, this could easily start the process of decay and non-zombie infection that damages and possibly eventually kills/destroys the zombie, as zeds aren’t exactly known for seeking medical treatment.

In terms of intelligence, we have to consider just what sort of damage has been done to the brain, the amount of cognitive function, and whether any memories are retained of their past life as a human. The simple answer is that to fit the idea of being mindless, not necessarily all function would have to be removed, although this would most likely be the case – with pretty much just instinct and trace memories guiding the zombie. Following this, it’s quite possible that some zombies may not have the memory of walking, or running, and human language will most likely be out of the equation – but there’s also the possibility that some memories, like using doors, or the relations between people, houses, and cars, will be intact. These ‘smart zombies’ are quite possibly a bigger risk than lesser-minded but fast zombies, as they may well be far better at finding survivors, and as with any zombie, where one goes, many may follow.

Okay, so that’s the generic outlining of the kind of zombie would could expect to encounter, now we can discuss the human side of things; how should YOU be acting in case of zombies? So here it is, my list of rules that I believe would help you in just such a situation:

1. Be Prepared – Make sure you know what you’re going to do if zombies do come. Have several plans, don’t depend on one idea. Be prepared, both before and during the event; you don’t want to be caught and killed just because you had to leave to get some tinned beans or toilet paper.
2. Don’t Be Stupid -Thinks through logically, consider the consequences of your actions. Know your escape route. If you’ve never used a gun before, don’t expect to be crowning zeds left right and centre. Play to your skills, talents, and knowledge. Don’t take unnecessary risks.
3. Take Calculated Risks – But only when needed! If your house is about to be over-run with zombies, but you could escape by going through a slightly less dangerous route, you escape.
4. Be Alert – Don’t let your guard down. Just because you’re in a bed, or on the toilet doesn’t mean you’re safe. Always keep a weapon nearby. Listen for shuffling, groans, or any other signals of zombies in vicinity.
5. Conserve Rations – This applies to both food and ammunitions. You can’t be certain when you’ll be able to restock, so be conservative with your usage. So don’t be using automatic weapons to spray a horde of zombies, it’s not effective and you’ll come to regret it when you run out ammo, with a barely-reduced horde creeping ever closer.
6. Use Your Rations – That being said, don’t just leave food and ammo sitting unused. You need enough energy from food to keep you going, and you need to make sure those zombies are dead - ‘double tap’. Just don’t go over the top.
7. Travel Light - Only carry as much as you or your group can carry without over-encumbering yourselves. A survivor carrying only a rifle, and a backpack with a bit of food and ammo is more effective than a survivor trying to carry absolutely everything. Spread your supplies between the group as best as possible.
8. Small Groups Only – Surviving alone isn’t living; you need the support and interaction of other fellow humans to keep sane and help you. However, large groups of survivors are possibly as dangerous as zombies themselves. Risks of friendly fire, desertion, murder, too much or too little emotional interference, louder and more obvious to zombies. etc. Ideally a group would have 3-8 people. Any less and try to find another group. Any more and split up.
9. Get Somewhere Safe – Safe is a relative term. Here, I’m talking about somewhere that has choke points, supplies/storage,  good view, and is defensible. The more secure the better, but don’t keep travelling because you found a place that isn’t completely ideal.
10. Travel When Needed – Staying put can be just as dangerous and constantly travelling. If you need more supplies, or the zombie population is increasing in your vicinity, consider mobilising your group, don’t wait around to be torn to shreds.
11. Keep Electronics Off – “Radios make noise, shithead”. This includes communication devices. Keep it all off if you’re not specifically using it. you’ll reduce your detectability to zombies, and prolong the limited battery life of the devices.
12. Equip Yourself Properly - Don’t wear bulky, heavy clothing, armour or padding. Don’t wear incredibly baggy clothing. Don’t wear anything restrictive. Wear what allows you to move freely and comfortably. Don’t use automatic weapons like machine guns unless you’ve got nothing left. Don’t take an overly long or short melee weapon, long weapons are bad in narrow hallways, short are too dangerous for you.
13. Don’t Rely on Melee - By the time a zombie is close enough for you to be hitting with a cricket bat,  crowbar, axe, or what-have-you, chances are you’ve already screwed up or compromised yourself in some way already. Try to avoid going head-to-head with a zed unless you absolutely have to.
14. Don’t Conceal Wounds – If you’ve been hit by zombie, you damn well tell your group. With a chance of you turning or  dying (and then turning) at any time, you’ve become a liability. Don’t put their lives at risk, tell them. What happens after that is down to your group. As harsh as it may seem, I advice abandonment (with a few supplies) of any infected members.
15. Don’t Give Up - Even if your entire group has been killed, even if you have no supplies left, even if you face an entire horde. Don’t give up. Just keep trying to survive, try  to get yourself to other survivors. Do whatever it takes.

You’ll notice I didn’t specify where you should hit a zombie. That’s because it depends far too much on circumstance. You’d think head would be the obvious choice, but when you’re dealing with people who haven’t handled guns, or any kind of weapon, you should emphasise incapacitating zombies, and then get them in the head. I suppose aiming for the neck might work, since pull down too much and you hit the torso possibly causing a zed to stagger, and from there upwards, you might disconnect the head. Either way allowing you to go on to destroy the brain.

I might add to this list over time as and when I remember stuff I was going to put on it.

And remember, this isn’t comprehensive, and it’s all purely theoretical, and applied only to the general idea, rather than any specific kind of zombie outbreak, so bear that in mind if you do find yourself pointing a boomstick at a horde of zed at some point in the future.

Autumn In The New Forest

Tomorrow is the start of October, and with it comes a lot of events – clocks go back an hour, the trees drop their leaves, etc. But more importantly are the events specific to me.

On October 16th the next issue of Batman and Robin comes out; a very important event, I assume Streets of Gotham and Batgirl will also have new issues around this time. I’m really enjoying the reversed dynamic of Dick and Damian as opposed to Bruce and Dick. I’m looking forward to the big reveal of who the new Red Hood is, the most obvious person would Jason Todd, but that’d be too obvious, I think.

October 17th is Aberystwyth Open Day, which means travelling 5 hours up to the valleys to check out my top choice for university; it’ll be first time I’ve been to Wales, should be interesting.

Following that, on October 22nd, is my 18th birthday; I’m going up to London to see Ross Noble in the evening, although I still have no idea who’s coming and I need to sort that out rather soon. Normally I don’t really celebrate my birthday, but it’d be kinda pathetic, even by my standards, to do nothing for my 18th, hence why I’m going to see Ross Noble.

The following day, having returned from London in the dead of night, I will then be going back up at 10am on the horror that is the National Express, as a few of us are spending the weekend up there for London MCM Expo. I’ve been twice before, it’s pretty fun, although everything is really expensive, and there’s yaoi and fat chicks with ‘free hugs’ signs everywhere – a necessary evil, I suppose.

Then, on the 28th I’m off to Bournemouth for the Party In Your Pants gig with Bowling For Soup, Zebrahead, and The Leftovers; which will be totally awesome. It’ll be the 3rd time I’ve seen Zebrahead live, and my 5th concert; with Zebrahead being the first concert I attended.

On top of all that, I’m hoping to go to the cinema to see Zombieland, and also possibly go to Forbidden Planet with friends,  or at least hang out at some point.

Halloween is a non-event for me, don’t really care for it, despite my love of all things horror and zombies. At most, if I can be bothered, I might try and fail to do a pumpkin carving.

All in all, October is set to be a rather busy month for me, and will either turn out really good, or incredibly bad. I’m not going to get my hopes up.