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View Profile Denvish

Age 55, Male

Flashsmith

UK

Joined on 4/25/03

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Denvish's News

Posted by Denvish - September 13th, 2007


Finally seem to be making a move towards leaving this dreadful city. Renting market is slow, but will hopefully find somewhere suitable within a couple of months. I can't wait!

Update: found a nice 4-bed detached in rural Wales, near a decent school and about 2 hours from here. Have put in the application, just waiting to hear back on that, if all goes according to plan we should be out of here and in there by mid-October.... just need to make sure that internet is on asap after the move since my job requires it.

Update: Got the green light on the application, paid the deposit/first month's rent (ouch), lease starts on the 9th October, hiring a truck on the 10th. Looks like I may be without internet for a week, which sucks, but I suppose I'll be busy unpacking and setting up anyway


Posted by Denvish - August 27th, 2007


After one of the most shitty summers I can remember (seems to have poured down for like 80% of the time since May in the UK), we finally got some nice, sunny weather for a few days. Got one of those Easy-Up pools for the kids a couple of weeks ago and it's been great (even though it's 12ft and therefore killing off the grass on a quarter of the lawn).

The wind and clouds came back today though, and it felt like the first day of Autumn. If the first day of Spring (my favourite season) is a time of re-awakening and joy, I find Autumn the exact opposite - the beginning of that long haul through darkness and cold. Apparently, September is set to be reasonably good weatherwise, so hopefully we'll have a bit more sun before the nights draw in.

Glimmer of hope on the horizon is the possibility of a full-time permanent job, well-paid, making Flash games, at home. If it comes together, this would be about as good as it gets in terms of jobs - the freedom to move anywhere (thinking Wales or Devon) and still get paid for doing something I enjoy. The only thing that could top that would be to make a living from playing the stock market, which is probably the next target... due to having drifted for most of my life (see paragraph below for an afterthought on this), I have no security in terms of money in the bank/mortgage/career ladder, so I'm going to be doing some reading up on that.

I'm regularly reminded of the scene in Heroes (took me a while to get into it, but looking forward to the next series eagerly) where Nathan Petrelli goes to see Linderman. Linderman says:
""...there comes a time when a man has to ask himself, whether he wants a life of happiness or a life of meaning. Two very different paths.... to be truly happy, a man must live absolutely in the present. No thought of what's gone before, and no thought of what lies ahead. But, a life of meaning... the man is condemned to wallow in the past, and obsess about the future."

I think there are shades in between the two extremes, but I've definitely always leant towards the happiness path - not that I can say I'm a constantly happy person, but I certainly have never cared much for future or past. Thinking no more than three days ahead has its disadvantages, but I think it does give an individual a large amount of freedom.

Anyway, enough philosophy. Things are looking pretty good at the minute. My only real regret currently is that mentioned in my previous News post - that I don't have a great deal of time to work on my own projects, for my site or NG. But I don't think that's too high a price to pay.

PS. If you have a moment (obviously you do, since you just read all that tripe), scroll down and check out the two at the top of my Favorite Movies/Games - they're both quite old, but I'd be surprised if you don't get a smile out of either/both if you haven't seen them before.


Posted by Denvish - August 13th, 2007


I really need to make a new game/movie/audio track for NG, it's been too long.
Not enough hours in the day at the moment for all I'm supposed to do.

While I'm here (this is an edit after Rupee's first post btw), I suppose I should make comment on the closure of my uploader. The blurb on the site explains why I've had to close it down, but there's some more details in this thread if you're interested.

A few NG users have set up alternative uploaders since I closed mine, which is great. In no particular order:
ngup.net
SpamTheWeb uploader
omfgItsZoidy uploader

and also for swfs
swfUP
Image Shack

If I can find a feasible way to allow uploads and keep a check on them (for t&c-breaching files), I'll bring it back. But don't hold your breath.


Posted by Denvish - August 6th, 2007


I think I'm addicted to mountain streams.

Previous years whilst in Birmingham, for the sake of my sanity I've had to get out to Wales and drive/wander round a bit to find a completely isolated spot by a stream to set up camp - just once, for a night or two, each summer. This year, I've been three times, twice to the location pictured in News Post #2 (near Llyn Vyrnwy), and once to a new place further north, up around Llyn Brenig - and I still want to go again at least once before the summer's done.

Think it harks back to my drifting days in my twenties/thirties - even though I have commitments now, as in wife & kids, I still have a deep-seated urge to travel, to get away to new places. The peace and tranquility of the kind of spots I search for (massively aided by the new bigger OS maps/aerial photos on Multimap) are just so relaxing after residing in the city.

Generally I set out about 9:30 to avoid the rush hour (more like 3 rush hours). Endure the tail end of the Birmingham traffic up to the M54, pop into a supermarket at Shrewsbury for supplies, then get to drive the Welsh roads for a bit, which is a pleasure in itself. Assuming no major delays, I generally arrive at whichever destination by noon, park the car somewhere, grab the stuff out of the boot (Vango tent, sleeping bag, rucksack, big bottle of water) and fight my way through pine trees/ferns/soggy ditches to whichever stream I've spotted on the map. Half an hour to set the tent up and get organised (usually getting bitten by midges throughout, I'm taking repellent next time), half an hour to sit and relax, then it's time to assault the stream.

Another thing that harks back to my childhood is a love of dam-building. More often than not, I've come back with aching thighs from lugging massive rocks around on a slippery stream-bed. With a can of cider and something to smoke on the streamside, I'll happily spend the entire afternoon and evening building a mini-lake/waterfall. The last place I went, I raised the water level by a good three feet (unfortunately the camera was playing silly buggers, so no pics), and I have plans for improving that record next time I head back there.

The water is cold, these are generally new-born streams, but it's very refreshing and cleansing. I don't light a fire or really stay up after dark, so more often than not crash out by 9ish (as opposed to the normal at-home-2am bedtime). Then it's just hoping that there's no rain overnight so I don't have to pack a damp tent in the morning.

The biggest question is: if I do make it out again (I intend to), should I head for the twice-visited spot near Vyrnwy, the newly found one by Brenig (which has more midges, but a better stream for damming), or should I look out for a completely new spot? The advantage to revisiting spots is that I will have fathomed a way to get there with the least pain, and I know they're good locations for pitching a tent and manipulating streams.

Since my last trip, I've been investigating waterways closer to home, and I have to say that the streams in the Wyre Forest are the most skanky ones I've seen - slow, muddy, wouldn't even bother taking my shoes off.

Edit: Just come back from Brenig, here's my dam.

Streams


Posted by Denvish - August 3rd, 2007


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Blah blah blahblahblah blah... blahblah, blah...

Blah!!!

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Posted by Denvish - July 20th, 2007


Having finished another game (unfortunately not to be seen on NG due to contractual obligations, blah) I went to Wales with a tent yesterday, and did a bit of clambering through wilderness getting whacked in the face by various plants. Eventually found a lovely little sheltered spot, flat with a pine-needle bed, right next to a mountain stream - which I spent the afternoon damming to make a pretty impressive mini-lake :)

Downside is, it was raining this morning so I now have a damp tent to dry. I'm definitely revisiting that spot though, I have to get out of this crappy city once in a while.

Wales


Posted by Denvish - July 17th, 2007


A thousand hairy savages, sitting down to lunch
Gobble gobble glup glup munch munch munch
- Spike Milligan

I actually really like the redesign. Which is strange, considering I'm an old fart who dreads change. NG still feels like home, even with all the new features and graphics... which is great. Kudos to the NG Staff for pulling it off with aplomb (COCK JOKE)

Here's a gif

Wibble