Jammed

It's a good thing that I didn't have to go to the youth project today. The reason? Well, the front door is completely jammed. I unlocked it and tried to open it to go to the store and buy myself some food, but soon found that the door would not budge. Something is catching on the doorframe and preventing the door from opening. In the end, I had to leave via the back door. The problem with doing that is that you can only stay out for a short time because anyone can access the house.

I told my grandfather about it when I met him at the store, and he remarked on how stupid it was that we always had trouble at the house. He then asked me if people had been slamming the door. I told him that some people do on occasion, and he remarked that it's possible that a screw or something has shaken loose and is snagging on the doorframe.

I had to call Mom and my sister to tell them they will have to knock on the door when they come home so I can let them in via the back door because there's no way they're getting in through the front door. Mom will have to contact someone to fix it.

I bumped into my neighbour on my way home from the store. She asked if Mom had contacted this solar panel company yet. I have no idea if she has, so I'll have to ask her once she gets home.

I had a couple of text messages from Richard yesterday. One told me not to bother coming into the youth project today because he was going somewhere and asking if I could do some work on The Street Outreach Project's website. The second told me he was going to make me an admin of the Facebook group for The Street Outreach Project. He asked me if I could add photos from the project to the group and make a couple of posts.

I did the work on the TSOP site, but haven't done anything on the Facebook group yet.

I did some editing on my own website. However, it seems that Richard has been playing around on my website as some taglines had been added, and I didn't put them there myself.

Two deaths...

I've heard about two deaths in two days now.

While on the train heading to Lostwithiel yesterday, I got a call from Richard telling me about the death of another of his dogs. At first, I'd misheard what he said because of the noise on the train.

What I thought I heard was "Justin had a seizure today, and died", or something along those lines anyway. It turns out what he told me was that Muffin had died.

It only happened yesterday too. He asked me if I wanted to help him bury Muffin, and I said I would. We built a raised bed area for him and buried him in the raised bed. We got a few plants for him and planted them in the raised bed.

It was a sad day yesterday, but it was a different kind of sad to when we had to bury Rachel. Muffin had lived for about 15 years or so. He had a long, joy-filled life with Richard and his family. However, Rachel was taken from the world way too early.

Anyway, Rest In Peace, Muffin. Your family and friends will dearly miss you.

I'd heard about the other death today.

After collecting the Betterware catalogues I delivered, I discovered a note inside one of them. I'm not 100% sure which house it's from, but I have an idea, and I hope I'm wrong about it.

The note reads:

Sorry to tell you my mum has passed away.

She would want me to thank you for all the bits from Betterware.

Janet.

I think this note is from one of the bungalows: an old lady who was hard of sight and hearing. I hope it isn't that lady, but I'm pretty sure it is. The question is: how can I find out for certain?

I'm thinking about going around to the house tomorrow after I get back from the youth project and looking through the window to see if I can see anyone home. If not, knock on the door and maybe even try to let myself in, as I generally did when delivering things to her. Hopefully, I'll find she's there, but I'm thinking I won't.

Interesting week so far

It's been an interesting week so far this week.

I walked into town on Monday to catch the train to the youth project, only for the train to never show up. Usually, it arrives at around 9:04, but I waited there from around 8:50 until 9:40 before giving up and walking over to the west side of the town to visit my sister.

Richard called me just before I arrived at my sister's place, wondering where I was since he was waiting for me at the train station in Lostwithiel. I had to explain to him that the train never showed up. I wasn't the only one bothered by the train not showing. About 15 other people walked away, annoyed as hell because of the train not showing.

The train showed up on Tuesday. So, what did we do at the project? We had to move some more cladding from the old field to the woodland area to clad the walls some more. We only got about two pieces up, though.

Moving the wood itself was interesting. While moving it, it bounced around in the back of the van a lot and ended up falling out of the back of the van about 2 to 3 times before we managed to get it all secured in the van. At one point, it was amusing because we had a van come up behind us, so Richard had to continue driving up the road with the wood dragging along the floor. I had to run after the van because I was behind it, trying to pack the wood back into it. I didn't have time to get it back into the van before the other van arrived.

We also had to return a computer to Bits & PCs in St Austell. I've no idea what was wrong with it. It was running Windows Vista, though, so that's a good reason it wasn't working. Haha.

I was supposed to meet Richard at his sister-in-law's place yesterday. However, when I turned up, he wasn't there, and she had to call Richard to find out where he was. At this point, I found out I was meant to be working with his wife at the woodlands, moving compost, and trying to light a couple of fires. I failed badly at trying to light the fires. I think the wood was a little damp to light. I used some magazine paper. That would catch fire, but the wood wouldn't catch at all.

I filled one of the raised flowerbeds with compost but had nowhere else to place compost. An area next to the shed will become more raised flowerbeds made from pallets. However, a tree had to be cut down to build one of these pallet-raised flowerbeds. So, that was the next job I did. At first, I was trying to calculate which angle to cut it at to miss the trampoline we now have on the land. Once I started cutting the tree, Richard showed up. That was lucky for his wife because she needed the van to go and pick up their daughter. It was about 11:50 at that point. I got around halfway through the tree; I felt hot, so I removed my coat. As I placed it in the shed, I heard the tree crack and thought, "Oh shit!" I could see it starting to fall. I stood there thinking, "Please miss the trampoline! Please miss! Please miss!" Luckily, it missed the trampoline, but not by much. I only JUST got the correct angle on the cut.

The weather started to look miserable, so Richard and I headed down to The Royal Talbot, where some youths he works with were gathered for lunch. This was one of the more frustrating parts of the day. The Cornwall School for Social Entrepreneurs have these youths on a course. One event they had planned in the Talbot was a Big Brother eviction-like thing. The reason for that was that some of the youths, although all doing the same thing during the day, were messing around and not taking it seriously. At least, that's what was implied from what I heard.

Once some youths heard about this planned eviction event, some were ready to give up and walk out. That's before they even listened to what the point of it was. I was frustrated that they just wanted to give up rather than take part in it and see what the point of it was.

The event was for the youths to justify why they should be allowed to stay if they were voted to be evicted for the day. Explain what they would do differently in the afternoon rather than screwing around.

We went to the Restormal Lodge Hotel after this. I did some work on The Street Outreach Project's website. I created a couple of pages. One called Things We Do, and a sub-page under that called Web Hosting.

I've been asked by Richard today to do some more work on The Street's website, adding information to People We Love, and also some more to Things We Do.

I think I've achieved as much as I can with People We Love. I'm sure more can be added to a couple of the sub-pages, but I'm unsure what to put. My mind is drawing a complete blank at the moment. But then, I can't think of anything else to put in because I have never dealt with the two companies. I have no idea what I can say about them. It would be better if Richard added something extra to those pages to say thank you to them. There is one sub-page for People We Love that I can't do at all because I've no idea who the person is, and I can't find any information about them online. Richard will have to cover that page himself unless he can explain to me who the person is and what they do. It'll be skipped over for now.

All I have to do now is add some more pages to Things We Do, but my mind is drawing a complete blank on that at the moment. I'll have to work on this later.

Sunday was an odd day. I don't know what happened, but there seems to have been a fire or something at the retirement home just across the road from where I live. While delivering papers in the morning, I could smell the awful smell of burned plastic. That was when I noticed four completely melted plastic vents on the wall. Above them is a small footbridge, and draped across that is a "Caution: No Entry" banner. Something in the room just across the footbridge must've caught fire, as you're not allowed to enter that room. But what happened? I really should find out because I've been curious about it all.

Could it be her creator?

After reading some of the information about Tomb Raider 2013 on Stella's Tomb Raider Site, an official fan website for the series, I can't wait to find out who this "outside writer" is. Check it out.

According to the developers, the storyline is a vital component of the game. Stewart says it's a collaboration between in-house and outside writers. "We're not going to announce [who] just yet, but I think people will be very happy, because it'll bring a lot of trust to a lot of people when they hear it." He also intimated that the choice of writers may lay to rest some of the fans' concerns about Lara being portrayed as a digital sex symbol but would not reval more just yet. Could it be Lara's creator, Toby Gard?

I'm willing to bet that it's either Lara's creator, Tony Gard, or one of the people who worked with Core Design on the original games. Either way, when the fans find out, will they complain that it's deviating too much from the usual Tomb Raider style? You can't complain if one of the original team is involved, especially if it's Lara and Tomb Raider's creator Tony Gard.

I hope the outside writer will be revealed sometime this year to lay to rest any worries people have about the game.

I can't wait for the game to be released. I know it's a change from previous Tomb Raider games. However, seeing Lara overcome all the problems in this game, changing from an inexperienced student to the woman we all know now, will be amazing! She seems much more human in this game, too!

Let's see what happens.

I hope that it IS Lara's creator. I'm sure a bunch of negative fans will change their opinions then.

Crossroads

I noticed a new trailer while looking at a bookmarked page for Tomb Raider 2013. On YouTube, the upload date says that it was only just uploaded yesterday (the 2nd of June).

The new trailer, titled "Crossroads", shows some of what's going to happen to Lara after she escapes the caves at the beginning of the game. My jaw dropped at how amazing the game is looking so far. I really can't wait for the game. The trailer also showed a release date, the one thing I've been waiting to see!

5th March 2013!

Sadly, it seems that other Tomb Raider fans are not interested in the game. There are several comments stating that this game is going to be the worst Tomb Raider ever. I'm afraid I have to disagree. I think it's going to be fucking amazing!

Here are some of the comments dismissing the game before it's even released.

"I disagree with you. Tomb Raider 9 will not do well at all."

"I completely agree with you. Tomb Raider 9 is a disappointment. The series did not need a reboot. It was perfect the way it was."

"I'm sorry, but this just doesn't look like Tomb Raider anymore. I've liked all the games released so far, but this looks less like Tomb Raider and more like a horror/thriller film with someone who looks like Lara Croft. The graphics are pretty good, but the trailer itself isn't getting my hopes up"

Won't be buying this. It saddens me TR has gone downhill instead of up. I was disappointed in all the CD TR games, and now it's M-rated with blood, a horror atmosphere, and what looks to be some strong sexual content. It seems like every other game out there these days. I'll stick with the originals."

This comment amuses me. If you look back at Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness, which you could count as one of the "original" Tomb Raider series as it was created by Core Design, there was blood in that, it was more mature than the previous five games, and there was quite a sexual looking scene between Lara and Kurtis in the Louvre level. How is that different to what they're doing with Tomb Raider 2013?

Anyway, it doesn't really matter. People can all have their opinions of the game. Still, there's no reason to dismiss the game before it's released just because it's different. I love the game's look and can't wait until the 5th of March 2013 to buy it.