The ironic thing is, I have basically had two months away in which I have done plenty of different things, and nothing erupts to my finger tips to talk about first. Oh the irony.
Let us start with a couple of adventures to London, as you may recall, me and Amy both have Merlin Annual passes so we can get into a number of places in London with fast track and stuff like that meaning we can do quite a lot of stuff in a single day. Which I quite like because a travel card is about £20 each so the more you cram in, the more you get for your money. We got an email closer to the start of the year from Merlin letting us know about their new attraction in London, which is now actually being advertised on the TV for Shrek Adventure. It is best described as the London Dungeons but for kids.
We were quite lucky as they were basically offering early access type thing so that the staff could get trained and they could iron out any technical difficulties that are only found when you actually use the bits and bobs. Whilst it was not free on the Merlin pass, we were able to get in for only £1 each. It is a pretty good saving as at the moment, an adult ticket is about £23 online so pretty good. It works in much the same way as you book a time slot then go around with a group of people doing activities, so we assumed it would only take about an hour or so to complete. So we could make full use of the travel passes, we first went to Madam Tussaudes as we hadn't been there in a while and knew they had added some new wax works - one which is on Facebook quite a lot now.. The Nicki Minaj one.. Because they chose a great pose which obviously couldn't be taken advantage of at all. You'll see what I mean.
After that we headed over to the parade of Merlin entertainment opposite Big Ben where the London Eye is. Be warned, there are always these kooky old ladies on the bridge who try to give you little herb type things wrapped in foil and then expect money for them.. Any way. We had a little ride on the Eye, had a wonder around the Aquarium - very much enjoyed the penguins as always. I was sad to see they had removed the ice wall though, I used to have far too much fun melting my hand print into it with my abnormally high body temperature. We then found ourselves with a bit of a wait because it turns out.. The Shrek Adventure people are very prompt in terms of only letting you in exactly on your time.. Once in though, it was quite awkward at first.
Basically, when we got in, we were the only people there and the staff had to make small talk with us which ran out pretty quick and then you are just there with them.. But once you are with the group it isn't so bad as they ferry you through the tour. The first part is this awesome 4D bus ride with 270 degree action. You then walk through different areas of the Shrek universe, and they pick on random people in the crowd to do different things, with our group they seemed to just pick on one guy who had to dance and carry stuff and bits.. It was very fun though, I was quite happy to not get picked because even if you weren't interested, they still got you to do it anyway.. So if you aren't ready for that - be ready for that. At the end there was a photo opp with Shrek himself - I know right?
He didn't smell that bad. The Shrek Adventure is also due to become free on the Merlin Pass as well so we may venture back, who knows? We also bought this little book which had pictures of us from around the tour but also other little activities and stickers and things, which was actually really worth it. It was the same price as the other things similar to this you can get at the other attractions.. But so much more. Plus we got a discount - Merlin pass for the win.
We also made another venture to the realms of London, not too long after this previous visit actually. It was to do with a competition that Amy entered on Twitter which was being run by Ben and Jerry's who were having an outdoor cinema experience to raise awareness of their work for global warming - and also to promote their new cookie core flavours. There was unlimited ice cream - did I mention that? All you had to do with include the name of a flavour in a movie title, Amy won with "Dude, Where's My Half Baked?" which is a mash up of Dude, Where's My Car which we had recently watched with friends - so I also owe them a thank you. We also ate at a pizza place called The Fresh Pizza Company which is a buffet of pizza and salad which was amazing, it is in the new food court upstairs in Victoria which is crazy now, there used to be a couple of places but now.. Food everywhere! Definitely worth checking it.
The screening itself was somewhere called Clapham Common which I had not heard of before, but it was like a pocket of awesome in the middle of London. I was using the map on my phone to guide us and I saw that it was like, a park, but I didn't realise it was so big. It was huge, I am not really sure how to describe it but.. The screening was on the opposite side of the park to where the tube let off so we got to walk through the entire thing and also past the oldest band stand in the world. The screening itself was of Ghostbusters - and there was unlimited ice cream. Did I mention that?
As you can see, I was rather smug. Ghostbusters and ice cream are two of my favourite things, so you can imagine I was pretty happy about the entire thing. There were three different flavours to try and you could literally just keep going back up for more.. And the screen itself was powered by about 12 people cycling on bikes to neutralise the energy usage of all the freezers to keep the ice cream cold. You also got a cool bag each which had a cow pattern on it. There were also little games like a coconut stye but with ice cream tubs and rubber duck fishing.. All in all, it was a really good day.
Did I mention that it was unlimited ice cream?
On both occasions, we were given these like.. String bracelets. They have a simple lock mechanism, basically some teeth that don't let go so it stays on which works - but they are near impossible to get off without cutting. We managed to get a couple of them off by twisting and pulling and effort and stuff.. Because they are nice things to keep as memories to say where you have been, a couple were not so fortunate and were sliced up by scissors.. Because after a couple of hours your wrist is sore from trying to remove it so.. You can't win. First world problems.
The next thing I would like to talk about, the final thing for this post, is something which I have recently taken up with a couple of friends. It is something that I have never really thought about because I have never known anyone else to be interested. It is Dungeons and Dragons, the fantasy game.
I know that a lot of modern games took great influence from this as it was like, the original source. The thing before video games with a pencil and paper and dice. I just never knew there was so much you could do with it in terms of gameplay. If there is something you want to do, or try - you just roll a dice against a different skill to see if you succeed. So if I decided I wanted to try and make a table out of a box of cigars, I could give it a try. The depth and diversity of the books is also mind blowing, and that is just there more as guidelines than strict rules to adhere to. The character making process is detailed but very important as it decides how that character interacts with the world your dungeon master creates. I made myself a dwarf called Veit and a dragonborn called something else which I cannot remember how to spell.. I have it written down but that piece of paper is elsewhere..
Now when we first played, I was rolling terribly. Like, so bad. My guys were missing something in melee combat that was about nine foot tall, but that is the way the dice roll - then again, they were not my dice. I was tainted by the curse of the dice - so I have bought myself some, to be exact, these ones:
https://www.thediceshoponline.com/dice/210/Purple-Oblivion-7-Dice-Polyset
I really liked the colour and it comes as a set which is cheap and postage is also cheap. Happy times. I am hoping that I should get some better roles when I have my own dice. The only one I don't like is the four sided die, it just doesn't roll. It is literally designed to not do the thing it needs to be doing. Bah!
I am planning to make my own like.. DnD story which I can then possibly play or share with y'all on the internet and then you can let me know how it went. If you died. If you succeeded. If you managed to make that table out of cigars like I mentioned. If you also make stories, feel free to send them my way so I can give them a try as well when I get the chance to. You can send them and anything else you would like to:
matttalkslife@gmail.com
I would also really like to draw something DnD related.. So if anyone knows of a good location for like.. Art work to base it off of.. That would be handy. The books have stuff but you always need different angles of the subjects.. Thanks.
And also thanks for reading. It has been nice to get something down having been such a long time. I will of course, blog you later. Did I mention there was unlimited ice cream?
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