Since getting to the US I have basically only listened to one band. I like to do this occasionally - just totally immerse myself in the music of a single band. So what's the band? Well in this case it is a recommendation from Ann Marie - Omnia. They are 'Pagan Folk Rock' which makes them sound a lot shitter than they are but there is no better term, some songs sound a bit Clapton, some sound more Dolly Parton and most of them seem to require a Didgeridoo. The thing is they are really fun to listen to and in a strange way remind me of Marilyn Manson not really for the music style but in the way I listen. I like all of the music but the songs I love are the covers (well for Omnia it is the songified poems eg Raven and Jabberwocky). Anyways, I would recommend checking them out if you are after something different. Toys in the Attic is also a good song and one of their originals.
Last night I finished Jolly Rover, a fun little point and click adventure very much like the Monkey Island games. It is wonderfully voice acted and, I think, a lot easier than the Monkey Island games. It has a few nice features to eliminate some of the frustrations (such as changing object description colors when there is nothing to learn from them) and the whole game plays through in about 4hrs if you don't piss about too much. Once you have finished the first play? Well then it is time to play again but now with Director's (and Voice Actor's) commentary! I am seriously considering doing this second play.
There are some things that Americans seem to really struggle with that surprise me. It's not always the words you use, or even where you use certain words apparently they often struggle with English accents which isn't something I had encountered prior to this trip but the one thing that has really come out of left field is the confusion over how I answer Yes/No questions. It would seem that there is actually a lot of confusion over what I am saying as if Yes or No are the only valid outputs for their query. For instance:
Scene: Waiting at the bus stop for the shuttle to the apartment
Random Googler: Excuse me is this the stop for the shuttle to the CalTrain?
Dev: It should be!
Random Googler <looking unbelievably perplexed>: Ummm?!?
Dev: This is the stop for the shuttle but it was meant to be here 10 minutes ago and still hasn't shown up.
Random Googler: I guess it must be running late!
Dev: Either that or it was running early and we will have to wait for the next one.
Random Googler <steps away from Dev still looking confused>
Normally I would be happy to put this down to someone not paying attention, or being a bit slow but this has happened several times on this trip and I am struggling to believe that my responses are really that abnormal!
Here in the Bay Area there is a trial of something called 'Shopping Express' which is a way of getting same day delivery from local shops. Well ok that's pretty cool but what's the big whoop? Well coming from the UK where delivery takes 4 days tops normally it's a nice to have but in the US if you order from an online store you then have to deal with USPS. You may think Royal Fail is bad but trust me it has nothing on USPS. I placed an order on Monday July 1st for things that I had left behind in the UK / didn't have. They shipped the same day and I thought wow I should have these by next Monday, I mean there is a holiday but that should be fine right? NOPE. I get in on Monday to find out there is nothing... I twiddle my thumbs a bit and wait... I come in yesterday and still nada... but as the day goes by I get an email letting me know I have a parcel! So I rush down to find a box full of boardgaming stuff a friend had ordered a week before I left for the US! So I still wait for swimming trunks and shorts.
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