After what feels like years of waiting I finally got my mucky paws on a copy today (preordered at Game - it was that important to me!). I installed it as soon as I got back from work and have been playing ever since. It is so damn beautiful - you can tell every tiny detail was important to someone in the design team. Everything about it is brilliant. The tweaks they made to the game play will take a little while to adjust to, but it's all so worth it becuase of the amazing changes with the fundamentals since the first release.

Somehow they've made it feel like a whole new game rather than a sequal. Whether you likes the first one or not I'm sure you'll think this one is brilliant. Got a feeling I'll be playing it solidly over the weekend...

in my line of work you see some pretty horrrible things... (you have no idea how cool it is for me to say that - you have no idea how cool it is fo me to have a 'line of work'!)

anyway - the horrible stuff includes victims of domestic violence, which we can do very little to prevent, the nasty face of recreational drug use gone too far, and worst of all, people who have been in trouble all their lives and are totally unwilling to change.

but there's good bits too that keeps it entertaining. one man was in to see his probation officer and a colleague knew what his offense was. he'd broken into his neighbour's house when they were on holiday, removed every personal trace of the family and lived there like it was his own house. when the family came home he was discovered having a BBQ on the back yard...

i think we should invent a new sport - Extreme BBQ-ing. like extreme ironing only with more meat involved. or maybe we shouldn't invent it because the British would be rubbish at it and the Australians would always win.

hello again dear blog fans. just a few words from rainy misty Swansea.

we am still very excited about potentially being on Dave Gorman's DVD. it's out next month so we shall soon see. Dibbie and I were sitting right behind a camera, so the cameraman often tunrd around to get crowd shots. we were laughing like hyenas on acid so i hope he thought us worthy of a shot or two. only problem is i was wearing a very booby top adj. having a great deal of boobs on dislpay, being busty. i wanted to wear something sexy having been stuck in dowdy office-wear for the longest time, but this might push the DVD rating up a notch or two. Dave had already been told off for swearing too much and had to rely on that useful stand-in 'chuff', apart from when he got really mad with the hecklers and about his tatto, which he hates, that he got while drunk in Texas - a story familiar to us all, I'm sure.

other than that, nothing much doing. Dibbie made chili last night, so my stomach is suffering now and if you want to use the loo i'd leave it a few minutes to be on the safe side. i don't know if he's ever said but he is a damn good cock cook and puts my culinary attempts to shame.

it's my first weekend off from work and i have too many ides of what to do, so my brain is over-loaded and i might just sit on my ass and do nothing. it's not being lazy, it's being indecisive. reckon i'll watch Shaun of the Dead later - thanks to play.com it's in my house before it's in the shops - woo!

Woo! Dave Gorman rocks! Brilliant show. Me and Dibbs might be on the DVD. Great night. More detail tomorrow - I gotta hit the sawdust. night-night

yes, the rumours are true - i've got myself a job in law enforcement... well, kind of. before you start imagining me in uniform with a shiny piece (lol) it's actually just a receptionist job at the local Probation Office. we meet and greet the chavs and get them seen by their officer and we give them their bus money to get home - or to go to the pub and cause more mischief...

and the amusing and disturbing tales i'll be able to share with you! just on my first day i've met several people who just got out of prison, heard a tale of woe about a criminal's daughter being raped and how said crim may well take the matter into his own hands, and i've given bus fare to a bloke charged with incest. the mind sheer boggles.

i've had no trouble yet - we have panic alarms, cctv in every room and a burly security bloke - and i hope to keep it that way, but with these and worse in every day i think it will only be a matter of time.

anyhoo - even if it sucks i'll have the pleasure of knowing that my day will keep ya'll entertained. so be good, and if you can't be good tell me first - i'll make sure you get a comfy cell.