Edd's 18th. . .

[DarkHoodness]

This may interest no-one, but yeah, Happy Birthday to me, I turn 18 today (14th May).
But get this - Turning 18 has no significance to me whatsoever. No milestones, no life changes, no nothing. Isn't it a first, huh?

Oh, and unlike everyone else seems to do, I'm not gonna go out and get drunk. Instead, I'm just satisfied with a big LAN party.
Drinking is boring and pointless, anyway. . .
- DH

[Mac the Janitor]

Happy birthday!

I have to say I really respect you for not drinking...most kids would jump on the chance cos it makes them feel older somehow. But I'm glad you're one of the few with brains...'tis really cool.

[oddguy]

Happy Birthday! Being 18 allows you to vote, get a credit card, move out and own a house...all that cool stuff. Have fun! Ditto with Mac on the drinking thing.

-oddguy

[VaniLLaKiLLah]

Happy Birthday!!!
yeah, 18 is a great age...

.:VaniLLaKiLLah:.

[Alcar]

Happy Birthday, Eddie!

Have fun with your LAN party Any games in mind?

Alcar...

[Teal]

Turning 18 has no significance to me whatsoever. No milestones, no life changes, no nothing

...Apart from being able to vote, get a credit card, get a mortgage, have to pay full fare on the buses, etc etc etc...?

I know I've already said it, but Hopsnitch geburtstag, anyway.

[Fuzzles!]

Happy 18th!!!!!!!!!

[Hobo]

Happy birthday!

No drunkeness, are you mad?

[Fez]

Happy Birthday Edd.

[Oddish]

Happy Birthday Edd! Have a nice 18th age

Your party so big that i can see fireworks right now tis true

[DarkHoodness]

Thanks you guys.

During tommorrow's LAN party, we'll all be playing Half-Life, Unreal Tournament 2004, perhaps some Command and Conquer Generals. . .
We'll see, though. Mainly UT2004.
- DH

EDIT: BTW, for those who care, I got (aside from the cards):

1. £50 from various people ($88.05 in USD)

2. A 3D Geography program that takes up loads of HD space.

3. Some cuddley hedgehog toy with "18" on it's belly.

4. A "Forever Flashlight", which needs no batteries or bulbs. Works by shaking it. A small, but powerful magnet passes through a coil, which charges up a small battery on a small circiut board, which powers a small, but very bright LED light. Magnified through a small lens on the front of the torch, it gives off a good ammount of dim light - Just enough to see where you are going with in the dark. 30 seconds of shaking it gives 5 minutes of light. Pretty nifty device, huh?

5. A personal stereo, with batteries and headphones. Was also given some blank tapes with it.

6. 4 mini-pizzas.
- DH

[Surfacing]

Happy birthday you old bastard.

[Mojo]

A bit late, but congratz to you!

[Surfacing]

What an ass..

[Codek]

This may interest no-one, but yeah, Happy Birthday to me, I turn 18 today (14th May).
But get this - Turning 18 has no significance to me whatsoever. No milestones, no life changes, no nothing. Isn't it a first, huh?

Oh, and unlike everyone else seems to do, I'm not gonna go out and get drunk. Instead, I'm just satisfied with a big LAN party.
Drinking is boring and pointless, anyway. . .
- DH

You have LAN parties and you don't drink.

Christ I never realised we had so much in common.

Unreal Tournament 2004, perhaps some Command and Conquer Generals. . .
We'll see, though. Mainly UT2004.

Ah, not so much in common after all then. :P#

After reading through your list of B-day stuff, sounds like a craptacular time you'll be having. (or.. have had?)

What an ass..

Who's an ass? Alpha?

[DarkHoodness]

Nah, I'm satisfied by very little. . . I have near enough everything that I want. Oh, except Half-Life 2 of course, and oh yeah, a house that isn't falling to bits. . . But that's another story.
I'm just glad that people actually took the time to send stuff to me, no matter how useful or useless that they were. . . It's the thought that counts after all.

Anyway, the LAN party was fantastic! And I kept winning at UT2004 and Half-Life. Maybe because I didn't drink as much alcohol as everyone else did. . .
But no, going out and drinking, in my eyes, may be boring (probably because I'm not very socail), but what is a LAN party without a bit of alcohol, huh?
- DH

[Codek]

what is a LAN party without a bit of alcohol, huh?

One that I'll visit.

Drinking alcohol while playing computer games is a bit like breaking your hand and then playing computer games. Since alcohol has the effect of a depressant, it slows down all your reactions.

Glad you had fun though. Not my kinda lan part really, sounds a bit too quiet for me. And it's not complete, since it doesn't have that weird rasta guy in the corner selling t-shirts.

My netfests usually have a BBQ, t-shirt seller, DJ, and about five or six drinks coolers around the place for anyone that needs a drink. Just about everything is free with the exception of the entry fee and t-shirt seller. Drinks, food, and computers are all provided for.

Last year was brilliant fun - we had LOADS of game companies send preview stands with cardboard standups and big signs, AND an outing for the whole crew to our airsoft club, for a free match. Oh yeah, and Terry blew up the BBQ, that was fun - so we've got a nice big new one now.

Can't wait for this year, should be a blast.

[DarkHoodness]

I'll bet the larger-scale LAN parties are fun, it sounds that way.
But the one I went to was just held between me and a few friends around someone's house, with just 8 people. Really small scale LAN party, but still fun non-the-less.
- DH

[Codek]

I'll bet the larger-scale LAN parties are fun, it sounds that way.
But the one I went to was just held between me and a few friends around someone's house, with just 8 people. Really small scale LAN party, but still fun non-the-less.
- DH

Small LAN parties are a bit more atmospheric, you usually remember them better than the big events.

The smallest once I've had was with 3 people. And that one really was super small, we really did just do our own thing on that one. But it was a planned event nonetheless.

Biggest one I've ever had was over 200 people, and exactly 200 gamers. Myself and nearly all of my friends had to rig up a radio system so we could talk to each other, and we needed large scale network equipment with a central control server to work all of the 25 "workgroups", 8 computers in each group.

That was a total logistical nightmare, because we had people bringing in their own computers, and we spent nearly a day of the whole 2 week event just fixing program conflicts and viruses. We had to buy a corporate edition of windows XP home just to get all the computers talking to each other. Plus one of the computers had a pretty rabid network attack virus, which we had to intercept by isolating individual workgroups from one another to isolate and eliminate the virus.

But it all went smoothly in the end, thank god. Now nearly 50 people have a free copy of windows XP. And at least 100 of those that came have at least 2 games installed on their pc that they didn't have before. Heh, and we did ask people to already have the games on their pcs before they came too.

One of the things that I'd do it again for, is to see some of the really cool computers that people had, we had a real diversity there, from beige powerboxes, to alien-like ubermachines. But that's a story for another day...

[DarkHoodness]

Sounds fun. Even with just an 8-person LAN party, you'd be suprised about the ammount of diversity between the computers there.
There was a high-powered laptop, a huge black PC with loads of flashing lights, a smaller one with a transparent case and many, many more lights. . .
But the rest of them were beige powerboxes like mine. Except my case lid was off, and my CPU fan has really cool green LEDs on it. Made a nice lighting effect underneath the dark computer table I was using.
- DH

[Codek]

Whenever I get crappy beige boxes I either spray them totally mental colours, or, give them a new case.

Recasing is a really crap thing to have to do - you've got loads of screws and you need to remember where each one goes. I prefer having the right case from the start.

But yeah, it was good fun. I'll have to see if I can invite you around for this year. Should be a bit smaller this time round, about 70 to 100 people are planned. Bring your own PCs, we'll have our team set them up while we are out at the "first night welcome dinner", which is a small event we ritually hold on the first night that everyone gets here (just to give the guys some peace while they set up the network really). We all go out to a nice resteraunt or hotel for a meal, then finish the day back at the lan.

Usually it lasts for 2 weeks, and you get put up at a hotel for the duration. Food is provided for in the form of a BBQ, where we do burgers, hotdogs, chips, and spicy salad fajitas for the vegitarians (you have to specify if you're vegitarian or not when you book the ticket). It's expensive unfortunately, because the whole thing costs quite a lot to arrange, but we've gone budget on as much as we can, to reduce the price as much as possible, and it turns out to just under £200 per person.

You arrive at around 10am, and play till as late as 11:30 pm. Drinks are available at all times in the many redbull sponsored coolers around the hall, and there is usually a vendor/vending machine somewhere on site. The meal is served up at 3pm, and after that people have the option of going to the local chip shop (who give us discount coupons in return for our business) or wherever else you choose. (there are plenty of other places within walking distance)

Do let me know if you're interested, and I'll make a note of trying to get you a free place.

[DarkHoodness]

Hmmm. . . It sounds pretty cool, but I'll have to think about it. There is the problem of distance and transport for me, and also timing, though. . . Where will it be held, and at what time?
- DH

[oddguy]

Sounds fun. Even with just an 8-person LAN party, you'd be suprised about the ammount of diversity between the computers there.
There was a high-powered laptop, a huge black PC with loads of flashing lights, a smaller one with a transparent case and many, many more lights. . .
But the rest of them were beige powerboxes like mine. Except my case lid was off, and my CPU fan has really cool green LEDs on it. Made a nice lighting effect underneath the dark computer table I was using.
- DH

I saw this one dude that mixed his computer with a mini-fridge and kept his soda inside his computer. It was crazy.

[Codek]

Hmmm. . . It sounds pretty cool, but I'll have to think about it. There is the problem of distance and transport for me, and also timing, though. . . Where will it be held, and at what time?
- DH

We can arrange transport for you if you have no other way of getting here - usually in the form of a discount-for-business taxi. You foot the bill for that one though.

I am really loathed to say this but, I can't actually tell you exactly where the event is held. Since it is a private function, and a lot of people are bringing expensive computers there, security is quite an issue. You will however be told where the event is when you book the ticket, and if you're coming by taxi, you don't need to bother about that at all.

Timing - not a problem. The whole event is held during the school summer holidays so that everyone from younger gamers to college students are able to come. Even most office workers have holidays during that time of the year. If you can't make it because of an important event, your tickets and place will be held until next year, where you will be able to rebuy your place for just £50.

Let me know if you want to come, and I will arrange a VIP space for you - this means you come in as a "friend of the organiser", and everything is on the house.

[ClaireBear]

Em... whats a LAN?

Laxy Adolescent Nuptuals?

Long And Naughty?

Live Adventure Numpties?

Seriously What is it? Indulge the elderly!

EDIT: Summit to do with computers....

I guess! Its a party I get that much!

[Codek]

Em... whats a LAN?

Laxy Adolescent Nuptuals?

Long And Naughty?

Live Adventure Numpties?

Seriously What is it? Indulge the elderly!

It stands for Local Area Network. It's what you get when you join several computers together by cables, allowing them to share information with each other, and facilitating multiplayer computer gaming, which allows realtime interaction between two or more players.

[ClaireBear]

It stands for Local Area Network. It's what you get when you join several computers together by cables, allowing them to share information with each other, and facilitating multiplayer computer gaming, which allows realtime interaction between two or more players.

Oh... riiiight!

So... no sex then?... Damn!

[DarkHoodness]

Oh yeah. . . *forgot to respond to this* I appreciate your invitation, Death, it means a lot to me. However, 2 weeks seems a bit of a long time, and after the trouble I'm having with the local council now, my whole summer holiday is going to be a busy one.
Maybe I'll consider it next year. . . But thanks for the offer all the same.
- DH

[oddguy]

Em... whats a LAN?

Laxy Adolescent Nuptuals?

Long And Naughty?

Live Adventure Numpties?

Seriously What is it? Indulge the elderly!

Ha! That was funny. Next you'll think ISP(Interent Service Provider) means Indulging Sexual Pleasures!

-oddguy

[ClaireBear]

Ha! That was funny. Next you'll think ISP(Interent Service Provider) means Indulging Sexual Pleasures!

-oddguy

You mean its not!!!!