You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake

OK. Patapon. I understand the concept and gameplay, and the graphics and animation are great and have the same appeal as Loco Roco. But I'm finding it VERY hard to get into. It took me about six tries to get past the second level. Basically you tap out a command (advance, attack, etc) in four beats, and they chant the command you've beat while carrying it out, but I don't know why I can't get it. If I don't get the hang of it soon, it'll be traded for something else.

I had a catastrophic lapse today. That was discovering a Squier Vintage Modified Fretless Jazz Bass on Ebay. I've been after a decent fretless to replace my crappy home-made fretless for some time. There are some ultra cheap but undoubtedly crappy acoustic basses on Ebay which areavailable as a fretless, but I've played the Squier and I know I like it. So yeah, I ended up buying the Squier. Year of thriftiness my arse. At least it was a heck of a lot cheaper than a new one. Thank fuck I've at least got a car now which merely sips diesel as though it were a fine wine, to be savoured and drawn out as long as possible, rather than drinking it all down in one go and clamouring drunkenly for more. Probably not the best way to describe the difference in fuel economy between the AX and the Discovery but that's what it feels like.

Either this laptop (Toshiba Satellite A40) has got scratches on the screen or somehow there are hairs inside the LCD panel. I know I don't treat this laptop very well and it bears the scars to show it, but things like that on the screen really bother me. Damn it.

That quote from Fight Club is becoming strangely relevant here: "The things you own end up owning you." Damn that's a good film, I think I'll watch it this weekend sometime.

The Rayburn is officially scrap and to replace it we're getting a much smaller stove which is built solely for central heating. Rayburns are so expensive it's just not possible to justify one, particularly as the old one was so rarely used for cooking. Not that the smaller stove is all that cheap.