Well, to be fair, I haven't posted here in like.. ages. I was planning to do all of my personal posts here and my game development posts at http://earok.net/blog, but it hasn't exactly worked out that way and I've even started doing some minor personal writing on my game dev blog, so I'm going to stick to that blog from now on.

Guess i've been kinda late with this one, huh?

Well anyway, it was a long weekend here (Auckland anniversary) so I went with Hammish and his girlfriend Julia, Tristan and his girlfriend Claressa, Daniel and his girlfriend Thai-Ann and "Dirty Des" Desmond to the Coromandel. I was the only white guy there so naturally there was a bit of good natured cheekiness between me and them, but yeah, they're all a really, really awesome bunch. Also me and Des were the only ones there without our chicks =P totally unfair. Julia posted some pictures of the trip on her facebook and so i've put the ones with me in it here.



This is me borrowing Hammish's body board. Got to ride some pretty gnarly waves, man.



Me looking evil with my Les Paul guitar hero guitar. We played that game far too much but it was awesome, i'm glad Des brought it along. Out of the eight of us there I was probably third, Des was amazing, Tristan was really good, I was okay, Hammish was about the same and everyone else was pretty bad =P



Just me in the stupid winter camo cap with the guys. Hammish is a total gangster.



Another picture of the guys. Daniel is displaying his impressive forehead carrying ability.



We were carrying a heavy chillybin along the long windy path to Cathedral Cove so naturally we had to lighten the load and cool ourselves off with some Steinlager pure.



Here we spot a whale coming very close to shore. I mean, thats me on the far left getting horribly sunburned.



Me and the guys admiring the view after a fun day swimming.

It's been awhile since there have been any movies i'm really interested in seeing, and now there are two!

First up theres Cloverfield, the Godzilla/Blair Witch type movie with awesome looking special effects. And then theres I Am Legend, the Will Smith zombie movie, on the big iMax screen playing together with the first six minutes of the Dark Knight

Which one should I see?

My first Live Journal post is well overdue. I'm 24 today! And I thought that it might be appropriate to post a short list of things I have achieved up until today:

- January 14th, 1984. Was born in Greymouth Hospital. Well over a fortnight overdue.
- Circa 1986. My parents bought their first computer, the C64, and it was only a couple of years after that I started to learn about them.
- January 1989. Begun schooling at Haast primary. 
- Circa 1992-1993. Lept off the highest diving board at Moana Park in Dunedin. Also read my first novel, Spitfire Summer, in the day I borrowed it from the library (the only other full length book I have read in a single day was the James Bond novel High Time to Kill)
- Circa 1994-1996. Swam with Hectors Dolphins for the first time.
- Early 1995. Based Junior Computer training course at Telford Polytechnic.
- Circa 1995-1996. Visited Doubtful Sound as part of a School Trip, survived several grueling long Bushwalks as well as avoiding getting diarrhea unlike many of my classmates! Also was kissed by a girl for the first time some time during these years, as a cruel dare I think!
- Late 1996. Finished primary/intermediate schooling at Tokanui School, having never been held up a year despite being a late bloomer!
- Early 1997. Begun Correspondence school due to remote location I lived in being off the bus route. Also began making 2D games in Klik and Play. Got my brother hooked on it not long after that. Also did yet another Junior Computer training course at Telford Polytechnic.
- Early 1998, circa Easter. Declared my belief in Christ Jesus at the Faith Festival 98, a Christian Camp in Southland.
- Late 1998. Finished two years of Correspondence schooling, took School Certificate Maths exam (a year ahead) which, unfortunately I did not pass.
- Late 1999. Finished School Certificate exams, passing four classes out of five and a mark of 80% for my Maths exams,  a 35% improvement over my last result and one of the top three at Greymouth High School.
- Late 2000. Finished Sixth Forth Certificate, with one 4, three 5's and one 6.
- Early 2001. Passed my St John workplace first aid course. Right up until just before I moved to Auckland after that I helped with volunteer first aid duties at various local events, including motorcross, rugby and Wild Foods. Also began my first volunteer job outside of my parents Business, which was at Mason's pharmacy in Greymouth.
- Late 2001. Finished Bursary, earning a 'B' level and Higher School Certificate, as well as passing every class I attended
- Early 2002. Was accepted for a place on the recently free Certificate in Business Computing course (now DipICT5)
- Late 2002. Finished CBC with a distinction, having earned at least 95% on 15 out of 18 modules
- Mid 2003. Discovered about my Dyspraxia by chance at a St John meeting when we were doing study on Paedalogical conditions. For the first time in my life I knew why I was the way I was.
- Late 2003. Finished Diploma ICT6 again with distinction, as well as the only person in the course that year to finish Diploma ICT in less the one year.
- January 2004. First successful job application - Tai Poutini Polytechnic Greymouth
- Mid 2005. Lived by myself for one month in an Auckland hotel while I relieved a co-worker at Auckland MAINZ.
- August 2005. Second successful job application - Auckland MAINZ. I took the job of the guy I had relieved earlier!
- September 17th 2005. Moved out of my parents home into my first Apartment
- January 12th, 2006. Did my first skyjump off the Skytower. I paid for my brother to do the same a couple of months later.
- May 27th 2006. Moved out of my Apartment to live in my current residence, a Penthouse apartment above where I work.
- November 2006. Finished programming the Project Firestart remake for the Retro Remakes 2006 competition, designing a complete first person shooter from scratch in 10 weeks.
- July 2007. Become a GWAVA Certified Engineer after doing a two day course over Skype with the Utah based tutor
- January 1st, 2008. Hooked up with an awesome babe for a Girlfriend alkaline-kiwi - I have lived in Blackball, Runanga, Haast, Lawrence, Stewart Island, Tokanui, Greymouth and Auckland, meaning I have lived in all three main New Zealand islands at one stage or another.

I'll probably update this list whenever I can think of new entries that would be appriopiate!

Tags: birthday, erik
Current Mood: tired