Death and Mortgages.

Well, a week has passed since my last post and there's one thing I'm sure about - I'll soon be a homeowner! It's the strangest thing because I went to see my first viewing at an apartment on Thursday or Friday evening (it seems bizarrely long ago) which was a lot closer to work than this place - about a 15 minute stroll to work every day instead of a 30 minute one. Imagine the extra 15 minutes of sleep! The flat itself felt like a place I could definitely live in and feel like I belonged and I think the person who has put the flat on the market - a teacher (the best kind of people in my opinion) - had a chat with me about why she wanted to move out and I said to her that I was very, very interested and the offer I would put forward would be the asking price - £109,950. It's a very good price for what's on offer too - communal garden, garage, two bedrooms and a spacious lounge with a lovely view of the Valley.

A Valuable Lesson In Advice

When you work for a company with 80-odd (and I mean odd) employees, you get a very good cross-section of advice regarding mortgages. I've amassed a great deal of hints, tips and pointers from people and that's helped me be a lot more confident with this whole "buying my own place" thing. Before all this, I was a renter. I rented off people and that was the end of it - so basically I was helping to pay for the mortgages of others, and it'll help me freak out less over that huge amount of money that I'm basically renting towards my own place. It's an investment, right? 20 years or so of payment is a big deal, I'm sure, but I'm looking forward to moving in and then realising that all this phoning up and running around I'm currently doing is over. I'm going to see the flat again tomorrow so I can get an idea of the views from the daylight, but it's a foregone conclusion that I'm eager to move in there. She was very understanding and even made the offer that if she moved out quickly so I could move in, she could stay with friends before she moved into her new place.

"Mortgages Mortgages Mortgages Mortgages!"

So I went to see other places today - some horrible rentals and another flat which cost around the same as the Flat Of My Desire though was a lot further away from work and also located at one of the highest points in Gateshead. Also wasn't too keen on the area - felt quite sinister, where the flat I'll be seeing again tomorrow is on a closed street and is rather quiet. It's near a main train line, but the trains will break up the monotony of the day and they'll probably merge into the background anyway. The Estate Agents I am with for this flat seem great - I had a long chat with a kind lass who showed me around the other flat and said that she made the same decision as me - she saw one place first then viewed many more before going back to the first choice. So this reassured me again - it is normal. I also think my landlord is letting me stick around until I've moved, which is a huge weight off my shoulders. I've spent all week thinking about moving and looking into moving and I was more worried about his decision than the mortgage! I don't think they are in a hurry to turn my room into a dining room, though it's great I have some leeway to get myself shifted.

So What's Next?

Monday will be a most productive day. I'll be visiting a Mortgage Advisor at one of the other Estate Agents I've been seeing - though I'll be purely taking his advice and nothing much else. I'm going to pop into the Estate Agents who hold the keys to that lovely flat and I'll probably enquire about making an offer. I think I may have a lot of things going for me - the fact that I practically viewed the thing as soon as it came on the market, and also my honesty that I would offer the asking price would be a great way to combat the piss-takers who offer less in some kind of bartering I still can't understand. I'm an old-fashioned bloke. I see a price. I pay that price. Bartering could take time too, which is something I have not too much of. So, yep... enquire and possibly make an offer. There could also be the possibility of a second Mortgage Advisor! After that, I'll be heading to the bank for an account review and... another Mortgage Advisor! I may well take up the bank with their mortgage deals because there's some healthy deals for first time buyers. I guess my lack of commitment to a mortgage is down to me being without much of a backbone though recently I've grown one. I think the New Year has a lot to do with it. It's a new me! Wish me luck with this - I would dearly love for it to all work out.

Other Stuff!

Work is still busy, busy, busy. On the day I was up for my first viewing, our Executive Producer broke the news that Midway was getting a shakedown and cutting jobs. It was strange that I was up for committing to something like a mortgage and hearing that news. I don't think it's as bad as my brain makes out, but I am cautious. It also made me realise why getting a mortgage when working in the games industry is a rather risky business, but then I'm basically a stone's throw away from the industrial heart of Gateshead and if it all goes tits up, I can find another job there or try out for the other developers in the region - of which there are a surprising amount. I managed to get Monday off by saying it was quite important as "I needed to find a new place to live" so they granted me my wish. We got a write-up in Eurogamer though the tone of that (and other write-ups in the same feature) was that of an unexcited female journo who probably wanted to work for the tabloids but got given that gig instead. It is exciting that we'll soon be unveiling the game to the press though it is frustrating when you don't see the game you've been hard at work on in any type of media. Do people know it's still in development? Well, it is. Don't sweat it.

Me, Myself and I.

If you don't already know, I'm responsible for the look of the UI in Wheelman - or the User Interface. Menu screens, Heads-Up Displays (or HUDs), animation transitions and a say in game flow. The interesting thing is that I've seen other Midway games which boast huge UI teams, and for Wheelman there is just little old me. I also work with a bloke called Sam who is a ActionScript genius - we're doing stuff in this front end which is technically impressive and will help out the company as a whole. I think we're also doing things in the Unreal Engine which will fry the brains of even those at Epic Games. It is exciting stuff and although the hours have ramped up for crunch, they're worth it.

If You Haven't Already Done So...

Play BioShock. No, seriously. Play BioShock. It's an incredible experience which gets better and better with every play. I've recently got back into it since BlackSite and it shows you just where a lot of BlackSite went wrong. There's so much believability in BioShock - the fact there's an ecosystem of people in the underwater city of Rapture who fight each other and you. The Big Daddies stomp about the place and look rather imposing while their companion siblings loot the dead for something called Adam. The way you can play the game is entirely up to you - you can be quite creative with how you approach situations and get the AI to turn on each other using handy plasmids (funky powers like electrocution and incineration) to devastating effect. Enemies in water? Electrocute the water! You feel very much part of the world too - you're a survivor trying to unravel what's happening. The story is greatly enhanced by listening to audio diaries of the inhabitents and the rather atmospheric soundtrack. In fact, the whole thing is full of atmosphere and thinking about it - the AI does a fine job of behaving like it should too. I've been trying to avoid spoilers except one kind soul decided to put in a huge spoiler without warning in one of his crappy hardware video reviews as well as the constant spoilers which crop up during a typical Major Nelson podcast.

My Top Five YouTube Clips Of All Time!

Before I get to bed (I have work tomorrow, don'tcha know), I know that a person who I shall one day marry while in the presence of a Priest-Elvis has a better connection now and she enjoys YouTube even more. As a sorry for not sending an e-mail tonight (will do tomorrow!), here are my all-time top five YouTube clips (in no particular order) of all time - for the moment. Until I change my mind again. Ooops.

DaxFlame is one of my most favourite YouTube vloggers (urgh) because he's just plain funny. I don't care if he is a real crazy person or an actor - I defy you not to giggle through this clip where he freaks out over a lightning storm. If you don't enjoy the last 40 seconds of this, you're dead inside and there's no hope for you.

Charlie Brooker has a show over here in the UK called Screenwipe where he deconstructs all television in a brilliantly no-bullshit kind of way. He's gained a fanbase due to these honest reviews and critiques of television as we know it, and rightly so. The above clip always blows my mind. It's pure 100% truth about the horror of Aspirational TV and I implore you to watch it. It's insanely entertaining.

This always cracks me up in work - from Flight of The Conchords, here we see David Bowie pay a visit to Bret after he had shown his penis to the man from the greeting cards company. I will never tire of watching this!

I fell in love with this tune and video from the moment I saw it. Charlotte Hatherley (ex-Ash guitarist) is currently bouncing on the bones of Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright. I think the video is directed by Oscar Wright - Edgar's brother. I love animated music promos which not only tell a story, but suit the tune as well. This ticks both boxes!

Speaking of Edgar - he appears in this episode of the brilliant spoof show Look Around You which was on BBC2 a few years back. This is definitely my favourite episode - ghosts! So they do exist - there's the proof!

Thank god for YouTube!