[ My Video Game Collection ] - [ Following Month ]

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Introduction

It's only just the start of 2011 and already January is looking to be a busy month. The first major thing to happen will be my return to university on the 10th. I've had a fun few weeks with no work to do and no deadlines to meet. Sadly all the fun will soon be coming to and end and it will be back to work as usual. The very first week back and I have an exam which was delayed from mid December because of bad weather. I'm really not looking forward to it.

Next up comes the Newgrounds Manchester Meet, starting on the 14th and ending on the 16th for me. I've never been to a Newgrounds meet before and it should be an interesting experience. It will be nice to finally meet some of the people behind the usernames and hopefully make a few new friends. Downside to all of this being the four and a half hour bus journey but I'm sure it will all be worth it in the end.

The day after I return from Manchester, it will be my 19th birthday. As of yet I don't have anything planned. I may possibly try to go out on the weekend with my old school friends but I'm really going to consider Manchester as my birthday weekend. Nineteen is a pretty boring age and indicates the end of my teen years. It's not really like I'm leaving anything behind.

Busy month, should be good fun.

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Manchester Meet

So I actually went and attended my first Newgrounds Meet. It was a great experience and if you ever get the chance to go to one in the future I don't think you should turn it down. I'm pretty sure I'll be showing up at more in the future.

Day 1

When I first arrived in Manchester, I was there pretty early to decided to be brave and go exploring on my own for a bit. I didn't go particularly far but I was able to work out where a fair few things were located.

I eventually found my way to Piccadilly Station and met up with my good friend Jawdyn for the first time. It was a little weird finally meeting the person behind the user name even though in a way it felt like I'd already met him. He's someone that I'd been speaking to for a few months before hand, so I think it's fair to say that we already knew each other fairly well.

We made our way over to the Premier Inn which was actually a pretty decent place to stay. It was a lot better than I had anticipated. Pretty soon after dumping our bags in the room we found Sequenced sitting in the lobby and got talking to him for a while before then finding citricsquid.

Since we were a little hungry we headed to a Mexican restaurant where we met up with Luis and quite a few others for the first time. I forget who we all met there because I wasn't really all that familiar with anyone at the time.

Not long after that quite a lot of the NG users ended up in me and Jawdyn's hotel room playing Jungle Speed with Bezman. It's a pretty awesome game and Bezman just dominates it. He's become pretty much unbeatable. I met a lot more people here as well. Too many to list but you all know how you are. I recall this being the first time I met Bahamut, who I spent a lot of time talking to over the weekend.

Later that night it was time to hit the karaoke bar, which was one of the highlights of the meet. I seem to recall introducing myself to Simon and Fim quite well. Both are really awesome guys as was Fim's friend Matt who came along. I spent quite a bit of time that night talking to those lot. I also seem to recall Fim helping me find a cash machine which was apparently 'near by' and actually miles away only to discover that there was one right where we set off from. It was a good adventure none the less.

Day 2

The main event of day two was supposed to be the Chill Factor, but after a lot of walking in the pissing rain with Oliver and bus journeys we discvered that not many people had actually booked their session, so most of us ended up sitting in Wetherspoons an chatting for a few hours.

After that we headed back into town and ended up at this awesome place called the Kyoto Lounge. If you're ever in Manchester you have to go and visit it. Think games consoles and PCs mixed with alcohol. It was just fantastic fun. I spent some time playing Rock Band and Guitar Hero with a few people which was pretty amusing. I definitely want to head back there at some point in the future with Newgrounds users. It was the most fun I've had for a while.

Day 3

It didn't take long for the last day of the meet to come around and it was a pretty sad though but we still had a pretty good time. I went wandering around the Arndale Centre with Bezman Black-Ops, LazyPint, Ockeroid and Ragnarokia before heading over to Luis' place where we just spent some time playing games.

It was then that we sadly had to depart and head out separate ways. I met a lot of new people at this meet, many of whom I do plan to remain in contact with and I've already made attempts to add people on Facebook and such. Those of you who I spoke to at one point or another can probably expect PMs from me soon.

I had a great time and I have to thank you guys for that. I was treating this weekend as my birthday night out as well and all of you lot made it awesome. I'll definitely be making attempts to attend future meets. I made too many friends for me not to come and say 'hi' again at some point in the future.

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Sorry if I've not linked you in this post. I was in a rush to write down as much as I could before I got some well needed sleep. I'll be updating this at some point in the future. Excuse all the typos and stuff. I'll get that sorted too.

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Me and Fim. That guy is brilliant fun.