--UPDATE--
*SlateReaper has made a proper News article about the event now, which can be found here [link] and includes more specific times, travel arrangements and so on.
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Hmm, first journal entry since November, 2008... Intense
Anyway, ello again kids, hows things?

After the long silence, I'm guessing you came to one of two conclusions... either I'd been very busy dealing with things in the Real World, or I was a dusty corpse. Or you hadn't given it much thought, but my egotism doesn't really see that as an option.
Either way, it was at least mostly option one, though the corpse theory hasn't been entirely ruled out.

Aaanyway, since last time, J has been a very busy boy... slogging away 9-5 temping still, and continuing with the (much delayed) game design project, going snowboarding in Austria, attending gigs and festivals, and exploring Manchester's many delights.
Still, I can't really complain; the first and second allow me to continue doing the others, so I guess I'm pretty lucky.

Despite the lack of new stuff from myself, I have remained active on dA though, keeping an eye on news, others' work etc... which leads me, in my roundabout way, to why this is being updated.

Some of you may have been aware of the world tour $spyed and $Heidi have been undertaking recently, and if you are, are suitably impressed. However, some of you seem to have been disappointed that they elected to visit London rather than Manchester (or Leeds, or Birmingham, or anywhere else a bit further north). Well, I'm hoping thats the case anyway, as *SlateReaper and I have decided to take it upon ourselves to organise a separate, un-official devmeet in Manchester!

Plans are still fairly up for debate at the moment, but the current gist is as follows...

Date: July 26th (the sunday after the one coming)
Place: Manchester, somewhere well-known, most likely Piccadilly Gardens
When: (not finalized yet )

I was thinking something pretty casual... meet up somewhere obvious and easy to get to (Piccadilly Gardens seems a good choice, but open to suggestions?), then a tea/coffee/beer or something to all break the ice, maybe a wander round the city landmarks for people to take photos, draw sketches, whatever takes their fancy, then on to a restaurant or pub or something for some food and a bit more beer?

Oh, and we had an idea to make recognising each other a little easier... A flower in the top pocket was considered, but now we're thinking... British fancy dress
It can be as overblown or as casual as you like, but the minimum we were thinking was something stereotypically British, so we'd stand out (a monocle, walking stick, even a cardboard top hat would do!)..

If you'd like more information, or need help with directions, have any suggestions etc., feel free to leave a comment on here, or note *SlateReaper or myself. Feel free to spread the word to anyone else you think might be interested, too.

So, see you all around, and hopefully some of you sooner rather than later.


J

Current CDs:
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Devin Townsend: Ki
Asian Dub Foundation: Enemy Of The Enemy
Alkaline Trio: Crimson