Who are you?

[Mr-Paul]

On 17/07/2020 at 9:44 PM, Zell said:

This ain't Facebook, you can't just nominate people!

Alright fine.

• I'm Matt
• I'm 30
• Born in Oxford, grew up in Bucks
• Studied maths at Warwick Uni, decided to become a management consultant instead. Been in the job over 8 years now
• After graduating I lived in Birmingham (not that bad) and then London, but very recently moved out of London and bought a house in Milton Keynes
• My job involves a lot of travelling. Until lockdown, I had been travelling to Glasgow for project work for the last 3 years. It's rewarding but tiring and it can get a bit depressing being away from home a lot. Getting to work from home during lockdown has been a revelation for me, got so much more free time now. Although I do miss Glasgow a lot, great city
• @Goron_3 introduced me to the forum back when we were still wee nippers. Don't post on it as much as I used to, but I still lurk and play PS4 with a few forumites
• Hobby-wise, I'm cricket mad, although probably not as much as @Mr-Paul who I think has a fantastic job. Love going to watch games, have travelled to Australia twice to see The Ashes and will certainly go again. I've also started playing again in recent years despite being very shit
• Also a big Oxford United fan, been to hundreds of games and may now get a season ticket since I'm free of London's shackles
• Love rock music and going to gigs and festivals. I'm mostly into metal and early 2000s punk but have a soft spot for Fleetwood Mac
• Geek out on history, love reading about it and going on short city breaks
• My favourite game is Super Smash Bros Melee

Seeing I've been tagged, it'd be rude not to participate I guess, and elaborate on my job that @Zell wants!

• I'm Paul
• I turned 30 yesterday 
• Born in North London, grew up just outside Southampton
• Returned to London for university, where I did BA Journalism at City University, graduated in 2012 and was lucky enough then to work at the Olympics
• Ended up back in Southampton with a crappy retail job for a few years, where I saved money to be able to get back up to London to pursue my journalism dreams
• Moved back to London, got a break doing live blogs and social media for the International Cricket Council as a freelancer. Ended up being taken on full-time to run their social channels.
• Through this I got to travel around the world to cover cricket. I went to the UAE, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Ireland, Netherlands, Antigua, St. Lucia and Guyana.
• To be fair, when I travelled to these places, the work was very full on and I didn't have much time for tourism!
• About 15 months ago I moved on from this role, taking a job at ESPN, still working on cricket. My job title is now 'multi-platform content specialist'. I don't get to travel abroad as much but I'm happier overall. 
• Joined these forums back in 2007. No idea what drove me to sign up, but spent a lot more time here through my late teens and early twenties than I have now!
• Started writing for the site while I was at uni. Sadly I don't have much time to write anything for here any more, working full time in the sports media.
• Like others, struggling to find the time to play games as much, too! My mum got me the new Paper Mario for my birthday yesterday though, so I guess I'll have to find some time!
• Been to a couple of N-E meets. Good fun.
• Actually got the current flat I live in thanks to N-E.
• Arsenal fan. Way too stressful.
• Favourite game is Majora's Mask.
• First console was a Game Boy Color on my 8th birthday. Got an N64 the year after, Christmas 1999.
• Favourite cuisine is Mexican.
• Have run the London Marathon twice. Really need to get running again, been too lazy in lockdown.

[Ashley]

5 hours ago, Mr-Paul said:

• Actually got the current flat I live in thanks to N-E.

Thanks to me

[Mr_Odwin]

Thanks to all of us, @Ashley. Don't be selfish.

[Mr-Paul]

32 minutes ago, Ashley said:

Thanks to me

You are N-E. 

But yes, you are correct. 

[Sheikah]

Ohh, I remembered I was going to reply to this.

• I'm Dan
• I'm 33
• Born in Manchester and grew up there, moved to Hertfordshire in 2010 with my (then) girlfriend
• Bought a house in 2015
• Got married in 2017
• Had our first child in February this year - a beautiful daughter  (also just before coronavirus truly hit, which would have made the birth and being there waayyy more difficult)
• Did a cell biology undergrad degree in Manchester, followed by a Master's, then a PhD at UCL (finishing in 2014)
• Since 2014 I've worked at a company based in London as a medical writer. We basically interpret clinical trial data for oncologists and help write scientific articles to publish in journals and at conferences. We have a great office but unfortunately due to coronavirus, they haven't renewed the lease and we're all working from home.
• We have 2 guinea pigs and a cat. We thought the cat was a girl for a while when we got him.
• I have (apparently) been on this site for 14 years
• I enjoy playing squash but haven't played for a while
• Absolutely love trying out food places in London, especially Japanese, seafood, steak and curry places
• I like baking as well. I also recently got a Panasonic breadmaker which is now basically my favourite gadget.
• Grew up with a mega drive and a gameboy, then an N64 and a PS1. Once I had an N64 it was definitely my favourite console out of the two. I've found myself favouring Sony consoles more since the PS3 because as much as the Wii was popular, I felt like that was the point they decided to go a different route and note serve the enthusiast gamer
• Favourite game is Final Fantasy VIII, followed by Majora's Mask. When I get time these days I'll often play Overwatch.
• After typing all this, I feel like quite a few things match up with @bob. Creepy.

Edited August 11, 2020 by Sheikah

[bob]

Ohh, I remembered I was going to reply to this.

• I'm Dan
• I'm 33
• Born in Manchester and grew up there, moved to Hertfordshire in 2010 with my (then) girlfriend
• Bought a house in 2015
• Got married in 2017
• Had our first child in February this year - a beautiful daughter [emoji4] (also just before coronavirus truly hit, which would have made the birth and being there waayyy more difficult)
• Did a cell biology undergrad degree in Manchester, followed by a Master's, then a PhD at UCL (finishing in 2014)
• Since 2014 I've worked at a company based in London as a medical writer. We basically interpret clinical trial data for oncologists and help write scientific articles to publish in journals and at conferences. We have a great office but unfortunately due to coronavirus, they haven't renewed the lease and we're all working from home.
• We have 2 guinea pigs and a cat. We thought the cat was a girl for a while when we got him.
• I have (apparently) been on this site for 14 years
• I enjoy playing squash but haven't played for a while
• Absolutely love trying out food places in London, especially Japanese, seafood, steak and curry places
• I like baking as well. I also recently got a Panasonic breadmaker which is now basically my favourite gadget.
• Grew up with a mega drive and a gameboy, then an N64 and a PS1. Once I had an N64 it was definitely my favourite console out of the two. I've found myself favouring Sony consoles more since the PS3 because as much as the Wii was popular, I felt like that was the point they decided to go a different route and note serve the enthusiast gamer
• Favourite game is Final Fantasy VIII, followed by Majora's Mask. When I get time these days I'll often play Overwatch.
• After typing all this, I feel like quite a few things match up with [mention=229]bob[/mention]. Creepy.

Fuck off, I hate squash.

Badminton all the way.

[Will]

1 hour ago, Sheikah said:

Absolutely love trying out food places in London, especially Japanese, seafood, steak and curry places

What are your top places? Seems like it changes every time I’m back. We tried to find decent Japanese last time we were there and came away disappointed - would love to have some recommendations on places to try.

[Sheikah]

1 hour ago, will' said:

What are your top places? Seems like it changes every time I’m back. We tried to find decent Japanese last time we were there and came away disappointed - would love to have some recommendations on places to try.

For ramen I really like Kanada-Ya. In particular, the one I go to is in St. Giles; the truffle ramen in particular (with added egg) is delish. There's also Bone Daddies (the one in Soho) which do some really hearty "reimagined" bowls of ramen (i.e. not authentic, but still delicious). Tokyo Diner near Leicester Square do some really nice bento (though a bit pricey), while you can't go wrong with Misato for a cheap Katsu curry (they don't do bookings though, which means you can get big queues).

Recently I went to the second Coco Curry to open up in London (been to the other one a few times). It really is like being back in Tokyo again, but quite a lot more expensive here. I really like it, even if it is considered just standard curry over in Japan!

[Happenstance]

12 minutes ago, Sheikah said:

For ramen I really like Kanada-Ya. In particular, the one I go to is in St. Giles; the truffle ramen in particular (with added egg) is delish. There's also Bone Daddies (the one in Soho) which do some really hearty "reimagined" bowls of ramen (i.e. not authentic, but still delicious). Tokyo Diner near Leicester Square do some really nice bento (though a bit pricey), while you can't go wrong with Misato for a cheap Katsu curry (they don't do bookings though, which means you can get big queues).

Recently I went to the second Coco Curry to open up in London (been to the other one a few times). It really is like being back in Tokyo again, but quite a lot more expensive here. I really like it, even if it is considered just standard curry over in Japan!

I need to go back to London soon. Looking at some of those menus is making me really hungry!

[Glen-i]

3 hours ago, bob said:

Fuck off, I hate squash.

Badminton all the way.

Why would you even like a sport that declares itself 'bad'?

You should look up Goodminton. It's way better.

[Sheikah]

1 minute ago, Glen-i said:

Why would you even like a sport that declares itself 'bad'?

You should look up Goodminton. It's way better.

To be fair, it also describes itself as mint.

[Glen-i]

5 minutes ago, Sheikah said:

To be fair, it also describes itself as mint.

You don't want a bad mint on your tongue. You'll get sick.

Edited August 11, 2020 by Glen-i

[Will]

17 minutes ago, Sheikah said:

For ramen I really like Kanada-Ya. In particular, the one I go to is in St. Giles; the truffle ramen in particular (with added egg) is delish. There's also Bone Daddies (the one in Soho) which do some really hearty "reimagined" bowls of ramen (i.e. not authentic, but still delicious). Tokyo Diner near Leicester Square do some really nice bento (though a bit pricey), while you can't go wrong with Misato for a cheap Katsu curry (they don't do bookings though, which means you can get big queues).

Recently I went to the second Coco Curry to open up in London (been to the other one a few times). It really is like being back in Tokyo again, but quite a lot more expensive here. I really like it, even if it is considered just standard curry over in Japan!

Interestingly Kanada-Ya recently opened a branch super close to where we live. Will have to give it a try, 

Tokyo Diner I went to many years ago, seem to remember it was good for lunches.

Cool that there is a cocoichi there now, always liked it there. Those prices though... wow!

I do wish someone would open an authentic Japanese Izakaya in London, I’ve often thought it would be a good thing to start up. Surely it would be massively popular yet nobody ever seems to do it.

[bob]

Why would you even like a sport that declares itself 'bad'?
You should look up Goodminton. It's way better.

[Ashley]

On 11/08/2020 at 11:31 AM, Sheikah said:

Ohh, I remembered I was going to reply to this.

• I'm Dan
• I'm 33
• Born in Manchester and grew up there, moved to Hertfordshire in 2010 with my (then) girlfriend
• Bought a house in 2015
• Got married in 2017
• Had our first child in February this year - a beautiful daughter  (also just before coronavirus truly hit, which would have made the birth and being there waayyy more difficult)
• Did a cell biology undergrad degree in Manchester, followed by a Master's, then a PhD at UCL (finishing in 2014)
• Since 2014 I've worked at a company based in London as a medical writer. We basically interpret clinical trial data for oncologists and help write scientific articles to publish in journals and at conferences. We have a great office but unfortunately due to coronavirus, they haven't renewed the lease and we're all working from home.
• We have 2 guinea pigs and a cat. We thought the cat was a girl for a while when we got him.
• I have (apparently) been on this site for 14 years
• I enjoy playing squash but haven't played for a while
• Absolutely love trying out food places in London, especially Japanese, seafood, steak and curry places
• I like baking as well. I also recently got a Panasonic breadmaker which is now basically my favourite gadget.
• Grew up with a mega drive and a gameboy, then an N64 and a PS1. Once I had an N64 it was definitely my favourite console out of the two. I've found myself favouring Sony consoles more since the PS3 because as much as the Wii was popular, I felt like that was the point they decided to go a different route and note serve the enthusiast gamer
• Favourite game is Final Fantasy VIII, followed by Majora's Mask. When I get time these days I'll often play Overwatch.
• After typing all this, I feel like quite a few things match up with @bob. Creepy.

Did anyone else read this in the style of "...but I was made in the Royal Navy"?

[Will]

On 8/11/2020 at 9:59 PM, Sheikah said:

Kanada-Ya

Tried this today. Ramen was pretty damn good, will definitely go again. Other stuff was a bit meh, particularly their Gyoza tasted worse than the frozen stuff we buy, but we’ll just not get it again.

Thanks for the tip!

[WackerJr]

• Mike

• 38.

• Currently live in Hampshire, UK.

• Did a Maths degree followed by Sports Masters at Uni.  Told I was the first person to do this combination at that Uni because, well, who would!? 😁

• My main hobbies are video games & sport.

• Exeter City fan.  We’ve been so close to getting out of League 2 in recent years!

• I’ve been gaming since the 8-bit era.

• Analyst by day, sports coach by night.  Mainly coach Trampolining, and I’m fortunate enough to be coach to current English Champ.