Breaking a Guinness World Record (Longest Dance Game Marathon)

So it's Thursday, two days after successfully completing the certified Guinness Longest Dance Game Marathon World Record. Aleta and I have almost recovered; shoulders still hurting and feet swollen, but ready to share our experience in setting this record....

The Attempt

• WHAT - To play a video dance game for 48 hours.
• WHO - My wife Aleta and I
• WHEN - January 2013
• WHERE - Las Vegas, Nevada in Gemini Arcade Palace
• HOW - Using Guinness' Help, an Arcade Dance Machine and Steaming Media Software
• WHY - BECAUSE WE OBVIOUSLY HATE OURSELVES! (and LOVE the game somewhat!)

18th May 2012 - Initial Interview in London, UK

The process kicked off in May last year, we contacted Guinness via. Facebook and received a response. As I was living in Central London at the time, and working in King's Cross, we arranged to meet up at my local arcade: Las Vegas, in Soho. Four members of the Guinness team arrived to shoot an interview regarding our attempt: The Longest Dance Game Marathon. The record was currently at 20 hours, set in the very same arcade! (This was later broken by a girl in the US, raising it to 24 hours!)

We shot the interview and kept a close relationship with the team throughout the year. We originally planned to break the record in London on a Pump It Up (PIU) machine. However, due to recent circumstances, this turned into breaking the record in Las Vegas, NV on an In The Groove (ITG) machine. Due to the evolution of the game over the past 5-6 years, ITG has been surviving heavily of User Generated Content (UGC). We discussed this with Guinness in detail, and agreed upon various condition where our record would be accepted. These gaming records have been inherited from Twin Galaxies, and therefore have experienced recent changes, but we got there in the end. They were always very helpful!

Evidence Required

Media Company
We expected to break the record earlier in the year, but due to many life changes, the attempt was forwarded to January 2013. Guinness put us in touch with a media company called Across The Pond Productions, based in London. We are a media company within Guinness that films record breakers across the world. Great! Haven't had this much excitement since the filming of Lord of the Dance Machine, filmed with BBC3 from 2005 to 2006! (Funnily enough, this is where I met Aleta, my wife, whom I'm breaking the record with!). So Media Company to film in on board! Great!

Location - Gemini Arcade Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada

Julie was kind enough to let us use her arcade for the attempt! Guinness requires that the attempt is made in a place open to the public, so this was truly amazing for us!! Check out the Gemini Arcade Palace Website!

Software Evidence Required

Here is a short list of the software evidence used to support our claim. Thanks to Tushar for letting us use his desktop and webcam for the HD evidence!

• 720p HD Video of the whole attempt
• Webcam Video of the whole attempt
• One set of time lapsed pictures taken at 30 second intervals (in HD)
• A second fail over set of time lapsed pictures taken at 30 second intervals
• Private UStream feed from another angle of the entire attempt
• Public Twitch.tv Stream - Thanks Don!

Paperwork Evidence Required

We also required TWO witnesses rotating on 4 hour shifts for the whole attempt. They were required to fill out log sheets of rest breaks taken and gained. Also, any other notable information. This was the hardest requirement for us to meet!! We were let down by some people, but some other people we didn't expect showed up! We tried to co-ordinate with people while playing, so there was a huge mental strain on organisation as well as doing the actual attempt itself!

Thanks to the following people for helping us out with this!... Danny, Marquee, Roberto, John, Eric, Julie, Don, Ollie, Xero, Nate, Alma, Lani, Dylan, Josh and anybody else I have missed out!

Record Related Evidence
Here is a quick list of the record specific terms we were required to abide by.

• Allow 20 seconds for input between songs (Results screen, new song choice AND modifications menu)
• Play at Medium Difficulty or higher for it's entirety
• Play the final hour with no breaks

Preparations

So with everything almost in place as far as the record is involved, we were ready to make sandwiches, LITERALLY! (Thanks Aleta! ;)

Food and Software
Aleta prepared the food, and I was obtained the software that would record our attempt while taking pictures. I thought this would be the easy part, but oh no! I tried about 15 different programs: UStream Producer, iSpy, XSplit, FME... you name it, I tried it! We didn't want to rely on streaming because the internet may cut out (It actually did!), we just wanted to record locally while taking pictures (and have the current time and date within the video). iSpy seems to do all of this, but it kept crashing. UStream and XSplit were very limited. We also needed to compress the video as it was recording and make sure new videos were created every 30 minutes (In case the system crashed and we didn't have to rely on ONE huge file).

So for ALL of this, and hours of research, I came to a very small piece of software (7MB) called "NCH Debut Video Capture Software". However, it didn't take snap shots, however it did EVERYTHING else! So luckily, being a Software Engineer, 10 minutes later, it was taking time lapsed snap shots every 30 seconds direct from the webcam source, Brilliant!

Song Pack
While doing all of this, we needed to create a song pack that we could play during the attempt. We managed to gather about 300 songs and Danny helped us test each and everyone just in case there were problems with the songs or files. Due to the large number of user generated songs... Consistency and reliability are in the hands of it's users... Just like Wikipedia! Somebody could create a bogus file, or the difficulty might be considered too hard or too easy for it's rating or it simply may not work on the machine! So there was a lot of effort into putting this altogether until we have a trusted pack of 300 songs!

The songs were mostly 9-10 footers. The record states that you must play Medium difficulty (5-6 footer songs). We figured if we get tired, we can switch to ITG Official songs as all songs and charts have been tested as part of the original release.

Misc Preparations
Like anything else, there were final preparations involved, and things put in place if anything bad happens! Aleta designed us both Tank Tops with custom fabric painted designs, these looked absolutely amazing!

We also purchased a 500W flood flight fro Wal-Mart as the arcade is quite dark. However, we realised that 500W on for 2 days is going to run a little too hot. Luckily, the webcam's managed to get a good shot, we it wasn't needed in the end.

Also, there's nothing like a GOOD BUFFET the night before! (at M Casino, Las Vegas) and YES, that is an OX's tail!

Let's break that record! - The BIG Day!

Due to all of the preparations and last minute testing, we missed a night of sleep 2 days before the attempt! We ONLY managed to get a quick 3 hours before the attempt, so we were very tired before we even started. NOT GOOD!

We arrived at the arcade around 5pm to finish setting up. The media company was due to film at 6:30pm, then begin the record at 7:30pm!

Oli and James from the media company arrived with Rob from Guinness World Records just before 7pm, and started to interview us about the attempt. We took some shots in and outside of the arcade and captured some portfolio pictures!

Just before the attempt was due to start, Oli wanted a battle with us on the machine. He wanted to play the hardest song on the pack we had chosen for the attempt! We actually included some 12 footer songs, so we Played Battle of the Mind [12] THREE TIMES! Mainly because they needed to get all the shots in for the filming! Three 12's on no warm up and without much sleep is ok, but no when 48 more hours lies ahead of you!!

After the filming and Rob checked over the equipment, we were good to go, but 2 hours later than expected! We begun the attempt at 9:33pm! The film company left 20 minutes later, and soon the staff, until it was just us and our witnesses in a dark arcade!

The Start! - 0 Hours
We started with 9 and 10 footer songs, playing solely Expert Level songs. Despite only needing to play 5-6 footer songs, though we needed to Wake Up!! We didn't have a strategy for rest breaks, we gain 10 minutes for every hour completed so we'll go from there! We did realise that we needed fail safe time. If the machine fails for any reason, then we need 30 minutes to reboot and move the equipment to the secondary machine if there are any problems, otherwise, the record would be invalidated! So that's 3 hours for nothing basically! So we started to get some time stored up!

4 Hours In!
After the first FOUR HOURS, we decided to take our first break, for only 5 minutes! We felt a bit rough but still ok. It's hard when you only have 5 minutes to rest, but during this time you need the toilet or to grab a vending machine supplement! So quick toilet break and some Good and Plenty (Liquorish Torpedos) then onwards we go!

6 Hours In!
Six hours into the attempt, the tiredness was setting in. Energy levels were fine, but the legs were feeling like tree trunks because of the warm up! We both decided to play in socks for the attempt. This would give us less weight to pick up each time, but the trade off would be stepping on Plexi-Glass and metal brackets for 48 hours. There's no real answer to this problem! Our friend Marquee arrived with Gatorades for us! Thank you! Never tried cucumber flavour before, but it tasted pretty good!

We were managing to play for 2 straight hours and having a 10 minute break in between these 2 hour sets. This carried on over the first night and seemed like a good strategy to save up some rest time for the later parts of the attempt! 10 minutes seemed like a good amount of time for toilet and a lie down. During these breaks, we collapsed into sweaty heaps with each other, sharing a sofa until our personal alarm told us that we had one minute to get back on there!

8 Hours In!
For the first 8 hours I devised a good strategy for saving break times, and that was to eat while playing! I managed to devour my day's food supply in 8 hours, oops! I guess I was hungry (See bottom of this blog for what we ate during the whole attempt!). Aleta was totally the opposite, to the point where I tried to make her have a bite of something between songs. We managed to hold it together through the night, and the sun was starting to rise....

12 Hours In! - Halfway for the current record!
So we made it halfway to the current record!!!! However, still only a quarter of the way through our anticipated goal of 48 hours! The media company were due to arrive Tuesday evening at 9pm, so I guess there was no way out!

In the planning phase of the record, we always planned to use the bar to support ourselves during the attempt and thus, make the record less tiring. However, we had to soon mix this up between playing without and with the bar. By holding the bar, there is less effort into stepping, but more strain on the back and shoulders. Without the bar, there is more leg and general all-round effort involved. We did a good 50-50 split between both stances through the attempt. This was something we didn't fully anticipate!

22 Hours In!
Up until this point, we had played for 2 hours, then took a 10 minute break. Tiredness was setting in and we started to take our full rest as it was earned. We had already accumulated over 1.5 hours, so we were good to go!

24 Hours, 2 Minutes and 45 Seconds In!

WE DID IT!!!! New Record Holders! The people in the arcade gave us a round of applause and we felt pretty good. However, knowing we were only HALFWAY, we didn't give it the celebration it fully deserved! That's for sure... We didn't take a break or anything, we simply finished the song, 10 seconds later, started playing another! :\

30 Hours In!
This was a HUGE turning point in the whole attempt. We decided we needed to sleep, or at least try to. We decided it would be best to sleep on the hard floor and set 2 alarms. We planned to take a 30 minute break, the longest yet! We put our legs onto a chair in a raised position and I began to fall asleep. Aleta, however, didn't manage to sleep at all.

30 minutes later, I woke up with a dead arm and I couldn't walk. I had already 2 pairs of socks on, but for some reason, the TOP of both my feet were very swollen and red. The veins were purple and it looked like they belonged to somebody suffering from a venomous spider bite! I hobbled over to the bathroom and placed my feet into a sink of cold water to reduce the swelling. The bottoms of both of our feet were very sore also. We had already beaten the record by 6 hours, should this be enough!?

I knew quitting wasn't part of my nature, I just needed a plan. While soaking them in cold water, I tried to wonder why it was the tops of my feet, it didn't make sense! I then realise, I had been arching my feet for 30 hours putting my full weight on that the bones and ligaments in the middle were constantly being pushed upwards. Here is a picture of the swelling still 2 DAYS AFTER the attempt.

I pulled my feet out of the water, pushed 2 pairs of socks back on, and decided to put my shoes on. This seemed 200% harder at first, but I knew it was the only way to continue. 69 minutes later, and almost out of our rest time save up, we were back on the machine! Let's hope nothing goes wrong!

32 Hours In!
After bickering's, tiredness, seeing various inanimate objects around the room (Including: Upside-down stools, pirate ships, flowers, sky scrapers, Donald Duck's face and various other things that DIDN'T EXIST!), we decided to call the media company and end our anticipated goal early. We felt a bit defeated and I knew we both couldn't carry on, but without incentive or a goal to beat, we were struggling to find motivation.

We aimed to go for 38 hours, 10 off our anticipated time, but still, 14 MORE HOURS onto the current record. We had to realise this ourselves to realise that it wasn't failure at all, it was the best feeling ever!

Aleta called the media company and we arranged to complete the attempt at noon, just over 38 HOURS into the attempt!

THE FINAL HOUR
37 hours in, and we started the FINAL HOUR. As per the guidelines, we can't take any breaks during this time. During our final hour, the media company walks into the arcade and proceed to set up and film the end of the attempt! At 12 Noon, we had FINISHED!

We couldn't believe it! It it wasn't for each other and everybody who helped out, we wouldn't be Guinness World Record holders! Our final time: 38 hours 13 minutes and 30 seconds playing a Dance Machine at level Medium or higher. In our case, it certainly was higher!

Julie (The arcade owner) and our last witness, Alma, were there for the end of the attempt. We managed to give some final interviews to the media company, and receive our Guinness World Record certificate.

Thanks

This is supposed to be where I sum up all of my thoughts and feelings, but I'm so tired of typing! But I do want to say, a BIG THANK YOU for everybody who helped make this event and record possible!

A BIG THANK YOU TO....

Our witnesses: Danny, Marquee, Roberto, John, Eric, Julie, Don, Ollie, Xero, Nate, Alma, Lani, Dylan, Josh and anybody else I have missed out.

Guinness World Records and Across The Pond for helping us make this possible.

My friends and family

Banty Bruisers and Team Leicester for the beginning of it all! Shout outs to the Skegness Pier massive from 1999!

My dog Fuji who is in Finland

and last but not least, my wife and love of my life Aleta for making this all possible! I knew I would have a record someday, but I couldn't possibly dream that I would get to share the moment with you.

Check out Aleta's blog post here: http://jokrlovesbbc.blogspot.com/2013/01/breaking-longest-dance-game-marathon.html

WHAT WE ATE

I had...
7 Bananas
Gallon of Tampico (juice)
2 liter of Pepsi max
2 bottles of water
9 sandwiches
3 gatorades
1.2 monster cans
1/2 pound of pretzels
a Slice of pizza
3 boxes of liquorice torpedoes
2 boxes of lemon heads
0.4 litres of Mountain Dew code red
1 liter of coca cola
0.8 milky bar
1 bag of salt and vinegar crisps
Sherbert
15 cheese cubes

Aleta had...
1.5 bananas
1.5 sandwiches
1/2 slice of pizza
1.8 cans of monster
3 gatorades
15 pretzels
1 bottle of water
1.6 litres of Mountain Dew code red
0.2 milky bar
4 coffee candies

Final Pictures

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Valley of Fire 2012 Marathon, Half, 10k and 5k!

We signed up quite late to enter the Valley of Fire race. We only really wanted to run it if we got a medal for finishing, and they weren't sure they had enough as they ordered them early. Soon as they confirmed on Facebook, we entered!

I decided to enter the 5k. Firstly it was cheaper, secondly, I hadn't ran a timed 5k before. Only a 10k in which I got 37mins in Bristol, UK. I looked at last years results and the winner finished in 24mins, all the more reason! I'd never won a race before due to British racing being highly competitive. I was slightly out of shape and thought this would be a good confidence boost!

Aleta decided to go for the 10k! She didn't want to do the 5k because I was running it! It was only $5 more for twice the distance so pretty worth it! She had already ran a full and half, so why not carry on in reverse!




The course was REALLY hilly, we didn't realise this until we arrived... We made some ramen and beef jerky the night before to get the carbs and protein in. We'd also been drinking a lot the day before too. We slept for 3-4hours but woke up at 2am! We set the alarm to wake at 5am but no joy getting back to sleep! lol. We left just before 6am as our race started at 7:45am (5k and 10k) together. After a sleepy start, we drove 55miles to the Valley of Fire! The national park looked really cool, pretty much a huge valley with lots of mountains! It was $8 entry for locals otherwise $10.

I decided to leave everything in the car and collect my phone for pictures afterwards. Aleta took hers with her. After some warm ups, we waited at the start line. After a quick kiss, we were off! I knew I was running the shortest distance, so the pace was easy, just STAY AHEAD! I flew off the start line and drove up the first huge hill! It was pretty much straight away! A good 800metres I think. When I or to the top ahead of the pack, I looked round and nobody was in sight! WTF!?! I used to do a lot of hill running, but I thought I'd have company. I haven't lead a race for longer than a couple minutes so it was a weird feeling!

It was smooth sailing until the halfway point when I saw the sign to turnaround. I was looking for the timing strips but didn't see any, I asked the guy weather 5k carried on, and he said yes. Turns out he was WRONG!!! Kinda wasted 20secs and energy. Anyway started heading back, and last hill was a bit of a beast but not too bad. I got to the top and sailed down it for a sprint finish! I WON!!



Almost a good couple of minutes ahead of 2nd place! I got my medals and some snacks, then ran back to the car to get my camera!

I snapped a few pics and vids and recorded Aleta finishing her 10k! I collected my award, it was a golden cowbell! pretty novell and cool! i almost got aleta and I free technical t-shirts because i won! awesome!! Aleta did really well, especially for the hilly course!! Her route was the same as mine but the turnaround was much later. We got a some pics with our medals and decided as we spent on entry we'd explore a bit! We met a guy from Sheffield, UK! He came 2nd in the half.

Finishers Medal


1st Place 5k Cowbell


We climbed up the rocks and took some more pics. The park looked really nice!! After a while, we decided to had back home. We visited a couple of yard sales and got a buffet from Sunset Casino to replenish the store! Awesome day!!

Monday Night Football (MNF) @ Goldcoast Casino, Las Vegas

During the NFL Football season, many of the casinos in Las Vegas hold Monday Night Football events! These are usually coupled with cheap alcohol, hotdogs and a prize raffle!

Goldcoast is a casino off the main strip on Flamingo. They have a sportsbook, gambling, bowling, restaurants and various other events!

We usually head down there for MNF to get some cheap food, enter the raffle and watch the game! Before you go in, make sure you grab a members card. It's a B-Connected Card that also works in many casinos owned by Boyd Gaming in Las Vegas and even some other states! This will get you two free raffle tickets for the event. I've won the last 5 times in a row, so it's totally worth it! Here's some of the prizes I've won!

As well as the half time NFL trivia... You can also win $100 at half time and at full time! For gamblers, they get more raffle tickets based on how much they have put into the casino. Some of the other prizes are: Goldcoast gift pack, show tickets, guitars, signed memorabilia etc.

The room itself has 2 big projector screens and 7 LCD screens. There aren't many people in, roughly 80-100 each week.

The food has gone up recently but still good! Hotdogs $1.50, 6 Wings $3, Pizza Slice $2.50, Jalapeno Poppers $2.50, Nachos $1.50, Corndogs $1.50. Bring mayo though, only ketchup and mustard here! They have onions, relish, sourkraut and jalapeños too!

Drink specials include Jack Daniels and Jose Cuervo shots @ $1.50 each!

Here are some of the prizes we've won!

and a T-Shirt and Baseball cap! :)

Oregon and Washington PIU PRO 2 Tournament

Sitting on the plane back to London, have a pack of Moose Munch next to me looking out of the window at the mountains below (while typing this - multitasking like a boss!). So the US was amazing! Met so many new faces and reunited with old ones as well- I will be back again later in the year, and WILL drag you guys to London v.soon!

Day 1 - Thursday

So I left my place around 7am Thursday 9^th to Heathrow (on the Cockfosters line!) straight to Heathrow! Wasn’t sure which Terminal I was supposed to fly from, they are so far apart and I was kinda running late! Luckily I was saved!! Thanks Jenny and Tara!! Made a Home Alone style run for the gate and just got the plane in time (I knew there was time for that uber breakfast I had earlier). The plane trip was kinda dry until I landed in Boston, MA. Security took sooo long and passport control don’t really appreciate jokes… apparently! First thing I did was grab a Wendy’s… I don’t usually eat much fast food, so it was all about ticking things off the list! It’s a place that has really good burgers, so I grabbed a half pounder; so good! My chest hurt afterwards, always a good sign! Got on the next plane a couple hours later to complete the journey in Portland, OR!

Arrived 3-4 hours later, 17 hours in total! Kristina was waiting at the terminal for me, hadn’t seen her for 3 years 5 months (Vegas in Sep 2008!). We went to a beef noodle place, the portions are huge! (pretty much every place we went- UK portion sizes are behind, but for the same price It’s pretty kool to get 2 meals out of it). Afterwards, we went back to her place and I gave her some goodies from the UK (Galaxy chocolate, Turkish delights, crumpets and a t-shirt). Decided to make a trip to Big Al’s (A bowling/arcade place where Saturday’s tournament took place). Had my 5^th try on Pump Pro 2, it’s a shame we don’t have these machines playable in London anymore. Had a bit of a practise, and met a couple of guys: Quinn and Levi. Was supposed to meet Aleta and Cesar from Vegas (haven’t met Cesar before, but I’ve known Aleta since Jan 2006 at NAT ’05… so long ago!). They didn’t get there until after midnight so we just missed them which sucked, but we hung out loadsss afterwards. Around midnight, we went back to Kristina’s and had a good catch up then caught up on some well needed sleep!

Day 2 - Friday

It was pretty rainy today, not like it mattered much! We decided to head to Multomah Falls. Portland is an interesting city in that you have the benefits and luxuries of the city and nightlife. Then a few miles away, you can hike, walk through forests and see hugeeee waterfalls. Even further away, you can ski on Mount Hood or Mount Bachelor. Weather-wise, it’s a pretty similar climate to the UK. So I was reppin’ the shorts too! On the way, we stopped at Taco Bell. I never had it before so always willing to try anything! Was really tasty and so cheap! They have 49cent tacos (just over 30p!).

On the way to the falls, you could see many waterfalls pour down the side of the mountain/hillside. When we arrived there, we decided not to hike all the way to the top because it was really wet and cold, but we took some amazing pictures! I picked up a couple of things from the gift shop then we drove back into the town. We had a bit of a lazy day today. Kristina was almost offended before I said I had never watched Lord of the Rings, Star Wars or Stargate before. We decided to give Star Wars a go… I think it’s the only film I watched where I knew all the characters before it had even started. Plus I’ve seen Space balls before (which made absolutely no sense at the time). I fell asleep during Star Trek (the new movie) afterwards… can’t win em’ all!

Day 3 – Saturday (Tournament Day and Drinking Night! – Nerd Paragraph, be prepared!)

Had a good 4 hours sleep, so was feeling surprisingly good (nothing that 3 double energy Rockstars couldn’t fix anyway). Arrived at Big Al’s around 11am, the place was pretty empty so had some good practise time. Met Jeremy there (Met him for the first time in Vegas 2008 for another PRO tournament) he now works at Big Al’s which is pretty kool and organised the tournament at Big Al’s. Not only that, he was masterminding the drinking plans later, awesome! Played a few games and slowly met new people as they arrived into the place. Aleta and Cesar showed up while I was playing, been wayyyy too long! We worked out it’s been between 2-3 years every time we see each other! Although now I’ve found out she has never visited Europe, crazy! London plans will be made!!

For me the event was 80% social to 20% tournament, so it was cool talking to pretty much everyone there. Met the arcade manager too; had a chat with him about the place… they look after their machines really well. Constantly cleaning them on the daily and making sure they are perfect. They even got another cabinet from another Big Al’s location. That’s something most of the UK is notorious for not doing, which is the main reason why people don’t play much anymore.  Had a couple of warm up credits, managed to get Wi-Ex-Doc-Va NM down, Bemera CZ, Victory, Canon-D NM and some new ones like Hardkore of the north and Go! NM.

The tournament was Iron Man style, 15 rounds ranging from bar to no bar, mods, gauntlet, CZ, HDB and NM; testing almost every skill. Even round where the music is turned off completely, and rounds where you guess the number of non-superbs. In Vegas 2008 I came 5^th place, so I was really aiming for anywhere in the top 4 this time. Had a few good rounds… FC Summer CZ, Turkey march HDB and Virtual Emotion NM (all around 101-102% with bonuses). Didn’t even realise (realize ;) I was ahead until Kevin told me in the later rounds. Crazy!

Kyle and Foy arrived towards the end of the tournament which was nice. They have been working on getting Re-Rave shipped pretty intensely, so it was pretty decent that they managed to make the tournament, even if it was a short while. Since Norway 2006, Kyle and I have had a 6 year on-going war with tackle shots (trading back-hander’s to the balls). He took a 5-2 win over the trip, either my accuracy was a bit off or my target was smaller to hit haha. He and Foy did a comical Nightmoves routine before the prizes were handed out… The top 3 were: Me, Chris S and Kevin K. I took away a cool trophy and $100 worth of tickets (which I forgot to cash in, but Kristina will be my Big Al’s ticket cashing in proxy!).

After the tournament, we took group photos and went to Spaghetti Factory! I took the ‘slaughter house on a plate’. The food was really good and so were the cocktails. I was ordering pretty much the same as Jeremy, playing it safe, like a boss! After the Spaghetti Factory we went to Oscar’s (I think it was called). The doorman was kinda harsh on my ID… some sort of Passport only rule, which I didn’t have on me. Cesar didn’t have his ID either, so we just went to Big Al’s (as they had a bar) and started drinking there. Jeremy bought some old man’s ale, a pitcher of the demonic liquid… tasted somebody had took a dump into a blender, liquefied it then served it with a smile. Aleta pulled through for the team! She did a good pint of it after adding some Splendour and sugar, crazy! I went back and got a couple pints and jaegers… all gravy!

After the drinks, Jeremy slipped away for a bowling sesh. I decided to flex my skills as well. Turns out  my bowling skills were all in my head, school boy error! So I got absolutely creamed, but I was prepared to make up for it with Pool, Drinking or a combination of both!

We then headed outside into the car park, and finally managed to convince Aleta to let me drive her car (sorry Danny!). I took it around the car park and had a pretty good time haha (after Aleta had to show me how to work an automatic – manual ftw!). Needless to say I wasn’t allowed to drive it again :\

We decided to head to Walmart to break my Walmart cherry. We have ASDA back home which is a UK version of Walmart, but on the inside its way different. We picked up a bunch of beer then headed back to Jeremy’s place. Kristina went back home at this point because we was really tired and couldn’t drink anyway. At this point it was: Me, Jeremy, Chris (Sacco), Aleta, Cesar, Jeremy’s sister Nicole and her friend Jamie. I met Nicole briefly in Vegas 2008. Jamie reminded me almost exactly like a friend I have back home (Jo Butters)… so it was really easy to get on with everyone.

It turns out that our version of Ring of Fire in the UK is called King’s Cup in the US, no explanation needed! After a few drinking games, Jeremy made some French Toast and Sausages. Never had French Toast before, apparently its fried egg and bread and he shoved some syrup on top too… Screw the closing arteries… it was amazing! Things were winding down and it was around 5-7am (no idea which!)… Jeremy was falling asleep (does this count as drinking you under the table – pushing for points haha). Passed out of two pushed together sofas, so comfy!

Day 4 – Sunday

The hangover wasn’t bad at all, got up around 11ish and noticed that Jeremy had 2 dogs. So boomed out there and had a quick play around! After waking Jeremy up, we decided to meet Kristina at a breakfast place in Portland. I took a well needed breakfast and tea combo. They wrapped the leftovers in foil shaped like animal which was pretty kool. We then decided to go to Jamie’s house to use her hot tub. Best idea ever! Seriously need to get one of these! Met her parents briefly afterwards, her Dad was from Germany so we had a good chat about German cities and climbing.

After this, Jeremy did a tactical, so Me, Kristina, Aleta and Cesar went to Multomah somewhere (it was like a lookout point with a castle). Saw the whole of Portland from way up high… Took some nice photos until it got pretty cold and decided to head out. We saw IKEA within the view, so decided to go for the meatballs! Aleta had never been IKEA before, crazy! Played some Re-Rave for the 2^nd time, managed a 9 haha…slowly getting better! We stayed here for around 2 hours, until Kristina decided to head home so she would be ready for work the next day. I rode with Aleta’s microwave on the backseat while we headed towards Jeremy’s place. He was just finishing his tactical sleep, so I do blame this for his victory in the drinking bout!

We grabbed Jeremy, Nicole and Jamie and headed to a pool bar. They were being gay over my Driving Licence again, so we just headed to a bar down the road and it was all gravy there. We started out with some Fireball shots and Coors combos while playing some pool. There was band playing too and people seem friendlier than in London bars. I found myself in 3 different rounds with Jeremy, Aleta and Jamie (that my excuse and I’m sticking to it ;)… Had a good laugh there, then decided to take some food on the way home. As soon as I sat down, things went downhill, which usually happens! Got back to Jeremy’s and I tried to do a tactical (rare moment!). He said “Is this the point where I drank you under the table?”… managed to muster the energy t barrel roll out of the sofa-pit and trade it with my head on the kitchen table, classy! Can’t remember much afterwards, but remember Aleta helping me take my contacts out haha

Day 5 – Monday

Woke up amazingly early… felt a bit crap missing out on the rest of the night, I guess the tactical was needed! We (Me, Jeremy, Aleta and Cesar) decided to go to Kim’s to get some Teriyaki. I took the chicken and beef… my kinda breakfast! We hung around there while waiting for Kristina to finish a bit earlier from work at 3. We were due to meet Kyle at 24-hour fitness around 4pm for swimming and hot tub! When Kyle and I are involved, there is always competition! We had some good races up and down the pool doing different strokes. Butterfly and freestyle was pretty close, got my ass handed to me at under water swimming and breast stroke, but I’ll take that on the chin! Need to learn how to tumble at the end to get a good kick off, went for the cheeky grab and kick every time. We went in the hot tub for a bit, and then had a mini gym competition while the ladies were finishing off getting changed!

For some reason it was decided that it would be a good idea to visit a coffee place to make me like coffee. While it was probably awesome coffee and I can appreciate the various styles and flavours, it didn’t mask the fact that it tasted like hate (on par with Jeremy’s old man ale). Jessica, the girl working there, gave me a free caramel coffee because she thought that would be way better. Turns out that it was way worse :\ We went next door afterwards to Jamba Juice, never been there before, but I’ve heard it from somewhere. They serve really good smoothies… I went with a passion fruit deal from Kyle’s recommendation, was so nice! Every ones drinks were pretty good!

More food places to come next! We then rolled into Five Guys Burger and Fries place. Guy behind the counter was awesome, snapped a pic with him. It was decided for me that I should get the double bacon cheese combo with everything (apart from mustard, pickle and tomato of course!). The burger was probably one of the nicest I’ve had! And it didn’t give me chest pain like Wendy’s did haha. We went to a frozen yoghurt place after and took some samples just to try it! The stomach wouldn’t take anymore!

After the food was (almost) done, we headed to Kyle’s place to see where the magic happens! The place was really nice! You’d never get a place like that around London, just because the property prices are so expensive… that’s the only thing I dislike about London really (that and the amount of people). Had some games on his PIU PRO cab, reppin’ the barless JBoy style! Afterwards we went inside and played some Hearts until Valentine’s Day at midnight. Took some pics then said bye to Kyle, Aleta and Cesar. Sad times!! Headed back to Kristina’s and had a chat about various things and the trip. I passed out on the sofa as the trip finally caught up with me!

Day 6 – Tuesday

Kristina took me to the airport around 11ish. Had another Jamba Juice, Aloha Pineapple! And grabbed a Baconator from Wendy’s… just because Bacon/Kent mentioned it! (and he knows his bacon!). I also took a ¾ pounder for Declan (my housemate) as he insisted a 13 hour flight and a full day at work won’t  ruin the burger goodness (Just give him the shits maybe!). Went in a couple of shops then it was time to say by to Kristina… sad times again! The seat next to me was empty so I guess I was forever alone on Valentine’s Day lol… Looked through the pictures I took on the trip a few times and didn’t really sleep at all for the 9 hour flight. Had a chat with the flight attendant  fair bit, turns out he did modelling in Japan lol… the same place that was on my t-shirt.

Got off the plane in Amsterdam and wung some free Wi-Fi… was supposed to be 3 Euro for 15mins pfffft! Some random woman asked to use my laptop, what the! Anyway, took the last plane to London Heathrow, only took 40 minutes! Then the Cockfosters tube to King’s Cross… boomed the luggage in my locker, then back in time for lunch xD

Thanks for hosting me Kristina and Jeremy… Also thanks for everyone for putting up with me. Your welcome to the UK anytime, just let me know! (Finished this last paragraph at work ;)