New MacBook Pro, A New Beginning

This has been on my to-do list for about a year and a half and now thanks to my 6 year old Dell Inspiron 1545 having reached it's limit (life support). It was finally time to purchase a new machine and with this new tech, I will begin re-educating myself with Coding and Creative Software (like my College years) so that someday, I can go for my dream job?!

Emperor Ryan's Roman Banquet (w/Pool)

A week later from Mils' Pool Party and Lip Sync Battle, my friends and I gathered at Ryans for another Summers day of Pool shenanigans with a Roman Toga Party theme.
This was my second year at Ryan's for this annual summer bash which was an excellent and fun day in the sun with my buds.

Ryan's house is amazing and it's where I spent my New Years Eve 2013 where I tried Absinthe shot during Shot Roulette (ugh I felt like I have drunk bleach or something and I could breathe better or spit fire - ha I wish). Anyway, this party was just a summer annual with the right people and this year it had a theme, Roman Toga. Yeah... I was going to cosplay/ dress up but it got too complicated finding a bed sheet plus it was a warmer than usual day and there was a pool too, me and the others didn't see much point and didn't bother. But that didn't stop "the Emperor" (no not Chancellor Palpatine) from dressing up like a king with all his subjects haha. Oh and Bradley and Lauren dressed up too later on.

I will mention that the night before, nearly all the same lot and me went out to Horsham's Giggling Squid to celebrate Cathy's birthday. The food (Thai) was different and nice (still mildly spicy). I went for the Yummy Duck Rolls, the Thai Green Curry Chicken "Mild" with Egg Fried Rice.
I bought Cathy a "I AM GROOT" ha ha, I mean I bought her a Guardians Of The Galaxy - Dancing Groot Funko Pop since she bought me a Avengers: Age Of Ultron - Iron Man Mark 43 Funko Pop for my birthday in June.

Richard and his
Tinfoil Duck

We all went to The Anchor since we couldn't get into The Dead Parrot unfortunately but it was still a fun night and the fun would be continuing the following day.






So anyway, I turned up after 2.00pm after Dad and I delivered a Rowing Machine to a friend at work (doing business) and popped to ScrewFix to purchase some new Steel Toe Cap Safety Trainers for work.
I was pretty convinced that nobody else was gonna go with the theme (I was right) and everyone had already turned up and ready to go nuts.
I was really pleased to see that my friends Sophie, Ash and Nikki from Portsmouth had made it as well (whom I met the last 2 visits over 2 years whilst we all drunk merrily at The Hobbit Pub whilst continuing the drinking challenge, that's another story). I met them on my first visit with the group in 2013 and they're a right laugh and good friendly people.

I didn't get round to drinking till after 4.30 because Nikki asked for a favour for us to pop to the Train Station at 4.00 to pick up her friend Katie who was coming up from Portsmouth later on.
After picking her up and dropping the ladies back here, it was time to strip (not entirely) and finally jump in the cold pool whilst running away from those stinking Wasps.
Alex and me got chatting to Katie most of the day since she only knew her friends and I wanted to make a new one. She was lovely and a real pleasure to meet and get to know (maybe we'll see each other again someday).

Nikki showed me how to
spell "blood" with her hands

The Emperor was
"overthrown" into the pool

Everyone was messing about with the music playing from the Macbook in the front room, we all chose some awesome Rock, Metalcore etc. I was really surprised and also pleased to see that Nikki had an excellent taste in music along with now liking Bring Me The Horizon like myself recently. We played Sleepwalking (a soft-ish song from their latest album, better than their old stuff which to me sounded like Oliver Sykes was speaking in tongue or trying to hurt his throat) and were going to play Antivist or The House Of Wolves but it seemed it would maybe kill the mood and not everyone likes to here serious stuff like that at a time and place like right then (no matter how awesome and head banging it is). My only regret is not liking them and having not used to the chance to see them when I was at Download 2014 haha, Oh well, always next time!

Anyway, as the afternoon carried on, I got chatting to Ash about some catching up and some news that we were both beginning to think up and execute plans to make out lives better and on a better track.

After eating the BBQ that Ryan had made perfectly, later on when the sun had almost gone behind the house, almost everyone and I participated in a funny exercise. You see, I saw that Nikki and Ash were trained in Martial Arts and I was their dummy (to a certain extent) and before I knew it, I became the Deadlift Bar for everyone to try lifting me up for laughs (I think it's cause I weight around 50-60KG so it was a test of their strength really). Everyone took turns and even I gave a go and Squatting with Nikki on my back and even tried... and failed at being a bar for Liam to bench me on ha ha. To end it all, Ash and me managed to re-enact the famous Dirty Dancing moment.

After all that silliness, the rest of the evening was playing my favourite card game - Cards Against Humanity.

The coolest sword - Asda
Halloween for a Fiver
(looks like a Monster Hunter
weapon or Fantasy sword)

After Katie left, soon after Nikki had to leave as well so Ash and me being good men decided to walk her back to the station since I couldn't give her a lift thanks to the few drinks I had. I'll see her again sometime for sure. Ash and me ended up talking about Marvel and Dinosaurs (two awesome subjects) on the way back and I even told him the short plots for the Land Before Time sequels (which I'm getting round to writing up here sometime).
When we came back, everyone was all fighting each other on Super Smash Bros. For Wii-U, perfect timing to come back and join the fight.

What really makes that weekend unforgettable right now is the fact that after everyone had gone to sleep upstairs, my good friend Luna and I got round to messing about with her amazing 3D Projector. She positioned me to stand in front of the projector and shift my body around like a Manikin so that I could look like some designs including Tony Stark/ Iron Man, Roxas (Kingdom Hearts II) etc.
But the main thing is the long talk we had that went on from Midnight till 4.30 in the morning!

What started off as discussing my plans for my career including doing what I've been meaning to do for about a year and a half - to save up for a 13" Macbook Pro (which I should have in my possession by next week after all the months of assurance and discussions with Luna). It soon turned into us both talking about Autism and deep thoughts. I was most impressed and surprised to learn that Luna had once looked after a paralysed man who couldn't even speak. Luna explained how she amazingly managed to help this man draw his first picture by holding his hand and spoke to him clear as day on using his eyes as a stencil for the control of the pencil whilst Luna just held the pencil still, wow!
I explained how I've changed since School years and also revealed how I've still failed to let go of my mistakes and for not standing up to people that caused me great pain.

I also explained my connection with the Andrew character from Chronicle because of the layer of darkness we both have from being victims of bullying and having never fought back. I even admitted that with the Telekinetic power from the film I would harm/ threaten those that hurt me (rather than go looking for a fight) but mainly I would just fly away from my problems and escape to quiet places like flower fields or forests to just calm down from reality (but we know this will never happen). I aim to mention more in my post of the film sometime over the next few months along with my school life (which is taking a while to write up as well as trying to not mention any names). I'm not a bad person for thinking this way still or deep down but not everyone can move on so easily but let's not focus on that right now.
Luna mentioned how she too can see how I have changed and grown up for the better as well as open myself up to others whilst still having a good time.

"Being different is not a problem, even if you think that way. The fact that you explain honestly these feelings and on AsperJosh is special and helps you out as well as teach others about the real you.Your not a bad person, Josh, you just feel lost and sometimes feeling lost is a good thing because you learn how to find yourself and learn a lot. At least you know you have friends and loved ones who care about you compared to back then and that's the best thing. You may not be able to change the past but at least you are living in the present and have learned from your mistakes (it's human nature)."

Hearing her say all that and something along those lines is surprising because she's reminding me of the truth and what I seem to forget. And everything is true, I may be this way and I do seem to go on about it (I reckon it's just a phase or the fact I'm a little tired/ stressed). But at least I am FINALLY taking action with starting fresh with a new and expensive machine which will help me begin to shape my future and start me on a path that I've been afraid to start for almost a year or so. Plus when I come back from Holiday (4th-18th September) in Greece again (I'll hopefully write up my long post about my 10 years of Greece sometime in September whilst there), I will also FINALLY sign myself up to a dating website (maybe not Tinder or Persian Wife Finder - sorry that's a bad joke that I saw in Jim Carrey's film Yes Man). These two changes will help me deeply and once I begin them both, I will begin to become a better Josh and will begin to see things differently as much as they are scary and exciting at the same time.

Anyway, after this long conversation which we had been yawning through mostly, we decided to finally fall asleep and managed to sleep till 10.30am. Everyone was up and not hungover (that's a relief) so I had to gather my sh*t and take off as I had to pop home to sort out some things and write up some AsperJosh drafts.
So this weekend was great and everyone enjoyed it and I learned something from a great friend whom I'll be seeing sometime in September once I've acquired the Macbook Pro because she'll be able to introduce me to some apps/ software that will help teach me coding and maybe even animation like in my College years.
Right now, I have a load of things to think up on what to write in order, I'll be purchasing the Macbook Pro asap by next week after sorting some money out in my ISA and right now, things are starting to tense up a little as I still haven't been able to go GYM since last time which I think was June/ July. I aim to get back into it sometime (least I can still do my set of 50 Press Ups and 30 Leg Raises and 30 Dips at least if I don't end up going and it counts as something, right?!) Don't really know if I'll write up a post on Going To The Gym For 2 Years since I haven't made much progress due to training and then taking it easy after The Tough Mudder. But Greece will be awesome and a big break from reality for a while, definitely not gyming there but I'll do my set in the room and will be swimming.
But before that, I need to purchase that thing and I also have Dave and Caroline's Wedding Reception on 29th August and then the following day, I aim to be in Tilgate Park (if the weather plays right) with my Mum's side of the family (all the people and more from Boxing Day 2014 basically). I'll write those up soon.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Mils' Birthday Pool and Lip Sync Party

August 1st was an excellent summer day in which I celebrated one of my best friends and whom I consider a "big sister", Mils's birthday round her house with our close friends and her generous family for a fun day of pool splash fun and later on funny Lip Sync Battle of the microphones.
Read here my story and later on, see my recorded performances *wink*.

I've known Mils since maybe the first month of College (mainly during the time I met up with Liam again and got introduced to all his friends who to this day I have been with). We were all part of a Anime/ Manga/ Gaming Club on Wednesday afternoons after College and would gather and just hang out, maybe watch/ share an Anime, play Yu-Gi-Oh cardgame fights and just feel comfortable being ourselves (I will explain more about my College life in a post someday).
So since then, she's been present almost every time that I have been out with the group. Since they've all finished Uni last year, I've been catching up and now it feels just like old times but only more closer and stuff cause I only knew them for a year before they left for Uni and we kept in touch through Facebook and when they returned during Holidays.

The Saturday consisted of me finishing my Inside Out post and arriving at hers about an hour later from the start time (luckily it was only me, her family and Cathy so far). I like going to Mils' house because its nice and welcoming like everyone else. Her parents Bill and Magda are always a pleasure to meet as they remind me of my parents in generosity and friendliness. Soon more people began to arrive when I was handing her her card and gift (I got her a Frozen card for laughs and a small Iron Man Funko Keychain). 
We all did jumping together pictures with Cat's GoPro or her camera or Naomi's. It was nice to meet them at last after seeing the pictures of them all along with Cathy completing Horsham's Race For Life. I wore my childish and swag Despicable Me Minions swimshorts and kept their energetic and young Labrador "Dusty" entertained with Fetch (funny thing is that she's the only dog that's ever returned the thrown object back to me, ever!) I was also the playmate for Mils's sister Caroline's son, Finley. It didn't matter that there was almost a 20 year gap between us, I'm still a kid on the inside and I played with him most of the day to his hearts content and he even joined us grown ups in the pool for watercannon fights and a group dive picture. Of course, my priority was Mills and the others but it's hard telling a 3 year old that I need to be with my own age group. But I still multi-tasked and enjoyed myself, besides I'm used to being the fun for little ones as I feel and look like Peter Pan and the Lost Boys/ Girls haha.

A lot more people began to turn up after 6.00pm, I said "Hello" to a few whilst Craig was cooking on the BBQ. I even got to play "Beer Pong" for the first time with my new friend Naomi (what? I hardly go to parties haha). I rather enjoyed it and both of us got stuck on our last cups and the "rally" went on longer than Wimbledon.

At long last, Ladies and Gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for and I've been dreading over. Here's my performance of Mark Ronson (Feat. Bruno Mars) - "Uptown Funk"!

Still cannot believe I did this... I made this look good haha. After my first song, I felt my legs were shaking, my head was spinning, my heart was pinning like I'd been hit with Adrenaline (haha that rhymes)!

Mils, Cathy, Campbell, Aimee, Ben, Henny and Naomi all performed a song or two as well and we all had laughs, giggles and woos as well.
Mils and Cathy were great and I have to say everyone and me enjoyed it all along with Oli's short and funny performance referencing "Crash and the Boys" from Scott Pilgram Vs. The World (I even through in quotes from Wallace linked to the performance) why didn't I think of that haha. Craig also did an excellent dance to Survivor - "Eye Of The Tiger" and Naomi (who won of course) did a mix up of 2 songs involving shouty raps and then girl punk (way to go) and not to mention both Campbell and Aimee doing a cute duet on the Frozen song "Love Is An Open Door".

My last song right before the final song by Aimee, was Queen - "Don't Stop Me Now"! I got inspired to do this after seeing Paul Rudd's performance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Originally after looking up the rules for Lip Sync Battle, I had been fretting into thinking we'd have to do 2/3 songs like the show. But after realising that it wasn't a whole song and was a short version, it seemed not so bad. But the bad thing was me stressing over it all beforehand because of my stage fright. Luckily Mils' said it would all be a laugh and it was with everyone's performances and luckily my new friend Naomi was there to save the day for me by cutting up my 2 songs into a special short version for my choices (I also asked her to do 2 other songs because it was so hard to choose 2 out of 4, she also edited Green Day - "American Idiot" and OneRepublic - "Love Runs Out" for me as well).

In the end, Naomi came first and Campbell came second and all the ladies and some gents got up and danced to a few songs like Los del Río - "Macarena", Spice Girls - "Wannabe" etc.
But everyone was pretty tired and had to make their ways home so I said goodbye to Aimee, Campbell, Ben and the others whilst my group of friends and Naomi stayed up longer playing Beer Pong whilst listening to good music at night like A Day To Remember - "The Downfall Of Us All", Angels & Airwaves - "The Wolfpack", Alien Ant Farm - "Smooth Criminal" etc.

Pretty soon, Naomi had to leave but promised to return tomorrow so the others went to sleep whilst me, Oli, Craig, Mils, Cathy and Henny played The Name Game which I discovered was a guessing game whilst others draw names of characters (we did Fantasy characters) and stick them to our foreheads and ask questions to guess the character basically. I was so tired since we played for 2 hours until 2.30am and before the game, Oli, Craig and I got into a deep talk on Space and Time along with Astronomy and Interstellar (I like long deep philosophical talks).
I can't believe I struggled with guessing Misty from Pokemon as my redhead cartoon character after I guessed Flame Princess from Adventure Time as an idea, or even not guessing Jake The Dog from Adventure Time as a famous yellow cartoon companion to a human (I guessed Pikachu too soon before losing) but who could blame me, I was tired haha.

The following morning, breakfast was served the Awesome way. We all woke up exhausted from staying up that late and waking up at 9.00am. But because we're all awesome and love the same things, it's more funny and just cool that Craig and Mils came up with the idea of making Bacon Pancakes for us all based on Jake The Dog's song in Adventure Time which became an even bigger sensation after somebody on the Internet saw a similarity in the tune and lyrics to Alicia Keys (Feat. Jay-Z) - Empire State Of Mind, unbelievable!
Naomi arrived just in time just when we tucked in to a delicious breakfast (thank you Mils and Craig) which even the f*cking Wasps decided to try and join in along with making a hassle for me and the others the day before during our pool fun. Argh, I hate Wasps!
I got talking to Mils, Cathy, Naomi and Magda by the pool in the morning just as Lewis turned up.

I mentioned some upcoming posts over the next few months including some of The Land Before Time sequels, Chronicle, Clannad (Aime Review), Pokemon (Childhood Memories) and My School Life (once I've found a few pictures) and have listed everything. I am glad that they all listened and said they look forward to them, but it's also good that they have made me aware that when it comes to the School life is to actually not mention names (especially bullies or those who did me wrong) because it can start something all over again after seeing it on Facebook). Mils even spoke to me on asking "How do you feel with writing up your life for the world to see?" and "Do you know what to keep private or are you comfortable with this?" I really admired that she asked me and I gave a good explanation on how "I somehow feel comfortable explaining my thoughts to everyone as it's helped me grow up a little, let go of something things and also it's nice for me to get my opinion out to those who may be interested (even if I don't always get a response on Blogger) least my Friends and Family respond positively. But I am reminding myself after being made aware to ask people if it's okay/ acceptable to mention their forenames only and using pictures of that day or with me when putting/ mentioning them on AsperJosh!" It even inspired me to someday write up a post on What it's like doing AsperJosh.

I had to head home soon after so me being a good sir, gave Naomi a lift home as a thank you for her help with the songs, so we left everyone in the pool and I knew I'd see them all again next weekend for Cathy's Birthday and then the next day would be Emperor Ryan's Roman Banquet (w/ pool) which happened this weekend and has been Awesome. I'll write that up asap and I hope everyone is having an Awesome Summer!

Inside Out (Film Review)

Disney Pixar have created another masterpiece that will touch your emotions and show a whole new look on the Human Mind.
Full of Joy, Anger, Fear, Disgust and Sadness, see here why Inside Out is a must see!

When humans are born, we begin to make memories with our mind and brain, right?! But what if our emotions were the ones controlling our mind like a machine? That's right, Joy "Amy Poehler", Anger "Lewis Black", Fear "Bill Hader", Disgust "Mindy Kaling" and Sadness "Phyllis Smith" are the 5 personified emotions inside Riley Andersen "Kaitlyn Dias" who have been helping and watching over her her whole life. But when 11-year-old Riley and her parents suddenly move house and a mix-up happens inside the memory core, just how can things get fixed again when the fate of Riley's mind is at stake?

I went and saw this film with Andrew and Michelle (from Caleb and Leanne's Wedding) on Thursday and also met their friend, Emily. It was nice hanging out with them and it was a new different group compared to the usual visits to the cinema.

One thing to mention before talking about the film is how sweet and sorta cheesy the Pixar Short Lava was. It was a nice song about a lonely Volcano but like anything Disney related, will soon end happy. Look out for that before watching the film as it's quite sad turned sweet.

This film really took me on a trip that not only opened my mind to a new outlook on the human mind itself but with a Disney twist, I got to see an emotional journey that was in and out of control. At first, when I saw the trailer for this film around 7 months ago, this was not what I would have ever expected Pixar to ever consider filming. I mean sure they did Brave and The Incredibles which were about humans compared to their usual ear of stories about fictional creatures/ characters. But still, this trailer had me hooked right away because it looked promising and entertaining as well as funny thanks to the humour we got first off from this teaser.

It was interesting to see how Riley's parents emotions all seemed to be the same gender compared to how Riley had mixed genders. I was also curious as to why they all seemed to be on the same wavelength or level of concentration in the trailer and film because Riley's seem to have their own unique personalities. My theory is that because Riley is still growing up and hasn't even hit "Puberty" yet, that her emotions are still learning their places and how to co-operate together yet they still pull through together and keep Riley in good hands.
I think one funny way to look at it is that it's like the emotions control her like a Power Rangers Megazord "Go Go Power Rangers!" sorry just had to throw that in as I thought up the idea haha. Though in reality, they don't really control her body I think, they just control her feelings which I guess give her the free-will to use her body. And now I have a small thing to think about or imagine in our reality that if only our heads were full of these little guys.
I took a quick look on Wikipedia and discovered that Pete Docter (director and voice of Dug the Dog in Up) had had this planned since 2009 and saw a change in his daughter's personality.
And also that the film's producers consulted numerous psychologists, including Dacher Keltner from the University of California, Berkeley, who helped "revise the story emphasising the neuropsychological findings that human emotions are mirrored in interpersonal relationships and can be significantly moderated by them" so they basically questioned which parts in the brain feel damaged. Pretty intense research and knowledge for a kids film. But at least they did their homework to make this as accurate as possible and close to truth as possible.

Each character in Riley's head was loveable and funny (Sadness took some time to understand). I really loved how Joy was the spark of fun and took great care in keeping Riley happy and balanced but when you put Sadness into control, it can have life changing and scarring results. But the other 3 kept us laughing a lot when they tried out on the controls but it can't end well without all 5, right?
One thing that's made me like Joy as my favourite character is that she was acting like a big sister like character who felt like her duty was motherly but also to keep everyone balanced and under control. I did see that she was a little bossy and a control freak but with that smile even I would be under her charm and feel lucky to have a cheerful friend like her.

The whole layout of how they worked Riley's mind was magnificent and ingenious, it was practically like a workshop/ warehouse like area with stacked up glass orbs all different colours which resembles Riley's day-to-day memories and the colours represent how she felt. As we can see, when one of the orbs is used, it can play a memory like a camera whilst being the shape of a snow globe and also be used to project the memory on screen like a Cinema, that's just genius in showing a representation on how we imagine or remember memories that we can almost picture them through our eyes as we daydream in reality.
I wonder if my 5 little ones in my head are exhausted from my consistent lifestyle of remembering everything, I must have a Memory Vault/ Bank that goes on for 10s of Miles or something (not meaning to brag!)
But despite my days of being all of these emotions, guess that comes with me being Autistic, I still believe I am balanced and am a good happy person even if sometimes I feel alone like Riley or confused due to the lack of fun. But look at my life just from writing up on AsperJosh?! I've come a long way since 18 and am still growing up (debatable), learning things and beginning to become more confident and share wonderful and awesome memories with the right people in my life!

I rather enjoyed the adorable and friendly character Bing Bong "Richard Kind" whom I recognised right away as the voice actor for Molt in "A Bugs Life" and Tom Cat in "Tom and Jerry: The Movie". I was rather pleased to hear that man's voice again and this time he played a funny and sorta weird looking creature that had been forgotten by Riley and now lived deeply inside her mind. He really brought laughter and a helping hand to the story which was good and will definitely keep the kids entertained.

Just like The Land Before Time (I'm currently starting to write up some of the sequels right now and The Fault In Our Stars), I was struck with an arrow at my heart at some very heartbreaking moments that got me weeping up badly (don't let me stop you from seeing this), I mean, I can see a pattern here thanks to Pixar's other creations including Finding Nemo, Toy Story 3 and obviously Up!

Like Up, the music will touch your heart and make you shed tears as the piano does it's magic and bring out the sad moments perfectly, I ended up crying 3-4 times especially when not everyone/ everything can be saved and sometimes memories and people just fade away which I guess I see in everyone's lives because we honestly can't keep in touch with everyone in our lives forever but I believe that Facebook helps a little because my quote on there to everyone is this:

So this film is a must see and will take you and your families emotions on a journey and maybe even synchronise your emotions too. I love how Pixar keep getting better and better (well except for Cars 2 and Planes but that's my opinion) and I cannot wait for more great stories and maybe a sequel.
I hear that a sequel to Finding Nemo is in production called Finding Dory, Yay!

Plus before the film began, we got a teaser trailer of a new Dinosaur film that Pixar are making which should be out in November, wow I don't think I've ever seen Pixar release 2 films in the same year?!
Let's see how this one turns out, two Dinosaur films in the same year... Hell Yeah!

Now that this has just finished, it's time for me to head to Mill's for her Pool Party and Lip Sync Battle. Wait and see for my videos of my 2 songs asap!