journal, diary, blog, who cares

so i really wnated to go to the NORTHWEST COMPUTER MUSEUM (please check out the website i am obsessed with it) because it didnt seem like any other museum i had been to.

its a place where you actually get to use the machines!!! they have computers from the 70s up to the 2000s, as well as consoles, arcade cabinets, a VR room and a classroom where you can languages like BASIC

here are some photos!!
i cant put all the photos here because i took so many (i was really excited).

a row of computers from the 70s to the 80s, and a TANDY TRS-80 (1977)

a lian li aquarium case that ran windows xp!!! and 2 G3 imacs on a shelf

the message i left was: "hello! this is my first time using a G3 IMAC!!!! i thnk its a beautiful machine but has a awful UI. I'm not fond of apple. WINDOWS ALL THE WAY!!!!"

arcade cabinets and some info on the Y2K BUG!! (there was a newsreel playing on a tv and a game demo on a computer but i cant seem to find the photos of it??)

a NES with duck hunt and the first mario game ever on it. this was my first time using a light gun EVER. it was super fun. technology is so cool.
this is really bad of me to forget but the last console is NOT an atari, the other 2 are though. i got to play pong.

i had such a nice time here. it was pretty quiet because it was a thursday - and the guy who runs it was rlly nice and we spoke alot!! he even told me to stay until he actually properly closes up. he also gave me a free slush puppy.

I also had plans to meet with someone i went to university with later on that day. we went to a little concert that was part of manchester international festival because a few of her childhood friends were performing. it was a decent time (i hadnt eaten all day because as soon as i left the museum i had to get to the venue so i had a massive headache for most of it and wanted to leave earky...).

i want to mention the outfits i wore throughout my trip. on the first day i wore a band shirt - the band being ROZKLAD, a black metal band i saw in june after attending dyke march (which i will talk about in another post soon.)

ok lets start off with my outfit!! didnt know what to wear despite me only bringing a handful of clothes but the friend was going to meet up with (we met when i was still in sixth form/school, online. i also talked about their art in this blog post!!) told me they were wearing scooby doo shoes so i decided to follow the theme and wear my betty rubble tshirt.

so my friend and i went to this market called "afflecks", full of independent stores. we mostly just walked around. but i got a few things so it wasnt "a waste". we also went to a comic book store called "the travelling man" - i was obsessing over the £1.50 comics boxes but there were 8 of them, all full to the brim so i only managed to get one.
i also got to try ethiopian food for the first time!! i loved the lamb dish i had, but i am unfortunately not a fan of the flatbread called injera. it tastes very similar to another carb in my culture called amala, but that wasnt the issue, it was the texture. i was so disappointed.

niko and i at the dinner table!!!

the dish... i wish i liked it more

i also kept trying to find my chemcial romance merch. i actually DID manage to find some stuff but it was all black parade merch (because of their tour rn). i feel like i need to menton that i was briefly back into my chemical romance during my trip due to me rewatching the life on the murder scene tour diary. i will talk more about mcr later.... like my fob retrospective post.

i wasnt in the mood for a birthday cake as i was in a hotel room and didnt want to buy cutlery so i got a birthday cronut instead!!

it was rlly nice even tho im not a fan of cronuts, this one was actually good!!

ok what i got!! i got a comic, a nose ring and some CDs. my friend niko also made me a card.

sorry these are out of focus. the first album is "blessid union of souls - walking off the buzz", i thought it was a jazz labums but turns out blessid union is a alternative rock band!!
second is the billy elliot soundtrack. when i was young i had a jamie bell phase (because of the tintin movie) and used to listen to this soundtrack alot.

a comic called "space truckin'"... cant seem to find much else on it.

if you are reading this niko - THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS SUCH AN AMAZING CARD AHHHHHHHH

my nose ring.... it has a blue star :D

i ended the day with some chinese food. the journey there was frustating but it was worth it. the lady at the place gave me so much food??? idk if i had some kind of birthday glow but she gave a bag piled high of spring rolls and 2 bags of prawn crackers on top of my meal.

had to check out of my hotel and cut my trip short because of a band i have a personal vendetta against, OASIS......

every hotel was booked out after the 19th because of the oasis reunion tour and you could tell it was happening. every bus in manchester either had fantastic four: first steps ads on them or OASIS/ADIDAS ads on them. there were also tons of pop up shops and every clothing store pushe dtheir oasis stuff to the front.

today, the 19th, was a day they were performing, and it seemed like the whole of manchester was decked out on oasis gear, the adidas jackets, the bucket hats, the sunglasses, it was awful. just kept reminding me of why i couldnt stay in manchester for much longer.

before i carry on lets talk about the outfit!! i ended up wearing my jet set radio tshirt, flared jeans and a wrap around skirt my mum got me years ago but never really got around to wearing.

so after checking out, i met up with my friend again and we went to the see SUPERMAN (2025). this was a film i thought looked good from the trailers, like FINALLY, return to form with superman!! its not gritty, dark and rooted in reality. given it is a James Gunn film i knew there would be sense of wonder in his superman project.

on the 17th, i saw a superman mural that made me want to check out the film. i was seriously just going to wait for it to come online but my friend (niko) convinced me to watch it too.

the mural.... i wonder if they did any press here..... i felt like jimmy olsen looking at it. dont know why.

anyways superman... before i talk about the movie i have to talk about my actual cinema expereince.

ok, all was good and well until a man came in half way through the film and was eating his food really loudly? like he kept rustling the packaging but it didnt last long. what really got me was when there was a particularly loud action sequence and i noticed my friend looking over to someone sat next to me. i didnt even realise until i turn around and saw THIS MAN WAS TALKING ON THE FUKCING PHONE... IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MOVIE IN THE CINEMA..... and he kept looking at me throughout the phone call. i eventually said "are you being fucking serious right now?" and then my friend just suggested we should move seats.

what happened next was he checked to see where we had moved to and then ended the call. my friend and i think he did this to prove his dominance, to annoy us to the point of us moving away even though we were at those seats first and he just wanted the row to himself. mind you this bastard came in HALF WAY THROUGH THE MOVIE.... men have the audacity. always. i wanted to throw my bottle of water at him when he left... before the credits even began to properly roll. but it wasnt worth it. anyways.

ANYWAYS THE MOVIE..... INCREDIBLE!!! i wont leave my entire review here because i have too much to say. to read it CLICK ON THIS LINK!!!.

this film made me fall in love with the character and concpet of superman again. it just did everything right.

here are some photos from the cinema

light-up cups that were £30..... um no.

is it bad that i hate that F4 look like this but im also really intrigued by it? like i want to watch it even though i know it will be mediocre at best? i've been essentially boycotting the mcu since 2019 because the films just dont interest me and all look boring dull and not worth my time. but the retro-futurism and a proper looking galactus is drawing me in... maybe this summer is the superhero movie renaissance for me.

i then went looking for monster high dolls with no desire to buy any. i saw a toreali creeproduction but i dont think i like the charcater enough to get her... oh well.

the coach ride back to london was so awful i dont think i even want to think about it again so i can write about it. just ugh.

i spent the 20th with my sister, i always have a good time with my sister, because shes my sister. duh. i wanted to find some comics but the comic book store i always go to was closed (it was a sunday) so i went to the chain one (forbidden planet) instead.

they had such a shit selection, esp for superman comics. i wanted to read ALL STAR SUPERMAN and SUPERMAN: RED & BLUE but forbidden planet only had this really overpriced collection that wa sliterally half price on ebay. also had to deal with a racist staff member which cemented my reason for not going back there. i'll stick to the smaller, indie places that actually have comics i want and arent just basically overpriced toy stores with shit manga and comic selections.

it wasnt all bad though, i had to go to my sister's old house with her so she could get more stuff from her foster carer and we had to take the other kids in the house on a walk. it was actually pretty nice.