10 Things you can do while waiting for PS4/PC version of Rise of the Tomb Raider

Well hello there fellow Tomb Waiter, while our winter may be Croft-less, that doesn’t mean we can’t be doing something productive about it. So grab an Earl Grey, a notepad and lets get sorted for 2016!

1. Dip your toes in somebody else’s tomb
(oxxxxxashxxxxxo - dA)
Naughty Dog couldn’t have timed it better to release the Uncharted trilogy for the PS4, followed by perhaps the final instalment a few months later. There is plenty between all four games to keep your raiding needs in check, especially with the new photo mode and additional trophies.

2. Declutter for Croft
More so for PS4 waiters, you have twelve months to sort out your abode and sell unwanted items to raise money for the game. It is a win/win situation; you get to sort out your possessions and make space while not dipping into your wages when November 2016 comes around. Just don’t spent that money in the meantime!

3. Learn a Lara skill
(coolxnalara - dA)
Lara smuggles many talents underneath that brown hair, so why not learn one of them while you are waiting for ROTTR? Choose from archery or gun control (at a reputable school!) or hieroglyphics and swan diving. If all else fails, you could always master the perfect movie french braid.

4. Catch up on fan films
(EAT Photography/Guns and Grapple)
Tomb Raider fans are a talented bunch and it would be a disservice not to check out some of the amazing films being created by fans. From the latest big release Hunted to older works such as Croft and Book of the Dead. Projects of all budgets are always appearing on YouTube and it is worth checking back every now and then.

5. Play the chronological challenge 
After nearly twenty years, Ms Croft has certainly racked up some adventures. Use the upcoming twelve months as the opportunity to revisit every single jungle, mountain and tomb that Lara has been to. Oh I see you shoving that GBA game under the bed, get it out. When I say every adventure, I mean every adventure! Including the good, the bad and the ugly! You might be able to raise some money for charity too by doing speedruns and participating in charity events.

6. Happy 20th birthday!
2016 is the 20th anniversary of Tomb Raider, so there will certainly be a lot of Lara things going on. So see this as a TBA and get involved where you can with the festivities!

7. Write a follow up story to Tomb Raider 2013 and thank a writer



Fanfiction sometimes get a bad reputation, but honestly there are so many talented writers that are creating stories under the Tomb Raider tab that it is shame they don’t get as much recognition. You will have to be careful for spoilers from next week, so I would say go through the site and save some stories now using apps such as fan fiction reader. If you find an excellent story, make sure you send the writer a little message and share it out to people who may find it interesting. Fan fiction writing is mostly an emotional economy, give a little back :). Then write your own story and see how different it reads compared to ROTTR when you get the chance to play it.

8. Catch up on your history
No matter where you started on the Tomb Raider timeline, take some time to learn about how the series started and just how imported it was to British identity in the late 90s, a time of Cool Britannia and Riot Grrrls. A great place to start is Priestman’s 2015 KillScreen article with more lengthy discussions in the books Grand Thieves and Tomb Raiders and Porn and Pong: How Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider and Other Sexy Games Changed Our Culture.

9. Pimp those raids
(MarySue)
Time to get those creative muscles working! Do you have a boring piece of furniture, a desk or a cushion that just doesn’t scream adventure? Or perhaps you love making cakes, nail art or apps. Whatever it is you do, make something that is unashamingly Crofty! Then share it on Twitter, because we all love that stuff ;).

10. Play nice and meet up
(LaraCroftCosplay.com)
Perhaps the most important thing is to acknowledge that fans playing the game will be spread out across twelve months. If you are an Xbox gamer reading this, avoid spoilers and taunting online with meaningless consoles wars. Respect others decisions to buy a PS4 version rather than abandoning the franchise (as I know some are) and visa versa. We all have reasons for doing what we do and the best reaction we can have is just to listen to why they are making those choices. Still go to events such as comic cons and meet up with other fans where possible or host twitter chats online. At the end of the day, if the main community doesn’t suit you, don’t sulk, just take the steps to create your own community or find and support a new one.

So there we go, what are fellow Tomb Waiters doing for 2016? Tweet me with #tombwaiters or leave a comment below.

Until next time, happy raiding.

Making Your Own Bubble Tea!

I came back from Singapore in 2011 bringing back many memories from my research trip, one of which was the deviously addicting chewy drink called bubble or boba tea. A few years later, bubble tea shops and stalls opened around Liverpool and Manchester and I made a name for myself as the girl who could not go into a city without picking up a cup of milky, chewy goodness.

This wasn’t enough however, I started to make it at home to drink (and eat!) while I worked on my cosplays long into the night before a con. I’ve tried many different ways to create my favourite beverage, instant tea, condensed milk, normal black tea, ice cubes, blended ice, instant tapioca…however it did always seem a bit of a fuss. Boba Mix came to the rescue and kindly sent me a sample pack of matcha bubble tea when they were doing a special offer. So I thought I would show you how easy it is to make your own bubble tea at home!

First of all, Boba Mix will send you prepackaged amounts of everything you need except for fresh ingredients. So all you will need is water, milk, sugar, ice and container of your choice!




Make some tea with 250ml of water and brew for 1-2 minutes.




Then add the bubble tea powder (this is what gives the drink that bubble tea shop taste), some sugar if you like and 100ml of fresh milk. They recommend whole milk however I only have skimmed which worked perfectly well. For the proper Taiwanese taste you could swap the milk for 50ml of evaporated milk or use 50ml of condense milk. The condense milk taste takes me right back to Singaporean Kopi or the ice coffees I had in Cambodia.




Place in the fridge and get on with plumping those pearls!



Boil 20g of pearls in 250ml of water then simmer for 5 minutes. Remove and place in a sugar solution. The easiest way to do this is add two tablespoons of sugar and two tablespoons of lukewarm water. Any remaining solution can be stored in the fridge for 2-3 days (so no excuses if you have more cravings in the following days!)


Add the pearls to a glass and pour the tea mixture over the top. Add some ice and a straw and you are done! Unfortunately someone took all the ice we had so I left my mixture in the fridge a little longer than the recommended 40 minutes to makes sure it was extra cold.



The bubble tea was delicious; using the powder mix certainly gave it an authentic taste and was so easy as everything I needed came in one pack. You can buy full size packs from their eBay store and follow them on Twitter and Facebook.


(Disclaimer: Boba Mix haven't paid me to write this post, I participated in a special offer of a free pack they were hosting at the time on social media)

How to be a #NaNoWriMo Rebel


I think it is time for a confession, and I am probably not alone in this. I love creating stories, however most of them end up being the bath time/train ride/lying in bed kind where it is fascinating to escape into these worlds, but are never wrote out. I think the main reason is because I am scared that once they are fleshed out, they can never match what I had pictured in my mind. Admittedly, I am a dreamer, and can sit and think for hours.

This is where NaNoWriMo comes in. Although it sounds like the titular pet from a Shōjo manga, National November Writing Month has one aim. To get you to write that novel you have been talking about for years. By the end of the month you should have 50,000 words; it forces you to consider deadlines and timekeeping. Something I am sure we are all guilty of, especially with our busy lives. Remember to be a NaNoWriMo rebel though, not everything needs to wrote by the book (excuse the pun), as long as you are writing:

1. Use NaNoWriMo as inspiration, not a law.
Treat November as your writing month. You can tune in to the buzz of people around you who are writing and that may inspire you to keep going. However no-one is going to tell you off because you are writing a script or a non fiction book. Think outside the box and complete anything in the month of November, for example:

- Aim for a blog post every two days.
- Code a game that is playable by 1st December.
- Write fan fiction story (30,000 words).
- Create and write a new craft tutorial every week.
- Write an extended essay on a topic you enjoy (20,000 words).
- Write two novellas based around one character.

2. Quality is always better than quantity.
 The problem with projects that use gamification as a way for contributors to move forward is that sometimes it can be quite black or white. You either fail or you win. If you don’t quite finish, don’t be disheartened. Remember this isn’t your job (yet!) but you should remember that your project doesn’t finish in November even if you hit 50,000 words. November is your spew month, you get the words out there. Use the rest of winter as an excuse to stay indoors and tailor what you have or continue with November used as your spring board.

3. Everything doesn’t have to be new.
If you have something half finished, use that as your November writing project! On a similar vein, if you feel truly stuck halfway through November, put what you are writing to one side and do something else. This is where blogs come in very handy. You can take a break but still write, which is the most crucial thing. Often, this will clear the mind fog and you can get back to your masterpiece :).

4. Keep on the hashtags and lists.
As with capturing the buzz of the NaNoWriMo community, be aware of common hashtags and get involved in Twitter chats. Even as just an observer, make Twitter lists of people who are writing so if your project is getting you down, there is something a click away to hopefully make you feel a little less lonely.

5. Write what you like.
Don’t be discouraged by forums full of people writing their fantasy stories or hard hitting crime novels. If you want to write erotica, a children's book or an easy to read chick lit for example; you do that. There is a niche for everything, no matter how small it may be, and you might just make someone’s day by writing about it.

6. Don’t rush to publish.
This is mainly for fan fiction writers or bloggers and is something I am guilty of. Completing a chapter or post, editing then publishing in the same night. Please don’t do that! I know it is so tempting to get it out there to feel that sense of completeness, but very often there will be silly mistakes or you end up trapping yourself because the story changes halfway through writing and the start does not make sense for where you are now. Complete your story, edit it, reflect, then release in chapters maybe every week.

For self publishing, don’t rush it out for the same reasons as suggested above. You don’t want people to be put off your story by terrible grammar and spelling. In addition, many people will self publish in December after NaNoWriMo, instead provide yourself with some reflection time and if you are still happy with your work, try in March or April. Remember though, the aim is just to write, you do not need to publish anything if you don't want to.

Are you writing in November? Let me know via Twitter and we can cry together over cups of tea! When I decide what it is that I am doing!

Further reading: '25 Things You Should Know About NaNoWriMo'




Top Ten Moments I Cannot Forgive Lara For

Overall, Lara is a good kid. She turns up where she is supposed to be, she sometimes provides hints when the controller is already halfway across the room and comes out with lines that often deserve a virtual high five.

Yet sometimes, you need to question...what the hell are you doing Lara? Why have you done that? Here are my top ten moments that I simply cannot forgive Ms Croft for:

10. Not picking up a jacket in Yamatai (TR:R)


Lara...dear...you slaughtered hundreds of men. Men in jackets. Yet you still shivered next to fires with wounds open to the elements. Trust me, it won't affect your chances of participating in Yamatai Fashion Week, grab a jacket alongside those arrows.

9. Hiding secrets in the manor, within a timed maze (TR2)

 Just why Lara? I understand that it is probably all part of the security plan but if something happened to you, there is no way poor old Winston could deal with all the faffing before selling the house. Sort it out, get a fingerprint scanner.

8. Executing Handstands in inappropriate places (TR1-TRU)


You have beautiful form Lara and if archeology hadn't worked out, I'm sure you would have been fantastic at the Olympics. Despite that, caves in Nepal, Atlantis and Thai temples are probably not the places you should be showing off your skills. Especially when something/someone wants to shoot or eat you on the next ledge...    

7. Making Dr Willard spill his soup (TR3)


Looked like some damn tasty tomato soup. What a waste. Well I say spill...in 1998 it was more like throw the frozen bowl across the room.

6. Wearing a headset (TRL)


Tomb Raider goes hand-in-hand with isolation. Silence, uncharted territory...having two twonks muttering in your ear when you are in Boliva is not the experience neither I nor Lara signed up for. Even she told them to shut up, should have just thrown it into a lake. Bad decision Lara.

5. Falling off St Francis Folly (TR1/TRA)


You couldn't be bothered to grab that ledge could you Lara? Well you deserved to fall three levels for that. Unforgivable.

4. Not giving Kurtis a swift kick (TR: AoD)


He turned out okay, but Kurtis was creepy as anything at the start and certainly deserved a kick in the undercrackers as a brief welcoming greeting.

3. Not moving boxes in the manor hallway (TR1)


Pure laziness.

2. Wearing shorts in snowy Tibet (TR2)


I know for a fact Winston packed some trousers in there. You are going to catch a cold! That jacket means jack all when the legs are bare.

1. Letting Alex die without a proper kiss (TR:R)


Heartless Lara. Heartless. I know your heart *may* belong to Sam (Lord give me strength) but the poor guy was going to die AND YOU FOUND HIS NOTE. I'll never forgive you for that Lara.

Look at the hope then disappointment on his face.

Heartless.

So that was ten moments that I cannot forgive Lara for, despite all the great adventures and moments she has had since 1996. Let me know what yours is by tweeting me or leaving a comment below.

Bonus point: As a cosplayer, I also cannot forgive Lara for such impractical choice of holsters, bar TR:R. I'm sure my fellow cosplayers knows exactly what I am talking about, they don't work quite as well in real life :p
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