As the demon's blade causes my character to drop dead for the tenth time this evening, I bang the corner of my desk with my fist. "God-fucking-damn it. I'm done." "It's just a game, dear," says Hannah from the sofa in our bedroom. She's got my mum's accent and intonation down to a tee. I put down my controller with exaggerated calmness and swivel the office chair around. "What you reading?" I ask. "Why Your Boyfriend Suck...

I see the package as I come up the stairs to the floor of our apartment. I'm not expecting anything so I figure it must be Hannah's. I scoop down to pick it up as I pull out my key and open our front door. "Delivery for you," I call out as I enter. Hannah has her headphones on, the big expensive ones, so she doesn't hear me over Kate Bush. She probably didn't hear the delivery guy earlier. I hoof the package at her. It wo...

It's nearing one a.m. I'm about two thousand lines of Java into my end-of-term coursework. The cans of energy drink I'd brought for the weekend have been giving me minor palpations, so I'm back on good old coffee to see me through the night. I'm just finishing up some particularly fiddly exception-handling code when there is a knock on the door. With a sigh, I climb out of my chair and answer it. It is a woman. She looks...

It's Friday night and I'm in the shower. Rather, I'm standing in a bath that has a showerhead attached to one wall. This isn't the nicest apartment, but it is the first time I've shared one with a live-in girlfriend so I'm happy nonetheless. Hannah and I are both starting our Master's degree and we've been able to swing partnered accommodation with the university even though we're not married nor have any plans of marryin...