My name is Grant. I go by many other aliases, such as Dirtster, and Raggak being my most popular ones, but decided it was time for a change, and came up with Awesomeist. Why? Because I generally wanted a name that was awesome.

I live in the UK, currently 20, and I'm a student at the University of Bolton, learning how to program videogames. It's pretty fun.

I'm currently with my amazing girlfriend Shauni, and we've been together since September 24th 2006, and I've never looked back on my life since that day, making the moment I'm writing this 4 years and 6 months together. She completes my life, and I wouldn't have it any other way!

I've been amazed by videogames since I was a young child. My first gaming experiences were various games on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, such as Rocket Knight Adventures, Sonic 1~3 & Knuckles, and Streets of Rage. I then grew through video games, getting a PSX (illegally chipped, haha), and borrowing an N64 on occasions to keep my pallete wide. So, whilst I have not been around since gaming started, I've definitely seen a lot go past.

I also have a great love of Japan, and I have done ever since I watched my first episode of Pokémon as a child. I became obsessed and hungry to learn more about the country and its ways, and I have recently done so by learning the Japanese language at a GCSE level, and visiting Japan for a total of 10 days, seeing Tokyo, Owakudani, and Kyoto. I would definitely go again, and recommend that anyone who hasn't gone, does. I shall be returning again one day, but when will depend on how my life goes from now on. You'll most likely see my love of Japan seep through in my blog entries.

Now, as for where I am at the moment in gaming? I own the following consoles (including ones I share with my Girlfriend): Playstation 3, Playstation 2, Playstation Portable, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS Lite, and XBox 360. I have owned other consoles before hand, such as: Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Gameboy Original, Gameboy Advance, DS Original, and Playstation 1.

Whilst I do play a huge variety of genres, the type that I typically focus on are as follows; Japanese RPG, Strategy, Shooter, Action, Music, and Racing. I play most other genres as well, but the only genre I tend to avoid is Sports, purely because it doesn't interest me.

And finally, what games am I currently playing? I can't be bothered to write this out because it changes too often. I do have a lot more games, but I focus on these right now.

If you want to contact me at all, leave me a message on this blog, or contact me by my XBox Gamertag: Raggak, my Steam: Awesomeist or my PSN: Awesomeist. Whilst I do have a Wii, I'm currently not using it.