... the IT man in LibraryLand
This busy Xmas period has seen several examples of great courage, willpower and general mental fortitude in the face of nigh-overwhelming adversity.
The first such example was the attendance of Salsa Girl at the annual Library Xmas party. It all really began in the afternoon when, after arriving early at my place of work in order to feel more relaxed about the looming party, Salsa Girl was pounced upon by the inquisitive Days of our Libraries and Kiwichick. Unfortunately one was busy rescuing some forlorn computers so who knows of what was spoken between them whilst I was out of earshot.
After such shaky beginnings we were soon making our way to The Administrator's abode for the event proper. All in all it went well and Salsa Girl held up under the pressure of several dozen inquisitive librarians.
One did wonder if one had made a mistake when conversation with The Beaumaris Ballerina turned to the subject of the non-attendance of her beau. Her statement - "oh, I would never expose him to this" - did give me pause for thought as to what I was putting my good lady through.
In the end though we managed to get out unscathed before the karaoke - which I think is a big win on our parts.
The second celebration of survival involves my trekking north for an Xmas day feast with the maternal branch of Salsa Girl's family.
After braving locust swarms of biblical proportions - well a smallish bible anyway - we arrived in time to relax before attending to afternoon tea which soon became Xmas Eve dinner.
Xmas day itself saw the arrival of a sumptuous trifle, along with Grandma, and then the unveiling of a grand feast. I survived the lunch and believe I made quite the good impression by restricting myself to a heaped plate of seconds rather than returning for thirds and appearing greedy.
Our third tale of survival involves the mad dash from the northern regions back to the surrounds of Melbourne for attendance at Xmas dinner at one's aunties residence.
With consummate timing Salsa Girl and I arrived just as the main course was being commenced. We quite easily slipped into line several times until we'd had our fill of mains and then patiently awaited the desserts. There were introductions, and conversations, and general laid back family Xmas type goings on.
Upon departing Salsa Girl seemed to have survived her first meeting with my larger family with no lasting trauma. Oneself did suffer from some inexplicable stomach pains. Still nothing one hasn't survived on many previous Xmases.
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Awarding Times
So after my observations about the sad lack of rewards for my time of service I received one of my longed for recognitions in the past weeks.
In an impressive ceremony involving a candle and some humble presentation Salsa Girl handed me my "Short and Lazy Service" award.
So it seems that Supervisor Grand Chief K has neglected me in her belief that she is the one that controls my reins and issues my orders.
When one informed Salsa Girl of SGCK's belief, her response was the knowing:
In an impressive ceremony involving a candle and some humble presentation Salsa Girl handed me my "Short and Lazy Service" award.
So it seems that Supervisor Grand Chief K has neglected me in her belief that she is the one that controls my reins and issues my orders.
When one informed Salsa Girl of SGCK's belief, her response was the knowing:
Well, she'll learn.
Mother Days
My weekend just past was overwhelmingly about the multitude of mothers in the company of whom the vast majority of my time was spent.
The first, and most nerve-rackingly important, was Salsa Girl's mother. This meeting was long-arrange and consisted of a few gin and tonics whilst we snacked on some lovely cheese and crackers, followed by some assemble-it-yourself sandwich snacking for lunch and then it was all topped off with delicious scones with cream and jam.
One seems to have passed the test as one's invite to Xmas lunch still stands. I look forward to not having to hold myself back now that I've achieved acceptance.
The evening of that same day consisted of myself and Salsa Girl taking Freeloading Mum, Handy Dad, Legion4 out to dinner at one of their local establishments. The occasion was, of course, Freeloading Mum's birthday of the day before. Freeloading Mum took firm advantage of my offer to cover costs and treated herself to not only a main but also a dessert AND a glass of wine. Honestly I don't know where some people get the idea that it's okay to sponge off the benevolence of others - she's just lucky I haven't picked up any behavioural habits from growing up under her bad influence.
My Sunday afternoon was devoted to a trek way out west to visit new mum Rugrat Twin. Said trip ended up dropping my loyal companion Salsa Girl and I in the midst of roughly a million visiting relatives - several of them mothers of various generations. In fact it was only when Wolverine returned home somewhat later in the afternoon that the gender balance was redressed somewhat. Honestly it was like a libraryland workplace in there!
So there you have it, my days of mothers...
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The first, and most nerve-rackingly important, was Salsa Girl's mother. This meeting was long-arrange and consisted of a few gin and tonics whilst we snacked on some lovely cheese and crackers, followed by some assemble-it-yourself sandwich snacking for lunch and then it was all topped off with delicious scones with cream and jam.
One seems to have passed the test as one's invite to Xmas lunch still stands. I look forward to not having to hold myself back now that I've achieved acceptance.
The evening of that same day consisted of myself and Salsa Girl taking Freeloading Mum, Handy Dad, Legion4 out to dinner at one of their local establishments. The occasion was, of course, Freeloading Mum's birthday of the day before. Freeloading Mum took firm advantage of my offer to cover costs and treated herself to not only a main but also a dessert AND a glass of wine. Honestly I don't know where some people get the idea that it's okay to sponge off the benevolence of others - she's just lucky I haven't picked up any behavioural habits from growing up under her bad influence.
My Sunday afternoon was devoted to a trek way out west to visit new mum Rugrat Twin. Said trip ended up dropping my loyal companion Salsa Girl and I in the midst of roughly a million visiting relatives - several of them mothers of various generations. In fact it was only when Wolverine returned home somewhat later in the afternoon that the gender balance was redressed somewhat. Honestly it was like a libraryland workplace in there!
So there you have it, my days of mothers...
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The Lost Romance of Shingles
Those who have been privileged enough to see me in person over the past few months would undoubtedly have noticed a certain rosy shine about my eyes. This mystery ailment has come and gone over the weeks with all attempted cures having little or no effect.
This weekend past it flared up into a different version of itself involving burning sensations and small blistering. A quick Internet self diagnosis led me to finding a match with shingles. One was immediately transported to visions of the worst symptoms - the tragedy of blindness and loss of my beloved reading! Salsa Girl helpfully suggested the need for a seeing eye cat in the form of The Tiger. One can easily imagine the resulting scenario "Are we at the bus yet?", "Meow!", "What, are we at your food bowl again?!"
Alas, after a visit to the doctor this morning, I find that the official diagnosis of my condition is merely Nasty Rash. I am disappointed that the Doctor couldn't even Latinise it for me - Nastius Rashius has a nice ring about it don't you think?
Apparently the thing that the Internet neglected to make clear was that Shingles is bilateral, meaning that it is only ever on one side of the body and hence having both eyes covered ruled it out of contention immediately. Here's a Caution for you: the Internet can sometimes contain incorrect or incomplete information.
In any case I now have a tube of face steroids to apply and so far it seems to be soothing the rash. I am however concerned about the steroid side effects of my face becoming over muscled and aggressive.
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This weekend past it flared up into a different version of itself involving burning sensations and small blistering. A quick Internet self diagnosis led me to finding a match with shingles. One was immediately transported to visions of the worst symptoms - the tragedy of blindness and loss of my beloved reading! Salsa Girl helpfully suggested the need for a seeing eye cat in the form of The Tiger. One can easily imagine the resulting scenario "Are we at the bus yet?", "Meow!", "What, are we at your food bowl again?!"
Alas, after a visit to the doctor this morning, I find that the official diagnosis of my condition is merely Nasty Rash. I am disappointed that the Doctor couldn't even Latinise it for me - Nastius Rashius has a nice ring about it don't you think?
Apparently the thing that the Internet neglected to make clear was that Shingles is bilateral, meaning that it is only ever on one side of the body and hence having both eyes covered ruled it out of contention immediately. Here's a Caution for you: the Internet can sometimes contain incorrect or incomplete information.
In any case I now have a tube of face steroids to apply and so far it seems to be soothing the rash. I am however concerned about the steroid side effects of my face becoming over muscled and aggressive.
.
Bike rides and Salsa
This weekend past saw my once again partaking in an activity in which I had not participated in for many a long time.
Bicycle riding is the activity to which I refer and it came about due to a desire on the part of Salsa Girl to attend the open viewing of a property that she has had her eye on for quite some time.
So dutifully I donned the too-small helmet, mounted my trusty steed (a suitably manly mountain bike), and commenced the ten minute ride to our destination - my first bike ride in nigh-on 15 years.
Much to my surprise remembering how to undertake the endeavour was something one had not forgotten and turned out to be as easy as riding a bike.
On our return journey we paused for a breather and watched the entertainment of the most arrogant auctioneer I have ever seen insulting the crowd for their meagre offers of $800,000 for the featured property. Suffice to say not one bid was made after the first one was greeted with something along the lines of "don't insult me you idiot - now is there any real bidder out there?"
Amusing stuff, although the best line came after the property was passed in and the auctioneer welcomed everyone to feel free to come up and make private offers as they (the auctioning team) were very friendly people.
My Saturday evening consisted of being taken to Salsa by Salsa Girl. One ended up having quite a good evening out despite one's outrage at the lack of corn chips and comestibles as suggested by the misleading event title.
It turns out that my Salsa Girl is quite the dance-floor spinner, and also quite a reasonable teacher being able to instruct yours truly in the fine art of beginner level Salsa - the learning of which proved to be only slightly harder than riding a bike.
Several turns on the dance floor over the course of the evening resulted in not a single episode of resurgent MAMILS or, thankfully, the much feared knee blowout.
Perhaps one should have taken up Salsa rather than soccer those scant few years ago when choosing one's social fitness activity?
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Bicycle riding is the activity to which I refer and it came about due to a desire on the part of Salsa Girl to attend the open viewing of a property that she has had her eye on for quite some time.
So dutifully I donned the too-small helmet, mounted my trusty steed (a suitably manly mountain bike), and commenced the ten minute ride to our destination - my first bike ride in nigh-on 15 years.
Much to my surprise remembering how to undertake the endeavour was something one had not forgotten and turned out to be as easy as riding a bike.
On our return journey we paused for a breather and watched the entertainment of the most arrogant auctioneer I have ever seen insulting the crowd for their meagre offers of $800,000 for the featured property. Suffice to say not one bid was made after the first one was greeted with something along the lines of "don't insult me you idiot - now is there any real bidder out there?"
Amusing stuff, although the best line came after the property was passed in and the auctioneer welcomed everyone to feel free to come up and make private offers as they (the auctioning team) were very friendly people.
My Saturday evening consisted of being taken to Salsa by Salsa Girl. One ended up having quite a good evening out despite one's outrage at the lack of corn chips and comestibles as suggested by the misleading event title.
It turns out that my Salsa Girl is quite the dance-floor spinner, and also quite a reasonable teacher being able to instruct yours truly in the fine art of beginner level Salsa - the learning of which proved to be only slightly harder than riding a bike.
Several turns on the dance floor over the course of the evening resulted in not a single episode of resurgent MAMILS or, thankfully, the much feared knee blowout.
Perhaps one should have taken up Salsa rather than soccer those scant few years ago when choosing one's social fitness activity?
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An increase in Uncle-ture
One was lucky enough yesterday to hear that my Rugrat Twin had finally popped and brought her daughter into this wonderful world.
It would seem my Uncle Phill status is nigh unstoppable.
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It would seem my Uncle Phill status is nigh unstoppable.
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The Week of Anniversaries
This last week saw me celebrating not one, but two important milestones.
First up was the amazingly sudden arrival of my wooden anniversary at the library. As has become somewhat of a tradition I decided to mark the passing of these long five years of cake consumption and hard work by making another of my famous box cakes. I had been tempted to make the cake from wood as befits the anniversary but thought the better of it in the end as consuming the leftover mixture is not nearly as much fun when one is working with timber.
It all went well other than that I am yet to receive my "Long and Tireless Service" award. A puzzling development indeed and one that I shall have to take up with Supervisor Grand Chief K.
The other milestone of importance was crossing the three month barrier with Salsa Girl. This we celebrated by recreating some of our greatest moments together: the incessant rain of the weekend at Lorne, the lazy afternoons reading on the couch, re-watching some of the magnificent Collingwood finals performances, taking short rests that somehow become hours-long naps, and sundry other snippets of our time together.
In the evening we took up an offer from ElfBoy to play cards with him and his wife at their new abode at the ends of the earth. It felt like the correct way to pass the anniversary as the journey there nicely recreated the scary trip through blinding rain that had been our jaunt down to Lorne, and the piles of snacks provided at the ElfBoy household recreated the gastronomic excesses Salsa Girl and I have often found ourselves partaking in.
It all went well other than that I am yet to receive my "Short and Lazy Service" award. A puzzling development indeed and one that I shall have to take up with Salsa Girl.
.
First up was the amazingly sudden arrival of my wooden anniversary at the library. As has become somewhat of a tradition I decided to mark the passing of these long five years of cake consumption and hard work by making another of my famous box cakes. I had been tempted to make the cake from wood as befits the anniversary but thought the better of it in the end as consuming the leftover mixture is not nearly as much fun when one is working with timber.
It all went well other than that I am yet to receive my "Long and Tireless Service" award. A puzzling development indeed and one that I shall have to take up with Supervisor Grand Chief K.
The other milestone of importance was crossing the three month barrier with Salsa Girl. This we celebrated by recreating some of our greatest moments together: the incessant rain of the weekend at Lorne, the lazy afternoons reading on the couch, re-watching some of the magnificent Collingwood finals performances, taking short rests that somehow become hours-long naps, and sundry other snippets of our time together.
In the evening we took up an offer from ElfBoy to play cards with him and his wife at their new abode at the ends of the earth. It felt like the correct way to pass the anniversary as the journey there nicely recreated the scary trip through blinding rain that had been our jaunt down to Lorne, and the piles of snacks provided at the ElfBoy household recreated the gastronomic excesses Salsa Girl and I have often found ourselves partaking in.
It all went well other than that I am yet to receive my "Short and Lazy Service" award. A puzzling development indeed and one that I shall have to take up with Salsa Girl.
.
Educating Salsa Girl
So last night was the occasion of an event of much import. After a weekend that included the annual cake-fest for Couch Killer - wonderfully put together by Vengeful Vic and at which Salsa Girl was able to meet the heretofore elusive Fantomas - I was finally able to make good on my promise to Doom and educate Salsa Girl in the ways of Blade Runner.
When her sad lack of any viewings of said film came to light there had been much shocked gasping from the gaming crowd and many mutterings about what one was to do. My first impulse had been to end things there and then. However Doom, ever the pillar of reliability and maturity, advised that one was overreacting slightly and that, in fact, the unfortunate situation could be rectified by merely showing her the movie.
After last night I am glad to have followed Doom's sound advice as it turned out that she rather enjoyed the film and all is well between us again.
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When her sad lack of any viewings of said film came to light there had been much shocked gasping from the gaming crowd and many mutterings about what one was to do. My first impulse had been to end things there and then. However Doom, ever the pillar of reliability and maturity, advised that one was overreacting slightly and that, in fact, the unfortunate situation could be rectified by merely showing her the movie.
After last night I am glad to have followed Doom's sound advice as it turned out that she rather enjoyed the film and all is well between us again.
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Salsa Girl in the Ghost World
So last Tuesday at gaming night we had a surprise visitor. Those of you with keen deductive skills approaching mine will probably have guessed that I am referring to Salsa Girl. rather than, say, BestFriendSincePrep.
After some dithering about we decided to change back from the Fantomas-cancellation-caused card games and continue on with the originally scheduled role-playing.
So we started a new game - another of John Harper's great improv games ala Lady Blackbird - called GHOST\ECHO.
Salsa Girl jumped right into her first role-playing game experience and was soon describing her actions and throwing narrative into the story along with all the other attendees - Legion2, ElfBoy, Gavman and Badger.
All in all we had lots of fun and all ended well...
ahem,
...except for the over-long post role-playing card game that had me dropping a very tired and mildly grumpy Salsa Girl home post midnight.
Still she holds no grudge, and understands the situation, so I count myself very lucky and have promised her it will never happen again, at least almost never...
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After some dithering about we decided to change back from the Fantomas-cancellation-caused card games and continue on with the originally scheduled role-playing.
So we started a new game - another of John Harper's great improv games ala Lady Blackbird - called GHOST\ECHO.
Salsa Girl jumped right into her first role-playing game experience and was soon describing her actions and throwing narrative into the story along with all the other attendees - Legion2, ElfBoy, Gavman and Badger.
All in all we had lots of fun and all ended well...
ahem,
...except for the over-long post role-playing card game that had me dropping a very tired and mildly grumpy Salsa Girl home post midnight.
Still she holds no grudge, and understands the situation, so I count myself very lucky and have promised her it will never happen again, at least almost never...
.
The Golf Trip
This weekend past I had my arm twisted by BestFriendSincePrep to go on a two-day golf trip with the likes of himself, StumpyRudolph, MrRogers, The Electric Tiger, and sundry other hard-drinking golf players.
It may have been somewhat of a miscalculation.
Friday afternoon is when our tale begins as I collected BestFriendSincePrep and managed to avoid having to drink anything on the trip up when he grudgingly accepted my excuse of having to do the driving.
However this changed for the worse upon arrival where the number of downed beers quickly reached double figures by early evening. The late arrival of dinner did not help the situation and one was feeling quite seedy as the evening wore on. Luckily several games of pool interrupted the drinking and my constitution was able to restore my internal balance somewhat before the final session of the evening began. This final session was, of course, one of "drink whatever the bar is selling cheap". Hence some sort of sweet vodka drink was imbibed before turning in for the evening.
I knew I was not feeling the best the next morning when I was unable to eat more than a mouthful of toast and a sliver of bacon. Four holes of golf soon sorted that out and I was back to my usual level of hunger by the time we finished our round and commenced our club house lunch. My game was at my usual standard and the leader-board remained unchallenged.
The Saturday evening was a much quieter affair and one was even able to make it to bed both without an alcoholic drink and before midnight - thanks largely to BestFriendSincePrep tiring rather quickly towards the later stages of the evening.
The Sunday golf was a slight bit worse thanks to the many water features beside the course and then we were heading home a little redder about the sun-exposed portions of our bodies and gladly looking forward to a good sleep in our own beds.
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It may have been somewhat of a miscalculation.
Friday afternoon is when our tale begins as I collected BestFriendSincePrep and managed to avoid having to drink anything on the trip up when he grudgingly accepted my excuse of having to do the driving.
However this changed for the worse upon arrival where the number of downed beers quickly reached double figures by early evening. The late arrival of dinner did not help the situation and one was feeling quite seedy as the evening wore on. Luckily several games of pool interrupted the drinking and my constitution was able to restore my internal balance somewhat before the final session of the evening began. This final session was, of course, one of "drink whatever the bar is selling cheap". Hence some sort of sweet vodka drink was imbibed before turning in for the evening.
I knew I was not feeling the best the next morning when I was unable to eat more than a mouthful of toast and a sliver of bacon. Four holes of golf soon sorted that out and I was back to my usual level of hunger by the time we finished our round and commenced our club house lunch. My game was at my usual standard and the leader-board remained unchallenged.
The Saturday evening was a much quieter affair and one was even able to make it to bed both without an alcoholic drink and before midnight - thanks largely to BestFriendSincePrep tiring rather quickly towards the later stages of the evening.
The Sunday golf was a slight bit worse thanks to the many water features beside the course and then we were heading home a little redder about the sun-exposed portions of our bodies and gladly looking forward to a good sleep in our own beds.
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Many Days in October
One is slack, blah blah blah, interstate conference, blah blah blah, too much work, blah blah blah, spending lots of time with Salsa Girl, blah blah blah.
Now I've gotten that is out of the way I can move on to the serious business of regaling you with tales of hilarity, caution, and just a smidgeon of what Phill has been up to these past days.
My mid October was filled with a holiday/conference in rainy Brisbane during which one found out that there are events that occur between the Teas (morning and afternoon) and the lunch, when one had to present several sessions. All went well except for the miserly afternoon teas. The post conference dinner shenanigans included the fun of having pints of beer spilled on me not once but twice, so I decided to scarper off to bed before it could happen a third time.
One has also spent these past few weeks training The Tiger to not be in the bedroom crushing one during one's sleep. After an initial all night whinge she seems to have accepted her fate and there is barely a complaint as I disappear for my refreshing nights sleep of an evening.
My days have also been filled with exploding* wi-fi equipment hijinks including replacement equipment that failed and replacement replacement equipment that one had to rewire oneself. I did find out that a kitchen sink is apparently a great static free place to work on the innards of a computer - although I am a tad concerened that staff continued to blithly wash coffee cups whilest I had an open computer there!
* not really exploding
There was also the event of the decade(s) with the "combined to 70th" birthdays of Gavman and The J Monster. It was magnificently catered and in the words of the spawn of ArchEnemy "the best party ever!"
Coming a close second for event of the month was the annual Absent Friends Jyhad game. This year we had Doom, Legion2, Camo Spice, Amoeba, MatrixMan, Vengeful Vic, Couch Killer, Pirate Dave, Salsa Girl, and Badger in attendance. There was also rather a lot of fine whisky and port to be had and I'm sure that if I could remember what happened I would think it was a fantastic evening.
Most recently one has returned from a so called dirty weekend in rainy Lorne with Salsa Girl. As she failed to kill me after four continuous days in close proximity I am counting it as a success.
The dirtiness of the weekend is in doubt as one's automobile has been scoured to a shiny state of cleanliness by what must have been about 3 feet of rain over the four days. There were also several beautiful nature walks taken in as well as many gastronomic delights.
One is now relaxing in the days off that should always follow a holiday in order to allow one to recover from said holiday.
More soon - I promise, and I mean it this time.
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Now I've gotten that is out of the way I can move on to the serious business of regaling you with tales of hilarity, caution, and just a smidgeon of what Phill has been up to these past days.
My mid October was filled with a holiday/conference in rainy Brisbane during which one found out that there are events that occur between the Teas (morning and afternoon) and the lunch, when one had to present several sessions. All went well except for the miserly afternoon teas. The post conference dinner shenanigans included the fun of having pints of beer spilled on me not once but twice, so I decided to scarper off to bed before it could happen a third time.
One has also spent these past few weeks training The Tiger to not be in the bedroom crushing one during one's sleep. After an initial all night whinge she seems to have accepted her fate and there is barely a complaint as I disappear for my refreshing nights sleep of an evening.
My days have also been filled with exploding* wi-fi equipment hijinks including replacement equipment that failed and replacement replacement equipment that one had to rewire oneself. I did find out that a kitchen sink is apparently a great static free place to work on the innards of a computer - although I am a tad concerened that staff continued to blithly wash coffee cups whilest I had an open computer there!
* not really exploding
There was also the event of the decade(s) with the "combined to 70th" birthdays of Gavman and The J Monster. It was magnificently catered and in the words of the spawn of ArchEnemy "the best party ever!"
Coming a close second for event of the month was the annual Absent Friends Jyhad game. This year we had Doom, Legion2, Camo Spice, Amoeba, MatrixMan, Vengeful Vic, Couch Killer, Pirate Dave, Salsa Girl, and Badger in attendance. There was also rather a lot of fine whisky and port to be had and I'm sure that if I could remember what happened I would think it was a fantastic evening.
Most recently one has returned from a so called dirty weekend in rainy Lorne with Salsa Girl. As she failed to kill me after four continuous days in close proximity I am counting it as a success.
The dirtiness of the weekend is in doubt as one's automobile has been scoured to a shiny state of cleanliness by what must have been about 3 feet of rain over the four days. There were also several beautiful nature walks taken in as well as many gastronomic delights.
One is now relaxing in the days off that should always follow a holiday in order to allow one to recover from said holiday.
More soon - I promise, and I mean it this time.
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One Day in October
Well it seems to have been a while again since I've posted.
However I think that you, my loyal audience, will forgive me on account of the Collingwood premiership and frequent spending of time with the lovely Salsa Girl. Well maybe not for the Collingwood premiership.
In any case it has almost been a case of doing it all again because of the footy draw. I have been to two Grand Finals (or Final Finals in the cute parlance of Salsa Girl); had many an afternoon picnicking and other assorted romantic activities; also managed to squeeze in some gaming in the form of another Geektogether drinks and notching up my first win in our regular card tournaments for a good five years.
All in all a busy time and I'm afraid this pace of updating may be all that can be expected of The Tales in the foreseeable future.
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However I think that you, my loyal audience, will forgive me on account of the Collingwood premiership and frequent spending of time with the lovely Salsa Girl. Well maybe not for the Collingwood premiership.
In any case it has almost been a case of doing it all again because of the footy draw. I have been to two Grand Finals (or Final Finals in the cute parlance of Salsa Girl); had many an afternoon picnicking and other assorted romantic activities; also managed to squeeze in some gaming in the form of another Geektogether drinks and notching up my first win in our regular card tournaments for a good five years.
All in all a busy time and I'm afraid this pace of updating may be all that can be expected of The Tales in the foreseeable future.
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One Day in September
This Saturday last was that one special day we await all year dreaming of how wonderful, magical and uplifting it shall be - Salsa Girl's birthday.
So I spent the day going to my first footy grand final to see the mighty Pies in action. Legion2 was able to snaffle us tickets in the members so we attended in fancy collared shirts and sat through a tense game and will now be able to tell the tale of our having been at the famous drawn Grand Final.
All in all it was a little deflating not getting a result but I think we got off lightly in the end and the experience was quite good - they have cushioned seats in the members.
However I do think that all the trouble of the draw could have been easily avoided if only they had seen fit to call me out of the crowd to take one of the shots on goal and win the premiership for the black and white.
To ease the minds of those with a romantic bent I did take all of Friday off to spend with the lovely Salsa Girl and participated in all sorts of romantic activities like: visiting the Grand Final parade; strolling through the park hand in hand amidst thousands of others leaving the Grand Final Parade; lunching on Lygon street and admiring the team colours festooned about; and, the largest sacrifice, going to the museum and exploring the Titanic exhibition which had nothing even remotely footbally about it.
As the footy was a draw I suppose I shall have to do it all again this week.
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So I spent the day going to my first footy grand final to see the mighty Pies in action. Legion2 was able to snaffle us tickets in the members so we attended in fancy collared shirts and sat through a tense game and will now be able to tell the tale of our having been at the famous drawn Grand Final.
All in all it was a little deflating not getting a result but I think we got off lightly in the end and the experience was quite good - they have cushioned seats in the members.
However I do think that all the trouble of the draw could have been easily avoided if only they had seen fit to call me out of the crowd to take one of the shots on goal and win the premiership for the black and white.
To ease the minds of those with a romantic bent I did take all of Friday off to spend with the lovely Salsa Girl and participated in all sorts of romantic activities like: visiting the Grand Final parade; strolling through the park hand in hand amidst thousands of others leaving the Grand Final Parade; lunching on Lygon street and admiring the team colours festooned about; and, the largest sacrifice, going to the museum and exploring the Titanic exhibition which had nothing even remotely footbally about it.
As the footy was a draw I suppose I shall have to do it all again this week.
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Happiness is an Empty Blog
Well what do you know. Who would have thought that being in a state of happiness would have precluded one from scribing posts for The Tales?
Many things have been taking me away from the blogosphere and towards sublimity. Among them are: many an outing with Salsa Girl whom you may have realised is the successful candidate; the magnificence of the Magpies as we cruise into September footy action - enjoyed along with the Legion2, BrotherStealer, Mirri Cat Warrior and the aforementioned Salsa Girl; and the most recent piece of happiness to come my way is my attainment of Uncle status once more with Legion3 and Madmog providing me with my second niece.
So all in all I'm sure they are all fantastic reasons for one to be away from ones usual writing station and I accept your forgiveness for my little lapse into lassitude.
I'm sure that I shall be returning to a more regular schedule in the near future so keep your eye on The Tales.
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Many things have been taking me away from the blogosphere and towards sublimity. Among them are: many an outing with Salsa Girl whom you may have realised is the successful candidate; the magnificence of the Magpies as we cruise into September footy action - enjoyed along with the Legion2, BrotherStealer, Mirri Cat Warrior and the aforementioned Salsa Girl; and the most recent piece of happiness to come my way is my attainment of Uncle status once more with Legion3 and Madmog providing me with my second niece.
So all in all I'm sure they are all fantastic reasons for one to be away from ones usual writing station and I accept your forgiveness for my little lapse into lassitude.
I'm sure that I shall be returning to a more regular schedule in the near future so keep your eye on The Tales.
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Ilario by Mary Gentle
With not much of great import having happened over the past few days I think it would be the occasion to put forth my review of this one that I finished nigh on a week back. I mean none of you loyal readers of mine would be interested in hearing of the delightful dinner and evening one spent in the company of Salsa Girl last night would you? No I thought such things would spark little interest.
So on with Ilario.
This book is a sort of prequel to the weighty tome Ash (that I read last year) in that it is at least set in the same world only some time earlier and actually has very little to connect it to the goings on in Ash - at least that I easily picked up on. Nevertheless I enjoyed it for it's exploration of the grander political machinations of the Mediterranean states and the many dips into interesting history that Mary does so love to turn into significant events within her writings.
Three and a half stars for this one.
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So on with Ilario.
This book is a sort of prequel to the weighty tome Ash (that I read last year) in that it is at least set in the same world only some time earlier and actually has very little to connect it to the goings on in Ash - at least that I easily picked up on. Nevertheless I enjoyed it for it's exploration of the grander political machinations of the Mediterranean states and the many dips into interesting history that Mary does so love to turn into significant events within her writings.
Three and a half stars for this one.
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Talks with China
This Saturday last saw my first ever attendance at a Melbourne Writer's Festival event. The event of choice being an author talk by China Miéville and Alistair Reynolds on the subject of Frontiers of the Imagination.
One was joined in this endeavour by Legion2, MatrixMan, Vengeful Vic, and Salsa Girl. Between our little group we had read a large amount of the respective authors oeuvre (although some of us had read none at all, being there purely for the atmosphere of the event).
We gathered in the foyer and subsequently joined the end of a snake-like queue that wend it's way around the mezzanine before curling down the main staircase.
Whilst we waited for movement from our line who should brush past me but none other than Sister Serials forging her way to some other, obviously lesser, event of the MWF. Naturally I called out to her in friendly comradeship only to find myself snubbed as she stormed up the stairs on her mission with nary a backward glance in my direction. We'll see who gets IT support this week.
The talk itself was quite interesting with both authors touching on their methods, influences, and aims of their work. Questions were solicited from the audience and, perhaps surprisingly, I found there to be no need to cringe at those posed by the many fans who raised hands skywards.
After the event we stopped for a refreshing drink and bite to eat at a nearby venue before it was time for people to be homeward bound.
Salsa Girl and I were left to ourselves and proceeded to while away the afternoon talking and walking before ending the evening in the most perfect way imaginable - watching the mighty pies dominate in the footy.
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One was joined in this endeavour by Legion2, MatrixMan, Vengeful Vic, and Salsa Girl. Between our little group we had read a large amount of the respective authors oeuvre (although some of us had read none at all, being there purely for the atmosphere of the event).
We gathered in the foyer and subsequently joined the end of a snake-like queue that wend it's way around the mezzanine before curling down the main staircase.
Whilst we waited for movement from our line who should brush past me but none other than Sister Serials forging her way to some other, obviously lesser, event of the MWF. Naturally I called out to her in friendly comradeship only to find myself snubbed as she stormed up the stairs on her mission with nary a backward glance in my direction. We'll see who gets IT support this week.
The talk itself was quite interesting with both authors touching on their methods, influences, and aims of their work. Questions were solicited from the audience and, perhaps surprisingly, I found there to be no need to cringe at those posed by the many fans who raised hands skywards.
After the event we stopped for a refreshing drink and bite to eat at a nearby venue before it was time for people to be homeward bound.
Salsa Girl and I were left to ourselves and proceeded to while away the afternoon talking and walking before ending the evening in the most perfect way imaginable - watching the mighty pies dominate in the footy.
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Manoeuvres with the 4th Legion
This fortnight past has seen many an exciting event, including: my discovery of a Blogger keyboard shortcut that efficiently deletes text that one has been slaving over for nigh on half an hour and autosaves the now-blank post, all in the blink of an eye; brave attendance at a gaming Sunday by a Candidate; unbelievable attendance at a gaming Sunday by Doom and The Doctor; and arrival of exciting new technologies.
Amongst such occurrences I found myself called upon to assist Handy Dad and Freeloading Mum in bringing about the relocation of Legion4. He was forsaking the company of Jamo in order to return to the ancestral abode and, requiring both spacious vehicles and astute packing skills, naturally called on my gracious and humble help.
I had no great troubles getting everything packed into our domestic model moving vans - although I did think we were possibly creating a Dirk-Gently's-couch type situation as we folded a double mattress into the back of my automobile but it was easily extracted once we arrived at our destination.
With everything unpacked and Legion4 beginning the task of setting up his room I was quickly drafted in to giving Freeloading Mum's computer a quick going over and thereby forced to earn the dinner that was rightfully mine merely for showing up. Sigh. Sometimes it's awfully hard work being the dutiful son and having to participate in such strange rituals as "sharing" and "earning one's evening meal".
Thankfully there's always free cake in the library staffroom.
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Amongst such occurrences I found myself called upon to assist Handy Dad and Freeloading Mum in bringing about the relocation of Legion4. He was forsaking the company of Jamo in order to return to the ancestral abode and, requiring both spacious vehicles and astute packing skills, naturally called on my gracious and humble help.
I had no great troubles getting everything packed into our domestic model moving vans - although I did think we were possibly creating a Dirk-Gently's-couch type situation as we folded a double mattress into the back of my automobile but it was easily extracted once we arrived at our destination.
With everything unpacked and Legion4 beginning the task of setting up his room I was quickly drafted in to giving Freeloading Mum's computer a quick going over and thereby forced to earn the dinner that was rightfully mine merely for showing up. Sigh. Sometimes it's awfully hard work being the dutiful son and having to participate in such strange rituals as "sharing" and "earning one's evening meal".
Thankfully there's always free cake in the library staffroom.
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Geeking the Winery
With no events of any Candidaturic nature scheduled for this Sunday past I decided to take up the offer extended by ElfBoy to make a day trip out to his own personal winery for an afternoon get together and possibly a game or two of that card game we all favour.
With Pirate Dave and ArchEnemy finding other, presumably funner, things to do it ended up being an exclusive event with oneself as the only guest.
Many games of cards were played over the course of that long, languid, afternoon - as was ElfBoy's plan all along.
In the end I was forced into the consumption of much wine and, regrettably, found myself unable to worm my way out of staying for the evening feasting. Such are the things I must endure.
Eventually I was able to waddle back to my vehicle and begin the long journey home. Luckily I had sustenance with me in the form of a plate overflowing with remnants of the meal - it lasted almost all the way home.
All in all quite the way to spend one's Sunday.
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With Pirate Dave and ArchEnemy finding other, presumably funner, things to do it ended up being an exclusive event with oneself as the only guest.
Many games of cards were played over the course of that long, languid, afternoon - as was ElfBoy's plan all along.
In the end I was forced into the consumption of much wine and, regrettably, found myself unable to worm my way out of staying for the evening feasting. Such are the things I must endure.
Eventually I was able to waddle back to my vehicle and begin the long journey home. Luckily I had sustenance with me in the form of a plate overflowing with remnants of the meal - it lasted almost all the way home.
All in all quite the way to spend one's Sunday.
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Mourning the loss of Man-Shopping
So a few weekends back I went out with the specific aim of purchasing myself a new pair of shoes, the better to impress the Candidates with.
I returned from my shopping mission with a spiffy new jacket - and no shoes.
The very next day I set out to rectify my retail failure but, alas, found myself returning home with naught but a brand new jumper.
I spent the next few weeks consoling myself that it wasn't my fault, the style I prefer was unavailable at the particular locations to which I made my grand purchasing expeditions, and in any case I needed a new jacket and jumper so it was all right. In fact I came to believe I had saved myself the need to make future jacket and jumper focused consumerist campaigns.
And so we come to this weekend last. I set my sights on obtaining that elusive pair of shoes and decided that the best hunting lay at the familiar locale that I had captured previous pairs so easily. Loading myself up with my excursion bag I headed into the city CDB.
I returned several hours later a shaken and broken figure of a man. Barely gripped in my hands were the handles for not one, nor two, but three bags each containing a set of footwear from which I had been unable to chose the single pair of shoes I had endeavoured to collect and had found myself deciding that I should get all three instead.
One can only surmise that my immersion in LibraryLand is beginning to have more effect than the cervical problems I suffered last year. Hopefully the annual blokey camping weekend shall happen soon and I shall be able to reclaim my usual rugged and manly poise.
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I returned from my shopping mission with a spiffy new jacket - and no shoes.
The very next day I set out to rectify my retail failure but, alas, found myself returning home with naught but a brand new jumper.
I spent the next few weeks consoling myself that it wasn't my fault, the style I prefer was unavailable at the particular locations to which I made my grand purchasing expeditions, and in any case I needed a new jacket and jumper so it was all right. In fact I came to believe I had saved myself the need to make future jacket and jumper focused consumerist campaigns.
And so we come to this weekend last. I set my sights on obtaining that elusive pair of shoes and decided that the best hunting lay at the familiar locale that I had captured previous pairs so easily. Loading myself up with my excursion bag I headed into the city CDB.
I returned several hours later a shaken and broken figure of a man. Barely gripped in my hands were the handles for not one, nor two, but three bags each containing a set of footwear from which I had been unable to chose the single pair of shoes I had endeavoured to collect and had found myself deciding that I should get all three instead.
One can only surmise that my immersion in LibraryLand is beginning to have more effect than the cervical problems I suffered last year. Hopefully the annual blokey camping weekend shall happen soon and I shall be able to reclaim my usual rugged and manly poise.
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Cobralingus by Jeff Noon
I read Cobralingus as an in-between book whilst I tackle the weighty tome that is my current fiction read.
I would describe this one as a poetry-ish approach to flash fiction writing. The esteemed Mr Noon (read Vurt right now if you haven't) has created a mildly interesting way of sparking his imagination and playing with words to create and iterate until he arrives at a work that he saves as the final product.
My favourites were the ones that resulted in text pieces but overall it didn't out-stay it's welcome so I recommend it - if only to give yourself an insight into the writers method.
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I would describe this one as a poetry-ish approach to flash fiction writing. The esteemed Mr Noon (read Vurt right now if you haven't) has created a mildly interesting way of sparking his imagination and playing with words to create and iterate until he arrives at a work that he saves as the final product.
My favourites were the ones that resulted in text pieces but overall it didn't out-stay it's welcome so I recommend it - if only to give yourself an insight into the writers method.
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The new time measurement
Now a few days back it came to my attention that there is a new measurement of time in LibraryLand.
It was apparently coined by Supervisor S when she was being questioned as to why certain online resources had not appeared on the web site after nearly a week when it was only going to take a few days.
Her reply was:
However I do have to - reluctantly - agree that my estimations of time required for jobs may be a tad off. (Passenger: "Stewardess, what exactly is a 'tad'?" Elaine: "In space terms, that's half a million miles.")
My gaming group knows this as "another week to create extra rule X" often becomes, well, shall we say, a longer span, call it Phill Months.
There may of course be grounds to say that it is an exponential scale as instead of merely doubling it appears that Phill Months actually last for years as evidenced by a certain computer booking system installation.
I write about this today as nothing much of Blog-worthiness has occurred in the past week other than yesterday's trip to the footy with Legion2 and The Great Sandro where the Pies dominated so much that The Great One donned his iPod at half time and zoned out to his musical fancies.
Do not fret though, I'm sure that something good will happen soon and I guarantee that I shall post another update in a few days.
It was apparently coined by Supervisor S when she was being questioned as to why certain online resources had not appeared on the web site after nearly a week when it was only going to take a few days.
Her reply was:
Yes, but those are Phill Days.I am astounded, and, if it weren't for the tiny kernel of truth to the statement, I would be feeling quite slandered.
However I do have to - reluctantly - agree that my estimations of time required for jobs may be a tad off. (Passenger: "Stewardess, what exactly is a 'tad'?" Elaine: "In space terms, that's half a million miles.")
My gaming group knows this as "another week to create extra rule X" often becomes, well, shall we say, a longer span, call it Phill Months.
There may of course be grounds to say that it is an exponential scale as instead of merely doubling it appears that Phill Months actually last for years as evidenced by a certain computer booking system installation.
I write about this today as nothing much of Blog-worthiness has occurred in the past week other than yesterday's trip to the footy with Legion2 and The Great Sandro where the Pies dominated so much that The Great One donned his iPod at half time and zoned out to his musical fancies.
Do not fret though, I'm sure that something good will happen soon and I guarantee that I shall post another update in a few days.
A Not MIFF Review - Inception
IMDB, Wikipedia
Score: 4/5
Language: English
Genre: Sci Fi/Thriller
Summary: (from IMDB)
Your mind is the scene of the crime.
In a world where technology exists to enter the human mind through dream invasion, a highly skilled thief is given a final chance at redemption which involves executing his toughest job till date, Inception.
More information: http://inceptionmovie.warnerbros.com
Note: One would like to point out that the situation of any Candidates that may have failed to pay their own way has been well and truly rectified over the past weeks and can you all please stop bothering me about unfair representation in The Tales.
Score: 4/5
Language: English
Genre: Sci Fi/Thriller
Summary: (from IMDB)
Your mind is the scene of the crime.
In a world where technology exists to enter the human mind through dream invasion, a highly skilled thief is given a final chance at redemption which involves executing his toughest job till date, Inception.
More information: http://inceptionmovie.warnerbros.com
Directed by Christopher Nolan. With Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page. Dist Warner Bros. Pictures. DTS.
Comments:- Special Effects (CGI) top notch
- how do you consider the boundry/crossing the line on what is acceptable risking others to quiet your own guilt
- What is real?
- Dynamics of couples and the affects on a couple of living their long life together
Note: One would like to point out that the situation of any Candidates that may have failed to pay their own way has been well and truly rectified over the past weeks and can you all please stop bothering me about unfair representation in The Tales.
Bill the Galactic Hero by Harry Harrison
I finished this slim volume today after stretching it's meagre 159 pages out over a good eighteen days filled with much hectic activity. That makes it a whopping 8 pages a day!
Anyway the volume in question came into my possession when it was deemed a donation not worth adding to the library - probably by the high-standards likes of Miss Amanda.
Having never read any of his works, unless one comic adaptation counts, I decided to snap it up and read it at an opportune moment. Said moment arrived along with the new financial year.
I found it to be an enjoyable enough romp but it didn't hit the really humorous heights I thought it might have after reading the Pratchett quote on the cover.
Next on my reading agenda is a monstrosity about ten times the thickness of Bill. If my maths is correct I expect to be reading it for the next six months.
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Anyway the volume in question came into my possession when it was deemed a donation not worth adding to the library - probably by the high-standards likes of Miss Amanda.
Having never read any of his works, unless one comic adaptation counts, I decided to snap it up and read it at an opportune moment. Said moment arrived along with the new financial year.
I found it to be an enjoyable enough romp but it didn't hit the really humorous heights I thought it might have after reading the Pratchett quote on the cover.
Next on my reading agenda is a monstrosity about ten times the thickness of Bill. If my maths is correct I expect to be reading it for the next six months.
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A Gastronomic Week
It seems that, for a change, this week past has been all about gastronomy.
It began slowly with the regular Sunday gaming day at which we sampled ElfBoy's strange snack foods and played the annual Pirate Dave's birthday game of Talisman. This event attracted The Valkyrie as usual and apparently the aim of the game is now to play until my character dies in the game and then declare everyone else the winner.
The evening portion involved sampling varied pizzeria delights from one of our usual providers.
The next stop of the tour was, once again, gaming where we took advantage of the non-appearance of several of our usual coterie to sample further heretofore unknown pizzeria delights from one of our usual providers.
The main gastro event (I have to come up with a better shortening for gastronomical!) was the biennial Clean Up Your Desk Day. In the previous instalment I had only managed to clean the shelves beside my desk but this time I launched straight into snacking from the abundant table of food that everyone had brought in to help turn the morning into a celebration rather than a chore.
Suitably sated my attention turned to my desk proper and, amidst the sounds of consumption of yummy food, I managed to excavate my way down to the desk surface and I am now the proud owner of "enough space to work in". Next time we have one of these clean up days I shall have to delve into my desk draws and sort through the detritus of four years (six by then) worth of hard work at the library. I shall also endeavour to sample everything that is on the table of bountiful food - a task I fell short on this time.
Having completed enough cleaning I zoomed off to join the birthday lunch celebrations of Groovy Spirits before returning to an afternoons languid work.
That evening I suffered a mysterious stomach bloating as if I were about to burst from the inside. I could not for the life of me think what may have caused it. Even the application of a spaghetti dish supplied by Days of our Libraries in full Strega Nona form, was unable to make it abate.
My next few days were light on for gastronomy - particularly as one has to conceal one's healthy appetite when in the presence of Candidates as they may not yet have come to appreciate it for the great thing it is.
It remains to be seen whether the coming week shall be a further gastronomic one - astute readers of The Tales should have a fair idea of the chances of that though.
.
It began slowly with the regular Sunday gaming day at which we sampled ElfBoy's strange snack foods and played the annual Pirate Dave's birthday game of Talisman. This event attracted The Valkyrie as usual and apparently the aim of the game is now to play until my character dies in the game and then declare everyone else the winner.
The evening portion involved sampling varied pizzeria delights from one of our usual providers.
The next stop of the tour was, once again, gaming where we took advantage of the non-appearance of several of our usual coterie to sample further heretofore unknown pizzeria delights from one of our usual providers.
The main gastro event (I have to come up with a better shortening for gastronomical!) was the biennial Clean Up Your Desk Day. In the previous instalment I had only managed to clean the shelves beside my desk but this time I launched straight into snacking from the abundant table of food that everyone had brought in to help turn the morning into a celebration rather than a chore.
Suitably sated my attention turned to my desk proper and, amidst the sounds of consumption of yummy food, I managed to excavate my way down to the desk surface and I am now the proud owner of "enough space to work in". Next time we have one of these clean up days I shall have to delve into my desk draws and sort through the detritus of four years (six by then) worth of hard work at the library. I shall also endeavour to sample everything that is on the table of bountiful food - a task I fell short on this time.
Having completed enough cleaning I zoomed off to join the birthday lunch celebrations of Groovy Spirits before returning to an afternoons languid work.
That evening I suffered a mysterious stomach bloating as if I were about to burst from the inside. I could not for the life of me think what may have caused it. Even the application of a spaghetti dish supplied by Days of our Libraries in full Strega Nona form, was unable to make it abate.
My next few days were light on for gastronomy - particularly as one has to conceal one's healthy appetite when in the presence of Candidates as they may not yet have come to appreciate it for the great thing it is.
It remains to be seen whether the coming week shall be a further gastronomic one - astute readers of The Tales should have a fair idea of the chances of that though.
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The Spamming Career of Freeloading Mum
Having recently returned from her overseas trip Freeloading Mum was in dire need of IT support.
It seems that her gmail account had been disabled after just one use and she had been unable to send any updates through to yours truly and the Legion.
Upon further investigation - which required partaking of dinner with Freeloading Mum and Handy Dad - it was discovered that apparently sending a long email recounting one's holiday adventures to eight (that's 8!) recipients is deemed by Google to have breached the limit for their Spam detection algorithms. The sending account is then automatically disabled because it is obviously a Spam factory pumping out annoying emails about how interesting it was to spend several days touring around London.
The alternate theory is that Google merely deems anything from the old country as Spam.
In the end it was a reasonably easy thing to have the disabledness removed - after one sorted out the problem of Freeloading Mum's contact address being one of the recently discontinued ones.
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It seems that her gmail account had been disabled after just one use and she had been unable to send any updates through to yours truly and the Legion.
Upon further investigation - which required partaking of dinner with Freeloading Mum and Handy Dad - it was discovered that apparently sending a long email recounting one's holiday adventures to eight (that's 8!) recipients is deemed by Google to have breached the limit for their Spam detection algorithms. The sending account is then automatically disabled because it is obviously a Spam factory pumping out annoying emails about how interesting it was to spend several days touring around London.
The alternate theory is that Google merely deems anything from the old country as Spam.
In the end it was a reasonably easy thing to have the disabledness removed - after one sorted out the problem of Freeloading Mum's contact address being one of the recently discontinued ones.
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The Error of an End
In the last week my old place of work more or less closed shop for good and all related web pages and email stopped working.
Since then the hosting reins have been taken over by one of the hosted customers so some things will continue to work. Here's another caution: when closing an internet hosting business make sure you contact all hostees to see if they would pay several hundred dollars to take the hosting mantle rather than have their web presence disappear overnight. (of course the responsibility mostly rested with my old boss HawksFan but I one should probably have prompted all involved)
In any case I have established my own egocentricised web domain name, moved all my pages there, and all but discontinued my old email addresses. Should you only have old contact information then you need merely follow The Guide to find me.
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Since then the hosting reins have been taken over by one of the hosted customers so some things will continue to work. Here's another caution: when closing an internet hosting business make sure you contact all hostees to see if they would pay several hundred dollars to take the hosting mantle rather than have their web presence disappear overnight. (of course the responsibility mostly rested with my old boss HawksFan but I one should probably have prompted all involved)
In any case I have established my own egocentricised web domain name, moved all my pages there, and all but discontinued my old email addresses. Should you only have old contact information then you need merely follow The Guide to find me.
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StumpyRudolph, the Coffee Date, and Footy
Despite the misleading headline one did not go on a coffee date with StumpyRudolph at the football - perish the thought. This is merely another post collecting several topics together.
Last weekend was the much anticipated fortieth celebrations for StumpyRudolph. I made good my attendance despite the monsoon-like rains however both Gavman and BestFriendSincePrep excused themselves from attendance. As I had been pacing myself for the inevitable drinkathon once BFSP arrived I was a little more sedate than expected and left for home at the reasonable hour of three am.
During the past week one was fortunate enough to be able to arrange and then go on a coffee date with a Candidate. All went well and coffee became dinner over a few glasses of red wine (without the feared staple of online dating, 'reading the weekend Age', rearing it's ugly head).
Conversation flowed back and forth relatively well although I do have a Caution for you: after consultation with the girls at work I have determined that apparently it is bad form for one to allude to one's date as matronly in the midst of jovial repartee. (A secondary Caution is that one may receive a light arm punching from said girls at work for even having to ask that question.)
In any case the evening ended with the Candidate having amusing credit card issues and oneself footing the entire bill. On walking away I realised I had been freeloaded upon and began wondering if we were in fact a match made in heaven.
This remainder of the weekend involved a long overdue catching up with Rugrat Twin - not seen since one's long past ageing event; the latest football outing with The Great Sandro, wherein it was all business as usual; visiting Mirri Cat Warrior to see if she had learned any new tricks; and finishing up with a quiet night at home in front of the telly.
One feels almost fully refreshed and ready to take on another working week but we shall see as the proof is in the pudding, mmm pudding.
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Last weekend was the much anticipated fortieth celebrations for StumpyRudolph. I made good my attendance despite the monsoon-like rains however both Gavman and BestFriendSincePrep excused themselves from attendance. As I had been pacing myself for the inevitable drinkathon once BFSP arrived I was a little more sedate than expected and left for home at the reasonable hour of three am.
During the past week one was fortunate enough to be able to arrange and then go on a coffee date with a Candidate. All went well and coffee became dinner over a few glasses of red wine (without the feared staple of online dating, 'reading the weekend Age', rearing it's ugly head).
Conversation flowed back and forth relatively well although I do have a Caution for you: after consultation with the girls at work I have determined that apparently it is bad form for one to allude to one's date as matronly in the midst of jovial repartee. (A secondary Caution is that one may receive a light arm punching from said girls at work for even having to ask that question.)
In any case the evening ended with the Candidate having amusing credit card issues and oneself footing the entire bill. On walking away I realised I had been freeloaded upon and began wondering if we were in fact a match made in heaven.
This remainder of the weekend involved a long overdue catching up with Rugrat Twin - not seen since one's long past ageing event; the latest football outing with The Great Sandro, wherein it was all business as usual; visiting Mirri Cat Warrior to see if she had learned any new tricks; and finishing up with a quiet night at home in front of the telly.
One feels almost fully refreshed and ready to take on another working week but we shall see as the proof is in the pudding, mmm pudding.
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Becoming Crazy Uncle Phill
One has just heard from Legion2 that as of 9.40 tonight Mirri Cat Warrior has finally made good her arrival into this world.
Both she and BrotherStealer are doing well and the whole procedure was trouble free - well except for Legion2 unnecessarily missing Tuesday nights gaming.
The biggest problem we face now is tracking down Freeloading Mum and Handy Dad in the midst of their European Safari, and informing them of their new Grand status. But that is Legion2's concern which leaves me to ponder on how best to shape this new young mind into complete adoration of her crazy uncle Phill.
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Both she and BrotherStealer are doing well and the whole procedure was trouble free - well except for Legion2 unnecessarily missing Tuesday nights gaming.
The biggest problem we face now is tracking down Freeloading Mum and Handy Dad in the midst of their European Safari, and informing them of their new Grand status. But that is Legion2's concern which leaves me to ponder on how best to shape this new young mind into complete adoration of her crazy uncle Phill.
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Changing Rooms
So we were all prepared yesterday for the last day of gaming at Legion2's as the impending arrival of Mirri Cat Warrior was soon to take him out of circulation for a while and our current gaming venue with him.
However BrotherStealer once again deprived us of Legion2's company as she decided to begin having contractions that morning.
Great pain and effort was then gone to in ensuring all participants were aware of the change of venue to Chateau de Freeloading Phill. (A special thanks to Gavman for remembering Elfboy's penchant for not reading his email and getting the message through to him with this new-fangled SMS thing).
All ended up fine as we adjusted to the new surroundings and got under way at the usual time. One was disappointed that the expected farewell to Legionville cake did not eventuate from any of the guests but perhaps there will be a welcome cake next week?
In the end it turns out BrotherStealer was having hysterical contractions and as yet there has still been no action on the Mirri front although we are being told it's any hour now.
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However BrotherStealer once again deprived us of Legion2's company as she decided to begin having contractions that morning.
Great pain and effort was then gone to in ensuring all participants were aware of the change of venue to Chateau de Freeloading Phill. (A special thanks to Gavman for remembering Elfboy's penchant for not reading his email and getting the message through to him with this new-fangled SMS thing).
All ended up fine as we adjusted to the new surroundings and got under way at the usual time. One was disappointed that the expected farewell to Legionville cake did not eventuate from any of the guests but perhaps there will be a welcome cake next week?
In the end it turns out BrotherStealer was having hysterical contractions and as yet there has still been no action on the Mirri front although we are being told it's any hour now.
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Opening Weekend Box Office Report
So the weekend is over, the final reports are in, and it's time to take stock of the success of one's venture into the exciting (and highly tautological) field of web-based online Internet dating.
At first it looked like we were off to a shaky start when no responses were garnered in the first 15 minutes and one's thoughts turned towards eating ice cream and watching rom-com movies.
However in the wash up the weekend's figures actually look quite good: several dozen drive-by viewings, a handful of enquiries from Candidates, and some conversation started.
All in all a solid opening that gives great hope to this enterprise and alleviates the need for immersing oneself in rom-com movie despair. I think I'll still have the ice cream though.
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At first it looked like we were off to a shaky start when no responses were garnered in the first 15 minutes and one's thoughts turned towards eating ice cream and watching rom-com movies.
However in the wash up the weekend's figures actually look quite good: several dozen drive-by viewings, a handful of enquiries from Candidates, and some conversation started.
All in all a solid opening that gives great hope to this enterprise and alleviates the need for immersing oneself in rom-com movie despair. I think I'll still have the ice cream though.
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Going on the Market
With the lovely Svetlana extending her return to Svetlanaland indefinitely the time has come for yours truly to return to the status of eligible bachelor.
Well actually the time came several months back and a discussion was had with Svets about my ending the patient waiting and returning to dating. However the plethora of projects and other distractions has kept me from making much of a start on it in the intervening months.
So in true Tales style one of my many seduction plans is to go into online dating with a brutally honest profile that reveals both of my faults.
This should ensure that no Candidates are surprised by what they get and should, in fact, result in them self-omitting themselves from contention if for some unfathomable reason they don't find me suitable.
Amongst all of this preparation I have garnered another Caution for you.
Be careful about asking the girls at work for a little help to make sure you are on the right track. There is a high chance that the likes of Days of our Libraries, Kiwichick, AntagonisticAl, and Lord of the Small Fries, will usurp full editorial control and force a whole lot of help upon you. Including incentive-cake to get you to go-live months before your slow and steady pace would have had you do so.
Of course the good side of the help is that they are making sure I don't make bad choices by enforcing their rules such as "no crazies and definitely no gingers".
So having gone live with my profile yesterday it is now time to sit back and wait for the responses to begin. I expect it shall be much like waiting for popcorn - starting with a few odd pops but quickly becoming a deafening chorus.
In the meantime I shall be busy enjoying my incentive-cake.
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Well actually the time came several months back and a discussion was had with Svets about my ending the patient waiting and returning to dating. However the plethora of projects and other distractions has kept me from making much of a start on it in the intervening months.
So in true Tales style one of my many seduction plans is to go into online dating with a brutally honest profile that reveals both of my faults.
This should ensure that no Candidates are surprised by what they get and should, in fact, result in them self-omitting themselves from contention if for some unfathomable reason they don't find me suitable.
Amongst all of this preparation I have garnered another Caution for you.
Be careful about asking the girls at work for a little help to make sure you are on the right track. There is a high chance that the likes of Days of our Libraries, Kiwichick, AntagonisticAl, and Lord of the Small Fries, will usurp full editorial control and force a whole lot of help upon you. Including incentive-cake to get you to go-live months before your slow and steady pace would have had you do so.
Of course the good side of the help is that they are making sure I don't make bad choices by enforcing their rules such as "no crazies and definitely no gingers".
So having gone live with my profile yesterday it is now time to sit back and wait for the responses to begin. I expect it shall be much like waiting for popcorn - starting with a few odd pops but quickly becoming a deafening chorus.
In the meantime I shall be busy enjoying my incentive-cake.
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The Days of Plague
Well the cold from ElfBoy's boy has taken hold and I am currently in the throes of full-blown man-flu. The suffering is like nothing you have ever experienced before.
One of the side-benefits of my debilitating condition is that I have been unable to present myself for work and have hence been holed up in my flat like some crazy hermit spending half my time as a sleeping platform for The Tiger and the other half dosing myself with cathode rays.
I have undoubtedly missed many hijinks at the library and really missed hitting my gaming groups this week.
I should recover enough from my near-death tomorrow to attend the birthday party of non-other than ElfBoy's boy. Perhaps I can give him back his cold as a suitable present?
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One of the side-benefits of my debilitating condition is that I have been unable to present myself for work and have hence been holed up in my flat like some crazy hermit spending half my time as a sleeping platform for The Tiger and the other half dosing myself with cathode rays.
I have undoubtedly missed many hijinks at the library and really missed hitting my gaming groups this week.
I should recover enough from my near-death tomorrow to attend the birthday party of non-other than ElfBoy's boy. Perhaps I can give him back his cold as a suitable present?
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The Innocuous return of Torchwood, and Movie Night
One is at somewhat of a loss.
Friday evenings "celebratory" drinks in honour of the return visit to our shores of Torchwood went off without a single noteworthy hitch or spectacle of which to write about.
Even with Supervisor Grand Chief K at her enabling best there were no sudden spills or embarassing statements and the entire night was only fun and frivilous conversation.
Sigh. How am I supposed to satisfy my content hungry readership if things continue to go well with no unfortunate happenings?
Slightly more eventful was movie night with MatrixMan, Vengeful Vic, and Couch Killer.
We had a trio of movies that fit the "good film that at least one of us hasn't seen" criteria - Big Trouble in Little China, The Losers, Martin - thanks to Fantomas and Legion2 - although I must point out that my identical copy of Big Trouble in Little China would have been superior to Fantomas's.
As has become recent tradition Couch Killer stuck himself to me and I had to control the wriggling, squirming mass for much of the first few hours. When I taunted Vengeful Vic that I was going to steal her child she replied with glee that she had a bag packed for him in the hall and we could leave straight away, so I was forced to recant my taunt.
Since that delightful eve I have had:
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Friday evenings "celebratory" drinks in honour of the return visit to our shores of Torchwood went off without a single noteworthy hitch or spectacle of which to write about.
Even with Supervisor Grand Chief K at her enabling best there were no sudden spills or embarassing statements and the entire night was only fun and frivilous conversation.
Sigh. How am I supposed to satisfy my content hungry readership if things continue to go well with no unfortunate happenings?
Slightly more eventful was movie night with MatrixMan, Vengeful Vic, and Couch Killer.
We had a trio of movies that fit the "good film that at least one of us hasn't seen" criteria - Big Trouble in Little China, The Losers, Martin - thanks to Fantomas and Legion2 - although I must point out that my identical copy of Big Trouble in Little China would have been superior to Fantomas's.
As has become recent tradition Couch Killer stuck himself to me and I had to control the wriggling, squirming mass for much of the first few hours. When I taunted Vengeful Vic that I was going to steal her child she replied with glee that she had a bag packed for him in the hall and we could leave straight away, so I was forced to recant my taunt.
Since that delightful eve I have had:
- an afternoon of gaming with some D-Day reenactment games of Memoir 44. Attending at the tail end was Amoeba, getting back into my good books with a very late but quite appropriate birthday present of dice and chocolate Fudge.
- yet another skipped gaming night - this one due to Torchwood, and The Administrator and Lord of the Small Fries organising a last minute dinner
- several cases of mysterious chocolate overdose
- my succumbing (? succumbation) to ElfBoy's boys cold that he has been dosing me with for the past month
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Yet another what's been going on post
So, sigh, it has gotten away from me again. It being: keeping a regular schedule of post with significant content - sure I could post a whole lot of twitteresque posts ala my 25 blogs of Xmas.
However, since I can link to it, you can see I've already done it before.
As to the happenings that have kept one away from The Tales, well I can count amongst them...
A relaxing old-school gaming Sunday which led into the week of the print system upgrade.
Not only did this so quoted "half-day job" turn out to be a full five day extravaganza, but I was also forced to skip gaming and assist AntagonisticAl at one of her festival events when there was trouble getting a laptop to present correctly. The difficulty of my investigation was enhanced considerably by the official photographer's extensive knowledge of everything. So amidst this flurry of superior advice I had to listen to many a repetition of basic IT procedure (i.e. turn it off and on) long after I was already onto the more advanced stuff like searching the help file. Suffice to say the hour was late and the thank-you-for-fixing-it champagne, pizza and cake so plentiful that I was forced to stay on for the duration of the event.
To make matters worse, just when the upgrade was coming to a near close - I say near as there are still some persistent niggly issues to be addressed - the Internet decided to disappear for most of Friday leaving me pretending to have work to do.
Having made it to this weekend last it was a pleasure to load Legion2 into the car and head out bush to attend a visit back to town by The Fungi Lady. Doom, The Doctor, MatrixMan, Vengeful Vic, and Couch Killer were also present.
Sunday, however, was back into the trend of horribly drawn out happenings as I attended the Carlton Weagles game with The Great Sandro after ElfBoy conveniently caught himself a Man-Cold and was unable to join us.
In true primary-school tradition though, he made a magnificent recovery in time for some post-footy card playing with Pirate Dave enticed into attendance. Said card games all being long drawn out affairs.
In a way it was a relief to return to work this week even though I was faced with the looming spectre of lingering printer problems and a return visit to our shores of the infamous Torchwood (there will undoubtedly be more on this iniquitous occurrence after a drinking session scheduled for tomorrow night).
Gaming was once again sacrificed for other pursuits - although this time not too far removed as it was another Geektogether drinks night.
Successful events from the evening include: Legion2 making it along for the first time; Pirate Dave reaching expected levels of inebriation in record time; and myself avoiding being dragooned into another game of The Viking Hat GM.
Today made the perfect antidote for lots of work with training in the city followed by an inexpensive steak lunch with CC and The Polster before returning to work for a meeting, some frivol and then home time.
Phew that was a lot to get through. Perhaps there would be some benefit to twitterising my postings after all...
.
However, since I can link to it, you can see I've already done it before.
As to the happenings that have kept one away from The Tales, well I can count amongst them...
A relaxing old-school gaming Sunday which led into the week of the print system upgrade.
Not only did this so quoted "half-day job" turn out to be a full five day extravaganza, but I was also forced to skip gaming and assist AntagonisticAl at one of her festival events when there was trouble getting a laptop to present correctly. The difficulty of my investigation was enhanced considerably by the official photographer's extensive knowledge of everything. So amidst this flurry of superior advice I had to listen to many a repetition of basic IT procedure (i.e. turn it off and on) long after I was already onto the more advanced stuff like searching the help file. Suffice to say the hour was late and the thank-you-for-fixing-it champagne, pizza and cake so plentiful that I was forced to stay on for the duration of the event.
To make matters worse, just when the upgrade was coming to a near close - I say near as there are still some persistent niggly issues to be addressed - the Internet decided to disappear for most of Friday leaving me pretending to have work to do.
Having made it to this weekend last it was a pleasure to load Legion2 into the car and head out bush to attend a visit back to town by The Fungi Lady. Doom, The Doctor, MatrixMan, Vengeful Vic, and Couch Killer were also present.
Sunday, however, was back into the trend of horribly drawn out happenings as I attended the Carlton Weagles game with The Great Sandro after ElfBoy conveniently caught himself a Man-Cold and was unable to join us.
In true primary-school tradition though, he made a magnificent recovery in time for some post-footy card playing with Pirate Dave enticed into attendance. Said card games all being long drawn out affairs.
In a way it was a relief to return to work this week even though I was faced with the looming spectre of lingering printer problems and a return visit to our shores of the infamous Torchwood (there will undoubtedly be more on this iniquitous occurrence after a drinking session scheduled for tomorrow night).
Gaming was once again sacrificed for other pursuits - although this time not too far removed as it was another Geektogether drinks night.
Successful events from the evening include: Legion2 making it along for the first time; Pirate Dave reaching expected levels of inebriation in record time; and myself avoiding being dragooned into another game of The Viking Hat GM.
Today made the perfect antidote for lots of work with training in the city followed by an inexpensive steak lunch with CC and The Polster before returning to work for a meeting, some frivol and then home time.
Phew that was a lot to get through. Perhaps there would be some benefit to twitterising my postings after all...
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The Breakfast of Champions
With no Tales-worthy happenings at last evening's Lit-fest opening night I shall instead regale you with the happenings of today.
I was awake at the early hour of 8am to partake in a breakfast with Redneck Ben. Our venue of choice was in the local cafe precinct and we were served up a quite filling and delicious repast.
Our main topic of conversation - as we did wander somewhat, as one is want to do - was gaming and specifically our usage of the Fudge system to building systems that suit our own game running style and the particular groups of players we run games for. He did impart some advice for me that was eerily similar to both, advice that The Viking Hat GM has frequently espoused, and action that The Bastard frequently takes in the games he runs.
I expect much crying from my players when I deploy such strategies.
Breakfast was followed by The Afternoon of IT Support as I had to visit the family home to fix the internet connection yet again. Although this time Freeloading Mum and Handy Dad are away overseas. You would think that there would be no IT support required but, alas, the house-sitting friend has been having regular problems and leaving frantic telephone messages for me - my personal favourite being "the phone isn't working properly".
Sigh. An IT man's work is seldom done.
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I was awake at the early hour of 8am to partake in a breakfast with Redneck Ben. Our venue of choice was in the local cafe precinct and we were served up a quite filling and delicious repast.
Our main topic of conversation - as we did wander somewhat, as one is want to do - was gaming and specifically our usage of the Fudge system to building systems that suit our own game running style and the particular groups of players we run games for. He did impart some advice for me that was eerily similar to both, advice that The Viking Hat GM has frequently espoused, and action that The Bastard frequently takes in the games he runs.
I expect much crying from my players when I deploy such strategies.
Breakfast was followed by The Afternoon of IT Support as I had to visit the family home to fix the internet connection yet again. Although this time Freeloading Mum and Handy Dad are away overseas. You would think that there would be no IT support required but, alas, the house-sitting friend has been having regular problems and leaving frantic telephone messages for me - my personal favourite being "the phone isn't working properly".
Sigh. An IT man's work is seldom done.
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Being Corporately Challenged
No I'm not talking about some sort of office-bound knife fight for dominance - those usually happen later in the year.
Avid readers of The Tales will be aware that I have been messing about with pedometer usage for more than a year now.
All that training will bear fruit now that one is involved in the Global Corporate Challenge. For the next 16 weeks I shall be diligently noting my steps, entering them into the website and taking a virtual walk across the world with my team. When I say my team it is with a tinge of disbelief as, unfortunately, Beeby has manipulated his way into becoming the leader of our little group of pacers. Sigh. I shall soldier on though.
Of interest, after using the new pedometer one receives as a participant in the event, is that said pedometers appear to be set to extra sensitive as I was easily able to cruise past the 10,000 step limit on my practice day yesterday. I guess the 16 weeks of the GCC will provide me with enough empirical data to confirm or deny this theory
.
Avid readers of The Tales will be aware that I have been messing about with pedometer usage for more than a year now.
All that training will bear fruit now that one is involved in the Global Corporate Challenge. For the next 16 weeks I shall be diligently noting my steps, entering them into the website and taking a virtual walk across the world with my team. When I say my team it is with a tinge of disbelief as, unfortunately, Beeby has manipulated his way into becoming the leader of our little group of pacers. Sigh. I shall soldier on though.
Of interest, after using the new pedometer one receives as a participant in the event, is that said pedometers appear to be set to extra sensitive as I was easily able to cruise past the 10,000 step limit on my practice day yesterday. I guess the 16 weeks of the GCC will provide me with enough empirical data to confirm or deny this theory
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Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
This is the second book in the same world and was recommended to me by Vengeful Vic. I have joyfully consumed it over the past month.
It picks up some of the characters from The Curse of Challion a few years later. I found it to once again be interesting characters in an intriguing situation. The stories are mostly low on magic and supernatural elements but the world seems to breath with a down to earth reality. One wonders if one is perhaps identifying with middle-aged protagonists over deference to your more standard young farm boy with a destiny.
There is however a darker, more disturbing side to my reading experience - other than the whole middle-aged thing - as many elements of the plot and setting bear some quite startling similarities to current happenings in my own game setting being regularly played on Thursday nights.
I am starting to believe that I may have come to the notice of the same plagiarising forces that have been copying The Bastard's bountiful gaming ideas for many a year. I shall have to search my flat and brain for idea stealing bugs forthwith.
.
It picks up some of the characters from The Curse of Challion a few years later. I found it to once again be interesting characters in an intriguing situation. The stories are mostly low on magic and supernatural elements but the world seems to breath with a down to earth reality. One wonders if one is perhaps identifying with middle-aged protagonists over deference to your more standard young farm boy with a destiny.
There is however a darker, more disturbing side to my reading experience - other than the whole middle-aged thing - as many elements of the plot and setting bear some quite startling similarities to current happenings in my own game setting being regularly played on Thursday nights.
I am starting to believe that I may have come to the notice of the same plagiarising forces that have been copying The Bastard's bountiful gaming ideas for many a year. I shall have to search my flat and brain for idea stealing bugs forthwith.
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Leadership Training
I spent Friday last at a day of leadership training.
Of all the library inner cabal I was only joined by Big J - although the Russian Menace was present at first but used the ol' sick child excuse to skip away fairly early on in the proceedings.
I found the morning tea to be quite sumptuous with a huge variety of pastries and cake-lets, and further varieties still being brought forth even as we were being ushered back to our seats for the second round of activities.
The lunch however, was quite a let down, particularly after the prelude that the morning's parade of sweets had been.
Great platters of sandwiches were on the buffet table but on close perusal turned out to contain identical varieties - or rather lack of varieties, that is one per platter. There were also some party pies on a smaller platter and possibly some rice ball kind of things but one was far to slow to leap upon the repast to be the beneficiary of those.
As is usual for an event of this type the fruit platters had plenty of variety and leftovers.
As to the training itself I found it refreshingly grounded in real science and evidence and look forward to the advance course - Tyrant Training - as that is the level I believe one requires to be able to have any control of goings on in LibraryLand.
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Of all the library inner cabal I was only joined by Big J - although the Russian Menace was present at first but used the ol' sick child excuse to skip away fairly early on in the proceedings.
I found the morning tea to be quite sumptuous with a huge variety of pastries and cake-lets, and further varieties still being brought forth even as we were being ushered back to our seats for the second round of activities.
The lunch however, was quite a let down, particularly after the prelude that the morning's parade of sweets had been.
Great platters of sandwiches were on the buffet table but on close perusal turned out to contain identical varieties - or rather lack of varieties, that is one per platter. There were also some party pies on a smaller platter and possibly some rice ball kind of things but one was far to slow to leap upon the repast to be the beneficiary of those.
As is usual for an event of this type the fruit platters had plenty of variety and leftovers.
As to the training itself I found it refreshingly grounded in real science and evidence and look forward to the advance course - Tyrant Training - as that is the level I believe one requires to be able to have any control of goings on in LibraryLand.
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An Outing for Iron Man 2
In his usual manner BestFriendSincePrep called me up at the last minute - whilst I was mid-commute - to propose an outing to see the titular film.
As my communication channel was dropping out repeatedly for tunnel related reasons he drove to our usual cinema and then, once I was home, called me to enforce the outing.
Having to go there early I was also forced to go to dinner with him at one of the nearby establishments. He was up to his usual embarrassing tactics: combining and rearranging menu options; correcting wait staff pronunciation; sprinting to finish his meal leaving me stranded still consuming mine as the wait staff came to clear the table.
I did manage to survive to see the movie which was quite good for what it was - the action was interesting for the most part, the characters developed somewhat and the effects were well done.
Bonus Caution
Should you ever change the internet provider of someone close to you, such as Freeloading Mum, you should always remember to change their email server to the new provider before the old account expires lest their email suddenly stop working only a day before their big overseas trip.
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As my communication channel was dropping out repeatedly for tunnel related reasons he drove to our usual cinema and then, once I was home, called me to enforce the outing.
Having to go there early I was also forced to go to dinner with him at one of the nearby establishments. He was up to his usual embarrassing tactics: combining and rearranging menu options; correcting wait staff pronunciation; sprinting to finish his meal leaving me stranded still consuming mine as the wait staff came to clear the table.
I did manage to survive to see the movie which was quite good for what it was - the action was interesting for the most part, the characters developed somewhat and the effects were well done.
Bonus Caution
Should you ever change the internet provider of someone close to you, such as Freeloading Mum, you should always remember to change their email server to the new provider before the old account expires lest their email suddenly stop working only a day before their big overseas trip.
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The High Cost of Phone Use
Here's a Caution for you all, about accepting the use of a company phone.
A couple of years ago they removed the $20 a month of free personal calls from all organisation phones. At the time we also had to begin using the online call identification system to nominate which communications were business and which were personal.
Somehow it fell into diss-use and one was no longer receiving the regular requests to log in and identify everything before fronting up and paying.
Recently we have been requested to start using the upgraded online call accounting system after a break of many, many months. We were requested to complete the backdated calls and then told to remember to complete it each month all on our own.
I have now paid up my previous nine months of personal call usage and am outraged that my free calls have been denied me requiring me to pay the $37.70 completely out of my own pocket.
I'm so upset that I may not pay for next months $4.20 of personal calls!
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A couple of years ago they removed the $20 a month of free personal calls from all organisation phones. At the time we also had to begin using the online call identification system to nominate which communications were business and which were personal.
Somehow it fell into diss-use and one was no longer receiving the regular requests to log in and identify everything before fronting up and paying.
Recently we have been requested to start using the upgraded online call accounting system after a break of many, many months. We were requested to complete the backdated calls and then told to remember to complete it each month all on our own.
I have now paid up my previous nine months of personal call usage and am outraged that my free calls have been denied me requiring me to pay the $37.70 completely out of my own pocket.
I'm so upset that I may not pay for next months $4.20 of personal calls!
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Highlights of the Missing Weeks
Well time has been scooting past at great pace and suddenly I find myself several weeks beyond my last blog post.
I'm going to skim over the vast array of events that befell me in that hectic time and merely pause to point out the highlights.
Doctor Who and the Miracle of Mr Prada
One of the earliest occurrences of this lost time was my beginning the latest season of the good Doctor's show. It was not without mishap though as my usually reliable sources all failed to mention to me that it was going to begin on real TV. However amongst all my disappointment at Legion2 and Miss Amanda it was Mr Prada who came to the rescue and enlightened me to the convenience that is the ABC's legitimate online viewing platform. I was quickly able to catch up and be ready for the weekly broadcast.
Prelude to a Conference
Whilst dealing with the wonderfulness that is the public transport systems ability to interfere with my precisely timed travel arrangements I bumped into a long time friend of the legion - G O We Luv You. We had a quick ten minute information dump before parting ways - he home with his significant other and myself home to bounce back city-ward for the pre-conference dinner.
I was late of course.
And then proceeded to ask the head of our the hosting company where he fit into the picture.
Luckily I dodged the bottomless wine-glass effect and made only a good impression on behalf of my organisation - which is good because Supervisor Grand Chief K was in attendance as well.
Conference Proper
A day of fun and frivolity was had with myself and Ms Magpie enduring such things as Constitution creation and IEEE standards information sessions.
The lunch was good, and plentiful though. We did get to play with new toys in the afternoon, ask the hard questions of our suppliers, and go home early, so it all worked out okay in the end.
Game Days
An afternoon and evening of gaming got off to an unexpected start when ElfBoy mixed up his dates and arrived mid-morning.
Much 1920's fun was had on several occasions as we partook further in the Fantomas gaming experience.
The Thursday night game enjoyed the return of DragonMim (and the early bedtime of Vengeful Vic - zing!).
Further ancient battles were fought with Badger.
Strategy Day
A day of strategy planning was had by the upper echelons of the library. My planning consisted of the best strategy to get to lunch early.
A Huge Footy Day
And finally myself, The Great Sandro, ElfBoy and Legion2 all attended the great Collingwood Carlton game yesterday. As it was supposed to be a sell out we had to attend extra early which turned the afternoon out into virtually a whole day affair. Still when ones team wins so emphatically such a large time investment hardly seems to matter.
The most significant thing that happened during the game was my near knockout of Legion2 as my arms shot out in celebration of one particularly excellent goal. Had he leant forward one more centimetre in excitement then it would have been much more than his hat that would have gone flying.
There you go. The skimming is all done and it should be a doddle for me to keep you up to date with whatever strange happenings arise in the future as they happen.
.
I'm going to skim over the vast array of events that befell me in that hectic time and merely pause to point out the highlights.
Doctor Who and the Miracle of Mr Prada
One of the earliest occurrences of this lost time was my beginning the latest season of the good Doctor's show. It was not without mishap though as my usually reliable sources all failed to mention to me that it was going to begin on real TV. However amongst all my disappointment at Legion2 and Miss Amanda it was Mr Prada who came to the rescue and enlightened me to the convenience that is the ABC's legitimate online viewing platform. I was quickly able to catch up and be ready for the weekly broadcast.
Prelude to a Conference
Whilst dealing with the wonderfulness that is the public transport systems ability to interfere with my precisely timed travel arrangements I bumped into a long time friend of the legion - G O We Luv You. We had a quick ten minute information dump before parting ways - he home with his significant other and myself home to bounce back city-ward for the pre-conference dinner.
I was late of course.
And then proceeded to ask the head of our the hosting company where he fit into the picture.
Luckily I dodged the bottomless wine-glass effect and made only a good impression on behalf of my organisation - which is good because Supervisor Grand Chief K was in attendance as well.
Conference Proper
A day of fun and frivolity was had with myself and Ms Magpie enduring such things as Constitution creation and IEEE standards information sessions.
The lunch was good, and plentiful though. We did get to play with new toys in the afternoon, ask the hard questions of our suppliers, and go home early, so it all worked out okay in the end.
Game Days
An afternoon and evening of gaming got off to an unexpected start when ElfBoy mixed up his dates and arrived mid-morning.
Much 1920's fun was had on several occasions as we partook further in the Fantomas gaming experience.
The Thursday night game enjoyed the return of DragonMim (and the early bedtime of Vengeful Vic - zing!).
Further ancient battles were fought with Badger.
Strategy Day
A day of strategy planning was had by the upper echelons of the library. My planning consisted of the best strategy to get to lunch early.
A Huge Footy Day
And finally myself, The Great Sandro, ElfBoy and Legion2 all attended the great Collingwood Carlton game yesterday. As it was supposed to be a sell out we had to attend extra early which turned the afternoon out into virtually a whole day affair. Still when ones team wins so emphatically such a large time investment hardly seems to matter.
The most significant thing that happened during the game was my near knockout of Legion2 as my arms shot out in celebration of one particularly excellent goal. Had he leant forward one more centimetre in excitement then it would have been much more than his hat that would have gone flying.
There you go. The skimming is all done and it should be a doddle for me to keep you up to date with whatever strange happenings arise in the future as they happen.
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My First Charles Stross
One has many a time had to endure the ravings of Judge Mingus and FridgePower about the greatness that is novels by Charles Stross - such is the price of a free afternoon tea.
In any case I was pleasantly surprised to receive his latest work as a present from said couplet on the occasion of my recent momentous birthday.
The volume of concern was Saturn's Children.
I found it to be a most enjoyable romp reminiscent of early nineties cyberpunk fiction colliding with late seventies over the top extrapolation of weird ideas.
In short nigh perfect for me and I shall be looking for more of his work just as soon as I clear away my several metres of "to read" stack at home.
.
In any case I was pleasantly surprised to receive his latest work as a present from said couplet on the occasion of my recent momentous birthday.
The volume of concern was Saturn's Children.
I found it to be a most enjoyable romp reminiscent of early nineties cyberpunk fiction colliding with late seventies over the top extrapolation of weird ideas.
In short nigh perfect for me and I shall be looking for more of his work just as soon as I clear away my several metres of "to read" stack at home.
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Car Collection
My day yesterday included a most entertaining last minute trip to help Legion2 and BrotherStealer out on an errand.
Recognising the value of better mobility once their new addition arrives mid-year they have been recently looking for an automobile to provide the required increase in mobility.
Having decided on the particular vehicle to purchase they encountered the problem of having to get said vehicle from Dandenong back to our wonderful area.
With neither of them being well practiced in the driving arena they naturally called on the best driver they knew - yours truly.
We all took a most interesting taxi ride down to the collection point. Our taxi driver was equipped with the most inaccurate sense of crossing Melbourne. The GPS device he had - presumably to combat his terrible Melbourne sense - was unfortunately as poor in the navigation stakes as he was himself.
We started out with a long stretch in traffic rather than using some of the traffic avoiding freeways that our government has been busy constructing in recent years. After that it just became comical as he obeyed the GPS's instructions to move from one major road to another and then back onto the first major road as obviously the GPS knew of the best way to negotiate that particular intersection.
Once arriving in Dandenong proper the poor GPS became confused once more when the main road changed name and had our driver dutifully looping the block as he left and then returned to the straight forward path.
On arrival we quickly found the salesman and began the paperwork. Of course in this modern world the Rewards program was the first and most important thing to be completed.
Throughout the initial dealings I began to get a sense about our salesman and was reminded of the bumbling stereotype under pressure from the boss.
Of course this was vindicated when it came time to fork over the cash when on sight of the cheque book he uttered the fateful words "Oh, uh, didn't I mention it was supposed to be a bank cheque? I normally mention that."
A short check with the boss later and the purchase had been made on credit card - with a little extra fee for Legion2 and BrotherStealer - and we were into the auto and ready to be on our way.
Ignoring our salesman's parting advice to drive the wrong way down the service lane to get to the closer cut-through to the highway I took the law-abiding direction for all of the 50 metres it was to that cut-through and then we were on our way.
One pleasant drive home - using the short freeway route of course - and the new transport was parked in the driveway looking deceptively like the Gavman-mobile come to visit (I expect much confusion and joviality next gaming night).
I returned home for a quiet night in all the while pondering in what form I should take my reward from Legion2 and BrotherStealer - perhaps taking the first born Herod style?
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Recognising the value of better mobility once their new addition arrives mid-year they have been recently looking for an automobile to provide the required increase in mobility.
Having decided on the particular vehicle to purchase they encountered the problem of having to get said vehicle from Dandenong back to our wonderful area.
With neither of them being well practiced in the driving arena they naturally called on the best driver they knew - yours truly.
We all took a most interesting taxi ride down to the collection point. Our taxi driver was equipped with the most inaccurate sense of crossing Melbourne. The GPS device he had - presumably to combat his terrible Melbourne sense - was unfortunately as poor in the navigation stakes as he was himself.
We started out with a long stretch in traffic rather than using some of the traffic avoiding freeways that our government has been busy constructing in recent years. After that it just became comical as he obeyed the GPS's instructions to move from one major road to another and then back onto the first major road as obviously the GPS knew of the best way to negotiate that particular intersection.
Once arriving in Dandenong proper the poor GPS became confused once more when the main road changed name and had our driver dutifully looping the block as he left and then returned to the straight forward path.
On arrival we quickly found the salesman and began the paperwork. Of course in this modern world the Rewards program was the first and most important thing to be completed.
Throughout the initial dealings I began to get a sense about our salesman and was reminded of the bumbling stereotype under pressure from the boss.
Of course this was vindicated when it came time to fork over the cash when on sight of the cheque book he uttered the fateful words "Oh, uh, didn't I mention it was supposed to be a bank cheque? I normally mention that."
A short check with the boss later and the purchase had been made on credit card - with a little extra fee for Legion2 and BrotherStealer - and we were into the auto and ready to be on our way.
Ignoring our salesman's parting advice to drive the wrong way down the service lane to get to the closer cut-through to the highway I took the law-abiding direction for all of the 50 metres it was to that cut-through and then we were on our way.
One pleasant drive home - using the short freeway route of course - and the new transport was parked in the driveway looking deceptively like the Gavman-mobile come to visit (I expect much confusion and joviality next gaming night).
I returned home for a quiet night in all the while pondering in what form I should take my reward from Legion2 and BrotherStealer - perhaps taking the first born Herod style?
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Writer's Blog
One does not have much time for an update at the moment as one has been relatively busy with things such as footy, gaming, helping Freeloading Mum out of her computer woes, and, of course, spending many late hours completing my library IT duties.
More important than that was an attempt to compose a short tale for the writing competition we have as part of the literary festival. Despite my three and a bit years of hand carving these posts it has proved quite difficult - both to write and to motivate oneself to get to and start tapping away at the keyboard.
To try and engender the correct atmosphere I even went as far as taking one of the many credit days owed to me today. I ran out of dilly-dallying mid afternoon and then tapped out my story. It had, of course been mulling over in my mind for a week or so but, still, it felt a little rushed and unpolished.
However the first step is supposed to be the hardest so getting the thing done and submitting it is quite the accomplishment as I wouldn't be able to face the disappointment of having to wait another year for the motivation of a pressing deadline.
The downside is that I have spent absolutely none of the time preparing things for my regular Thursday game and Fantomas will surely gather a lynch mob should he ever find out. Luckily I have quite perfected my faking it skills over the last year of gaming and several years of work. So I should be able to get away with it, yet again.
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More important than that was an attempt to compose a short tale for the writing competition we have as part of the literary festival. Despite my three and a bit years of hand carving these posts it has proved quite difficult - both to write and to motivate oneself to get to and start tapping away at the keyboard.
To try and engender the correct atmosphere I even went as far as taking one of the many credit days owed to me today. I ran out of dilly-dallying mid afternoon and then tapped out my story. It had, of course been mulling over in my mind for a week or so but, still, it felt a little rushed and unpolished.
However the first step is supposed to be the hardest so getting the thing done and submitting it is quite the accomplishment as I wouldn't be able to face the disappointment of having to wait another year for the motivation of a pressing deadline.
The downside is that I have spent absolutely none of the time preparing things for my regular Thursday game and Fantomas will surely gather a lynch mob should he ever find out. Luckily I have quite perfected my faking it skills over the last year of gaming and several years of work. So I should be able to get away with it, yet again.
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Easter Illness
Ah the expectations of a productive Easter break go down the drain when illness strikes - this time in the form of yet another man-cold.
One believes that said man-cold was passed on by ElfBoy, lurked in my system and waited for my immune system to take a dip.
The dip itself was caused by attending the footy on Saturday with The Great Sandro and Legion2. Several hours in the hot sun and a stressful end to the game combined to make me vulnerable to the lurking pestilence. At least we won the game and I can assure Ms Magpie that my team jumper is indeed not cursed as a 1 point win over the supposed bottom team of the competition should prove.
In any case my system took a dive and I sneezed and sniffled my way through the next two days, having to discard my dreams of getting some writing done and prepping/updating my gaming materials for the Thursday night game as my fuzzy head could not contend with the required level of thinking involved.
I did, however, manage to achieve the watching of all my shows as I lay on the couch dieing and managed to be "caught up" - until last night anyway.
Of course I was better enough in time to go to work today. Sigh.
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One believes that said man-cold was passed on by ElfBoy, lurked in my system and waited for my immune system to take a dip.
The dip itself was caused by attending the footy on Saturday with The Great Sandro and Legion2. Several hours in the hot sun and a stressful end to the game combined to make me vulnerable to the lurking pestilence. At least we won the game and I can assure Ms Magpie that my team jumper is indeed not cursed as a 1 point win over the supposed bottom team of the competition should prove.
In any case my system took a dive and I sneezed and sniffled my way through the next two days, having to discard my dreams of getting some writing done and prepping/updating my gaming materials for the Thursday night game as my fuzzy head could not contend with the required level of thinking involved.
I did, however, manage to achieve the watching of all my shows as I lay on the couch dieing and managed to be "caught up" - until last night anyway.
Of course I was better enough in time to go to work today. Sigh.
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A Roman Holiday
In the last half a year one has developed a small interest in the ancient world, predominantly around the Roman Empire.
It sprouted from my deciding to dip my toes into a game that used a similar system to Memoir '44, one of my favourites. Once dipped I found the game, with the unwieldy name of Commands and Colors: Ancients to have evoked quite the feel of the time and I was intrigued to know more.
As all good library staff do, I dabbled in a little internet research, until one day fatefully crossing my path at the returns desk was a little book that goes by the title Eagle of the East by L. S. Lawrence. It was an enjoyable read with some incite into the ancient world and the ways of the Roman Army.
Carrying on with my interest you can see it seeping into my fantasy game of the moment - Mundus Senecit - informing the feel of the world and the Viredean Empire.
And of course I continue to play the CC:A game. Why just last night I had Badger, Gavman, and Pirate Dave over for a couple of battles which were so involved we could smell the heat, dust, blood, and most importantly, sandals, as if you were really there.
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It sprouted from my deciding to dip my toes into a game that used a similar system to Memoir '44, one of my favourites. Once dipped I found the game, with the unwieldy name of Commands and Colors: Ancients to have evoked quite the feel of the time and I was intrigued to know more.
As all good library staff do, I dabbled in a little internet research, until one day fatefully crossing my path at the returns desk was a little book that goes by the title Eagle of the East by L. S. Lawrence. It was an enjoyable read with some incite into the ancient world and the ways of the Roman Army.
Carrying on with my interest you can see it seeping into my fantasy game of the moment - Mundus Senecit - informing the feel of the world and the Viredean Empire.
And of course I continue to play the CC:A game. Why just last night I had Badger, Gavman, and Pirate Dave over for a couple of battles which were so involved we could smell the heat, dust, blood, and most importantly, sandals, as if you were really there.
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Geisha Girl on the Rocks
As shed week has turned into shed fortnight I have not much on which to expand this week. So let me take you back to the depths of my previous weekend and the glorious event of Geisha Girl's birthday.
The first stages of this epic were hosted at the new-ish ice rink in town. The idea being that all would partake in circling around the ice. However being the proud owner of one dodgy knee I thought it prudent to avoid the possibility of doing myself further injury and stay off the ice.
Joining me on the sidelines were BrotherStealer (understandable given her incubator status), Legion2 and Camo Spice - the latter pair declining to repeat their agonisingly slow-motion chase of a roller-skating night many years ago.
We watched Geisha Girl and The Composer go around a few times before GG herself took a tumble and immediately iced her bruise.
After that we all headed to some nibbles and conversation at a nearby establishment in the shadow of the remains of the great wheel.
After a while I made the difficult decision to forgo an early night and instead head back to Geisha Girl's for further conversation and some promised home-baked brownie.
The brownie was as delicious as promised and the sugar-rush kept me going until my nighttime tram ride dropped me at my doorstep.
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The first stages of this epic were hosted at the new-ish ice rink in town. The idea being that all would partake in circling around the ice. However being the proud owner of one dodgy knee I thought it prudent to avoid the possibility of doing myself further injury and stay off the ice.
Joining me on the sidelines were BrotherStealer (understandable given her incubator status), Legion2 and Camo Spice - the latter pair declining to repeat their agonisingly slow-motion chase of a roller-skating night many years ago.
We watched Geisha Girl and The Composer go around a few times before GG herself took a tumble and immediately iced her bruise.
After that we all headed to some nibbles and conversation at a nearby establishment in the shadow of the remains of the great wheel.
After a while I made the difficult decision to forgo an early night and instead head back to Geisha Girl's for further conversation and some promised home-baked brownie.
The brownie was as delicious as promised and the sugar-rush kept me going until my nighttime tram ride dropped me at my doorstep.
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Shed Week
Shed Week was heralded in with a weekend party in honour of Agent Smith's newly constructed residence.
While transporting Legion2 and BrotherStealer to the shindig along with myself I may have become lost amongst the unfamiliar - and inadequately signposted - surrounds of the other side of the city. (Perhaps it should be other-other side, since work is already on the other side?) However it merely added to the sense of accomplishment once we did arrive.
At first the affair appeared to be merely a family one, and one did feel out of place amongst the relatives but soon the familiar faces began flowing in. There was The Valkyrie, and Amoeba, Mechwarrior Wayne, Camo Spice, Redneck Ben, Doom, The Doctor, and a most unexpected appearance from The Fungi Lady.
All in all a great night highlighted by Agent Smith and his band belting out some rock favourites in the pool room. The only downside was the good Agent outdoing my drumming prowess by also singing for several of the numbers - such five-way coordination having always been beyond my capabilities.
Early in shed week I snuck back into my home branch to try and recall what it was I had been missing these past few weeks. Alas no luck as the harassment soon drove me to spend the next few days in the IT shed at the corporate castle, ostensibly working on new PCs but actually just secluding myself from society.
Those days did allow me to finish reading The Men Who Stare at Goats which I found to be fun and interesting. It did confirm a lot of my conspiracy theories about the US military. Thanks to Badger for the birthday gift of the book.
A definite highlight of Shed Week was an Old School D&D bash, with The Viking Hat GM and others, in which stupid rules were enforced with TVHGM's usual forceful vigour. Despite all that my poor little Gnome character managed to survive and looks forward to serving his god Sumdertgud in future dungeon delving escapades.
Shed Week was wrapped up with a full day installing new PCs with my trusty sidekick Ms Magpie. Unlike my solo working style we got a lot done with minimal fuss - something it may take me some time to get used to experiencing.
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While transporting Legion2 and BrotherStealer to the shindig along with myself I may have become lost amongst the unfamiliar - and inadequately signposted - surrounds of the other side of the city. (Perhaps it should be other-other side, since work is already on the other side?) However it merely added to the sense of accomplishment once we did arrive.
At first the affair appeared to be merely a family one, and one did feel out of place amongst the relatives but soon the familiar faces began flowing in. There was The Valkyrie, and Amoeba, Mechwarrior Wayne, Camo Spice, Redneck Ben, Doom, The Doctor, and a most unexpected appearance from The Fungi Lady.
All in all a great night highlighted by Agent Smith and his band belting out some rock favourites in the pool room. The only downside was the good Agent outdoing my drumming prowess by also singing for several of the numbers - such five-way coordination having always been beyond my capabilities.
Early in shed week I snuck back into my home branch to try and recall what it was I had been missing these past few weeks. Alas no luck as the harassment soon drove me to spend the next few days in the IT shed at the corporate castle, ostensibly working on new PCs but actually just secluding myself from society.
Those days did allow me to finish reading The Men Who Stare at Goats which I found to be fun and interesting. It did confirm a lot of my conspiracy theories about the US military. Thanks to Badger for the birthday gift of the book.
A definite highlight of Shed Week was an Old School D&D bash, with The Viking Hat GM and others, in which stupid rules were enforced with TVHGM's usual forceful vigour. Despite all that my poor little Gnome character managed to survive and looks forward to serving his god Sumdertgud in future dungeon delving escapades.
Shed Week was wrapped up with a full day installing new PCs with my trusty sidekick Ms Magpie. Unlike my solo working style we got a lot done with minimal fuss - something it may take me some time to get used to experiencing.
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Bachelor night with Illuminated G
Yesterday, after an all morning meeting and the necessary extended lunch, it was not long before it was evening and I was heading off to the last minute Bachelor drinks for Illuminated G.
Of course since he has three children and twenty years in the relationship it could be argued that he said goodbye to his bachelorship a long time ago. However we still deigned to celebrate the occasion.
Also in attendance were Legion2, and Zombie Monkey whom it was good to catch up with again for the first time in ages.
The most disturbing part of the evening , however, was my uncovering of the conspiracy of deception that surrounded me. After a few drinks into the evening a further guest arrived who had also been at The Viking Hatted Wedding. Some short discussion later and the floodgates of memory opened and I realised many of Illuminated G and his friends knew The Viking Hat GM's best man from their uni days.
The obvious conclusion is that I was at the centre of a conspiracy to psychologically adjust me ala The Game (the movie not the thing you just lost) or as in a Philip K Dick (teehee) novel where they had run out of actors and had begun re-using them not realising that my keen perceptive senses would allow me to tie all the threads together and expose their plan before it could be completed.
Or maybe it's just a small world after all...
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Of course since he has three children and twenty years in the relationship it could be argued that he said goodbye to his bachelorship a long time ago. However we still deigned to celebrate the occasion.
Also in attendance were Legion2, and Zombie Monkey whom it was good to catch up with again for the first time in ages.
The most disturbing part of the evening , however, was my uncovering of the conspiracy of deception that surrounded me. After a few drinks into the evening a further guest arrived who had also been at The Viking Hatted Wedding. Some short discussion later and the floodgates of memory opened and I realised many of Illuminated G and his friends knew The Viking Hat GM's best man from their uni days.
The obvious conclusion is that I was at the centre of a conspiracy to psychologically adjust me ala The Game (the movie not the thing you just lost) or as in a Philip K Dick (teehee) novel where they had run out of actors and had begun re-using them not realising that my keen perceptive senses would allow me to tie all the threads together and expose their plan before it could be completed.
Or maybe it's just a small world after all...
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Phorgetful Phorties
While it may seem that a significant change in age has also caused a significant change in the ability of yours truly to remember to keep these humble Tales updated on something of a regular schedule I'm here to present evidence to the contrary.
Nothing has been forgotten from these weeks of silence - except possibly where I left the thingo, you know the whatsit.
Anyway here is a sampling of some of the many things that have kept me too busy to blog.
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Nothing has been forgotten from these weeks of silence - except possibly where I left the thingo, you know the whatsit.
Anyway here is a sampling of some of the many things that have kept me too busy to blog.
- Work of course, and far too much of it. Although I did finally receive my birthday present of my very own minion. Ms Magpie herself was lucky enough to be the recipient of the great honour.
- a lovely conference dinner with a guest appearance from Madame President over from the land of the long white sheep.
- going live with a Library Management System upgrade
- putting in a live appearance at The Viking Hat GM's latest game. Lured in by the promise of the strong leadership of Exploding Ninja Pony.
- making a brief attendance at the conference's trade show aka pen and novelty scavenger hunt. Afterwards I decided to avail myself of the shopping in the city and was then caught in the torrential downpour. There's nothing like catching the train home literally dripping water everywhere. Luckily the book I was reading was a library book so I can just say it was all wrinklified when I borrowed it.
- an expedition to the games shop to spend my librarian gifted birthday present. I now have even more of "far too many games and books", yay.
- a poker night with Dubrovnik Hater and friends in which I unfortunately cleaned up on the last hand most likely causing myself to never be invited back (since eating all the nibbles would never cause that)
- shopping in the city with The Great Sandro. Looking for my birthday present from him - Rome (the TV series, not the city) - and reminiscing about the great time he had with the librarians at my party - I did tell you he's crazy didn't I?
- last minute gaming events organised at my place by Elfboy
- a day home sick almost dying from the latest strain of man-cold - the vestiges of which are still with me to this day
- going to "our first NAB cup footy game together" with The Great Sandro and spending the whole first quarter queuing outside the, currently named, Etihad stadium to find an almost empty arena once inside - no wonder I hate that place.
- beer and board games with Badger
- Tuck's first attendance at the regular Sunday games only to have me spend several hours assuring him that, yes there are usually other people here, when everyone else decided to only make the evening.
- playing pirates with the Tuesday night gamers
- going back into the shed at work to prepare another round of new computers
- being cornered and missing out on drinks and nibbles at our new catalogue product launch
- filling my house with people for the latest of our regular card tournaments - Couch Killer was well behaved this time and no furniture was harmed
- a much delayed family birthday lunch at which Legion3 produced dirty rotten lying scales for our regular brothers weigh off - pffft 3 extra kilos!!!
- a training day with lots of food and me being under the weather with resurfacing man-cold and nasty headache. Honestly I was only able to eat two peoples worth of free lunch I was that bad off.
- a last minute gathering of geeks with great attendance, conversation and results. All thanks to The Viking Hat GM for going to the effort to organise lazy gamers into action.
- a day of setting up new computers with my trusty minion at my side
- a fortuitous game cancellation allowing me time to actually prepare for said games next occurrence
- a trip for groceries ending with my being pelted by golfball sized hailstones in the car park and once again being drenched to dripping-point - a trend I am not liking.
- and finally having to write a long and involved blog catch-up post to get you all back up to speed.
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The First Days of Phorty
Last weekend was the grand occasion of my becoming a forty year old (in body, mind is a little harder to judge).
On the Saturday night - the actual anniversary of my birth as luck would have it - I held a magnificent soiree to which I invited friends, family, fun people, and librarians. So many were in attendance that were I to list them all the tagging system for the blog would collapse under the weight of numbers.
Instead I shall just say that it was a magnificent night thoroughly enjoyed by yours truly and, if I'm any judge, by all in attendance.
Highlights include: Freeloading Mum mistaking Spare Legion for myself "oh good Phillip I've found you"; The Great Sandro getting along famously with many; BestFriendSincePrep's whinging about missing the first round of cake resulting in him in his being presented with no less than five pieces from the second round; and Mr Prada almost succeeding in abandoning Supervisor Grand Chief K when heading home.
The end of the evening saw a small group of us walk back to my flat causing every venue we attempted to enter on the journey merely by staggering in the front door "Sorry guys we're just closing for the night" was the refrain.
Successfully making it back we proceeded to embark on a port and Pez fuelled rampage (Pez courtesy of Sister Serials wonderful present) all to the strains of Conan the Barbarian thoughtfully playing in the background thanks to BestFriendSincePrep.
I awakened the next morning with the only flat-company being BestFriendSincePrep in the spare room - well, and The Tiger busily trying to usurp his position on the spare bed.
We had a wonderful cafe breakfast and then I was on my own to use my new found oldness to justify napping my way through the afternoon.
I took the chance that evening to finally go and see Avatar lest it leave the cinemas unseen by oneself, a situation that would put a severe dent in one's geek cred.
I found it good that the story was easily digested which made it easy to concentrate on taking in the wow factor of the special effects and new 3D process. As a wearer of eyeglasses I am quite impressed with how well the physicality of the glasses works.
More of my impressions of Phortiness to come...
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On the Saturday night - the actual anniversary of my birth as luck would have it - I held a magnificent soiree to which I invited friends, family, fun people, and librarians. So many were in attendance that were I to list them all the tagging system for the blog would collapse under the weight of numbers.
Instead I shall just say that it was a magnificent night thoroughly enjoyed by yours truly and, if I'm any judge, by all in attendance.
Highlights include: Freeloading Mum mistaking Spare Legion for myself "oh good Phillip I've found you"; The Great Sandro getting along famously with many; BestFriendSincePrep's whinging about missing the first round of cake resulting in him in his being presented with no less than five pieces from the second round; and Mr Prada almost succeeding in abandoning Supervisor Grand Chief K when heading home.
The end of the evening saw a small group of us walk back to my flat causing every venue we attempted to enter on the journey merely by staggering in the front door "Sorry guys we're just closing for the night" was the refrain.
Successfully making it back we proceeded to embark on a port and Pez fuelled rampage (Pez courtesy of Sister Serials wonderful present) all to the strains of Conan the Barbarian thoughtfully playing in the background thanks to BestFriendSincePrep.
I awakened the next morning with the only flat-company being BestFriendSincePrep in the spare room - well, and The Tiger busily trying to usurp his position on the spare bed.
We had a wonderful cafe breakfast and then I was on my own to use my new found oldness to justify napping my way through the afternoon.
I took the chance that evening to finally go and see Avatar lest it leave the cinemas unseen by oneself, a situation that would put a severe dent in one's geek cred.
I found it good that the story was easily digested which made it easy to concentrate on taking in the wow factor of the special effects and new 3D process. As a wearer of eyeglasses I am quite impressed with how well the physicality of the glasses works.
More of my impressions of Phortiness to come...
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My Week of Cake
This year my birthday week has been focused on baked goods - specifically cake.
I started the dessert theme myself, as one often has to, by concealing subtle hints within my weekly update to my library staff concerning my projected whereabouts for the remainder of the week.
Here is an example of the level cunning subtleness I employed:
At first it appeared not to have worked as I went a whole day without cake. However my Wednesday arrival at BEA branch was greeted with not one but two cakes - joy!
It seems that Devil's Advocate had supplied a largish piece of Emergency Cake in case there was a critical lack of cake in my system.
So having polished off the Emergency Cake I moved on to tackling the larger, yet just as delightfully chocolaty, cake supplied by The Beaumaris Ballerina. Some time after that I started fixing computers and other things IT in a state of cake-induced fugue.
Thursday was such a blur of meetings and schnitzel lunches and crazy weather that I failed to notice the lack of any cake-ish things.
This serious lapse from my compatriots was rectified on Friday morning when I stepped out of a morning meeting into a cake wonderland - complete with the second present (no wait Pirate Dave gave me some Dolphin Clips Thursday night - let your imagination run wild about what exactly a Dolphin Clip is...) I mean Third present.
See how happy I am with my giant RFID tag cake courtesy of Days of our Libraries
(couriered in secretly by Bomber Babe).
My cake euphoria carried me through the remainder of the day and into the evening where I caught up with birthday twin CC having drinks to celebrate her attaining a measly total age on the morrow.
I stayed only long enough to down a couple of drinks and treated the whole exercise as a training run for this evenings main event.
Now I'd best be off to gussy myself up for my time in the limelight tonight. After all there is such an awful lot of gussying to be done.
I'll end with a caution for you oh good readers of mine: with what BestFriendSincePrep has planned for this evening, and knowing his track record, I fear that this missive may very well be the last time you hear from me alive...
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I started the dessert theme myself, as one often has to, by concealing subtle hints within my weekly update to my library staff concerning my projected whereabouts for the remainder of the week.
Here is an example of the level cunning subtleness I employed:
Tuesday Feb 2: At SAN library all day fixing computers and possibly getting surprise birthday cake.
At first it appeared not to have worked as I went a whole day without cake. However my Wednesday arrival at BEA branch was greeted with not one but two cakes - joy!
It seems that Devil's Advocate had supplied a largish piece of Emergency Cake in case there was a critical lack of cake in my system.
So having polished off the Emergency Cake I moved on to tackling the larger, yet just as delightfully chocolaty, cake supplied by The Beaumaris Ballerina. Some time after that I started fixing computers and other things IT in a state of cake-induced fugue.
Thursday was such a blur of meetings and schnitzel lunches and crazy weather that I failed to notice the lack of any cake-ish things.
This serious lapse from my compatriots was rectified on Friday morning when I stepped out of a morning meeting into a cake wonderland - complete with the second present (no wait Pirate Dave gave me some Dolphin Clips Thursday night - let your imagination run wild about what exactly a Dolphin Clip is...) I mean Third present.
See how happy I am with my giant RFID tag cake courtesy of Days of our Libraries(couriered in secretly by Bomber Babe).
My cake euphoria carried me through the remainder of the day and into the evening where I caught up with birthday twin CC having drinks to celebrate her attaining a measly total age on the morrow.
I stayed only long enough to down a couple of drinks and treated the whole exercise as a training run for this evenings main event.
Now I'd best be off to gussy myself up for my time in the limelight tonight. After all there is such an awful lot of gussying to be done.
I'll end with a caution for you oh good readers of mine: with what BestFriendSincePrep has planned for this evening, and knowing his track record, I fear that this missive may very well be the last time you hear from me alive...
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The First Present
During the week past I received the first of what will probably be many presents in recognition of my somehow, inexplicably, making it through this roller-coaster life of mine all the way to a ripe old age.
Thankfully, as my last blog post should have proven, ones physical and mental age are usually quite far from being aligned in a meaningful manner that would allow others to use date of birth as any kind of significant measure of expected behaviour.
In any case, this first gift came from, of course, Svetlana herself.
It was, unfortunately, not Svetlana herself couriered here in an oversized crate lined with newspaper and comfortable pillows.
It was also, again unfortunately, not something one could eat.
The first gift of this ageing season of mine was a sizeable container of aftershave balm - enough to have one thrown in detention should one attempt to board an air-o-plane (for bringing a balm onto the plane - get it?).
It is a product of cheese-eating-surrender-monkeys - which should make Legion3 happy in his Francophile way - but was delivered from Hong Kong in a plain and battered off-white box with a purple ribbon daintily tied about it to make it look oh so presenty.
I can come to only one or two conclusions:
It is a lot of hard work concealing decades of geekery in the meagre allotment of cupboards with which my humble abode is equipped. I hope nobody glances underneath the couch.
Sigh.
Hmm, on second thoughts the balm bottle doesn't say that it is poisonous, so it must be edible after all - and it does smell delicious...
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Thankfully, as my last blog post should have proven, ones physical and mental age are usually quite far from being aligned in a meaningful manner that would allow others to use date of birth as any kind of significant measure of expected behaviour.
In any case, this first gift came from, of course, Svetlana herself.
It was, unfortunately, not Svetlana herself couriered here in an oversized crate lined with newspaper and comfortable pillows.
It was also, again unfortunately, not something one could eat.
The first gift of this ageing season of mine was a sizeable container of aftershave balm - enough to have one thrown in detention should one attempt to board an air-o-plane (for bringing a balm onto the plane - get it?).
It is a product of cheese-eating-surrender-monkeys - which should make Legion3 happy in his Francophile way - but was delivered from Hong Kong in a plain and battered off-white box with a purple ribbon daintily tied about it to make it look oh so presenty.
I can come to only one or two conclusions:
- Svetlana's habit of referring to me as her "smelly English piggy" is not as cutesy and tongue in cheek as I had believed up until now...
- or there is some sort of perception that I am one to butcher himself horribly while shaving and would therefore welcome the chance to sooth those savaged cheeks and chiselled jaw of mine with a balm such as this
It is a lot of hard work concealing decades of geekery in the meagre allotment of cupboards with which my humble abode is equipped. I hope nobody glances underneath the couch.
Sigh.
Hmm, on second thoughts the balm bottle doesn't say that it is poisonous, so it must be edible after all - and it does smell delicious...
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