... the IT man in LibraryLand
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.
.
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.
.
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.
.
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...
.
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.
.
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.
.
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.
.
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.
.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)