Conference Report

So one of the reasons for one's silence has been having to concentrate on surviving Conference Season.

Luckily one had many friends to help see one through these tough times.

As well as the traditional attendance of Sis, Old Mate, and MoneyM, this year also saw Sidekick make a long overdue interstate trek to watch one's back and the dangerous "social events".

At the 80s Glow Party one did have to contend with a continuing knee blowout and an "everybody dance" obsessed Jeza. The sight of lycra clad Nicks Fan also gave one a slight doubting of one's love of the 80s.

Of course ones greatest support through that time was Hulk's Baby Tasha and, of course, ones lifetime companion Scottie (what is he?). Both of whom fully embraced the conference spirit as can be seen below.

Partaking in a rest upon arrival

Admiring the view of the most scenic of walls.

Working hard - or starting to snooze?

O what to read

Having recently finished the fifth-ish tome of The Expanse series one is now at the stage of selecting the "O" book of one's A to Z of Unread SciFi and Fantasy Authors.

This one may, as alluded to in comments by Amoeba, be a rather narrow range of choices.

There is naught a one on my to-read shelf - although Rebecca Ore does have a short story in an unread collection up there and that would take some of the stress off the shelf...

Still, let's see what comes up.

The Rules
Titles should be in the sci-fi and fantasy realms, or speculative fiction if you prefer.

The Author's Surname should begin with the letter O, and they should be one who's wares one has not sampled before.

Here is my Author list of already read Os from the time span of The Tales:

[no results returned]

Hmmm, not a one. A quick perusal of several Internet lists can add: George Orwell, and ...


So better get to it Internet, and recommend away.

Bonus points if the book is available in the work catalogue

Even more bonus points, and probably the win by default, if you place your recommendation into one's hands.
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Deliver Me

So yesterday one had the interesting situation of a package delivery experience - or perhaps one should say non-delivery experience.

Said package was one of those packages that Salsa Girl does not need to know about because expansions don't count for the "no new board games until the existing ones have been played a lot" rule.

An anonymous Amazonian deliverer sent an email saying the package would arrive today and be  delivered by 8pm in the evening. The email was sent at 4:35pm.

At precisely  4:36pm a second email was sent with the message stating that they had tried to deliver but nobody was home and sorry we missed you.

Looking around my place of work which doubles as my delivery address I found it quite hard to imagine how a half dozen people working at desks could appear to not be home to take delivery.

Still I believe I'll give the deliverers the benefit of the doubt as most of us were not really mentally still at work by that time of the afternoon.
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The Ceremonial End

So it turns out that the luck from lucky jocks can run out if they are worn for the entire finals month of football.
And when it runs out it is two minutes too soon.
And you end up suffering a devastating whisking away of the purest form of happiness that is a sporting win.
And no amount of thinking "it's only football" can console oneself.

Sigh.
So having Sneaky Pete, The Great Sandro, Hulk, and Salsa Girl, all watching the game with oneself in one's home seemed like a good idea - especially with all but The Great Sandro draped in the black and white.
Things seemed good at first. And then nervous for a while. Then suddenly good again. Then even more nervous. And finally settled on terribly disappointing.

The Great Sandro showed his usual lack of concern for our passionate despair with nigh suicidal comments along the lines of "you have to admit, Phill and Pete, that it's good for me because my betting on Eagles who I don't support won me money"

Luckily Hulk was there to occupy one's lap with her inherited disappointment in the result and give some perspective on life versus sport.

All that remained after the game was the traditional end of footy season ceremonial burning of the lucky jocks - a process Salsa Girl thoroughly endorses as she is big on tradition and ceremony.

And so, with the end of football season, one now turns one's thoughts to the next season of import ... Gaming Season!

One expects a multitude of thoughts about boardgames and card games to soon displace the currently frequent PTSD flashbacks.
Because, after all, it is only football.
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Luck All Around

So it looks like One's lucky jocks have once again done the trick and the Pies are in the Grand Final. One is still amazed at the way the game went - I even wondered at one stage if I had uncharacteristically fallen asleep on the couch and it was all a dream.



And to further prove the luckiness of the jocks one was involved in a spill in the shower this morn' whilst not wearing them - that will teach me the value of keeping the lucky jocks on for the whole month of finals.

Even as one began a downward trajectory on the suddenly slippery tiles the closeness of the jocks that one reached out for in desperation was enough to confer some luck as one hit the ground with relatively little damage other than some strain on ones dodgy knee and a touch of ego bruising as the bumped taps now showered cold water down upon one's sprawled person.

Of course Salsa Girl and Hulk came rushing to one's rescue on hearing the high-pitched manly squeal, and proceeded to provide tap turning off, warm towels, other assorted assistance, and timely advice such as "daddy, you should be careful when your brain is tired in the morning".

After completing one's ablutions and once more donning the lucky jocks one was lucky enough to be able to still go to work for the day.
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Finals Footy

So last Saturday eve saw One's first footy finals attendance since a pair of Grand Finals back in '10, and the first finals with The Great Sandro.

It came about when Salsa Girl made the tactical error of proclaiming, "What time are you going to the footy on Saturday?"
One's first response was, "I am? ..... I mean 6pm"

A hurried scramble ensured a trio of high-altitude seats for Sneaky Pete, The Great Sandro, and Oneself.

We were treated to a tight back and forth game with the correct result in the end.

One had thought Sandro to be lost when he failed to return to his seat after being left in a rather long queue for hot chocolate. It turns out he was merely staying where he was watching on a TV so that the good run the giants were making didn't finish. Silly superstitious sports fan.

So anyway, as I sit here still in my lucky jocks, I am lamenting the inability to acquire tickets for this weeks blockbuster which leaves One having to watch the game in the warm, comfortable, environment of one's living room.
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The Tiger Ticks On

So yesterday was the day that 80 of The Tiger's years ticked by - that's 16 of your Earth years.

It was celebrated with many allowances being made:

• An allowance for extra canned food distribution
• An allowance for an extra-long Hulk-bedtime-delaying brushing session on One's lap
• An allowance for staying on the dining table
• An allowance for drinking from the glass of water on said dining table
• An allowance for sleeping on the special pillows

And according to BestFriendSincePrep we have to do it all again in a couple of months as the 81st Tiger year ticks by...

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Jam with My Guitarist

So this past Saturday myself and Hulk made the trek down south to visit My Guitarist and, theoretically, have some musical interaction.

The journey down was quite pleasant as Hulk and I grooved along to the sounds of Justine Clarke and marvelled together at tunnels and freeway art.

Upon arrival we were both whisked into a hospitality and catch up zone. The kids were a mini-maelstrom of activity around us. Activities soon became lunch and then further activities until we almost drifted into the Coach Harris territory of "Oh sh*t we forgot to practice".

Luckily we did get ourselves organised and had a bit of a play.
However our musical sounds evidenced a pied piper effect and we were soon joined/deposed by children, various.
Much back and forth snippets of playing happened over the next span of time and the itch to play together was soothed but not quite satisfied.

All in all a good catch up, and one to be repeated in the near future One thinks.
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Vast by Linda Nagata

This Tome was the latest in ones A to Z of Unread SciFi and Fantasy Authors, and is, of course, the "N" entry.

Vast was provided by Sneaky Pete whilst one was still on the M portion of the undertaking and proved to be a complex tale of far future humans intertwined with their advanced nanotech.

I found it interesting, and a little entertaining but feel that perhaps the scale of it's future is too vast for one's tastes.

Three and a half stars.
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Gimme Shelters

So one recently finished reading the latest, and penultimate, Earth's Children volume - The Shelters of Stone by Jean M Auel. It is all Salsa Girl's fault having started me on the series and now it is a path from which One cannot turn away.

It was an okay read, with a fair amount of semi-interesting "look at the research I have done" and a slim plot in it's thick voluminous pages. I would say give it a miss unless you really need to know what happens to the characters or are one of those people who has to read the series to the end aka the Wheel of Tedium Time problem.



Speaking of shelter, One could sure have used more of it on Saturday when One attended the footy with The Great Sandro. In the arctic conditions I began thinking that I may have had to lose one of the expedition in order to have more of the fleecy blanket we spent the match huddled under.

Still at least the pies came alive at the end and One was able to perform many warming leaps and roars of celebrations.

And now the pies are in the finals - which should be a much appreciated warm living room in front of the telly type of experience.
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The Big Birthdays

So the weekend previous was a bonanza of birthday bashes!!

Birthday the first was the Saturday evening celebration of Judge Mingus's matriarch's conversion to septuagenarianism.

One had been called out of retirement several months ago to drum for the band for the evening. Much practice, rehearsal, and aching body parts later it all came to fruition in a rocking set of a half dozen classic songs.

On the night in question Salsa Girl and I took ourselves to the event with Salsa Girl acting in the capacity of One's roadie. As one had decided to use the digital drum kit said roadying involved carrying a single medium-sized bag instead of the usual plethora of heavy drum equipment - so it was more of a freeloading activity - of which I heartily approve.

The night went well and none of One's dozen playing mistakes were catastrophic - in fact they were actually playing flair. One managed to catch up a little with FridgePower which was pleasant despite her nigh constant refrain of "needs more cowbell" despite one having swamped one song entirely with that most tasteful of instruments.

Drinks and nibbles were in overabundance, as is the nature of the Mingus clan, and the unexpected performance payment (thankfully with no minimum performance standard requirement) made the night into One's highest paid gig.
The trajectory of One's career is definitely upwards, so one shall have to inform ex-Supervisor Grand Chief K and LibraryBFF of one's impending resignation to concentrate on stardom.



Birthday the second was to celebrate Hulk's becoming the big 6.

She had requested a surprise party this year (and also fish themed to match her new goldfish) so we had to inform her all weekend that Doctor David and Grannie A's visiting, and our clearing floor space, making a cake, and hanging decorations, were all for the sheer fun of it and for no other reason.

I choose to believe she was completely surprised when returning from lunch with Salsa Girl to a house full of party invitees.

After that it was the usual birthday chaos of noisy children and chatting adults, immaculate Salsa Girl fish tank cake, present opening chaos and overexcited Hulk resisting bedtime.

Hulk explained at great length that the parsley does not have to be eaten.

All in all a most fun and exhausting birthday themed weekend.
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Baby at the Big Footy

With the loss last week of a prominent front tooth Hulk decided it was time for her first trip to the Big Footy.

Thus we dutifully bestowed ourselves in the black and white and headed off in the sunshine and wind for the Sunday afternoon match.

Hulk was excited to be squashed into her first footy train and chatted amiably with the nearby 'pies fans.

On arrival we traipsed through the park land to the entrance and shuffled inside before hiking up the many flights of stairs to the top.
The very top.
You see Hulk just kept going like a stair climbing machine until she reached the upper back row of seats. When one finally caught up with her "we" decided to go back down to where the people were and settle in for the match.

We had a great quarter and a half of flag-waving cheering and taking it all in. then things slowed down slightly and boredom set in for one of us and frustration for the other. Determining which is left as an exercise for the reader.

After suffering through the third quarter we decided to head home while there were no crowds, only to just miss a train and therefore have to wait and catch a rather squashy one anyway.

Upon returning home we had a family movie watching of Finding Nemo which helped to remove the rather dissatisfying performance of one's footy team from one's mind.

I am yet to determine whether Hulk is now an aficionado of footy attendance but I do know she is an aficionado of footy chips so I suspect she will be keen to go again.
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M, Part the Second

Today's post refers to the other "M" entry of One's A to Z of Unread SciFi and Fantasy Authors -  Altered Carbon by Richard "I added the K later" Morgan.

It's provenance is that, upon being returned to me as One was already underway with One's legitimate M choice, one was nigh bullied by Pirate Dave and BestFriendSincePrep into replacing legitimacy with their forceful recommendation. However I was able to remain strong and extricate myself from the situation by placating them with making Altered Carbon one's next read.

So without admitting anyone was right or correct this was a fun 4.5 star cyberpunk detective read with it's only failing, in one's eyes - so therefore it's only failing, being a surprising lack of addressing the the issue of destruction of the true self and replacement with copies.

So I believe I shall be reading the follow up books at some stage and also embarking upon the eponymous televisual series in short order - lest Pirate Dave and BestFriendSincePrep come calling again.
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Fungi Friends and Freezing Footy

So this Friday last was another regular catch up organised by The Fungi Lady.

Also in attendance were:

• the regular Doom and Non-Gamin' Megan
• the slightly irregular Amoeba
• the highly irregular The Bastard.
• and, apparently, the completely non-regular MatrixMan conveniently gone before ones stunning entrance

It being nigh on a score of years since one had conversed with The Bastard a large part of the evening was spent on discussing topics various - work, current gaming undertakings, the gamers we both guided through our adventures, the very dad topic of our gifted children.
We both agreed that dealing with the tantrums, smart phone addictions, fussy eating, and stinky body smells made looking after our little girls a pleasure compared with all that gamer stuff.

All in all a great night that was over too soon and one looks forward to honoring the fungi ladies next organising effort.



Speaking of outings that could have ended earlier... one spent Sunday twilight attending the footy with The Great Sandro in 10 degree temperatures (plus a wind chill factor that lowered the temp to sub-zero by one’s reckoning).

To make matters worse the pies provided few opportunities for vigorous, joyful, and warming, leaping to one's feet.

Still, as they say, a win is a win, even if one does have to be chiseled free from the ice at the end.
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M, Part the First

Today's post refers to the "M" entry of One's A to Z of Unread SciFi and Fantasy Authors -  The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt.

It is Part the first because, having chosen it from one's sagging unread shelf, and completing several day of reading, one had another M returned from loan to the shelf and the room declared that one should be reading that instead of, as put by Pirate Dave, THE ENGINES OF GOO.


Anyway, One found this to be far and away the best Space Archeology book one had ever read and it earns a solid four stars from me.
It does have the problem that when one investigates if he has written any more one soon discovers that there are approximately 80* more in the series.
* give or take several score

Luckily it stands well enough alone that one need not consider oneself to be uncharacteristically bound to yet another long series of books.
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The Malicious Malady

Not much to post on lately and one's head is currently eminently fuzzy.

You see, after struggling valiantly through the beginning and middle of a deadly Man Cold, one has seen out the end of this pernicious condition at home today.

Upon informing one's workplace of the dire situation - and requesting the requisite response - one was mocked by Supervisor Grand Chief K and The Administrator, and finally LibraryBFF responded that one had to be dying to have flowers sent to one's home.

Did they not hear me when I said it was a MAN COLD!!
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Mother's Days

So the past month has been keeping one busy with events various and also lovely IT events various.

The main event was, of course, the elegant significant birthday of Grandma J. Held at a lovely country estate in the outskirts of Kyneton. Salsa Girl, Hulk and oneself made the journey out and arrived for much exploring, conversation, and digesting, amongst a slew of relatives.

Event the second was the, now traditional, mums head off to enjoy a kid and dad free lunch together. A (brilliant?) idea of Salsa Girl's which was apparently enjoyed by all - even though they did miss out on the 30 minute drum-based concert performance of the kid's well known hit "Get out of the Garage!!"


Of course One did manage to squeeze in the second gaming Sunday for the year in the midst of this hive of activity, along with some fervent footy watching, heapings of frustrating IT troubleshooting, and a smidgen of progressing projects.

One hopes now that a rest period can commence and One can catch up on one's much neglected lazing around.
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The Exercise of ANZAC Traditions

A week ago now one took the opportunity to exercise one's ANZAC traditions.

These commenced with a long sleep in.

Things then proceeded on to Salsa Girl, Hulk and I hosting the traditional footy watching with The Great Sandro, Sneaky Pete, ElfBoy and family all in attendance. Much fun was had by all since the correct team won this year, or, in Lil' Trucker's case, trains went past out the back every 10 minutes causing much excitement.

Traditions continued into the evening with the weekly gaming night ending with the traditional post-midnight finish.
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An L of a Book

And the book in question is the "L" entry of One's A to Z of Unread SciFi and Fantasy Authors -  Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie.

I enjoyed it's small scale action with larger scale flashbacks, the cultural hints of clothing taboos and gender inconsequence, and the well flowing prose.

It ends up somewhere between 3 and 4 stars, and earns Badger a thank you for it's provenance oh so many months ago.

Up next in the A to Z is a still to be determined "M" that shall come from one's sagging unread shelf.
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A Fungi Feast

So this Wednesday last was a feasting opportunity organised by The Fungi Lady which also turned out to be a lure to get One into a social situation involving catching up and interacting with friends.

The social ambush was at a delightful restaurant in the city proper and One was uncharacteristically the first to arrive - despite delaying arrival with one of my 1 minute peeks in the nearby gaming shop.

The evening began with an instant of the short life of the Amoeba as she popped by for the briefest of hellos before becoming dead to me for not staying.

The remainder of us soldiered on bravely with Doom and the increasingly errantly named Non-Gamin' Megan shouldering much of the load.

All in all it turns out that such a social engagement is not much of a strain on One after all and one is even looking forward to further such engagements - especially is there is feasting involved.
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Road Trippin' with Mr Prada

So yesterday was the occasion of a big Libraryland IT meeting in the far off land of Geelong.

This enabled one to ascertain an answer to that age-old question: Which is faster, Mr Prada or the train?

Step one was to measure how long the train required to make the journey to Geelong. This was not as easy as it sounds as at the change point from suburban to rural train One discovered that they kept the Geelong train hidden at the secret Platform 8S (S for secret!), under the bridge, way down the end of platform 8.

On arrival in Geelong, after 1 hour 45 of travelling, one discovered Mr Prada already in attendance at the meeting. First points to Mr Prada.

The return journey began just after scones.

This time to ascertain the correctness of his travel time I decided to travel with Mr Prada. Scarcely one hour later we were both safely ensconced back at our work desks. Score 2, Mr Prada.

In conclusion, One should overwhelmingly always choose the Mr Prada transport option for any long distance travel requirements one develops.
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Regular Pilgrimage and Unicorn Lore

So in the past week one has once again made the pilgrimage to the great shrine and attended the footy with The Great Sandro and Sneaky Pete.

After a cold-pies start Sneaky Pete and I were soon treated to a magnificent hot-pies show before the whole thing wound down into a luke-warm finish at the end. Still, as they say in the game, a win's a win.

True to form The Great Sandro was a font of trivia and questions and not much caring about the state of his beloved Carlton. One believes we all had a good night and even kept our spirits during the sardine can journey home squeezed in with all those Hurstbridge line interlopers catching our train to get to their buses during the rail line works.

-

Also of not this week is an educational moment with Hulk wherein we were shopping and she espied some soft-toy Unicorns on display and implored one to purchase a unicorn for her:

"But dad I have to have the unicorn, it's so pink and soft and horny!!"

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Sad/Happy Gatherings and Travels with My Kat

So, a Caution, as serious as The Tales usually is, this post will dial up the seriousness a touch.


Friday last was the sad/happy occasion of a life celebration for Soph who had happily won and then shockingly suddenly lost her medical battles of the past half year.

The celebration itself was a fitting recollection of the life Soph had lived and highlighted the legacy of strength and community that she created for Duff and The Tumbling Trio with nothing more than her vibrant and friendly personality.

Vale Soph.



The occasion also meant that One was reacquainted with many from the intersecting social groups that Soph was a part of and that one has passing connections with - well maybe not the Cheer leading, although I do have a different 2nd degree of separation into the cheer scene so it may well have happened.

The gathering also allowed a long overdue catch-up with My Guitarist, as well as Doom, The Fungi Lady, Amoeba, and a smattering of others of the LURG persuasion.



The journey to and fro was in the esteemed company of Miasmakat and included much bonding activity - mostly of the conversational kind rather than the imbibing ridiculous quantities of booze and committing foolhardy activities like jumping off bridges kind.

We covered many conversational gambits including planning the next six months of roleplaying game, current life events, impacts and impressions of the celebration itself, how every other car on the road was driven by an a-hole, how a half hour of travel took exactly zero minutes off our travel time as we returned to Melbourne traffic, and so on. One is suspicious of some grand conspiracy though, having uncovered in said conversations the conspiratorial connection and path-crossing back to the nineties via Subgenious - one of the many bands that grew out of the thriving Latrobe uni music scene.
One presumes MatrixMan was playing some super-long long-game when he pointed Miasmakat at the gaming group nigh on a score of years ago.
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The Book of Dust

One completed the reading of this book by Philip Pullman a good week or so ago but I have been sitting on this review as I seethe over the result of the reading.

It was gifted on the occasion of one's birthday by Grandma J and turned out to be a vexing 4 star read.

It is more properly titled La Belle Sauvage and is Part 1 of the Book of Dust trilogy - a prequel/during/sequel trilogy to the author's Northern Lights trilogy of which one has read not a skerrick.
After doing the research I determined that it was fine to commence reading and that one would not be lost in the middle of a story.

In the end it turned out to be an interesting story and world to explore and it appears that Grandma J has cursed me with a new series to read my way through and the first book of The Northern Lights is now on reserve at my library.
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A 23 of no Significance

It seems that it is a time of remembrance and looking back as today happens to be an anniversary of no significance.

You see today is merely the twenty-third anniversary of the Final Malaclypse III gig.

For more on that, including pictorials, read: It was 20 years ago today...

This particular span of years has no significance at all unless one is one of those conspiracy nuts who would believe theories such as: the 23 Enigma

If you are one of those conspiracy nuts, meet me at the back of Shed 5 - I'll be the one wearing the Blind The Pyramid badge.
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The 30 year Reunion

So two Saturday's gone was the event of One's 30 year high school reunion.

Getting there was a carefully staged affair commencing at BestFriendSincePrep's demesne before being chauffeur driven in style by MrRealEstate to collect MrRogers and arrive fashionably on time.

Once there we reintroduced ourselves to the fabulous organising committee and other early arrivals. Others arrived throughout the early evening until we reached the lofty heights of 40 odd attendees.

One had a great time catching up with the likes of Eggers, Piggy, Serbo, Plumb, Shill, Ross, Jo J, The Twins, Stivey, Whitey, Maz, Mima, Maria, and countless others I've forgotten in the blur that the evening became.

Apparently one has, once again, not changed a bit - although Eggers theory that a man still having his hair at our age was the only qualifier for that statement did take some of the chuffedness away.


One would have liked to catch up with many who didn't make an appearance such as Leno, Mr Shatilko, Mr Gates, Stevie Nicks greatest Fan, and really any other to see where we'd all been taken on our paths of life.


Finally, to top the evening off, One had a true High School moment when entering the Taxi for home as one's trousers, unable to bear the load of drinking and snacking gave way requiring concealing manoeuvres until one could make it home.


One looks forward to another get together in a few years to celebrate our joint half century.
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An Okay K

One has finally finished reading the weighty tome that is One's "K" entry for One's A to Z of Unread SciFi and Fantasy Authors quest.

The K in question was Kirkpatrick, Russell's Across the Face of the World.

It is the beginning of a trilogy inspired by the author's own map making interests.

Now you may think that this sounds like a perfect match for a map aficionado like oneself, however one did begin to tire of every character naming every geographical feature in sight every time they reached the top of a hill. Or walked through a valley. Or opened a window.

Still it was an okay story and earned a 2 and a half stars.

Next up in the AtoZ will be a recently published, and much lauded "L".

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Moving and Shaking

With Supervisor Grand Chief K being reliably informed at VALA conference drinks that One is a Mover and Shaker in libraryland, it is obvious that the recent lack of regular posting to The Tales can only be due to the amount of shakey moves One has been undertaking.


Moves of prep prep for Hulk - which lead to an in-shakey start to school.

Moves of returning to work - which had the usual level of shakiness.

Moves of birthday gaming - which lead to a shakey return to the old favourite On the Edge card game on Sneaky Pete's behest.

Moves of study and Gaming Garage combining - leading to some shakey computer monitor setup.

Moves of women's footy watching with The Great Sandro and Sneaky Pete - which was a shakey start to the season for the 'pies.

And finally moves of attending said conference to make a shakey impression on several of One's contacts in the industry.


Of course there is also the alternate theory that the conference drinks Supervisor Grand Chief K was attending when informed of One's reputation may well have just included an astonishing amount of drinks...
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The Paradox of Holiday Freetime

It would seem, on the face of it, that One having ample holiday time at home should enable the copious posting to The Tales which is the stuff of legends from the dim dark ages of 2008.

However, as it transpires, there is a distinct lack of posting about the few happenings of this restful time.
Happenings such as:

• The annual Star Wars pilgrimage with Sidekick

• Providing several days of nurturing care at home for Hulk who's illness was extended mysteriously
  
• Commencement of the Tuesday Knights new game - Blades in The Dark. Now with added Miasmakat. Including the group deciding to choose the gang type One advised against, *twitch*, sigh.
  
• Hulk's last day of kinder including concert in which she was one of the loudest voices. One was surprised to see a graduation cap being employed.
  
• Xmas day filled with Mousetrap and Botanical picnics.
  
• Boxing day lunch at Freeloading Mum and Handy Dad's. Replete with cousins and uncles and aunts and the touch of sadness that is an aunts early Alzheimers.
  
• A 50th birthday dinner for The Great Sandro with yours truly, Sneaky Pete, Salsa Girl, and Hulk as the requested guests of honour.
  
• Several rushed last days of work before the big holiday break - everyone loves stats.
  
• New Years' Eve beach birthday parties then early evening Rummy contests - with One being the year's humble awesome champion.
  
• A four day visit from Doctor David.
  
• Building inspections for the repair of the great dripping roof saga.
  
• Backyard camping at Nana's, wherein' Hulk had her longest staying up ever due to the excitement of Midnight Feast and the unexpectedly high light levels of a suburban camping sky.

One wonders when the pace of the year is going to pick up a little...

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