A Need to P

We have come once again, dear readers, to the stage of selecting the next book of one's A to Z of Unread SciFi and Fantasy Authors endeavour.

This time the letter that one's bookshelf shows a dearth of is "P".

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 P, and they should be one who's wares one has not sampled before.

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

H. Beam Piper
Edgar Allan Poe
Frederik Pohl
Jerry Pournelle
Terry Pratchett
Philip Pullman

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.

Now young Badger has already paradoxically beavered away and returned some results - in physical form - along the lines of Pynchon and Peake, including multiple copies of one title he is yet to dip into to allow a two-person bookclub style read.

So better get to it Internet, and recommend away, if you want to avoid a Badger fait accompli.

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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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Four XMASes and A Picnic

The week just past has been a whirlwind of celebration from which one has barely survived.


It kicked off with the annual user group XMAS lunch which is always interrupted by the meeting that "has" to occur beforehand.
Lunch and meeting were ably supplied by Jeza, Nicks Fan and Vivacious Em.
Although one was amused that one's two-glasses-of-red-deep attendance at the post lunch executive meeting was met with surprise by President S, given one's reputation for professionalism in any state. Luckily Sis attended in a state of solidarity with my choices.
However one may have to give some credence to kharmic debt as said executive meeting consumed the remainder of the afternoon.


XMAS the second was a lunchtime celebration of our Strategy Teams achievements for the year. Whilst Sonja Roster Queen ably led appropriate celebrations the Strategic absence of Mr Prada and Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum were noted for their permanent records.


With a days rest one was ready to tackle XMAS the third - Library XMAS!!
It was wonderfully organised by Sonja Roster Queen and Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum in just the style one approves - laden with food and drink.
Much conversation was had including a sizable investment in time debating the finer points of Star Wars canon with Nemesis and Psycho Chicken, who I'm sure have both now corrected their obstreperous views.


On a smaller scale, XMAS the fourth was the raising of the XMAS tree at home with Hulk taking command. The placement of the first present beneath the tree was nigh immediately followed by pleading to open it and see why it felt the way it did. Having secured an earnest promise that this would be the only early opened present I deigned to allow the opening. Suffice to say one was not pleased with the post opening: Is that all! Do you have another one?


Which brings us to the Picnic. The annual-ish picnic organised by Spare Legion, this time at the delightfully Pound Bend. Also in attendance were Badger, Hector the Nazi, and Legion3.

All in all a busy time which is why one is looking forward to a Sunday involving only shopping and visiting Freeloading Mum for her annual birthday computer support session.
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Catching up with Catch-ups

So, much has happened in the realm of The Tales since last post. Many catch-ups have occurred and One shall attempt to document them to One's usual fastidious level of accuracy.


On the Monday before Cup Day, One continued to catch-up with ones Hawaiian shirts, having too long neglected them until their recent resurrection for conference. The jealousy from co-workers manifest itself as an air of disdain and a pretended scoffing at one's sense of fashion.


There was a catch-up with Big J in the form of her return from extended leave to attend a three hour strategic reporting and specific duties realignment meeting. I guess she has to have hobbies in her leisure time.


In an effort to catch-up on our role-playing game progress deficit Pirate Dave ran Badger, Sneaky Pete and One through our weekly game until the early am. The deficit is now reduced to only several years.


Attending the annual SLUG conference with Sidekick afforded one the opportunity to catch up with Sis, MoneyM, and others in several entirely networky and educational bar and restaurant settings.


In preparation for Bomber Babe's big move to One's old desk at One's old branch, One had to undertake a cleanup of boxes underneath and draws full of spare parts. A nostalgic catchup with vitally kept spare 2005 technology ensued.


Hulk and One had a catch-up and board games with Miasmakat after it was revealed to Hulk that there was a trampoline there and it became mandatory to attend.


The evening then held a grand catch up at the 10th wedding anniversary soiree for Zombie Monkey. Having arrived post speeches it was hard for one to tell it apart from just a big piss up.
In any case, while one missed The Real Greg Dean, one was able to have a grand catch-up with the ZM himself as well as the first for 7 years catch-up with Illuminated G, Amoeba for our first catch-up in... months, and a 12 years in the making catch-up with Shreen.

Of course Illuminated G was up to his old conspiratorial tricks trying to claim that he and Shreen had never attended One's university at the same time - while my memory clearing has them both in the same group of uni friends, I shall not be a fool for your conspiracy!!


The final catch-up of not was for the farewelling of LibraryBFF heading back to whence she came as her stint as resources ends,  and BomberBabe heading to new horizons. It was also for welcoming Mr Prada into the resources - and possibly BFF - role, and Big J attended for the culinary catch-up opportunity.


Phew, now One is caught-up on the catching-up.
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What One did on One's Holidays

So One has spent most of the previous fortnight on holidays, during which time period many and sundry activities have been partaken.

Farming Out the Kids

At Sneaky Pete's suggestion Hulk and I joined him, Uncle Niece, and BuildItBoy on an expeditious rainy-day expedition to Collingwood Children's Farm.
One found it quite educational and was particularly surprised to learn that Feeding the Goats was not merely a euphemism - which is probably all well and good as it went on for nigh an hour.

Ex-Presidential Duties

A morning of phone calls and remote work on one's user group commitments.

Library Day Trips

One spent most of a day traipsing across the public transport system with Hulk to show of the genius level of one's progeny to one's work colleagues, who must all now be convinced that she is very advanced for her age.

A Magical Gaming Experience

To mark the occasion of having a day off due to footy one's demesne was host to the likes of Sneaky Pete, Pirate Dave, Gavman, and ElfBoy for many hours of card gaming fun.

Footy in Black and Yellow

Swinging the blokeyness pendulum the other way one had Sneaky Pete back the next day for some Grand Final viewing.

Baby's First Bee Sting

After a morning of intensive gardening - of the kind required to make a clear path from the front door to the street using only a small pair of scissors after Hulk has traded you for the big snippers - one's afternoon relaxation time was cut short by Hulk inadvertently squashing a bee against a watering can and suffering the resulting suicidal self defence that bees are known for.
Of course after the bee's fate was explained to her Hulk decided to go out to the scene and tell the bee "sorry I made you dead bee, goodbye"

Inescapable Work and further gaming delights

Nothing can describe the joy of having one's day for oneself interrupted by a minor work crisis.
Following up the relatively easily solved issue with an afternoon of gaming with Badger was definitely enough to balance the scales.

Unmissable Training Day at Work

Under orders from Supervisor Grand Chief K one had to curtail one's holiday plans to attend this day.
I begrudgingly took part in having my unfair share of the pizza and cake lunch - which was barely enough to fuel me through the afternoon "clean up your work area" activity.

Male Privilege Training

Which brings us to today and the final half day off work before attending an afternoon session of training on Male Privilege in which I was horrified to find that no-one had catered for my afternoon tea! Such hardship thus proving that one has no privilege in life.
I believe I will receive an A+ grade.

A Holiday from Holidays

And now one is back to the regular schedule and able to relax and recover from such an intensive holiday break.

One is almost looking forwards to the morrow's Performance Planning meeting.

Almost.
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A Return to Chalion

After an absence of nigh on six years one's reading has returned to the world of Chalion in the form of the novella Penric's Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold.

It was a welcome return to the world one is so thankful to have been introduced to by Vengeful Vic, and one feels the shove of Fate in stumbling across this 2016 publication recently after musing about missing this much loved world.

At a Badger approved less than 200 pages it was a nice return, albeit more towards the teen style, that didn't outstay it's time.

One looks forward to the further novellas in this series which appear to have sprouted like mushrooms with there being four more at last count - although one is a little trepeditious about having ones reading dominated by 4 star reads for the foreseeable future.
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The Month of Things

So suddenly, it is a month since The Tales have graced screens nation wide and it is time once more to fill that void in all your souls.

So what has been happening, you may ponder?


Well a long outstanding computational device problem at work was finally solved and the backlog of work that rushed forth to fill the now available time was of a high dauntingness level.
But that is not the excuse for the delay of this posting.


One commenced catch up watching of a half dozen episodes of the new Twin Peaks and experienced the resulting brain melt caused by the 80% or so of it that was Lynchian weirdness for, apparently, it's own sake.
But that is not the excuse for the delay of this posting.

Salsa Girl and Hulk headed north for a weekend which became extended and thus resulted in a blur of gaming activity in The Gaming Garage. The Magical Gathering of the regular crew of ElfBoy, Gavman, Legion2, Pirate Dave, and even BestFriendSincePrep making a return after a decade, overtook the Friday evening. The Saturday saw the boardgames commence with Badger and FridgePower subbing in for ElfBoy and Gavman, for a gentle run through 5 hours - and half of - the Game of Thrones boardgame. During these proceedings FridgePower played true to Queen of Thorns character by talking one's favourite tea mug into self destructive cracking.

The third day of extended absence almost saw gaming again as BestFriendSincePrep was pressing for it but wisdom and the weight of chores held out and a day of pottering about the house was enjoyed by one.

But that is not the excuse for the delay of this posting.

One's return to mountains of work was brief as a rescue mission to retrieve Salsa Girl and Hulk  had to be undertook resulting in an hours long drive through tumultuous rain and trucks along the Calder, and a clandestine handover with Grandma J in the vicinity of the halfway point.

But that is not the excuse for the delay of this posting.

In amongst all of this Pirate Dave has taken the reigns of the Tuesday Knights roleplaying sessions (now regularly scheduled on Wednesdays but what can you do about a name?). Thus requiring one to actually read the background for a game for once rather than wing it and hope the players don't notice.

But that is not the excuse for the delay of this posting.

Which more or less brings us up to today and finally a posting.

With no real reason for the delay - unless you wish to count one's legendary laconical approach to getting things done?

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An H from B for A to Z

One has just this day finished reading the H entry for the A to Z of Unread SciFi and Fantasy Authors - Light by M. John Harrison.

This one was recommended by Badger and originally going to be an ebook read until he shored up his recommendation status to definite by placing the physical copy into one's hands.

Of course being a Badger recommendation it turned out to be no space opera epic but rather a melange of sci-fi and awkward British social interactions. One could detect dashes of Mievillesque idea experiments, Banksian post future sprawl and Marshall Smithian gritty modern society on a half twist.

A interesting read that never quite grabbed me as it flitted from sub-genre sub-genre and back.
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Gaming the Band Back Together

Sunday last was another of one's regular board gaming sessions.

This one however was pre-advertised longer than usual and thus attracted both FridgePower and Judge Mingus. It was therefore a mini band reunion of sorts. Although, in the words of that great philosophical treatise from back in nineteen hundred and eighty four - Revenge of the Nerds - "Sh*t, we forgot to practice!"

With most, nay, all of the regulars also attending we struggled to find a game that could also accomodate Legion2, Pirate Dave, Badger, Miasmakat, and BestFriendSincePrep, given that Legion2 vetoed Block Mania and I no longer have the second set of blocks required to take it up to an 8 player monstrosity. 

We settled on The Great Dalmuti in which the  decidedly left-leaning Judge Mingus orchestrated a rather hypocritically rapid rise into the privileged aristocracy.

Other highlights included my finally winning another game of Samurai Battles thanks to my general in crime FridgePower who's "I don't know what I'm doing" tactics helped win the day; a return to Dominion basic and simple cards; and Pirate Dave's Epic 8 minute final turn in Eight Minute Empire.

If this level of attendance continues we may have to resort to multiple games running at the same time - or I could return to my usual last minute flash-mob style of alerting people it is on.
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The End of Footy Parties

So the end of the footy season saw all the usual partying happening.

The first party was the traditional celebration of Salsa Girl's birthday. This year in the form of a Dinner and a Murder mystery. Our participants had a lot of fun - even with BestFriendSincePrep going on a murder spree - although one suspects that Baroness Badger was behind it all.
Salsa Girl herself won best costume, while Pirate Dave's inspector was a crowd favourite as he helped himself to the riches of body looting. FridgePower and Judge Mingus made a great effort to attend despite suffering from some sort of plague and FridgePower made a brave face of being murdered twice. In fact only Legion2 escaped being murderised - probably thanks to the protection of BestFriendSincePrep's real world wife the Lovely Lea.
All in all a great night and even Hulk's murderous upstairs screams about not going to bed enhanced the theme.


The second tradition of Footy's End was the Magic the Gathering night at Gavman's. Legion2, ElfBoy, Pirate Dave and oneself all made the pilgrimage to participate.


The main event itself was the traditional Grand Final Party hosted in inimitable style once more by The Wiggs. We were all excited for the match - Hulk made a flag to wave and even waived it twice before becoming bored and going off to explore the house. BestFriendSincePrep, MrRogers, and StumpyRudolph were all in attendance and concerned with the sweep results until we all became swept up in the Bulldogs victory and bet-winning margins lost all significance.
It was a wonderful emotional ride only tinged slightly for one by knowing that The Hellenic Hoofer would have been rejoicing ten times as much as any of us.
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Scything through Productivity

So, one's new board game Scythe arrived the other week and is this month's choice reason for reduced posting.

It began with a late night unboxing, but not the sort of unboxing it is popular to film and provide on the you tubes. No, this one was a private affair with oneself revelling in the sights, sounds, smells and textures of the fresh cardboard, plastic and even resin in the privacy of The Gaming Garage.

The following night was absorbed by the sleeving of the cards for protection and the organising of the storage so all the gorgeous bits could go back into the box safely.

The third night was rudely interrupted by having to go to the footy with The Great Sandro and Legion2 to see the pies triumph over the ancient enemy.

The very next gaming night was consumed by the initial play of the game with BestFriendSincePrep taking the victory narrowly from Badger and Gavman and Legion2 somewhat behind and yours truly ending on a dismal score.

Despite thinking that I would have to return such an obviously defective game I decided to give it another go Sunday last, with the same crew sans Gavman. And Lo and Behold it turns out it is an excellent game as I magnificently triumphed over all opponents.

One was rather relieved that the game was worth keeping now.

Although when I mentioned this relief Salsa Girl did give me one of those "as if any game would ever leave your collection" looks.
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Deep Game Thrombosis

So this Sunday last one hosted a board gaming day in The Gaming Garage.

It was quite the excellent affair with BestFriendSincePrep affirming his recently established 100% attendance record and Legion2 joining him for most of the heavy lifting.

Badger, Gavman, and Pirate Dave all made their contributions too- as did Commander Fry for the Magical evening.

A disturbing development, however, was the deep ache that developed in one's right shin in the afternoon in the middle of the 12 odd hours of seated gaming making it quite painful to walk.

Now that one has slept it off the only conclusion can be that one needs to cut down on the amount of extra walking Sidekick has been inspiring one to undertake,  as that must be the culprit.
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And D Winner is ...

As per one's previous posting I am crowd sourcing a D author for my A to Z of Unread Sci-Fi and Fantasy Authors reading undertaking.

By virtue of one being on the shelf at one's working library branch I shall shortly be commencing a tome by Gardner Dozois - Strangers.

Congratulations to MatrixMan on the successful recommendation. Although Badger may have inadvertently won by virtue of handing the Legion a Space Opera collection containing a Delaney novella, without any knowledge of the competition being underway.

Amoeba shall serve out a one recommendation suspension after being yellow carded for continuing to recommend previously read authors.
And Pirate Dave's status is being considered after he went backwards and handed one an unread C author.

Sigh. Rules people, rules.
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Spin me Right Round...

... Like a Record baby

So last weekend was one's 45 birthday.

I had a smallish gathering with the minor theme of "Bring a 45".

There was some excellent catering by Salsa Girl assisted by Freeloading Mum - although I do have to take issue with the idea that I had to give everyone a piece of MY cheesecake birthday cake!

Being the theme instigator I dutifully hauled my pristine collection of 45s from the late 80s downstairs - about 50 of them in all. Amongst their number where such gems as Samantha Fox - Touch Me, of which, with my newly acquired mature status, one is not ashamed (although probably 15 year old Phill should be).

Several others provided their own input including ElfBoy with an extensive compilation collection; Legion2 with his hauntingly familiar collection (in that shared bedroom growing up kind of way); and Badger with some prime Brit Punk. I was, however, disappointed to see no Smith & Wessons brought along.

Badger's standout contribution was providing the whole audio and phonographic equipment, without which we would have been unable to hear these gems of the songwriters craft. Impressively the turntable was a vintage 80s Marantz still in perfect working order.

Dropping the ball on the theme front were BestFriendSincePrep and StumpyRudolph, representing one's school friends neither of them had any knowledge of their 45s, or indeed of which number drink they were up to.

Representing the creative side of music were past (and future??) band mates FridgePower and Judge Mingus, along with their own personal creations.

Most parts of the party went well, although Hulk did insist on being sensitive to strangers and require alternating bouts of individual care from Salsa Girl and oneself which was the sole reason there are parts of the party that one cannot recall.

After most had taken leave Legion2 and Pirate Dave (returning from DragonMim's overshadowing 50th event which kept many others away) stayed long into the evening playing the Magic card game and helping one with ones overabundance of whisky. In fact I believe I may have been playing the game on muscle memory at one point and events and my thinking became decidedly fuzzy around the 1:00 am mark.

All in all a most excellent occasion.
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Man-Shed Madness

Oh dear, one seems to be stuck on a permanent one week delay.

In any case, on the weekend last ElfBoy cashed in a group promise signed certificate and had a bunch of us make the trek North to have the debut gaming session in his man-shed.

Dutifully I loaded Pirate Dave, Legion2, and Young Jim into my vehicle while Badger and Gavman made their own journeys.

So, in the comfort of of a beautifully done up shed and humid temperatures we played and sweated our way through several hours of one of ElfBoy's games that he had bee unable to get to the table in a decade of gaming get-togethers - it was something to do with fantasy Japanese empire building and side games of cards involving Samurai.
One was particularly pleased to see five hours of play rewarded with one's empire ending in exactly the same state it started the game, as it is usually a hallmark of these sort of games that one's empire is obliterated post-haste.

We next powered through a lap of the car racing Formula D game of Pirate Dave's in which one lead masterfully for most of the game only to take the final turn too wide and wind up crossing in third - both the gear and the position.

Of course this being ElfBoy the event finished with some Magic the Gathering before we all tootled off home again, promising to return in the cooler months - but making sure not to sign anything this time.
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New Year, Old Books

Well after a rather uneventful Xmas and New Years - no family hijinks and even Hulk awakened by fireworks turned into a rather sweet and delightful session of watching bang-bang-pop-pops from the upstairs window - it behoves one to begin the new year with a roundup of one's recent (i.e. past 6 months) reading.

We kick off with the first of several corpulent volumes:

Under the Dome by Stephen King
Observant readers will have noted that one has a soft spot for Mr King's oeuvre - particularly the Dark Tower series.
This one has naught to do with any other of his books and was read as a sort of experiment alongside watching the eponymous television series, with an interest to how much and how soon they would drift apart from each other.
A bit and quite soon was the answer as a major character from the TV series is removed from the story at the bottom of about page 3 if I recall correctly.
All in all a good King story with no great surprises and earning 3 and a half stars.


To Die in Italbar (and A Dark Travelling) by Roger Zelazny
One decided to tackle a much slimmer volume next and chose this duel title from the teetering pile of ex-library books in the study.
It dates from the early 70's but only dates a little. The title story concerns a galactic Typhoid Mary character and various factions tracking him, interesting even if more science fantasy than sci-fi.
The second story is more of a teen multi dimensional tale with nothing great or terrible about it.
Three and a half stars overall.


Liberator by Richard Harland
This one is a sequel to Richard's teen book Worldshaker. It was an enjoyable romp through the steampunk setting and seeing what happened to the characters. Not quite up to the first book but a solid three and a half stars anyway.


A Storm of Swords: 1 Steel & Snow, and 2 Blood and Gold by George R R Martin
These two are the split in half book 3 of the Song of Ice and Fire aka Game of Thrones series.
As for Under the Dome one was attempting to read alongside the televisual series, however the weighty tomes took much longer to consume than Salsa Girl's voracious appetite for just one more episode would allow.
Together, and individually, I found them to be a four star reading experience and not just to end my run of three and a half ratings - they do add a lot more depth to the world and character motivations from the TV series.


The Intruders by Michael Marshall
This one is from an old favourite author whom one has let slip from my regular reading and, with Nurse Janet's encouragement, decided to catch up a tad on when it crossed the returns desk one day.
A solid four star read as I slipped back into his comfortable prose and the rather uncomfortable and unsettling worldview of his contemporary settings.


Among the Missing. Strontium Dog: The Alpha/Sternhammer Years #1 by Matthew Smith
An ebook novella release featuring one's equal favourite 2000AD character next to Judge Dredd. So of course it was a nigh-instant sale to me when it was released in December.
Mr Smith captures the classic Strontium Dog "western" feel in a story that doesn't outstay it's welcome. Back to three and a half star ratings.


Judge Dredd. Year One: City Fathers by Matthew Smith
Also an ebook novella release this time featuring one's equal favourite 2000AD character next to Johnny Alpha the Strontium Dog. It also was a nigh-instant sale to me when it was released in December - luckily Salsa Girl is none the wiser of my dropping a few dollars here and there on these..
Mr Smith does reasonably well at a Dredd story although the setting at the start of Dredd's career is missing any trace of the gonzo wacky stuff that was eventually written out of the comic as it settled down. Methinks Badger may be disappointed at the lack of Dredd telling any perps "baby your doing time for this!".
Still it was a reasonable romp and also doesn't outstay it's welcome. Another three and a half star rating (although Goodreads doesn't do half stars so it's a 4 over there).
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SLUGing it Out

So the other week Sidekick and I attended the annual SLUG (Smart Library User Group) conference. To do so we had to obtain permission from the organisation to jet off to exotic Melbourne.


Once we hopped off the train the conference itself was quite good and informative and had excellent lunch.


As Sidekick and Supervisor Grand Chief K had to both skip the conference dinner one had the whole responsibility of making sure we got our money's worth out of the beer cafe wherein it was located.

There was dinner and there was good service. Both my hazy memory and Salsa Girl's enquiry about whether it was indeed 1am that I crawled into bed bring me to believe that I did the organisation proud.


Speaking of slugging it out a few weekends past Badger and I made an IKEA expedition together. In our endeavor to make it a short trip we became "those people" going in the reverse direction from the exit. It mostly worked regardless of my eternal shame.

Further to the whole slugging it out theme one still hasn't assembled any of the purchased furniture.
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A Legion of Parties

And a legion of excuses for lack of posting...

Shall one just briefly enumerate them: the endless work at work, the heat, a cranky and slightly under the weather Hulk, house hunting escapades, and a return to gaming.


So several weekends past saw myself, along with Salsa Girl and Hulk, attend a trio of swell soirees.

The first was Legion2's birthday bash for the gamer crowd, although disappointingly with no gaming occurring.
Despite that on us flaw a great time was had by all.
ElfBoy was there with Lil' Trucker running amok, as was Mr Magpie (no relation) with his little barrackers. Badger and Gavman were absent any spawn and Pirate Dave was at an inconvenient family do across town.

Salsa Girl and I ended the event by rushing off to inspect some potential property - our leaving causing the whole shindig to wrap up as it obviously couldn't sustain itself without our overwhelming presence.


From our inspection we made our way to FridgePower's self-organised surprise party. I think she fooled herself right up until the party began.
Hulk did not allow us to linger to long but one did manage to catch up with fridge herself as well as Judge Mingus and an unanticipated Zombie Monkey.


The next day was the traditional family party in honour of oneself and Legion2. The event was rather more niece and grand child focused than one really deserves for ones day of honour, but they are all so cute one can't really compete.


Well once again you are all updated on the happenings of the tales and once again I promise to keep to my weekly-ish publishing schedule so keep watching the skies for my next posting...
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I'm gonna have to send you back to Sleep School.

So it turns out that Sidekick Searching takes up a lot of one's time. When you throw in a last minute vacancy for a stay at Sleep School it's almost a given that the lauded regularity of The Tales is going to be the first thing to suffer.

I didn't even have time to send you of my quick review of Prelude to Foundation by Isaac Asimov - an okay read in his sparse style that sets the scene for his earlier Foundation series with a mild adventure romp across a planet-wide city.

So, Sleep School was an interesting four days.
Yours truly was able to regain bachelorhood for two of the days, including a triumphant return to Tuesday Knights in a game running under the tyrannical hand of Badger. Fantomas, Pirate Dave and Legion2 were one's companions for that experience.
One night was spent in an ineffectual men's group that one had volunteered for but was aimed at men who wouldn't be involved in all that baby stuff. I wasn't even asked to talk about myself until walking out the door in the last minute.

After the group the evening was spent trying to sleep in the bedlam environment of distant screaming from the other attendees. Our Hulk was, of course, perfectly well behaved (and the cutest one there).

The whole experience was beneficial for Salsa Girl and Hulk but unfortunately not miraculous as there is still some hard work to be done to get sleep happening in the afternoon and evening - even if we are blessed with long overnight sleeps.


After the past few mornings I am now seeking admission to the Sleep School program for The Tiger as she seems to think that 4.30 am is an acceptable time to rouse the rest of the household.
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The Sidekick Search

Those who have known me for a while will be aware of my alter ego spawned during the heady days of Malaclypse III in the company of the likes of FridgePower, Judge Mingus, My Guitarist, Tuck, and other assorted musos - Testosterone Man - possibly related to fervent pounding of drums and other rugged and manly pursuits.

In any case the lack of a sidekick has held me/him back in all endeavours for many a decade.

I have tried many avenues to protégée procurement:

• trials of Rhythm Section equals - Judge Mingus did not last long before soloing off on his own
• grow your own - knocked on the head by Salsa Girl as Hulk is apparently too young to be cruising the streets fighting crime
• recruitment - alas, while an awesome gaming addition, Young Jim, has proven rather reluctant on the whole smashing things to bits front. (and what's more he has a tendency to betrayal as evidenced by a 3 nil thrashing he once handed out to me while in league with Badger)
• pleading with Supervisor Grand Chief K for the necessary help in getting all my work demons defeated - repeatedly scoffed at and uncomprehendingly disbelieved about the amount of effort required to make librarians happy on the IT front

However recently the stars seem to have aligned. Not only have I managed to finally rid the library of the scourge of marketing for once and all, but the resulting employment gap has been deigned to be filled with an IT Sidekick!

Supervisor Grand Chief K did, however, make sure it was not all puppies and roses for me as she dropped the responsibility for the "Recruitment Process" into my lap. Hence I have been up to my neck in SeekSpam and resume reading for weeks now. Culminating in a day of interviews in which I had to suffer through Devil's Advocate always offering the other point of view, and other various moments of me not getting my whim. Honestly I don't know what I was thinking putting together that interview panel.

Still we are very close now and it shouldn't be long before I can strut out at work with a sidekick by my side (and slightly behind).

Of course we are local government so not long is probably next Autumn.
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