The Holiday is Over

 So, One's holiday break is over and it's time to apply oneself to the task of getting The Tales ticking over again and hopefully reach the heights of last years 13 entries (and then on to top 2008's one hundred entries you prompt? Madness I reply).

Since One's last communique many things have passed:

• One's first XMAS gathering for the new workplace, wherat Sis drafted one for table wrangling duties as apparently "other duties as required" also applies at this workplace.
• A hybrid remote and in-person boardgaming session for the birthday of BestFriendSincePrep
• A zoological XMAS gathering (a gathering at the Zoo as opposed to a Zuulogical gathering which would involve the underling of demon Gozer the Gozerian)
• A traditional Legion XMAS with the wider Legion clan.
• More boardgaming with in-person guests, instigated by Hulk who left the game after turn one to do something else. instead
• One's annual beaching.
• A return to Zoom, I mean work, including zoom-training the whole workplace prior to upgrading.
• Bunnings-ing up some minor repairs on the household.
• Seeking Sanctuary in Healesville where Hulk rushed Salsa Girl and I from exhibit to exhibit in order to get to the nearby playground as soon as possible.
• Upgrading the work system without leaving one's home office
• Marking the return of footy with a visit to The Great Sandro wherein he could not stop remarking, over the top of the footy broadcast, about how "doesn't look right mate" One's lockdown beard was.
• Attending the celebration of the life of Fifi who had finished her 29 year battle recently outlasting the predictions by a measly 26 years. It was this quiet determination that, during one's 6 or so years of sharing an office space, caused one to fix Fifi's problems pronto and also imbibe many a team coffee run, lest one fall afoul of those looks of portent. The celebratory tone was enhanced by also being able to reconnect with the likes of Sonja Roster Queen, Big J, Lord of the Small Fries, Longstride L, Days of our Libraries, and the increasingly incorrectly named Supervisor Grand Chief K
• And finally a relaxed, run of the mill, odds and ends weekend.

So, as you can see, there was not much to write about and no stories lost to the vortex of not being got around to writing them down.

Hopefully some interesting times shall arise this coming year...

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Challenged Again

It's that time of year again that a young blogger's thoughts turn to walking all over the place.

Yes I am once again taking part in the Global Corporate Challenge - 16 weeks of pedometerising my steps and getting my team to take a virtual walking tour of the world.

I have managed to be included in the Library team this year lead by  Mr Prada, and including such luminaries as Days of our Libraries, Fifi, Country Girl, The Pragmatist  and Mrs Football.

Of added interest this year is the fact that Salsa Girl and her office are also taking part. In the spirit of encouraging better participation one aims to help my team beat the pants off hers.
So far so good on day one as my team has the lead. I am a tad worried though as I know how far Salsa Girl walks every day in comparison to oneself, and also her team haven't entered any scores yet.

Still one must enjoy the winning position while one holds it.
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The Missing Weeks. Part the Third

As we continue on with our investigation we find ourselves coming to one of those regular seasonal events that seem to occur naturally whenever the season is right.

The Branch Xmas drinks
This years occurrence was located at a different establishment than is the usual case for events such as this.

We gathered in a drinking house recently converted from being an automotive repair business - one presumes that easily hosed concrete floors are an exciting thing for those who earn their livelyhood from the alcohol imbibing industry.

Anyhoo, in attendance were: Mr Prada, Days of our Libraries, Kiwichick, The Pragmatist, Fifi, and even Supervisor Grand Chief K put in an appearance after fixating on my costume accessories for the next evening's party - in particular the handcuffs which just happened to be a part of the pack - and showed a shocking amount of ignorance of who the character I was going as actually was.

Much fun and frivel was had by all. The evening finished relatively early which was fine as the rest of my evening could be spent storing up energy for the next big event.


The 40th
The very next evening was the 40th birthday affair for BestFriendSincePrep. As is his want he had made the whole thing slightly more annoying as it was a costumed ball and therefore costumes had to be prepared. I do suspect though, that it was done purely so that he could wear a wig and experience a warm head all night.

Legion2 and the Brotherstealer where there as were Gavman, StumpyRudolph, MrRogers, MatrixMan, Vengeful Vic and Couch Killer.

My choice of costume - the legendary Snake Plissken - revealed some shocking statistics.
95% of women at the party had no idea who Snake was (one guessed the actor)
20% of men had no idea either - and that's allowing Gavman's guess of Jack Russell in Little China to stand as a success.
This country is obviously in need of a strong education campaign in the area of B-grade sci-fi movies from the early eighties.
I'm not even going to talk about the horrendous sub-100% recognition rate for Legion2's Han Solo costume.

But aside from all that the brilliance of BFSP in having a slushie machine was just one of the many masterstrokes in the nibbles department. All in all a good night and perfect preperation for the next days adventure.

up next: in which our hero traipses from one end of town to the other
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... The So-called Weekend of Rest

Friday night was another branch drinks evening with Kiwichick up to her usual social coordinator antics and hustling a bunch of us including Fifi, Mrs Football and Easy-Going Em off for a post drinks dinner. Once ensconced at our table we discussed such enlightening topics as Mrs Football's best way to start a bender being with two bottles of wine and before you knew it the evening was over and we all trundled off home to sleep the sleep of the righteous - or is that inebriated, I always get those two mixed up.


Now one would think such a fun and frivolous evening would be the perfect way to start a weekend of rest, however one did not think to account for Sister Serials penchant for early morning "fix the computers please" telephone conversations. She was followed in quick succession by Kiwichick and others demanding that I make things work merely because it was my job and I was paid to do it - Supervisor Grand Chief K would be proud of her staff.
Suffice to say that most of a perfectly good Saturday was wasted trouble-shooting and then they were at it again today on the Sunday!

I tell you it's no wonder I'm so stressed and on edge all the time!
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