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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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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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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Apocalyptic Doom

One had the pleasure of dragging oneself through the wasteland this Saturday last to attend the existential crisis of young Doom.

As said crisis only lasted the few seconds of "what am I doing here ... having an awesome party!" one almost missed it by arriving at the apparently unfashionably late hour of 8.30 as things were winding down - young people these days.

In any case one did have the opportunity for much catchup with the likes of The Fungi Lady, Amoeba, Agent Smith (looking a little jaundiced as Mr Happy), and Camo Spice, before one's wine coat wore off and it became cold and late and time to head home (or alternatively be kicked out by Doom and Non-Gamin' Megan).

Amoeba and Agent Smith looking suitably wasted, er wastlandish

All in all a great way to spend a post-civilisation Saturday night.
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The Double Feature

So a passel of events full of exciting happenings have occurred in the past month. However one has been too bazy (noun: to be simultaneously busy and lazy) to document them so those wondrous potential posts shall be forever lost to the sands of bazyness.

Instead I shall post forthwith about my  Friday last wherein one attended not one but two picture show theatres - and most likely completed one's yearly quota for release time viewing.

Picture the first was an afternoon group bonding exercise organised by Supervisor Grand Chief K, and attended by the rest of one's supervisory coterie: Supervisor S, Big J, Lord of the Small Fries, and  Alltogether Heather. The entertainment in question was Brooklyn. Twas a charming tale of Irish immigration to the USA and love against the odds and may have caused some welling up due to it's beautifully shot visuals and not at all for any emotional reasons, no way.

Afterwards there was a group discussion of the film over a drink and some snacks.


Picture the second was in the evening and was the similarly themed Deadpool. Organised against all odds by The Fungi Lady,  and attended by a cast of near thousands (if one rounds up aggressively) including Duff, Amoeba, Doom, Non-Gamin' Megan, and Twin Trouble. This one was a charming tale of a possibly Irish immigrant in the USA fighting a battle for love against the odds. It too may have caused some welling up and outbursts due to it's beautifully constructed crude absurdities.

Afterwards there was a group discussion of the film over pancakes.


In conclusion, despite their broad surface similarities, you should find them both to be good in their own ways.
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Party and Sick

Hmmm, it appears that this post is become somewhat like a pair of Young Ones episodes.

One has neglected several weeks of blog posting under the duress of having been suffering insufferably under a most debilitating dose of man-cold. In fact the tail end is still hanging around which is why I will have to do nothing other than laze around all weekend.

So, what has been happening? You ask.

This weekend last Several weekends past Salsa Girl and I had the surreal experience of going out together, to dinner, well before Hulk's settle time - all thanks to the brave generosity of Freeloading Mum, who settles Hulk herself and claimed "it was no trouble and thanks for the wifi access".

Our out was to the Huck's party for Doom and Non-Gamin' Megan. As they had the temerity to be monopolised by their other guests, one was able to have long overdue catch-ups with The Fungi Lady, Amoeba, and Agent Smith.

All in all a great night out - even if the end of it was a tad fuzzy...

Otherwise it has been pretty much business and man-cold, as usual, lots of work, lot's of whinging and a few more books knocked off.

Once one's health returns then you should all expect the Tales to return to it's usual bounty of efflusient, sparkling and incisive wit, comment and malaproprianisation.

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A Fun Games Day with The Fungi Lady

The highlight of one's weekend - nay, one's entire week - was a get together organised by The Fungi Lady. She was back in town for a short while and arranged for the event to be held at the house of Doom.

The themes for the day were gaming and food. You may be aware that they are two of one's most favourite themes for events.

Salsa Girl and I made our way to the venue in the wee hours of the late morning be-laden with armfuls of one's gaming collection suitably prepared for any gaming requirement that should arise.

Also in attendance were Duff, Agent Smith, and Non-Gamin' Megan (who played every game with consummate ease).

A great feast and time was had by all - especially after we triumphed over Pandemic on our fifth attempt as a group.

One even uncharacteristically returned home from a gaming event at a reasonable hour of the evening - something that shall have to be balanced out at this coming Tuesday Knight's gaming.
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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...
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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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... The Doom of Killer Bunnies

Under threat of painful Lepusitic death I have been forced to write about the affair of my previous Sunday night.

So I am forsaking any imparting to you of the strategy meeting of Monday which was yummyly catered for by Mr Prada and Days of our Libraries. Of the lunch beforehand where Mr P and I were the only ones to fully prepare for the afternoons talk fest - me with the main and he with the booze - I mean who hasn't learnt by now that having a big meal or a glass of wine before the meeting gives you the excuse for falling asleep "It's not you, it's the parma". Amatuers.

I shall also not be talking about my new character in the The Blithe Bogan's fantasy sage spending all the final hour's action loading his crossbow after running headlong into realistic weapon rules.

Nor shall I mention the first session of trenchcoated investigations that began on Tuesday night under the guidance of ElfBoy, leaving me at the mercy of Pirate Dave's puns as I am now back to being a lowly player.

Nor shall I mention the misunderstanding that led to me thinking Mr Prada was suggesting Easy Em as the blog name for our new staffmember.

Instead all you shall hear from me is the pure, unadulterated events of last Sunday Eve.

It was a sultry twighlight as Legion2 and I arrived in horse country for a catchup evening with The Fungi Lady at the demesne of Doom and The Doctor. Some would say we were late, and then early, and then late again as the clock was repeatedly mis-adjusted for daylight savings, but regardless we indulged in a passing amount of smalltalk and then commenced the main event - tackling the monstrosity that is Killer Bunnies the card game.
Our instructor had a pile of cards that ws a metric foot high but luckily we played with a smaller amount as it was a beginner's game. It was fun and we played a second game which went on a tad too long but it was all okay in the end as The Doctor returned from work at the hospital and regailed us all with enthralling tales of nurses involved in pillow fights - she may have mentioned other things but I wasn't paying attention for some reason.

Phew. That should keep Doom from kicking in my door in a murderous "why didn't I make the blog?!?" rage.
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... A Serious Lack of Tales Time

Things have just been crowding my calendar and leaving me with no time to scrawl another missive.

Here is an abbreviated list to tide you over and get me back on track.


Watchmen by Alan Moore
Read this again in preparation for the upcoming film. Once again I found it good but not great.


Finishing Watchmen was interrupted by printing problems at all my branches (I hate printers) that had me struggling to remotely fix them all day and then giving up and having a pajama day.
Being sick of computers by the evening I chose to watch House of the Flying Daggers a beautiful Chinese action/romance movie rather than do any blogging.

Sunday was coffee with Rugrat Twin at the market followed by a dash out to St Andrews pub for lunch with The Fungi Lady and friends. Followed by a dash back home for a hair-colour maintenance session with Rugrat Twin.

Monday was hours of server room printer fixing (I hate printers) where the air-con in the server room may just have brought about the return of the Man-Cold. The afternoon was all about installing new coin boxes for the new printers.
In the evening I started my story-arc stint at the Gamecircle game at The Viking Hat GM's.

Tuesday started with some good knee news - it's getting better and should be fine in a few weeks as long as I exercise. I also had some free cakes at a demo of some new software thing

Wednesday I struggled with the printer setup at Hampton until quite late as it refused to work (I hate printers) .

Thursday I started early to install printers at Brighton (I hate printers) before having yet another meeting. Followed by another meeting but this one was better as it came with a free lunch afterwards.

Friday was a change of pace as I started early to do printer installing at Sandringham (I hate printers). Of course it didn't work, and it stuffed one of the public PCs so I had to spend many hours rebuilding the PC. Again I was late home.

Yesterday I visited FridgePower and Judge Mingus to deliver the good work of Agent Smith. After suffering through severe chastisement from FridgePower for not posting enough - and excellent free hot chocolate from Judge Mingus - I headed off to Freeloading Mum's to try to get her ADSL working. I was successful and had a lovely free dinner but couldn't get the internet to happen.

And now we are all caught up and I can return to my more regular posting frequency.

... The Last-minute MC

Yesterday was the big wedding of Doom and The Doctor. I was asked to MC the occasion only a few days ago and after sleeping on it decided to accept the offer. I was a little nervous but not as much as for previous best man and psuedo best man speeches. It helped to be able to refer to my notes between speeches and I was wrapped to be able to do my intros without a piece of paper in my hands. Unfortunately a few great lines we're forgotten but I can always save them for my stint as Legion2's best man next February. In any case it all went over well - people laughed and nobody was traumatized by my wildly inaccurate mini-biographies.
Many people I knew we're there and it was great to have the annual catch up with The Fungi Lady, who flew in especially for the occasion. Alas I had to dance with MatrixMan, my "date" for the evening, since Svetlana was unavailable.
All guests were given a Pocket Penguin as a memento of the wedding, which is a lovely gesture, but I am worried that I may have been specifically targeted to receive "The Worst Thing A Suburban Girl Could Imagine". I'll have to see what I think once I've read it.


Also in the last few days I scored another goal at soccer bringing my tally to 5 in 13 months so I'm now on one every 10 weeks or so. Still some room for improvement.

This morning I coffee'd at the Vic Market with Rugrat Twin, fresh back from Europe and Svetlanaland. She passed on some great gifts from Svetlana and photos from the trip before consenting to play the role of fashion adviser as I topped up my wardrobe in my bid to inch closer in the fashion stakes to Mr Prada (whom I bear only the slightest of malice towards - despite what you may read into my meandering musings LittleBigGirl !!)

The rest of this afternoon was spent wrestling with my stupid modem at home as it refused to allow me an ADSL connection so I could try to remotely fix some problems at work. I am suspicious That I have recently begun having problems and then Telstra calls me out of the blue offerring me "Fantastic" broadband deals. Make of that what you will...