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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