A Brace of Books Read

One's low post count this year can be partly explained by the lack of book reading posts.

So you should all add the 15 reviews below to the total post count for the year and be suitably impressed (imagine more review for each title and many thought provoking insights).

Bad Things by Michael Marshall - 3.5 stars

This one was read a scant few months after reading his previous one and possibly suffered for it. A solid Michael Marshall effort but once again not to distant from his usual style and themes.

A 3.5 stars from me and read it if you haven't read anything of his in the past year.

Fate of the Kinunir by Robert E Vardeman - 3.5 stars

This one is a gaming related novel and had me interested in it's reasonably faithful adherence to one's beloved Traveller - until one of the characters pulled out his light sword to resolve a situation.

Caballistics Inc: Hell on Earth by Mike Wild - 3.5 stars

This one is a comics tie-in from 2000AD about a British occult investigation team. It is a reasonable read with the feel of the comics series.

Leviathan Wakes by James S A Corey - 4 stars

One had thought that one would have to crowd source my A to Z "C" but then I realised that this "should read some day" satisfied the criteria. Although thinking about it I guess it was technically recommended somewhere down the line by ArchEnemy or DragonMim or both, however one does prefer that neither gentleman be correct in their recommendations.
in any case it was a great read focusing on the beginnings of a space opera setting.
Looking ahead, one's "D" is looking like a prime candidate for crowd sourcing.

A Dance with Dragons by George R R Martin - 3.5 stars

The final step in one's getting up to date with the book series. I guess one shall have to wait 7 years for the next one like everybody else now.

Consider Phlebas by Iain M Banks - 3.5 stars

Speaking of getting up to date. This is the first of a batch donated to the library and joyfully scooped up by oneself when declared unwanted. Embarrassingly, for a fan of sci-fi, this is also the first of Banks's Culture novels that one has read. Not quite what I'd imagined from what I'd read about the setting however a fun read nonetheless.

Judge Dredd: Black Atlantic by Simon Jowett and Peter J Evans - 3.5 stars

Another comics tie-in purchased last year in a burst of completism when it was released as an ebook. An okay read with the feel of the characters.

The Mammoth Hunters by Jean M Auel - 3.5 stars

The third in the Ayla series. A bit too drawn out and first love angsty at times but mostly kept my interest.

The Third Law (Rico Dredd, The Titan Years) by Michael Carrol - 4 stars

An interesting one from the self justifying corrupt Judges perspective. Said Judge being Dredd's brother. Looking forward to any others that may come out.

The Butcher of Anderson Station by James S A Corey - 4 stars

A side tale of the Expanse series delving into the background of one of the side characters. As enjoyable as the main tale.

Grave Peril by Jim Butcher - 3.5 stars

The third in the Dresden Files, this tale of the Wizard PI and his latest case ticks along and unveils more of the wider supernatural world of the setting.

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King - 4 stars

A sequel to The Shining but more of a what happened to the character from the story. A great classic King romp of it's own.

The Fast Diet by Michael Mosley - 2.5 stars

Some investigative reading before giving this discipline structure a go oneself. Notable for having nigh half the book be recipes and testimonials. 

The Omega Solution by Peter J Evans - 3.5 stars

Another comics tie-in ebook. This one has quite an interesting far far future feel to it.

Sharpe's Triumph by Bernard Cornwell - 4 stars

Another delve into the Sharpe series. The colonial India setting was evoked quite well and the battle sequence was quite well done - perhaps for having very little of Sharpe himself saving the day.

**

Now to work on a Films Watched roundup post that can inflate one's imaginary post total even further...
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Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

There is one thing one quite dislikes and that is when either ArchEnemy or DragonMim is right. Naturally it is a step up in magnitude when both "gentlemen" are proven correct.

Both of them made sure to tell me that there would be much less time for frivolous undertakings such as The Tales once young Hulk made good her arrival. It turns out that they are correct as the last near-month has seen a cascade of Hulk-related happenings that have conspired to all be more important than finding the time to communicate here.
Foremost amongst these is a troublesome back complaint developed by Salsa Girl that has led to one stepping up and shouldering one's fair share of the baby load. Additionally there have been some sleep difficulties and a resultant attendance at sleep school (one is rather disappointed to have found out that falling asleep in class is not worth extra credit).
This has flowed on to a squeeze on work time made paradoxically worse (or is that ironically) by involvement in the recruitment process for one's sidekick as finally seen necessary by Supervisor Grand Chief K given all the work one is supposed to be doing.


Of course it is even worse when our two villains are correct twice over as has happened with them both welcoming and warning me about life surrounded by girls.
Having had one's rugged lone wolf-ism suffer under the triple pressures of Salsa Girl's girlishness, Hulk's daughterage, and The Tiger's petulant big sister like antics I can only grudgingly admit to the aforementioned duo's correctness.



But in this instance one is thrice cursed with having to admit to the rightness of the spoutings of the twin curmudgeons in the most painful way.

Having finished reading Ready Player One just the other day I have to say that they were both eminently correct about it being a great little pseudo cyberpunk tale that delved wonderfully into eighties film and game culture.

I give it four stars and shall never speak of their correctness again.
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Abundant Werewolvery

This week past has seen the subject of Werewolves arise on a couple of occasions.

The first was when the biannual free-lunch-with-some-training day ended with a presentation from Gamer Phil on his investigation into bringing gaming into libraries. To demonstrate what could fun be had he ran a game of Werewolf for a dozen of us during the snacks and wine conclusion of the days events.

You can imagine one's surprise when at the first opportunity the librarians, led far to quickly by Alltogether Heather,  voted to lynch me despite my taking the job of "Friendly Mayor" to disabuse them of such notions and - even more surprisingly - choosing me while Supervisor Grand Chief K was there to be chosen!


The second werewolf incident involved an equal slaughter of oneself as the gaming group gathered for another of our regular Magic tournaments. This one involved a set with a horror theme and I chose to make my deck involve several werewolves. In succession Pirate Dave, MatrixMan and then, unsurprisingly, ArchEnemy all took my poor werewolves apart. Obviously one has top distance oneself from anything of a lupine nature.


In contrast today's activities were definitely of a non-lycanthropic nature as Salsa Girl and I enjoyed a sunny day at the Moomba parade and associated festivities. At least I'm fairly sure it was werewolf free, but you never can tell.

Anyway, I found it refreshing to get out and about and prove that I am not simple a man of a few obsessions as we made our way about the many Moomba activities following this years theme of Melbourne is Delicious - which it did prove to be.
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The Draw of Victory

This evening last one was lucky enough to attend the local World Game event in the company of Gavman, ArchEnemy, and sundry others - about 18 in all. The match in question was between The Melbourne Victory and The Adelaide United.

Due to Gavman's renowned network of connections he had been able to wrangle us seats in a suite at AAMI stadium and we made the most of the accommodations. There was a main room with seating enough for the full compliment of attendees and a fenced off balcony section with all our seating in a quite acceptable proximity to the play.

The excitement was palpable in the air before the match even began as the first round of free drinks and nibbles began to circulate.

Enthusiasm grew throughout the match as Victory scored a goal and the calamari and chips arrived.

Half time was quite the occasion as several plates of pies and sausage rolls appeared before us.

The second half grew to a crescendo as Adelaide scored an equaliser - and accompanying flare in the crowd - and hope began to fade in the hearts of those, such as ArchEnemy, with a true passion for the Melbourne Victory team.

The peak of the match was reached with barely a quarter hour remaining as warm scones with cream and jam made their most timely appearance.

One thinks this soccer watching lark is something one could become quite used to.

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A Game of Drones

Yes, last Friday I finally finished reading George R R Martin's Game of Thrones - the first in his Song of Ice and Fire septology (or more).

Like most other readers of the book - and as predicted by the likes of ArchEnemy and Fantomas - one quite enjoyed it and would rate it a solid four star read.

I did find it unexpectedly teen focussed although that was offset somewhat by the tragedies that befell any character one took a liking too.

A series I shall definitely return to over the next year until I too am one of the mob clamoring for George to finish off writing the whole damn story.
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Anthem by Ayn Rand, and Onwards

One knocked over this little recommendation from The Maple Maverick in only a few days. It is of an ilk to such classics as 1984 and Brave New World - and shows it.

The author presents it as her anthem to ego and living for oneself in a repressive society and it is such given the over the top repression the society has devolved into. One can see great shadows of growing up in the newly communist USSR cast over the whole book along with a healthy dose of new American Red Scare.
There is not much of new substance if one has read the aforementioned other two in this genre but it's short length, easy style, and historical interest make it a reasonable read.

Speaking of great shadows I have now commenced reading the epic Song of Ice and Fire - as heavily recommended by ArchEnemy (i.e. "read it or I'll burn your house down") and sundry others.
It is quite good so far but carries the heavy weight of expectation that has been built up over the years by the many glowing accolades it has received.

At the low reading rate one has managed to achieve this past year it's going to be fingers crossed that one can finish this first massive tome before the year's out let alone the other dozen or so volumes these fantasy epics usually run to.
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In the Lair of the Dragon

I'm going to gloss over the silence of the last few weeks - ignoring such excuses and incidents as: increased workload of project implementation and library refurbishment, busy social life, footy game days, gaming events, cinema excursions and many other sundry events and happenings from the lost fortnight.

Instead I am going to jump straight to the recent events without any dilly-dallying.

This Thursday last I made my monthly attendance at the fortnightly game run by The Bastard. This episode was back at it's spiritual home on the DragonMim's dining room table.

The gang was all there, Gavman with his tactical nous, Fantomas with his rules stretching nous, Pirate Dave with his rules knowledge nous, The Bastard with his rules ignoring 'kill them all' nous, DragonMim with snack providing nous, and ArchEnemy with his usual day to day brand of evil.

All in all it was a rip roaring session of goblin bashing and bastardry. I only wish it didn't take one's body several days to recover from the huge amount of snacks that DragonMim forces one to consume at these events.
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Recovery and Reading

So, one has only recently recovered from another tussle with that most pernicious of ailments - the Man Cold.


I fear that it may have mutated as this time I was laid low for five days rather than the usual three. To make matters worse my wonderfully attentive nurse, Salsa Girl, has found that the Man Cold has been able to jump the gender barrier - although her version comes with far less whinging than the one I was struck down with.

Anyway to take your minds off the impending plague ridden mutant-Man-Cold doom the world is facing I shall inform you of my latest read which I managed to finish whilst in the throes of my illness.

It was Down the Bright Way by Robert Reed. I found it quite the interesting dimension hopping premise with some quite intriguing characters and implications for the whole set-up. Well worth a read.

While trying to decide upon my next read it came down to a choice between ArchEnemy's must read book and Fantomas's must not read volume. Of course I chose the must not read out of fascination for the horrible (and, one must admit, a little for the exasperation of ArchEnemy).

Only time shall tell whether I can finish the book or follow in Fantomas's footsteps and add another abandoned read to my tally - although falling asleep on page 2 last evening may give somewhat of an indication which way things will pan out...
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Many Days in October

One is slack, blah blah blah, interstate conference, blah blah blah, too much work, blah blah blah, spending lots of time with Salsa Girl, blah blah blah.

Now I've gotten that is out of the way I can move on to the serious business of regaling you with tales of hilarity, caution, and just a smidgeon of what Phill has been up to these past days.

My mid October was filled with a holiday/conference in rainy Brisbane during which one found out that there are events that occur between the Teas (morning and afternoon) and the lunch, when one had to present several sessions. All went well except for the miserly afternoon teas. The post conference dinner shenanigans included the fun of having pints of beer spilled on me not once but twice, so I decided to scarper off to bed before it could happen a third time.

One has also spent these past few weeks training  The Tiger to not be in the bedroom crushing one during one's sleep. After an initial all night whinge she seems to have accepted her fate and there is barely a complaint as I disappear for my refreshing nights sleep of an evening.

My days have also been filled with exploding* wi-fi equipment hijinks including replacement equipment that failed and replacement replacement equipment that one had to rewire oneself. I did find out that a kitchen sink is apparently a great static free place to work on the innards of a computer - although I am a tad concerened that staff continued to blithly wash coffee cups whilest I had an open computer there!
* not really exploding

There was also the event of the decade(s) with the "combined to 70th" birthdays of Gavman and The J Monster. It was magnificently catered and in the words of the spawn of ArchEnemy "the best party ever!"

Coming a close second for event of the month was the annual Absent Friends Jyhad game. This year we had Doom, Legion2, Camo Spice, Amoeba, MatrixMan, Vengeful Vic, Couch Killer, Pirate Dave, Salsa Girl, and Badger in attendance. There was also rather a lot of fine whisky and port to be had and I'm sure that if I could remember what happened I would think it was a fantastic evening.

Most recently one has returned from a so called dirty weekend in rainy Lorne with Salsa Girl. As she failed to kill me after four continuous days in close proximity I am counting it as a success.
The dirtiness of the weekend is in doubt as one's automobile has been scoured to a shiny state of cleanliness by what must have been about 3 feet of rain over the four days. There were also several beautiful nature walks taken in as well as many gastronomic delights.

One is now relaxing in the days off that should always follow a holiday in order to allow one to recover from said holiday.

More soon - I promise, and I mean it this time.
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Geeking the Winery

With no events of any Candidaturic nature scheduled for this Sunday past I decided to take up the offer extended by ElfBoy to make a day trip out to his own personal winery for an afternoon get together and possibly a game or two of that card game we all favour.

With Pirate Dave and ArchEnemy finding other, presumably funner, things to do  it ended up being an exclusive event with oneself as the only guest.

Many games of cards were played over the course of that long, languid, afternoon - as was ElfBoy's plan all along.
In the end I was forced into the consumption of much wine and, regrettably, found myself unable to worm my way out of staying for the evening feasting. Such are the things I must endure.

Eventually I was able to waddle back to my vehicle and begin the long journey home. Luckily I had sustenance with me in the form of a plate overflowing with remnants of the meal - it lasted almost all the way home.

All in all quite the way to spend one's Sunday.
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... The Girl's Night In

This Friday past I was over at Rugrat Twin's with Alecto, Emma, Kate and Jane.
Alecto and I watched the romantic drama as Rugrat Twin worked on her dressmaking.
I was lured into this fest of girlyness with the cunningly thought out trap of free beer and home made pizza.

Unfortunately it was quite enjoyable - maybe because of the beer - although the drama itself did become a bit "What the?" towards the end when I'm sure (though it may have been the beer again) I heard the handsome hero proclaim that he had loved Emma since he held her as three week old baby, and also other aristocrats proclaiming "don't they make a wonderful couple, just like a brother and sister". I guess it must have been a realistic portrayal of the British aristocracy...

Suffice to say that in the end I went home confused and with a full stomach.


In order to reset my testosterone balance I went to ArchEnemy's on Saturday to watch footy with him and ElfBoy. There was beer there to but no freaky revelations so I felt that my extreme masculinity had been restored to it's usual high level.
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... Flashback Fun

Not much to write about work wise - other than the continued printer hell I have been suffering, can you believe I had to actually install alternative printers AND set up label printers that have only been on my to-do list for six months! I mean really, the amount of actual work I have had to do in this lead-up to Xmas is becoming a bit of a a sore point. Add in the serious lack of free Xmas snacks in the branch kitchens and it makes for a rather unhappy IT Man and that way lies madness...

Anyway, I digress.

In my mad scramble for content in this pre Xmas post frenzy I thought I would mention the goings-on at the gaming table last night.

It all actually began as I was on hiking to the station to catch my train home. BestFriendSincePrep called to inform me that not only was tonight the last gaming night of the year (not true as both the next two Tuesdays will see dice tumbling action) but also that because of said significance I should email everyone else to bring a plate of snacks.

Now far be it from me to fan the fires of rivalry but my gaming table is quite a different place to the rigorously enforced snack bringing domain of the likes of The Viking Hat GM - our table realised years ago that snacks contribute to fatbeardiness and making this change a) less than an hour before starting; b) out of the blue; and c) for a completely misperceived reason; is just a befuddling event.

However as it came from BestFriendSincePrep it makes perfect sense so I had him call Gavman - likely to be the only one still at his work desk that late in the day - and get him to email everyone else who wouldn't be at their computers anyway.

I dutifully contributed to my now habitual late arrival by diverting to a snack haven on my way to Legion2's so as not to dissapoint everyone on such a momentous occasion.

In the end, as expected, only myself and BFSP brought anything and the whole thing is sort-of re-scheduled for next week.

Oh I meant to say something about the actual game.
The actual role-playing part of the evening was reasonably rewarding for me as I was able to include a Flashback sequence for ArchEnemy's character and have the rest of the table play extras in various scenes (allowing for some repeated vengeful slaying of BFSP's characters).
The flashback is a device for which I've always carried a certain amount of fondness in gaming, despite the inherent problems of improvising something when you know at least a little of how it is supposed to turn out.
I think the attraction for me is in being able to add back-story to characters in a way that's more memorable than a couple of paragraphs on a sheet of paper.
I do think everyone enjoyed it though or maybe they just enjoyed the unusual occurrence of snacks at the table?
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... Freeloading Mum's Birthday Feast

Most of the afternoon was taken up with my attendance at Freeloading Mum's significant birthday bash.

All of Legion was in attendance as well as BrotherStealer and of course Handy Dad. Various relatives and friends of mum's were there as well and I had to pay for my free lunch by listening to countless tales of babysitting hijinks and sandwich cutting fussiness from all those years ago.

I suspect that there was some sort of conspiracy of denial afoot as when I approached the dessert bar and placed my order I was quickly informed, "Oh sorry sir, we closed just before you got here. The previous person had the last dessert order."

It brought back memories of the Library Xmas party where - apparently - there had been calamari but they ran out just before I got there.

To console myself over the loss of free dessert I indulged in some evening card gaming with Legion2, ArchEnemy and ElfBoy. It just wasn't the same as honeycomb cheescake.
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... The Prisoner of Adelaide

I'm back safe and sound in Melbourne after having spent the rest of last week at the Annual user group conference, this year in Adelaide.


Unofficial Day 1
In my capacity as Mr Secretary I decided it was best if I were to grace the city with my presence a day before the festivities kicked off.
Accordingly I flew in on the Tuesday to arrive in the early afternoon. The flight was quite pleasant, including a wonderfully delicious sandwich, although I did have to lean out into the aisle for most of the hour as my manly broad-shouldered physique did not do well seated next to another gentlemen of similar proportions.

On arrival it was a short trip to the Hotel where I settled myself in. After making my selection from the Pillow Menu (I highly recommend the number 8, it has a wonderful after-taste of summer berries and chocolate) I proceeded to update Madame President of my status and see if she required any assistance for the afternoon.

Relieved to hear that all was under control, I headed out to walk the streets, see the sites of the new city, and carry out my traditional search for, and investigation of, the local comic and games establishments.

During my discovery walk I was horrified to discover that, despite what they say on their website, South Australia is yet another of the "no Ice Break" states in Australia. Still, I don't have an addiction, can stop any time, and it's only four days of alternate beverage choices so I wasn't worried.

Upon uncovering the gaming shops in town I alternated between horror and pity to see that their role-playing game choice was limited to only D&D and WOD - something that needs to be rectified if SA wants to be seen as a modern city.
My horror was almost overwhelming upon seeing that center stage in their board game section was given over to multiple copies of MageMaster, one of the most annoyingly drawn out and random games Gavman has ever made us play. Don't just take my word for it though, let's see what ArchEnemy has to say:

Gavman if you ever suggest we play Mage Master again I will come around and burn your house to the ground!

Finishing my tour I returned to the hotel for a pre-dinner drink with Madame President before we headed to the swanky end of town for a nice Thai meal (you can tell it was swanky because they looked down their nose at me when I ordered the house red).

After the meal it was time to retire for the evening in order to be rested enough to face the remainder of the week in Adelaide.


Official Day 1
I was up bright and early to make sure I didn't miss my go at the breakfast smorgasbord which amazingly included a chocolate fountain complete with strawberries on sticks!

First up after breakfast was some extreme satchel stuffing, which is actually much less rude than it sounds.

Luckily we were finished in time for lunch and began to greet the gathering SPUNites.

I had opted for the bus trip to a brand new-ish library outside of town. It was a beautiful afternoon tea, I think I saw some interesting architectural and IT stuff as well

After the bus returned us to the hotel I began to feel the first effects of the absence of Ice Break in my system as the need for a Disco Nap became almost overwhelming. This year I decided to always set the alarm clock in order to avoid a repeat of last years late for dinner fiasco.

Suitably refreshed I made my way back downstairs for the libraryland cocktails session.
Once I was forcibly removed from the drinks arena I headed to the resteraunt area for a late dinner with Dubrovnik Hater, Skeptic L, The Beer Drinking Machine and others. I note that we were served by Adelaide's trade-mark snooty waiter (I'm sure that I am not the linking factor).


Official Day 2
After another banquet breakfast the morning sessions began with much laptop and USB juggling by yours truly - an occurance that was to become a motif of the conference. There was so much of it that first morning that I had a minor attack of nullusmanevictusophobia. Thankfully Madame President had her priorities correct and saved me a muffin from the morning tea selection.

The afternoon session ran more smoothly although rushing to a biscuits-only afternoon tea was a little disappointing.

Once the session had finished I found myself in need of a further nap prior to attending dinner - obviously going without Ice Break was affecting my endurance.

For the dinner I was seated at a table where it was easy to strike up many an interesting conversation while we indulged in some quite splendid food. There was also red wine of the type I particularly enjoy - that in a bottomless glass.

Following dinner I retired to the bar with many others for one last wine (unfortunately not bottomless) and the trading of IT war stories late into the evening with TT and The Ex-President.


Official Day 3
I awoke on day three to find that Ice Break withdrawal symptoms had kicked in while I slept. Nevertheless I struggles through the tummy and head pain, forced some toast down and joined Madame President and Comrade Treasurer at our preparation session for the upcoming AGM.

Said AGM went smoothly, too smoothly in fact as I developed a near-debilitating arm cramp from my frantic minuting of the proceedings. Our attendance list did remain only partialy filled out and I suspect a plot to cover up for those that inexplicably elected for shopping over a meeting.

The AGM was followed by lunch and afternoon tea broken up with some more sessions and then,
suddenly, it was all over.

Baggage was gathered and there was a general libraryland exodus to the airport.
Dubrovnik Hater was kind enough to sneak me into the Qantas Club with the secret pass phrase "he's my one allowed guest" - I have to remember that one. Inside the club was a stark contrast to Canberra's Friday night food trough/sardine cramming - this was wonderfully relaxed and the food and drink was easily accessible - a very good thing since I had many long hours to fritter away until my flight was leaving.

After the short flight I was home to my faithfully whinging flatmate and the comfort of my own bed (no number 8 pillows though).


Unofficial Day 4
After a good sleep-in I traipsed out for another of my famous walk/jogs in an effort to drop those last stubborn 20 kilograms before Svetlana's arrival in a scant 12 days.
Afterwards much computer catching up was done until the evenings main event kicked off - Legion3's birthday and home brew tasting session. Legion's 2&4, BrotherStealer, Badger, Spare Legion, and Hector the Nazi were among in attendance and a great time was had by all. Thanks to daylight savings we were up until quite late which forced today to be a day of total rest.
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... A Horrible Discovery

Ironically thanks to the work of ArchEnemy my attention has been brought to Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

It is the latest work, nay masterpiece, of Joss Whedon.

And it has the added bonus of making it through the anti-video net of SoccerBuddy and the fun police down at the corporate IT department.

Do yourself a favour and go view it now, I'll be waiting when you get back.

...

...

Bah, I can't be bothered waiting any longer.

It will give you a good idea of how my Thursday night gaming group's super hero game went... except without the singing... and the dialogue was probably worse... and it probably made less sense... actually it's not very much the same at all.

Anyway, other horrible things that happened this week include:

• going all the way out to BestFriendSincePrep's country mansion only to be beaten soundly at my own games
• my Tuesday gaming group deciding (eventually, oh the indecision) that Deadlands' supernatural western setting was what we'd play next
  
• Innocent Em beating me to the end of 2.0
• my falling for the latest ploy of Torchwood - taking me out for lunches and dinners to make me fond of her
• making a cameo appearance at Sandringham, my home branch, after being on desk at Hampton
• the return of The Bastard for the Pirate Dave birthday edition of Thursday night gaming
• having The Great Sandro over to watch the Collingwood vs Nth Melbourne game debacle
  

... The Gaming Buck's Night of Legion2

Before I get into the main event I have to mention that I scored another goal at soccer on Thursday night. Well, my team mate basically bounced his pass off me into the goal but I'm claiming it since I ran to be in good position. I'm now at 8 goals in 16 months so expect the next goal report on April 10th.


The Main Event

This Saturday we had the second Buck's Night event to celebrate Legion2's upcoming nuptials.

In the grand tradition of the Buck's Nights of Gavman, ArchEnemy, and ElfBoy it was an afternoon and evening of gaming.

The afternoon was a fast-play version of one of our card tournaments with Legion2, Mr Magpie (no relation), Gavman, MatrixMan, Elfboy, and myself taking part.
Mr Magpie (no relation) romped in unbeaten. The fast-play kind-of worked except for the highlight grudge-game between Legion2 and yours truly which went for an hour and a half in a huge stalemate and - in younger brother tantrum style - included Legion2 having a fit of table punching over an insignificant mistake when the game was fairly obviously going to be won by him in the next few minutes anyway.

With the addition of ArchEnemy, BestFriendSincePrep and Badger we switched to a movie trivia game whilst the footy was on tv in the background. Surprisingly few of the answers were Red Dawn.
Ooh I just though of a Caution (about time I had another one): Alcohol does not a quick trivia game make. Even if you do play in teams.
When asked something along the lines of "Who starred in the 1994 film xxx?" a slightly affected BestFriendSincePrep responded with "Is this a true or false question?"

Disgusted with the pies display of football Mr Magpie (no relation) left shortly after the end of trivia and ArchEnemy joined him.

We remaining seven began our final game of the evening - a seven knight game of Shadows Over Camelot. By a quirk of fate Legion2 was the secret traitor, although MatrixMan's beginner status and inebriation made his clumsy play seem quite suspicious. At the end of that game most of the evenings attendees departed.

Since it was still early - and to stay in the bucksish spirit - Legion2, Badger and I stayed up until 3am having philosophical discussion about the quality of recent content various visual entertainment delivery systems had displayed.


The Day After

After a much needed recovery rest - and a treasure hunt around my flat for beer bottles from the previous nights festivities - I attended a wedding rehearsal. It was mostly just an excuse to have some nibbles and bubbles in the park but I think a few important ceremonial things were sorted out while I was busy making sure the free dip didn't go to waste.

... A Burst of Geekiness

Monday night I attended my third Geektogether. This time I convinced Pirate Dave to go along as proof that I'm not making up all the stuff I say about gaming with other people.

Summary of the evening: Dave did an excellent job of making me look good by overindulging in Guiness and getting loud with the other geeks; I consumed many Guini myself - two of them after I'd stopped; lots of good gaming talk; surprisingly a bit of political and religious talk; about seven new gamers that I've not met before.

Tuesday was a gaming night, and one that BestFriendSincePrep deigned to actually show up for and, along with Legion2, Gavman and ArchEnemy, played a one-shot game of Special Forces - Action Movie role-playing. Zombies, demons, clichés and fun were the result.


Workwise I've spent most of my time hanging out with CC and Imposter Phil (who thematically came out to me as an "ex" gaming geek yesterday) getting ready for new PCs for Beaumaris branch.

... The Week that Was Suddenly Over

Monday - The Apprentice
My first day of being saddled with a work experience student who inexplicably was interested in Library IT. I took to heart the task of cautioning him about the detrimental effect if being immersed in LibraryLand. He was also initiated into the wonders of "Hey Phill!" problem solving for most of the day.

Tuesday - Corporate Drive By
The Apprentice started the day by asking me if I was going to start working soon, so I decided to punish him by taking him into the Council Corporate Centre IT department.
It didn't phase him.
So I took him to several of our branches in an attempt to overwhelm him with librarians and locations. He was made of sterner stuff than that and shrugged most of it off with a hmmph. So far he looked like prime IT material.

Wednesday - Road Trips, Meetings and Paperwork
The Apprentice and I traveled up and down the Seaside Road today to fix problems that were already fixed by the time we arrived at the branch. So far he was getting an excellent introduction to the life of an IT Man in LibraryLand. The next test was the IT Team meeting. The afternoon's meeting was attended by all team members and The Apprentice fitted (fat?) right in by nodding off in tandem with The Pragmatist.
After The Apprentice had gone home I stayed back at work diligently catching up on the paperwork that I was just not cruel enough to force an innocent minion to complete.
Whilst I was catching up on said paperwork, The Flibberty Gibbet, enabled by Supervisor Grand Chief K of course, made another stalking phone call. This time I was able to legitimately say I was working on RFID - it was a strange feeling, kind of itchy.

Thursday - Chocolates, Soccer and Snoozes
I was able to offload The Apprentice onto Sister Serials as a box unpacker while I attended the Service Coordinators meeting. We then spent the afternoon working out how to embiggen the print size of our slip printers and installing it on Bomber Babe's PC as a test.
The surprise of the afternoon was the box of chocolates The Apprentice gave me as a thank you for dragging him all over my little corner of LibraryLand. I shared them of course - it would have looked greedy if I'd eaten more than 80% of the box.
I rushed off to soccer delighted at being able to play in 32 degree heat for the second week running. The upside was that I scored the "last goal wins" goal by dribbling a kick over the line while we all watched on exhausted. The goal arrived right on target keeping me at a my goal every three months average. The post game recovery took a full hour but finally I was able to drag myself off home and then to ArchEnemy's for falling asleep on the couch during gaming.

Friday - SPUN and Branch Drinks
The morning was our free xmas lunch at Civica HQ preceded by the quarterly SPUN Meeting. I brought Mr Prada along as a minion to show my new stature as Mr Secretary but completely forgot to have him Fight Flibberty's minion in the pit, oh well there's always next time. I had a quick catch up over a glass of free wine with Madame President to cover where the exec was at and then headed out into the city.
After a quick drop by visit to Rugrat Twin's retail workplace I trained my way back to Sandringham.
After booting up my laptop I shut it down and we all headed off to the branch xmas drinks and dinner. It was a good evening with a cameo by Chanlib, and the evening seen out in increasingly slurred conversation with Mr Prada and Scully.

Saturday - A BBQ and Librarians Running Amok
A last minute BBQ with Fridgepower, Judgemingus, their spawn and several others left me rushing a little to make it to Miss Amanda's delightful residence for the Library Xmas Party soirée.
It was a very well attended event, with magnificent food and much joviality. I was able to meet the infamous infamous Mr Amanda, and noted the family resemblance when Little Miss Amanda called me the best customer for food trays.
The evening took a turn for the surreal later on when the Sing Star computer game was fired up. I tell you nothing compares to a 15 librarian chorus of Unchained melody - it almost killed Torchwood with hysterics (watching said fit may have been the best ten minutes of the evening).

Sunday - Legion Gathers
And finally I get to today. The clan was having a get together to celebrate several birthdays and my impending departure for Svetlanaland. No wait they weren't celebrating my leaving they were saying farewell. Handy Dad, Freeloading Mum, Legion2-4 and various partners were all there and we had a nice lunch before heading home for some much needed rest.


Hey I just found out that you can only have 200 characters of Labels on a blog post. Though the error message is confusing as it just says that you have more than 200 characters but not that it's only the labels that it cares about. I was thinking that I needed an Everything label for this post and now I had to trim out some of the less important tags.

... A Cup Day BBQ

After some relatively sedate Monday night drinks to celebrate Legion4's birthday Melbourne Cup Day began with a much needed sleep in - barely feline interrupted at all.

My impeccable complimentary gastronomic timing had me arrive at MrRogers's BBQ just as the meat from the spit roast was being served. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching races, fashion and kids running amuck. BestFriendSincePrep brought his brood and so did The Electric Tiger. It is uncanny how the kids know to come and stand in front of the TV for the three minutes of The Race after being elsewhere for an hour.

Later in the afternoon I was subjected to some SMS stalking by The Flibberty Gibbet thanks to the enabling activities of Supervisor Grand Chief K.

Some pseudo regular gaming occurred in the evening with Legion2 and ArchEnemy.

After such a lovely day off I returned to work today to confront issues small and large and the prospect of the looming RFID implementation. All that work ahead makes the prospect of being kidnapped in Svetlanaland seem all the more tempting.

... The Power Failure at the 'G

I spent an enjoyable afternoon yesterday at BestFriendSincePrep's for a Grand Final Day BBQ along with Legion2, Gavman, ArchEnemy, StumpyRudolph, ElfBoy and many others. It was fantastic to see the arrogant Port humbled in the game and we were all cheering for the same side for once.

I think we need to start a petition to have pies placed second for the season as we clearly outplayed both of the other top four teams against Geelong.