Starting again

 So, it seems that One is forestalled from starting regular posting by an internalised desire to summarise all that has occurred previously before continuing onwards with shorter posts. Well, no more will that internal barrier stop me as I shall shove it aside and jump straight to the latest happenings, and the past can take care of itself.

So, the grand annual camping tradition known as Mt Disappointment was restarted this weekend past. Avid readers will remember our last resurrection was in 2015 after the annual-ness of the annual event ended with the 2009 trip.

This year saw the core group of Oneself, StumpyRudolph, MrRogers, and BestFriendSincePrep, joined by a handful who didn't have the gumption to stay the full night: Gavman, The Electric Tiger, and M. Sneaky Pete had excused himself on the grounds of having an important family birthday do on for Mirri Cat Warrior, but I ask you what family is more important, family you have known for nigh on 50 years, or family that you have known for only exactly 12 years to the day?!?

Sigh.

Anyway, we have become a lot more at ease with comfort and seem to have permanently moved the event to StumpyRudolph's property which provides a modicum of extra comforts. Easier road and track access meant that such things as a spit roast and many lights, tables and shelters could be festooned upon the revellers. In fact all that was missing was toileting facilities. Thankfully we were all afforded the get back to nature opportunity that their lack entails.

The increased maturity also lead to an enjoyable night of medium level indulgence rather than the traditional overindulgence. It does appear our bodies are very thankful for the change and it may just become the new normal.

We were also blessed with the weather holding off until we were all packed up and homeward bound - even with BestFriendSincePrep giving us an exciting flat battery challenge to overcome - another set of changes from the traditional drizzled to death of the morning after wherein it was usually one's own conveyance that provided the exciting challenges.

All in all a great time and, in the words of BestFriendSincePrep, now 100% guaranteed to be back as an annual event.

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A Magic Birthday

 Firstly, let me acknowledge the tsunamilanche of birthday well wishes one received whilst one was engaged in birthday activities elsewhere.  They are by no means required but they do warm the cockles of one's heart - creating a sort of tight hot feeling in the chest.

Anyway, on to the events of the birthday weekend.

Things commenced with Salsa Girl informing one to be decently dressed for Friday dinner - as if the mucking about pants one drapes oneself in for workdays would not pass some sort of muster.

The mystery deepened as, throughout said dinner, Hulk repeatedly just had to check nothing at the front door and assured one that definitely no one from the family was expected.

You can imagine one's surprise when Sneaky Pete appeared at the door to assume Hulk control responsibilities.

Salsa Girl then promptly extracted us from the chatterboxing Hulk and whisked one away to attend none other than a Magic event.

One was sorely disappointed when, rather than playing the card game that is a mainstay of one's gaming life with the likes of Gavman and Elfboy, one was forced to endure a highly entertaining, interesting, and amazing show of prestidigitation. The covid-related bonus was that being singled out to assist because of birthday-ness did not require one to leave ones comfortable seat as everything was done via shouting and extenda-claws.

The next day - the actual date - dawned with  a relaxed morning of mandatory traditional birthday cheescake eating, and one buying one's presents from Hulk the proprietor of the lounge room Present Shop. The remainder of the day passed with one indulging oneself in whatever manner one chose, which this year including doing the weekly grocery shop.

Sunday saw the gathering of the Legion clan and the traditional handing of the insulting birthday card from Freeloading Mum to oneself - although one does wonder why Sneaky Pete who also has a birthday around this time received a card full of glowing and loving sentiment?

In any case a fun-filled legion-time was had before all headed home to sleep the sleep of the afternoon-nap deprived.

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Traditional Easter

So, this Easter break was another traditional Easter with all the traditional Easter holiday activities and holiday day names.

Starting with the traditional Evening-Before-Good-Friday footy watching, wherein it was good to see the pies back on track.

Continuing with the traditional Saturday-After-Good-Friday-and-Before-Easter-Sunday gaming day of Magic playing with Sneaky Pete, Gavman, ElfBoy, and Commander Fry, all partaking in some traditional Magic card playing (absent were BestFriendSincePrep and MatrixMan, both partaking in non-traditional going away for Easter).

Next was the traditional Easter-Sunday-Two-Days-After-Good-Friday-and-One-Day-Before-The-Monday-After-Easter-Sunday early wakeup and hunt for fluffy little chickens and eggs with Salsa Girl and Hulk. One will be discovering the things in odd places for weeks to come.

And finally today on the Monday-After-Easter-Sunday holiday it is time for the traditional what do we do with an extra day of holidays day. Incorporating all of the traditional too much chocolate events.
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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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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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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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The Resurrection of Disappointment

This weekend past saw the reinstating of a long standing tradition.

Oneself, along with BestFriendSincePrep, StumpyRudolph, MrRogers, Legion2, Gavman, The Electric Tiger, and one other, made a return to our annual camping trip - although Gavman's attendance being counted is in dispute as heading home for a dinner after several hours is either commitment to turn up at all or abandonment of the cause for the flimsy excuse of attending the one chance to catch up with a friend he's known 7 years longer than us.

Sorry that previous sentence should read "camping" or far too much civilisation is implied - although the use of no less than 3 tents this year created ample sleeping space which is a bit of a departure from the usual cramped situation.

It was a good return to form, after a four year break, as we notched up our 22nd trip with a minimal incident count - just a few scratches here and there and some minor burns. Maybe some muscles ended up a little achey as well.

There was the required roaring fire, much rubbishing talk, consumption of beverages, chopping, throwing, footy kicking, and many trips into the dark for harvesting bonfire fuel and other requirements.

One feels that one's blokey quota for the year has been adequately fulfilled.
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Games Galore

The year's gaming is off to a smashing start with a brace of gaming events having already been completed.

New Year's Day was an all day Magical event with Gavman and ElfBoy both using aquiring pass-outs for the days event.

Last week one once more got away with running a games event in the library, for work, and payed as well.
It went off smashingly with both Pirate Dave and Scary Spice helping out - although Nemesis did turn up to play as well, throwing a dark shadow of sabotage across the events.
Many games were indulged in including one's gallant 1 game all chess draw with a 9 year old girl, Castle Panic, Get Bit, Saboteur, and Fox and Hens.

And one also took advantage of the long weekend to indulge in the typical Aussie pastime of staying inside for gaming.
Joined by Pirate Dave, Badger and Legion2, with Gavman joining later in the evening we powered our way through Samurai Battles (the game where the result doesn't matter especially as Pirate Dave continues his dominance); Eldritch Horror; Say Anything; and too many hours of Magic.

All in all one is just about gamed out - except for tonight's role playing gaming night which I can't wait for.
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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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A Moving Time, Parte the Seconde

Further grand adventures that occurred include.

• 3 innumerable quests to IKEA in search of critical components for a new household
• finally finding time to watch my Xmas dvd of Dredd and pronouncing it a 4 star experience
• the successful procurement of Young Jim into the Tuesday Knights
• finishing the grand epic Wheel of Tedium with A Memory of Light which turned out to be quite a good read and wrap up of the story line with minimal braid tugging, earning itself a 4 star rating
• a mammoth Sunday's gaming recommencement with Badger, Pirate Dave, Young Jim, Legion, FridgePower, Judge Mingus, Ball Boy, Amoeba, ElfBoy, Gavman, lot's of boardgames and fun for all in The Gaming Garage
• what can only be described as a devouring of the first season of Game of Thrones
• much attendance at various supervisor training from which Sidekick will benefit - particularly the revelations about bullying
• extreme computer rollout busyness - you all know how much one loves that
• Pirate Dave's emergence as Mister Boardgames
• the return of footy watching
• a quite enjoyable read of Accellerando by Charles Stross
• finally finding time to watch my Xmas dvd of Prometheus and pronouncing it a 3 star experience
• a return to footy excursions with The Great Sandro and one's first ever Queen's Birthday match attendance
• a good catchup with The Viking Hat GM, Exploding Ninja Pony, The Mad Magyar, and Frenchy, as TVHGM and progeny celebrated their co-located birthdays with abundant cake
• a second Gaming Sunday, thus proving that there will be an ongoing pattern

And that catches us all up to an incredibly detailed level sothat you all know what has been going on in the wonderful world of The Tales.

See you all next week.

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A Moving Time

So we have mostly* finished the move into our new demesne.
         (* for values of mostly that include dozens of boxes still unpacked)

And I have finally unpacked the box that contained The Tales and so I am able to blow the dust off and recommence my commitment to regularly Blog once more.

Obviously it may take a little time to establish one's posting rhythm again - hmm, unless one chooses bimonthly as ones new frequency.


Some of the plethora of things that have whizzed by in these short two months of silence include, in sort of chronological order (imagine long and witty posts about each of these, if you will):

• many many hours of box packing activities and fending off repeated suggestions from Salsa Girl along the lines of "you could just throw out that bottle top" when it obviously has sentimental value.
• many hours of unpacking The Tiger from said packing boxes
• a gaming session at Gavman's new demesne
• the horror and panic of finding that Google had decided to close Google reader. Luckily Fantomas was on the case and things are happily humming along on Feedly these days.
• Hulk making the transition to her new cot
• a gadget upgrade and modernisation courtesy of work - the downside being the expectation that work will be done on work devices
• a mostly regular return to gaming at the hands of Badger with Fantomas, Pirate Dave, and Legion2 rounding out the party.
• the scary issues of mortgage documents going missing in the mail and much scrambling to create a replacement set in time
• news that Fantomas would forsake gaming for romance in a move to far distant realms of the city - pod person replacement is suspected - however the formulation of wresting back the hosting began at this moment
• inspections of the new place including obligatory revealing of heretofore unseen marks and stains
• drop by attacks on FridgePower, Judge Mingus, and their cohort
• a settlement day free of problems
• 2 dad's and a moving day both Handy Frank and Doctor David proving their worth
• the debut of The Gaming Garage as a venue for, well, gaming actually
• patching up the old place in preparation for becoming a bloody landlord
• introducing The Tiger to her new courtyard lifestyle
• quite a few hard settling nights as Hulk put her newly learned resistance skills into practise
• bidding a happy farewell to Supervisor Grand Chief K and Big J as they head OS (separately) leaving the rest of us to run amuck with the library service

to be continued . . .

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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The Last Hurrah

This Sunday last one held the last of one's monthly Sunday gaming days for some time - with Hulk's arrival scheduled for the end of the month it was thought best to not try for one more at the end of the month as well.

We had a cast of thousands. If you round up. A lot.

• Legion2, Badger (regulars)
• Gavman, Elfboy (semi regulars)
• Young Jim (transitioning to regular)
• The Bastard (pretending to be both semi-regular and transitioning to regular)
• Judge Mingus, Ball Boy (first timers)

Many games were played including a surprising slant towards one's favourites.

It was the sort of amazing never-to-be-repeated gaming event that the likes of, say, The Real Greg Dean, would be kicking themselves for missing merely for being interstate.

The mound of snacks was nearly legendary enough to satisfy the The Viking Hat GM (who is some sort of minor deity of snacktitude).

All in all it was a great send-off for the monthly gaming and if you didn't make it then you should begin preparing yourself for The New Beginning starting sometime in the future, taking some form, and being held in some place.
With advance warning like that there will be no excuse for non-attendance!
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Birth days, Various

The past couple of weekends have been the domain of birthday celebration attendance for Salsa Girl and I.

Whereas the past couple of weeks have been the domain of rolling out new printers at work - the contrast is quite noticeable when Salsa Girl is not there escorting one through the event.


Anyway, the ageing celebrations kicked off with the early afternoon shindig for The Viking Hat GM and sprog. The usual suspects were there causing the usual mayhem - Exploding Ninja Pony, The Mad Magyar, and even Frenchy with his double daughter dance of destruction.
Fatherhood seems to have calmed down my Viking hatted friend as he was as subdued as a man suffering a heavy man-cold during the celebration. There was good food on offer - although bringing a plate oneself does seem to defeat the purpose of a free feed - still, I swapped a quiche for some chocolate cake so I know I came out ahead.


After that lovely reunion it was on to the big celebration for Mr Magpie (no relation). Fondly remembering the triumph that was his rain and alcohol soaked thirtieth I was all prepared for a big one. However it turned out to be more of a good conversation and child soaked affair. Of course Legion2 was in attendance as was Gavman and all found it quite enjoyable especially the fully over-catered buffet that was the evening repast.


Skipping forward a week we arrive at the afternoon celebration convened to celebrate Uncle Niece's second annum. The afternoon started sedately but by the end there were repeated games of Squash Uncle Phool occurring - an activity best not done at an occasion in which two different cakes and scones have been featured.


All in all a quite pleasant and Phill-fulling way to spend one's weekends.
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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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The Many Expectations of Xmas

This week past has - not unexpectedly - seen many an Xmas related activity.

As expected the final meeting of the inner cabal at the library had a tinge of the Xmas about it, with several goodbyes for the year and a meal shared by all.

As expected the councils Xmas lunch for the hard-working staff, as exemplified by yours-truly, signalled the end to the working year as it demolished any chance of productivity in the remaining hours of the afternoon before the Xmas break. Even partaking at the level of moderation one is famous for could not produce an iota of work after that sumptuous feast.

As expected Salsa Girl and I made our now customary annual trip slightly North to Xmas with the maternal side of her heritage. Some terrific Turkey was had in both firsts and seconds for the day as well as a traditional Aussie pav as a dessert.

As could reasonably be expected - given Xmas's past - our zoom back to the city to catch one's relatives in the early evening was delayed by the ferocity of a typical Melbourne Xmas storm.
Our final arrival at the famous Aunties had us almost missing the desserts and, in fact, further worry occurred as Salsa Girl insisted on us having mains before we could touch the dessert pavlova - I was concerned as it had been so long since I had had pav for dessert.
In any case the evening progressed with the tail end of the storm providing a lovely lightning show and Legion4 putting on an encore performance of his famous Very Messy Xmas of '08. During the evening one was also surprised to see that Cousin Dave, down from Sydney, had his eldest offspring toddling around everywhere -  I mean she didn't even exist when last we caught up and one could hardly expect that much change in a scant few years.

As expected all those Xmas Day shenanigans were followed by the Boxing Day of Extreme Lassitude. I believe one may have ventured outside once just for the thrill of it but cannot recall.


Quite unexpectedly the next day became a day of gaming after Gavman unexpectedly demanded his birthday dues.
You see we have a tradition in one's corner of the gaming world that any gaming on a birthday involves the birthdayee choosing the game to be played.
We all believed ourselves to be safe from the proclivities of Gavman's gaming appetites as he shared his birthday with a rather well known messiah.
However Legion2, Elfboy and myself where all caught in his insidious web as he invoked yesterday's shifted Xmas holiday to put us at the mercy of his gaming desires.

As expected he chose Magic the Gathering (with variants) and it was a tortuous half-day playing one of my top ten games.
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Stepping Ahead

Well the global corporate challenge finished in the middle of last week and yours truly managed to end it all in a winning position.

You see I was able to complete the challenge, in true Millenium Falcon style, by using less steps than anyone else in my team.
I am currently awaiting for my accolades to commence.


In other stepping news Saturday afternoon saw The Great Sandro and Legion2 at one's domicile for some good old-fashioned lounge room footy watching. We all had a great time watching the mighty pies go one step closer to the Grand Final.


One's Sunday was spent with the likes of Fantomas, Gavman, Pirate Dave, and DragonMim, in the clutches of The Bastard as we took the first steps in his new Pathfinder roleplaying game campaign. He appears to have lulled them all into a false sense of security by making it a fun time but I, knowing better, have my eye on him and am ready to strike at the first sign of shenanigans.
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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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