... the IT man in LibraryLand
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.
.
Showing posts with label MatrixMan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MatrixMan. Show all posts
Fungi Friends and Freezing Footy
So this Friday last was another regular catch up organised by The Fungi Lady.
Also in attendance were:
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.
.
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.
.
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.
.
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.
.
G, What a Book
So the latest tome in one's grand endeavour of the A to Z of Unread SciFi and Fantasy Authors required no recommendation as it had been weighing down one's bowing to read shelf for some years since it was oh so callously discarded from the library collection.
The title in question carries on one's "Pillars" theme from last year and is The Pillars of Creation by Terry Goodkind.
Technically it may count as a recommendation as MatrixMan has spruiked the series from time to time.
In any case, on to the book itself.
One approached it with mild trepidation having heard some things about the authors libertarian-esque leanings - and the dedication being a jingoistic paean to the protectors of our nation didn't help one's wariness.
However once into the story itself (which I shall discuss very shortly dear patient reader) such (pl)attitudes faded into the background.
One was lucky, I believe, that although Pillars is book 7 of 15 in a series it just happens to be the one stand-alone that introduces new characters for the majority of it's story and requires no prior knowledge of convoluted goings on.
In the end it was a standard okay read with no great surprises nor a plot that made me have to keep reading. It also tweaked one's personal dislike for "a wizard did it" as explanation for the workings of magic - although it seems the wider series has more rules for the magic.
In the end it's a three star book that skips my recommend pile and goes straight to declutter.
.
The title in question carries on one's "Pillars" theme from last year and is The Pillars of Creation by Terry Goodkind.
Technically it may count as a recommendation as MatrixMan has spruiked the series from time to time.
In any case, on to the book itself.
One approached it with mild trepidation having heard some things about the authors libertarian-esque leanings - and the dedication being a jingoistic paean to the protectors of our nation didn't help one's wariness.
However once into the story itself (which I shall discuss very shortly dear patient reader) such (pl)attitudes faded into the background.
One was lucky, I believe, that although Pillars is book 7 of 15 in a series it just happens to be the one stand-alone that introduces new characters for the majority of it's story and requires no prior knowledge of convoluted goings on.
In the end it was a standard okay read with no great surprises nor a plot that made me have to keep reading. It also tweaked one's personal dislike for "a wizard did it" as explanation for the workings of magic - although it seems the wider series has more rules for the magic.
In the end it's a three star book that skips my recommend pile and goes straight to declutter.
.
An Excellent Expansive E Book
One has finished the most excellent third volume in the Expanse Series by James S A Corey - Abaddon's Gate.
A solid 4.5 stars that kept me wanting to read more. If you like hardish sci-fi and interesting characters then you shouldn't miss it. And as a bonus when the current TV series becomes a world wide hit you'll be able to snob "I read the book years ago".
And now that that's finished I'm ready to move on to my E book in my A to Z of Unread SciFi and Fantasy Authors quest.
Unfortunately there seems to be a dearth of E authors. Still, there were a few good suggestions. Mr Prada was first into the suggestion box, however one had already sampled a Ben Elton book in the distant past.
It would seem that the suggestion of The Bastard, backed up by MatrixMan, is the winner with Gardens of the Moon, a little Erickson number (that begins a decology!!), except there is a delay as one is ordering it in from a rival library service.
Therefore, in the meantime, one will proceed with Fantomas's tactfully presented suggestion of a Warren Ellis near future novel, an author whom one has read some graphic novels of.
The volume in question - Crooked Little Vein - also happens to be sitting on one's library discards pile at home, which is excellent for one's lazy book selection style.
.
A solid 4.5 stars that kept me wanting to read more. If you like hardish sci-fi and interesting characters then you shouldn't miss it. And as a bonus when the current TV series becomes a world wide hit you'll be able to snob "I read the book years ago".
And now that that's finished I'm ready to move on to my E book in my A to Z of Unread SciFi and Fantasy Authors quest.
Unfortunately there seems to be a dearth of E authors. Still, there were a few good suggestions. Mr Prada was first into the suggestion box, however one had already sampled a Ben Elton book in the distant past.
It would seem that the suggestion of The Bastard, backed up by MatrixMan, is the winner with Gardens of the Moon, a little Erickson number (that begins a decology!!), except there is a delay as one is ordering it in from a rival library service.
Therefore, in the meantime, one will proceed with Fantomas's tactfully presented suggestion of a Warren Ellis near future novel, an author whom one has read some graphic novels of.
The volume in question - Crooked Little Vein - also happens to be sitting on one's library discards pile at home, which is excellent for one's lazy book selection style.
.
And D Winner is ...
As per one's previous posting I am crowd sourcing a D author for my A to Z of Unread Sci-Fi and Fantasy Authors reading undertaking.
By virtue of one being on the shelf at one's working library branch I shall shortly be commencing a tome by Gardner Dozois - Strangers.
Congratulations to MatrixMan on the successful recommendation. Although Badger may have inadvertently won by virtue of handing the Legion a Space Opera collection containing a Delaney novella, without any knowledge of the competition being underway.
Amoeba shall serve out a one recommendation suspension after being yellow carded for continuing to recommend previously read authors.
And Pirate Dave's status is being considered after he went backwards and handed one an unread C author.
Sigh. Rules people, rules.
.
By virtue of one being on the shelf at one's working library branch I shall shortly be commencing a tome by Gardner Dozois - Strangers.
Congratulations to MatrixMan on the successful recommendation. Although Badger may have inadvertently won by virtue of handing the Legion a Space Opera collection containing a Delaney novella, without any knowledge of the competition being underway.
Amoeba shall serve out a one recommendation suspension after being yellow carded for continuing to recommend previously read authors.
And Pirate Dave's status is being considered after he went backwards and handed one an unread C author.
Sigh. Rules people, rules.
.
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.
.
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.
.
Local Warming
This weekend past was a busy one indeed.
Friday night was consumed by one of those pre-event shopping trips where you just keep adding things to the trolley because they will make the event better. Finally you arrive at the checkout with a huge mound of foodstuffs most of which will still be lurking in your fridge the day after the event.
Saturday afternoon was the occasion of the main event itself - a drop by housewarming to welcome Salsa Girl into the place and celebrate this latest stage in our grand experiment.
Having not much space in our residence we invited only those that were known well to both of us (lest the legendary horde of Phill-friends cause a major sardine effect).
I think it all went off quite well with a rotating cast of about a dozen including:
After such a hectic and fun-filled afternoon Salsa Girl and I headed off to spend the evening at the birthday celebrations for BestFriendSincePrep's bester half. With a tended cocktail bar and eighties music galore it really was quite a delightful way to end the day. And there was chocolate cake!
.
Friday night was consumed by one of those pre-event shopping trips where you just keep adding things to the trolley because they will make the event better. Finally you arrive at the checkout with a huge mound of foodstuffs most of which will still be lurking in your fridge the day after the event.
Saturday afternoon was the occasion of the main event itself - a drop by housewarming to welcome Salsa Girl into the place and celebrate this latest stage in our grand experiment.
Having not much space in our residence we invited only those that were known well to both of us (lest the legendary horde of Phill-friends cause a major sardine effect).
I think it all went off quite well with a rotating cast of about a dozen including:
- Legion2 sadly flying solo due to family illness, well other family than yours truly
- The Great Sandro who planted himself on the couch ne'er to move
- MatrixMan and Vengeful Vic with young Couch Killer in tow and solidifying his blog name with a delightful splash of red on our new couch
- The Double Jays turning up WITHOUT their trademark chocolate cake!!!!!!
- ElfBoy and Elfboylet making a big mess and being scared off by The Tiger.
After such a hectic and fun-filled afternoon Salsa Girl and I headed off to spend the evening at the birthday celebrations for BestFriendSincePrep's bester half. With a tended cocktail bar and eighties music galore it really was quite a delightful way to end the day. And there was chocolate cake!
.
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.
.
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.
.
Talks with China
This Saturday last saw my first ever attendance at a Melbourne Writer's Festival event. The event of choice being an author talk by China Miéville and Alistair Reynolds on the subject of Frontiers of the Imagination.
One was joined in this endeavour by Legion2, MatrixMan, Vengeful Vic, and Salsa Girl. Between our little group we had read a large amount of the respective authors oeuvre (although some of us had read none at all, being there purely for the atmosphere of the event).
We gathered in the foyer and subsequently joined the end of a snake-like queue that wend it's way around the mezzanine before curling down the main staircase.
Whilst we waited for movement from our line who should brush past me but none other than Sister Serials forging her way to some other, obviously lesser, event of the MWF. Naturally I called out to her in friendly comradeship only to find myself snubbed as she stormed up the stairs on her mission with nary a backward glance in my direction. We'll see who gets IT support this week.
The talk itself was quite interesting with both authors touching on their methods, influences, and aims of their work. Questions were solicited from the audience and, perhaps surprisingly, I found there to be no need to cringe at those posed by the many fans who raised hands skywards.
After the event we stopped for a refreshing drink and bite to eat at a nearby venue before it was time for people to be homeward bound.
Salsa Girl and I were left to ourselves and proceeded to while away the afternoon talking and walking before ending the evening in the most perfect way imaginable - watching the mighty pies dominate in the footy.
.
One was joined in this endeavour by Legion2, MatrixMan, Vengeful Vic, and Salsa Girl. Between our little group we had read a large amount of the respective authors oeuvre (although some of us had read none at all, being there purely for the atmosphere of the event).
We gathered in the foyer and subsequently joined the end of a snake-like queue that wend it's way around the mezzanine before curling down the main staircase.
Whilst we waited for movement from our line who should brush past me but none other than Sister Serials forging her way to some other, obviously lesser, event of the MWF. Naturally I called out to her in friendly comradeship only to find myself snubbed as she stormed up the stairs on her mission with nary a backward glance in my direction. We'll see who gets IT support this week.
The talk itself was quite interesting with both authors touching on their methods, influences, and aims of their work. Questions were solicited from the audience and, perhaps surprisingly, I found there to be no need to cringe at those posed by the many fans who raised hands skywards.
After the event we stopped for a refreshing drink and bite to eat at a nearby venue before it was time for people to be homeward bound.
Salsa Girl and I were left to ourselves and proceeded to while away the afternoon talking and walking before ending the evening in the most perfect way imaginable - watching the mighty pies dominate in the footy.
.
The Innocuous return of Torchwood, and Movie Night
One is at somewhat of a loss.
Friday evenings "celebratory" drinks in honour of the return visit to our shores of Torchwood went off without a single noteworthy hitch or spectacle of which to write about.
Even with Supervisor Grand Chief K at her enabling best there were no sudden spills or embarassing statements and the entire night was only fun and frivilous conversation.
Sigh. How am I supposed to satisfy my content hungry readership if things continue to go well with no unfortunate happenings?
Slightly more eventful was movie night with MatrixMan, Vengeful Vic, and Couch Killer.
We had a trio of movies that fit the "good film that at least one of us hasn't seen" criteria - Big Trouble in Little China, The Losers, Martin - thanks to Fantomas and Legion2 - although I must point out that my identical copy of Big Trouble in Little China would have been superior to Fantomas's.
As has become recent tradition Couch Killer stuck himself to me and I had to control the wriggling, squirming mass for much of the first few hours. When I taunted Vengeful Vic that I was going to steal her child she replied with glee that she had a bag packed for him in the hall and we could leave straight away, so I was forced to recant my taunt.
Since that delightful eve I have had:
.
Friday evenings "celebratory" drinks in honour of the return visit to our shores of Torchwood went off without a single noteworthy hitch or spectacle of which to write about.
Even with Supervisor Grand Chief K at her enabling best there were no sudden spills or embarassing statements and the entire night was only fun and frivilous conversation.
Sigh. How am I supposed to satisfy my content hungry readership if things continue to go well with no unfortunate happenings?
Slightly more eventful was movie night with MatrixMan, Vengeful Vic, and Couch Killer.
We had a trio of movies that fit the "good film that at least one of us hasn't seen" criteria - Big Trouble in Little China, The Losers, Martin - thanks to Fantomas and Legion2 - although I must point out that my identical copy of Big Trouble in Little China would have been superior to Fantomas's.
As has become recent tradition Couch Killer stuck himself to me and I had to control the wriggling, squirming mass for much of the first few hours. When I taunted Vengeful Vic that I was going to steal her child she replied with glee that she had a bag packed for him in the hall and we could leave straight away, so I was forced to recant my taunt.
Since that delightful eve I have had:
- an afternoon of gaming with some D-Day reenactment games of Memoir 44. Attending at the tail end was Amoeba, getting back into my good books with a very late but quite appropriate birthday present of dice and chocolate Fudge.
- yet another skipped gaming night - this one due to Torchwood, and The Administrator and Lord of the Small Fries organising a last minute dinner
- several cases of mysterious chocolate overdose
- my succumbing (? succumbation) to ElfBoy's boys cold that he has been dosing me with for the past month
.
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...
.
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...
.
The Missing Weeks. Part the Fifth
Contrary to unpopular belief I am not instituting a new regimen of daily posting.
The recent frequency is merely a part of the effort to catch up to the present day - a form of time travel, if you will, where the events fly past much faster than normal as we spirit forwards into the future (well, the now actually).
So let's set the controls for the new year and see how far we get...
A Lazy Xmas Day
After a nice little sleep in I collected Legion's 2 & 3 and we made our way to Legion headquarters.
With Freeloading Mum working until the late afternoon lunch was only attended by Handy Dad and the Legion. We partook in a relaxed BBQ lunch with the sun shining down upon us.
Later, when Freeloading Mum arrived, we commenced our giving of token presents and some catch up chat.
Legion followed this with a game of Shadows over Camelot which took us right up until BrotherStealer and the cousins arrived (separately).
Only one branch of cousinage was attending the evening this year on account of holidays I believe. We did see the ever reliable to be in attendance at family gatherings first-name-stealing-cos-he's-a-few-months-older-than-me Cousin Andrew, as well as Cousin Dave and wife and nearly newborn.
An evening feast was had and then the baby-burdened had to leave because of upsetness.
The rest of the 'kids' retired to the garage and thus ensued many hours of Kelly pool playing on the wonky family table.
Thankfully the behaviour of Legion4 was in stark contrast to the previous Xmas day as he had only a moderate number of drinks and was quite the enjoyable company for the whole day.
An Average Boxing Day Board Games
Upon consultation with Pirate Dave it was decided to hold the nigh-traditional board game playing day on the Sunday between the actual day and the public holiday - sort of an average of the two.
ElfBoy, however, had other ideas. Having only cleared his schedule for the actual day - and inexplicably not checking his email on Xmas - he twisted my arm and enforced card playing for the evening of the actual Boxing Day. Of course Pirate Dave and Legion2 were also dragooned into the event.
The next day we gathered for the actual boardgames, swapping Badger in for the unavailable ElfBoy. We managed to knock out a whole mini campaign of my go-to wargame - Memoir'44. However without the assistance of The Viking Hat GM we Belgians could not even muster up a single win and had to give over France to the Germans.
There was not much else happening in the week leading up to years end, a few days off, a few work days that felt like days off and otherwise life as usual.
The New Years Eve Movie Night
Our plan for this New Years was to gather at MatrixMan's to participate in what I like to call "Educating Vengeful Vic". You see MM and I decided it was the perfect opportunity to rectify that terrible Escape from New York shaped gap in Vengeful Vic's cult filmic experience.
We gathered that evening with Legion2, BrotherStealer and Pirate Dave. Of course Couch Killer was also there, hogging all the attention as usual.
We opened the evening with pizza and wine - always the best way to start a movie night - and then commenced our support feature The Ninth Gate up until that point unseen by yours truly.
It was a good supernatural thriller reminiscent of your Damiens and Rosemary's Babies, requiring some thinking to figure it out but between the roomful of us we managed to reach the level of intellect needed.
After that it was onto our main feature which still stood the test of time despite being set in the Now of 1997, and having ginormous mobile phones as state of the art tech.
And so, this brings us to the end of our little series of catch up postings. You should all be well versed in what exactly occurred to this auteur in those many weeks of blogging silence.
A new year would be the time to make all sorts of resolutions about more regular updates but, sadly, the time has passed as I write this and I shall have to wait for New Years next before the opportunity for the declaring of such a resolution arises once more.
up next: a return to the irregular scheduling you must surely have become used to over the last year.
.
The recent frequency is merely a part of the effort to catch up to the present day - a form of time travel, if you will, where the events fly past much faster than normal as we spirit forwards into the future (well, the now actually).
So let's set the controls for the new year and see how far we get...
A Lazy Xmas Day
After a nice little sleep in I collected Legion's 2 & 3 and we made our way to Legion headquarters.
With Freeloading Mum working until the late afternoon lunch was only attended by Handy Dad and the Legion. We partook in a relaxed BBQ lunch with the sun shining down upon us.
Later, when Freeloading Mum arrived, we commenced our giving of token presents and some catch up chat.
Legion followed this with a game of Shadows over Camelot which took us right up until BrotherStealer and the cousins arrived (separately).
Only one branch of cousinage was attending the evening this year on account of holidays I believe. We did see the ever reliable to be in attendance at family gatherings first-name-stealing-cos-he's-a-few-months-older-than-me Cousin Andrew, as well as Cousin Dave and wife and nearly newborn.
An evening feast was had and then the baby-burdened had to leave because of upsetness.
The rest of the 'kids' retired to the garage and thus ensued many hours of Kelly pool playing on the wonky family table.
Thankfully the behaviour of Legion4 was in stark contrast to the previous Xmas day as he had only a moderate number of drinks and was quite the enjoyable company for the whole day.
An Average Boxing Day Board Games
Upon consultation with Pirate Dave it was decided to hold the nigh-traditional board game playing day on the Sunday between the actual day and the public holiday - sort of an average of the two.
ElfBoy, however, had other ideas. Having only cleared his schedule for the actual day - and inexplicably not checking his email on Xmas - he twisted my arm and enforced card playing for the evening of the actual Boxing Day. Of course Pirate Dave and Legion2 were also dragooned into the event.
The next day we gathered for the actual boardgames, swapping Badger in for the unavailable ElfBoy. We managed to knock out a whole mini campaign of my go-to wargame - Memoir'44. However without the assistance of The Viking Hat GM we Belgians could not even muster up a single win and had to give over France to the Germans.
There was not much else happening in the week leading up to years end, a few days off, a few work days that felt like days off and otherwise life as usual.
The New Years Eve Movie Night
Our plan for this New Years was to gather at MatrixMan's to participate in what I like to call "Educating Vengeful Vic". You see MM and I decided it was the perfect opportunity to rectify that terrible Escape from New York shaped gap in Vengeful Vic's cult filmic experience.
We gathered that evening with Legion2, BrotherStealer and Pirate Dave. Of course Couch Killer was also there, hogging all the attention as usual.
We opened the evening with pizza and wine - always the best way to start a movie night - and then commenced our support feature The Ninth Gate up until that point unseen by yours truly.
It was a good supernatural thriller reminiscent of your Damiens and Rosemary's Babies, requiring some thinking to figure it out but between the roomful of us we managed to reach the level of intellect needed.
After that it was onto our main feature which still stood the test of time despite being set in the Now of 1997, and having ginormous mobile phones as state of the art tech.
And so, this brings us to the end of our little series of catch up postings. You should all be well versed in what exactly occurred to this auteur in those many weeks of blogging silence.
A new year would be the time to make all sorts of resolutions about more regular updates but, sadly, the time has passed as I write this and I shall have to wait for New Years next before the opportunity for the declaring of such a resolution arises once more.
up next: a return to the irregular scheduling you must surely have become used to over the last year.
.
The Missing Weeks. Part the Third
As we continue on with our investigation we find ourselves coming to one of those regular seasonal events that seem to occur naturally whenever the season is right.
The Branch Xmas drinks
This years occurrence was located at a different establishment than is the usual case for events such as this.
We gathered in a drinking house recently converted from being an automotive repair business - one presumes that easily hosed concrete floors are an exciting thing for those who earn their livelyhood from the alcohol imbibing industry.
Anyhoo, in attendance were: Mr Prada, Days of our Libraries, Kiwichick, The Pragmatist, Fifi, and even Supervisor Grand Chief K put in an appearance after fixating on my costume accessories for the next evening's party - in particular the handcuffs which just happened to be a part of the pack - and showed a shocking amount of ignorance of who the character I was going as actually was.
Much fun and frivel was had by all. The evening finished relatively early which was fine as the rest of my evening could be spent storing up energy for the next big event.
The 40th
The very next evening was the 40th birthday affair for BestFriendSincePrep. As is his want he had made the whole thing slightly more annoying as it was a costumed ball and therefore costumes had to be prepared. I do suspect though, that it was done purely so that he could wear a wig and experience a warm head all night.
Legion2 and the Brotherstealer where there as were Gavman, StumpyRudolph, MrRogers, MatrixMan, Vengeful Vic and Couch Killer.
My choice of costume - the legendary Snake Plissken - revealed some shocking statistics.
95% of women at the party had no idea who Snake was (one guessed the actor)
20% of men had no idea either - and that's allowing Gavman's guess of Jack Russell in Little China to stand as a success.
This country is obviously in need of a strong education campaign in the area of B-grade sci-fi movies from the early eighties.
I'm not even going to talk about the horrendous sub-100% recognition rate for Legion2's Han Solo costume.
But aside from all that the brilliance of BFSP in having a slushie machine was just one of the many masterstrokes in the nibbles department. All in all a good night and perfect preperation for the next days adventure.
up next: in which our hero traipses from one end of town to the other
.
The Branch Xmas drinks
This years occurrence was located at a different establishment than is the usual case for events such as this.
We gathered in a drinking house recently converted from being an automotive repair business - one presumes that easily hosed concrete floors are an exciting thing for those who earn their livelyhood from the alcohol imbibing industry.
Anyhoo, in attendance were: Mr Prada, Days of our Libraries, Kiwichick, The Pragmatist, Fifi, and even Supervisor Grand Chief K put in an appearance after fixating on my costume accessories for the next evening's party - in particular the handcuffs which just happened to be a part of the pack - and showed a shocking amount of ignorance of who the character I was going as actually was.
Much fun and frivel was had by all. The evening finished relatively early which was fine as the rest of my evening could be spent storing up energy for the next big event.
The 40th
The very next evening was the 40th birthday affair for BestFriendSincePrep. As is his want he had made the whole thing slightly more annoying as it was a costumed ball and therefore costumes had to be prepared. I do suspect though, that it was done purely so that he could wear a wig and experience a warm head all night.
Legion2 and the Brotherstealer where there as were Gavman, StumpyRudolph, MrRogers, MatrixMan, Vengeful Vic and Couch Killer.
My choice of costume - the legendary Snake Plissken - revealed some shocking statistics.
95% of women at the party had no idea who Snake was (one guessed the actor)
20% of men had no idea either - and that's allowing Gavman's guess of Jack Russell in Little China to stand as a success.
This country is obviously in need of a strong education campaign in the area of B-grade sci-fi movies from the early eighties.
I'm not even going to talk about the horrendous sub-100% recognition rate for Legion2's Han Solo costume.
But aside from all that the brilliance of BFSP in having a slushie machine was just one of the many masterstrokes in the nibbles department. All in all a good night and perfect preperation for the next days adventure.
up next: in which our hero traipses from one end of town to the other
.
The Ball Boy and the Baby's Birthday
My weekend just past was highlighted by the first non-virtual catching up I've had for a very long time with FridgePower and Judge Mingus.
Much of the visit time was taken up with the nigh-unstoppable antics of Ball Boy who began my visit as a shy, retiring youngster for a good long twenty seconds or so until I made the possibly fatal mistake of inquiring about his impressive collection of balls. (note that this must be some foreshadowing of the impending maturity looming in my future as I am, for unfathomable reasons, avoiding making the obvious - and hilarious - smutty turn of phrase)
This innocent enquiry lead to a cataloguing of every ball in the collection for my edification - "this is a soccer ball, this is a football, this is a basket ball, this is a small soccer ball, this is a flat beach ball" and so on.
After my spherical knowledge had been increased tenfold we moved on to creating things with wooden blocks and running marbles through our creations once or twice until we decided to demolish our creations and start again - many times over.
Thankfully the rest of my visit time involved quite a hearty midday repast which set all things right with the world again - although it is spooky that FridgePower and Judge Mingus knew which particular foods to serve up that just happened to be several of those amongst my thousands of culinary weaknesses.
After lunch had settled somewhat I made my tactical withdrawal from overexcited toddler tantrum territory and headed to the next appointment of my busy afternoon.
I managed to arrive fashionably late for Couch Killer's 1st birthday celebration, magnificently hosted by Vengeful Vic and MatrixMan. (I am a tad dubious about the fashionability of my arrival since I did swan through the door at the same time as Pirate Dave.)
With nobody the wiser to my previous events activities I was able to claim that I was starving and commenced to bring my stuffed level right up "to the gills" as they say.
Fantomas and ElfBoy were also in attendance along with various other party goers of all ages. Much fun and possibly too much ice cream cake was had by all - and it all still managed to last longer than any 70th birthday event I've attended - thereby proving that the young do indeed have more fun.
After all the excitement I headed home to privately suffer through some mysterious stomach-bloating-without-cause and a sugar-rush crash that hit me hard and for some reason left me seeing Neapolitan rainbows
.
Much of the visit time was taken up with the nigh-unstoppable antics of Ball Boy who began my visit as a shy, retiring youngster for a good long twenty seconds or so until I made the possibly fatal mistake of inquiring about his impressive collection of balls. (note that this must be some foreshadowing of the impending maturity looming in my future as I am, for unfathomable reasons, avoiding making the obvious - and hilarious - smutty turn of phrase)
This innocent enquiry lead to a cataloguing of every ball in the collection for my edification - "this is a soccer ball, this is a football, this is a basket ball, this is a small soccer ball, this is a flat beach ball" and so on.
After my spherical knowledge had been increased tenfold we moved on to creating things with wooden blocks and running marbles through our creations once or twice until we decided to demolish our creations and start again - many times over.
Thankfully the rest of my visit time involved quite a hearty midday repast which set all things right with the world again - although it is spooky that FridgePower and Judge Mingus knew which particular foods to serve up that just happened to be several of those amongst my thousands of culinary weaknesses.
After lunch had settled somewhat I made my tactical withdrawal from overexcited toddler tantrum territory and headed to the next appointment of my busy afternoon.
I managed to arrive fashionably late for Couch Killer's 1st birthday celebration, magnificently hosted by Vengeful Vic and MatrixMan. (I am a tad dubious about the fashionability of my arrival since I did swan through the door at the same time as Pirate Dave.)
With nobody the wiser to my previous events activities I was able to claim that I was starving and commenced to bring my stuffed level right up "to the gills" as they say.
Fantomas and ElfBoy were also in attendance along with various other party goers of all ages. Much fun and possibly too much ice cream cake was had by all - and it all still managed to last longer than any 70th birthday event I've attended - thereby proving that the young do indeed have more fun.
After all the excitement I headed home to privately suffer through some mysterious stomach-bloating-without-cause and a sugar-rush crash that hit me hard and for some reason left me seeing Neapolitan rainbows
.
... The Upgrade Week
Since last we spoke the bulk of my time has been taken up with a library system upgrade which has, unfortunately, involved scads of work from yours truly despite my every effort to have it fix itself.
Of course this hasn't stopped a multitude of other events occurring in my tumultuous life. Amongst them are:
.
Of course this hasn't stopped a multitude of other events occurring in my tumultuous life. Amongst them are:
- Corporate get-togethers replete with morning tea and lunch
- a footy trip with The Great Sandro including a magnificent 40 minute wait at our usual meeting point as he thought I may just still be home at our scheduled meeting time. This caused me to skip dinner in order to get into the game ASAP. Of course there was then a 10 minute delay on entry - missing us the beginning of the match. Further insult was added at half time when only every second nourishment dispensing station was open causing 30 metre queues and late our return to our seats.
- a gaming Sunday which helped me to relax somewhat in preparation for the onslaught of the upgrade week ahead (The Tiger hissing like a cobra at the presence of MatrixMan's offspring was a little counter to stress relief though)
- a visit to a knee specialist with an oddly detached and alien manner - and not the cool hunt you down one by one type of alien. Anyway it looks like the ACL may have been the culprit all along and reconstruction may be the only option for improvement. An MRI is in the works to get a better idea of what's happening in front of my knee-pit.
- a tortuous desk shift serving the public
- a tortuous return to gaming with The Viking Hat GM and Co.
- a mad dash home to find that I had inadvertently avenged myself upon The Great Sandro by leaving him waiting on my stoop, only to have him pull the master-stroke and demand pre-game doughnuts. Said doughnuts caused us to be 2 people from the front of the queue when the match sold-out and the window closed. Needless to say one disgruntled doughnut-eating train trip later we were ensconced in my warm comfortable lounge room watching the pies performance on the tele-o-vision instead of being crushed into the icy arena as we'd intended.
- some sedate buck's night drinks for the benefit of Sir Clive Pitbull
- an irrefusable invite to an afternoon birthday drink for Amoeba at which the suns warmth had me down to a t-shirt on a winters afternoon wasting away time I could have spent on upgrade preparation
- a long, lonely afternoon and evening of preparing the libraries for this weeks days of reduced catalogue access - with only my overtime to keep me warm
- a day of near-perfect "not much to do" without the main computer "stuff" accessible - although I was forced to get some other work done
.
... The Abandoned Book
With a slight dearth of things of which to elaborate upon I am going back a week or so to inform you all of the last book I was reading.
I should say attempting to read - as my post title states I was forced to abandon my reading.
The book in question is The Iron Tree by Cecilia Dart-Thornton whose author bio paints her as a bit of a loon.
Being a fantasy novel it is book one of her second trilogy. You'd think that she must have done something right with her first trilogy but the eminently trustworthy Miss Amanda informs me that she failed to make it past page 60 of CDT's first opus. To further cement my belief in the correctness of my book abandoning MatrixMan agrees about the waffling nature of the first trilogy and the obviousness of the authors particular favourite subjects of interest.
Anyway on to the actual book at hand. It is a psuedo-celtic high fantasy of the farm boy with a destiny variety. The pseudo celtic includes mini essays on houshold spirits, folk tales, and assorted wights who, for all the word-count devoted to them, don't have very much to do with the story at all.
There are also many indepth discussions of the particular ways that various craftsmen create their wares - a simple stroll through a market at one point takes an unbelievable number of pages to complete because it is apparently necessary that we know how the potter came upon his clay to make the tiny pots that the protagonist affords only a passing glance.
In general each sentence has at least one to many scintilating effervescant adjectives and all of the characters talk in a prithee thee manner.
A gave up at the halfway point when the big secret about the heros past completely failed to excite me and I couldn't face the remaining half of the book.
My rating is one and a half stars.
.
I should say attempting to read - as my post title states I was forced to abandon my reading.
The book in question is The Iron Tree by Cecilia Dart-Thornton whose author bio paints her as a bit of a loon.
Being a fantasy novel it is book one of her second trilogy. You'd think that she must have done something right with her first trilogy but the eminently trustworthy Miss Amanda informs me that she failed to make it past page 60 of CDT's first opus. To further cement my belief in the correctness of my book abandoning MatrixMan agrees about the waffling nature of the first trilogy and the obviousness of the authors particular favourite subjects of interest.
Anyway on to the actual book at hand. It is a psuedo-celtic high fantasy of the farm boy with a destiny variety. The pseudo celtic includes mini essays on houshold spirits, folk tales, and assorted wights who, for all the word-count devoted to them, don't have very much to do with the story at all.
There are also many indepth discussions of the particular ways that various craftsmen create their wares - a simple stroll through a market at one point takes an unbelievable number of pages to complete because it is apparently necessary that we know how the potter came upon his clay to make the tiny pots that the protagonist affords only a passing glance.
In general each sentence has at least one to many scintilating effervescant adjectives and all of the characters talk in a prithee thee manner.
A gave up at the halfway point when the big secret about the heros past completely failed to excite me and I couldn't face the remaining half of the book.
My rating is one and a half stars.
.
... The Ends of the Earth
(Skye actually)
Yesterday Redneck Ben and I saddled up and made the great journey down south to visit My Guitarist and partner to marvel at her enormous baby bump.
My initial concerns were alleviated when our late afternoon arrival was still in time for lunch (one of the reasons we arrived late was my attendance at a BBQ lunch at MatrixMan's which also included ElfBoy and various spawn of those attending).
Luckily the shock of my annual visit didn't trigger any early labour so we were able to have a comfortable chat and far too much dinner before zooming home at a late hour.
It was a good way to top off the shortened post-Easter working week - even though I felt like I had achieved quite a lot in those scant four days, partly thanks to Devil's Advocate ordering everyone else to ignore me so I could finish things off (I will have to try that again sometime as it was blessedly peaceful and conducive to productivity).
.
Yesterday Redneck Ben and I saddled up and made the great journey down south to visit My Guitarist and partner to marvel at her enormous baby bump.
My initial concerns were alleviated when our late afternoon arrival was still in time for lunch (one of the reasons we arrived late was my attendance at a BBQ lunch at MatrixMan's which also included ElfBoy and various spawn of those attending).
Luckily the shock of my annual visit didn't trigger any early labour so we were able to have a comfortable chat and far too much dinner before zooming home at a late hour.
It was a good way to top off the shortened post-Easter working week - even though I felt like I had achieved quite a lot in those scant four days, partly thanks to Devil's Advocate ordering everyone else to ignore me so I could finish things off (I will have to try that again sometime as it was blessedly peaceful and conducive to productivity).
.
... The Subject of Dreams
As is the way of synchronicity two individuals whom have never met - except in my mind's eye pan across the rogues gallery of people I know - have had me feature as a central figure in their dreamscapes.
It is understandable, of course, given how larger than life and mentor-y I am for both of them.
In any case the substance of their unconscious imaginings may shed further light on any actual cosmic connection.
The first instance occurred in the depths of Mr Prada's RFID induced delirium. Having spent most of an afternoon last week discussing how we were to move a heavy trolley from one branch to another - including the option of wheeling it the 1.9 kilometres (distance includes the block looping and doubling back that I am consistently able to produce in Google Maps) - his nights rest took on a nautical theme with the two of us transporting said device around the bay in a row boat, of which I was presumably the captain.
Our other case-study is MatrixMan who conjured me into one of his regular siesta-time somnabulances. In this instance he was napping on the non-existent balcony at my place, I decided to begin our latest tournament without waking him and he was peeved to no end. Obviously with or without a balcony that is something I would never do and I have already changed my plan for tournament day accordingly.
So there you have it - if you include the fact that I am a guaranteed gallivanter through Svetlana's nocturnals - I am the denizen of dreams of those I know and therefore shall probably be visiting your REM realms in the near future as well.
.
It is understandable, of course, given how larger than life and mentor-y I am for both of them.
In any case the substance of their unconscious imaginings may shed further light on any actual cosmic connection.
The first instance occurred in the depths of Mr Prada's RFID induced delirium. Having spent most of an afternoon last week discussing how we were to move a heavy trolley from one branch to another - including the option of wheeling it the 1.9 kilometres (distance includes the block looping and doubling back that I am consistently able to produce in Google Maps) - his nights rest took on a nautical theme with the two of us transporting said device around the bay in a row boat, of which I was presumably the captain.
Our other case-study is MatrixMan who conjured me into one of his regular siesta-time somnabulances. In this instance he was napping on the non-existent balcony at my place, I decided to begin our latest tournament without waking him and he was peeved to no end. Obviously with or without a balcony that is something I would never do and I have already changed my plan for tournament day accordingly.
So there you have it - if you include the fact that I am a guaranteed gallivanter through Svetlana's nocturnals - I am the denizen of dreams of those I know and therefore shall probably be visiting your REM realms in the near future as well.
.
... 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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)