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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The Age of a Stump

Well nearly a fortnight has passed, and that is surely enough time for the dust and various other substances related to the momentous events of the half century of StumpyRudolph to settle - not to mention the several upset tummies that one was in far too close proximity to on the day.

The first warning sign that one should have heeded was when Sneaky Pete withdrew his attendance to said event - the Sneakster has oft been like a canary in a coal mine in regards to sensing when things will go awry.

The next ominous sign was when BestFriendSincePrep declared that he wasn't really drinking anymore and then a scant five minutes later was clutching a beer like it was the ultimate prize. "oh, just a light beer then" One enquired, "Nah. It has to be heavy"

Warning the third was when MrRogers took off early citing having things to do whilst the wild eyed look of one who has recognised impending doom crossed his face.

The fourth sign was when the aforementioned BestFriendSincePrep began a vigorous wine tasting sprint.

After that the signs began to tumble past in a flurry - the next 9 odd signs were shot-glass shaped and One has never been more chuffed to be the designated driver at a celebratory event.

Shortly after that, surprisingly, StumpyRudolph was apparently suffering some form of paralysis in the corner of the kitchen while goodbyes were begun, and then rudely interrupted everyone with some quite raucous sounds.

After making a mess of comforting him in the mess, BestFriendSincePrep and I took our leave despite one of us having taken to displaying a paler than normal visage.

We had covered the huge distance of half a kilometre down the road when BestFriendSincePrep sighted some delightful scenery at the side of the road that required urgent close inspection.

BestFriendSincePrep espied several other scenic locations on the 20 minute drive home that took over an hour before I had him home and nigh mute in greeting his family.

One then trundled on home with a rather debilitating slight headache from One's three glasses of wine.

All in all the ageing of StumpyRudolph was a timely reminder of the wisdom that comes with age.
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The 30 year Reunion

So two Saturday's gone was the event of One's 30 year high school reunion.

Getting there was a carefully staged affair commencing at BestFriendSincePrep's demesne before being chauffeur driven in style by MrRealEstate to collect MrRogers and arrive fashionably on time.

Once there we reintroduced ourselves to the fabulous organising committee and other early arrivals. Others arrived throughout the early evening until we reached the lofty heights of 40 odd attendees.

One had a great time catching up with the likes of Eggers, Piggy, Serbo, Plumb, Shill, Ross, Jo J, The Twins, Stivey, Whitey, Maz, Mima, Maria, and countless others I've forgotten in the blur that the evening became.

Apparently one has, once again, not changed a bit - although Eggers theory that a man still having his hair at our age was the only qualifier for that statement did take some of the chuffedness away.


One would have liked to catch up with many who didn't make an appearance such as Leno, Mr Shatilko, Mr Gates, Stevie Nicks greatest Fan, and really any other to see where we'd all been taken on our paths of life.


Finally, to top the evening off, One had a true High School moment when entering the Taxi for home as one's trousers, unable to bear the load of drinking and snacking gave way requiring concealing manoeuvres until one could make it home.


One looks forward to another get together in a few years to celebrate our joint half century.
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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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A Tale of Four Parties

Well, except one of them was a gaming event - but I am not one to let facts stand in the way of a blog entry.
And in any case, said gaming event did involve more drinking than one of the parties!


The celebrating kicked off on an unknown day with a Grand Final watching extravaganza. The event was hosted by The Wiggs and was only a short drive from work - and therefore long drive from home.
The day involved no less than three costume changes from yours truly as beginning the party in one's Collingwood jumper was against the rules of MrRogers and The Electric Tiger; and then one's lesser-of-two-evils coloured attire seemed rather pointless after, oh, 10 minutes or so of footy.

Lack of exciting footy action did allow one to have a catchup talk with Mrs BestFriendSincePrep and also indulge ones fondness for snacks.



The very next day saw another long drive to the vicinity of work. This one was in order to attend a milestone soirée for Supervisor Grand Chief K.

The event marked Hulk's introduction to high society as she, and Salsa Girl, fit perfectly into the Spring Racing garden party theme - oneself also fit perfectly into the sub-theme of car park.

Along the way to being shown the finer points of Croquet by Hulk - just hitting the nearest ball is apparently how one does it properly - one was able to pass pleasantries with the likes of Devil's Advocate (or should that be Devils ), The Administrator and Sonja Roster Queen.



One's third party was the regular all staff training day of which all I can bear to bring myself to mention is the provision of merely adequate amounts of food. Oh Mr Prada why to you torture me so!



Gaming Sunday, being the final of  the parties, began with Hulk's first board game - The Little Mole Who Knew it was none of his Business - big thanks My Guitarist for the poo-themed book, game, and plush mole bundle.
Gaming partying continued with a plethora of games and attendees - Legion2, Pirate Dave, Amoeba, and Miasmakat finally putting in an appearance after 15 years on the invite list - all of us dosed with lashings of the finest whiskey.


All in all a grand series of good times - and a jolly good reason for not posting anything for a month or more.
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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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The Tragedy of Pizza-free Poker

Sigh, bX-1fv8xl, sure is playing havoc with my regular posting schedule. Although some may say that it is merely acting as the enabler of my laziness... I can't be bothered responding to that acusation, it would take too much effort.

Anyway, here's one I've been preparing for a week or so:

This Saturday last (now Saturday, Saturday last) myself and Legion2 made the great trek out to MrRogers new-ish abode for a poker night that had been in the scheduling for nigh on half a year.

Upon arrival we traversed our way via secret stairway to the basement location of the festivities to find BestFriendSincePrep and StumpyRudolph already in attendance. As it was a completely reasonable hour of the evening, and a tradition of poker nights, one suggested that we order pizza to satisfy ones lurking hunger. You can imagine how taken-aback I was to be told "nah, we already ate before coming over".
As the evening progressed and further participants arrived,(The Electric Tiger & The Wiggs)  they joined in the chorus and also took up the new refrain of "just eat the chips and chocolate". Which is all well and good if they'd just leave said chips to me but seems a tad hypocritical as they continued to take great handfuls of one's rapidly disappearing sustenance.

In the end I made it through the evening none the worse for wear and may have discovered a new diet sensation - although Salsa Girl seems to be disagreeing with one about that insight.
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The Golf Trip

This weekend past I had my arm twisted by BestFriendSincePrep to go on a two-day golf trip with the likes of himself, StumpyRudolph, MrRogers, The Electric Tiger, and sundry other hard-drinking golf players.

It may have been somewhat of a miscalculation.

Friday afternoon is when our tale begins as I collected BestFriendSincePrep and managed to avoid having to drink anything on the trip up when he grudgingly accepted my excuse of having to do the driving.
However this changed for the worse upon arrival where the number of downed beers quickly reached double figures by early evening. The late arrival of dinner did not help the situation and one was feeling quite seedy as the evening wore on. Luckily several games of pool interrupted the drinking and my constitution was able to restore my internal balance somewhat before the final session of the evening began. This final session was, of course, one of "drink whatever the bar is selling cheap". Hence some sort of sweet vodka drink was imbibed before turning in for the evening.

I knew I was not feeling the best the next morning when I was unable to eat more than a mouthful of toast and a sliver of bacon. Four holes of golf soon sorted that out and I was back to my usual level of hunger by the time we finished our round and commenced our club house lunch. My game was at my usual standard and the leader-board remained unchallenged.

The Saturday evening was a much quieter affair and one was even able to make it to bed both without an alcoholic drink and before midnight - thanks largely to BestFriendSincePrep tiring rather quickly towards the later stages of the evening.

The Sunday golf was a slight bit worse thanks to the many water features beside the course and then we were heading home a little redder about the sun-exposed portions of our bodies and gladly looking forward to a good sleep in our own beds.
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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
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... The Regular Round-Up

Well my bountiful social activities have once again left me unable to write for the past week.

My roller-coaster week began last Sunday with my hosting of the regular Sunday gaming day.
Despite many regulars being in attendance it ended uncharacteristically prior to midnight leaving me at somewhat of a loss about what to do until my usual Sunday Gaming bedtime of 2am.

The Brownlow
Monday night was spent watching my first Brownlow medal telecast for many a year. The nigh unbearable mixture of cheesiness and tedium was made more bearable by my sharing the evening with The Great Sandro although I doubt I'll make a regular event of it as I can now recall why it is that I've not often brought myself to watch it in the past.

The Return of Supervisor S
Tuesday brought the return of Supervisor S after a two year parental absence. The omens are not good as her return was heralded by a great flooding of the library - although this happening a scant fortnight before new carpet was laid and also not affecting any IT equipment at all may actually make it a good omen.

The Umpteenth Geektogether
With the dramatic end of the game at The Viking Hat GM's last week, this Wednesday saw a gathering at the now usual Southgate watering hole. Numbers were low so it was mostly an enjoyable post-mortom of the events of the previous week in which TVHGM pointed out all our failings as players and we, in turn, his as GM. Fun all round I think.

The Free Food Day
Thursday was a day of morning tea, catered lunch, and afternoon cakes, all punctuated with moments of meeting. If only such events were held on a weekly basis.

The Sad Farewell
All of Friday's hectic workday events were overshadowed by the fact that it was the final day of Devil's Advocate's stint at HQ. There were goodbye hugs and tearful mutterings aplenty as well as much bubbly (thanks to the expedition organising skills of Big J).
I was so overwhelmed by the emotion of the event that I had to stay on into the evening until enough emotion was out of my system that I could legally drive home.

The Grand Final
Saturday dawned bright and, well, stormy. Amidst a day of hail and torrential rain I made good on my much awaited promise to The Great Sandro that we would be able to watch a Grand Final together.
So together we made the great journey out to BestFriendSincePrep's and, along with the likes of StumpyRudolph, The Electric Tiger, and MrRogers, made a great day of watching a game in which neither of our teams was participating.
We made a complete day of it and stayed into the evening as I had to once again wait for the emotion to leave my system before chauffeuring him safely home.

The Aimless Day
And so we come to today.
After a luxuriant albeit feline interrupted sleep-in I have found my first real free day to have far too easily evaporated away leaving me with little to show in terms of results other than relaxation.
Hopefully that shall see me through the coming week in good stead.
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... 20 Years of Disappointment

This weekend just past was the twentieth anniversary of the blokey camping night at Mt Disappointment.

My blokeyness got off to a slow start after an early morning phone call from Svetlana delayed my arrival but we got there in the end.
We being the core group of: yours truly, Legion2, BestFriendSincePrep, StumpyRudolph and MrRogers (Gavman pulled out sick with a bad case of being weak and girly).

We indulged in many of the usual activities: bush golf, drinking, firewood harvesting, drinking, exploding things on the fire, drinking, jaffle making, drinking and eating lots of chips and chocolates. We also squeezed some drinking in. I survived to make it home and only twinged my knee three times so I think I got off lightly.

In order to unwind and dissipate some of the blokeyness I had Sunday night dinner with Alecto and Rugrat Twin while we watched the latest Dr Who Christmas Special before making Rugrat Twin redress her error of never having seen the classic metaphysical comedy that is Groundhog Day.

... The Evils of BestFriendSincePrep

Yesterday was the wedding of MrRogers. As is his way BestFriendSincePrep had planned everything out for us to have a huge session as part of the celebrations.
It began with my not being on the complementary bus but instead ordered to drive out to StumpyRudolph's place where it was all going to happen, so that we could both stay the night and still have transport back home in the morning.

Once ceremonial proceedings were underway BFSP began to force feed me beers and didn't let up until we last four survivors trundled off to bed at three in the morning. Oh to have Svetlana there to protect me by drinking my beer as she did at Gavman's wedding.

It was almost twelve hours later that my body began to win the battle against alcohol poisoning and as I type this right now, a further six hours on, I'd say that I'm back to about half human.


Ooh I can make this into a caution.
Never, ever, ever, think that it's even remotely possible to keep up with BestFriendSincePrep. It's just not humanly possible and you'll end up spending most of the next day incommunicado and, most importantly, be a tad too seedy to partake in free bacon and eggs for breakfast.

... A Cup Day BBQ

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

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

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

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

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

... The High School Reunion

Last night was my 20 year HSC reunion.

Despite having found my old school jumper the other week when I was cleaning out the last of my clothes boxes from the big move I decided against wearing something that would be skin tight nowadays. (Although the number of times I was told I haven't changed makes me wonder if I shouldn't have squeezed myself into the jumper after all...)

With BestFriendSincePrep, StumpyRudolph, and MrRogers all away at a golfing weekend it was up to me to hold the fort for the group that I still see regularly. I had a great time and was a little overwhelmed at seeing the older version of close to 100 people despite having relatively fresh memories of the 20 odd who went to the smaller 18 year get-together.

There was a little too much noise - music and chatter - to have a really good conversation and I even had to just nod and smile a few times.

Some of the highlights: two sets of twins, short conversations with the two guys who gave me some low level bullying in year 7, not even noticing it was 3am, people who looked 50 and others who looked 18, a wide mix of jobs (surprisingly few IT Guys), reminding people of nicknames and incidents they'd forgotten, hanging out with the popular girls.

Apparently we're going to aim to have one every 5 years from now on, like a mis-timed 7Up. I look forward to going to the next one.