... the IT man in LibraryLand
After an absence of nigh on six years one's reading has returned to the world of Chalion in the form of the novella Penric's Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold.
It was a welcome return to the world one is so thankful to have been introduced to by Vengeful Vic, and one feels the shove of Fate in stumbling across this 2016 publication recently after musing about missing this much loved world.
At a Badger approved less than 200 pages it was a nice return, albeit more towards the teen style, that didn't outstay it's time.
One looks forward to the further novellas in this series which appear to have sprouted like mushrooms with there being four more at last count - although one is a little trepeditious about having ones reading dominated by 4 star reads for the foreseeable future.
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Showing posts with label Vengeful Vic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vengeful Vic. Show all posts
Cordelia's Honor
This volume, by the esteemable Lois McMaster Bujold, encompasses the first two stories of her Vorkosigan Saga of which one had heard many mentions but had yet to dip one's toes into.
Having read - and loved - the author's Chalion fantasy series thanks to Vengeful Vic's rather effective proselytising about their greatness I was interested to see how her sci-fi stacked up.
Well thanks to the miracles of inter-library loans and the hard work of Bomber Babe I was able to have this copy expressed to me from the foreign climes of the Geelong Library service.
All in all it was an interesting read that, for me, never quite reached the outstanding level. I think it has similarities to the Honour Harrington military sci-fi series with it's main characters acting as a sort of competence porn as they so easily deal with outrageous situations while showing outstandingly inspirational leadership, judgement, and ethics.
Still a good read though and worthy of three and a half stars.
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Having read - and loved - the author's Chalion fantasy series thanks to Vengeful Vic's rather effective proselytising about their greatness I was interested to see how her sci-fi stacked up.
Well thanks to the miracles of inter-library loans and the hard work of Bomber Babe I was able to have this copy expressed to me from the foreign climes of the Geelong Library service.
All in all it was an interesting read that, for me, never quite reached the outstanding level. I think it has similarities to the Honour Harrington military sci-fi series with it's main characters acting as a sort of competence porn as they so easily deal with outrageous situations while showing outstandingly inspirational leadership, judgement, and ethics.
Still a good read though and worthy of three and a half stars.
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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!
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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!
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Educating Salsa Girl
So last night was the occasion of an event of much import. After a weekend that included the annual cake-fest for Couch Killer - wonderfully put together by Vengeful Vic and at which Salsa Girl was able to meet the heretofore elusive Fantomas - I was finally able to make good on my promise to Doom and educate Salsa Girl in the ways of Blade Runner.
When her sad lack of any viewings of said film came to light there had been much shocked gasping from the gaming crowd and many mutterings about what one was to do. My first impulse had been to end things there and then. However Doom, ever the pillar of reliability and maturity, advised that one was overreacting slightly and that, in fact, the unfortunate situation could be rectified by merely showing her the movie.
After last night I am glad to have followed Doom's sound advice as it turned out that she rather enjoyed the film and all is well between us again.
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When her sad lack of any viewings of said film came to light there had been much shocked gasping from the gaming crowd and many mutterings about what one was to do. My first impulse had been to end things there and then. However Doom, ever the pillar of reliability and maturity, advised that one was overreacting slightly and that, in fact, the unfortunate situation could be rectified by merely showing her the movie.
After last night I am glad to have followed Doom's sound advice as it turned out that she rather enjoyed the film and all is well between us again.
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Many Days in October
One is slack, blah blah blah, interstate conference, blah blah blah, too much work, blah blah blah, spending lots of time with Salsa Girl, blah blah blah.
Now I've gotten that is out of the way I can move on to the serious business of regaling you with tales of hilarity, caution, and just a smidgeon of what Phill has been up to these past days.
My mid October was filled with a holiday/conference in rainy Brisbane during which one found out that there are events that occur between the Teas (morning and afternoon) and the lunch, when one had to present several sessions. All went well except for the miserly afternoon teas. The post conference dinner shenanigans included the fun of having pints of beer spilled on me not once but twice, so I decided to scarper off to bed before it could happen a third time.
One has also spent these past few weeks training The Tiger to not be in the bedroom crushing one during one's sleep. After an initial all night whinge she seems to have accepted her fate and there is barely a complaint as I disappear for my refreshing nights sleep of an evening.
My days have also been filled with exploding* wi-fi equipment hijinks including replacement equipment that failed and replacement replacement equipment that one had to rewire oneself. I did find out that a kitchen sink is apparently a great static free place to work on the innards of a computer - although I am a tad concerened that staff continued to blithly wash coffee cups whilest I had an open computer there!
* not really exploding
There was also the event of the decade(s) with the "combined to 70th" birthdays of Gavman and The J Monster. It was magnificently catered and in the words of the spawn of ArchEnemy "the best party ever!"
Coming a close second for event of the month was the annual Absent Friends Jyhad game. This year we had Doom, Legion2, Camo Spice, Amoeba, MatrixMan, Vengeful Vic, Couch Killer, Pirate Dave, Salsa Girl, and Badger in attendance. There was also rather a lot of fine whisky and port to be had and I'm sure that if I could remember what happened I would think it was a fantastic evening.
Most recently one has returned from a so called dirty weekend in rainy Lorne with Salsa Girl. As she failed to kill me after four continuous days in close proximity I am counting it as a success.
The dirtiness of the weekend is in doubt as one's automobile has been scoured to a shiny state of cleanliness by what must have been about 3 feet of rain over the four days. There were also several beautiful nature walks taken in as well as many gastronomic delights.
One is now relaxing in the days off that should always follow a holiday in order to allow one to recover from said holiday.
More soon - I promise, and I mean it this time.
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Now I've gotten that is out of the way I can move on to the serious business of regaling you with tales of hilarity, caution, and just a smidgeon of what Phill has been up to these past days.
My mid October was filled with a holiday/conference in rainy Brisbane during which one found out that there are events that occur between the Teas (morning and afternoon) and the lunch, when one had to present several sessions. All went well except for the miserly afternoon teas. The post conference dinner shenanigans included the fun of having pints of beer spilled on me not once but twice, so I decided to scarper off to bed before it could happen a third time.
One has also spent these past few weeks training The Tiger to not be in the bedroom crushing one during one's sleep. After an initial all night whinge she seems to have accepted her fate and there is barely a complaint as I disappear for my refreshing nights sleep of an evening.
My days have also been filled with exploding* wi-fi equipment hijinks including replacement equipment that failed and replacement replacement equipment that one had to rewire oneself. I did find out that a kitchen sink is apparently a great static free place to work on the innards of a computer - although I am a tad concerened that staff continued to blithly wash coffee cups whilest I had an open computer there!
* not really exploding
There was also the event of the decade(s) with the "combined to 70th" birthdays of Gavman and The J Monster. It was magnificently catered and in the words of the spawn of ArchEnemy "the best party ever!"
Coming a close second for event of the month was the annual Absent Friends Jyhad game. This year we had Doom, Legion2, Camo Spice, Amoeba, MatrixMan, Vengeful Vic, Couch Killer, Pirate Dave, Salsa Girl, and Badger in attendance. There was also rather a lot of fine whisky and port to be had and I'm sure that if I could remember what happened I would think it was a fantastic evening.
Most recently one has returned from a so called dirty weekend in rainy Lorne with Salsa Girl. As she failed to kill me after four continuous days in close proximity I am counting it as a success.
The dirtiness of the weekend is in doubt as one's automobile has been scoured to a shiny state of cleanliness by what must have been about 3 feet of rain over the four days. There were also several beautiful nature walks taken in as well as many gastronomic delights.
One is now relaxing in the days off that should always follow a holiday in order to allow one to recover from said holiday.
More soon - I promise, and I mean it this time.
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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.
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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.
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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:
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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
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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...
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Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
This is the second book in the same world and was recommended to me by Vengeful Vic. I have joyfully consumed it over the past month.
It picks up some of the characters from The Curse of Challion a few years later. I found it to once again be interesting characters in an intriguing situation. The stories are mostly low on magic and supernatural elements but the world seems to breath with a down to earth reality. One wonders if one is perhaps identifying with middle-aged protagonists over deference to your more standard young farm boy with a destiny.
There is however a darker, more disturbing side to my reading experience - other than the whole middle-aged thing - as many elements of the plot and setting bear some quite startling similarities to current happenings in my own game setting being regularly played on Thursday nights.
I am starting to believe that I may have come to the notice of the same plagiarising forces that have been copying The Bastard's bountiful gaming ideas for many a year. I shall have to search my flat and brain for idea stealing bugs forthwith.
.
It picks up some of the characters from The Curse of Challion a few years later. I found it to once again be interesting characters in an intriguing situation. The stories are mostly low on magic and supernatural elements but the world seems to breath with a down to earth reality. One wonders if one is perhaps identifying with middle-aged protagonists over deference to your more standard young farm boy with a destiny.
There is however a darker, more disturbing side to my reading experience - other than the whole middle-aged thing - as many elements of the plot and setting bear some quite startling similarities to current happenings in my own game setting being regularly played on Thursday nights.
I am starting to believe that I may have come to the notice of the same plagiarising forces that have been copying The Bastard's bountiful gaming ideas for many a year. I shall have to search my flat and brain for idea stealing bugs forthwith.
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Highlights of the Missing Weeks
Well time has been scooting past at great pace and suddenly I find myself several weeks beyond my last blog post.
I'm going to skim over the vast array of events that befell me in that hectic time and merely pause to point out the highlights.
Doctor Who and the Miracle of Mr Prada
One of the earliest occurrences of this lost time was my beginning the latest season of the good Doctor's show. It was not without mishap though as my usually reliable sources all failed to mention to me that it was going to begin on real TV. However amongst all my disappointment at Legion2 and Miss Amanda it was Mr Prada who came to the rescue and enlightened me to the convenience that is the ABC's legitimate online viewing platform. I was quickly able to catch up and be ready for the weekly broadcast.
Prelude to a Conference
Whilst dealing with the wonderfulness that is the public transport systems ability to interfere with my precisely timed travel arrangements I bumped into a long time friend of the legion - G O We Luv You. We had a quick ten minute information dump before parting ways - he home with his significant other and myself home to bounce back city-ward for the pre-conference dinner.
I was late of course.
And then proceeded to ask the head of our the hosting company where he fit into the picture.
Luckily I dodged the bottomless wine-glass effect and made only a good impression on behalf of my organisation - which is good because Supervisor Grand Chief K was in attendance as well.
Conference Proper
A day of fun and frivolity was had with myself and Ms Magpie enduring such things as Constitution creation and IEEE standards information sessions.
The lunch was good, and plentiful though. We did get to play with new toys in the afternoon, ask the hard questions of our suppliers, and go home early, so it all worked out okay in the end.
Game Days
An afternoon and evening of gaming got off to an unexpected start when ElfBoy mixed up his dates and arrived mid-morning.
Much 1920's fun was had on several occasions as we partook further in the Fantomas gaming experience.
The Thursday night game enjoyed the return of DragonMim (and the early bedtime of Vengeful Vic - zing!).
Further ancient battles were fought with Badger.
Strategy Day
A day of strategy planning was had by the upper echelons of the library. My planning consisted of the best strategy to get to lunch early.
A Huge Footy Day
And finally myself, The Great Sandro, ElfBoy and Legion2 all attended the great Collingwood Carlton game yesterday. As it was supposed to be a sell out we had to attend extra early which turned the afternoon out into virtually a whole day affair. Still when ones team wins so emphatically such a large time investment hardly seems to matter.
The most significant thing that happened during the game was my near knockout of Legion2 as my arms shot out in celebration of one particularly excellent goal. Had he leant forward one more centimetre in excitement then it would have been much more than his hat that would have gone flying.
There you go. The skimming is all done and it should be a doddle for me to keep you up to date with whatever strange happenings arise in the future as they happen.
.
I'm going to skim over the vast array of events that befell me in that hectic time and merely pause to point out the highlights.
Doctor Who and the Miracle of Mr Prada
One of the earliest occurrences of this lost time was my beginning the latest season of the good Doctor's show. It was not without mishap though as my usually reliable sources all failed to mention to me that it was going to begin on real TV. However amongst all my disappointment at Legion2 and Miss Amanda it was Mr Prada who came to the rescue and enlightened me to the convenience that is the ABC's legitimate online viewing platform. I was quickly able to catch up and be ready for the weekly broadcast.
Prelude to a Conference
Whilst dealing with the wonderfulness that is the public transport systems ability to interfere with my precisely timed travel arrangements I bumped into a long time friend of the legion - G O We Luv You. We had a quick ten minute information dump before parting ways - he home with his significant other and myself home to bounce back city-ward for the pre-conference dinner.
I was late of course.
And then proceeded to ask the head of our the hosting company where he fit into the picture.
Luckily I dodged the bottomless wine-glass effect and made only a good impression on behalf of my organisation - which is good because Supervisor Grand Chief K was in attendance as well.
Conference Proper
A day of fun and frivolity was had with myself and Ms Magpie enduring such things as Constitution creation and IEEE standards information sessions.
The lunch was good, and plentiful though. We did get to play with new toys in the afternoon, ask the hard questions of our suppliers, and go home early, so it all worked out okay in the end.
Game Days
An afternoon and evening of gaming got off to an unexpected start when ElfBoy mixed up his dates and arrived mid-morning.
Much 1920's fun was had on several occasions as we partook further in the Fantomas gaming experience.
The Thursday night game enjoyed the return of DragonMim (and the early bedtime of Vengeful Vic - zing!).
Further ancient battles were fought with Badger.
Strategy Day
A day of strategy planning was had by the upper echelons of the library. My planning consisted of the best strategy to get to lunch early.
A Huge Footy Day
And finally myself, The Great Sandro, ElfBoy and Legion2 all attended the great Collingwood Carlton game yesterday. As it was supposed to be a sell out we had to attend extra early which turned the afternoon out into virtually a whole day affair. Still when ones team wins so emphatically such a large time investment hardly seems to matter.
The most significant thing that happened during the game was my near knockout of Legion2 as my arms shot out in celebration of one particularly excellent goal. Had he leant forward one more centimetre in excitement then it would have been much more than his hat that would have gone flying.
There you go. The skimming is all done and it should be a doddle for me to keep you up to date with whatever strange happenings arise in the future as they happen.
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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 Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
Many other things are happening whilst I chip away behind the scenes composing my much anticipated conference report.
My finishing of this novel this morning for instance. It was such a wonderful read that I am ready to pronounce it my book of the year.
The Curse of Chalion has been the most enjoyable of the scant 19 or so books I have managed to read this nigh-overwhelmingly busy year.
It is a wonderfully written tale with great depth to the characters and world. I found that it's tale resonated with me as it used many of the themes that I enjoy immensely. I highly recommend it unless you have some unnatural aversion to books of the Fantasy genre (and even then you should know that the fantastical is minimal and it is much more a novel of medieval-esque society)
A big thank you to Vengeful Vic for persisting to recommend it until I got the hint and finally borrowed the book.
Speaking of curses I attended a bountiful BBQ feast at The Viking Hat GM's yesterday wherat I was plied with food and good company until the early evening, reminiscing over gaming times past with The Mad Magyar and The Blithe Bogan.
Eventually taking my leave - supplied with a goodly portion of leftovers as is the Viking custom - I then traversed this great city we live in to attend the birthday drinks of Legion4. Along with Legion2, Jamo and Tone we talked the night away while Legion4 sadly recreated his state of inebriation of last Xmas. Some sort of intervention will probably be in order in the near future.
Today has been a sublime day of not much to do other than bask in the joy of finishing a great book and catch up on all the domestic things that have to be done in order to keep one's demesne functioning to it's full capacity.
.
My finishing of this novel this morning for instance. It was such a wonderful read that I am ready to pronounce it my book of the year.
The Curse of Chalion has been the most enjoyable of the scant 19 or so books I have managed to read this nigh-overwhelmingly busy year.
It is a wonderfully written tale with great depth to the characters and world. I found that it's tale resonated with me as it used many of the themes that I enjoy immensely. I highly recommend it unless you have some unnatural aversion to books of the Fantasy genre (and even then you should know that the fantastical is minimal and it is much more a novel of medieval-esque society)
A big thank you to Vengeful Vic for persisting to recommend it until I got the hint and finally borrowed the book.
Speaking of curses I attended a bountiful BBQ feast at The Viking Hat GM's yesterday wherat I was plied with food and good company until the early evening, reminiscing over gaming times past with The Mad Magyar and The Blithe Bogan.
Eventually taking my leave - supplied with a goodly portion of leftovers as is the Viking custom - I then traversed this great city we live in to attend the birthday drinks of Legion4. Along with Legion2, Jamo and Tone we talked the night away while Legion4 sadly recreated his state of inebriation of last Xmas. Some sort of intervention will probably be in order in the near future.
Today has been a sublime day of not much to do other than bask in the joy of finishing a great book and catch up on all the domestic things that have to be done in order to keep one's demesne functioning to it's full capacity.
.
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