... the IT man in LibraryLand
Legion2 passed his Scifi Masterworks copy of this on to me a few weeks ago.
It was a quick read that took me almost two weeks for it's 180 pages due to work pressures stealing my lunchtimes and train trips.
Given it's vintage (from the '50s) the story is eerily predictive of a world of excessive advertising, consumerism and corporate control of the government - at times it feels like you're reading an expose of current underhanded advertising techniques.
The story itself is interesting and if you can get your lunchtimes and train journeys then its well worth the short reading time.
.. Betrayed into Blogging
I am only able to make this blog tonight because The Bastard cancelled tonight's game due to health issues. I am outraged. Did I cancel because of my near-decapitated knee? No - well not more than once or twice anyway - so how dare he!
Speaking of betrayals, I have now settled reasonably comfortably into Beaumaris branch after managing to get out of Brighton alive. I've even done more RFID tagging here in two days than I did on 2 months at Brighton. I guess you could say that Brighton is a high-maintenance branch, but I never would.
Oh and speaking of bastard GMs I spent a little while before putting the hat back into The Viking Hat GM's name for the handful of posts for which he'd made an appearance. It seems he didn't like it's absence, despite the fact that only a small handful of geeks would even understand the phrase for which he is named. I hope he's happy now and stops victimising us at the Monday night game.
Now on to more important matters - Days of our Libraries has accused me of still being wedding-drunk during the scribing of my previous posting.
This is patently preposterous and this photo from the wedding, courtesy of Rugrat Twin, should emphatically clear my name.
Speaking of betrayals, I have now settled reasonably comfortably into Beaumaris branch after managing to get out of Brighton alive. I've even done more RFID tagging here in two days than I did on 2 months at Brighton. I guess you could say that Brighton is a high-maintenance branch, but I never would.
Oh and speaking of bastard GMs I spent a little while before putting the hat back into The Viking Hat GM's name for the handful of posts for which he'd made an appearance. It seems he didn't like it's absence, despite the fact that only a small handful of geeks would even understand the phrase for which he is named. I hope he's happy now and stops victimising us at the Monday night game.
Now on to more important matters - Days of our Libraries has accused me of still being wedding-drunk during the scribing of my previous posting.
This is patently preposterous and this photo from the wedding, courtesy of Rugrat Twin, should emphatically clear my name.
... The Day Geisha Girl and The Composer Were Married
Yesterday was spent having a wonderful time at the Zoo in celebration of the nuptuals of Geisha Girl and The Composer.
The ceremony began in glaring sunlight in the lush Japanese Garden and ended in light rain which helpfully covered any emotional tears that may have been shed - obviously only by those less rugged and blokey than I.
After the service Legion2, BrotherStealer and I had a ramble through the grounds and made an almost fruitless search for zoo animals. We found only giraffes, elephants and orangutans - even with the added searching skills of Tooticky and Usuakari all the other creature remained unfindable.
Giving up our search we returned for libraryland "cocktails" and some delicious snacks.
Shortly thereafter we were ushered inside the cosy Rainforest Room for the reception proper.
I was seated at a table with Legion2, BrotherStealer, Agent Smith, Tuck, and a good bunch of strangers. We all enjoyed some scintillating conversations and magnificent food.
Rugrat Twin and Amoeba shared the MCing and speechifying wonderfully, even seamlessly adding me into the toast after I was caught at the bridal table when it all started - although BrotherStealer was heard to remark that I had ruined yet another wedding.
After the main course I risked life, limb, and ruined knee, to give Rugrat Twin a twirl about the dance floor. She seemed happy to come away with both feet intact so I count it as a success.
Many others were in attendance including an amazingly uncamoed Camo Spice (whom I'd gamed with until ridiculous o'clock in the morning the night before) and most of the gaming and gothing geeks who knew the couple well.
The last official act of the evening was no strange cake cutting tradition but the completely appropriate merging of the lego collections of the happy couple to show their level of commitment to each other.
We all left the strangely animal-lite zoo at the end of the evening to head home happy and tired and with inexplicable soreness of the head.
The ceremony began in glaring sunlight in the lush Japanese Garden and ended in light rain which helpfully covered any emotional tears that may have been shed - obviously only by those less rugged and blokey than I.
After the service Legion2, BrotherStealer and I had a ramble through the grounds and made an almost fruitless search for zoo animals. We found only giraffes, elephants and orangutans - even with the added searching skills of Tooticky and Usuakari all the other creature remained unfindable.
Giving up our search we returned for libraryland "cocktails" and some delicious snacks.
Shortly thereafter we were ushered inside the cosy Rainforest Room for the reception proper.
I was seated at a table with Legion2, BrotherStealer, Agent Smith, Tuck, and a good bunch of strangers. We all enjoyed some scintillating conversations and magnificent food.
Rugrat Twin and Amoeba shared the MCing and speechifying wonderfully, even seamlessly adding me into the toast after I was caught at the bridal table when it all started - although BrotherStealer was heard to remark that I had ruined yet another wedding.
After the main course I risked life, limb, and ruined knee, to give Rugrat Twin a twirl about the dance floor. She seemed happy to come away with both feet intact so I count it as a success.
Many others were in attendance including an amazingly uncamoed Camo Spice (whom I'd gamed with until ridiculous o'clock in the morning the night before) and most of the gaming and gothing geeks who knew the couple well.
The last official act of the evening was no strange cake cutting tradition but the completely appropriate merging of the lego collections of the happy couple to show their level of commitment to each other.
We all left the strangely animal-lite zoo at the end of the evening to head home happy and tired and with inexplicable soreness of the head.
... The Lunchless Launch
Now that a few days have passed I have had time to recover from the severe lack of lunch at Monday's RFID launch.
The day started badly with Sister Serials having snuck in over the weekend and processed a huge mound of new magazines which yours truly had to load onto the tagging machine so they could be put away before the launch event happened.
The launch itself went without a hitch which is surprising given technologies usual reluctance to work properly under pressure. I was surprised to learn from the assistant to the minister's copy boy (or something like that, the minister couldn't make it) that up until RFID we'd been tagging books with up to seven tags! But then I'm not a librarian so what would know.
Now to be fair to Supervisor Grand Chief K there were some nibbles and bubbles supplied but there also appeared to be some sort of conspiracy to keep me busy and away from the table as guest after guest was trotted out with questions for me to answer. In the end I did manage to wash down a few crumbs of cheese with the dregs of the last bottle of bubbles - all under the pressure of Devil's Advocate hovering around to reclaim my glass like I was some sort of thief. Suffice to say I wasn't able to complete my set of champagne flutes.
Also this week:
Monday night I once more foolishly subjected myself to The Viking Hat GM's torture disguised as game. Perhaps it the abundance of snacks that keeps me doing it?
Tuesday night I had eight blokes pretending to be cowboys as our latest game - a supernatural western - began with some crazy hijinks on a train.
Wednesday Sonja Roster Queen and I began blasting (or zapping if you're SGCK) the Brighton collection to activate the RFID tags. I don't think I will every tire of the "blasted books" joke.
As it turns out blasting is not nearly as exciting as it sounds. The process involes waving an antenna wand over the books until they are all done - it actually feels more like you're caressing their auras than blasting them.
On Thursday The Administrator and I tag-teamed to train the public for a day consuming couple of classes due to trainer illness.
My week ended on a high indulging in a small after-work tipple with Groovy Spirits, Shirl, and Nurse Janet after the days duties were done.
Once Home I watched the footy until I was joined by Pirate Dave dropping off some cards for the next tournament. We tried to puzzle out his new World of Warcraft boardgame until late in the evening. Eventually he left when he guessed I was tired from my subtle move of passing out from exhaustion.
The day started badly with Sister Serials having snuck in over the weekend and processed a huge mound of new magazines which yours truly had to load onto the tagging machine so they could be put away before the launch event happened.
The launch itself went without a hitch which is surprising given technologies usual reluctance to work properly under pressure. I was surprised to learn from the assistant to the minister's copy boy (or something like that, the minister couldn't make it) that up until RFID we'd been tagging books with up to seven tags! But then I'm not a librarian so what would know.
Now to be fair to Supervisor Grand Chief K there were some nibbles and bubbles supplied but there also appeared to be some sort of conspiracy to keep me busy and away from the table as guest after guest was trotted out with questions for me to answer. In the end I did manage to wash down a few crumbs of cheese with the dregs of the last bottle of bubbles - all under the pressure of Devil's Advocate hovering around to reclaim my glass like I was some sort of thief. Suffice to say I wasn't able to complete my set of champagne flutes.
Also this week:
Monday night I once more foolishly subjected myself to The Viking Hat GM's torture disguised as game. Perhaps it the abundance of snacks that keeps me doing it?
Tuesday night I had eight blokes pretending to be cowboys as our latest game - a supernatural western - began with some crazy hijinks on a train.
Wednesday Sonja Roster Queen and I began blasting (or zapping if you're SGCK) the Brighton collection to activate the RFID tags. I don't think I will every tire of the "blasted books" joke.
As it turns out blasting is not nearly as exciting as it sounds. The process involes waving an antenna wand over the books until they are all done - it actually feels more like you're caressing their auras than blasting them.
On Thursday The Administrator and I tag-teamed to train the public for a day consuming couple of classes due to trainer illness.
My week ended on a high indulging in a small after-work tipple with Groovy Spirits, Shirl, and Nurse Janet after the days duties were done.
Once Home I watched the footy until I was joined by Pirate Dave dropping off some cards for the next tournament. We tried to puzzle out his new World of Warcraft boardgame until late in the evening. Eventually he left when he guessed I was tired from my subtle move of passing out from exhaustion.
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