Mental Sprue

2003-07-16T10:07:00.000Z

I am changing to Live Journal for my updates as blogger is causing silly google errors

Find me HERE now

2003-07-09T13:23:00.000Z

Veronica Guerin

I was at the Veronica Guerin premiere in the Savoy last night, and the afters in Dublin Castle, the latter only for a short period of time. Celebrities aside, it was, IMHHO, a gripping and moving film, and I confess to being carried away by the film. I think it a very good work, merely glazed with occasional Hollywood glitz, as opposed to coated, and quite graphic in parts. Not so much a film to enjoy, but definitely one worth seeing. The presence of the Guerin family made it, of course, all the more emotive.

Meme

You are a rapier! You"re fast and very sharp.
your only weakness is that in certain
situations you can be thin and easily
breakable.

What kind of sword are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Today’s Words:
parvenu \PAR-vuh-noo; -nyoo\, noun:
One that has recently or suddenly risen to a higher social or
economic class but has not gained social acceptance of others
in that class; an upstart.

adjective:
Being a parvenu; also, like or having the characteristics of a
parvenu.

No Haiku. Too hot to write…

2003-07-08T11:08:00.000Z

Let’s Get Cultural!
Heading off to the premiere of the Veronia Guerin Story tonight, and looking forward to it as an interesting film, rather than one I expect to be enjoyable in the same way that, say, Charlie’s Angels 2 would be enjoyable (must go see that soon – even Gar gave it a rave review!)

And next Tuesday, in the Helix, there is something called the Saigon Water Puppet Theatre on whose guest list I have apparently been placed. Well now there’s something completely different.

Weekend
Had some of the old college mates from UCD out over on Saturday – even Cthol – who was jetting off to NY to finish his Masters in Percussion the following day – showed up. We played board games and it was all good. That is until I got a really bad migraine that evening, thankfully as they were leaving, but sadly I couldn’t accompany them on the beer phase of the evening. Ah well. Wonder if migraine was part brought on by Brussels stress and ancillary emotions.

Leaving Work
It was pointed out that I can’t take annual leave when I am in Brussels – if the EU Council is open, I must be there. Now there are 10 days at Christmas and 10 at Easter, but no days to take off at a whim, which makes things like Gaelcon a tight squeeze. Anyway, net result is that I am taking 2 weeks off in August – Jen being off that month – to go away somewhere and head off to Brussels earlier to settle in. Which means the work booze-up will be on the 14th August, and the general one will have to be soon after…me things that Saturday perhaps. There will be mails sent out in due course.

Belated congratulations to Rev. Hanly.

Today’s Words: -

1. provender \PROV-uhn-duhr\, noun:
1. Dry food for domestic animals, such as hay, straw, corn,oats, or a mixture of ground grain; feed.
2. Food or provisions.

2. bibelot \BEE-buh-loh\, noun:
A small decorative object without practical utility; a trinket.

3. inculcate \in-KUHL-kayt; IN-kuhl-kayt\, transitive verb:
To teach and impress by frequent repetition or instruction.

Today’s Haiku: -
Nettlesome fears
Arrayed in cloistered haven
Under lock and key

2003-07-03T15:16:00.000Z

Brussels

Monday and Tuesday saw me in Brussels primarily to book my accommodation – a small but very well furnished (even down to cutlery, ironing board and pans) 2 bedrooms flat – yes that means come on over and visit… just not at once.

Had my first experience of Eurocracy on Tuesday, in a meeting with delegates from all 25 countries, complete with translation booths and earpieces and all – just like on TV. Well, ok, it wasn’t the same room as the huge fracas that occurred in the Parliament recently, but it was still awe-inspiring and impressive. Look at me, Ma, I’m a Eurocrat.

There was much in the ways of emotional experience, but more on that in my LJ (yes it’s getting a use) in a few days,

Those Magnificent Men.

Go to Google.

Type in Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Hit the “I’m Feeling Lucky” Button.

Some people are real geniuses

See? I am trying to keep these entries relatively brief so people will read them :D

Today’s Words: -
1. sempiternal \sem-pih-TUR-nuhl\, adjective:
Of never ending duration; having beginning but no end; everlasting; endless.

2. prestidigitation \pres-tuh-dij-uh-TAY-shuhn\, noun:
Skill in or performance of tricks; sleight of hand.

3. stertorous \STUR-tuh-ruhs\, adjective:
Characterized by a heavy snoring or gasping sound; hoarsely breathing.

4. alpenglow \AL-puhn-gloh\, noun:
A reddish glow seen near sunset or sunrise on the summits of mountains.

Today’s Haiku:

Hidden specious veil
Interpolated spirit
Paucity of Man

2003-06-25T14:04:00.000Z

2003-06-24T17:19:00.000Z

Hot Meme Action

Today's Word: -

segue \SEG-way; SAYG-way\, intransitive verb:
To proceed without interruption; to make a smooth transition.

noun:
An instance or act of segueing; a smooth transition.

2003-06-23T14:39:00.000Z

The Meeting

I talked to the poeple in Foreign Affairs to day, crossed some "t"s, dotted some "i" and got formes to fill out for health insurance and whatnot. Not in triplicate though, with which I had a vague, untraceable surge of dissappointment. But it was quite informal, pleasant and located in a Building site. Or at least that is how their building seemed, as they have recently moved office to Harcourt Street abd a *lot* or work is being done. So much so, in fact, that I had to enter the building through a rather dodgy looking plain black metal door - the kind you see in dark future manga night clubs - down the bottom of brand shining new sheet metal steps. Behind this door was a gruff-looking, but amicable, be-jumpered man who merely nodded when I said my name. I began to felt like maybe the position of "cultural attaché" was meant in the Russian WWII spy sense...

Conclave

I went down in Don's convertible, and let it be known that anyone else who has long hair who is planning on riding in Cars with Don, wear a hat or be sure your hair is well tied back that you do not endure the Scourge of the Lashing of A Thousand Whippling Hairs and the Few Annoying Ones that Go Into Your Eyes even though you are Wearing Glasses :)

We arrived in the afternoon, had food, drifted a bit and went to the pub. On Sunday, I demoed some games - one thing I will say about Conclave is that it has a huge membership of young children, which I think is missig from most other cons, and is heartening to see. Over all, I don;t think I was at much of the con to make a proper judgement, but it seemed "organic" (read un-timetabled), a bit scattered, but a lot of fun. Personally, I am reaching the stage where I think I need a break from cons for a while. I think in all things, Brussels will be good for me.

Today's Words: -
1. panoply \PAN-uh-plee\, noun:
1. A splendid or impressive array.
2. Ceremonial attire.
3. A full suit of armor; a complete defense or covering.

2. hugger-mugger \HUH-guhr-muh-guhr\, noun:
1. A disorderly jumble; muddle; confusion.
2. Secrecy; concealment.

adjective:
1. Confused; muddled; disorderly.
2. Secret.

adverb:
1. In a muddle or confusion.
2. Secretly.

transitive verb:
To keep secret.

intransitive verb:
To act in a secretive manner.

3. inveigle \in-VAY-guhl; -VEE-\, transitive verb:
1. To persuade by ingenuity or flattery; to entice.
2. To obtain by ingenuity or flattery.

Today's Haiku: -
Blind Light Afterbirth
Beware the Eyes of the Storm
Winter's gripping tears

2003-06-18T16:09:00.000Z

Brussels Plan Comes together

Right so. I've got a meeting in the Department of Foreign Affairs on Monday 23rd to get all diplomacised and stuff, and then on Monday 30th I am heading over for a recon, to book my accommodation and also to attend a conference marking the beginning of Italy's EU Presidency. All exciting stuff, with the obvious expected associated mixed emotions.

Gaming drought

Been feeling out-of-gaming-sorts of late. Ever since the AD&D game ended, somewhat anti-climactically - the only person I have seen is Anton, and ID once from that group. I know I turned down a chance in some games, and I value and make good use of this new-fangled free time I have, and am not unhappy, it just seems an *age* since I have gamed. However, heading to Conclave this weekend to do MIB stuff, so that should be fun. And also loking to get some sedate and aged board games evenings organised over the next few weeks...watch this space for mindless ramblings.

Off shore accounts

Thought this was funny.

Today's Words: -

1. comity \KOM-uh-tee\, noun:
A state of mutual harmony, friendship, and respect, especially between or among nations or people; civility. comity of nations, noun:
1. The courteous recognition by one nation of the laws and institutions of another.
2. The group of nations observing international comity.

2. eleemosynary \el-uh-MOS-uh-ner-ee\, adjective:
1. Of or for charity; charitable; as, "an eleemosynary institution."
2. Given in charity; having the nature of alms; as, "eleemosynary assistance."
3. Supported by or dependent on charity; as, "the eleemosynary poor."

Today;s Haiku: -

Every day a death.
Life compost residual
Cubic Paradox

2003-06-12T15:21:00.000Z

You're Calvin!

Which Calvin and Hobbes Character are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

2003-06-12T15:12:00.000Z

Stolen from Anton's Blog

DEVIL/PAN
"the joker, worker, stabilizer"
You are gifted when it comes to protecting yourself
from judgements cast upon you by others. In
fact, you are not easily thrown by external reality. You have the capacity to work and play hard and to laugh at yourself. This is the card of humour and sexuality (it is the only card with genital symbols)."Devil" spelled backwards is "lived", and it is very fitting. You live with humour and have a stable foothold on life. Of course, you do love setting the occasional bit of mischief into play.

***which major arcana of the thoth tarot deck are you? short; with pictures and detailed results***
brought to you by Quizilla

And now an update

Well, it has been an inordinate amount of time since I updated, but sure I’m not sure how many people read this blog – though I have been surprised by who does read this. Anyway, I’ll try to be brief.

Best Laid Plans

I had taken last week of work for the purpose of going to Booterstown, Brussels and Cork, only one of which – the least “exotic” one (and I use the term very loosely) – but it was quite pleasant in a different way.

The Booterstown day off was a Tuesday, and me, Jen, her sister and her sister’s fella went to meet Jen’s Gran for lunch in a pub in Booterstown – Gleeson’s I think. Anyway, Jen’s Gran is a grand old lady of 92 years, going great guns, full of chat, and in fairness to the staff there who know her, treated like a queen for the day, which was very pleasant in a way I didn’t think Dublin could produce anymore. I am becoming increasingly disillusioned with this city.

The Brussels visit was in order to view and book accommodation, but after a slightly worrying lack of contact from the Permanent Rep out there, to whom I will be working, I finally got “the call” on Thursday, which was the day I was planning to fly out. It turns out that the accommodation people were not going to be ready for me to view, so it has been postponed until July 1st, which ties in quite nicely with a conference marking the beginning of the Italian Presidency of the EU, so I’ll get to meet people with whom I will have contact during my diplomatic mission there. So, all for the best in that regard.

The Cork thing was Ubercon – a games convention in Cork. I was all guns to go, but sadly out Training Division rang to inform me that I was booked on a training course in French on Monday morning, which knocked out the list arrangement, which Brian had kindly offered. And then Jen was going to be away this week with work, so I thought it best to stay here and do something nice for both of us seeing as plans were falling apart.

Other news

Well, the kids book I am writing, the title which is very secretive (please, if you know, don’t mention it), is going really well and I am really enjoying writing it. I’ll need a few expert opinions before it’s finalised – psychologists and the like. Still, all things are good at present :)

Today’s Words:

It’s been a while so have 5 (aren’t I generous)

1. putative \PYOO-tuh-tiv\, adjective:
Commonly thought or deemed; supposed; reputed.

2 vitiate \VISH-ee-ayt\, transitive verb:
1. To make faulty or imperfect; to render defective; to
impair; as, "exaggeration vitiates a style of writing."
2. To corrupt morally; to debase.
3. To render ineffective; as, "fraud vitiates a contract."

3. daedal \DEE-duhl\, adjective:
1. Complex or ingenious in form or function; intricate.
2. Skillful; artistic; ingenious.
3. Rich; adorned with many things.

4. comestible \kuh-MES-tuh-buhl\, adjective:
Suitable to be eaten; edible.

noun:
Something suitable to be eaten; food.

5. supererogatory \soo-puhr-ih-ROG-uh-tor-ee\, adjective:
1. Going beyond what is required or expected.
2. Superfluous; unnecessary.

Today’s Haiku:

Elf Walls keep us safe
Ensconce a caged spirit
Soul-less erosion

2003-05-30T13:19:00.000Z

Independence Of Scientific Mind

This was a question in a physics degree exam at the University of
Copenhagen: "Describe how to determine the height of a skyscraper with a
barometer."

One student replied: "You tie a long piece of string to the neck of the
barometer, then lower the barometer from the roof of the skyscraper to
the ground. The length of the string plus the length of the barometer
will equal the height of the building."

This highly original answer so incensed the examiner that the student
was failed immediately. The student appealed on the grounds that his
answer was indisputably correct, and the university appointed an
independent arbiter to decide the case. The arbiter judged that the
answer was indeed correct, but did not display any noticeable knowledge
of physics.

To resolve the problem, it was decided to call the student in and allow
him six minutes in which to provide a verbal answer that showed at least
a minimal familiarity with the basic principles of physics.

For five minutes the student sat in silence, forehead creased in
thought.

The arbiter reminded him that time was running out, to which the student
replied that he had several extremely relevant answers, but couldn't
make up his mind which to use. On being advised to hurry up the student
replied as
follows:

"Firstly, you could take the barometer up to the roof of the skyscraper,
drop it over the edge, and measure the time it takes to reach the
ground.
The height of the building can then be worked out from the formula H =
0.5g x t squared. But bad luck on the barometer."

"Or if the sun is shining you could measure the height of the barometer,
then set it on end and measure the length of its shadow. Then you
measure the length of the skyscraper's shadow, and thereafter it is
simple matter of proportional arithmetic to work out the height of the
skyscraper."

"But if you wanted to be highly scientific about it, you could tie a
short piece of string to the barometer and swing it like a pendulum,
first at ground level and then on the roof of the skyscraper. The height
is worked out by the difference in the gravitational restoring force T =
2pi sq root (l/g)."

"Or if the skyscraper has an outside emergency staircase, it would be
easier to walk up it and mark off the height of the skyscraper in
barometer lengths, then add them up."

"If you merely wanted to be boring and orthodox about it, of course, you
could use the barometer to measure the air pressure on the roof of the
skyscraper and on the ground, and convert the difference in millibars
into feet to give the height of the building."

"But since we are constantly being exhorted to exercise independence of
mind and apply scientific methods, undoubtedly the best way would be to
knock on the janitor's door and say to him, 'If you would like a nice
new barometer, I will give you this one if you tell me the height of
this skyscraper'."

The student was Niel Bohr, the only Dane to win the Nobel prize for
Physics!

2003-05-19T13:51:00.000Z

Look...I dun a Live Journal! Click me

2003-05-19T10:17:00.000Z

Malcom X Day

Today is the birthday of Malcolm X, Gangster, Black Supremecist, African-American Egalitarian, Advocate of Equal Right and devout Muslim. The thing I admire most about Malcolm X is even though he had his faith shaken to the core, upon learning of proof that the head of his particular branch of Islam had betrayed the ideals which he thought, Malcom X still found himself through all the doubt, chaos and fear. And found himself to become, in my opinion, amore balanced person, focussed on equality of rights, and not blanket-blasting any people becuase of their sect and race, even though he had done this before, and amending rather than retracting the truth of his previous statement. I think Colonialism is the greatest crime the human race has perpetuated upon itself - so much cutlure and learning lost. Malcolm X said that no white person is in a position to judge the action of an African-American. In the time and context of that statement, I find it to be a humbling truth.

I admire the man, because of and despite of his errors and the fact that I do not agree with his belief system and a lot of his teachings. But I do not doubt that he was and is a great man.

And to lighten the mood, a silly RPG geek test
They seem to have done this that the more you have GM'd, for example, the less your precentage score, so my 14.49% means that I am 85.51% GM, I think

Your Ultimate Roleplaying Purity Score
Category	Your Score	Average
Hacklust	66.98% Enjoys the occasional head-lopping	52.3%
Sensitive Roleplaying	39.24% All the game's your stage	48.4%
GM Experience	14.49% Worldbuilder, storyteller... Master.	65.7%
Systems Knowledge	83.19% Played in a couple of campaigns	88.3%
Livin' La Vida Dorka	32.18% Carries dice in pocket 'just in case'	58.2%
You are 49.02% pure Average Score: 65.4%
Take The Ultimate Roleplaying Purity Test and see how you match up!

Today's Words:-
1. nonage \NON-ij; NOH-nij\, noun:
1. The time of life before a person becomes legally of age.
2. A period of youth or immaturity.

2. sartorial \sar-TOR-ee-uhl\, adjective:
1. Of or relating to a tailor or to tailoring.
2. Of or relating to clothing, or style or manner of dress.
3. [Anatomy] Of or relating to the sartorius muscle.

Today's Haiku:
Solid self-belief
Be a man, my son, or else
What else s there, then?

2003-05-16T10:53:00.000Z

Debt Free – nearly

Well, just got word today that the last payment on my final loan has been repaid and the account is being closed. The happiness of that news outweighed the annoyance at the fact that they added about 70 euro to the normal payment without permission for “the convenience of closing the account”. Illegality aside, that leaves all my loans paid off, and only a credit card to pay off, which is successfully being beaten back with a repayment stick. It has been difficult, and belt pinching, but the future look bring, especially in light of that Brussels job

Brussels

It occurs to me that I have not explained what the Brussels job is. Well, the presidency of the EU rotates amongst the member states on a 6 monthly basis (though this will have to be re-examined in light of the 10 ascension states pending membership). Each Department has permanent representatives in Brussels, and when the presidency comes around, those reps need to have additional staff to organise the various programmes of the Presidency. As the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, our main EU Competence lies in the Programme for Culture and Linguistic Diversity, and also chairing the cultural committees and the Audiovisual Committee. Also, next year is the year of Education through Sport, so that will impact on our Presidency from the point of view of this Department. Essentially, en bref, I will be the aide to the cultural attaché for Ireland in the EU, with some specific projects to prepare for the Presidency.

I’m a Eurocrat and in the Diplomatic Corps now.

Today’s Words: -
1. virtu \vuhr-TOO; vir-\, noun:

1. A love of or taste for fine objects of art.
2. Productions of art (especially fine antiques).
3. Artistic quality.

2. outre \oo-TRAY\, adjective:
Unconventional; eccentric; bizarre.

Today’s Haiku: -
In spiral Tangle
Light of Deception, create
Aged rebels new

2003-05-13T11:12:00.000Z

Brussels

Amidst the congratulations from work colleagues, it has finally sunk in that I will be heading to Brussels from September 2003 until June 2004. I have to admit, even though Jen and I talked a lot about it before I went for it, there are some mixed feelings. 90% of me is looking forward to the challenge and the experience. The other percentage is going to miss people, Jen the most obviously, and there is the awareness that I might have to spend Christmas and New Years over there (the presidency starts 1st January), and that I might miss things like Gaelcon. Ah well, we shall see. I shall be making some forays over there and talking to the other Permanent Representatives over the next two months, so I should no better then.

The AD&D Game

Well, it finished last Saturday, a bit anti-climactically, but then again, I think the group may have been somewhat jaded and over-powerful. Mental note, next campaign limit power – it’ll be a small In Nomine group with the PCs starting out playing angels, which is very much a toe-the-line role. I got renewed inspiration from that Meg Ryan and Nicolas Cage film that was on the other day, the name of which escapes me. I’m looking forward to that a lot.

Must organise some board game evenings to flex my newly bought copy of Puerto Rico and Amun-Re

Wulfen

A new silly game along the lines of Battlefaeries, but seems like a lot of “fun”, where fun translates to something that you can do in about 10 seconds that fills in those (rare) quiet moments in work. My goblin is here

Today’s Words: -
1. canorous \kuh-NOR-us; KAN-or-uhs\, adjective:
Richly melodious; pleasant sounding; musical.

2. epigone \EP-uh-gohn\, noun:
An inferior imitator, especially of some distinguished writer,
artist, musician, or philosopher.

Today’s Haiku: -
Changes oneiric
Mutable life, progressive
Happiness a Goal

2003-05-08T17:58:00.000Z

I got the job!

Well, exactly 40 minutes after the interview, which I had at 3.30pm (being the last of three), I had a letter in my hand informing me that I had been successful in my application for the "assignment". From Spetember 2003, I will be living in Brussels for a 10 month duration. Go me. I am, to say the least, chuffed - It will be indeed different.

It's 7pm, and I am still in work :( So no Haiku :P Have a word though.

Today's Word:-

susurrus \su-SUHR-uhs\, noun:
A whispering or rustling sound; a murmur.

2003-05-07T17:05:00.000Z

ROGUE!!

Which X-Men Character Are You??
brought to you by Quizilla

2003-05-06T13:02:00.000Z

ANCORA IMPARO

The above was reputed to have been said by Michelangelo whilst painting the Cistine Chapel. I found it on a plaque while shopping with Jen and my parents in the Pavilion in Swords (first time there) and fell in love with it. It was €40, so I left it with plans to buy it another time – a lovely bronze hand-carved plaque. It was to be another addition to my “study” (when we buy a house in the far future) in addition to the Victorian-style bookstand Jen bought me for Valentine’s. The phrase is a motto that I hope to live my writing by. It translates as “I am still learning”.

Other highlight of the weekend

As well as seeing the parents on Sunday, I managed to see Dave, me oldest mate, who is mid-exams in a qualifying year for his Masters in Theoretical Physics. And yes, the guy is an absolute genius, IMHHO. So that was cool. Also attended Anton’s and Sal’s separate birthday gatherings in Isaac Butts. It was playing the Music of the Grove – an old alternative disco which ran on the Northside of the city from ‘67-’97, but which was shut down as there were drugs in the latter days, I think. I was there before, but the lack of ventilation and extreme smoking. However, this time around there were very few smokers. Now I am not anti-smoking per say, and there were people smoking there, but it was nice to be able to breathe clearly. The music rocked – if only there was a better dance floor.

There was a lot of flashing in Anton’s group. Not by me.

It was generally a nice weekend. Better than nice, one of the most self-affirming, happiest and relaxing weekends I can remember in recent times. I feel thoughtful, pensive and rejuvenated.

Hot off the Press.

Apparently, some of my Haikus are being used, with my permission, in a school in Australia, being shown to 12 and 13 year olds. I feel all international now. :)

Today’s Words: -

1. stentorian \sten-TOR-ee-uhn\, adjective:
Extremely loud.

2. tmesis \TMEE-sis\, noun:
In grammar and rhetoric, the separation of the parts of a compound word, now generally done for humorous effect; for example, "what place soever" instead of "whatsoever place," or "abso-bloody-lutely."

Today’s Haiku: -
A far-reaching tree
Budding into afterlife
Mortal eternal

2003-05-02T13:51:00.000Z

Gencon

Well most of my gaming friends will have heard that Peter Atkinson, CEO of Gencon LLC, has put the Gencon licence up for sale, and wont be doing it again after the fracas of Gencon UK. Be interesting to see who, if anyone, will take it over. Watch this space :)

Chicago

Saw this last Thursday with Jen. I guess I go to musicals expecting some kind of emotional repartee – a reaction from myself on a deep level, an interaction with the performance, some form of impact. Chicago didn’t have that. Now it was highly entertaining, but that’s all it was. I guess that’s all it is supposed to be. The dancers were out of time a lot, though, not that I could do anything like that personally, so more an observation than a criticism. Matri Pello (sp?) can sing, but I think the “musical” voice is a very different style to his voice.

Inkblot Test

Interesting Inkblot type test. Don’t know much about these to be honest. Must find out more. Apparently, my subconscious is driven by Curiosity. Insofar as the subconscious can be summed up in one word, that a pretty accurate word.

Weekend plans

Saturday hols two birthdays! Sal’s and Anton’s, both happily in Isaac Butts :) Thing is, though, that place has no ventilation and every time I go there I come home ill with sinuses choked by smoke. Now I am not anti-smoking per say, but regardless of whether the ban in pubs comes into effect or not, I 100% support a law for proper ventilation that is enforced to an active degree. Looking forward to seeing people I don’t see enough though. Should be a good night.

Brussels Job

I am going for a job of assistant to the Cultural Attaché in Brussels for the duration of Ireland’s EU Presidency. It’s a 10-month stint, with a rent allowance and foreign residential allowance, so it would be nice if I got it. It does mean, obviously, living there for the 10 months, mind you. We shall see. In a contemplative mood today, but it could be exhaustion…haven’t seen the flat this side of 8pm all week :(

Today’s Words: -

1. caesura \sih-ZHUR-uh; -ZUR-\, noun;
plural caesuras or caesurae \sih-ZHUR-ee; -ZUR-ee\:
1. A break or pause in a line of verse, usually occurring in the middle of a line, and indicated in scanning by a double vertical line; for example, "The proper study || of mankind is man" [Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man].
2. Any break, pause, or interruption.

2. Brobdingnagian \brob-ding-NAG-ee-uhn\, adjective:
Of extraordinary size; gigantic; enormous.

3. minatory \MIN-uh-tor-ee\, adjective:
Threatening; menacing.

Today’s Haiku

A floating spirit
Nowhere to go but onward
Fleeting as future

2003-04-30T14:26:00.000Z

Proper update later....promise

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Second Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Moderate
Level 2 (Lustful)	Very High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Low
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Moderate
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Moderate
Level 7 (Violent)	Very High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	High

Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test

2003-04-24T17:28:00.000Z

Back from London and Gencon

Touched down on Tuesday to a blistering warm and pleasant day in London and took a bit of a walk about after several texts letting people of all ilk know that I had arrived. After a brief coffee with Louisa, who as usual was doing 700 things and flying off to Guatemala that Monday, I went to the Olympia – the venue for Gencon – to find the organisation in a shambles. I am not gongi to go into the detail but suffice to say tat no traders, exhibitiors or punters had positive feedback about their treatment and the organisation of the con and words such as “sham” and “fracas” and “” were frequently being thrown about. The thing is, as it is moving venue, I am not sure if they will be able to apply the knowledge gleaned fro errors made to future cons, but some of the errors were incredible fundamental.

The net result was that the MIB had no demo space. After 3 frantic calls to the US offices, I finally secured our 6 passes, which were only 4-day passes so we couldn’t get into the trade area until it opened to punters. The demo space issue was resolved by the wonderful and kind people at Playin’ Games and Travelling Man who gave us what space they could spare over the weekend, and a canny call of teaming up with BITS to ensure that we blagged 6 of the open gaming tables, which weren’t supposed to exist, for the duration of the weekend.

On Thursday evening I was fit to collapse, but hooked up with some MIBs and rested back at the hotel.

The con itself was alright, but primarily because punters had nothing to do and thus kept us busy. Sales of SJ stuff did well, but the difficulties ongoing for traders led to three formal multi-signed complaints thrown in. I personally made a lot of cool contacts, some new friends, and couldn’t reign in my praise of Irish cons, which can now expect a few artists, UK traders (as themselves) and about 10 confirmed bookings for Gaelcon and Warpcon

It was lovely to see the Critical Miss guys again, and nice to get to know some of the European MIBs. I did my usual tactic of finding 3 cute girls – Vicky, Bec and Claire – and coaxing them into playing SJ Games. They attracted an audience, played games, won stuff, and bribed Paul and I with Fruit and Chocolate respectively. I also hooked up with some games designers, and thanks to Paul, ended up buying two stonking baordgames – Puerto Rico and Amun Re (the latter being the latests offering from Reiner Knitz (sp??)

A good weekend in all, despite the convention.

Off to Chicago tonight, hopefully will post a review anon.

Today’s Words: -

1. inanition \in-uh-NISH-uhn\, noun:
1. The condition or quality of being empty.
2. Exhaustion, as from lack of nourishment.
3. Lack of vitality or spirit.

2. conspectus \kuhn-SPEK-tuhs\, noun:
1. A general sketch or survey of a subject.
2. A synopsis; an outline.

3. salmagundi \sal-muh-GUHN-dee\, noun:
1. A salad plate usually consisting of chopped meat, anchovies, eggs, and onions, served with oil and vinegar.
2. Any mixture or assortment; a medley; a potpourri; a miscellany.

Today’s Haiku: -

A revolution
Cogs trapped in expectation
Blame society

2003-04-09T09:27:00.000Z

It's my Birthday!!

Well, there ya re now, 27 today, so I am awarding myself with an update :) That and the office is relatively quiet today, with most of the people that rupture the stability of thediary so much like tossing a salad are away at official functions today, so I can breathe. I don't breathe enough. This morning, on the way in, was full on introspection, as these kinds of days usually are to me. I started listing what I had done to date, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. At the top of the list was saving a life, whcih did make me smile and feel good. But I have that feeling inside me that I haven't yet realised my full potential yet, not even close. It's odd but I can feel an excitement inside me, a fire.. all I have to do is find the focus, the real focus, but I feel confidant that that will happen in time.

The Celebrations

Tomorrow evening, O'Reilly' Bar under Tara Street station at 7.30pm (ish - these things are always ish).

That's all for now. I have Friday off, so I will post the outcomes and scandal from the celebrations

Today's Words:
1. diadem \DY-uh-dem\, noun:
1. A crown.
2. An ornamental headband worn (as by Eastern monarchs) as a badge of royalty.
3. Regal power; sovereignty; empire; -- considered as symbolized by the crown.

transitive verb:
To adorn with a diadem; to crown.

2. virago \vuh-RAH-go; vuh-RAY-go\, noun:
1. A woman of extraordinary stature, strength, and courage.
2. A woman regarded as loud, scolding, ill-tempered, quarrelsome, or overbearing.

3. supposititious \suh-poz-uh-TISH-uhs\, adjective:
1. Fraudulently substituted for something else; not being what is purports to be; not genuine; spurious; counterfeit.
2. Hypothetical; supposed.

Today's Haiku:
Introspective Time
Years gone by and years to come
All things transient

2003-03-26T13:53:00.000Z

Been a while..
Wow,

It's been quite some time since I updated (sounds like a confessional opening that does). I have been moved from the Correspondence Secretary to being the Diary Secretary of the Minister, hence the lack of updates. The job basically involves making, cancelling and juggling the Min's appointments, getting speeches and whatnot together and spending 2/3 of the day on the phone. The other 1/3 is supposed to be devoted to papers work. Now, I was moved here (a whole 1 desk away) with the instruction of developing a "system" to track the appointments and ancillary paperwork. There is sort of one, but it's one put together by my predecessor while he was fire-fighting the job. I can now relate to his pain. I have designed, on paper, a database solution with lots of funky features. I presented this to the boss about 4 working days ago, and neither of us have had a chance to talk about it since. Add to that the fact that the Clerical who works to me is out for a family funeral (for which, obviously, I bear her no ill-will what-so-ever), and I am also doing the data-entry and acknowledgement/regrets end of the job. My shifts are 8am-7/7.30pm, and there'll be a few Saturdays to boot.

In short, man am I busy!

Jen's bday

Was a pleasant affair on the Saturday evening, while elsewhere games were being played at Dominicon (thanks to Gar for his comments on my In Nomine scenario!), with dinner in Al's (including live music and a belly-dancer) and two people coming back to the flat for late night drinkies. I, with sinuses and a burgeoning migraine (which blossomed the following morning) bedded down at 4am; the rest, at 6am. But it was heartlily enjoyable.

The future?

Looking forward to Gencon in late April and considering what to do for my birthday next Wednesday. Jen and I had nice drinks with Donogh and Michelle in O'Reilly's last night, and I am thinknig of having drinks there on Thursday 10th for my bday (which is on the 9th), as the decor is really nice n' gothic with candles and wrought-iron chandeliers and candle-brackets in the ceiling and wall respectively. Watch this space. Oh, and happy birthday to Eamon in case I don't make it!

Some silly tests, stolen from people

you have an ominosity quotient of
eight.
you are more ominous than the creators of this quiz. good god.

find out your ominosity quotient.

You are a Mouse!

What kind of furry are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Rafael. You're most like the ArchAngel of Healing.
You want people to shape up, and you nag. But
you mean well, and you're well loved despite
it. Or because of it. You bring the donuts
even as you tell people to eat more veggies.

Which ArchAngel are you most like?
brought to you by Quizilla

Today Words (have 3): -

1. emolument \ih-MOL-yuh-muhnt\, noun:
The wages or perquisites arising from office, employment, or labor; gain; compensation.

2. preponderate \prih-PON-duh-rayt\, intransitive verb:
1. To exceed in weight.
2. To incline or descend, as the scale of a balance; to be weighed down.
3. To exceed in influence, power, importance, number, amount, etc.

3. trencherman \TREN-chuhr-muhn\, noun:
A hearty eater.

Today's Haiku:-
Mindfullness of soul
Today's world preponderate
Commodity peace

2003-03-14T10:45:00.000Z

Another pointless quiz to look like I am updating

Take the "How Do You Use Magic?" test! Written by Brimo

Today's Word: -
mollify \MOL-uh-fy\, transitive verb:
1. To pacify; to soothe or calm in temper or disposition.
2. To reduce in intensity; to temper.
3. To soften; to reduce the rigidity of.

Today's Haiku: -
In the Reaper's arms
Eyes of star-dust tears, ignored
Us oblivious

2003-03-13T17:24:00.000Z

Oddness

Are you damned?
Brought to you by Rum and Monkey

You can laugh at the silly superstitions of the religious, safe in the knowledge that we are only dust and lies. All that will be left of you after you die is a slow decay and some fading memories in the minds of your friends. Hope you're enjoying your life at the moment- there's nothing better to come.

More Eircom News

Apparently, in a month's time, they are bringing out a cheaper package for people further than 3km from the exchange - a kind of an I-can't-believe-it's-not-ADSL option. Be about 50 euro a month (not bad) and a bit slower than ADSL - 128/64 instead of 512/256, but it'll still be a hell of a lot faster than what I have (or haven't) got now. So, cross yer bits.

Today's Word: -

limn \LIM\, transitive verb:
1. To depict by drawing or painting.
2. To portray in words; to describe.

No Tme for Haiku! Off to cinema now.

2003-03-12T09:34:00.000Z

Internet of a form

Well, the connection is still slow, but improving, but I am hesitant to use it. The reason for this hesitation is that my virus software hasn’t been updated in quite a while (not having any usable access thus far) and needs a whopper of a download. The download rate is still unusable (about 1hr/ 1MB) – I don’t understand how the http protocol has sped up but file transfer/ download is still painfully slow. It irks me once again that Eircom previously told me that I could have ADSL and now have told me that I cannot. I am thinking of ringing them a third time as I am liable to get another operator and a third opinion :)

Cons go past

I hope all who went to K2 had fun. The jury is still out on it for me – it didn’t quite click with me last time, but perhaps it is because it was more like a weekend away with Jen and her friend Seana, which we have done before, and it felt like there was a convention imposed over it, with a kind of pulling tension between the two leading to me either gaming or being with Jen, with little confluence between the two mindsets and social states. Perhaps next year I will make the trip by myself and see what happens.

And of course Dominicon falls on Jen’s birthday, which means I wont be able to attend. I’ll still write my two scenarios (Cthulhu and In Nomine – I’ll probably run the CoC again as I really like it), but I wont be there to commentate on Domestemania (an event where the martial arts experts of Maynooth NUI do a well-rehearsed (in theory), well choreographed wrestling mock-up. Trained professionals – don’t try it at home kids). Last year, I just about managed to juggle Jen’s birthday celebrations. This year, I don’t feel I should – and I’ll probably be working that Sunday too. (Yes, I know I’m a civil servant)

Ah well, Gencon UK should be fun!

Anyone with K2 photos, send them to me! I’ll stick them up on Gameeire.

Furniture Move

Not that it’s big news, but it has made a very important psychological jump for me! I have moved my PC to the living room or mine and Jen’s cosy cubbyhole. It means I can write while Jen potters about and feel like we are still spending time together. It’s nice.

Fun stuff

You may have already seen the below, but It made me laugh, and will hopefully bring a smirk to the faces of you, my friends.

6th Grade History Test
Insight into the minds of 6th graders: The following were answers provided by 6th graders during a history test. Some of the best humour is in the misspelling.

1. Ancient Egypt was inhabited by mummies and they all wrote in hydraulics. They lived in the Sarah Dessert. The climate of the Sarah is such that all the inhabitants have to live elsewhere.

2. Moses led the Hebrew slaves to the Red Sea where they made unleavened bread, which is bread made without any ingredients. Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the ten commandments. He died before he ever reached Canada.

3. Solomon had three hundred wives and seven hundred porcupines.

4. The Greeks were a highly sculptured people, and without them we wouldn't have history. The Greeks also had myths. A myth is a female moth.

5. Socrates was a famous Greek teacher who went around giving people advice. They killed him. Socrates died from an overdose of wedlock. After his death, his career suffered a dramatic decline.

6. In the Olympic games, Greeks ran races, jumped, hurled biscuits, and threw the java.

7. Julius Caesar extinguished himself on the battlefields of Gaul. The Ides of March murdered him because they thought he was going to be made king. Dying, he gasped out: "Tee hee, Brutus."

8. Joan of Arc was burnt to a steak and was canonized by Bernard Shaw.

9. Queen Elizabeth was the "Virgin Queen." As a queen she was a success. When she exposed herself before her troops they all shouted "hurrah."

10. It was an age of great inventions and discoveries. Gutenberg invented removable type and the Bible. Another important invention was the circulation of blood. Sir Walter Raleigh is a historical figure because he invented cigarettes and started smoking.

11. Sir Francis Drake circumsized the world with a 100-foot clipper.

12. The greatest writer of the Renaissance was William Shakespeare. He was born in the year 1564, supposedly on his birthday. He never made much money and is famous only because of his plays. He wrote tragedies, comedies, and hysterectomies, all in Islamic pentameter. Romeo and Juliet are an example of a heroic couple. Romeo's last wish was to be laid by Juliet.

13. Writing at the same time as Shakespeare was Miguel Cervantes. He wrote Donkey Hote. The next great author was John Milton. Milton wrote paradise Lost. Then his wife died and he wrote Paradise Regained.

14. Delegates from the original 13 states formed the Contented Congress. Thomas Jefferson, a Virgin, and Benjamin Franklin were two singers of the Declaration of Independence. Franklin discovered electricity by rubbing two cats backward and declared, "A horse divided against itself cannot stand." Franklin died in 1790 and is still dead.

15. Abraham Lincoln became America's greatest Precedent. Lincoln's mother died in infancy, and he was born in a log cabin which he built with his own hands. Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves by signing the Emasculation Proclamation. On the night of April 14, 1865, Lincoln went to the theater and got shot in his seat by one of the actors in a moving picture show. They believe the assinator was John Wilkes Booth, a supposingly insane actor. This ruined Booth's career.

16. Johann Bach wrote a great many musical compositions and had a large number of children. In between he practiced on an old spinster which he kept up in his attic. Bach died from 1750 to the present. Bach was the most famous composer in the world and so was Handel. Handel was half German, half Italian, and half English. He was very large.

17. Beethoven wrote music even though he was deaf. He was so deaf he wrote loud music. He took long walks in the forest even when everyone was calling for him. Beethoven expired in 1827 and later died for this.

18. The nineteenth century was a time of a great many thoughts and inventions. People stopped reproducing by hand and started reproducing by machine. The invention of the steamboat caused a network of rivers to spring up. Cyrus McCormick invented the McCormick raper, which did the work of a hundred men. Louis Pasteur discovered a cure for rabbits. Charles Darwin was a naturalist who wrote the Organ of the Species. Madman Curie discovered the radio. Karl Marx became one of the Marx Brothers.

Today’s Words: -

spoony \SPOO-nee\, adjective:
1. Foolish; silly; excessively sentimental.
2. Foolishly or sentimentally in love.

sylvan \SIL-vuhn\, adjective:
1. Of or pertaining to woods or forest regions.
2. Living or located in a wood or forest.
3. Abounding in forests or trees; wooded.

noun:
1. A fabled deity or spirit of the woods.
2. One that lives in or frequents the woods or forest; a rustic

Today’s Haiku:-

Cast a thrashing limn
With wry smile and quaking fear
Words are manifold.

2003-03-07T14:57:00.000Z

They have the Internet on Computers now?

Well, I may not be able to get ADSL, but it appears they are in the process of upgrading the entire local exchange anyway, which means that even normal connection has sped up a wee bit. File downloading rates still suck, but the HTML transfer is better, but still abyssmal. I live in hope

Other than that, exhausted.

Today's Word: -
chimerical \ky-MER-ih-kuhl; -MIR-; kih-\, adjective:
1. Merely imaginary; produced by or as if by a wildly fanciful imagination; fantastic; improbable or unrealistic.
2. Given to or indulging in unrealistic fantasies or fantastic schemes.

Hakiu anon...

2003-03-06T15:26:00.000Z

President Eisenhower to US Congress: "Remember that all people of all nations want peace, only their governments want war."

Today's Word: -

sough \SAU; SUHF\, intransitive verb:
To make a soft, low sighing or rustling sound, as the wind.

noun:
A soft, low rustling or sighing sound.

Today's Haiku: -
A soldier bullet
Tears upon an olden child
Eyes forever young

2003-03-04T10:51:00.000Z

ADSL

Ok, so they'll be expanding the area in Drumcondra, so ADSL may only be delayed a month. Jen is willing to move for it, but the place we have is really nice, and I can't justify the effort needed just to get web access. It's a thinker, though, especially as I get more and more involved in Steve Jackson Games.

In a nutshell

Around a lot in Email, but this was specifically stolen from Brian

1. Three books you read recently:
Witching Hour - Anne Rice
Awakening to the Sacred - Lama Surya Das
Beowulf - Seamus Heaney (trans)

2. A character from a work of fiction you really identify with :
So many characters are mood associated - at the moment, Adrian Mole meets Marvin from Hitchhikers' Guide

3. What other living things are in the room you're in?
In the office at the moment, so 4 other colleagues and no plants.

4. Pick a card, any card.
The King of Coins- I always draw it in Tarot

5. Dogs or cats?
Dogs

6. Any addictions?
Not in the literal sense, thankfully

7. Pick a god, any god.
All and any gods depend on definitions. At the moment, I guess the universe as an expanding system of energy. Buddha, I guess, though he is not a god.

8. Describe your spirit guide.
A white horse, a snow fox and 3 squirrels - after several years of meditation

9. Describe your true shape.
As I am

10. When you become king, who's first up against the wall?
George W. Bush

11. "It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all" - Comment.
There's an argument for ignorance is bliss, but knowledge of love does add to the value of life experience

12. What's that warm, fuzzy feeling all about, eh?
Connecting in to energy and acheiveing moments of true empathy

13. Where did all the fairies go?
Symbolism changes, but some people still use the imagary of fairies

14. If you were an item of clothing, you'd be...
People will expect me to say thong or something, but I'd like to think big wooly jumper - the kind you wear when vegging.

Today's Word:-
aggress \uh-GRES\, intransitive verb:
To commit the first act of hostility or offense; to make an attack.

Today's Haiku: -
Little lonely mind
Part of so much more, aware
But learning to see

2003-03-03T16:18:00.000Z

I hate Eircom

In late Jan/ early Feb I was told that I was elligible for ADSL, but not to call until March as they were reducing the price of individual packages for 45 euro, along with an initial connection fee of 199 euro and the requirement to purchase a ADSL-capable modem, which they could sell at 175 euro.

So I call today. My line isn't ready for ADSL as it's more that 3km from the exchange, might be ready by the end of March but probably not, they couldn;t really say.

Now, in the grand scheme of things, I guess net access in not essential to my life, but I really really would like it, and having geared myself up to getting it, I now have to let myself down.

Add this to a weekend (week?) of bing dpressed about the math of getting a deposit for a house together in the next, like, 20 years, and you have a sad and irritable Colm today.

Today's Word: -
gaucherie \goh-shuh-REE\, noun:
1. A socially awkward or tactless act.
2. Lack of tact; boorishness; awkwardness.

Today's Haiku: -
Head too muggy...sorry

2003-02-28T10:29:00.000Z

Macbeth

The seats were in the Stalls, which are more cramped then I remember, but only 4 rows from the stage, so that was pretty cool. In hindsight, it strikes me that it must be very difficult to act the opening of Shakespeare play, specifically his tragedies, as not much actually happens, and there is little dramatic action to capture and audience, but rather a setting for the scene that was necessary for Elizabethan drama, and arguably required in some form for most plays, though perhaps not as formal a manner as the Shakespearian model. In any case, it was interesting to watch the audience as well as the play. I assume it’s on one of the exams as there was a school of two there who were chattering a bit throughout the first half of the play – not in an annoying way, but just noticeable. However, the play opened after the intermission with a masterful rendition of Lady Macbeth’s madness and the entire theatre was silent from that point on until the curtain call. The last act really brought out the talent in the cast, the witches were consistently odd, and as a criticism, I did think Hecate was very oddly portrayed and didn’t service the play as well as I though the character could have. Also, the actor playing Macbeth had a very traditional tremulous voice, which I felt was a bit overdone, if only for the fact that it took away from what he saying, putting him before the lines, which as a playwright, is not something I feel actors should do throughout a play.

It was funny at the end, as I was leaving, a woman said to whom I assume was the director, it a hugely affected “Drama” voice, “Dahling, you a wonder!” - to which the “director” replied “Oh, you” in an equally affected voice. I can now relate better to a non-gamer attending a games convention :)

My guest for the evening was Avril, and I think she enjoyed it as much as I. Jen was supposed to come, but she had a drinks night with work, which had been postponed once on her account, and she felt it bad form to ask for a second postponement. As it turned out, the night was postponed again on account of someone else, and she only found out that day, by which time I had invited Avril. I could rant on people not being organised, but I have to say that to date, my track record in that matter is abysmal. I am trying to improve, however.

Customer Service

I took Wednesday morning off as an engineer was coming to fix our cooker – the thermostat was broken. We had an “am” appointment, which was vague to start with. To make a long story short, after 5 phonecalls, he turned up at 5.30pm. It wasn’t his fault, he had not received a time from base, and they had not been in touch with him, despite the fact that they put me on hold while they allegedly rang him. Small town services are the way to go - Customer Service does not exist in Ireland in settlements of more that 500,000 people.

Today’s Words: -

1. voluptuary \vuh-LUHP-choo-er-ee\, noun:
A person devoted to luxury and the gratification of sensual appetites; a sensualist.
adjective:
Voluptuous; luxurious.

2. sub rosa \suhb-ROH-zuh\, adverb:
Secretly; privately; confidentially.

sub-rosa, adjective:
Designed to be secret or confidential; secretive; private.

Today’s Haiku:

The world closes minds
Life demands they open, but
Most are not alive

2003-02-25T13:49:00.000Z

It’s a blog update and the crowd goes wild!

Well, a few of you, rather than a crowd. And probably not so much wild as, well, um, I guess a vague noticing.

The weekend was nice, though not as nice as I hoped, as I had a migraine on Saturday, which means I missed the Poker Night that was set up. Ah well, there shall be more. Sunday was a pleasant settled, old-person day :) Went to Jen’s sister for dinner – Chicken Curry – and then went for a walk from Balckrock to Dun Laoghaire and had ice-cream in Teddy’s – a famous little hole in the wall that sells the finest ice-cream in Dublin. Apparently. It was cold and creamy goodness.

Met a friend of Jen’s and her fellah on the walk, also being old and couply-Sunday-afternoony, which made me feel older than my years, but disturbingly not in as heart-grippingly fearful as way with which that kind of feeling is usually accompanied. Ok, it makes sense to me.

Also saw Dare Devil, which was a comic book on screen and quite good for what it was. Funny to hear a Dublin villain with a real, honest-to-goodness Dublin accent. I thought they undersold Electra a bit though.

Over the last couple of days, I’ve had ancillary benefits of this new job. A got a copy of a lovely book celebrating 100 years of Irish poetry – signed by people like Seamus Heaney. It’s on “display” in the flat now, that is, perched on the Victorian book stand Jen got me :).

And tonight, I’m off to the opening of Macbeth in the Olympia, so really looking forward to that. Expect a full report when I next update…I’ll keep spoilers to a minimum :-P

Today’s Words: -

1. ingenue \AN-zhuh-noo\, noun:
1. A naive girl or young woman.
2. An actress playing such a person; also: the stage role of
an ingenue.

2. osculation \os-kyuh-LAY-shuhn\, noun:
The act of kissing; also: a kiss.

Today’s Haiku: -

Something of Silence
Isolation Tank questions
Piece of Mind, nothing

2003-02-21T13:40:00.000Z

Well, my blog seems to have dissappeared, but according to Sadhbh, it was a blogspot probelm. So I am posting to sort it out and say hi. Having talked to Anton, I have decided that I will type up entires in the evening and post them here in the morning, that is, of course, until I get ADSL at home in a couple of weeks, but I still love you all

2003-02-14T14:04:00.000Z

Check out the Onion....top right hand corner
:-)
"Decision To Ask Out Girl Made Using 10-Sided Die "

2003-02-14T12:18:00.000Z

Well, it’s been a busy week

The Department had the National Tourism Development Authority Bill (Seanad) Second Stage (breathe) Bill 2002 going through the Dáil today, which probably means very little to most of you, and not that much to me, save for the fact that the office was even busier that usual this week, and full of stress and tension, but in a good office-wot-do-work way, if that makes sense.

So I’m tired. As Wookie would say, it’s amost like a real job, but he works as a professional “To be burned out in 2 yrs” type in AOL.

Bought Jen, who wont read this until ages away – like March when we get ADSL – tickets for Chicago, the Musical for the day that’s in it, so hopefully she’ll like that – their good seats for the Thursday after it opens. And a nice card too.

February is to month what Tuesday is to week

A lot of people are blogging that February is depressing. February is an odd month. All other months have a kind of purpose, but February is left to embitter people to some degree. It’s the come-down after the boost that people try to give themselves in the new year. Maybe people should hibernate. It’s been a good month for me though, with the new job and all, so I hold it no bad feeling.

Anyway, stole the below from Anton’s blog – it’s a nice little insight into character I think

Two songs that make you happy:
Speed of Love - Rush
How You Remind Me - Nickelback

Two songs that make you cry:
On My Own – from Les Miserables
Tears - Rush

Two songs that remind you of love:
Speed of Love - Rush
Creep - Radiohead

Two songs that remind you of you:
Lots of stuff by Rush – particularly the Fountain of Lamneth

Two songs that make you ponder life:
The Boxer – Simon and Garfunkel
The Island – Paul Brady

Two songs you like but are ashamed to admit:
Hit Me Baby One More Time – Brittany Spears
Stay Now – East 17

Two songs for dancing:
Don’t do it often, but (and this seems odd given the selection so far)
Temple of Love – Sisters of Mercy
Shedding Skin - Pantera

Two songs to be played at your wedding:
Creep – Radiohead
Mustang Sally – Commitments version

Two songs to be played at your funeral:
Hurt –Nine Inch Nails
Two Winters Only – My Dying Bride

Two songs to be played really loudly:
I’m Just a Girl – No doubt
Fade to Black - Metallica

Two songs to help you sleep:
Don’t play music to sleep, much, but to relax it’s a Gregorian Chant CD Fergal bought me

Today’s Word: - have a few, it’s been a while

1. pule \PYOOL\, intransitive verb:
To whimper; to whine.

2. sublunary \suhb-LOO-nuh-ree\, adjective:
Situated beneath the moon; hence, of or pertaining to this
world; terrestrial; earthly.

3. cavil \KAV-uhl\, intransitive verb:
To raise trivial or frivolous objections; to find fault
without good reason.

transitive verb:
To raise trivial objections to.

noun:
A trivial or frivolous objection.

Today’s Haiku: -
I wrote a poem once
About Mystic love, now I
Know where to go look

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!

2003-02-07T14:09:00.000Z

Badger

What Is Your Animal Personality?
brought to you by Quizilla

Odd that..badger...hmm

Hopefully gonig to Blood Brothers tonight. I say hopefully, as an "issue" has happened in the Department, which may result in me not getting out of here until late. Add to that a meeting in 1hr, which means that the wrok fallout of the issue will be held back until the meeting is over. Come back from the meeting at 4 tof ace upto 3-4 hrs work. I might make it out by 7.20 (show's at 7.30), but if I can't make it then, the ticket will go to waste. So tempted to have someone else steps in, but that would mean accepting that I can't go in enough time to arrange an "understudy" to enjoy the show and keep Jen company. Aargh... so *that's* what they meant by calling this the "no life" job.

Today's Word :-
capacious \kuh-PAY-shuhs\, adjective:
Able to contain much; roomy; spacious.

I'll Haiku tomorrow

2003-02-06T08:57:00.000Z

I am Mario.

I like to jump around, and would lead a fairly serene and aimless existence if it weren't for my friends always getting into trouble. I love to help out, even when it puts me at risk. I seem to make friends with people who just can't stay out of trouble. What Video Game Character Are You?

Had an evening yesterday where things could have gone pear-shaped, but thankfully didn't. Mark - my brother that *had* the Computer Store - was back after a business trip to UK and no-one knew how he'd be- more complications thatn I care to blog, so we were kind of on standby. Thankfully, all went and is well. Still, net result was anight sitting in not doing anything, which I probably really needed, wot with the 8-7 new job (but I do enjoy it). I feel more rested that Monday.

Today's Word: -
consanguineous \kon-san(g)-GWIN-ee-us\, adjective:
Of the same blood; related by birth; descended from the same parent or ancestor.

Today's Haiku: -
Sleep but a picture
Palette dreams, subconscious stroke
Awake, dying, free

2003-02-04T09:15:00.000Z

S'pose it was too much to hope for Haikus :)

Much hope rays and re-enforcement to Gar, who needs it at the moment. Sorry for the short entry, but a man's gotta work...until he gets DSL at home :)

Today's Word: -
scuttlebutt \SKUHT-l-buht\, noun:
1. (Nautical)
a. A drinking fountain on a ship.
b. A cask on a ship that contains the day's supply of drinking water.
2. Gossip; rumor.

Today's Haiku: -
Forgotten door shuts
Echo hollow halls alone
Blinkered, empty sight

I am heroic couplets; most precise
And fond of order. Planned and structured. Nice.
I know, of course, just what I want; I know,
As well, what I will do to make it so.
This doesn't mean that I attempt to shun
Excitement, entertainment, pleasure, fun;
But they must keep their place, like all the rest;
They might be good, but ordered life is best.

What Poetry Form Are You?

2003-02-03T13:56:00.000Z

Nearly a week

Well, the delay in blogging is primarily down to the new job, which I started full time last Thursday, doing ½ and ½ last Tuesday and Wednesday. The new job is busy, as most of you who used to talk to me on messengers will have noticed. But it’ not IT busy. It’s paper busy. Basically, my job is to handle correspondence as well as a million duties that happen as and when they happen. But primarily it’s handling correspondence. There’s quite a lot of it, so systems have to be in place and admin skills have to be good. At the risk of sounding arrogant, mine are good. So the job, while busy, is kind of pleasantly so. It certainly makes the day go very fast indeed. 1:45pm now – when last I looked it was 9:05am.

So pretty much everything has been on hold/ in stasis while mind and body adjusted to new job. I was pretty ill Friday and over the weekend with sinus problems (see body adjusting), which was upsetting as I missed Cathal’s gig, and more annoyingly, Microgirl’s birthday celebrations. But I really was unfit to move.

Sunday I had recovered a bit – enough to be collected by parents and brought out to fix a PC in a convent in Malahide – an enclosed convent. Net result was a re-installation of Windows XP (shudder), and we all know how fun that can be.

So, this is full week one of job, and Monday is going well.

Columbia

Enough has and will be said of this tragedy for my comments to matter little. It is a tragedy and I agree with the sentiment that they have died in service to all humanity. Tragedies happen each and every day. Some get publicised. I hope the publicity of the global does not make us immune to noticing the colloquial, or make the local tragedies seem less.

Today’s Word

abstemious \ab-STEE-mee-uhs\, adjective:
1. Sparing in eating and drinking; temperate; abstinent.
2. Sparingly used or consumed; used with temperance or moderation.
3. Marked by or spent in abstinence.

Today’s Haiku

Pain’s Shadows echo
To all who suffer, my heart
Tears, cupped in my hands

2003-01-28T17:11:00.000Z

Nyyyyarrghgraggrrrgrick!

Well, guess what? Eircom are no longer taking ADSL orders. The reason for this, is that they are preparing a new package, which means that it will be cheaper (w00t), but also means I can't get access until March. AARGH!! Another month without web access at home (at least), which really means another 7 weeks by the time they have it installed. And not much i can do about it either.

bum

2003-01-28T16:51:00.000Z

Warpcon

Now, I’m sure there’ll be a on of blog entries about warpcon, so I’ll cut mine down to two personal specifics and one general comment.

Comment: - it was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable convention weekends I have ever attended. Kudos and congratulations to all committee, staff and others involved. And much deserved relaxation wishes to Sadhbh. Watch out for the report of the Critical Miss Website

My warpcon: - Well, Jen came down and surprised me on Saturday, which was lovely. It was initially odd to have Jen at Warpcon, but it was a nice surprise and we had a lovely time together – it was cool to combine Jen and gaming in that way (she normally doesn’t go to cons), but I kept made the mistake of introducing her to people whom she had already met. It was nice for her too, though, as she get to meet John Kovalic (she’s a bit of a fan).

My warpcon II: - I was awarded the Contribution to Irish Gaming award, which was entirely a surprise and very, very much appreciated. Thank you all. I hope it’s not a guilt-trip tool to bring me out of retirement :). Still, though, I am much humbled, grateful and a little bit shocked, but pleasantly so.

Writing

I have been remiss this week – recovering yesterday having had a lovely train trip and lunch with John and Janet from Edinburgh – they are part of the group running Conpulsion, so I hope to get over. And, of course, Sunday was out, so I have to do some today and can then get back into the swing of things.

New Job

Started my first ½ day today – it’s largely administrative, but there are quite a quantity of letters to filter through each day. But it’s something I think I am going to enjoy…especially as I.T. is getting more hectic by the day!! Flee!! Flee, I must. However, I have left many instructions and changeover documents in my wake.

Today’s Word: -

sedulous \SEJ-uh-luhs\, adjective:
1. Diligent in application or pursuit; steadily industrious.
2. Characterized by or accomplished with care and perseverance.

Today’s Haiku: -
Horizon Ending
Wake of new beginning high
Coral reef, seclude

2003-01-24T09:46:00.000Z

Finally!

I got a letter from personnel today to say that I am moving to the Minister’s office on Thursday, doing ½ and ½ between IT and the Ministers Office on Tuesday & Wednesday (ad Monday, or so they thought, but I am taking that day OFF!)

Strange to be leaving. The job seems to be a quantity management – chasing up 100s of letters and handling a few hundred a day. Keep track of them will be one hell of an admin task, but I like admin… it’s what I tell myself I’m good at :)

They’ll be calling me back on Saturdays for a while probably to some tender evaluation for the new security system I have researched and probably a few salaries duties, etc etc. Don’t know how long a while is, though…

Off to Warpcon in a few hours – man do I need this break. Looking forward to it a lot. Even more so, as I got messages from some friends over from the UK last night saying “why aren’t you in the pub”. One of the was Michael from Critical Miss, so it’ll be cool to see those guys again

Onward lunchtime dash to train. Btw, here’s a scary link

http://www.osearth.com/resources/worldometers/worldcrew.shtml

Note how much solar energy is produced (under the energy link)

Today’s Word: -
sedulous \SEJ-uh-luhs\, adjective:
1. Diligent in application or pursuit; steadily industrious.
2. Characterized by or accomplished with care and perseverance.

No Haiku, creative energies exhausted into a short story – I’m sure most of you will get to read it soon…next week draft one.

2003-01-22T13:14:00.000Z

Nyargh

Thus far this morning, our Email server has died, and we will have to buy a new one – in the mean time, patchwork has been done of what’s left of the old one to make it splutter and start a wee bit. I suppose the Server is about 5 years old.
The Salaries server nearly died, but was successfully resuscitated only to find that our “consultants” had configured the user end shortcuts incorrectly, and test work had been occasionally performed on the LIVE system. Clean up time.
This is after 2 days of reconfiguring the test salaries server to make it go like the live server, and finding loads of problems.
I need stress relief…roll on Warpcon

Children of the 80’s

Seeing as Fiona was good enough to blog this, and even issue replies I felt amused enough to produce my results here, bless me (my replies in italics)
1. Um Bongo, Um Bongo, They drink it in the Congo. I used to think it was that they “did it” in the congo
2. You ever read Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, The Babysitters Club, Forever or Sweet Valley High. Hardy Boys is about it.
3. You know all the words to "Ice Ice Baby". De do do de-de do-do. Sadly, most of em.
4. You wanted to be on "Jim'll Fix It". Yup, but I can’t remember what my “dream” was back then.
5. You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before he had plastic surgery. Of course, you mean before his pigmentation deficiency developed, and yes
6. You owned one of those T-shirts that changed colour with heat (Global Hypercolour).Can’t say I ever had, by wow what a cool idea!
7. You know the profound meaning of "Wax on, Wax off". I still search for the true meaning, Daniel-san
8. You were upset when She-ra, Princess of Power and He-Man got cancelled. Deeply…I even went to the premier of the movie She-ra
9. You can remember watching Saved by the Bell. Aye
10. You remember Madonna in her cone stage. Yeah, but she never did a 99
11. You knew "The Artist" when he was humbly called "Prince." I do, but it was only inherited knowledge from female friends
12. You even wore fluorescent-neon clothing... (if you can call it clothing!) Nope. Black all the way for me back then
13. You could break dance (ok, you wished you could) I could do robotics
14. You remember when Amiga was a state of the art video game system. The Amiga is deadly!
15. You remember M.C. Hammer. Sadly, yes
16. You can still sing the rap to "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" Still do and still watch it…in fact, it’s in my head now!
17. You can remember when it was Jazzy Jeff and The fresh Prince and NOT just plain Will Smith! Oh ye gods, yea
18. You own any cassettes. Still have a shelf load
19. You carried your lunch to school in a Gremlins, ALF or ET lunchbox. Alf for me…had a cuddly alf too
20. You have ever pondered on why Smurfette was the ONLY female smurf. Seen the email and “adult” short stories too
21. My Little Pony, Gummy Bears and Transformers are familiar to you. Yup
22. You ever had a Swatch Watch. Yup
23. You actually spent countless hours trying to perfect the "Care Bear stare." Can’t say that I have
24. You believed that "By the power of Greyskull, you HAD the power!" Scuse me, I still do!!
25. You spent hours in the basement building and re- building Lego cities .Lego is the best ever toy, it was in the sitting room.
26. Big wheels and BMX's were the way to go. Aye, never had one though
27. With your pink (or blue) portable tape player, you sang to Kylie and Jason! My sister did, but I tried not to listen
28. If you ever owned Polly Pocket or Micro Machines. The latter
29. If you ever made Ken fall in love with Barbie. No, but I drew “bits” on them
30. You know what " Psyche" means .Psyche…psyche- psyche
31. Partying "like it's 1999" seemed SO far away. Yeah, and it was a bit of a downer when it happened :)
32. You knew that Transformers were "more than meets the eye" .Damn straight!
33. You wore a banana clip at some point during your youth. Em, no
34. You actually thought "Dirty Dancing" was a REALLY good film. It is!! I have the soundtrack too (God, I think I am gay!)
35. You were led to believe that in the year 2000 we'd all be living in space. No, but I thought at least we’d have the moon terra-formed
36. You know what leg warmers are and probably had a pair. Nope
37. You wore biker shorts underneath a short skirt and felt stylish. Well, em, no
38. You had to change into play clothes after school. Oh yeah
39. You recorded songs off the radio with your boom box. Yeah, and had some ½ songs
40. Somehow you still know all the words to songs played on VH1's "Big 80s" Nope
41. Your arm was full of rubber bracelets. Em, no
42. You can still sing 1 to 12 from the Pinball machine song on Sesame Street. Not that one, no
43. You wore those wide, colourful shoelaces .Luminous yellow
44. You still don't like going in the sea because of Jaws. In Ireland?!?
45. You remember Now compilations that had the pig on the front cover Yeah, started getting them at 3
46. You never questioned why the A-Team were always imprisoned in places that had sufficient tools to build an armoured tank. Of course not
47. Dungeons & Dragons was your favourite programme. Yeah…the chick in the green cloak was hot too
48. You've ever said "bright light, bright light" in a strange high-pitched voice. Gizmo is so cute!!
49. Cerise pink, electric blue and banana yellow have ever featured in your wardrobe or make-up collection. Nope…it was mainly black, white and gothic colours
50. You ever did the top toggle of your coat up around your neck without having your arms in the sleeves, and you knew you looked like a superhero. Bed-sheets, but same principle
51. Your new winter coat was best used to demonstrate that your wings were like a shield of steel. I’m batman!
52. You still remember when the A-ha video was the modern technology and you can still sing all the words. The video is still one of the best ever, and no boy band will ever do the song justice!
53. Your best party dress was either a ra-ra or puff-ball skirt. Nope, but I did have a pink top and a suit jacket with rolled up sleeves at one tragic point
54. You wondered why a popular kids TV programme told you to "Turn off your TV set and go and dos something less boring instead". Never thought of it as odd
55. You were shocked by the controversial plot lines in Degrassi Junior High. A bit
56. You remember watching a house inhabited by a jester, a pantomime horse and a woman who sneezed, and thinking that this was perfectly normal. What was that…I remember it alright…
57. You tried to convince your Dad to fit a strip of red lights on the front of Capri so it looked like KITT. There was one in our home town…it looked cool
58. You've ever had more than 10 sweets in a 10p mix-up. Loads there were sniff
59. You hid behind the sofa whenever you heard the word "Exterminate!". I used to try to get the voice
60. Ooh, you could crush a grape! Cracker-jack or was that Cheggers?
61. You've ever held a chicken in the air or stuck a deckchair up your nose. Not really, but loved the song
62. You wore legwarmers & tried to do the splits while jumping in the air while singing you were going to live forever. Nope
63. You remember Fingermouse and Dangermouse (not forgetting his trusty sidekick Penfold!) Dangermouse rocks
64. Trains in Wales went "Pshh-t-cuf, pshh-t-cuf, pshh-t-cuf, pshh-t-cuf, pshh-t-cuf". Come on Ivor!!
65. You know all the words to "Hey Mickey" (well, nobody knows past the first verse anyway). Yup
66. You remembered Look In magazine, and when it was only 20p and Monster Munch when they were 10p. The latter yes
67. Your best mate had a Soda Stream at home and you were jealous. We had our own too!
68. Any elderly Scottish lady sounds like Supergran Oh dear..I had forgotten about SuperGran
69. You remember crying on the beach building sandcastles in the rain. Was that a song?
70. Hide and seek in the park, the corner shop, Hopscotch, butterscotch, skipping, handstands, football in the park/street, British Bulldog, Beano,Twinkle, Hula Hoops, jumping in enormous puddles and building dams Most of them
71. When 'Computer' Tennis, Pac-Man and Donkey-Kong ruled Before the word consol, when Atari ruled the world
72. You remember hearing the tune then running out to buy an ice cream cone on a warm summer night - 99's, screwballs or a cider lolly. Never had a cider lolly…
73. You got up extra early, especially to watch Saturday Morning cartoons Yup
74. You were occasionally allowed to stay up late for Howard's Way, Dallas,Dynasty or Minder. Yup
75. Running till you were out of breath. Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt. Using the bed as a trampoline. Pillow fights. Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down made you have a fit of the giggles, being tired from playing. Launching yourself from the top of the stairs in a box/sleeping bag/something of that nature Still fun sometimes
76. Water balloons were the ultimate weapon. We had water pistols
77. It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends. Heh, aye
78. You didn't sleep a wink on Christmas Eve. Not compared to now..
79. You remember when 25p was decent pocket money and you'd reach into a muddy gutter for 10p. sadly, aye
80. Important decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo." Or some other variant that I can’t remember…but there was one
81. Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better and taking drugs meant orange-flavoured chewable aspirin. Best medicine ever
82. Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors. Yeah

See...told you it was fun!

2003-01-21T14:34:00.000Z

What's your Inner European?
brought to you by Quizilla

2003-01-21T14:09:00.000Z

Brain hurts

Well, I have spent the last two days in work as busy as busy can be. We have a chap in to update our salaries system, and without boring the less technically minded amongst us (self included), everything that could have gone wrong did. So, finally got it all up, running, and fully functional about 25 minutes ago. My head hurts with the code and the programming and the hurting and the na-hoi. I think they are squeezing the last bit of SQL out of me before I move. Verily, I am squozen.

Which brings me onto the fact that they still haven’t decided when I am moving, where to (exactly) and what is happening at all with my little burgeoning Civil Service career. The wheels move slow, but in fairness to HR, they are under a lot of pressure from people moving over and petulance and whatnot.

The Spire

There is a spire in Dublin city, now completed. It’s bit. If looks like a spike. With their wonderful sense of wit and sarcasm, Dubliners have dubbed it:

Nelson’s Prick
The Stiffy by the Liffey
The Stiletto in the Ghetto
The Pole in the Hole

And, as the joke going around sayeth, soon we'll be sing "I can see Clery's now, the crane is gone"*

*Clery's being a shop on O'Connell's s, on which the spire was erected by an enormous crane, resident close to Clery's for quite some time now

Among others I am sure. I am singularly not impressed. Perhaps it’s secretly a missile to be targeted at Iraq to further enforce our neutrality, as apparently, according to a ministerial quote in the weekend papers, there can be no neutrality in a war against peace and terrorism. Um. There goes our Constitution.

Writing

Monday, Tuesday (or Thursday) and Sunday are now officially my writing days and have been finally accepted as such by my body and brain after years of apathy, laziness and other forms of resistance and alternating non-resistance. I managed 2,500 words of my new short story last night, which is less than I would have liked, but there was wardrobes to tidy and clear out and tasks to be done which involved fighting hangers, with which Jen was mostly battling, but it wasn’t conducive to writing – the jobs needed rather than Jen’s presence, which was, of course, wonderful as always with the supplying of editorial support and tea.

Today’s Word: -

dudgeon \DUH-juhn\, noun:
A state or fit of intense indignation; resentment; ill humor -- often used in the phrase "in high dudgeon."

Today’s Haiku: -

Heavy headed heart
Laden hollow soul inspired
Awake from darkness

2003-01-17T16:56:00.000Z

Update

Ok it still hasn't been officially decided as to when I am going to the new job.Officially that is. But I have to say, it's a good reason about which I don't want to publish though. I'll know officially on Monday

Eircom can give me ADSL!! Now it'sa bit more expensive that Esat at 107 euro per month, but the cap is fine at 3 GIG downloads. The istallation is more expensive at 199 (vs 125), but it's billedmonthly, whereas Esat is billed quarterly(ie 300 per quarter).

Bottom line, it can be done and it will be done :)

2003-01-17T12:15:00.000Z

Fountain Pen of knowledge me

Well, the date for my move hasn’t been decided yet, so I have taken it upon myself to inform my bosses that I’ll be moving next week, overlapping job next Wednesday and Thursday, and it seems to have been accepted. So for the last few days I have been passing on my tasks and my learning to the other staff in here. It’s hit me how much I have learned since I started in IT, mainly SQL and Web stuff, and it’s nice to know that I have that knowledge. It’s the kind of thing that’s generally useful.

So, I am being all jedi-master and showing people ropes. It’s nice, but then again, I have always liked “teaching” in all its forms.

The New Job

“Yes Minister
No, we can’t do that Minister, it’s illegal”

I wonder how close to the bone that show, “Yes, Minister”, really is. I expect quite close to it.

I sent the Private Secretary, my boss-to-be, an email saying that I was off on the Monday after Warpcon. I got a phone-call back a few moments later saying “WTF do you mean time off!! How dare you!, etc etc”. It was, of course, a total wind-up, but I responded to it very tentatively for the sole reason that I didn’t recognise her voice, and our phone in IT don’t have caller id! Which she thought was very funny. Of course, the leave is all fine, but it’s good to know my boss-to-be has a sense of humour.

The Game

Well, Anton has already blogged this, but I have to say, that it was one of the most enjoyable sessions I’ve had ain a long time. The power level of the characters is through the roof, which is fine, as it will become relatively academic soon. Anyway, I’m surprised at the progress. Looks like the game might be finished a lot sooner then I thought – even by summer.

Hi Shadwann2! Welcome to the blog

Today’s Word: -
obviate \OB-vee-ayt\, transitive verb:
To prevent by interception; to anticipate and dispose of or make unnecessary.

Today’s Haiku:-

Canvass, sea, velvet
Flesh. Pleasure’s mistress is mine
Lost in tranquil sea

2003-01-15T17:48:00.000Z

Huff

Well, let's see now. The bloke I'm replacing is out sick, over which he had no control, but it means nobody known when he'll be in so I can "overlap" with his work before I start in the office downstairs. My principal has asked for me for 2 weeks to finish stuff, which I don't mind, but the position could be gone by then for reasons I can't fathom, and the Personnel Officer is in a Senior Management meeting till God knows when . Grr and gnash

quidnunc \KWID-nuhngk\, noun:
One who is curious to know everything that passes; one who knows or pretends to know all that is going on; a gossip; a busybody.

Too late and me too hungry for a haiku :) sowwy

2003-01-14T14:31:00.000Z

The good

Well, it looks like my principal officer (read division head) has no problem with the move, and is behind me 100% as he recognises that it’s a good career move, especially as I am going to be eligible for the next grade come September. Yes, I know it’s far away, but does no harm seizing an opportunity when you see one arise.

So I am waiting on a final reply from Personnel – they could still technically change their mind.

The bad

Well Drumcondra doesn’t have ADSL capabilities, according to Esat BT. Now, I know that it’s on the oldest network in Dublin, but still. So I am looking into ISDN (God help me) and Eircom ADSL (which, if available, has a cap on the amount you can download). All the suburbs are getting their phone lines upgraded, NTL lines, ADSL all over the shop. I live 15 minutes walk from the city centre and my download rate is 0.6 (yes, 600 bytes)/sec. Something not right there.

The ugly

I have tinnitus. Wonder what those pills Dave took did….

Today’s Word: -
subaltern \suhb-OL-tuhrn; SUHB-uhl-tuhrn\, adjective:
1. Ranked or ranged below; subordinate; inferior.
2. (Chiefly British) Ranking as a junior officer; being below the rank of captain.
3. (Logic) Asserting only a part of what is asserted in a related proposition.

Today’s Haiku

Frozen velvet tears
Winter’s caressing fingers
Wry smile, unknown, warm

2003-01-13T17:11:00.000Z

Tender is the day

Well, today (and most of last week), I will be mostly doing a Tender. Y’know, the Civil Service is an odd animal in many many different ways. One of those is the type of work one does in any given job. Example: I started in a policy section, which primarily dealt with facilitating replies to Ministerial Representations and Parliamentary Questions (PQs). So it wasn’t an issue, it was just my job. IT gets maybe one or two PQs a year, so they are a big novelty, and a big stress issue for the unit. Currently I am doing a tender – my first one (aww!). Now, not even my PO has done one of these tenders, so they’re infrequent things in our department and is forcing me to change my mindset in the job from IT person to Civil Servant. However, a friend of mine in OPW, well, it’s his job. Tis and odd animal indeed

Virus alerts

Well the last week has brought us 4 upgrades of viruses from Low to Medium according to nai.com. Definitions of the Livra clones and the Sobig can be found at that website, but the bottom line boils down to this: Update your virus software. Now. While the current “biggies” are email worms, you can still get viruses from just downloading a web page. Safe surfing :)

Probably the Best Convention in the World

That’s how Critical Miss have graded Gaelcon in their report in Issue 9, finally released today! Go see

And news just in…

Well, some of you will be aware – perhaps I have blogged it – that I have been seeking a sideways move from IT (which IMO can limit how you are perceived skill-wise in the Department) to the Minister’s Private Office. Well, I just got informed that I am moving down there as of Monday next. Now, it’s a trial basis as anyone being transferred there is on a few weeks to see whether they like it, or whether the Minister likes them, so, well…um… there you go then.

Well it's 75%, we'll see what happens

Today’s Word: -
nostrum \NOS-truhm\, noun:
1. A medicine of secret composition and unproven or dubious effectiveness; a quack medicine.
2. A usually questionable remedy or scheme; a cure-all.

Today’s Haiku: -

Fear of newness starts
Old securities fall shy
Uncertainty smiles

2003-01-08T17:23:00.000Z

this post may seem pointless and generate as many comments as my previous postings (not that I'm bitter) 8-D

But it has the functioning of update some o dem der side links

2003-01-08T09:50:00.000Z

For the love of Wisdom

An interesting Philosophy test thing, stolen from Hilary's blog.

Take the test here. My thinking is:

1. Spinoza (100%) Click here for info
2. Epicureans (81%) Click here for info
3. Aristotle (72%) Click here for info
4. Aquinas (66%) Click here for info
5. Nietzsche (60%) Click here for info
6. Kant (52%) Click here for info
7. Ockham (52%) Click here for info
8. Sartre (50%) Click here for info
9. Stoics (48%) Click here for info
10. Bentham (37%) Click here for info
11. Noddings (36%) Click here for info
12. Prescriptivism (33%) Click here for info
13. Mill (28%) Click here for info
14. Hobbes (24%) Click here for info
15. Hume (24%) Click here for info
16. Cynics (10%) Click here for info
17. Augustine (9%) Click here for info
18. Rand (9%) Click here for info
19. Plato (6%) Click here for info

2003-01-08T09:27:00.000Z

Complaints

Anton was moaning at me that yesterday’s entry wasn’t a blog, but just a cut and paste. I didn’t know ISO standards for blogger were released! 8-P. Only kidding, I’ll try to do better. I promise.

Clicking keys and snoring doors

I wrote last night. Wohoo!! I had promised myself that I would justify my departure from the IGA and gaming committees by writing Monday, Tuesday and at the weekend. Now Monday was messed up due to familial buzz, but I actually did 3,000 words in 90 minutes yesterday. I think that’s roughly 33 words a minute (is that good?). Ok, it was my In Nomine scenario for Warpcon (see Sadhbh? A plug! Now update your blog!), but it’s still writing, or more importantly me having the discipline I formally lacked to site for 3hrs in front of a PC after work (1hr spent beating printer into working and then some file moving and sorting).

So I thought my rest would be peaceful. Serves me right for starting writing horror (short story pending), as my sleep was lighter that usual. Now Jen snores, not a huge amount, but last night, on two occasions, she managed to sound exactly like the door from the living room to the corridor thing opening. I have never heard a snore sound like a creak so much in my life before. So I woke up thinking that someone was opening the door. A cough from downstairs and the dull hum of a dryer didn’t help things. It took my sleep-addled brain a while to calm down enough to get back to sleep only to have it happen again a few hours later, when I woke up with similar fright and then decided I had to order coffee for a meeting in work. On the 16th. Odd the way the old brain works.

Game on

My AD&D game starts again tonight, which should be fun. It’s in the tail end of things, but mind you, that could still take a year of gaming. How long has it been going on now…3 years maybe? Anton said he’d be doing a campaign next, which gives me time to work on a 3 player maximum In Nomine campaign, which should be fun. However, Wednesday night has some increasingly tempting offers on display – namely writing courses and Tai Chi – but moving the game is problematic and Wednesday was the night that suited people best. I’ll see what way the land lies tonight.

Footpath Rage

Somebody stopped dead in front of me today in a stream of human traffic. I said sorry then got annoyed and muttered “Jebus”. Hmm… doesn’t normally irk me as much. Must try to be more aware in the mornings and not get so annoyed. Back on detox so shouldn’t be as sleepy in future, I hope 8-)

Today’s Word: -
rebarbative \ree-BAR-buh-tiv\, adjective:
Serving or tending to irritate or repel.

Today’s Haiku: -

Alien Shores Rush
Cadence of Crashing Horses
Cast off, magic eyes

2003-01-07T16:50:00.000Z

Hey hey hey

Well, Mark showed up, *had* lost his phone, but it was a scare for lots of reasons not to be blogged. Good day here so far...constructive civil servant meetings - scary things. I'm sure there is a policy document against that sort of thing somewhere on file. So here are some headlines from 1999 for no other reason other that I found them and lo they were funny.
1. Include Your Children When Baking Cookies

2. Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Experts Say

3. Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers

4. Drunks Get Nine Months in Violin Case

5. Iraqi Head Seeks Arms

6. Is There a Ring of Debris around Uranus?

7. Prostitutes Appeal to Pope

8. Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over

9. British Left Waffles on Falkland Islands

10. Teacher Strikes Idle Kids

11. Clinton Wins Budget; More Lies Ahead

12. Plane Too Close to Ground, Crash Probe Told

13. Miners Refuse to Work After Death

14. Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant

15. Stolen Painting Found by Tree

16. Two Sisters Reunited after 18 Years in Checkout Counter

17. War Dims Hope for Peace

18. If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last a While

19. Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide

20. Man Struck by Lightning Faces Battery Charge

21. New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group

22. Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Space

23. Kids Make Nutritious Snacks

24. Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half

25. Typhoon Rips through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead

There you go now

Today's Word: -
quiddity \KWID-ih-tee\, noun:
1. The essence, nature, or distinctive peculiarity of a thing.
2. A hairsplitting distinction; a trifling point; a quibble.
3. An eccentricity; an odd feature.

Today's Haiku: -
Face in the window
A Thousand stares, introspect
A world of fear cries

2003-01-06T15:54:00.000Z

Not much to say today as work is busy and my brother, Mark, appears to have gone AWOL for the last week, which is quite worrying. Probably turn out that he has lost his phone or something, but still...

Today's Word: -
gewgaw \G(Y)OO-gaw\, noun:
A showy trifle; a trinket; a bauble.

Head to muddled for a haiku....sorry

2003-01-02T10:23:00.000Z

Holidays

Christmas was a pleasant affair. Jen and me stayed over on Christmas Eve with my folks in Malahide, as Dave and Fergal usually drop down that night for drinks, chats and exchange of prezzies. Which they did and it was lovely. The day itself was in my brother Paul’s house, with the 5 kids (Nikki, Sinead, Joanne, Eoghan and baby Aoife). Now most people here know that I don’t like kids, but I have to say, their energy was captivating and entertaining. We bought Eoghan a drum-kit and it was amazing to see his tentative approaches while he figured out what it was and what it did (he’s 2). Then he used the little stool that came with it more that the kit, and started carrying it with him everywhere. We also bought Joanne Hungry Hippos, which made more noise than the kit. My brother loves me :)

Out to Jen’s folks for Stephen’s Day, which was also pleasant involving good food, good drink and Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

The other days were restful, but there were far to few of them as I was back to work on Monday and Tuesday. New Year’s Eve. Some of you may be aware of a curse that has followed Jen and me around regarding New Year’s Eve. Ok, it’s not really a curse, but it could like one from afar. A Monet curse, you might say. Every NYE that we have been together (6 of em now), one of us has been ill or otherwise incapacitated and unable to attend whatever party we had promised to attend. This year both of us were ill – me with a dicky tummy and Jen had an allergic reaction to a bottle of Eau de Toilette that her mom had bought for her. Ah well, you have to laugh. We had a nice one in though, just the two of us, with a bottle of bubbly. And there were fireworks outside too, which was nice. It was all very romantic. A walk on New Year’s Day to the Botanic gardens was most enjoyable and cleansing, so I feel all relaxed today.

I don’t have any specific “resolutions”, but I have moved away from organising games things and a few other bits and pieces, turning down a chance to manage a couple of bands, in favour or writing. I will get my various annoying works in progress finished – 2 plays, 1 novel, 2 short stories and an edited collection of poetry. I am looking forward to it, excited by it even. I might be leaving Shaolin in favour of Tai Chi, which Jen is also doing, as I really am more drawn towards the Chi and energy elements rather than a martial element to that kind of thing :) and two trips a week to the gym in UCD.

All in all, I feel unusually positive about this year, and am really looking forward to it. Hopefully moving out of IT soon, to open up more avenues of promotional chances, as I feel I am being pegged and “IT person” in here, which limits one, not officially, but by virtue of it being far too small a Department.

Today’s Word: -
subfusc \sub-FUHSK\, adjective:
Dark or dull in color; drab, dusky.

Today’s Haiku: -

Cocoon entangled
Hatch unborn world afraid
Full of Potential

2002-12-23T12:12:00.000Z

That was a nice weekend

Ok, so it started Thursday with the Social Club work do – the Department wasn’t having an “official” Christmas do this year. Anyway, the night was a bit of a wash-out, but the people there had fun, and I had a good night too. The DWP crew joined us afterwards, as they were sitting in the other bit of Bacchus, and had received one of the bouncing “Joy of Sex” balloons. To explain that, the 30th anniversary of the Joy of Sex series was held recently, and Hodges Figgis did a promotion, which included balloons. Eamon works there and thought I’d appreciate some, which I did – very thoughtful chap is that Eamon. So I brought some along to the Thursday batch, and proceeded to get hit with them by people. And then get hit by Kim, who really likes hitting people.

Friday night saw our work “lunch”. By lunch I mean hit the pub at 1 and stay there. Now I was staying sober and even took a break to go home and dump shopping and stuff. When I got back, my boss was falling asleep and people were at various stages of departure and drunkenness, so I left for Fibbers via the Duke, where there was more staff from a different section “lunching”. On the way, I met a girl called Claire Callon, who I didn’t recognise until the following day, but managed to carry on a brief conversation. She was someone who was on the periphery of my friends in college, but who I really got on with – she was effervescent. Been living in New York for the last 2 years, and had only touched down 2 hrs previous to meeting me, so she saud that Dublin was great for that. As opposed to NY, I guess.

Saturday was silly. Carla, a work colleague, was staying with Jen and me on Friday evening, so we all had breakfast and pottered around town. At 6, we wandered to the Clarendon pub to meet James McGing, Donny, Jenny Smith, Cathal (back from NY until Feb), Dermot, Anto and their respective partners and associated companions who I do not remember due to being introduced to ten of them in 15 seconds. Then onto Orla’s 21st – another work colleague – which was very 21st-y and had a fireman stripper. And then onto Fibbers to meet Pam, Ads and a host of bodies, which was nice.

Met Moxie, Dylan, Rania and Bren for coffee on Sunday. Then my sister and bro-in-law called down to the flat to do a prezzie exchange as they wont be in the family home over the Xmas, so we had food, wine and excellent chat about everything. So it was a nice end to the evening, but too much wine. Looking forward to detox mark II in January, even though Sadhbh has already started giving out to me cos I wont be drinking at Warpcon. (See Sadhbh! A plug!)

Today’s Word: -

atelier \at-l-YAY\, noun:
A workshop; a studio.

Have another, it Christmas
lugubrious \lu-GOO-bree-uhs; -GYOO-\, adjective:
Mournful, often exaggeratedly or affectedly; woeful; gloomy.

No Haiku, just wishing you a wonderful, loving and peaceful Christmas, and a prosperous and joyous new year, with much love.

2002-12-18T13:18:00.000Z

Christmas Shopping
Christmas Shopping
Christmas Shopping
Eep.

Nearly there. Must...finish…off…tomorrow.

I shudder to think how much I have spent, but I am sure it has broken for figures. Ah sure, tis only money, it brings happiness, and it’s for the kids.

And I did have the glee of buying my two-year-old nephew a Drum Kit…heh heh
Oh, and cos I was bored yesterday afternoon, according to quizilla, I am

Cuddle & a Kiss on the Forehead (Sign of Affection Test)
Bondage (Fetish test)
Daria (High School Character)
Bert & Ernie’s gay love affair (Sesame Street Muppet Dark Secret test)
And my soul originates from Dark Water.

I feel so much more defined.

Todays’ Word: -

ukase \yoo-KAYS; -KAYZ; YOO-kays; -kayz\, noun:
1. In imperial Russia, a published proclamation or order having the force of law.
2. Any order or decree issued by an authority; an edict.

Today’s Haiku: -

Seasons greeting warm
Pyre burn residues, ash cold
Flower lily’s tears

2002-12-17T14:46:00.000Z

Apparently...

Which 'Highlander' immortal are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

(stolen from Anton, but only noticed when I visited Fiona's blog). According to other selected Quizzilla tests, I am

Bitch (swear word test)
Bondage Bear (dysfunctional care bear test)
Tomboy (sex appeal test)
and
Exhibitionist (prono style)

Wow. I am shocked at me.

2002-12-17T12:40:00.000Z

Wow. This could be the longest I have ever gone without an update. Could this blogger thing be wearing off? It’s more likely that it has been work and shopping that have kept me busy since last Wednesday.

Well there was no game last Wednesday as it was the Minister’s drinks affair, which was quite pleasant, aside from the fact that drinks were free, and lots of people got a wee bit too drunk then they really should have. I escaped the nightclub contingent to meet Anton in Fibbers. Now, I had a few on me, a bit more than usual, but I managed. I was up at 9am in town doing my Xmas shopping (having booked the day off in advance – ½ day flexi and ½ day shopping leave. Yes, shopping leave. Other places have it too, you know).

Out the craft fair in the RDS Thursday night, which was nice as always, but I never see anything that I want to buy or got a “must get that” feel for. But it was a pleasant way to spend an evening.

The weekend was the bedlam hell that is shopping on Saturday, but I made a concerted effort to be extra nice to and extra polite to people, and they responded, which was nice. Except when we got to Smyths toy store. Now, the mistake Jen and I made was to leave this war zone until 4pm, after which occupants of the store, ourselves included, had been shopping all day. Add to this that Smyths had seen fit to have the central heating up at 28 degrees C all day, so you couldn’t stand in open spaces in the store for more than 2 minutes without feeling faint, tired, and perspiring. Jen and myself got irritable and left after a very brief period. I would hate to be there, as some people were, with kids, shopping trolleys and aged grandparents. Nasty.

Had an interesting morning at work today – I attended an information session about the new people coming in from the Cultural Institutions division. I wasn’t aware how broad and active their brief is. I really must suggest to personnel that I would love to work either there or in our newly added Arts division. Still, we shall see what happens.

Off to meet Fergal at lunch soon, which is nice. More later, as work has slowed sufficiently for me to have resolved some issues and be in stage of preparation and paperwork for upcoming issues.

Today’s Word: - (have 2, it’s been a while)

orotund \OR-uh-tuhnd\, adjective:
1. Characterized by fullness, clarity, strength, and smoothness of sound.
2. Pompous; bombastic.

irrefragable \ir-REF-ruh-guh-buhl\, adjective:
Impossible to refute; incontestable; undeniable; as, an irrefragable argument; irrefragable evidence.

Today’s Haiku: -
Calmness at the core
Stone ripples, blossoms of rock
All moves, with nothing

Oh, and hi Aidan!

2002-12-11T17:30:00.000Z

sure we'll try again before I head off to the Minister's drinks

2002-12-11T17:12:00.000Z

it didn;t wok, but hell you know where I am and what my ID is..

2002-12-11T17:08:00.000Z

Trying a yahoo thing see how it works....

2002-12-11T12:50:00.000Z

Well, yesterday was not fun

The back-up server for our salaries system is not behaving itself and people are scratching heads left, right and centre, including helpdesk and consultants. Mind you, I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now, I hope, and one of two other major projects coming to a head now, seems to be resolving itself in a more financially viable way, which is a good thing.

But the last, well 2 weeks really, have been bundles of stress. Normally I have all my presents bought and wrapped at this stage. It is an indication of what the last week or two were like that I have not bought one thing. Not one thing. And that, in itself, doth ad to the stress.

Anyway, Fiona’s blog (from which the lists below were stolen), and the Sanity test below (mentioned on Anton's blog) have been happy, albeit brief, distractions. And hopefully it will all pan out in the wash …

Or something… :)

Today’s Word: -
bouleversement \bool-vair-suh-MAWN\, noun:
Complete overthrow; a reversal; a turning upside down.

Today’s Haiku: -

Breathing gills awash
Underwater out of depth
Hidden universe
--------------------------------------------------------------------

2002-12-11T10:04:00.000Z

More Later, if time allows

Sanity Quiz

Your SaniTest(TM) Results
Your score is:125
For easier understanding, the HPLHS SaniTest assessment algorithm converts your raw score to a scale of 1 to 10. This number is your INSANITY INDEX.
INSANITY INDEX 6.88 Thank you for taking the SaniTest(TM). There are levels of madness which don't fit neatly into the rigid classifications of 'science,' and you appear to be on one of those levels. But mental health workers do have a word for people who score at this level: nutbag. Other notable people who scored this high include tenor Luciano Pavarotti and former Japanese emperor Hirohito.

2002-12-09T13:14:00.000Z

Some fun things I stole from Fiona's blog, wot is'idden, so I hereby make them public property :-)

These are metaphors from actual GCSE essays

· His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a tumble dryer.
· McMurphy fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a paper bag filled with vegetable soup.
· Her hair glistened in the rain like nose hair after a sneeze.
· Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
· He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree.
· The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
· The politician was gone but unnoticed, like the full stop after the Dr. on a Dr Pepper can.
· The thunder was ominous sounding, much like the sound of a thin sheet of metal being shaken backstage during the storm scene in a play.
· The red brick wall was the colour of a brick-red crayon.
· Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long it had rusted shut.
· The door had been forced, as forced as the dialogue during the interview portion of Family Fortunes.
· Shots rang out, as shots are want to do.
· The plan was simple, like my brother Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work. ( I think this was written by Gary Neville!! )
· The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.
· "Oh, Jason, take me!" she panted, her breasts heaving like a student on 31p-a-pint night.
· He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck either, but a real duck that was actually lame. Maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.
· Her artistic sense was exquisitely refined, like someone who can tell butter from "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter."
· She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
· It came down the stairs looking very much like something no one had ever seen before.
· The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a lamppost.
· The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free cashpoint.
· It was a working class tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with their power tools.
· He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a dustcart reversing.
· She was as easy as the Daily Star crossword.
· She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli and he was room-temperature British beef.
· She walked into my office like a centipede with 98 missing legs.
· Her voice had that tense, grating quality, like a first-generation thermal paper fax machine that needed a band tightened.
· It hurt the way your tongue hurts after you accidentally staple it to the wall.

And 37 True Things
1. Moles are always smaller than you imagine.
2. At the end of every party there is always a girl crying.
3. One of the most awkward things that can happen in a pub is when your pint to toilet cycle gets synchronised with a complete stranger.
4. You've never quite sure whether it's ok to eat green crisps.
5. Everyone who grew up in the 80's has entered the digits 55378008 into a calculator.
6. Reading when you're drunk is horrible.
7. Sharpening a pencil with a knife makes you feel really manly.
8. You’re never quite sure whether it's against the law or not to have a fire in your back garden.
9. Whatever your age the desire to make plastic dolls do the 'deed' is almost impossible to resist.
10. Nobody ever dares make cup a soup in a bowl.
11. You never know where to look when eating an apple.
12. It’s impossible to describe the smell of a wet cat.
13. Prodding a fire with a stick makes you feel manly.
14. Rummaging in an overgrown garden will always turn up a bouncy ball.
15. You always feel a bit scared when stroking horses.
16. Everyone always remembers the day a dog ran into your school.
17. The most embarrassing thing you can do as schoolchild is to call your teacher mum or dad.
18. The smaller the monkey the more it looks like it would kill you at the first given opportunity.
19. Some days you see lots of people on crutches.
20. Every bloke has at some stage while taking a piss flushed half way through and then raced against the flush.
21. Old women with mobile phones look wrong!
22. It’s impossible to look cool whilst picking up a frisbee.
23. Driving through a tunnel makes you feel excited.
24. You never ever run out of salt.
25. Old ladies can eat more than you think.
26. You can't respect a man who carries a dog.
27. There's no panic like the panic you momentarily feel when you you've gotten your hand or head stuck in something.
28. No one knows the origins of their metal coat hangers.
29. Despite constant warning you have never met anybody who has their arm broken by a swan.
30. The most painful household incident is wearing socks and stepping on an upturned plug.
31. People who don't drive slam car doors too hard
32. You've turned into your dad the day you put aside a thin piece of wood to specifically stir paint with.
33. Everyone had an uncle who tried to steal their nose.
34. Bricks are horrible to carry.
35. In every plate of chips there is a bad chip.
36. Triangle sandwiches taste better than square ones.
37. Beneath every floating balloon is a tearful child.

2002-12-09T09:05:00.000Z

Oh Christmas Tree

Well, amidst the bedlam of shopping, I realise that I am entirely disorganised this year. Normally, I have all my shopping done, wrapped and tagged by now, but this year not a dickey-bird done. I blame work, Gaelcon and anything else that absolves me from the responsibility of just being disorganised. So I am making my list today, checking it twice, and being extra nice to anyone who has been naughty my way :-)

However, me and Jen did manage to buy a Christmas tree, which is now making a concerted effort to occupy floor space in the flat, campaigning for more synthetic green lebensraum with it’s reaching twigs and flaunting baubles. Hm... not in a very good word mood this morning. Anyway, it’s up and glorious, and Jen is insisting that the thing/flat/air outside needs more decorating, more she tells me, mwahahaha.

Was back in Malahide yesterday with Jen doing the now annual ritual of putting up the tree with my nieces and nephews, which seem to have been added to every year. My borther and his wife have 5 now, with Aoife just baptised weekend before last and looking all delicate and baby-like. It was more fun then I remember it last year, but maybe I am just getting more comfortable with the kids, and with kids in general.

Sniffly today, with a 30% chance.

Today’s Word: -
booboisie \boob-wah-ZEE\, noun:
A class of people regarded as stupid or foolish.

Today’s Haiku: -

Whirlwind of money
Rent happiness by season
Price of children’s’ smile

2002-12-03T14:01:00.000Z

Dragonmeet (Tuesday's entry, but blogger wwas down)
Well, that was an interesting weekend.

For those of you who don’t know, I’m just back from London, where I as at Dragonmeet and meeting people I haven’t seen in far too long. I flew over on Friday morning with Brian, who had booked the same flight over by pure coincidence, and arrived in Heathrow bordering on Friday afternoon. Brian seemed to have a good geographical grasp of London, and an A-Z, so he did guide and we arrived in Clapham to meeting James Wallis, the Pro-Fantasy crew, John & Judith Kovalic, Steve Long, Chris Pramas and Nicole Lindroos. Rather than have far too many links there, click here>>> to find out who they are. I think the restaurant was called Cargo or something like that. There were a lot of fish dishes, so I had duck. It was a nice place and a nice start to the day.

I hung around for some pre-con preparations, as I was staying with James and he was running the con, and that evening talked long into the night with James, Chris and Nicole (the latter two also staying with James) about life, punk music and gaming. It was a nice evening.

Up at 6am to cart stuff from Hogshead to con and help James (who was sporting a t-shirt saying "Oh my God! I killed Hogshead") with the early organisation of it. Now, I bought VIP tickets at Gaelcon this year for Dragonmeet. So obviously, this means that I had to get involved in the organisation of things, and when their Staff Manager (or Gopher Wrangler as dem mad for’n peoples calls them) reported in sick (he had been in an accident, but thankfully only bruises) I, of course, had to step up to the plate! Yes, I am aware that I have retired, but it was fun. And I also got Michael, Warren, Will and Mark from Critical Miss to be my biatches for the day, which was fun – they are a sound bunch of guys.

I did manage to get a game of Dino Hunt in with Eric and Phil of the UK MIB , and also beat Ashley, Hilary and Brian in a game on INWO. Woot! Then came the Charity Auction, with which James had asked me to help out. It obviously wasn’t as mad as Irish ones, but we made £1,500, which was £300+ up on last year, so that was good. And it was fun… at one point I quaffed a lot of very very cheap and foul tasting fizzy wine. Ick.

Saturday night, I met Louisa (that “cute” friend Gar mentions in his blog) and a friend of hers (April), who fled shortly afterwards, and that was cut short by circumstance and I retreated to more talk and an evening with John, Chris and Nicole.

On Sunday, I met the guys at the post con pub thing, had lunch, caught up with Paula, Howie and later on, Louisa again for a proper talk this time, which led to Lou coming back to James’s for a bit before rescuing her keys from someone else’s flat. In all it was a good weekend. And London is HUGE.

Look out for my very own game, hopefully coming to Warpcon 13:

Today’s Word:-

edacious \i-DAY-shus\, adjective:
Given to eating; voracious; devouring.

Today Haiku: -

Life heart aplenty
A sea of endless, dreamless
Overflow my cup

2002-11-26T16:04:00.000Z

ROFLMAO!!!!!!

Check dis

2002-11-26T09:25:00.000Z

Hey again, readers. I am back after a not inconsiderable absence. I had a viral sinus infection that rendered me unable to work from Wednesday last until yesterday, and somewhat curtailed my level on fervency at Vaticon. I am still drowsy and tired and on antibiotics, but I’ll recover anon. Yesterday was spent playing wok and email catch-up, hence no blogging, but now I am back, with a textual vengeance that will make you all twitch mildly in apathy.

Vaticon as fun, but it seemed diminished in size. It’s difficult to get a definite picture, as people were gaming outside (including in the rain) with Laser Challenge and Armengar and the RPG rooms and LARP room were upstairs, so perhaps there were more than I thought. But it was enjoyable, and I managed to beat Emma in X-bugs, although she still maintains that she won overall, which is far enough – of the last 3 games, she has won two.

Booked my flights to London today – Dragonmeet is on this weekend, and I am heading over to talk to James Wallis and John Kovalic about a game which I am designing – nothing huge, just a card game, but it’s a beginning, and next year I’ll have more time to write and create, as my committee days are past.

Getting quite pensive of late, which is great and exciting and wonderful, as I can really feel the writer mind coming back and pushing all that other stuff out of my head. In essence, I can feel myself becoming focussed on writing and can’t wait to get back to a regular routine. I acknowledge that this won’t be fully possible until the new year, as Christmas will disrupt any routine – happily as now that I have moved out, spending time with the family is something I look forward to.

Heading off to see the Reduced Shakespeare Company in the Pavillion in Dun Laoghaire on Thursday, which I am looking forward to.

Hm...things are good…yes indeedy things are good

Coruscate \KOR-uh-skayt\, intransitive verb:
1. To give off or reflect bright beams or flashes of light; to sparkle.
2. To exhibit brilliant, sparkling technique or style.

Today’s Haiku: -
Cleft, trough and sine wave
Tempo to life’s symphony
A spring eternal

2002-11-18T09:30:00.000Z

Yay! Damien is back in blogland. I must say, Damien you are nothing short of a genius wordsmith, and you have a turn of phrase and a way of weaving language that never fails to have me emote with whatever emotion you are relating. I doff my hat to you in humble respect.

Had a nice weekend, with MIB bridging the gap between Dublin’s now two game stores – I use the term loosely; they are stores with gaming stuff, but primarily comics and figurines and stuff. But Third Place of Crow Street, Temple Bar has demo space!!

Subcon IV was on Saturday in Wynns Hotel, Abbey Street – a comic con thing, with 2 small halls of trade stands. Sub City, the con organisers, asked MIB along again to entertain people with activities. It’s something I enjoy doing, as it gives gamers a chance to bridge the gap between comic fans and gaming, a gap which is very rarely bridged. We played Dino Hunt (those plastic dinosaurs are great at getting attention), Car Wars/ Battle Cattle, and I got my assed kicked by Emma in X-bugs, which I have to say I became absolutely addicted to – it’s basically combat tiddly-winks. Then Jen and me went back to Emma’s place and I got my assed kicked by Jen in poker, which I was teaching Emma to play.

Sunday saw myself and Emma demoing in Third place, playing X-bugs (Emma kicking my ass again) and Munckin. It was fun, but it’s amazing how little attention span kids these days have – there was one kid, about 9 or 10, maybe more, running around the shop hyper out of his skull, like someone who was on speed. Scary stuff, but a fun day.

So a busy weekend, doing MIB stuff. Next weekend sees Vaticon, which will be my second weekend in a row doing gaming stuff, the weekend after being Dragonmeet in London. Hmm… ah well, Jenny loves me anyway :)

Today’s Word:-
nugatory \NOO-guh-tor-ee; NYOO-\, adjective:
1. Trifling; insignificant; inconsequential.
2. Having no force; inoperative; ineffectual.

Oh great… Fiki just texted me to say it’s 20 degrees in Lanzarote, where he and Sadhbh are, and he has ice-cream…

Today’s Haiku:-

Winter gray weighing
Consciousness of weary soul
Like justice, a sword

2002-11-14T12:10:00.000Z

I didn’t get the job.

I must say, I enjoyed the “informal interview”, and found it was a useful exercise, but some of the applicants, self included, had the opinion that the person was pre-selected. Whether she was or not is irrelevant, she got the job, and I bear no ill will to her.

So, looking forward to more opportunities here, and thankful that I don’t dislike I.T. and the staff here – but I am wary about being “branded” and I.T. person and missing out on opportunities in the general service in the Department. Something to be mindful of, and no more.

Was ill yesterday – sinuses exploded. I always become more sensitive to smell after “recovering” from a sinus bout – my nose has cleared, but my head aches, I am muggy, tired and have a chesty cough – and I noticed the smell of the recently burnt that pervades our untidy city. The smell of carbon monoxide I think.

I really need to get out of the city…seem a lifetime away, but sure, who knows what’s a round the corner…

Today’s Word:-

matutinal \muh-TOOT-nn-uhl\, adjective:
Relating to or occurring in the morning; early.

Today’s Haiku: -

Choke bramble city
Life undead metropolis
Feed the machines’ heart

2002-11-11T11:31:00.000Z

Well, it’s been a busy few days – well, Thursday and Friday were busy in work and I don’t really have web access at home. When Jen and myself moved into the flat, I set up the old PC and found I had a download rate of 876 bytes per second! In Malahide, I had a basic connection of 14KB per second, which fluctuated, but not too much. Suffice to say, the change nearly drove me mad trying to download mail – it took hours! It certainly didn’t justify paying 40 odd euro every 2 month, so I killed the account. Even with other accesses, it’s still not worth it, so I can’t blog at home.

Thursday was my brother-in-law’s birthday, so me, Jen, my sister Sarah, himself, Dave and Cheryl, so we surprised him with a meal in South Street Restaurant on George’s Street – a lovely Italian place. And then, we went onto the Ghost Bus Tour. I don’t want to say too much as if I provided detail, it’d ruin the experience. But it is really well worth it – it’s a brilliant tour. It’s atmospheric, entertaining, fun and funny. Value for money at 20 euro, but make sure you pre-book in good time! You buy them at Dublin Bus store on O’Connell’s Street. It’d be interesting to try and do a Call of Cthulhu game and try to tie it in with the Bus tour. Must ask the guide about it…hmm…

Anyway, the interview for Private Secretary is at 4.4pm today. An “informal” chat with the SG and the Personnel Officer. So I am be-suited and trying to focus on work… quite busy today actually.

Today’s Word: -
ersatz \AIR-sahts; UR-sats\, adjective:
Being a substitute or imitation, usually an inferior one.

Today’s Haiku:-
Rainbow frustration
Spectrum tenebrous shaded
Winter’s hopes anon

2002-11-06T12:08:00.000Z

Wednesday is here and the senior management team are meeting in here to decide upon my fate.

Well, in less dramatic terms, I am going for the position of Private Secretary to the Secretary General in here, and it’s probably being decided upon as I type. It’s more money, longer hours, more intensive job to do with government procedures and co-ordinating things like Parliamentary Questions and all that jazz. Stuff I’d enjoy, being an administrator at heart, and not really an IT bod at the core of things. Besides, my personal take on things is that you can be seen as too specialised in the service. Not a bad thing, if you want to be, but not me cup of e-tea (as it were).

Congrats and good luck to Anton, who starts in the IT section of Education today with an impressive title that deals with projects and planning and stuff. Don’t know the full details, but it sounded impressive ;-)

So things are in motion and we’ll see what happens. A bit nervous, to be honest, but very much on a “what will be” buzz.

Today’s Word: -

captious \KAP-shuhs\, adjective:
1. Marked by a disposition to find fault or raise objections.
2. Calculated to entrap or confuse, as in an argument.

Today’s Haiku: -

Life expands beyond
Understanding all bereft
Summer sun at peace

2002-11-05T12:11:00.000Z

Day 2 back in work… More tiring than day one, but at least most of the catch-up is done. Waiting for my head to settle before I start re-timetabling my life, as it were. Gaelcon post-mortem is this Friday, and then I have 2 more meetings with the IGA and then, well, I guess I’ll have to re-organise my life, to which I’m kind of looking forward.

But I want to be careful not too cloud my life too much and allow time just to be me and be with Jen, both of which are vital to life. I think people can far too easily be dragged into doing stuff to the detriment of dealing with the debris that clogs up no the bridge of life.

My life analogy is this: Life is a bridge along which traffic passes each day. The traffic leaves marks and debris that falls off. If you do not grand yourself the time, and sometimes let others help, you clear this debris, then the bridge will finally break. Everything will collapse into the chasm below, and you’ll have nowhere solid through which to let your traffic flow.

So there you go, in a nutshell. Need to set aside time to clear my bridge, and maybe even add a few embellishments to the bridge itself :)

Today’s word: -

palimpsest \PAL-imp-sest\, noun:
1. A manuscript, usually of papyrus or parchment, on which more than one text has been written with the earlier writing incompletely erased and still visible.
2. An object or place whose older layers or aspects are apparent beneath its surface.

Today’s Haiku: -

Rainbow promise fade
Water bringing drownéd life
Frozen summer bridge

2002-11-04T12:37:00.000Z

Hello Brian :)

2002-11-04T12:11:00.000Z

And so, I return.

I have to say, Gaelcon was an exceptional weekend. I had a lot of fun, and even played a few “hands” of Mah Johhng (probably spelled that wrong). There must be laws against a con director being so chilled over the weekend, and I honestly was – as people kept saying to me. The con really did run seamlessly, the committee had fun, I hope all you did too. My gods, there is just too much to describe, so much stuff was there. I’ll have photos on Gameeire before the day is out, which should hopefully shed some light on what was a spectacular event.

And we raised €24,025 for charity.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you all for making Gaelcon great.

I didn’t say much about it then, but that was my last committee position in gaming. Not for any bad reason – I have really enjoyed my time on various committees. It’s just that I have other things to commit my time to, and feel I cannot make a commitment to being somewhere for meetings, and as most of us know, cons and such events eat time. I’ll still be involved, but mostly writing games, doing SJGames stuff and providing people with my Strategic Gaelcon Initiative :-) (2 cons reading it now!).

People were asking me to do it next year, but I am firm in my commitment, so before any others committees out there ask, the answer is no, but I will do what I can in a non-committee capacity to help.

The other commitments to which I am looking forward to devoting time are house-hunting and deposit gathering for a gaff for me and Jen, and also writing – a think which I have been promising myself for far too long, and actually have to nail on the head now. When things settle down.

Gaelcon rocked. I will serve out my IGA Charity Officer term, and then leave committees to provide free stuff, scenarios and keep and eye on the scene with a view to someday buying a convention over here a la Peter Atkinson :)

Today’s Word: - (have 2 – it’s been a while)
bellwether \BEL-wether\, noun:
1. A wether, or sheep, which leads the flock, with a bell on his neck.
2. Hence: A leader of a movement or activity.

riparian \rih-PAIR-ee-uhn; ry-PAIR-ee-uhn\, adjective:
of or pertaining to the bank of a river or stream

Today’s Haiku: -

Winter settled storm
Rebirth on rain refreshed streets
Serene scene anew

2002-10-18T16:28:00.000Z

Can't talk. Gaelcon will eat me. I'll try to update during the week, but a few minor crises, one or two major ones, and the network in work collapsing a few times hasn;t lent me much time over the last few days....There's no time....

But soon

I shall blog again!

2002-10-15T12:38:00.000Z

Well, it’s been a few days since I updated this.

Friday was Carla’s (friend and work colleague) birthday, so lunch was an elongated affair in One Pico – a restaurant just off Molesworth Street. Exclusive little spot, with beautiful food, very ncie atmosphere and one of the few last bastions of excellent customer service. A very enjoyable meal, and not as expensive as I’d imagine - €26 for a 3 course meal.

There was another Gaelcon meeting on Friday night, which was constructive. I have prepared yet another document planning out what needs to be done over the next (eek) 11 days in detail. Needless to say, I have taken next week off (which may result in my blog not being updated) and the week after too, as recovery time :)

Weekend consisted of formatting my Dad’s PC and installing Windows 2000 on it, after I cleaned it of the Bugbear, which everywhere seems to have contracted at this stage. Seriously, in you are on the web (which you obviously are, as you are reading this, unless I have become famous, am dead, and you are reading this as part of an undertaking to write my biography), and get email run the stinger tool I mentioned before.

Sunday was largely a chill day, but Jen got a really bad migraine, so I was looking after her as bets I could… migraines are really scary things when you see a really bad one…vision gone, perception gone, agony, sick stomach – the only solution is for Jen to take tablets that are ½ painkiller, ½ sleeping pill. She’s been through every doctor everywhere, and was even in for suspected meningitis before, poor chicken.

Which leads us onto Monday, which was messily busy and stressful in work, not only for me though, as other people seemed to have bad days. I blame the rain – it oppresses people. And then a staff meeting for that thing looming in 11 days. Man am I tired… There was also an Adopted People's Association public meeting, of which Anton is the chair, and though I dropped in briefly en route to the staff meeting, I was too tired to stay in Fibbers afterwards to meet them coming in at 11pm, or whatever time they arrived in. But there’ll probably be a press release about it on Anton’s blog soon. Reminds me… must do Press Release for Gaelcon. I’ve nabbed the contact details of press offices from the Department here :)

That’ll do for now, methinks

Today’s Word: -
Contradistinction \kon-truh-dis-TINK-shuhn\, noun:
Distinction by contrast; as, "sculpture in contradistinction to painting.”

Today’s Haiku: -

Cataract vision
Unseen life under current
Circles in the sand

2002-10-10T09:35:00.000Z

Oh dear...Just read over my reply to Sarah and it seems a bit snottier than I intended. The central thing I was trying to get across that it has always been a guideline of mine as a web editor in work to link everything to everything – if you are talking about something to which there is a directly relevant site available, then link to that site. For example, in the Department website, I think everything is at most four clicks away.

The fact of the matter is that yes, there are a lot of links to Gaelcon in my blogs (including that one). This is solely because the con is very much foremost to my mind at the moment, possibly more so than anything else, and as such gets frequent mention in what is essentially a diary of my thoughts, moods and things happening in my life. Like the post a few days ago, for example, in which I mention the Winter Vomiting Virus… I have a link to it. If I had of mentioned it 4 or 5 times, I would have linked it 4 or 5 times.

In short, such links, regardless of frequency are my web policy and the policy of this blog. I honestly can’t see what this would upset anyone at all. Anyway, no more to be said or thought about it :)

Other news, a friend of mine in Aus is getting married…no date set yet, but things are in place. Congrats Allie!! Much happiness for your future together. There’s a thought I once read that I’d like to share with all of you, my friends:

Live not in the past, for it has gone
Live not in the future, for it has yet to come
Live in the present, and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering

Not the most poetic of notions, but a beautiful life philosophy nonetheless.

Today’s Word: -
mercurial \mur-KYUR-ee-uhl\, adjective:
1. [Often capitalized] Of or pertaining to the god Mercury.
2. [Often capitalized] Of or pertaining to the planet Mercury.
3. Having the qualities of shrewdness, eloquence, or thievishness attributed to the god Mercury.
4. Changeable in temperament or mood; temperamental; volatile.
5. Of, pertaining to, or containing mercury.
6. Caused by the use of mercury.

Today’s Haiku: -
Little ripple son
Father stone cries forgotten
Shadows under dark

2002-10-09T13:03:00.000Z

Weariness is upon me like a child wearing a laden suit of armour, trying to make a game of life, but feeling the burden, and yet not wanting to give up the wonder.

Lots of overtime this week, and it’s remarkable how 2 or 3 hours in the evening make’s such a huge difference in one’s energy levels. I guess, one could say I am working 12 hrs days, but the end is in sight (tomorrow) and the money will be well timed, arriving the Thursday before Gaelcon.

Sadly, I haven’t had much time to do Gaelcon stuff this week yet, but Aidan seems busy with production and things seem to be coagulating nicely. Got a phone call from an original member of the Star Wars cast too, which is nice, but more on that later.

Not much to report…. tired…work...Gaelcon…probably the pattern of the month. Mind you, if you are lucking for a hugely funny diatribe on the weather, look no further than our very of Sadhbh.

Today’s Word: -
adventitious \ad-ven-TISH-uhs\, adjective:
1. Added extrinsically; not essentially inherent.
2. (Biology) Out of the proper or usual place; as, "adventitious buds or roots."

Today’s Haiku: -

Warming winter womb
Muffled sound of outside world
Naked empty trees

2002-10-07T10:12:00.000Z

Well, last Friday was a hectic end to the week. The Bugbear Virus got into our system – our very first outbreak since I began in IT. So, 20 disks of a debugging tool, around to each PC before reinitialising the network. Didn’t exactly make for a fun day, though most other people, bereft of a PC, wandered about quite casually, with little to do, and some of them realising that they can’t do any work without a computer. What did we do in the days before PCs, huh? I would suggest that it might make them appreciate IT more, but I know better.

For more information on this virus – and it’s a nasty one, click here>> You can download a Stinger tool to get rid of it (and check your system for the last few nasties including Klez). Now aren’t I nice providing such a public service? The symptoms of this virus are, in brief, your printer printing out pages of gobbledygook and/ or you anti-virus software or Firewall suddenly turning itself off and not wanting to go back on again. My advice is to run the stinger anyways – it doesn’t do any harm. And this Bugbear is growing large – over 70 attempted hits over the weekend in my workplace. Both the above links are from Network Associates – the leaders in virus fighting, and a very trustworthy group - hell, I trust the network in work to them :-)

Had a Gaelcon meeting Friday night, which Gar and Fiki came up from Cork for (thanks guys). Things are going well enough for me to be worries that things are going too well. But paranoia aside, the committee really is doing sterling work and surprisingly me pleasantly wherever I turn. And pre-books are coming in from people I have never heard of before, which is nice. So bits crossed!

And, it being Monday, there is no one else here, due to annual leave, illness and late trains. And, of course, it has been decided that the big moves around the office are happening today, and naturally no-one can plug in a PC other than IT personnel. Tummy’s not feeling too well all of a sudden. I don’t think it’s the Winter Vomiting Virus (I mean, really...they could have come up with something better); more likely to be a result of my sinuses exploding on Saturday night – it eventually makes my stomach unwell…something to do with trying to digest rotting mucus (mm pleasant). Was in Isaac Butts pub. Nice place, but no windows, hence smoke everywhere. I think that was what started me off.

Anyway, roll on a week of overtime :-(

Today’s Word: -
chthonic (THONE-ik), adjective:
dwelling in or under the earth; also, pertaining to the underworld

Today’s Haiku:
Venial human
Arms held out with sword aflame
Wrathful angel help!

2002-10-02T12:28:00.000Z

See!!

Sadhbh's Descent into Madness!!

2002-10-02T10:49:00.000Z

Egads, I am so leaving early today . Been doing 8.30 to 6.30+ for the last 2 days as servers died and PCs fell over and everything seemed to be falling apart. But I am quite proud of the fact that while I put the time in, I didn’t get stressed about it. Perhaps that is not a good thing – perhaps I am losing enjoyment for the job. Mind you, when I mentioned rumours of me transferring in the management meeting, people at the top level where, well, rattled. From which I derived much pleasure, I have to confess.

So things are chugging away nicely. Dangerously close to Gaelcon – I’ll have to do a day by day plan for the next (eek) 3 weeks…close…close…closing in…the pressure...the panic ….AARGGH!

But of course, it’s all sorted…right guys? :-)

Today’s Word: -
fiduciary \fih-DOO-shee-AIR-ee\, adjective:
Relating to the holding of something in trust for another.

Today’s Haiku

Mesh wire encampment
Bleeding fingers freedom cry
Inside the world spins

2002-10-01T10:22:00.000Z

Well, what seemed to be a nice orderly day yesterday broke out into showers of panic, with a front of chaos threatening and temperatures rising to stressful, with a 15% chance. So, back-up server dead, hard drive malfunction on one of the drives, UPS (Uninterruptible Power Source – a back up battery thing) dead, there was a power cut, so loads of services hadn’t re-initialised and 2 more PCs have fell over, bought from a supplier who shall remain nameless pending firebombing action… it’s all Anton’s fault! He was my predecessor in this job, and bought this model of PC, which apparently has a “component irregularity” in several “shipments”. Translates to me that they’re all shagged.

Anyway, today is catch-up, running after systems to restore them, talking to engineers about replacing bits, and generally going grr.

So this week is National Recycling Week, so go do your bit for the environment or something. Today is also 01102002 which probably means something to people in Binary land, but to me, sadly, it’s just a number. Or possibly the end of the world according to , or possibly the Y2K problem that we all “feared” will happen now.

Today’s Word: -
foment \foh-MENT\, transitive verb:
To nurse to life or activity; to encourage; to incite; to instigate; -- often in a bad sense.

Today’s Poem is not by me, but by an unknown author. I saw it when I was teaching grinds, (but the one below is another variant of the poem I taught) and it really hit me…the power and beauty of the simple language. Great stuff. Hope it makes you think about what is really important in life.

Remember the time you let me drive your car
and I dented the fender?
I thought you’d kill me
BUT YOU DIDN’T.

And remember the time I met your new girlfriend,
you know, the one you were crazy about,
and she became my new girlfriend?
I thought you’d floor me
BUT YOU DIDN’T.

What about the time I forgot to tell you
the party was black tie, and you wore jeans?
I thought you’d never speak to me again
BUT YOU DID.

Do you remember the time I wanted to go to
the concert, but you said it would be boring?
We went, and it was. I thought you’d scream "I told you so"
BUT YOU DIDN’T.

Remember the time we went to the disco and I
picked up a new girl while I had my girlfriend?
I thought you’d give up on me
BUT YOU DIDN’T.

And remember the time I was drunk and driving?
You told me I shouldn’t drive but I insisted.
You came along to make sure I was alright.
I crashed.
I saw our beds side by side.
I decided I would say all this to you when you awoke
BUT YOU DIDN’T.

2002-09-30T11:34:00.000Z

Glad to report that I had a relaxing weekend – didn’t even think about Gaelcon. Seems Eamon had the same. I wonder if it’s a case of the calm before the storm? Or maybe just that we all know at this stage that it’s going to be a busy month, so we need to grab rest and recreation when we can :). Looking forward to the month ahead though.

Today’s Word: -
legerdemain \lej-ur-duh-MAIN\, noun:
1. Sleight of hand.
2. A display of skill, trickery, or artful deception.

Today’s Haiku: -

Stone-ripple water
Lilypads shrug like shoulders
Uncertainty shines

2002-09-27T09:21:00.000Z

I admit that I have been very lazy of late are regard my blog entries, so apologies to all my fan out there :)

Was walking in to work today, and on Easons on Nassau St/ Dawson St (where good old Hanna’s used to be) there was a sign advertising a special deal on Christmas wrapping paper. I was torn between the fact that it was a good deal and the fact that it is f&&&ing SEPTEMBER. I swear the Christmas marketing engine creeps further towards the start of the year every year. Soon they’ll be advertising Christmas in January. This follows my shaking of fists at the TV when the advertised the winter wonderland in July. Wonder is Sadhbh and Cat will be elfing this year? Anyone know is Donal is still involved?

Gaelcon is going along nicely, and the date gets closer. Having brief stress rushes when my mind asks the recurring question, “what if nobody shows”. I have a feeling that fear is going to be my companion up until Saturday evening. I am looking forward to making the closing speech :) Going out to the lovely Clontarf Castle this evening to wave and solidify some details.

It’s UCD’s Fresher’s Week this week, the ol’ Alma Mater, so I am trying to take a ½ day today to go out and join Gamesoc and the> Shaolin Club the latter is something I am still considering. While I really need to and want to, I know I am not going to get to it, or anything much, until after Gaelcon. Although I am determined to run my Wednesday night AD&D over the coming weeks – to give me a break, and do some actual playing of games rather than just thinking about them.

Actually managed to watch SummerSlam last night. As a bit of background, Anton has always managed to get his next-door neighbour to loan us the WWE pay-per-views, but I have consistently failed to watch any of them when the tape got passed around the group, but I have broken the circle and watched this one. Ray Mysterio is amazing.

So there you go for today’s fix. A weekend of Gaelcon reports ahead of me, and hopefully some R&R of some description.

Today’s Word: -
boulevardier \boo-luh-var-DYAY; bul-uh-\, noun:
1. A frequenter of city boulevards, especially in Paris.
2. A sophisticated, worldly, and socially active man; a man who frequents fashionable places; a man-about-town.

Today’s Haiku: -
Hidden relic lies
Crucified life, bitter sponge
Poisoned well refresh

2002-09-25T11:48:00.000Z

Getting the most from your I.T. department

1. When you call us to have your computer moved, be sure to leave it buried under half a ton of postcards, baby pictures, stuffed animals dried flowers, bowling trophies and children's art. We don't have a life, and we find it deeply moving to catch a fleeting glimpse of yours.

2. Don't write anything down. Ever. We can play back the error messages from here.

3. When an I.T. person says he's coming right over, go for coffee. That way you won't be there when we need your password. It's nothing to remember 300 screen saver passwords.

4. When you call the help desk, state what you want, not what's keeping you from getting it. We don't need to know that you can't get into because your computer won't power on at all.

5. When I.T. support sends you an E-Mail with high importance, delete it at once. We're just testing.

6. When an I.T. person is eating lunch at his desk, walk right in and spill your guts right out. We exist only to serve.

7. Send urgent email all in uppercase. The mail server picks it up and flags it as a rush delivery.

8. When the photocopier doesn't work, call computer support. There's electronics in it.

9. When you're getting a NO DIAL TONE message at home, call computer support. We can fix your telephone line from here.

10. When you have a dozen old computer screens to get rid of, call computer support. We're collectors.

11. When something's wrong with your home PC, dump it on an I.T. person's chair with no name, no phone number and no description of the problem. We love a puzzle.

12. When an I.T. person tells you that computer screens don't have cartridges in them, argue. We love a good argument.

13. When an I.T. person tells you that he'll be there shortly, reply in a scathing tone of voice : "And just how many weeks do you mean by shortly?". That motivates us.

14. When the printer won't print, re-send the job at least 20 times. Print jobs frequently get sucked into black holes.

15. When the printer still won't print after 20 tries, send the job to all 68 printers in the company. One of them is bound to work.

16. Don't learn the proper name for anything technical. We know exactly what you mean by "my thingy blew up".

17. Don't use on-line help. On-line help is for wimps.

18. If the mouse cable keeps knocking down the framed picture of your dog, lift the computer and stuff the cable under it. Mouse cables were designed to have 20kg of computer sitting on top of them.

19. If the space bar on your keyboard doesn't work, blame it on the mail upgrade. Keyboards are actually very happy with half a pound of muffin crumbs, paper clips and nail clippings in them.

20. When you get a message saying "Are you sure?" click on that Yes button as fast as you can. Hell, if you weren't sure, you wouldn't be doing it, would you ?

21. When you find an I.T. person on the phone with his bank, sit uninvited on the corner of his desk and stare at him until he hangs up. We don't have any money to speak of anyway.

22. Feel perfectly free to say things like "I don't know nothing about that computer crap". We don't mind at all hearing our area of professional expertise referred to as crap.

23. When you need to change the toner cartridge in a printer, call I.T. support. Changing a toner cartridge is an extremely complex task and Hewlett-Packard recommends that it be performed only by a professional engineer with a master's degree in nuclear physics.

24. When you can't find someone in the government directory, call I.T. Support.

25. When you have a lock to pick on an old file cabinet, call I.T. Support.
We love to hack.

26. When something's the matter with your computer, ask your secretary to call the help desk. We enjoy the challenge of having to deal with a third party who doesn't know anything about the problem.

27. When you receive a 30mb (huge) movie file, send it to everyone as a mail attachment. We've got lots of disk space on that mail server.

28. Don't even think of breaking large print jobs down into smaller chunks. Somebody else might get a chance to squeeze a memo into the queue.

29. When an I.T. person gets on the elevator pushing EUR100,000 worth of computer equipment on a cart, ask in a very loud voice: "Good grief you take the elevator to go DOWN one floor?!?" That's another one that cracks us up no end.

30. When you lose your car keys, send an email to the entire company. People out in Oshakati like to keep abreast of what's going on.

31. When you bump into an I.T. person at the grocery store on a Saturday, ask a computer question. We do weekends.

32. Don't bother to tell us when you move computers around on your own. Computer names are just a cosmetic feature.

33. When you bring your own personal home PC for repair at the office, leave the documentation at home. We'll find all the settings and drivers somewhere.

34. In no way do we believe that end-users are ungrateful. It hurts our feelings that one could even think such a thing on the basis of the above statements. In truth we wish to express our deepest gratitude to the hundreds of wonderful end-users portrayed herein, without who none of
this would have been remotely possible.

35. When you have a minor problem created by downloading a screensaver from the internet, call us immediately, shout at us ,tell us it's urgent and that it's the Md's system who is heading to Guatemala the next day. We realise that 98% of people in the workplace are Md's and we will move faster as it is "urgent"

Today's Word: -
diktat \dik-TAHT\, noun:
1. A harsh settlement unilaterally imposed on a defeated party.
2. An authoritative decree or order.

Today's Haiku: -
A-Mazing Network
Mystery elusive net
Chosen only know

2002-09-24T09:33:00.000Z

I had a dream about Gaelcon last night. More remarkably, I actually remembered it! I very rarely remember dreams – I can only recall three dreams vividly, and so when people talk about dream sequences and dream sensations, I normally find it difficult to relate to from first hand experience. But this one I remember.

Snippets I recall… odd bits –there were lots and lots of bizarre traders, magic shops, crystal shops and the like. It wasn’t in Clontarf Castle, but somewhere that looked more like a craft fair like the one the run in the RDS close to Christmas. Kirsten Dunst was on staff, dressed like she was in Interview with the Vampire, but as old as she is now. I was going around talking to traders, or trying to, but kept get asking where the games where (which I didn’t know) and where the deep fat fryer was for the staff so they could cook steak n’ chips.

Very odd. I must try to remember my dreams more – they are cool things… really bizarre, but in a fun kind of way. There was a feeling of stress followed by relief with just a sense of structure and organisation in my mind – as if the whole thing was streamlined smoothly overall, despite the fact that I didn’t know where the games where. Eamon, you are not alone in your dreams.

In other news, Rusty is back from her travels with evidence of what happened to the One Ring. Saw a copy of Lord of the Rings Risk – must pick it up, nice plastic bits. Me and Jen have decided that we are going to buy more of those kind of games – Scrabble, Risk and those kind of games people play. On the note of games, congrats to Gar, who is now a Free Lancer for AEG (A games company)… another feather in his healthily plumed cap.

Am designing a game too, in case I haven’t mentioned that before. Hopefully will have it ready for play testing before Gaelcon. Fingers crossed…looking forward to more dreams now..

Today’s Word: -
fiduciary \fih-DOO-shee-AIR-ee\, adjective:
Relating to the holding of something in trust for another.

Today’s Haiku: - (inspired by George W. Bush)
Warring worlds join arms
Slick trader dying people
Mustard on the side

2002-09-23T10:53:00.000Z

Well lookie here, an update!

Ok, I have been ill since Thursday. A frightening lack of energy, apathy, and dizziness accompanied by a gland swelling, so for a few days I had horrific visions of not actually being able to run Gaelconover the weekend due to having something like glandular fever, which would suck. Turns out it’s a new and improved flu going around that it me like a sledgehammer wrapped in mucus. Super-bugs I tell ya…. the common cold will be our undoing.

It was the eldest nieces birthday on Sunday, so cue shopping trip followed by “party” in the house. God…Barbie everywhere… kids on sugar over-doses… violence erupting over small, shaped bits of plastic. Hell… actually, come to think of it, in a frightening way, if you substitute Barbie for Warhammer, it almost sounds like a figure games convention! Scary.

So feeling all muggy and cotton-wool headed today, but at least I am back being operational. Episodes IV-VI of Star Wars have been on RTE the last few weekends (one of our national stations, for my foreign friends), which was cool, but they are ruining it by showing Episode 1 this weekend. Go Jar-Jar… yay…

Not sure how I am feeling or what I am thinking today. I have designed a new card game, which I really like (so does Jen!), so I am looking forward to finalising it and play-testing it at the Tuesday night games thing in the Exchequer Bar…. Hopefully, I might even be able to sell it. For now, I have to go get stuff organised for tomorrow’s Gaelcon meeting…it beckons nearer…

Today’s Word: -
gimcrack \JIM-krak\, noun:
A showy but useless or worthless object; a gewgaw.

Today’s Haiku: -
A fuzzy fugue-head
Carpeted thoughts whirl awash
Inside, somewhere, me

2002-09-18T09:26:00.000Z

Ah tis Wednesday and I haven’t updated my blog (which, Louisa, is nothing toilet related at all!). I took Monday off as I was really exhausted and stressed from work, yes work – it’s been bedlam (I like that word) in here for the last two weeks…possibly three. Anyway a day off led to the tiredness really hitting, so I really need another few days off. Ah well, my remaining leave is going into the week before and after Gaelcon for final preparation and recovery respectively.

Tuesday was just far too busy for words, interspersed with “useful” meetings in the afternoon, despite the fact that I didn’t feel like attending, told it was vital that I was there, but sadly, it wasn’t, but I still had to be there for the couple of hours. Grr.

Dublin has a lot of people. Now that school and colleges are back, I have taken to walking in every day, as there is no way one would ever get a seat on the bus, with those damn college student (shake harder boy). Dave has gone back to college to do something with theoretical physics, but I think it’s really to find a college environment in which to show off his cool scar and get some foxy UCD chicks… I miss college.

Feeling the restlessness of a rut beginning to settle in. I think it could be the fact that I haven’t been out in a social group I know in a while…maybe I crave the attention…hmm…that’s probably not a good thing. I think I am just saving it all for Gaelcon, perhaps. Still… something to think about.

In a pensive mood, but no coherent thoughts formulating. And for you fans of the word for the day, I’ll include two today, just in case you need an extra fix… And I promise I will post something comment worthy when the dust settles in my mind (which, granted, could take years!)

Yesterday’s Word; -
littoral \LIH-tuh-rul\, adjective:
Of, relating to, or on a coastal or shore region, especially a seashore.

Today’s Word: -
redivivus \red-uh-VY-vuhs; -VEE-\, adjective:
Living again; brought back to life; revived; restored.

Today’s Haiku: -
Svelte purple caress
A cobweb dream effusive
Soft kisses, adrift

2002-09-13T09:58:00.000Z

Yay Friday!

I am absolutely exhausted. The last 1 days in work have been hectic and very stressful – even made more so by the fact that if people had done as I requested week ago there wouldn’t have been half as many problems.

Major Issue 1: The modem on our salaries test server didn’t work. I asked the company to dial in and check it weeks ago, before consultants came in to do a huge transfer of database across (cos of the Departmental change). Of course, they didn’t despite the fact that they said they did (silly me for trusting and not checking the event logs in the scant 3 seconds I had to breathe). They did try when the situation became critical, and of course couldn’t. Cue 3 days of panicked driver conflict resolution (making the bits of PC not fight with each other) and upgrading drivers for motherboard, PECR and SCSI (the bits inside what make the machine work) and finally got it, but grr

Major Issue 2: I have been asking for material for website for weeks and week and weeks, but my pleas have fallen on deaf ears, and the website has remained out of date. Everyone (and I mean everyone) in here knew that. Lo and behold one of the big bosses (to use and Ork term) noticed and guess what? The website has to be overhauled entirely yesterday!! Including changes to navigation bars! Great

And …cleanse.

I am taking Monday off to sleep and not have headaches. Not to mail my article to Fergal for White Elephant , and Phil for UCD Games Soc’s fanzine, Irreality.

Oh, and according to some guy called Matt and his Bizarre Personality Test Page, I am:
Lisa Simpson, Austin Powers, the Emporer Palpatine, Cpt. James T. Kirk and Legolas – bonus all round! :)

Today’s Word: -
perdurable \pur-DUR-uh-bul; pur-DYUR-\, adjective:
Very durable; lasting; continuing long.

Today’s Haiku: -

Frantic pace agape
Hardened perspiration claw
Wanderer ice-hand

2002-09-12T08:53:00.000Z

Haven’t published until today as work has been really busy…surely there is some law about Civil Servants working so hard. I actually had a stress headache last night, though this could be the beginning of Gaelcon stress. Ah well, no anxiety dreams yet, unlike poor old Eamon. Less than 7 weeks to go.

Was walking up O’Connell’s street the other day and there was police tape cordoning off from La Pizza down to the small tourist office, and at the Pass machine there was a pool of blood. It jolted me, to say the least. You hear it every day on the news and see it in the papers, but when you see something like that first hand, it is so much more real. Violence is fine at a distance, but nasty close-up (kind of like a Monet!). This morning, it was gone, without a whisper of evidence that it had ever happened. How many dead bodies do I walk over every day? How many have fallen in the paths and field under my feet over the ages, and what marks do they leave? I feel a short story coming on. However, the sad thing these days (perhaps it’s a good thing, I don’t know) is that my short stories keep extending themselves until they are unionising into novels and novellas! And I really don’t have the time to devote until after Gaelcon, when I will refocus my priorities.

I don’t want to give the impression that I am not enjoying the challenge of Gaelcon – it’s great and the team are really brilliant. And I will always game, be a gamer, and present at cons. I just want my evenings back to write. I will always support cons and stuff, and be around, so for those of you who fear I might be leaving the flock, I wont – just mingling in with the crowds and actually playing games!

Bizarre to think that it’ll be over in 8 weeks…. it’s kinda like Christmas day in that way…

Today’s Word: -
malleable \MAL-ee-uh-buhl\, adjective:
1. Capable of being extended or shaped by beating with a hammer, or by the pressure of rollers; -- applied to metals.
2. Capable of being altered or controlled by outside forces; easily influenced.
3. Capable of adjusting to changing circumstances; adaptable.

Today’s Haiku: -

Memory waking
Shards of stratal shielding lie
Recall winters past

2002-09-10T09:05:00.000Z

It occurs to me that I am acquainted with and friends with people who I don’t really know, can’t really unwind the complexities of, and probably don’t talk to as much as I should. On the other hand, I still have a deep urge to hide myself away from the world like Ruben and John Moriarty, write, philosophise and create a space for Jen and myself where we have our own happiness infused throughout that world, and other people only come in to visit at our behest.

Dublin is full of people…looking at the streets from my lofty bus seat this morning (took the bus out of laziness, to be honest) I saw an undulating sea of faces, all different, all complex, all with hundred of decisions, pains, things hidden, and I wondered, almost Gaiman style, how many would fall down the cracks of life today and how many of the hidden things will come out.

God. I really need to write again. Lots. I am looking forward to Gaelcon, but I am fully 100% definite that this will be my last committee position in gaming. I will continue to write scenarios and do MIB stuff, but will primarily be going to cons to be a gamer and say hi to people, when I can, and dismiss this obligation I feel to attend them all. My priorities have changed – Jen – Writing –Buying a House. I am looking forward to that too. Hopefully, Gaelcon will be a success, not solely from a desire to “go out” with a bang, but also that it will be successful enough that next years’, when I attend as a punter, will be bigger, better and stronger.

So many thoughts, so much to be written, so much time to allocate, so much joy to be had :)

Today’s Word: -
ostensible \ah-STEN-suh-bul\, adjective:
Represented or appearing to be true, but not necessarily so.

Today’s Haiku: -

Crystal clarity
Alcoholic’s tears pure gold
Alive despite life

2002-09-09T12:31:00.000Z

Yay! A psychology test. Think of the years of therapy I could have saved :) I’m sure it’s a fully comprehensive test of about 20 questions that fully define the mental condition of the individual taking the test. Just like IQ tests measure intelligence… The worrying thing would be if someone who was borderline something saw this and, well, crossed the border on a one way ticket with a Visa stamp.

(test snipped due to fear of hypocrisy)

Anyway, when not busy with work today, busy trying to squeeze in Gaelcon stuff, as the con is getting threateningly close . No anxiety dreams like Eamon, but I am getting back pains – could be stressed or could be something I did to my lower back in my sleep last night. Not sure which is better or worse.

Happy 1st day at School to Anton’s sprog (and not Atnon as previously stated….honestly…). Not much else I can say to fit in this narrow window of time I have allowed myself to update.

Today’s Word: -
euphonious \yoo-FOH-nee-uhs\, adjective:
Pleasing or sweet in sound; smooth-sounding.

Today’s Haiku: -

Purple flowers wilt
Empire fold in water night
Winter of content

2002-09-06T09:36:00.000Z

Oh...and Welcome to Atnon too...another one bites the blog...

2002-09-06T09:35:00.000Z

I am fast accepting the conclusion that life is easy, but people make it complicated.

In a life situation where a decision needs to be made, I believe that people know the decision that is right for them at the time. But peripheral flotsam clouds the judgement and people get caught up in the periphery, allowing the basic duality of the problem (i.e. yes or no) to be obscured. Like the old analogy of the pebble hitting the lake – we forget about the pebble only distracted by the forever moving ripples, which expand, contract, and change depending on other eddies around the pond, disrupting the wake of the now long-forgotten decision-to-be-made.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying it’s easy to make any decision. I’m not saying ignore the implications of any decision. And I’m not saying that you can just ignore the flotsam. But the fact remains once you sift through the debris, the thing that is buried is still there. The decision still has to be made.

Talking to Dave last night about his newfound value for life taught me a lot, as Dave usually does. Added to that is the innate and remarkable ability Jen has to accept that a decision has to be made and decide, aware but not overly influenced by surrounding factors. A clarity akin to enlightenment that I have always sought, and that she possesses in abundance. An ability to cut through the bullsh*t, bite away the skin, and get to the core.

Hell is other people? Hell is other people’s often self-induced complications. These seem like just random thoughts, I suppose, and I have yet to solidify this belief in my philosophical writings, but the core of the message is: Let life live, the rest is just living :-)

Today’s Word: -
schadenfreude \SHOD-n-froy-duh\, noun:
A malicious satisfaction obtained from the misfortunes of others.

Today’s Haiku: -

Teardrop clarity
Pure as evening winter ice
Warm as summer days

2002-09-05T08:51:00.000Z

No entry yesterday as work was bedlam, but still in a pensive place.

Meeting up with Paula in London got me thinking about old friends that have passed in the night. Now at the moment, my finances are tight, but for the good (nay great) reason of getting a house together with Jen and finding my own space, so I can’t get out and socialise as much as I used to. So, most evening I spend at home, and am quite happy to do so. But I miss people dropping down. I am sure this is largely due to me falling upon communicating over the web rather than with actual real voice-type people, so I am sure I am the only one to blame. Added to this is, I guess, Dave’s recent accident has made me very conscious of my friends and the importance of the people I care about.

One cool thing about Malahide was that people like Dave and Fergal always dropped down, and I miss the frequency of their visits. I also miss talking to people. I have made a conscious decision not to start a friend dropping down with the games consol, but to talk to them first. I have also made a conscious decision to invite more people down. This is beginning to sounds like a drunken “I love you, man” type email, but the bottom line is that I have a place, for which I am paying, so why not make use of it with a few chilled out visits. Not gatherings as the floors are too thin, and the flat wont hold a huge amount of bods, but certainly the odd visit.

Anyway, am feeling the urge to tackle my novel again this weekend, though I will probably get bogged down with Gaelcon stuff, unless I can get some of that done in today as work (touch wood) seems to be quietening down a bit.

Today’s Word: -
anodyne \AN-uh-dyn\, adjective:
1. Serving to relieve pain; soothing.
2. Not likely to offend; bland; innocuous.

Today’s Haiku: -

Autumnal window
Eyes piercing through dying gold
Renew cold stasis

2002-09-03T13:37:00.000Z

Well, back from GenCon UK…

People keep asking me, understandably, how my weekend went. Trouble is, I don’t really know. Maybe it’s because I am still tired, but do you ever get those times when you look back on something and think, “I seemed to like it then, but now I am not so sure”. Like tasting a sweetie that all butterscotch on the outside and Ammonium Chloride on the inside (Jan, one the of MIBs from Holland, had these at Gencon…they we’re disgusting, but apparently are quite he delicacy there).

The organisation of the con was odd. They closed to demo areas at 6pm, even though the con stayed open most of the night. There was a general feeling of lacklustre about the whole affair, and even though the MIB tables were constantly busy and occupied, and many demos were run, the rest of the area seemed...sparse. There may have been the 6,000-7,000 advertised present, but I only saw about 500 of them. Perhaps they were mostly playing cards.

My impressions of what little of London I saw are varied, but not really enough to muster up enough opinion to write about. I will go again and form a more cogent for the place. The tube is very useful indeed, but also very stuffy.

I met a lot of great people there – the UK MIBs and Jan from the Beneleux region of the Netherlands, was introduced to lots of “industry” people, renewed acquaintances with John Kovalic and James Wallis, play-tested some games (always nice) and met an awful lot of people who had heard good things about Gaelcon and knew all about it and to whom I seemed to sell the idea of attending. One trader even approached me asking for info, as he wanted to attend as a punter! So it was great for that. I guess I didn’t “game” much, but it was very interesting to see the way the do it in the UK, and of course good to catch with people.

Good especially to catch up with Paula, who I haven’t seen in years, and Gordon, to whom I haven’t talked properly ever, and also to Howard, who’s a really nice guy, even if his cat did scrawl my face.

Jen had a bit of a saga – got locked out over the weekend, with the only other set of keys being in my pocket in the Olympia 2 in London. Had to stay with the folks as both landlords were out of the city, but she was rescued on Sunday evening by the landlord who was still in Ireland. Also, a mate of mine, Dave was in a turn over car crash on his way back from Lanzarote. His arm got lacerated pretty badly and there’s still glass in it, so I am tearing out to him after work to see how he is. He’ll probably have a scar and look all ‘ard. Still, makes you really appreciate what people mean to you. Don’t know what I’d do if I ever lost Dave.

On that note, Damien has one of the most beautiful sign-offs of blog I have ever seen. Go have a look.

Today’s Word: -
billingsgate \BIL-ingz-gayt; -git\, noun:
Coarsely abusive, foul, or profane language.

Today’s Haiku (even though Paula said it’s not a real Haiku unless you include a season in it): -

Master Monolith
Meek crawls through oblivious
Awesome Capital

2002-08-29T08:34:00.000Z

Thoughts are funny things.

If they are not brought to conclusion, they stay around like strays waiting for food, or Hicksville labourers waiting for a truck to come along and pick them up to bring them to another thought. As the debris of unfinished though swill around in the brain, it leaves residuals, which erupt like acid reflux making you feel emotions that have no origin in truth.

Example to which most of us can relate: In a relationship, you admire another person. This is a normal human reaction, as Jan and myself were talking about earlier this morning. But if you don’t realise it for what it is, and just have it there as a passing attraction, it leaves itself there and festers becoming “Do I want to be in a relationship” or “Should I be having these thoughts? Does it mean I’m not happy?” A mountain made out of molehill. And then we get caught up in the whirlpool of thought, counter-thought, reaction, counter-reaction, inner debate, damnation, trial and execution, while we stand there, in the eye of the storm, whimpering with tear-stained cheek, wondering how this thought web began, frightened and watching impotently as this fright perpetuates itself into stress.

Outside, we just feel frustrated, pissed-off, stressed and act out these emotions, not sweeping the debris away, but incinerating it in this concentrated, and often self-effacing, human fractal snare of thought processes.

If a general orders 1 soldier to think and another not to think, who has the more difficult task? If a philosopher develops a philosophy of not thinking, does he cease to philosophise? Is there quiet at the end of noise? Or is noise created out of a fear of the quiet?

With these thoughts in mind, I look forward to distracting myself in London this weekend at Gencon UK

Today’s Word: -

jan·is·sar·y Pronunciation Key (j n -s r ) also jan·i·zar·y (-z r )
n. pl. jan·is·sar·ies
1. A member of a group of elite, highly loyal supporters
2. A soldier in an elite Turkish guard organized in the 14th century and abolished in 1826.

Today’s Haiku: -

Black church lung stain black
Cancerous tendril grass-roots
Prune prudent garden