Evil Robot Shane From Another Dimension (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} evilrobotshane) wrote,@ 2008-12-31 19:40:00 |
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Happy Holidays
The holidays thus far (for mine stretch for the better part of an unpaid month as the courts break between two peculiarly-named terms) has been most enjoyable, and so for that matter has life on either side of it.
My job as a latter-day monkey with a typewriter is interesting in the way that being a tourist in court would be, with decent hours (typically 10 to 4, sometimes out much earlier). I've been in on a few murder cases lately which is where it gets interesting and people look like they're making an effort. To my surprise, seeing the system in action has given me a good deal of faith in it; it's much better than a democratic country deserves. If it were left to the common man, you know, like anyone who's ever used the phrase "should be taken out and shot" in casual conversation, it'd be awful, but instead the jurisdiction of Joe Soap is tightly contained to judging the facts on a jury (which looks like an experience too - on the last murder case there, one of them was crying as they read out their majority verdict of guilty).
There's been some good partying recently; the Night Before Christmastime gaming in my house was well-attended and although I ruined my game by going at the egg-nog with what I've come to refer to as the guile and hard-earned cynicism of a naive sixteen-year-old schoolgirl at her first frat party, apparently cutting my memory capacity down to mere minutes, there were crackers and food and wine and convoluted gift exchange and the other game was probably good.
Tom's birthday was food-filled and low-key and I'm sure there's some poignant catch-phrase or seanfhocal to describe how no amount of carefully-selected high quality whiskey was able to make me like it or turn me into the snob I'd love to have the option of being. Some guy who recognised me from years back explained all about mock weddings to me (it's a game a bit like a murder mystery dinner), insisting that they're huge and all the rage and everyone's doing it and everyone's heard of it, and nobody at all that I've mentioned it to since has ever heard of the concept. I outstayed my strictest welcome by many hours when Tom's brother, late in the night, made the mistake of expressing some opinion about some James Bond movie, which led to several more hours of intense discussion.
There was a Red Cross unit dinner out which was alright; I hope the unit leader doesn't think I'm hitting on his wife just because she seems to (probably correctly) think I'm the most interesting person in the room to talk to.
My brother and sister are in various foreigns so Christmas was a smaller affair than usual; I got gaming books and Sharpe DVDs and snowboarding wrist-guards, Mum got a box of Amazon and Twin Peaks DVDs. We had dinner with Mum's sister's family, including my cousin's new manling which marks the first (and, hope springs eternal, final) installation in the post-my generation.
Dizzy and Britta's housewarming party was plenty of fun with lots of desirable people in attendance. I wasn't the drunkest person there which was nice (although I still got pretty obnoxious, as is, lamentably, my fashion) (oh yeah, in case you're wondering Pixies, the drunkest person there was you). There were hilarious inebriated romantic revelations from the dark past - none of which, fortunately, matter anymore - and people posing sexily with cigarettes. I tried hard to outstay my welcome here, but Dizzy steadfastly refused to imply that he'd like me to stop drinking, which is just as well since he was shoving drinks under noses all night.
Tonight it's New Year's Eve and I didn't really know what to do. I got an SMS message yesterday saying that one of our best kendo guys "wants to put on a intimate kendo class tomorrow night". Although that reads like the most wafer-thinly disguised set-up for a brutal gang-raping, I'm going to head along to that and see what happens - either I'll do kendo and be tired and go to bed, or I'll do kendo and follow somebody to something fun.
Game-wise, after a short uncharacteristic burst of "I don't have time for more gaming", I agreed to help co-run an ongoing LARP (a LARP is a live-action role-playing game, and a role-playing game is a dynamically moderated form of improvisational theatre) in the Warhammer 40,000 setting. The first session will be next week and I can't make it, but I've been working on writing some of the set-up stuff and it's fun. I've no experience with this type of thing and I hope that doesn't cause too much of a problem, but it's looking like it'll be good. I've always loved the Warhammer 40,000 setting and mourned the loss of the fun from the wargame when 3rd edition came out quite some time ago now.
My other project is a podcast, news and discussion about the Irish gaming scene et cetera. Although podcasts have become a major part of gaming culture in certain... I don't know, circles or areas or sub-sub-cultures or something, I may be the only person I know who actually listens to podcasts of any type at all. Never mind, my intention is more to do something fun with a sprinkling of if-you-build-it-they-will-come rather than worrying about listenership statistics and adding to the Irish Games Association's significant arsenal of "yeah, we tried that, it didn't work" (it can't fail if there's no stated goal, I reckon). I merrily stocked up on audio gear and have been learning things about gain and mixing and creative commons and noise reduction and dynamic and XLR. Along with getting antsy when I have free time, college seems to have made me enjoy learning about stuff. I learned how to train dogs the other day.
I'm away on my downhill snow-riding holiday on Saturday and am VERY EXCITED about it. I haven't been proper abroad-traveling in years, and keep subconsciously dropping it into conversations even though I know it makes me a wanker. I'm so excited that I went to the shops to buy screwdrivers to fit a plug to an old iron I found to re-wax my snowboard, when really it doesn't need re-waxing at all (just a scraping with a tool I don't own - time for some amusing household improvisation). I'm not bringing my computer and will be switching my phone into iPod-only mode for the duration, so if you need to contact me, engage in frustrating extension transferring with embassies and consulates and such.
The holidays thus far (for mine stretch for the better part of an unpaid month as the courts break between two peculiarly-named terms) has been most enjoyable, and so for that matter has life on either side of it.
My job as a latter-day monkey with a typewriter is interesting in the way that being a tourist in court would be, with decent hours (typically 10 to 4, sometimes out much earlier). I've been in on a few murder cases lately which is where it gets interesting and people look like they're making an effort. To my surprise, seeing the system in action has given me a good deal of faith in it; it's much better than a democratic country deserves. If it were left to the common man, you know, like anyone who's ever used the phrase "should be taken out and shot" in casual conversation, it'd be awful, but instead the jurisdiction of Joe Soap is tightly contained to judging the facts on a jury (which looks like an experience too - on the last murder case there, one of them was crying as they read out their majority verdict of guilty).
There's been some good partying recently; the Night Before Christmastime gaming in my house was well-attended and although I ruined my game by going at the egg-nog with what I've come to refer to as the guile and hard-earned cynicism of a naive sixteen-year-old schoolgirl at her first frat party, apparently cutting my memory capacity down to mere minutes, there were crackers and food and wine and convoluted gift exchange and the other game was probably good.
Tom's birthday was food-filled and low-key and I'm sure there's some poignant catch-phrase or seanfhocal to describe how no amount of carefully-selected high quality whiskey was able to make me like it or turn me into the snob I'd love to have the option of being. Some guy who recognised me from years back explained all about mock weddings to me (it's a game a bit like a murder mystery dinner), insisting that they're huge and all the rage and everyone's doing it and everyone's heard of it, and nobody at all that I've mentioned it to since has ever heard of the concept. I outstayed my strictest welcome by many hours when Tom's brother, late in the night, made the mistake of expressing some opinion about some James Bond movie, which led to several more hours of intense discussion.
There was a Red Cross unit dinner out which was alright; I hope the unit leader doesn't think I'm hitting on his wife just because she seems to (probably correctly) think I'm the most interesting person in the room to talk to.
My brother and sister are in various foreigns so Christmas was a smaller affair than usual; I got gaming books and Sharpe DVDs and snowboarding wrist-guards, Mum got a box of Amazon and Twin Peaks DVDs. We had dinner with Mum's sister's family, including my cousin's new manling which marks the first (and, hope springs eternal, final) installation in the post-my generation.
Dizzy and Britta's housewarming party was plenty of fun with lots of desirable people in attendance. I wasn't the drunkest person there which was nice (although I still got pretty obnoxious, as is, lamentably, my fashion) (oh yeah, in case you're wondering Pixies, the drunkest person there was you). There were hilarious inebriated romantic revelations from the dark past - none of which, fortunately, matter anymore - and people posing sexily with cigarettes. I tried hard to outstay my welcome here, but Dizzy steadfastly refused to imply that he'd like me to stop drinking, which is just as well since he was shoving drinks under noses all night.
Tonight it's New Year's Eve and I didn't really know what to do. I got an SMS message yesterday saying that one of our best kendo guys "wants to put on a intimate kendo class tomorrow night". Although that reads like the most wafer-thinly disguised set-up for a brutal gang-raping, I'm going to head along to that and see what happens - either I'll do kendo and be tired and go to bed, or I'll do kendo and follow somebody to something fun.
Game-wise, after a short uncharacteristic burst of "I don't have time for more gaming", I agreed to help co-run an ongoing LARP (a LARP is a live-action role-playing game, and a role-playing game is a dynamically moderated form of improvisational theatre) in the Warhammer 40,000 setting. The first session will be next week and I can't make it, but I've been working on writing some of the set-up stuff and it's fun. I've no experience with this type of thing and I hope that doesn't cause too much of a problem, but it's looking like it'll be good. I've always loved the Warhammer 40,000 setting and mourned the loss of the fun from the wargame when 3rd edition came out quite some time ago now.
My other project is a podcast, news and discussion about the Irish gaming scene et cetera. Although podcasts have become a major part of gaming culture in certain... I don't know, circles or areas or sub-sub-cultures or something, I may be the only person I know who actually listens to podcasts of any type at all. Never mind, my intention is more to do something fun with a sprinkling of if-you-build-it-they-will-come rather than worrying about listenership statistics and adding to the Irish Games Association's significant arsenal of "yeah, we tried that, it didn't work" (it can't fail if there's no stated goal, I reckon). I merrily stocked up on audio gear and have been learning things about gain and mixing and creative commons and noise reduction and dynamic and XLR. Along with getting antsy when I have free time, college seems to have made me enjoy learning about stuff. I learned how to train dogs the other day.
I'm away on my downhill snow-riding holiday on Saturday and am VERY EXCITED about it. I haven't been proper abroad-traveling in years, and keep subconsciously dropping it into conversations even though I know it makes me a wanker. I'm so excited that I went to the shops to buy screwdrivers to fit a plug to an old iron I found to re-wax my snowboard, when really it doesn't need re-waxing at all (just a scraping with a tool I don't own - time for some amusing household improvisation). I'm not bringing my computer and will be switching my phone into iPod-only mode for the duration, so if you need to contact me, engage in frustrating extension transferring with embassies and consulates and such.
