The Thessaliad Redux

I have gone completely into childhood mode this Christmas. 7:00 in the morning and I was awake and poking dodgyhoodoo going "Presents! *squee*" I am not generally a morning person but what's Christmas without getting up at the crack of dawn and badgering your loved ones to get up and open presents? I got told "You're making the coffee"; no hardship, particularly since it has to be instant at the moment because our coffee machine blew a serious gasket last weekend.

So we got up and dodgyhoodoo and I got to the unwrapping. From him, I got yet more anime (Boogiepop Phantom disc 3; we are getting there with the anime collections), some sci-fi/fantasy Book-1-of-a-Trilogy thing I hadn't even heard of and the new Lynne Truss (Talk to the Hand, all about how the rude people are taking over). For his part, he seemed quite happy with the Etherscope RPG sourcebook, the graphic novels (the last Invisibles TPB, Y: The Last Man and 100 Bullets -- volume three in both cases) and the Doctor Who version 9 and Twilight Zone S1 (original) box sets. He has seen first-hand the Neilson motto when it comes to Christmas: "If in doubt, go overboard. In fact, just go overboard anyway".

For corroberation of this, my mother's gifts were similarly fantastic this year. As well as the Buffy box set, the household got a set of very good Japanese kitchen knives; there's also a RHPS DVD, a PWEI CD and some nice little pieces of jewellery. This was not unexpected.

What was unexpected was getting something other than chocolates and little mad things from dodgyhoodoo's slightly mad Nan. There was the usual complement of crisp packets and chocolate bars, but when I opened the "tree presents" (presents to be scattered around or hung on the tree) labelled with my name, I found little porcelain cat figurines, a small cat-shaped keychain (someone has evidently heard of Yuki) and a turquoise-and-silver cross pendant with chain. Also a pair of frighteningly Emily-like gloves -- all done up in rainbow stripes -- and of course, chocolates. There's also a fair bit of wine, cheese I can't eat, ale I don't want, mustard that will break me out in a rash and other kitchen-related gear. Mrs Hoodoo has latched onto the fact that we are a household of foodies, evidently.

Fab Christmas. There will be brief relaxy and then I will make breakfast as a sort of a consolation prize to an early-woken Hoodoo (French toast, bacon, coffee). Then I will roast the duck and do the veg and generally we will have 'lunch' of some hugeness while watching Doctor Who.

Hope everybody's having as good a Christmas as I am. Happy holidays, all!

We're being all organised about the Christmas grocery shop. dodgyhoodoo is going to go out and get a whole buttload of stuff, then I'm going to go and pick up what he couldn't carry. So far the division is going something like, he gets the alcohol, the root veg and the cake fixings and I get the cola, the bath stuff, the cleaning goo and various herbs. Probably also some fruit bits for me. We already have the duck, so that's fine, and there's a pork roast for the Boxing Day feast. There are going to be enough leftovers in the house to choke a small yak. Maybe I should pick up some containers to store them in while I'm doing the shop today.

There is a certain amount of planning being done for the week ahead. Not much, admittedly, but general "What are we doing for New Year?" and "When are we going to have the horrorfest?" (I was thinking the 29th). Most of the rest of the time will be spent relaxing, faffing about with Sims, and watching Buffy whenever dodgyhoodoo isn't using the TV. However, there will be a certain amount of work getting done; I never finished the NaNoWriMo story and then there's the Bloodlines stuff, which is actually coming along rather well on a text basis considering that I've only been working on it for two days. Given my not being a numbers person, I'm actually dealing with the whole "making up a dice system and RPG rules" thing rather well, all things considered.

Speaking of RPGs, I was going through my Amazon wish list and doing a browse for Werewolf: the Forsaken stuff (because when Mage finishes up, I think having a shot at new Werewolf would be fun), I happened to notice that a whole lot of the old Apocalypse stuff is still in stock at Amazon. Well, it says so, anyway, despite it being the same principle under which I was waiting for the Vampire clan sourcebooks ('4-6 week' delivery probably being their euphemism for 'when hell freezes over'). Either way, there are other spots where one can get it second-hand that I might try. Things like Book of the Weaver would be seriously useful in the current campaign, not to mention Book of the Wyld and various of the Changing Breeds sourcebooks that I know weaselbitch has but would like to own myself. So I've updated my wish list and will have a good old hunt around.

Probably after my birthday, though. In the wintertime, I just can't buy myself anything because my birthday's just over a month after Christmas. Well, I kind of feel good about that despite the fact that it meant no amusement park outings as parties. The reason for that is that anyone buying me presents can take advantage of the after-Christmas sales. Yes, I actually think about these things.

Anyway, despite the lack of Bing-Crosby-in-Christmas-musical-extravaganza, I think it's going to be a good Christmas. And when we've got the Boxing Day relax done, I can have a think about how I'm going to address some comments in a recent vampadvocate post...

One more hour and then we're all locking up the office. HUZZAH! Not that I don't like my job, because I do (particularly compared to the last few). It's just that ... well, holidays! Woo-hoo! In just over an hour I'm out of here, off to have a lovely Japanese lunch and do some non-urgent last-minute Christmas shopping, just because I can. Then I'm going to take dodgyhoodoo out for dinner at this little side-street Korean place in Finchley Central. Again, just because I can. I love payday.

Yesterday had its ups and downs, but I'm choosing to focus on the ups because I'm in a good mood and refuse to spoil it with downers of any description. The first nifty thing was during my lunch hour: on the street where I work, one of the buildings has this little alcove where a lot of the people in the surrounding buildings stop and smoke. Because my lunch hour's between 2 and 3, I tend to catch people on their afternoon smoke break or just having a last quick smoke before lunch. There's this one guy who I tend to run into over lunch hour; we don't talk or anything and because I normally have my nose in a book I'm not even sure what he looks like, but he has asked if I could spare a smoke a time or three so all I know about him is that he's not particularly organised, a bit of a smoke fiend and doesn't really like menthols but will put up with them if that's all that's available. You know, whatever, right? Well, yesterday I was coming into the alcove and he was heading out in a hurry but spied me and went, "Ah! I was wondering if I'd see you; happy Christmas" and hands me a pack of smokes (my brand, which he obviously knows) before dashing back to his workplace. Guerilla gift-giving. What a concept.

At the end of a day when everybody and their maiden aunt was submitting papers (to get them out of their hair before Christmas, I suppose) and I was a bit frazzled, I met up with dodgyhoodoo and weaselbitch for drinks and gift exchange, though weaselbitch had already opened hers from me (Ghost in the Shell for PSP so she has something to watch on it during events like, for example, getting on a train to Lincolnshire to visit her parents over Christmas) on Sunday at my own insistence. dodgyhoodoo has Resident Evil 4, and I got Noir disc 3 -- the first new anime I've had in quite some time. So I am happy. *squee* Looking forward to day after tomorrow, obviously, but also looking forward tomorrow, when I reinstate the Neilson family tradition of everyone in the household opening one gift on Christmas Eve. I think I'm going to open the "silly gift" from Mum that feels like a DVD; I don't know what dodgyhoodoo's going to open.

Then Christmas day and roast duck. I'm just trying to think of things to do with it; glazes and what to stuff in the chest cavity. I have a few ideas, but I'm going to need to hit Waitrose tonight so I don't wind up fighting with the hardcore last-minute people on Christmas eve.

I must sort convention shit. Having discovered that there is at least one Googleable RPG con in San Francisco (ConQuest), and it happens in September (in time for the Geeks and Techies release, no less), I have decided that I must go. I wanted to go back to SF anyway. Of course, that does not preclude finding out about getting Team8 to run Affils at that convention in Cork, getting to Battlemasters in April, and possibly trying some of the other UK-based conventions. One day, I might do GenCon Indy, but frankly, I just don't see the point. Yes, huge gaming convention, but it's an awfully long way to go just for a gaming convention when I could go to ConQuest or GenCon Anaheim or any number of others and turn the con trip into a holiday with the added advantage of seeing friends in the US. It will possibly be different when I know a few more people, because then it'll be an excuse to see them as well as just a trip to pimp my game.

The Christmas holidays are coming, hurray! We're getting out of the office at midday on Friday, which is also payday (double hurray) and so I can spend the rest of the afternoon watching last-minute shoppers and possibly even doing some of it myself. The thing is, though, that since it lacks urgency (I have dodgyhoodoo's present, weaselbitch has hers already and everyone else doesn't stand a chance of getting theirs until after Christmas anyway), it'll be more fun to watch people run around like idiots trying to pick stuff up. I'm sadistic like that sometimes.

lokean? Quotes? Please?

[Edit: Oh, and this'll surprise no one:]

Greed:	Very Low
Gluttony:	Low
Wrath:	High
Sloth:	Low
Envy:	Very Low
Lust:	Very Low
Pride:	Low

Discover Your Sins - Click Here

Back at work and once again, James did next to nothing that could be called "cover". He actually seems rather proud of this, because now at least I know what needs to be done ... namely everything. I'm still not 100%, I'm still kind of draggy and run-down, and yet I wind up having to play catch-up on three days' worth of work because bloody James didn't think to at least take note of any referees' comments received unless they were absolutely urgent and requested by our associate editor. I don't have the energy for this, but am going to wind up doing it anyway. Then I go home and cook dinner, because I know that dodgyhoodoo a) was on earlies today and b) has a meeting at the end of the day that he's not allowed to skip out on despite being on earlies. We really can't justify the cost of eating out, what with the holidays and the Affils launch expenses, given that it's over a week until payday for both of us. And frankly, given the day we'll both have had by the time this day is over, we'll both need something more substantial than just a bowl of soup, which is our current non-cook, non-eating-out option. So I go home and cook dinner, and then I collapse in a little heap somewhere. Bleh.

It's not so bad. Two weeks until the holidays, after all. The office essentially shuts down for that week between Christmas and New Year, which is a novelty for me. After all, I've spent the past few years working in hospitals in offices that insisted on at least minimal cover over the holiday period, only drawing the line at bank holidays. Of course, you could book annual leave at that time, but only if you acted really fast (last year I only heard that there was a minimum number of people who could book time off over that week when everyone else had been given a shot at booking those days, so it was "People can book time off over the holidays but not you, because it's already been booked", which kind of defeated the purpose -- I hated St Barts sometimes). This year, it's not expected and the whole office shuts. Huzzah.

Counting my blessings over the holiday period: I get that week off, no questions asked. I'm spending it with a loved one without having to worry about not being able to travel because of shut-down public transport (a novelty this year). I get to cook in my own kitchen and not carry the fruits of my labours around with the possibility of dropping the whole mess all over a rental car or flight of stairs ... and, given that I won't be doing the pudding this year, I also won't have to worry about destroying surfaces, floor and oven interior with flour, icing sugar, cake batter or whatever. And at some point I'll get to watch White Christmas, my favourite piece of Christmas shmaltz ever ... that's if I can take the half-amused, half-pained "I don't believe you want to watch that but okay" look on dodgyhoodoo's face every time the subject comes up. (It's not so bad, really; it's almost funny, and I'm not as defensive about it as I seem.)

And I will not have to deal with the family for another year. Mum ... well, it might be all right, but I won't know about that until I see her on Saturday afternoon. David ... I still haven't forgotten him basically asking me to be understanding of the fact that Mum pinned all her expectations on me and I let her down; who says that to their stepkid? And then there's David's relatives, who are nice enough but I've never really got used to them -- David's dad and Auntie Vi are both sweet people and I like them but I've never dealt with people who are quite that old (both in their 90s) before and it's difficult. It's drawing the line between talking loud enough to be heard by the hard of hearing and yelling, and having to repeat myself, and reminding myself over and over and over that they have very different social context than I do so some of the things I might talk about or be interested in or whatever might be incomprehensible and / or downright offensive to them. Having to put the checkreins on my personality to prevent family arguments is hard enough without having to redouble my efforts in the face of a huge generation gap. I don't consider myself ageist or anything (at least I hope I don't come across that way), but it's a consideration. I don't think devout Christian Auntie Vi would be particularly impressed to hear me talking about Mithras rituals or what have you. I can't even talk about what I write half the time, just in case. It's a pain, but there you go.

I did not get any work done on Affils last night because this blister on the back of my left hand has puffed up to horrific levels and typing just plain hurts. So instead I went back to my Legacy Challenge Family on Sims 2.

Samantha: Cured of vampirism, wants another kid, spends a lot of her time apologising to Matthew and raising her kids (teaching Simon to to walk, talk and use the potty; helping Stephanie with her homework). Will probably not go back into full-time employment until Simon grows up a little more.
Matthew: Is well on the way to forgiving Samantha, still wants to be a vampire and wants absolutely nothing to do with Simon. Well, I mean, he'll feed and bathe the kid and everything but absolutely refuses to teach him to walk or talk, though I haven't tried potty training.
Stephanie: Forgave Samantha for cheating on her dad with a vampire really damn quickly, all things considered. Grew up to Child level; very outgoing, very active, inherited slobbishness from both parents, spends a lot of her time painting and wants a drum kit.
Simon: Average toddler. Spends a lot of time asking Matthew for attention. Can now talk and is halfway to being potty trained (Aspiration Rewards are a GoodThing)
Count Oliver: Stuck out on a desert island in the sunshine and left to die. I've had enough of this vampire shit for one generation.
Things I found out: From what little I can tell, you can't bite kids. Teens, possibly. Young adults, definitely. Adults, obviously. Elders, I don't know. But apparently, while Grand Vampires can at least make an attempt to bite infants, children below a certain age cannot be vampires. Also, vampires have various movement options beyond "Go Here", "Run Here", "Skip Here". They have "Stalk Here", which I never tried, and "Fly Here", which means they turn into a freakin' bat and fly to where you want them to go. It's interesting.

I am still so very tired. I tell you, the last thing I want to do is go to work today. However, the good news is that you don't need any specific notice period before you go on holiday provided you know there's someone in to cover you. Of course, since James hasn't been in since last Tuesday, it's a little hard to find out when he's going to be in to cover me, so I can't find out when I can next take a holiday. I'm thinking next week, with an option to take a couple of days off at the start of December. I really need the break. Thinking on it, though, I get five work weeks off a year, which means one per quarter and a week extra around Christmas. This is not a bad thing.

Oh well. At least the Northern Line is up again, though I'm still not sure if High Barnet trains are going via the Charing Cross branch or if they're still being arsy. Well, I'll risk it. Worst that can happen is I change at King's Cross and hop the Piccadilly to Holborn, then walk. It still takes less time over all than the 125 to Southgate.

I'm hooooooome! The kitchen is clean and the cat is a doofus and I had my little adventure and it was really ... um, I'd say "different to what I expected" except I didn't really have any true expectations in the first place so basically just "different". And now I'm home.

There has been insanity during my absence. I am now quite glad I wasn't around to get involved. Short version is that we're playing Mage on Sunday. I'm not arguing with that.

Letter from my old job, basically telling me, "We're sorry you don't want to work here anymore; yes, it's just as well you don't serve your notice period; we'll pay you to your expiry date (13th March); please have an exit interview on the basis that you feel we fucked you over". Do I really want to go back there and tell them the contents of that letter? Part of me says that it might be better to leave it as it is because they obviously don't hate me and I'll be able to pull a reference out of these people with no problem. The other part basically wants to go in there and give some human resources flunky a serious verbal whipping. So I don't know.

In other news, I am now the proud owner of a copy of The Art of War. Been looking for one for ages. It all seems like common sense to me, but maybe I just think too much about that sort of thing.

I need to get in touch with nadriel about tomorrow. So Friday is the meet-up with nadriel, mapp, lokean and guido_was_taken. Saturday involves being all hostessy (yay!) and watching dodgyhoodoo be a "complete animal tart" as regards the adorable fluffy grey doofus who is still trying to eat my bloody candles. Then Sunday's Mage. Then I go punt myself out to agencies. And yes, at some point I will probably arrange to be in so that cholten99 has someone to sign for his computer bits. Seems I took off for holiday before he could tell me he had delivery coming on Tuesday. Whoops.

So yeah. Home again, home again, jiggity-jig.

The cat is on such huge amounts of crack. I hope she settles down soon -- I did eventually manage to get some kip but not quite enough to be dealing with Little Miss Crack-Whore. (Well, she's the tart, she's on crack, what else am I going to call her?)

Currently trying to cheer myself up by thinking holiday. On the one hand, GenCon in about six months or so. On the other hand, I miss leopard_lady and it's her turn to be visited (the WCB had me last year). So Indianapolis or New York? *sigh*

Of course, my question is currently, why Indianapolis? GenCon's moving to Anaheim in November and if I had my druthers (which I suppose I do, but it's not the same without a group), I'd be going to that one. That way I could have a two-birds-one-stone holiday; a few days at GenCon and then head north to do some visiting. And, were I truly lucky, I might even be able to get some of my long-standing American friends to meet these 'new' people I keep talking about. Also would give various of us more time to save up for it, but that's another thing.

On the other hand ... I've never been to Indiana -- lots and lots of other states, but not Indiana. Not that I expect there to be very much in Indianapolis, mind you, but it'd be nice to say that I've actually been. And besides, were I to set foot in Anaheim, the temptation would be to firebomb the home of the Mighty Fucks of Anaheim. Well, I'm still bitter. Movie tie-in hockey teams backed by the Disney bankroll should not be getting to the Stanley Cup finals. If you want to skate and be affiliated with Disney, go be in Toy Story on Ice, already.

See? Possibly safer in Indianapolis. I don't think they have a hockey team.

Yuki's curled up on my lap, demanding petting, purring for all she's worth. She's such a tart. Should've named her Alison.

Today's going to be fun. The holiday has seemed unaccountably long with no gaming to break it up. Not bad-long, you understand; just long. Besides, I've been preparing for the next few sessions for ages, and I'm really excited to be starting this all up. Of course, having dodgyhoodoo and weaselbitch singing the Doom Song only goads me. I know they love it, really.

Then one more Bank Holiday and back to work. At least my bloody wrists have predominantly healed, though I think I did too much typing last night. Bugger.

But it's a bright sunshiny day, I'm running Mage and I have my Deadly Doses book to read on the way to Finchley. Life is good.

It needs to be September now.

(For all of you who're still in school and attempting to throw things at me, sorry but your projectile weapons don't fit through my modem. And my work 'puter has no sound card so I can't hear you booing, so nyah.)

Seriously, it needs to be September now. I so much need a holiday. I have to get through July. And then August. And then the first week of September. And then I can finally have my holiday. I'd say California sun but I know how SF can get so I may have to wait 'til I hit Santa Barbara to actually get any real sun. Same with sea, though I suppose there's the Bay.

I'm not going to wax nostalgic about the cable cars or the Pier or anything remotely like that. My memories of San Francisco are a lot less picture-postcard, and a lot more real for it, probably. I wax nostalgic about 'that' Starbucks. That God-awful Carl's Jr on Market. The Corner of 'Nudes! Nudes! Nudes!' and 'Tits!', the Green Tortoise and a little Chinese restaurant a couple of doors down from same. Being a sarcastic bitch on Haight-Ashbury. ("We don't need no water...") My first game of DDR and skanky cheese fries.

Gaaaaaaaaah torture! It needs. To be. September. NOW!