Here I am now.

TaikOz are very good at drumming. They are not so good at stagecraft (or wind instruments, despite the presence of Shakuhachi Grand Master Riley Lee). But they are very good at drumming. It is odd how people who can strike Japanese drums synchronously while on opposite sides of a stage cannot bend from the waist in unison when standing next to each other. But they are very good at drumming. They are not very good at singing, moving across the stage, smiling at the audience, dancing, or sounding conch shells. But they are very good at drumming.

Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbour Totoro) is a nice film. It is less fantastic and less complex than other children’s anime features, such as Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away, but it is less dark and even though less happens it is thoroughly engaging from beginning to end. I give it seven plump furry wondrous forest creatures only children can see out of eight.

Mikey and Jo brought newest nephew Nils to Canberra for the weekend. We slothed about at Nana’s keeping Nils amused for a day and a half watching Ripping Yarns and Last of the Summer Wine and eating cheesy salady bready meaty nibbles. Also, wasabi jellybeans.

Speedpig: reanimated.

On a rainy Sunday afternoon I cleared the office into the spare room; cleaned, dusted, vacuumed and mopped; and finally set up my computer. It was plugged in and turned on but failed to do anything except make loud fan noises, not even a memory error. So I plugged in Linda’s old iMac with even less result because it doesn’t have a fan. But when I plugged in Ted’s PC it stayed up (Huzzah!) and now I have a computer (thanks to Ted). Not only but also, after the ritual sacrifice of my PC and Linda’s Mac, the cybergods were so pleased when Linda plugged the ethernet cable from her eMac into Speedpig it was instantly connected to her broadband internet account. Instantly.

Meanwhile, under Muppet Theatre.

If information is needed from the old records in the basement Beauregard will ask for a two sentence version of what is required then leaf through the files a page at a time endeavouring to help, or perhaps show how it is done, while you watch or perhaps learn (or hop from foot to foot with agitation). Forty-five minutes later Beau will reach the conclusion the information isn’t there and commence a surreal monologue about how it is perfectly reasonable to expect it to be there even though it has just been established beyond the shadow of a doubt it is not. Otherwise, if Beauregard is not available to help because he is chatting to George, the files can be rummaged through in about four minutes. Unfortunately this does not mean the information is any more likely to be there. Maybe it’s in the attic.  ¶ 08:43 0 comments

  That was the weekend that rocked.

Nothing remarkable happened last week.

On Friday night Emma came back from Bulahdelah. On Saturday we went to the multicultural festival with Gavin, James and Kate; and then we all went to the Dungeons and Dragons Meetup with Alex, Ariadna, James, Mark, Martin and Winnie. On Sunday Emma went back to Bulahdelah.

Meanwhile, nothing remarkable happened this week.  ¶ 07:36 1 comments

  That was the week that was weak.

Based on the season timetable which was confirmed by the staff last week Next Week For Sure had a week off from multisport, except Ian got a phone call on Thursday asking where we were. Heroclix was unremarkable. I made an unconvincing and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to unblock my bottlenecked Dungeons & Dragons game, then screwed up the experience award and finished three hours early. The weekend petered into another week of slings and arrows to keep me less than occupied at work. I miss Emma terribly, too.

Happy New Year, China.
  ¶ 07:59 0 comments

  Eyecon foiled.

Charmed Pages held another weekend of playing games which I missed because I was playing James’s game on Saturday and on Sunday I was having a mope. Pathetic.

A Day at the Races.

At Dave’s game on Monday there was a race which Randolf won riding Womp. My "mysterious stranger from the east" riding a tiger was revealed to be a mummy and slaughtered mercilessly by the crowd after I rolled three consecutive ones for his or her race tactics. Later we resumed our normal alter egos to foil a kidnapping, mainly through the agency of Lycus, unprecedentedly nimble without his armour, leaping onto the fleeing horse and rider and using gravity to drag the victim to safety. We tracked the absconder to his lair and interrupted a wererat ritual sacrifice. Sparky spent the fight nauseated and vomiting.

A Night on the Phone.

I telephoned Emma in Bulahdelah. Later, she telephoned me.

It was more interesting if you were there.

Meanwhile, at the dance.

Two thirds of my work on The Muppet Show has been postponed.
  ¶ 07:16 0 comments