Mega-update

[cjwatson]

terryfish has poked me a couple of times recently to complain about me not having posted anything recently, so now I have to try to remember what happened two weeks ago. :)


On Saturday 14th, I went to watch atreic and co.'s very silly set of Shakespeare parodies in Newnham Gardens. I think the versions of "Romeo and Juliet" and "Tempest" were the best - the second was a group of reality TV contestants stranded on a desert island and meeting a bunch of people on a team-building exercise. Bonus points for the mad masochist padre in R&J ("for this lapse I must do penance! ooh, pain") and the stray characters who kept popping into the wrong plays.

Saturday evening saw the Jómsborg (local fantasy society) Veizla, which involved a great deal of mead. Er, that seems to be most of what I remember. Oh yeah, there was the Reeve's Challenge as well (unmask a historical Jómsviking; I picked Fionn Mac Cumhail or Finn MacCool or however you want to spell it partly for the sake of token Irishness but partly 'cos he was the first sensible person with good attached jokes that I thought of), and the sheer silliness that the Aftermath party usually involves.

About this point I realized that the Shakespeare plays were outdoor, there'd been no shade, I'd just been wearing a T-shirt and jeans and hadn't thought to bring suncream, they ran from 12:30 to 3, and I have fair skin. Ouch, sunburn, and thank pick-your-favourite-god for the long hair that meant that the back of my neck wasn't burnt too. My arms were still peeling up to a couple of days ago. So the next week or so was dominated by me going "ow" a lot and wearing unseasonal clothes to avoid the evil daystar (although I went up to my parents that Sunday for Father's Day, who were very helpful and gave me after-sun), even if I don't think I was quite as badly off as sphyg who was having difficulty wearing clothes in order to go outside at all.



The next week, er, went, followed on Saturday by a party at Foundation. Some people wore shiny things (hm, awful photos of me alert), I chatted to naath and claroscuro, and it was fun. Unlike some I actually paid for the very nice beer I drank :)

On Sunday ptc24 and I went to mobbsy's for games, initially Siedler which by some miracle I'd accidentally managed to avoid playing for all the years people were addicted to it en masse. (It's fun; I can see how you might get bored of it after a while, although I'd like to have another couple of games.) Then beckyc turned up and we played Lord of the Rings top trumps and the strange collaborative LotR board game thing and ate loads of chocolate and Monster Munch. Quite successful all round I think.



milchi showed up on Wednesday to have a brief break from his jet-setting conference lifestyle in Cambridge. Well, apart from the conference he went off to on Thursday, that is. :) I'm afraid being at work during the week and preoccupied in other ways for most of the weekend meant that I probably didn't have enough time to be properly hospitable (and I thought there might be a problem with somebody staying for a week, but my housemates all seemed OK with it). I hope he enjoyed his stay anyway.

On Saturday we went to beckyc's barbecue, which was great, and not the first veggie barbecue I've been to so the food wasn't too unexpected. I sat on the sidelines while the local Go beginners played a few games (must learn that game properly sometime rather than just learning the rules and forgetting about it), watched Red Dwarf after we got bored of music videos, and had an unexpected chance to talk to naath for a while who'd managed to escape from her family for the weekend.

milchi got back from visiting terryfish on Sunday evening, and a group of us went to a pub called the Red House, which is fantastic if you're looking for food. None of us have yet found anything that wasn't cooked gorgeously (the best nunfetishist could do was "there's a slightly poor crease in this napkin"). I was far too tired to enjoy it properly, so I think I'll drag my parents out there on Wednesday for a second go.

All in all the best weekend I've had for quite a while, although like all the best holidays I need another one to recover now. :)


I think that's more or less up to date. Poke me with sharp pointy things if I get this far behind again.