Vox Clamantis in Deserto

 ...is what I'm enjoying as I write this; warming up from my artic voyage to the vegie market.

I'm glad it's a long weekend (thanks Queenie) as I plan to do nothing much at all today. Tams and I went to a '90s party last night (yes these things exist now) and we both gothed it up large. There will be photos circulating on Facebook somewhere. Me and eyeliner - not pretty!

Sadly the combination of the party and some dodgy dinner has amplified Tam's cold and she isn't doing to well, so I'm also fussing like a mum to make sure she gets better. I think there will be a lot of sitting around today, as it's too cold to go anywhere (supposedly it's snowing in parts of Karori!). I've got some more of Battlestar Galatica to get through, so I should be kept out of trouble.

Now to sort out my pie for lunch - yum yum.

Thanks to two weddings in Auckland, jobs interviews, stress at work and running a game, I'm sad to say I've failed in this month's painting challenge. My bad. Mea culpa.

I'm sure I must own Mark a bottle of spirits for this, so that bottle will be waiting for him when next we meet.

I'll finish off my Terminators this month along with my new unit. Sucks to be me!

Last night saw the first game in my Call of Cthulhu gaslight campaign for our brave Thursday night group. I think it went pretty well considering I haven't run a game in so long, but have a couple of areas I need to work on and some props to prepare for the next session.

I forget how easily players can bulldoze through parts of your plot unintentionally by just going about things in a slightly different way to how you expect, but there was nothing that cropped up that I couldn't handle and it'll be something I'll be more aware of for the future. I also need to remember to be a little more descriptive when describing things as although I have the scenes mapped out in my minds, I have to ensure my players have a clear idea too.

I'm starting the campaign as a 'low-burn' affair, as I think few things turn players off Cthulhu more than too much madness and terror too early. I feel a lot of GMs think they need to layer on the madness early on, but I personally think it's a lot more effective to let your players worry about what might be goihg on for a while first before you reveal too much.

I'm also a fan of using the game as a medium to tell a story, so that's what I'm trying to do with this campaign. I don't get any more kicks in killing of the party and driving the characters mad then the players do. However as we leave the players in the an underground burial site (now empty), in the middle of a crime scene, in the middle of the English countryside, I'm sure they'll be fine.

In other news, I'm off to Auckland for another wedding this weekend. It comes on top of a pretty crazy month, but it'll be nice to see John and Elaine tie the knot. Just need to finish doing a billion things before hand!

After a weekend of some excess, I've been feeling a little peaky today. Skipped out on ultimate tonight (which I feel guilty for), so just at home with a serious case of the mehs. Had a really awful sleep last night. For some reason I had the Headless Chicken's Mr Moon stuck in my head for hours, so couldn't quiet drift off.

The weekend was good but went way too quick. Spent Friday painting before the Beer Fest on Saturday. Despite the terrible weather, I had a pretty good time. I think it would have been really awesome if the weather had been better, but it was great to hang out with the lads. Next year should be awesome. I didn't take photos myself, but these ones from the Epic Beer guys show you how wet it was. Truly, truly wet.

Hung out with Mike and Roy for part of the evening before catching up with an old Auckland mate who was down. Got home late, but not too drunk, so my hangover wasn't too bad. Sunday was spent trying to feel better.

Off to Auckland on Thursday night for Tamara's brother's wedding this weekend. It'll be good to see her, but work is still pretty busy and I've got heaps of other stuff to do. Oh well, should stop my whinging and get on with it then.

Here is my completed Space Marine Commander for this month's painting challenge. It's the first time I've finished before Mark, but it wasn't an entirely even contest.

I know he's not based yet, but I'll hopefully do that later tonight, as right now I'm off to the Beerfest, and nothing gets in the way of Andy and a Beerfest!

Apologies again about the crappy picture quality. Once I get my digital camera back, I'll do some better ones.

Have a good week my peeps. You are all beautiful and unique snowflakes...

I've just come back from two days of geekery at the Webstock conference. All in all it was a really good experience. A really slick operation, with a lot of attention to detail.

The speakers ranged from amazing to kind of weak, but I certainly feel I got my money's worth. It was a lot more high level and conceptual than I was anticipating, but that wasn't a bad thing at all.

Will write some more later, but still feeling the effects of the after-party at the moment.

Does anyone feel like going to the The New Zealand Beer Festival here in Wellington on the 28th February?

It looks like a day of eating, listening to music and sampling nice beers from around the country. Frankly right now I can't think of anything better...

Life sucks sometime.

Too much work to do; not enough time to do it in. Horrible words like 'restructuring' and 'budget cuts' being bandied around at work.

Missing Tamara and my folks. A lot.

My eyes are sore. It feels like they've got sawdust in them [that's because you didn't take your hay fever tablet this morning dumb arse!]

But I guess all is not lost. Thursday and Friday I'm away at a conference, and had an awesome workshop yesterday.

I probably just need some more sleep.

Finally got my webcam and sorted some photos of my Landspeeder. Not the greatest, but will hopefully do for the short term:





Also popped some photos of my Gisborne trip (which was great) on Flickr if you're interested!

...like really hot. Sunday is predicted to be above 30 degrees, which will bloody kill me. Oh well, at least I'm staying across the road from the beach.

Gizzy is a pretty nice little down. There is river running through the middle of it and a big, grid like city centre. It feels like the Hamilton of my early youth about 20 years ago, so it's a little surreal walking around. There are a few interesting shops and building.

It's really great to see Tamara and everyone has been really nice here. I better go, 'cause I'm using the free internet at the library and people are waiting. Back to the beach!

I managed to get my land speeder finished for this month's installment of the 'Hard Man Painting Challenge' without too much trouble (even though I have been pretty lazy).

The problem is that my camera is with Tams in Gizzy. I went out to purchase a shitty webcam to use as a proxy, but couldn't find one cheap enough. I'll keep an eye out on trademe where I should be able to pick one up for not much and will post photos when I get it.

There are more things I need to write about, but I might do that tomorrow when I'm feeling more into it.

Loads has happened since my last substantive entry. Christmas, New Year's Eve, back to work, Tamara leaving and Kapcon, to name but a few. I'm not going to bore you all with the details, so I figure I'll just write and see what happens. Sound good to you?
( Sure does! )

So Tamara's midday flight to Gisborne has been canceled, which means she's been bumped to the 3:40 pm flight. Of course, we find this out once we've arrived at the airport (thanks AirNZ), so it looks like we'll be spending most of our Sunday afternoon here. At least they have free wifi if nothing else.

Yay...

Edit: 1.50 pm and still here. At least I'm stealing Wellington's airport power to charge my battery. Overcharge me for shitty food will you!

In a repeat of last month, by pulling out all the stops today I managed to get my scout squad finished for month two of the 'Hard Man Painting Challenge':



( Click here to reveal more scout MADNESS )

Question the first: Who's going to be around Hams over Christmas? If there are sufficent numbers we should look into some kind of shin-digary.

Question the second: Should I consider going to KapCon early next year? Are any of you going? I've never been to one before, and since it's the first weekend Tams will be away, I thought it might be useful distraction. I generally dislike roleplaying with people I don't know, but if there is a group of us, I might consider it.

ANSWER MY QUESTIONS TWO!

Although it was a close run thing, I managed to get my first squad completed in the 'Hard Man Painting Challenge':



( More photos behind the cut )

Obama wins the election and I win the floor's Melbourne Cup sweepstake gaining myself twenty four dollars. Not comparable events, but even so, today is a good day.

Congrats America, for not fucking things up again. Now if only we can be trusted not to fuck things up here...