News Archives: April 2006

Friday, April 28, 2006

Gardening Again, Party Again

The gardening party on Monday isn't going to happen. More people can make it on Friday 12th May, so we're doing it then instead. Thanks to those who did offer to come over - it is appreciated!

So, yes, I'll spend my actual birthday working hard in the garden. There's worse ways to mark the day, and there should be enough friends and bottles of wine to make the evening special. I'm kind of looking forward to it.

The 13th is the party proper. There's been some suggestion of people turning up early to help prepare for that. Don't let me discourage such kindness, but I'm not sure if there'll be much to do! Claire will probably think of something, though...

The idea of a themed party has been suggested - specifically Sandman. I'd get to wear my swishy coat and a ribbon in my hair, although I am a bit tanned for the Dream King. Claire gets to play Delerium, which needs little encouragement. Costumes would be welcome, but by no means compulsary. If you want to dress up, most costumes can be justified anyway - Sandman covers a lot of ground. The theme might also spill out into food and drinks, etc. Also possibly into a game or event.

So would people like a themed party? Ideas for costumes (for yourself or others) and games/names for drinks/etc.? Post 'em all on livejournal.

Posted by graham @ 09:54 am

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Kinda Depressed, Really

Unless I get a better offer in the next few days, it looks like I'll see in my 34th birthday employed as an office cleaner. Kinda depressing, especially when media and government types keep talking about how much demand there is for people with my technical skills. Still, I need the money, and a crap job is way better than the alternative.

My mood isn't being helped by the odd friend who doesn't bother answering e-mails, or snubs me on party invites, or whatever. Always good to feel valued. Spending days alone in the house can lead to feelings of isolation anyway, without such behaviour.

Still, many of my friends are the decent sort, some of whom I will see at the game tonight. So maybe I should focus more on the positives.

Posted by graham @ 02:26 pm

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Gardening on Monday?

It has been suggested that a gardening party should be organised for the bank holiday Monday. For the uninitiated, this means that various insane friends invite themselves round, and do whatever gardening jobs we can think up. In return, we provide food afterwards - normally something like pizza or chilli - and give lifts as needed.

So, if we do this, would you turn up? I need an idea of numbers - e-mail or comments are fine.

Posted by graham @ 06:21 pm

Monday, April 24, 2006

Gardening Weekend

A quiet weekend this time. There was some talk of a board game evening, but nothing came of it. Instead, Claire and I did much gardening, and are well ahead of the game. There's even a chance we'll get the long awaited veg plot in before my birthday. Having said that, any of our insane friends who really feel the need to do gardening would be very welcome to invite themselves round.

Other than that, Claire's parents dropped in on their way back from some bike meet, and we watched a bit of telly. Finally a decent script for David Tennant's Doctor! How disappointing that a predictable story looks good compared to recent offerings... At least next week we get Tony Head and the return of the finest companion ever.

Posted by graham @ 02:50 pm

Friday, April 21, 2006

Comments Go Bye-Bye

A few people might have noticed that posting comments on my main site is currently disabled. Basically I got feed up deleting comment spam. I'll turn stuff back on when I find a way to stop this Google inspired insanity.

In the meantime, please post comments on the livejournal.com mirror - linked on the left of the screen. Anonymous comments are welcome.

Posted by graham @ 04:47 pm

What makes a good board game?

Years ago, there was a board game based on Cthulhu called Arkham Horror. At the time I kinda wanted to play it, but never got round to buying a copy, and neither did anyone I knew. The game went out of print, and copies turned up on ebay, but only at prices that I couldn't justify spending. Until eventually someone brought a natty new version, which a friend did buy. So last Friday I got to play this game that I've been meaning to play for years, possibly decades. Unfortunately, it isn't terribly good.

Disappointment aside, it did get me wondering what makes a good board game, and whether there's mileage to be made out of Arkham Horror's mistakes.

Too slow. Last Friday this was an advantage, as there were people around who weren't playing, so the long wait for your turn could be spent socialising. (Not that many people did, but I did...) In general having long periods of nothing to do punctuated with "roll three dice, that's you done, wake up in another ten minutes..." isn't much fun.

No strategy. Arkham Horror's opposition is entirely random. Not even simple random, but "draw X cards from Y different large piles" random. That doesn't leave much room for anything but very simple strategies.

Simplistic tactics. Equally, Arkham Horror has basically three choices you might be able to make each turn. Power up, kill monster, close gate. Sometimes only one or two of those are available to a given player. If you're really lucky you might get a choice as to which power up to go for, or which monster to kill. In general, though you react to the random event that's just hit you. Not much thinking needed.

Evoking the wrong mood. Cthulhu is creepy, deadly, and sanity busting. Arkham Horror is action monster bashing. For instance on my third turn I killed three cthulhoid monsters. Admittedly I did have a couple of power ups that helped, but that was true of half the players in the game. There were some nice one liners that attempted to capture the right mood, but on the whole the beasties were just way too easy to kill to be at all worrying.

All of which is a shame. There's a good board game to be made out of Cthulhu at some point. Possibly even using many of the gorgeous components from Arkham Horror. But this ain't it.

So, does anyone have any comments? What else can spoil a board game? What makes a board game really good? And given some people seem to be playing Arkham Horror repeatedly, what am I missing?

Posted by graham @ 04:42 pm

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Sudoku Solver

As part of my current efforts to find work, I've been playing with Visual Studio - step one towards gaining Microsoft certified professional status. As part of this, today I wrote a little application that solves Sudoku puzzles. Basically, there's a little grid of boxes that you type the numbers into, then click the button marked "solve", and it does. There's also a facility to only solve the next X steps, so that you can get a hint when stuck, rather than have the whole problem done for you.

I've got some tidying up to do, and the solving algorithm could be more intelligent, but at some point I'll add it as a download from this site. If anyone wants a play before then, drop me an email.

Posted by graham @ 04:36 pm

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Merlin's Apprentice

I meant to watch Merlin's Apprentice, having seen exactly one trailer for it. Never saw another trailer, and didn't realise they'd put something I wanted to watch on at lunchtime on Friday, so I've missed it. Don't suppose anyone recorded it and can lend me the tape?

Posted by graham @ 02:13 pm

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Upcoming Birthday Party

Saturday 13th May I'm going to be celebrating my 34th birthday with a party at our house. Please bring booze, yourself, and friends if you wish. Don't worry about presents. There may be a BBQ, if there's enough interest, but probably not a bonfire. And those who aren't already aware, note that we do have a huge dog and a fat cat, both of whom are likely to be underfoot.

As always, this is an open invite. If you need directions, get in touch. Most people either scrounge a lift or get the train to Linlithgow station from where we'll pick people up.

Posted by graham @ 10:35 am

Thursday, April 6, 2006

Gene Pitney

I've just been washing the dishes, quietly singing "24 Hours from Tulsa" to myself. Gene Pitney wasn't a huge influence on my life, but since reading about his death, I haven't been able to get that track out of my head. He had a knack for writing songs with infectious tunes and a twist to the lyrics that turned them from banal to poignant - in "Tulsa" it's the very last line "When I can never go home again".

Posted by graham @ 08:51 pm

Tuesday, April 4, 2006

Guardian Questionaire

Neil Gaiman posted his answers to the Guardian's questionnaire, which is more interesting for the questions asked than his answers. Anyway, I thought I'd answer them myself - partly because its more interesting than many of the interviews that do the rounds, and partly so if I'm ever famous enough for the Guardian to ask me to do one of these for real, you'll all be able to compare my answers then to my answers now.

THE GUARDIAN Q&A
Please answer a minimum of thirty-five questions, including the first two and last two. Where the question demands a yes or no answer, perhaps you would be kind enough to expand on your response.

1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Chatting with friends. Alcohol may be involved, as may story-telling. Games are useful as a stimulus to conversation, but it's the interaction I love.

2. What is your greatest fear?
Never achieving anything. After I'm gone, I'd like people to be able to point to something and say "at least he did that". So far I'm not sure I've managed that.

3. Which living person do you most admire and why?
No-one specific springs to mind. In general I admire anyone creative, anyone tolerant and forgiving, and anyone who makes sacrifices to improve the world for others. Thankfully, there's still a lot of people who fit some or all of those categories.

4. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
That I'm completely incapable of managing money.

5. What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Lack of empathy. There's many deplorable traits - violence, bigotry, selfishness, greed, etc. - but most of them come down to someone being unable to imagine the effects of their actions on others.

6. What has been your most embarrassing moment?
Visiting friends, drinking way too much, and being very, very ill. I haven't drunk nearly so much since.

7. What vehicles do you own?
Nissan Almeira.

8. What is your greatest extravagance?
Music. I can spend fortunes on CDs and vinyl.

9. What is your most treasured possession?
Items which connect to memories and people. My wedding ring, my Grandad's grandfather clock, one of Tara's baby teeth. There's many more.

10. Where would you like to live?
Halfway up a Scottish hill side, surrounded by fields and woods, within half an hour of Edinburgh. Not sure that such a place exists...

11. What makes you depressed?
Lack of money. Lack of achievement. Big business. Rudeness. Politics.

12. What do you most dislike about your appearance?
My nose is far too big. I'm too old to care much these days, but when I was younger I was a bit sensitive about it.

13. Who would play you in a movie of your life?
Alan Rickman, if he weren't considerably older than me...

14. What is your most unappealing habit?
You'd have to ask Claire. I suspect making bad jokes, pedantry, and telling the same anecdotes over and over are high on her list.

15. What is your favourite smell?
I don't really have a "favourite" anything. I've always been confused by the ability to point to any one member of a class and say that this is somehow "better" than all others. So the next three questions get sort of vague answers...

There are lots of smells I like, mainly food oriented - whiskey, curry, fresh bread. I tend to be less keen on the flowery scents, and positively dislike most perfumes. And although I love animals, the smells associated with them tend to be uniformly horrible.

16. What is your favourite word?
I love underdog words. Words that people tend to misuse. "Confirm" when they mean "tell". "Meme". "Can" and "will". I also love words with very precise definitions that aren't usable every day. "Corollary". "Tautology". "Taxonomy". "Onomatopoeia".

17. What is your favourite book?
Best book I've read recently is "The Book of the Short Sun" by Gene Wolfe, although I still need to track down the final volume.

18. What is your fancy dress costume of choice?
Anything with a swishy cloak.

19. Radiator or air conditioning?
I live in Scotland, so air conditioning is rarely needed. But if pushed I'd rather be too cold than too hot. I can always put on a sweater, whereas people would get upset if I ran around naked...

20. Cat or dog?
I have one of each, which should be sufficient answer. I've never understood the whole cat people vs. dog people thing.

21. Is it better to give or to receive?
It is better to give, but not necessarily as much fun.

22. What is your guiltiest pleasure?
Vinyl. Records are so pricey these days, and inconvenient, but have a resonance that CDs lack.

24. To whom would you most like to say sorry and why?
I suspect I owe an apology of some sort to just about everyone I've ever met.

25. What or who is the greatest love of your life?
Claire, my wife. I live in fear of the day she realises she's far too good for me.

26. Which living person do you most despise and why?
Everyone who appeals to some religious overlord to justify their own evil impulses. That list includes Blair, Bush, and bin Laden.

27. Have you ever said "I love you" without meaning it?
No. I'm pretty sure I always thought I meant it at the time.

28. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
"Anyway", "Erm" - anything that allows me to keep talking while I think of something interesting to say.

29. What has been your biggest disappointment?
Reaching 34 childless. Life's never come together to have room for children.

30. What is your greatest regret?
I don't really believe in regrets. Life is so complicated that one different choice can radically change where you end up. While I'm not sure many of my choices were the best, changing them might have meant I wouldn't be where I am now. There's always little things, but why dwell on them?

31. When and where were you happiest?
My wedding day was good. Not just the marriage, but just then life seemed to all be going as I wanted.

32. When did you last cry, and why?
I don't remember. I rarely cry - even if very upset.

33. How do you relax?
Reading, listening to music, listening to old radio comedies, watching telly, chatting to friends, gaming. Pretty much the same as everyone else...

(34 & 35 missing in the original. Maybe Neil didn't feel like answering them?)

36. What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
More money. Not necessarily winning the lottery, but enough that I don't need to budget so carefully.

37. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
At the moment, putting up with moderating the Glorantha Digest for five years seems up there.

38. What keeps you awake at night?
I wish I knew, then I might sleep better.

39. What song would you like played at your funeral?
Something soft, mellow, and that no one present has ever heard before.

40. How would you like to be remembered?
As creative, friendly, and tolerant.

41. What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Friends and family are the key to happiness.

Posted by graham @ 08:55 pm

Back in the Blog

A couple of people have recently been nagging that I haven't been posting. While lots has been happening, there's little I've felt like writing about. April is looking better so far, so more blogging from now on.

Anyway, my birthday is coming up soon. I'll be organising some sort of party on Saturday 13th May. No idea what, but you might want to mark the date in your diary.

Around this point of the year, various family members start asking, "What do you want for your birthday?" Normally the list includes a long list of CDs and books. Over the past couple of years I've worked through various recommendations people have made, but there's not many left on the list. So, would anyone like to recommend any good books or CDs? There should be a link to make comments around here somewhere...

Posted by graham @ 01:51 pm

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