Have had quite a lovely weekend, despite not getting nearly enough work done.

L (sister) arrived Thursday evening, I went into town with Hyper to meet her on her way from the airport. Stopped for a drink at a bar I like. Dawdled too long and were late to the station :( oops. Then stopped at another bar I like for another drink and beginnings of a catchup. Finally made our way home.

Good Friday I worked, but then home to meet L and then into town to meet Loud and her boy (The Comic) for dinner. We had Indian in Chinatown. They had a really good Madrass fish curry. Afterward we went and caught some Improv COmedy - it was ok, but not as good as I've seen at The Comedy Lounge.

Saturday we went for yumcha in the morning (again, me and L and Loud and Comic), then off to work for me :(

Yesterday we had a lovely brunch with bloody mary's. Fleur and Neiman came over and Lain and Knitter and Cad and Dot and Lampo and Nora and another of Loud's cousins. We had eggs and bacon and shrooms and onions on the bbq, croissants and hot cross buns in the oven, peach trifle and hand-made chocolates with chilli and nano-dinosaurs from Fleur and Neiman. L also organized an Easter Egg hunt afterward, with funky little prizes (I got giraffe shower gel and tissues with superheroes on them and there was also weird rude gum and cute strange pens and a silvery little compact and other things I'm not remembering right now) and games and lots and lots of chocolate eggs. Suspect there may still be a few left in the garden. Despite inventive and persistent cheating Lain and I managed to lose the 3-legged egg-and-spoon race up the street. Fortunately I let Neiman substitute for me in the no-hands-hot-cross-bun-eating from the Hills Hoist. He won quite handily. Was quite a lovely day, and we ended up joining L and her friend Fenella at an attractive pub I'd been meaning to check out for a while. Was quite trashed by the time I made it to bed.
1:17:00 AM

 
-sigh- soooo much work to do over this "break". wonder how much i'll manage to get done?
4:14:00 PM

 
Falling behind in reading, but just finished The Double Helix : A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA by James Watson. Quite readable. Enjoyed it.
3:30:00 PM

 
Hrm. Week quite boring I think. Tried to be hard working, etc. Even avoided meeting friends for dinner Friday night. Saturday worked. Sat night I caved and went to dinner with Loud and her cuz and some of their lovely friends. Afterward went to a housewarming with Haclev. Home by midnight though. Talked to funny drunk girls on tram. Was good.

Really not a lot happening. Work is seriously infringing on my life.
11:09:00 PM

 
*Good* housewarming Fri night. Feel a bit guilty for possibly neglecting some of my friends who may not know many of my other friends. But had a great time. Met lots of people. Inappropriately snogged a 19 year old (didn't know at time). Beautiful sunny day on Saturday. Managed to do some after party cleaning. Didn't get proper sleep till 4pm Saturday. Got up at 7 and mopped floors. Then went for excellent Thai Green Chicken Curry (really good). Then housewarming drinks for Xena and Dolly's new housemate. Had to pike at 11ish though for more sleep.

Sunday morning we did a bit more cleaning - major vacuum effort. Then managed to actually do some work all arvo. Got invited to dinner by Haclev. Met an old boss of his who owns the restaurant he waitroned at for a bit. Had a good talk about life the universe, etc. Suspect H may have trotted me out to impress the grownups - he's still a bit overly impressed with me. Good food. And think the grownups liked me well enough.

Then out for a boogie with Lain and Ellen and Della and Lyssa and co (two visiting Nederlanders). The act we were actually intending to see weren't on till 3:30am. And I was mainly there cos I hadn't been for a dance for a while, particularly with that crew, so I didn't mind (too much) piking at 3am. Home and in bed by 4.


Very very difficult getting up this morning. But here now, and feeling alright.
6:18:00 PM

 
"Go Em, Go Em" (*does the cabbage patch dance*)
6:33:00 PM

 
From http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/6113/t100256.txt
Books I should read bolded

----======= THE INTERNET TOP 100 SF/FANTASY LIST =======----

Edition Number 256 6th July 2003

=====================================================
Pos | Title | Type | Author/Editor | Score | (Votes)
=====================================================
1 A Song of Ice and Fire S George R. Martin 8.97 (231)
2 Lord of the Rings J.R.R. Tolkien 8.92 (1428)
3 The Vorkosigan Series S Lois M. Bujold 8.69 (142)
4 Ender's Game S1 Orson Scott Card 8.67 (1156)
5 The Wiedzmin Stories FS A. Sapkowski 8.56 (41)
{learn Polish}
6 Dune. S1 Frank Herbert 8.44 (1177)
7 The Discworld Series S Terry Pratchett 8.43 (158)
8 Roadside Picnic A & B Strugatski 8.39 (87)
9 Hard to be a God A & B Strugatski 8.37 (37)
10 The Hyperion Cantos S Dan Simmons 8.36 (561)
11 The Lions of Al-Rassan Guy G. Kay 8.35 (134)
12 Tigana Guy G. Kay 8.35 (310)
13 Beetle in the Anthill A & B Strugatski 8.33 (23)
14 A Fire Upon the Deep Vernor Vinge 8.30 (358)
15 Palindor S1 D.R. Evans 8.30 (31)
16 Armor. John Steakley 8.29 (52)
17 Deathbird Stories C Harlan Ellison 8.29 (21)
18 The Dragon Never Sleeps Glen Cook 8.28 (24)
19 Replay. Ken Grimwood 8.28 (65)
20 Bridge of Birds S1 Barry Hughart 8.28 (97)
21 Flowers for Algernon Daniel Keyes 8.27 (241)
22 The Stars my Destination Alfred Bester 8.27 (297)
23 The Nine Billion Names of God C Arthur C. Clarke 8.25 (42)
24 Tales of the Continuing Time S Daniel Keys Moran 8.25 (76)
25 The Moon is a Harsh Mistress Robert A. Heinlein 8.24 (522)
26 The Deed of Paksennarion S Elizabeth Moon 8.23 (71)
27 The Hobbit J.R.R. Tolkien 8.23 (871)
28 Fiasco Stanislaw Lem 8.22 (26)
29 Lord of Light Roger Zelazny 8.21 (304)
30 By the Sword Mercedes Lackey 8.20 (35)
31 The Coldfire Trilogy S C.S. Friedman 8.20 (67)
32 The Blue Sword Robin McKinley 8.19 (49)
33 The Best of Cordwainer Smith C Cordwainer Smith 8.18 (38)
34 The Once and Future King T.H. White 8.18 (124)
35 The Annals of the Black Company S Glen Cook 8.18 (149)
36 The Hero and the Crown Robin McKinley 8.17 (39)
37 The Farseer Trilogy S Robin Hobb 8.17 (74)
38 The First Chronicles of Amber S Roger Zelazny 8.16 (468)
39 Snow Crash Neal Stephenson 8.15 (366)
40 Doors of his Face, Lamps of his Mouth C Roger Zelazny 8.15 (47)
41 The Princess Bride William Goldman 8.15 (141)
42 Watership Down Richard Adams 8.14 (183)
43 1984 George Orwell 8.14 (493)
44 The Cyberiad Stanislaw Lem 8.14 (103)
45 The Invincible Stanislaw Lem 8.14 (31)
46 Persistence of Vision C John Varley 8.13 (57)
47 The Island of Doctor Death and ... C Gene Wolfe 8.12 (16)
48 Quarantine Greg Egan 8.12 (49)
49 The Demolished Man Alfred Bester 8.12 (266)
50 Soldier of the Mist S1 Gene Wolfe 8.12 (25)
51 Legend. S1 David Gemmell 8.12 (50)
52 True Names Vernor Vinge 8.12 (77)
{Must find!}
53 God Stalk S1 P.C. Hodgell 8.10 (24)
54 Memory, Sorrow and Thorn S Tad Williams 8.10 (205)
55 The Foundation Trilogy S Isaac Asimov 8.09 (837)
56 Norstrilia Cordwainer Smith 8.09 (67)
57 The Honor Harrington Series S David Weber 8.07 (50)
58 Vlad the Assassin Series S Steven Brust 8.07 (133)
59 Green Hills of Earth C Robert A. Heinlein 8.07 (77)
60 Player of Games Iain M. Banks 8.07 (185)
61 A Deepness in the Sky Vernor Vinge 8.07 (38)
62 The Anubis Gates Tim Powers 8.07 (186)
63 The Book of the New Sun S Gene Wolfe 8.07 (246)
64 Raising the Stones Sheri S. Tepper 8.06 (30)
65 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe S1 C.S. Lewis 8.06 (320)
66 Tea with the Black Dragon R.A. MacAvoy 8.05 (58)
67 Stone of Tears S2 Terry Goodkind 8.05 (129)
{um... ok, haven't read ^, but something else by him, and like, EW! might not bother with this one - ick}
68 The Last Unicorn Peter Beagle 8.05 (66)
69 The Chung Kuo Series S David Wingrove 8.05 (30)
70 Startide Rising David Brin 8.05 (455)
71 A Song for Arbonne Guy G. Kay 8.04 (151)
72 Way Station Clifford Simak 8.03 (203)
73 The Tactics of Mistake S2 Gordon Dickson 8.03 (43)
74 A Night in the Lonesome October Roger Zelazny 8.03 (48)
75 The Madness Season C.S. Friedman 8.03 (24)
76 A Wizard of Earthsea S1 Ursula Le Guin 8.03 (419)
77 The Fionavar Tapestry S Guy G. Kay 8.02 (199)
78 A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess 8.02 (137)
79 Ubik Philip K. Dick 8.02 (170)
80 Last Call Tim Powers 8.02 (39)
81 On Stranger Tides Tim Powers 8.02 (45)
82 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy S1 Douglas Adams 8.01 (703)
83 The Crystal Cave S1 Mary Stewart 8.01 (47)
84 Something Wicked this Way Comes Ray Bradbury 8.01 (123)
85 A Canticle for Leibowitz Walter M. Miller 8.01 (366)
86 Futurological Congress Stanislaw Lem 8.01 (64)
87 Against a Dark Background Iain M. Banks 8.00 (60)
88 More than Human Theodore Sturgeon 8.00 (130)
89 Neutron Star C Larry Niven 7.99 (158)
90 Sojourn S3 R.A. Salvatore 7.99 (53)
91 Crystal Express C Bruce Sterling 7.99 (21)
92 Dying Inside Robert Silverberg 7.99 (79)
93 Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut 7.99 (133)
94 The Shadow Rising S4 Robert Jordan 7.98 (539)
95 The Sparrow. S1 Mary D. Russell 7.98 (24)
96 Tides of Light S3 Gregory Benford 7.98 (26)
97 City. C Clifford Simak 7.98 (164)
98 Cugel's Saga S3 Jack Vance 7.98 (25)
99 What Mad Universe? Frederic Brown 7.98 (19)
100 Magic's Pawn S1 Mercedes Lackey 7.98 (77)
=====================================================

{S1} indicates that the book is the 1'st book in a series.
{C} indicates a collection of short stories.
{A} indicates an anthology.
{F} indicates that the book is not available in English.
4:40:00 PM

 
Lain says: how is bold & beautiful household?
Planeterry says: hee - chris just implied he has some goss
Lain says: tell!
Planeterry says: i told you we have french-canadians staying for a couple of nights?
Planeterry says: chris is all happy. he keeps emailing.
Planeterry says:last email:
"What can I say, im doing my little bit for
australian/canadian international relations.
Have a great day."
Planeterry says: heh. such a tart
Lain says: whoot.... your house is such a rockin' home o'love
Planeterry says: love and hate and fashion design - if only i knew more about B&B so i could riff on it
Lain says: *stares out into space/camera for overly long*
Planeterry says: heh yes, must try to inculcate more
*meaningful look*
Planeterry says: *thoughtful silence*
Planeterry says: *nostril flare*
Lain says: *flares*
Planeterry says: *tries to decide whether to imagine lain flaring nostrils or doing breakdance flares*
Planeterry says: *crash lands on desert island, gets amnesia, releases emergency flare, has baby*
Planeterry says: yes. think i want a genre change. we have plenty of missing memory incidents... i think we should add an alien pregnancy
Planeterry says: and mutants
Planeterry says: lots of mutants. can never have enough muties.
Lain says: *pulls off mask to show purple scales*
Lain says: *flares*
Planeterry says: *shivers with happy excitement*
Planeterry says: *drips goo in happy excitement*
Lain says: not enough goo in soap operas
6:46:00 PM

 
Argh! I hate being in the middle of conflict between people. I can see both sides and I'm supposed to mediate? ARGH! The problem with "being Switzerland"? I became Switzerland to avoid getting caught up in this shit!

*frowns and mutters*
...stupid friends ...
*pouts*
10:15:00 PM

 
Meeting yesterday was a bit anticlimactic. Was quite useful for me. Didn't get cut down. And now I'm feeling a bit laidback when I know I have more meetings and reports and workshops coming up that I really should be stressing about!
10:24:00 PM

 
Klutz! Glad I'm not a haemophiliac. Blood everywhere, *again*.
1:21:00 AM

 
Bah - our stupid kitchenette has something wrong with it. There's no hot water and no electricity! Could be a sign to go home.
1:11:00 AM