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Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
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5:53 pm
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I don't usually repost links. For one thing, the people I repost them from usually will have got the majority of my readers. Nonetheless, I think that the following is worth breaking my prohibition on: Facts about Drugs.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Monday, November 9th, 2009
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5:20 pm
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My monitor has developed an intermittent cyan line across itself. I am not best pleased. I wonder what causes it.
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, October 25th, 2009
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8:13 pm
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If anyone discovers that they have one handy and don't know what to do with it, I'd love to have an invite for Google Wave. (He said, having missed a second person who was distributing them on LJ)
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(comment on this)
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7:49 pm
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When travelling abroad, the bit which I find most frustrating is waiting for the bus home from the airport. Having experienced the regimented efficiency of the train system abroad, and flown across the world (well, the channel) on silver wings, the wait for Schrödinger's bus is a highly irritating let-down.
Which is to say I'm safely back from Essen, with a small ton of games[1], distributed my prototypes to interested recipients[2], a somewhat higher sleep deficit than what I went out with and have generally hand a pretty good time.
I didn't find many spooky games for my games day, admittedly. I'm inclined to ditch the spooky theme and change it to 'things from Essen I want to bounce about'. It'll probably end up being the latter anyway ;)
Now all I need to do is to get my house into order with all the new stuff I've *ahem* discovered at Spiel. *bounce*.
[1] Over 20kgs, although this was probably skewed by the box of poker chips
[2] Or at least recipients who did a reasonable job of looking interested
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Monday, October 19th, 2009
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7:19 pm - Board Games Day - Sat 31st October - Spookiness
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To celebrate Halloween, my next board games day will be on Saturday 31st October. Admittedly, I don't have all that many spooky games, but my trip to Essen this coming weekend may sort that out somewhat (and there's always my prototype Zombie game, which I'll have completely revamped. Or rezombied. Braaaaiiiinnnnns!!!
The event is from middayish to late, in my house in Windsor[2]. You're welcome to arrive earlier or stay later if you give me some advanced warning[3] . Indeed, RSVPs in general are encouraged so I know whom to expect for catering purposes. This month I will be cooking something with paprika.
For those of you who plan further in advance, and so are unable to make this because of clashes, the next games event will be on the 16th January. Sorry for the long gap, but I suspect people will be having too much Christmas fun before that to make a games thing viable. Put it your diary now ;).
[1] Such as Settlers, Carcassonne, Age of Steam, etc. If you don't possess many or indeed any such games, don't worry as I have a sizeable collection. Enough that I make up silly themes to guide choices, although people wishing to ignore the theme entirely are welcome to do so.
[2] Directions to my house available on request. Or, if you're feeling shy, in previous posts. Directions to Windsor available on any good UK map.
[3] You'll still be welcome without advanced notice, but you may find me a mite less prepared.
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(comment on this)
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| Saturday, October 3rd, 2009
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1:35 pm
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| Monday, September 28th, 2009
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9:08 am
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My game 'Pirate' has turned a corner, and finally seems to be developping in the right direction. So much so that I'm trying to give some of the cards vaguely thematic names.
One particular series is a set of cards which I would like to be documents - "Declaration of War" and "The Black Spot" and "Trade Agreement" and the like. I can't think of enough appropriate nautical documents. Particularly not piratical ones, illiterate beings that they are. You can only go so far with variants on 'Treasure Map'...
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(17 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, September 27th, 2009
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12:19 am
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Nice weekend so far. The excess of work stuff got mostly completed on Friday, ending the stressful week with too much to do. Thence on to playtesting, where Genial mostly worked - albeit subject to revisions, retheming and possibly a completely redefined scoring scheme. Saturday I got some exercise through the Black Park Time Trial - although I died at 2.75k in expected fashion due to running normal pace without allowing for last weekend's illness. I then went up to the Magic prerelease where I bumped into nice people, built an expectedly unexceptional deck and unexpectedly managed a really useful playtest of Pirate. Coming back home, I've been watching Police Story 2 while eating dried pineapple rings. And what's more, there's all of Sunday left :)
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009
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9:39 am
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The job which I've been running all over the bank holiday weekend up to now turns out to have a mistake which makes all the results useless.
current mood:  embarrassed
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, September 1st, 2009
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8:03 am - Sippets of thought
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- I've got a new icon which actually shows me. Not quite sure how much I like it, most likely due to generally not liking myself in photos. We'll see how it pans out.
- I think next weekend's game's day is going to end up being a relatively small one, but still viable. If you're planning on coming but haven't told me, I'd appreciate your doing so, so I can feel reassured. Or, indeed, if you're unsure about coming on not ;).
- Misery Bubblegum is *really* cute.
- I'm kind of floating between games designs at the moment, not feeling an urgent need to advance any of them. Feels a bit odd, to be honest.
- Am currently procrastinating about training for the Windsor half marathon. Why did I sign myself up for this?
- Sleepy
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(5 comments | comment on this)
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| Saturday, August 22nd, 2009
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8:31 pm
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| Thursday, August 20th, 2009
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5:16 pm
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Wow. Paprika and rosemary came a lot higher in my condiments poll than I was expecting. What on earth do you use them for? The uses I know are 'making things a bit spicy' for paprika, and 'stick onto lamb' for rosemary, but that doesn't really seem sufficient to make them essential desert island foodstuffs.
Lime was also a bit unexpectedly high. Were you treating it as lime-the-green-round-fruit or lime-the-leaves. I've never used the latter - maybe I should.
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(22 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
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8:09 pm - Desert Island Spices
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Poll #1445550 Desert Island Spices
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 32If I was going to a desert island, and could only take ten condiments with me, I would take... ...
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(11 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, August 13th, 2009
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9:29 pm - Board Games Day - Sat 5th September - Games with Expansions
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As previously announced, my next board games day will be on Saturday 5th September, and the notional theme I've picked for it is Games With Expansions. Because they must be better than games without expansions, right? ;)
The event is from midday to late, in my house in Windsor[2]. You're welcome to arrive earlier or stay later if you give me some advanced warning[3] (particularly as staying later involves provision of crash-space). Indeed, RSVPs in general are encouraged so I know whom to expect for catering purposes.
For those of you who plan further in advance, and so are unable to make this because of clashes, the next games event will be on the 31st October (probably with a suitably spooky theme). Put it your diary now ;).
[1] Such as Settlers, Carcassonne, Age of Steam, etc. If you don't possess many or indeed any such games, don't worry as I have a sizeable collection. Enough that I make up silly themes to guide choices, although people wishing to ignore the theme entirely are welcome to do so.
[2] Directions to my house available on request. Or, if you're feeling shy, in previous posts. Directions to Windsor available on any good UK map.
[3] You'll still be welcome without advanced notice, but you may find me a mite less prepared.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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9:11 pm
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I am back from a walking holiday in the Austrian Alps. Despite the concerns others had voiced, the trip did not diminish my childhood memories of the place, replacing sparkling memories with dull reality. Instead, the world there remained was lush and green, smelling of pine and wet grass and unplanned flowers. The morning haze was burnt away by glorious sunlight to leave blue skies were peppered with fluffy clouds. When it rained, the sky turned grey and covered the world, and sonorous thunder rumbled around the mountains. Clear nights gave sheer blackness, pinpricked with glittering stars except where absences told you clouds or peaks blocked their light.
I close my eyes now, and what I see makes my heart sing. In my mind's eye, I'm still dancing in the mountains.
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, July 30th, 2009
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5:20 pm
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Things that have made me happy recently:
* Google Wave. It looks as if it'll actually work and be good. My one area of concern is how it's planning to deal with spam - we will, as they say, see.
* Waiting for Godot. I alternate between enthusiasm for the narrative structure of the play, and conviction that only the quality of the acting in any way redeemed it's faults. But somehow the cards that by all rights should have collapsed into a heap, created a gloriously layered structure of joy. Even if I didn't get the wedding I was promised.
* Responses. I have had a response from one of the publishers I submitted a game to. Only the rest to go, then.
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(comment on this)
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| Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
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8:15 am
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I've been struck by the following thought: "Of course I should use an electric toothbrush to polish my shoes."
I am now trying to work out whether it is a good, kindly thought, or the road to ruin - of the shoes, toothbrush, or both. Would you use one?
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(12 comments | comment on this)
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| Saturday, July 18th, 2009
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1:08 pm
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Today I took part in the inaugural Park Run in Black Park. I've taken part in park run a number of times over the past few year, and am a fan of the concept.
Each is a timed 5km run which takes place at 9:00 on Saturday morning (except for Glasgow, who evidently get up half an hour later). They're timed well to get yourself started over the weekend, without getting in the way of other events, you get a mix of abilities which means that you'll usually have someone around you which helps you keep going, and since the course is the same you can measure your improvement as time progresses. Or lack thereof - I feel I've been generally backing away from my goal of completion in under 20 minutes rather than advancing toward it.
If you're close to one, and quite like running, I'd encourage you to give it a go. They're fun.
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, July 5th, 2009
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8:32 pm
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Have had nice weekend. The board games thing was sparsely attended[1], but the three people who attended were sufficiently high quality that that didn't seem to matter. Admittedly, the fact that they were some of my alpha testers meant that the American theme devolved into prototyping on more than one occasion, but was none the worse for that.
(Sophie was an additional guest for parts of the day, and helped prepare by baking a cake and arranging the vegetables. She was another reason why the American theme was dropped on occasion - while I have American games, and games that are suitable for three and a half years olds, the selection doesn't overlap hugely. She already seems to have picked up on the concept of picking on 'dillo when playing - I'm not sure whether to blame her daddy (who uses it as a strategy, though denies having taught her) or be impressed at her astuteness. It usually takes people much longer to catch on to this.)
Am currently feeling rather apathetic and tired. And procrastinating about tidying up properly. Not least because the recent acquisition of a couple of games means that, once again, my games collection exceeds my shelf space. I need more shelves and a bigger flat. Evidently.
[1] People surprisingly being busy doing other stuff during the balmy summer months. Or possibly just being too hot to move.
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(11 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, June 16th, 2009
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9:55 pm - Board Games Day - Sat 4th July - America!
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The 4th July approaches, and with it I'm holding a board games day[1] for games themed around America. The event is from midday to late, in my house in Windsor[2]. You're welcome to arrive earlier or stay later if you give me some advanced warning[3] (particularly as staying later involves provision of crash-space). Indeed, RSVPs in general are encouraged so I know whom to expect for catering purposes.
For those of you who plan further in advance, and so are unable to make this because of clashes, the next games event will be on the 5th of September, and the one thereafter will be on the 31st October (probably with a suitably spooky theme). Put them in your diaries now ;).
[1] Such as Settlers, Carcassonne, Age of Steam, etc. If you don't possess many or indeed any such games, don't worry as I have a sizeable collection. Enough that I make up silly themes to guide choices, although people wishing to ignore the theme entirely are welcome to do so.
[2] Directions to my house available on request. Or, if you're feeling shy, in previous posts. Directions to Windsor available on any good UK map.
[3] You'll still be welcome without advanced notice, but you may find me a mite less prepared.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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