Dark Alex's Really Long Post Thread.

[Svengoolie 3]

Giant wasps a problem?  Might want to get some heavy duty pain bringing spells for your mages.  Fireball, meteor swarm, lightning,  etc.

[Allhallowsday]

on.

Cool.  Now you get why I have so many more posts than you!  I keep 'em brief.   

[ER]

I just got back up out of bed realizing I owe Dark Alex an apology for my part in taking over his private thread reserved for his thoughts. Bad form. Sorry, Alex!

[Alex]

Giant wasps a problem?  Might want to get some heavy duty pain bringing spells for your mages.  Fireball, meteor swarm, lightning,  etc.

They did have some of these spells available (Kristi has a think for sonic AOE spells in particular and she used these throughout the fight much to Sier Nigel's consternation as he was caught in the blast wave), however for fireball they were painfully aware the part of the castle they were in was constructed of wood, not to mention they had a swirling melee spread out over the length of a 120 foot long room. Several AOE spells were used but they caused damage to the party as well as the opposition. I have been wondering if they are still under equipped for their level, although this is partially their own fault for being unwilling to buy weapons off the only faction that really has magic items to sell, the Red Wizards of Thay. Since they are now at war with the rest of the world, buying stuff from them is however no longer an option. Still, just wait until they get to the lord of the castles private armoury...

[Alex]

I just got back up out of bed realizing I owe Dark Alex an apology for my part in taking over his private thread reserved for his thoughts. Bad form. Sorry, Alex!

I do not own the forum m'dear. If I put my thoughts down here, you are free to gate crash anytime (and indeed are welcome). If I want to keep them private I put them in my private journal, where all my darkest thoughts that are not for public consumption go.

[Alex]

Wet and miserable day outside. Somewhat miserable inside too since Ash didn't sleep well last night. Figure that is down to the other three teeth that are pressing inside his gums ready to pop out any time. I got up with him through the night to let Kristi get some sleep and as a result, me and him are a little bit tired today. Still, he is having a nap right now so we have some quiet.

Bliss.

Planning on telling my work that I got rid of my mobile (true) and not telling them I'm not replacing it. One of the guys on the other shift has a habit of calling people when they are at home and he is at work and I am not having that. Plus I am somewhat fed up of being available 24/7. I have spent long periods without mobile phones before and survived quite fine.

On the phone right now and getting bounced around automated messages which always gets my blood boiling. If they tell me I have called the wrong department I will explode.

Guy made the mistake of asking me why I am canceling my contract. Almost three years on and I am still raging about that. Dealing with customer services lets my inner demons out like only a few other things can.

If you think that is disturbing, then just consider that it could be a lot worse. Imagine if instead, I spent that time considering how to break into your house and torture you. Hmm, wouldn't actually be that hard. Track down the address from your posts on this website, check out your house from Googlemaps...

But those thoughts belong to Evil Alex and I killed him. Besides actually doing something like that does take a minor bit of effort.

Since there is no D&Ding this weekend I am using the time to write up as much stuff as possible (in between tidying up the house and sorting Ash's bedroom some more). The castle took a huge amount of time to write up, but plays through quite quickly (other than the aforementioned wasp fight which took most of the night for what should have been a short encounter).

Listening to The Temple of Love just now. Ofra Haza really makes that song work. Shame she died so young. She really had quite a voice. Mind you, it is a shame for almost anyone who dies young. Can't help thinking we should have, maybe 700 years to spend (just as a ballpark figure) and you can split that up amongst as many seperate lives as you wish. They should have done a Sandman movie back in the 80's*, and had her singing on the soundtrack.


*Ok, as the comics were first published in '89 so this would have been tight, but still.

[Alex]

Was sorting out my new phone and telling people this was my new number tonight (exciting I know, right?).

Anyway, I got to Janine and decided to text her "Hi, I have decided to stalk someone and have randomly chosen you. Expect me to start following you around shortly and breaking into your house."

After I'd sent it I thought, wow, although we text all the time we haven't actually spoken to each other... oh possibly since she happened to phone in the middle of the last face to face shouting match I had with Bev. Turned out to be quite useful too. Bev had been trying to threaten me with some hitman she knew, so while Janine was talking to me I was replying with things like "Oh don't worry, it is ok I can handle things. You don't need to send up anyone to help out. Thanks, but having her kneecapped and skull f**ked isn't needed.' and so on. Janine was completely confused and had no idea what I was talking about heh, but the thought that I might know some criminal types too was something of a surprise to her and quickly had her change tack.

Anyway, we chatted for just under 16 minutes until I needed to get some food. Really must make sure we speak a little more often than once every ten years.

[Allhallowsday]

I just got back up out of bed realizing I owe Dark Alex an apology for my part in taking over his private thread reserved for his thoughts. Bad form. Sorry, Alex!

I do not own the forum m'dear. If I put my thoughts down here, you are free to gate crash anytime (and indeed are welcome). If I want to keep them private I put them in my private journal, where all my darkest thoughts that are not for public consumption go.

"Bad form" indeed.  Why apologize to Alex now? 

[Alex]

Think Ash has now had a tooth pop through on his upper jaw, which means biting properly would now be an option. Yay!

Honestly expected a lot more screaming and crying from the whole teething thing. At worst I would say he has been mildly grumpy. Boy did we luck out with this child or what. He even let us sleep all night without waking up for a feed.

So a woman in one of the groups I am in posted this up.





Other women are now arguing over wither it is teaching boys to disrespect women or wither or not they have brought up their kids to respect women but still find something like this funny. Its a group for nerdy parents and as one of the few men on it, I find it interesting reading the posts by women (well, ok for a while 90% of them were from single nerdy mums wondering where they could find decent single nerdy dads but other than that, it is interesting). Generally, though it is a very supportive group with minimal b***hing and whining (and active admins who act pretty quickly to stop toxic posts).

[Alex]

So what wins between hypersonic missiles that radar can't detect Vs railguns I wonder?

Or the Chinese F-35 Vs the US one? They got it out faster (and can manufacture them more quickly), but did they make them better? Mind you, there was a lot wrong with the T-34, but the fact that the USSR could churn them out in vast numbers made all the difference. Quality isn't a sure-fire battle winner.

And for no other reason than I like the picture I am going to post this.



Getting a new carpet in our office so we'd to move tables around and work out of another office. There were only two computers between four workers, so I got to come home earlier than I expected. Picked up Ash from the council meeting Kristi was at and took him home. He was delighted to see me and giggled all the way home. Puts a smile on my face every time to hear him do that.

I like this picture too by the way. Hmm, but over there this time.

We cleared all the tables from one end of the room and piled them up on the other side of the office. They'll lay the carpet tomorrow on the half of the room we cleared and tomorrow they'll carpet that half of the room and we get to move everything over and yaddah yaddah.

This is the glamourous life I was promised when I signed up!

Skiing in Germany every weekend my arse.

Ok, that isn't entirely fair. If I wanted to I could go skiing in Germany at least twice a year and have the taxpayer pay for 90% of it. I just haven't. I have went white water rafting, zip lining, a few helicopter trips and stuff like that though, so I've not entirely ignored the stuff on offer. If they offered me a trip to some second hand bookstores, I'd be right there though. Making plans to go to this place when we are going to London later this year http://secretldn.com/cecil-court-history/?fbclid=IwAR39H0zQCrJup3I5qxvrkMI6oWbxmMh_d6OJX_YyV9bMkS-l3hr4TmtUKKI. Just a shame I need to go to London to go there though.

Oh well.

[Alex]

The village has a light dusting of snow today. It will hang around for a while, it isn't warm enough to melt it, nor cold enough to suggest we will get more.

Wrote a huge long post last night at work while bored. Went to post it and the whole damn thing vanished. Oh well, writing it at least did give me something to do for the last hour at work. Maybe I'll see if I can rewrite what I remember of it tonight.

[Alex]

Unusual topic of conversation in work tonight. Should the Coventeer's ever have gotten involved in the Civil War?

Given how it worked out, I'd have to give that one a hearty no.

Oh Sven, you mentioned somewhere about Ireland building a wall along the border. Bear in mind that when Ireland was referred to as the Celtic Tiger, its economy was built on debt (never a good idea). When the world economy last collapsed, Ireland found itself desperately needing extra cash and with few international banks willing to give them loans. Those who were, were only willing to do so at ruinously high-interest rates and the country was facing bankruptcy. The UK had a AAA credit rating which meant we could get loans very cheaply. We took out huge loans which we then loaned to the Irish to prevent their economy collapsing, effectively becoming their guarantor. Now, because of the ways countries loan money to each other had Greece economy collapsed completely it would have taken down the Italian economy with it, which in turn would have caused Spain to crash, which in turn would have hit Ireland.

[Alex]

[Alex]

Normally I enjoy slow burning films that take a while to get going, but recently (well for some months now), I seem to have went off them. If it doesn't grab my attention within 15 minutes I appear to lose interest in whatever is on. Hopefully my interest in deeper films will return, but right now I crave instant gratification.

[Alex]

Bored at work, but also with the knowledge that when I finish, that's me off until Monday. Some guy is on the front page of the internal newspaper for having done 50 years service. He is wondering if he is the longest guy in our history. Since he joined up at 16, I can't imagine what it is like to never have experienced life outside the one job. It limits your life in certain ways and I feel sorry for anyone who has spent their entire life in it. So much else in the world to see and do. Still, if he is happy with that then fair play to him.

Me, I am out as soon as I qualify for my pension (1613 days to go until that happy day).

Meh.

The community meeting last night about everything the council want's to close in Lossiemouth was well attended from what Kristi told me. They'd put out seats for 250 people and they guess over 400 turned up. Once it got out how much money the council pours into a privately run leisure centre (they are trying to close the local swimming pool in Lossie and tell everyone to go to the one in Elgin instead). The centre in Elgin loses money and is subsidised by the council while the Lossie one makes money and one of the councillors (the representative for Lossiemouth) just happens to sit on the board for the Elgin pool and voted in favour of closing our pool).

At that point the meeting turned into a shouting match.

Since we are not allowed to attend meetings like that in uniform (because it could be seen as us taking a side (and if there were any press present you can be sure that is the angle they would spin), I got Kristi to meet me outside on my way home from work and collected Ash. For some reason he loves seeing me in my camo gear and all I get out from him is guffaws of laughter and giggles all the way home.

Heading over to Inverness on the morrow. There is a Smiths Toy Store there and I want to pick up his birthday present. Yeah I know it isn't until March but I don't feel like waiting that long. Besides Brexit is in March and I want to have as much of that wage free as possible. Shops are going to put up prices claiming they have increased costs even if they don't and if the pound goes down in value the way I think it will, that means imports will get more expensive. Oh and we import a lot of our food. I have no doubt it is going to be bad. The only thing to debate on is just how bad it is going to get. Hell, after the vote to leave board game prices went up 25% from the drop in the £, never mind other stuff.