photo saturday: wonderwalls pre-birthday saturday

Hey, look. It's that thing where I go places and take photographs. Remember when that was a thing. Yeah. We're having a brief resurgence.

Because last week was the Wonderwalls Street Art event down at Port Adelaide, and the last one I went to was 2019.

This was also one of my favorite pieces by artists PichiAvo. Their whole vibe is taking classical sculpture images against colourful words. Would it have been better if I had lined the shots up so that the arm went across properly? Sure. Didn't happen though.

But more on Wonderwalls later.

Anyway...

Next up, some Sofles yellow and purple art.

All behold, It is My Birthday Week. Because that's three days before my birthday, then my birthday on Tuesday, then three days after my birthday. Which brings us to next Friday. Mark your calendars appropriately.

Of course, having said that, do I actually care one fuck about my birthday this year? No, no I do not. Will I care next year when it's a birthday ending in a zero? Who can say. We'll see when we get there.

I've now read more books than I read in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 or 2022. So there's that.

Otherwise Thursday Night DnD was good. We were down a player, and the whole session ended up being about finding that player before he got married to a banshee bride. And, you know, also drawing under an off-hand joke I made several sessions ago about started a rumour in the tavern that said player was getting married.

Maybe next week we can get to the start of the actual hardcover adventure we're intending to play.

Friday Night Not DnD was also good. We almost got the bad guy for this level, but he teleported away at the last second, which is annoying. And then afterwards, as generally happens when we're all a little overtired and overstimulated, we played what should have been some very chill Love Letter and lost our minds several times.

Also I won. Because that's important to note.

Anyway...

This is my second favourite. this absolutely amazing piece by Smug One featuring Hot Boy and Squeezed Plums. Yes. Please. Although the sun was completely in the wrong position to get decent shots, but that happens a lot of the time with the Wonderwalls stuff. Either you need a completely overcast day, when your sky is just blah, or you need to pick your times based on the direction of the wall.

I paired this with a nice case of Urban. Because why not.

Today was... well, you've basically seen a bunch of today.

We did the supermarket. I want it to be soup season already please, I'm bored with deciding what to make for dinner. Although this week I did make a mostly average tuna morney. Edible, but not exciting.

Then we bundled into the car and, detouring through town in a way we don't normally detour through town, we drove all the way down to Port Adelaide.

I'd done some internet sleuthing, so I knew both that there were only about eight new Wonderwalls pieces around, but also that there were pieces from all the years we missed (well, when they actually did it). Also, annoyingly, the map I was looking at online wasn't as good as the printed map we found... after we'd finished and were having lunch. [le sigh]

But we did a bunch of short car hops going from place to place, rather than traipsing from one end of the Port to the other. And found everything I wanted to find. Would it have been better if we'd remembered to bring hats. Probably. But we did okay.

And when we'd done the whole look, we went back to where we'd started to have lunch at a little place called Swedish Tarts Cafe. Where they have, no surprise, Swedish tarts. But we had a pleasant lunch, bought some tarts to take away and split when we got back to my place, and then bundled back into the car and drove all the way back here.

So, a different Saturday. And I'll have photos for at least two or three weeks.

Current mood:

photo saturday: beach textures

I'm putting the DnD Character Colouring Book on hold for a few weeks, possibly ten weeks, because I have actual photos again. New ones. Ten weeks worth in fact.

This week has been A Lot.

Sunday I cleaned the kitchen. And made the discovery that the big baking tray I've been using since I moved in here is actually the grill tray, but nobody bothered to put it in the correct position, and it's much more useful as a baking tray. I also made potato and leek soup... which was... fine. I mean I forgot to put the cream in it before I had a bowl, and after I'd had a bowl I blended the whole thing up. It was tasty enough, it was just a little bit m'eh.

Then on Monday I cleaned the rest of the apartment. By the end of which I was exhausted. And I'd also needed to make an emergency run to the shops to replace my mop which broke halfway through cleaning the bathroom. I also spent a whole hour wiping down the venetian blinds in my bedroom, because they were filthy (because that's the window that actually gets open and I have a main road going past the front of my place)... and because the land agent mentioned them specifically last time. And I had to change the water over like half a dozen times. Not fun, but I was pleased with the results.

I also "rediscovered" candles. Which sounds dumb, but I had a bunch of candles I bought back in 2016 after SA had had a massive, statewide blackout, because I had one poxy candle at the time and went to bed at like 8pm because there honestly wasn't fuck all else to do. And they've just been gathering dust in the cupboard, so I got them out, and once I was finished cleaning, I like one, just to make the place smell pretty. Given that they are IKEA candles though, I had no fucking clue what most of the fragrances I had were... Green apple I know, because it's green and has apples on the label, and vanilla ice-cream (maybe just vanilla), and Christmas 2016 (which appears to mostly be orange and spices), but the other two are "bowl of purple stuff" and "black stone". I chose Black Stone, which is actually really nice. And I've been burning it on and off all week. So now I'm going to turn into one of those Candle Gays (is that a thing, I don't think that's actually a thing).

Then Tuesday, the inspection day, rolled around. I got ready, had breakfast, did the dishes, and headed on out, taking my book and my camera with me.

I wasn't completely sure what I was planning to do, or where I was planning to go, except for the fact that I had just under two and a half hours to kill. What ended up happening was I took a ride down to Glenelg. Not in any direct way, I was kinda sorta headed to "the beach", but arbitrary decisions led to me ending up at Glenelg. And it was raining when I got there, so I was going to settle in and read my book for a while, but then it stopped and I got out to take a few photos.

That turned into an hour-long wander from where I parked, along the foreshore to the jetty, along the jetty and then back to the car.

And by the end of it, I was so broken. After the big walk on Saturday, two "days" of cleaning, including moving most of the furniture around, and then an hour long walk lugging a fairly heavy camera... I was done.

But, as I've said multiple times, there is nothing better than coming home after a rental inspection. Because the inspection part is over but your house is ridiculously clean and tidy and it's just the most pleasant feeling. Plus now with extra candle.

Wednesday was the first time since March that the Wednesday DnD group actually met in person. Well, the whole group anyway. Since the other week when they were supposedly going to play board games and I couldn't be bothered going because it was too warm and I hadn't had enough sleep. So they all (characters and players) got together and had a big old adventure without me.

Honestly I'm actually fine with it. It was my choice, so I can't really blame anybody else anyway.

We got three quarters of the way through the module, but we'll finish that off and start the Part 2 next week, then probably finish up that the week after. So at least it's a better plan than we've had in the last few weeks.

Friday was good... the bread I made is possibly the best loaf I've made in a while, insomuch that it wasn't too wet or too dry, I realised that I needed a little more water than I've been using before, and it all just worked out. It is a little weird that I think the loaves have been paler after they're baked than perhaps they were before... which just seems odd, because now the seal on the oven door is actually working properly, so what's going on. Couldn't tell ya, but it's weird.

After Fluffy arrived we were talking shit, as we do, and checking out YubTubs, as we do, and the algorithm suggested this... and I was curious, so we watched it, and were very confused to start with, not least of all because of the thumbnail...

But by the end we were both totally spellbound. I'll fully admit, I didn't even know Christian Coppola existed (turns out that he's only a distant relative of the Francis Ford Coppola end of the family), but this is just exquisite. I mean, yes, Dylan Sprouse is ridiculously beautiful (plus that luscious hair), but this is just an amazing film. Full kudos to both Christian and the cast. Just spend the 18 minutes. Even if the middle of it is kinda confusing. Totally worth it.

And while I took the whole thing pretty much at face value, it's worth diving into the YouTube comments afterwards because people have some interesting ideas.

Friday night's DnD game was yet another instance of us avoiding what could have been potentially lethal combat with an appropriate use of spells and some lucky rolls. Honestly, there was some definite panic-roleplaying at certain points, and the opening of a door that shouldn't have been fucking opened. Because there's always a door that shouldn't be opened that somebody subsequently opens. Because DnD.

We had fun though.

Today was... okay.

We did the supermarket thing. I'm going to make another batch of Tuna Noodle-Do this week, because it's going to be hot, then cool, and that ended up being good "leftovers" (in so much that while it's technically left over from the day I make it, that's actually the point). So hopefully that works out as well as it did last time.

Afterwards we headed into the city, fairly early honestly, all things considered. And we got to exactly the right carpark at exactly the right time, because the woman who had just left it came over and gave us her ticket, which still had 2 hours left on it. So score.

Mostly I wanted to look at candles (see, Candle Gay), but I also wanted to get my Typo calendar for next year... the joke might wear thin over 12 months, but right now, I'm totally fucking here for it. It's a shame they don't have a Disney themed one this year, but yeah, given the amount of time I actually look at the thing, it'll be fine.

After we'd walked the length of the Mall, picked up a few bits and pieces, been given free cans of Pepsi Max Mango (which is... fine... it's been forever since I actually had Pepsi Max but honestly I could barely taste any mango... but it was free, and free is always better than not free), we headed back to the car and did a brief stop-off at Haighs, because chocolate.

And that was it really. Plus I still have an apartment that essentially looks like it did when I got home after the inspection, which is great.

Current mood:

fringe: barbaroi

It is very likely that one of the few art-forms to survive the end of the world intact will be physical theatre (or circus if you prefer).

Barbaroi by After Dark Theatre is perhaps a little glimpse into this Mad Maxian future where a band of circus performers roam the land, using their skills and the things they've found along the way to entertain the masses and each other.

And I'll say this about tonight's excursion into the wasteland... I love circus shows, a lot. In the past 10 years of attending the Fringe I've seen at a rough estimate at least 40 circus shows. It's one of the first sections I go through in the Fringe guide.

So I think I can safely say that After Dark did things that I have never seen other circus performers do.

I've never seen anyone use handcanes that tall, which Ryan Darwin did with grace and power. I've never seen giant sheets of perspex (that light up no less) used as balance beams like Karina Schiller did... and that was a sequence I didn't want to end.

Then there's Byron Hutton's juggling... I've never seen someone juggle rings using their ears, or flick them around like he did. I also didn't know that musical juggling balls were a thing... but they are, and they're amazing and I want some, even though I can't juggle. I loved that the focus would come back to him between acts, just showing him do a "simple" balance trick that got more and more complex as the show progressed.

And even the things I had seen versions of before were done brilliantly here. Watching Darwin work on the corde lisse (and I realise now that I possibly saw him in By A Thread a couple of years ago) was so stunningly beautiful, as was Stan Ricketso on the aerial straps... but then I do love watching strap performers. Ricketson also looked super familiar, but I honestly don't know from what.

I was also totally blown away by pretty much everything Jon Griffingham did. I always say that the circus bases don't get enough love... they're the ones throwing everyone around and Griffingham did it spectacularly. Plus he did twists and dives during the hoop diving section that absolutely blew my mind.

And Schiller's finale on the Chinese pole was sensational. So manic and powerful.

Last but by no means least was Amy Nightingale-Olsen who I ended up thinking of Psycho Pixie throughout most of the show (it was that thing with the flick knife, honestly) was just a delight. I especially loved her interactions with both Griffingham and Hutton and she did some amazing foot juggling.

All in all this was exactly how I like my circus, fast, frenetic, powerful and with excellent music.

yani's rating: 5 juggling clubs out of 5

fringe: the bakers

I will freely admit that if I hadn't started making my own bread last year, I might not have gravitated to The Bakers by The Latebloomers.

But I did, and I am so very grateful that fate led me to this sweet, funny, moving little show.

The Bakers is about a father (Jonathan Tilley, centre) and his two sons, Jean-Pierre (Oliver Nilsson, right) and Jean-Claude (Sam Dugmore, left)... and as you can guess by the names, they're a family of French breadmakers.

Crazy, miming, slapstick, farcical French breadmakers.

Tilley folds his long and lanky frame into that of an older man as Papa, takes forever to answer the phone, loves his sons and his bread in equal measure but he has a secret.

Dugmore has a fabulous moustache, his Jean-Claude dreams of better ways to do things, and taking petty revenge on his brother.

Nilsson has one of those wonderful, contortable faces going from one extreme to another, his Jean-Pierre bullies his brother and chews very loudly.

I don't want to give away too much about this show... you could say that not very much happens in it, and that's true, but it's all in the details, and the way the trio convey emotions through mime and slapstick and a little French here and there.

But I can say that I loved the show very much... I loved their chemistry and their clowning and the twists and turns of the story... and a very sweet ending. Plus their interactions with the audience (and this is definitely one of those "sit in the front rows at your own risk" shows).

So now The Latebloomers go on that "will definitely see again" list.

yani's rating: 5 imaginary loaves out of 5

fringe: the tempest - the handlebards

Last year we saw the male company of the Handlebards doing Twelfth Night.

It was fantastic, and as such, when the female company showed up with The Tempest for this year's Fringe, it was a given we were going to see them.

And I think I may have actually laughed more and harder and longer tonight than last time.

Tempest is not quite as "everybody pretending to be everybody else" as Twelfth Night, but there is definitely a lot going on, and once again, in the Handlebards style, there's a lot of roles but only four actors, so in parts of the show both random pieces of costume and random audience members stand in for some of the characters... or in on particular instance, every other character but one.

And all of our Handlebards were excellent, Lucy Williams in the green socks as Prospero, Tika Mu'tamir in the blue socks as Ariel, Gonzalo and Trinculo, Roisin Brehony in the red socks as Ferdinand, Caliban and Antonio and last but not least Katie Sherrard in the yellow socks as Miranda, Alonso, Stephano and Sebastian. I'll be honest that I'm not 100% about the sock colour this time, but I think that's right.

But there are always favourite actors and favourite roles, and Williams was scenery-chewingly sensational as Prospero, and I don't say that just because I ended up interacting with her a number of times from my front row seat. It started out with me being thrown her cloak, then replacing the cloak, tying it in a bow (I don't do bows well, it was horrible), and then later being brought up on stage to assist Prospero with her big magic show. Not my first time being dragged up on stage, but definitely a memorable and hilarious one.

Mu'tamir was great throughout, although I think I liked her as Ariel the most, just because of the rapport with Williams. But her beatboxing moment as Gonzalo was a standout.

Then we come to Brehony as "Babyhands" Caliban... I genuinely thought I was going to pass out from laughing so hard. From the hands to the helmet to the voice, a tour de force!

Sherrard was excellent, however she ended up with the characters who don't especially steal their scenes (she had some stiff competition), but she gave it her all, and worked that clamshell bikini.

I was also entranced by the "briefcase accordion" they had... I don't know what in the world it was, but it was beautiful.

And on top of all of that, some beautifully spoken and acted Shakespeare.

So once again, hats off to the Handlebards for providing an afternoon of quality entertainment

yani's rating: 5 magic cloaks out of 5

fringe: the will to be

The year is 1962. The place, an office in the English department of Melbourne University.

In that office is a man, William O'Halloran, played so beautifully and specifically by writer, co-producer and performer Mark Salvestro. And he just received a letter that will change his life.

This is the story of two Williams, O'Halloran and Shakespeare. And how the love of the bard led to our English professor finding love with Henry, one of his students, and then being fired as a result.

It was a complete accident that we saw this on the same night as Mardi Gras, but it definitely felt appropriate.

Salvestro is amazing. There is so much lightness and deftness to his performance, and so much specificity. From his continued eye contact with the audience at specific moments, to his use of a slight stammer to indicate the abject terror of this man whose life has begun to unravel before his eyes thanks to the dismissal letter from the university. His mannerisms as he tells his story just captured my heart, and I had the overwhelming urge to tell William that everything would work out okay eventually and that there was nothing wrong with him.

There is also the way that Salvestro weaves in passages from Shakespeare into his writing without it seeming jarring or glaringly obvious. In fact there were several times when I only realised he'd switched to Shakespeare when we were already mid way down the rabbit hole or a line I recognised came up (I know there was some Romeo and Juliet, some Hamlet, and then I think there were a lot of the Henrys and possibly some of the Richards). And it wasn't just the strength of his performance, it was also the strength of his writing, allowing his prose to stand up against extracts from Shakespeare.

At the same time, his description of that first forbidden kiss, that first new touch, the insecurity melting away under the warmth of action and emotion that just feel right, that make you feel alive, felt painfully real. And all the more painful given the background of the times, where homosexuality wouldn't be decriminalised until 1980 in Victoria and that the prevailing emotion for most men in William's position in his time was to feel deep shame and disgust about themselves and about their perfectly natural wants and desires.

Without spoiling the ending, I was afraid things would take a tragic turn for our William, but I was genuinely pleased that his story went in a different direction, one where he was in control of his own story. So much so that it left me wanting to know what happened next, always a good sign.

yani's rating: 5 unbuttoned shirts out of 5

photo saturday: wonderwalls and weather

Hey, look at that... photos fresh off the proverbial presses (in this case that would be Photoshop).

But we'll circle back to that.

This week has been average with a side order of "oh, I remember warm weather, can we not please?".

I did not soup or stew this week, because overly warm Spring weather. Instead I baked some chicken breasts in the oven on Monday night and had them for the rest of the week in not especially interesting or inventive ways.

On the up side, oven baked chicken is really nice, even several days later.

Oh, yeah, an update on my face and the lack of movement therein. As of right now I'm mostly back to normal. There's still some residual weakness in my lip, but as I've probably said before, that was the first thing to go, so it'll be the last thing to return. It's basically at the point where I don't really notice it or think about it unless I'm rinsing my mouth after brushing my teeth, so that's a plus.

Otherwise, not much to mention from the first part of the week.

Wednesday was all the DnD once again. And both characters had a bit of a rough time to be honest.

The day game wasn't our usual game (lack of DM) so I got to play on the table of one of my friends who hasn't been around on Wednesdays for a while, playing the sequel to an adventure I really enjoyed. The only downside is that my very talkative "French" wizard elf wanted access to some books, resulting in him ending up with an Intelligence score of 1 (instead of 16), so that was fun. He's better now, the DM didn't torture me for long and reversed the effect (I possibly would have done it for longer myself, and I was enjoying myself, although not being able to talk was possibly torture).

Then the night game was... very interesting. I mean rule 1 is always "Don't fuck with time travel". And we got sent back in time thanks to the adventure Macguffin last week, and didn't do everything exactly the same was we did them the first time through. This week was the repercussions of that. It was also one of those "be careful what you ask the DM for" moments, since I'd jokingly complained about him taking a number of characters away from me/us (okay, me)... and he gave some of them back this week. And my character found his "graph paper girlfriend" was back, but their relationship is different and strange and I had a lot of fun roleplaying the confusion (I mean some of it was just regular confusion, no roleplay required).

I amused the rest of the table though. And I had a ton of fun.

We are definitely entering the end game though. It just depends on how long we drag this thing out I guess.

The end of the week was entirely too warm for my liking. I'm sure I go though some version of this every year, but somehow the end of Winter always comes as a surprise and I feel like it's been colder weather for the last 1000 years. And I'm just not ready for the alternative.

Today, the warmest of the warm days thus far, although mostly cloudy, was in fact a different day for us.

I mean it started in the usual way, with the supermarket. And since the weather is cooling down next week I'm making tuna mornay... what I'll do when it's actually Summer, I have no fucking clue. That's one of the things I really like about Winter, I cook once a week and I'm fed. This cooking every day thing is too much work.

Anyway... we came back here and did the usual pfaffery.

Then we decided that while it was warm, it was also cloudy, so we might as well do what we'd originally intended to do today and go down to Port Adelaide to finally check out the street art from Wonderwalls back in March.

Often times overcast days are better for getting shots of the artwork itself, but means that the sky often blows out... so it's a swings and roundabouts thing really. Not too bad overall though. Found all but one (I think) of the pieces from 2019... and even tracked down some ones I hadn't seen from 2017.

However, one kinda massive flaw to the day. We parked down by Hart's Mill to start off, and I got out of the car, headed over to take a photo only to discover my middle finger on my left hand was bleeding. Yep, Ma's car bit me. And by bit me I mean that the stupid metal foil on the inner door handle had started to peel at the top, and I accidentally ran my finger along it when I was opening the door.

What is it with me and injured fingers? I mean it's the same hand as my major finger injury, plus a number of older and smaller injuries with various and sundry scars.

Thankfully the nice people at the fruit and veg market had a first aid kit and gave me a bandaid, but fuck my life.

Anyway, it wasn't an auspicious start to the trip, but it did improve from that point.

We wandered around until just after noon then circled back to the second position for the car and had some lunch nearby.

Then a quick trip over the bridge to capture the Capricorn piece at the top of this post, and we headed back to my place. And we got back here a lot earlier than expected (granted we left here originally earlier than we have been heading out previously).

And man it's been a while since I went through a big group of photos and got them ready for the blog. I both miss it and I really don't, since it takes forever. The end result is worth it though.

Current Mood:

fringe: twelfth night - the handlebards

What a delightful end to our 2019 Fringe adventure.

The Handlebards combine bicycles with Shakespeare, and peddle their way between venues (hopefully they got a plane all the way from England, then peddled once they got here). And they take on Shakespeare like a bike with no brakes going downhill.

It's fast, it's dangerous, but it's a hell of a ride.

In a lot of ways, they reminded me of Sound and Fury... between the quick changes, the crossdressing, the audience interaction, the insanity (plus the Shakespeare)... which is an excellent thing.

Our Bards (based on their socks and braces colours) were Ross Ford (the green bard), Mark Collier (the blue bard), Will Fawcett (the red bard) and Luke Wilson (the purple bard)... and they were amazing.

Twelfth Night isn't the simplest of Shakespeare plays... there's a lot of she's pretending to be a he and he's in love with her but she's in love with him... made even worse when you only have four actors playing all the roles. I say worse... it was manic and I loved it. Especially when there are four actors on stage but a minimum of eight character. And that each of the bards took on at least three characters over the course of the show.

It was also interesting that their characterisations (and costumes) were so good that you always knew exactly who they were, even if that bard had only been on stage seconds before and had rushed off one side and come back the other side.

I will say that Ross as Lady Olivia was my personal favourite, but everyone was fantastic, especially Mark as both Viola and Olivia's maid, plus Luke as Malvolio and Will as the jester.

What I was especially impressed by was that even when they were neck deep in quick changes, swapping characters and running around like maniacs, they still kept their performances going... and making sure you're actually performing, nailing your comedic timing AND getting the Shakespeare right isn't easy.

But they do it exceptionally well.

This was their first time at Fringe, and I hope we'll be seeing them again for years to come.

yani's rating: 5 bells out of 5

fringe: railed

I've detailed on more than one occasion my love affair with the boys from Head First Acrobats... from 2014 to 2017 to 2018, and this year they're back with a new show and new boys.

Cal Harris and Thomas Gorham have been joined for Railed by Adam O'Connor-McMahon and Harley Timmermans for a cowboy themed show of circus tricks, comedy, a little magic and some buff bodies.

Sadly we didn't get to see Gorham this time as he injured himself earlier in the run, but the adorkable AJ Saltalamacchia is doing an amazing job filling in for him.

Railed is to Westerns what Elixir was to zombie movies, with that Head First twist.

The boys have put together a hilarious, ridiculous, entertaining and very high energy show that had me hooting, hollering and cheering from beginning to end.

O'Connor-McMahon, Timmermans and Saltalamacchia fit perfectly into the Head First style, bringing a whole new set of skills and an equal amount of enthusiasm. Timmermans performs with both the Cyr wheel (still my personal favourite) as well as aerial straps (while wearing a unicorn head of all things), Saltalamacchia naturally fills in for Gorham's clowning and O'Connor-McMahon is a great juggler and magician.

I'd forgotten that Harris showed off whip-cracking skills in 2017, but they've definitely progressed and given the theme of the show, it's even sexier this time around. And what that man can do with a ladder and a set of chairs will make you gasp.

What I love most about Head First is they never take things super seriously, there's always a lightness and fun to everything, even when Harris is in the middle of a complex trick... you get to see "behind the curtain" and I always appreciate that from them.

I will say that they've turned the absurdity in this new show up to about 76... from the western theme to the outfits in the latter part of the show, to... let's just call it "horse costumes". And every moment of it was fantastic.

Cal Harris, Adam O'Connor-McMahon, Harley Timmermans and Thomas Gorham

And if that's not enough of a reason to check them out... I don't know what is.

yani's rating: 5 kerchiefs out of 5

fringe: you and i

Three years ago I saw Jesse Scott and Lachie MacAulay from Casus Circus in Tolu and was incredibly impressed... so when they returned with You & I, a show about "the loving relationship between two circus artists", I knew I had to see it.

And it was so beautiful.

Not since 2015's Bromance have I been this moved by a circus show... in fact, much like that show, I was brought almost to tears on multiple occasions.

Given the description of the show, I assume Scott and MacAulay are in a relationship... and this show is a sweet, simple, funny and moving look into that relationship.

And they're able to draw the audience into their world.

It made me so happy to see a gay relationship presented so matter-of-factually within a circus show, it wasn't subtext, it was just the text of the show.

From the sweet tumbling routine that opens the show to Scott's hula hoop routine, their hilarious attempts at playing dress-ups to two-person chair balancing, culminating in an amazing trapeze routine that drew gasps from the audience, everything about this show serves the narrative of their relationship.

But the part of the show that really struck me was when MacAulay disappears from the stage, leaving Scott alone, and the ways he deals (or doesn't) with the loneliness. It was more than a little heartbreaking even if his solo trapeze work was exceptional, but when MacAulay returns and "heals" Scott made my heart swell.

There are moments when it might feel the tiniest little voyeuristic (the flashlight sequence for example), but just because of how sweet they are together and how much in love they seem to be.

I'm so glad that they let us into their world, and I hope we see more shows like this from them in the years to come.

yani's rating: 5 chairs out of 5

fringe: macbeth in space! (and two other locations...)

As I've said on multiple occasions, Macbeth and I go way back. We have a connection. I can't explain it, not entirely sure I want to.

But it's one of the first shows I look for at the Fringe. And I've seen a variety of versions at this point.

Full text versions, classical productions, modern political retellings, Australian gangsters, World War 2... the works.

What I've never seen is Macbeth played as a comedy. And it absolutely should not work. At all.

But somehow, some way, the Scrambled Prince Theatre Company (a touring youth theatre company based at Eltham High School in Melbourne), managed to do it.

And so we have the very literally titled: Macbeth in space! (and two other locations...).

This is Macbeth as a Star Trek episode, Macbeth as film noir story, Macbeth as a western.

It's also at it's heart an ensemble piece, where different actors play the required characters during the different locations. Space Macbeth is a pompous Zapp Brannigan/Kirk hybrid, Noir Macbeth is a slightly stupid New York mafia boss and Western Macbeth is a very trigger happy black clad bandito.

And this is, somehow strangely, the only interpretation of Macbeth I can really think of where the play is going out of it's way to tell you that Macbeth is a bad guy. I mean I know he does horrible things, but often times there is more than a little part of me what wants him not to fall all the way down the rabbit hole of the latter part of the play, and remain the Macbeth from the first two acts.

But here, he's no hero, not even an anti-hero... in all three parts of this production, he's straight up the villain (and often also a thundering moron) in each setting.

Most of the story gets told across the three segments, although a lot of the details are left by the wayside... which normally I would find problematic, but I didn't mind here since this was more interpretation rather than recitation.

I also think that you can judge a lot about a Macbeth production not just by it's titular lord and lady, but by the interpretation of the witches. And here we get, in order, a hive mind, a trio of beat poets and three poncho wearing singers. With the exception of the hive mind, the same three actors play the witches (technically I guess the same three take part in all the versions, since the hive mind uses the voices of everybody who isn't a main character at that point), and do so very well.

I do need to specifically call out the young woman who played both Space Banquo at the start, as well as the western version of Young Siward (I'm blanking on the character's in-universe name)... she was great as the Kif to Space Macbeth's Brannigan, but she was AH-MAH-ZING as Kid Siward... right from the opening of that section with her tiny cowboy hat, tiny guns and repeated ridiculous expressions she had me in stitches.

In fact the list of people who impressed me or at least made me laugh is fairly extensive. From Space Duncan to Space Lady Macbeth... Noir Gumshoe (again, the character name escapes me) to Noir Fleance to Noir Lady Macbeth... Western Malcolm to Western Lady MacDuff... in fact almost everyone who stepped up into a speaking role did remarkably well.

And the whole thing was actually funny. I think, beyond the performances, it was tying all of the tropes from the three different scenarios to Macbeth that managed to bring out the humour.

Staging was minimal, confined to a few black stools, but each genre change came with a complete, on-stage costume change for the entire cast (all twenty-something of them)... and often the ensemble actually became the staging.

The other thing that shouldn't have worked was putting music in... but there it was, and work it did. The singer, who also doubles as Noir Lady Macbeth, did a fantastic job both with the singing and the acting... although given the aforementioned laughter at Western Siward, I did feel a little guilty that all my attention was focus over there and not on her beautiful rendition of Desperado.

My hat goes off to every one involved in this production, they did a great job and I had an amazing time.

yani's rating: 5 bouncy chairs out of 5

fringe: the measure of a man

The Measure of a Man was not the show I was expecting.

Or not exactly anyway.

I also didn't realise when I picked the show that I'd seen Gavin Roach six years ago in his Confessions of a Grindr Addict show.

Like it's predecessor, Measure feels like an incredibly autobiographical show, but unlike it, there is no line between persona and performer, which makes the whole thing have an extra level to it that is incredibly raw and personal and revealing. Maybe not revealing... maybe exposed is a better word.

Doubly so when Roach spends the majority of the show in nothing but a hat, a denim jacket and a pair of briefs that put his "package" right out on display and at a lot of the audience's eye level.

Roach presents a show that talks about his penis, his relationship to it and sexual dysfunction in a confronting, amusing, frank, unabashed and frankly sad way. And there's an additional layer of confrontation given that he's discussing sexual dysfunction within the gay community, or perhaps just within gay relationships.

As gay men sex is "supposed" to be vital to who we are, how we relate to other men, how other men see us. So to approach the issue of a gay man who isn't the biggest, the thickest, the hardest, the most virile and what that does to him and how he sees the world is an interesting approach to a show. And one that made me more than a little sad and annoyed at the behaviour of the men he was describing.

Roach is an engaging performer who seems to effortlessly capture the attention of an audience, even when the themes got a little heavy.

yani's rating: 4 flops out of 5

fringe: another night at the musicals

First there was A Night At The Musicals (and again in 2018 to be honest)... this year Le Gateau Chocolat and Johnny Woo return with the very imaginatively titled Another Night At The Musicals.

And as before, the duo proudly proclaim the show to be the place "musical theatre goes to die". And if by die they mean put on a lot of sequins and leotards and have a very good time, then, yes, I totally agree.

The line up is (mostly) new this time around... but I mean you wouldn't throw out Summer Loving from Grease.

But otherwise, this time around Cabaret, Cats, Gypsy, Les Miserables, The Little Mermaid, Grease, Xanadu, Rocky Horror and The Sound of Music all get the Chocolat and Woo treatment.

Johnny did a fantastic version of my favourite Disney villain song, Poor Unfortunate Souls (complete with quick change dress), followed by Chocolat murdering (in the best possible way) Part of Your World as the most fabulous mermaid ever (the DRESS... and the crab bra!). Though, between you and me, one of these days I really want to hear Chocolat demolish Ursula's song, but he was pretty fantastic as Ariel.

Also amazing is his outfit for the Xanadu number, this big pink fluffy tulle coat that is so very extra and so very Le Gateau.

I'm not sure if this is something I just noticed for this new show, but other than the beginning and the end of the show, this is much more of a "hand off" show, where one of them takes centre stage while the other goes off for presumably the next quick change before they swap out. Which isn't a criticism, it's just something that felt more noticeable this time around than previously. And both the beginning and end of the show are awesome, especially that the "singalongability" of the show ramps up as it goes along (honestly though, they had me at Little Mermaid), culminating in The Sound of Music (how the fuck do I know all the damn words to both Do Re Me and So Long Farewell... I mean I know why, but I really shouldn't still know them), followed by the Grease Summer Loving finale.

As I've mentioned on previous occasions, I adore any and all moments when Chocolat goes for "comedy non-vocals warbling" instead of song lyrics... LOVE! IT!

It's camp, it's ridiculous, it's hilarious, it's gorgeous, it's a good old sing along with songs you know. It's always worth the price of admission. Go see them.

yani's rating: 5 unicorn string guitars out of 5

fringe: quest time!

Quest Time! by Improv Adelaide kind of brings me all the way around to my first experience with both improv and a number of the performers.

It all started with Dungeons and Improvisation Adventure Show in 2013, then Improvise To Go in 2014 and back-to-back Unplotted Potter in 2016 and 2017.

And while all of the shows have had a fantasy vibe of one sort or another, Quest Time is a VERY Dungeons and Dragons based show.

Unsurprisingly, I enjoyed the living daylights out of it.

Of the four shows I've seen, there is just something that happens when Master of Ceremonies, and in this case, actual Dungeon Master, Joshua Kapitza is there (in this case, it's that there was at least a partially coherent story, or at least someone giving them prompts), and I always enjoy his reactions to the insanity that is happening on stage.

For tonight's show, Eden Trebilco, Kendra and Rene were our "player characters", a gnome bard, a gnome fighter and a dwarf warlock respectively (and yes, Rene, while you may not have known anything about DnD including what any of your spells did, you still basically acted like 90% of all the warlocks I've ever had at my table) while Curtis Shipley, Marshall Cowan and Nathan Stavridis were everybody else in the world (or the "non player characters").

The amusing thing was that all three PCs asked for race and name suggestions from different parts of the audience, so they didn't actually know they were going to be the "all short-arse" party until they introduced their characters at the beginning of the show.

Aided by both story prompts and dice rolls from Kapitza (some very, very, very good dice rolls, I will say... I even checked one of his natural 20's when he asked), the merry band of heroes adventured in a bathhouse/day spa, ran afoul of nobles, met some crap magicians, escaped on a boat, set off to rescue missing children in exchange for getting to level 5 "via montage", heard voices and fought a shapechanging monster (in this case a wendigo).

As with all improv shows, your mileage will most likely vary.

I also got a kick out of the references to actual DnD spells... more so when Rene was guessing what they did based on their names, which in some cases, completely reasonable... in others, no way you're ever going to know. I also may have to steal Eden's idea that his character's "healing word" was HEAL, shouted at the injured individual.

Like I said, it was an excellent show... it never went completely off the rails (which I tend to prefer in both my DnD and my improv), and I had a lot of laughs.

yani's rating: 4 hurdy-gurdy out of 5

fringe: box and cox - married and settled

Mr Cox, Mr Box and Mrs Bouncer are back together again. And this time Messrs Cox and Box have found themselves wives.

Maniacal Arts have returned with another farce written by John Maddison Morton in 1852, a sequel to last year's show. Reprising their roles are Jake McNamara as Box, Declan Carter as Cox and Emma Austin as Mrs Bouncer, while the additions of Mrs Box and Mrs Cox respectively are Ashton Koroneos and Tess Branchflower.

And the new ladies definitely hold their own, not least of all Koroneos and her singing voice. They just slot into the cast perfectly and add to an already excellent group.

But I have to say, much like the first show, Austin steals every single scene she's in as Bouncer. Up to and including improvising with the crowd before the show officially starts.

The staging is simple, but effective, and the addition of the window was used well.

I do think though, while it was quite funny (especially for a 166 year old play), the script wasn't quite as good as the previous one... the first one seemed a little sharper somehow.

And there were times when the cast was a little hard to hear, especially in a play with such rapid fire dialogue.

But those are very small quibbles on what was otherwise a very good start to the Fringe.

yani's rating: 3 kidgloves out of 5

photo saturday: sharp corners

It's been two weeks... TWO WHOLE WEEKS.

And the last two weeks have kind of been A LOT.

We pick up our hero the Sunday after the last post, making relish. In fact, I took a recipe for peach, nectarine and tomato relish, substituted plums for the peaches (since I had a bunch in the fridge slowly going soft), and handwaved certain elements of the recipe, but ended up with three jars of relish (which tasted pretty good at the time, so I'm sure will be really good once I crack into one of them).

As far as DnD is concerned, the two Mondays were much the same as always, the Wednesday before last I ran a game that I've run a number of times before, and one that I love... and while I've done various voices for the final NPC, I usually err on the "little old lady" route, this time when I opened my mouth a soft "Southern Belle" voice just happened. Which was great and creepy and gave me a lot of leeway for putting my players on edge in the best possible way. And a number of them have since told me that the voice made the character super creepy.

Achievement unlocked!

We only had one Wednesday evening game, the week before last, and my character got to have a full on proper paranoid freak out, which was great, because really he's been through A LOT thus far.

And Thursday games have been pretty good... but not overly dramatic.

Although I drove my friend home after the week before last's game and we ended up sitting in the car having a long discussion, which somehow turned into a three-way conversation between the two of us and another DnD friend with both of us texting her and having a weird hybrid conversation until 3am. It was odd, but also something I think we all needed.

Also, speaking of Thursdays, I came home after DnD this Thursday to discover my slightly creepy, older male neighbour standing out on the landing in the dark, in front of my apartment, smoking... which is bad enough... but also I'm 99% sure, absolutely bare ass naked.

No. Just no. What even are you doing, you creepy fucker.

I had already been intending to contact my land agent about the fact that he smokes around the apartments (which I'm pretty sure isn't allowed), but now this fresh weirdness makes it a certainty.

Last Saturday Ma had her haircut happening, and we really didn't have anything we needed to do. Plus she was still packing up her place in order to move (more on THAT shortly), so she came down briefly and then headed off.

Which was good, because last Saturday turned into the "everybody wants Yani" afternoon, in the best possible way. Lets just say that there are times when you put yourself out there and spend a lot of energy getting nowhere and other times when you're just minding your own business and people come running to you. I like the latter times much better, but they're also so much rarer, but I enjoy them while they last.

So, yeah, basically I spent Saturday afternoon entertaining not one but two gentleman callers (consecutively, not concurrently). Yeah, I'm bragging... but it's such a rare occurrence I feel I'm allowed.

Then we get to early this week, when Ma finally confirmed when she was getting the keys for the new place (Wednesday), and then moving (Friday). If I had known then what I know now, I would absolutely told her to tell them that she couldn't move until next Tuesday at the earliest. Because she was not ready.

But it happened anyway.

So this Thursday she and I went on a trip to IKEA to get her a wardrobe (since the new place doesn't have built-ins for some reason) and a chest of drawers (for essentially the same reason, and the exact same set that I have).

Which was all well and good... and we basically got in and got out relatively quickly all things considered (also, first thing on a week day morning is both surprisingly busy, and the absolute best time to go). The wardrobe we couldn't get into Ma's tiny car, so that got delivered, but we took the drawers straight to the new house.

And I proceeded to drop one of the two boxes, corner first onto my foot. Not enough to say, break my foot, but enough to make me regret all of my life choices.

Ma's new place isn't bad... although I always hate when landlords or housing authorities choose to paint walls that light beige colour instead of just using plain white. White is ALWAYS the right answer... and would have made the place feel a little less... I don't know... "old lady" I guess. I mean that's what Ma is, and the types of people who get put into these houses, but still.

But yeah, it's not bad... as I said to someone today, there are less rooms, but more room, if that makes sense. It's also only a hop skip and a jump down the road from the old place, which is only really relevant during the moving process. And no stairs, which is a blessing.

Then we went back to Ma's current place. And I got a look at how absolutely NOT READY to move the following day she was. I mean I'm hardly an expert (see also January 2014 and February 2016) but just walking into her house, I knew that moving day was going to be a complete and total pain in the ass.

And I wasn't wrong.

But we did some packing and some reorganising (my top moving tip is always: pile all your moving boxes in one area so you can still move around... second only to: put everything the movers are taking in the same room and/or part of the house) before I had to head home... had it not been for the case that my Thursday night DM was running a game specifically for myself and another player who had been there for a number of previous sessions I might have stuck around... and I might have organised it that way if I'd known. But also if I'd known where she was at, I would have made her put off the move to be honest.

And I will be honest, that everything about Thursday just did my head in... we all know I hate moving and I hate change... but as I messaged one of my friends during the afternoon, in response to the question "has it been one of those days"...

"sleep deprived, hot, feeling vaguely ill, dealing with moving stress, dealing with my mother dealing with moving stress, dealing with change... dealing full stop"

Also, thank the gods for that particular friend for keeping me sane over the two days of moving, he was a lifesaver.

Anyway.

Friday morning rolled around, I rolled out of bed, into the shower, realised I didn't have any milk so made cereal using Iced Coffee (weird, but not terrible) and headed down the road. I left a little later than I wanted to, so the movers were already there by the time I showed up.

Why is it always the case that when one half of any two man trademan type team is in their late 50's, early 60's, the other one is always barely 20 and built like a stick insect? I genuinely want to know.

Anyway, I started filling up my car with things that we knew the movers wouldn't be moving (or that Ma didn't want them to move) and did a couple of runs before the movers finished up, then when they were on their way, I stayed at the new house and waited for them. And then when Ma rocked up, I got back in my car and packed up a load of stuff at the old place again.

I did faff about the old place for a while, trying to move as much stuff as I could downstairs to make our lives easier later in the afternoon, but there's only so much you can do when it's a) not your stuff and b) you keep thinking "why the fuck wasn't this already in a fucking box so the fucking movers could have taken it".

So by the time I got back again, the movers were mostly done, I unpacked the car again, and we sent the movers on their way. We also needed to wait for the IKEA delivery guy, who was supposed to show up between 11am and 3pm... and I fully expected him to be there at 3pm... but Ma got the message that he was on the way shortly after the movers left just as we were thinking about lunch options... so at least we didn't have to reorganise the rest of the day around waiting.

We went and grabbed some Oporto for lunch, then back to the old house to work out what the fuck needed to happen next.

The answer was carry a bunch of bullshit downstairs and pack the cars up, repeat until dead.

But we got there eventually.

And after work, one of Ma's coworkers showed up and helped out, which turned out to be somewhat of a godsend, even if he did have a front row seat to the tired and sleep deprived version of the Ma and Yani show. Which is a great show, don't get me wrong, but yeah...

Everything that was left when we finished packing up the cars was either cleaning stuff to be left behind, random shit and probably needed to be chucked and a very small amount of "still need to pack that up" detritus.

We got back to the new place, unpacked everything and then I settled in to build Ma's IKEA wardobe, so her clothes actually had a place to live.

Anyone who has been around should know that I'm pretty fucking good at building IKEA shit. I built 3 Billy bookcases, 3 of those narrower cases that should be Billy but probably aren't, a "cafe/bar" table and two stools, a kitchen workbench, a small chest of drawers and a large chest of drawers. I'm pretty decent at this shit.

The wardrobe kicked my ass more than it should have. I claim complete and total exhaustion... but I had to take the sides off and put them back on the correct way up at one point. And while the doors close, they don't line up and there is a huge gap between two of them that may or may not have been part of the original design (if not, then I have NO idea why it's there). And the nailing the back on was a decided clusterfuck. But it went together and didn't immediately fall down when we put clothes in it, so I'm calling that a win.

Ma pottered around while I did that, and her workmate had to leave for a little while, but came back at a certain point (helped me stand up the wardrobe so I could finish it) and reorganised everything that the movers had put into places that Ma didn't like (mostly the box placement). And he rearranged the furniture in the living room (to the room design Ma and I came up with on the fly) and got things a little better organised so that the "oh god, oh god, oh god" feeling that always accompanies the day after a move when you see the chaos of your life spread across the floor of a new house.

Weirdly one of the topics of discussion was all the possible places we could put the Christmas tree in December... and there were a surprisingly large number of options, which is good.

And it was about 11pm by the time we all called it quits.

I was pretty damn shattered by that point... and driving home was a bit of an adventure... as was the simple act of walking from the car to the house. But I took a quick shower and fell into bed.

And my body pretty much gave up at that point. Everything just hurt. I also think that every time I would have just rolled over in my sleep I woke up because my body went "nup, can't do that boo, hurts too much".

This morning was... an adventure. I was convinced that my back was going to render me a useless lump, and the first steps out of bed were inconclusive. I could walk, but I was basically a little old man. Plus there was the lovely cough, from inhaling all the dust that comes along with a move.

A hot shower and some general movement helped, and I headed out to do my shopping an hour late, but still able to move, albeit a little slowly.

You know how they say "never go grocery shopping when you're hungry"... I would add "or the day after you've helped somebody move house" to that as good life advice. I basically bought frozen meals because I couldn't be bothered... and if I ended up flat on my back, I could at least feed myself to a degree. So the trolley looked a little sad, and I probably bought some comfort foods to just make myself feel better.

And carrying groceries up the stairs at my place was something of a challenge, but not horrible.

But then this afternoon I had a friend's engagement party... which mean I had to dress like a "grown up" for the first time in almost two years, and most of the people I knew at the party had never seen me in anything but nerdy tshirts, so that was amusing.

I basically hung out with the people I already knew, which is usually what happens at any kind of party, especially one where it seems like it's mostly family. But it was nice to be their for the pair of them, because while I mostly know him, she's lovely. I also got to meet his mum after hearing a lot about her, and she's fantastic.

So we hung out, ate some really good food, then made our leave when it seemed like the correct time do to so. I think the standing around was probably better for me than just sitting around the apartment, but I may pay for it tomorrow.

And I came home and had a nap, because I just couldn't even anymore.

But here we are... all caught up.

Now I really need to sleep... and hopefully I'll be a little better tomorrow.

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photo saturday: minifig-hers

The theme of this year's holiday celebrations is "last minute".

I don't like last minute.

For example, I only got around to making Ma's 2019 calendar a couple of weeks ago, and only printed it and got it appropriately bound this week.

And the printer didn't want to play nicely, which meant that they all printed a little weirdly. Which is on top of the fact that the focus is off enough on the individual minifig faces that I want to entirely remake the calendar.

But anyway...

Oh, because I never got around to posting anything about last Sunday's trip to Ma's place for the annual making of the goodies, here's an image of the end result, followed by the shortest possible synopsis.

• I didn't go down there super early
• we got distracted by more interesting but less productive things
• I managed to completely forget how to make the candy cane truffles (although they worked out fine in the end)
• this year's Turkish Delight was the best for cutting up we've had in a good long time
• I always need to remember to add a little Copha to the chocolate for Rocky Road
• Ma's marble cutting board makes the best photo background
• I came home later than I would have liked, but it didn't really matter that much

I also took some along to two of the three DnD games this week. They were well received, as always. 

This week's DnD was about average. Although on Monday I finally got to fun for the guy who ran for me on Thursday last week, so that was nice. And for the first time in a while, they actually managed to stretch a two hour module out to around 4 hours.

Wednesday's game was less intense than the previous one, a little more annoying at time, and as characters we said goodbye to one of the group who has been around for a while now, but I think the last couple of modules have been a little too much for both character and, to a lesser extent, player.

But we did come up with several of the stupidest plans ever at the end of the game, while resulted in two somewhat competing plans that saw us Looney Tuning it, "cutting" a hole in the floor under the villain, then she and one of the characters plummeted 1000 feet down the side of a mountain (he survived, she didn't). It was supposed to be a big fight that should have taken about an hour... because of ridiculousness we managed to wrap it all up in under 20 minutes even though we were mostly out of health, spells and fucks to give.

Thursday's game my S/M cleric made a friend and found a protege... but also had to both actually heal someone AND do damage to an enemy (I'd made a bet with myself on how long it would take... answer, two and a half games). Granted it was the same person more than once, and he only ever did it when they got knocked out... because of course.

The protege thing snuck up on me... I didn't realise until the player told me at the end of the game... my character would have known... he's more insightful than my dumbass. So we'll see where that goes. Also, as a general rule, never start a staring contest with me.

Thursday was also both Haircut Day and the day I went to get the calendar bound.

Not at the same time though.

It's always good when your friend/hairdresser has tradesmen working in their yard and one of them is very cute and definitely worth perving on.

As far as the haircut is concerned... the same, and also the same silvery dye job we've done a couple of times now.

Tink's older daughter appeared half-way through (not like a magic trick or anything, the older one was on errands with dad, the younger one was at childcare) and made me a very pretty rainbow loomband bracelet (like, it's legitimately really nice looking), then I just hung around with Tink for a while, and ended up discovering how to make a perfect paper aeroplane (by accident... I did what I would normally have done up to a certain point and then accidentally did something different and shazam, perfect plane), drew a drawing and then took myself home (followed by going straight back out to Officeworks to get the calendar done).

I then needed to go and pick up the calendar on Friday afternoon, since it was better if I left it there overnight so that they didn't have to rush it. And the final version looks good, all things considered (focus issues notwithstanding).

Then today wasn't much of anything really.

Ma was getting her hair did this morning, so I did the supermarket run on my own... And I know I say this any time there's a holiday or whatnot, but why do all of you people appear out of the woodwork only at these times? And why does everyone lose their mind buying food at Christmas. I mean, I get it... but even so, fucking calm down and go away.

Anyway... I did my thing, and managed to get home relatively quickly (granted I got there earlier than I might otherwise do when I'm shopping alone). Then hung out and waited for Ma to arrive.

The plan had been to go to the movies. But everything was either not that interesting, on too late (relatively speaking) or too far away.

So we didn't do anything. We sat around and chatted for about quarter of an hour and then she toddled off home.

But a better plan than battling through all of the stupid unorganised Christmas shoppers, even just to go to the movies.

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photo saturday: sky kites

Well, it's been a weird old fucking week...

And I know I said that last week, but this week really did put last week in the dust.

To start off with we went from shorts weather to torrential rain and wind strong enough to bring down a tree down the road from my house. So that did my head in a little. Partially because I didn't sleep that well for the first couple of days.

DnD this week was... let's say "extra", and not least of all because there was an extra session of it. I love being able to work either character building or additional world building in when I'm running a game, and I got to do both on Monday... partially because two of my players had given me additional information about their characters, which meant I had to make up some "off the books" roleplay mechanics for one of them (which was fine, I basically just stole the idea from a game called Honey Heist and modified it as necessary).

But I am losing one of my players for a couple of months when he heads back home to Canada for Christmas... so that's a bit of a bummer. But he will be back. I just need to snag a couple of extra people for my table in the interim though.

Tuesday I got laid... I wasn't expecting to get laid, but then suddenly the offer was right there and, really, what else did I have happening... so it was a couple of pleasant hours. It also meant that parts of my body that don't usually get a workout were sore for several days. Not that I'm complaining.

Wednesday was basically a full day of DnD... I mean not FULL, but I went to the day game, hung around for a while afterwards, got home around 4:30 and then turned around and left again just before 5:30 for the night game.

Unfortunately my long standing character from the day game finally met her end this week... at the eye stalk of a zombie beholder... disintegrated into a fine powder along with all her belongings that weren't magical. So that was a thing. I'm actually not traumatised about it or anything... I have a backup character I've been playing more often recently than her, so I can switch over to him. And there are two possible plans for bringing her back... but I'm going to hold onto both of them for now, if only to allow the DM to traumatise the other players a little.

I'm also probably okay with either leaving her dead or bringing her back and essentially retiring her. But I'm not making any decisions just yet. It's still a little too soon.

As far as the evening session went, it was a fairly light on session, mostly dealing with the fallout from the revelation about my character in the previous session. Sadly, the player I really wanted/needed to be there for that wasn't... so that will have to play out on another occasion. I will say that I made the exact right choice about which of the other players to get to read out my letter... I was sitting over on the couch instead of being at the table and I will admit that I got a little choked up hearing it... even though I was the one who wrote it and I've read it through myself about half a billion times.

I think both the character and I felt some relief in the secret being out, but having everyone not like the character (because that's basically who all of my characters are/have been and basically who I am... please like me, I'm needy) is so weird and I keep wanting to fix it, but I also know that it needs some time, which I'm also not good at. But we'll see how things come together... especially when the missing character comes back.

Weirdly, the first character to come and speak to me/him turned out to be significant, even though I didn't realise it at the time... because sometimes you just need a signal from your fictional god to let you know you're on the right path.

Anyway...

Thursday I ended up going to DnD... I wasn't sure if I could be bothered, but decided I'd rather go and discover it had been a bad idea than not go.

And it still may be bad... there was only a couple of tables worth of people, but fortunately I managed to talk my way onto the "slot zero" table, of DMs who are running the epic adventure this weekend, which I wasn't particularly interested in going to... but I was happy to help out, and we had a really good time, mostly because of the collection of people who were playing/test running the adventures (including the woman I chatted with at AVCon and her wife, which was unexpected).

But it was a pleasant evening. Not sure if it's always going to be worth going, but I might give it a try while we're playing the other game on Wednesday nights.

Friday wasn't much of anything, beyond cleaning up the apartment, because it was a bit of a trainwreck, as much as it's ever a trainwreck (and if it is, it's usually just to do with dirty dishes).

Today ending up being a pretty good day...

Because today was the Norwood Christmas Pageant, we went shopping super early... so early in fact that we were finished by the time that we would normally have been getting there. And other than all the old people who probably normally go that early, it wasn't super busy.

Afterwards we headed to the newly refurbished Haighs factory/head office/store on Greenhill Road. It's very fancy. Although weirdly it feels like there's less stuff in there, even though I'm pretty sure that there's actually more. That's visual design for you.

From there we headed down to Unley Road to go to the Alliance Française French Market... but when we got there we discovered that the Etsy Made Local market was on essentially across the road, so we spent most of our time there.

It was a damn good market too... it went a good way down the side road and there were a ton of stalls. So instead of going to into the city for Christmas shopping, we got a bunch of stuff done there.

Have I mentioned how incredibly disorganised we are this year... it's the end of fucking November and we've barely done anything Christmas shopping related. Not really our finest hour... or season... or whatever.

But after the Etsy stuff, we headed over to the French Market, which was... French, I guess. It wasn't really much of anything to be honest. We did get some nice lunch at Frencheese... because potato with melted cheese on it is never a bad idea. There wasn't really much else there of interest though, so I'm glad we found the Etsy market.

And we pretty much called it a day there.

Also, in case you haven't been paying attention, it's a month until Christmas.

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