The Meme Challenge!
- Post ten of any pictures currently on your hard drive that you think are self-expressive.
- No captions. It must be like we're speaking with images and we have to interpret your visual language just like we have to interpret your words.
- They must already be on your hard drive - no google or flickr! They have to have been saved to your folders sometime in the past. They must be something you've saved there because it resonated with you for some reason.
- You do not have to answer any questions about any of your pictures if you don't want to. You can make them as mysterious as you like. Or you can explain them away as much as you like.

Here goes..

OH how I relate to this skit!
If I had a dollar for every time I have had someone say "You're so weird", I would have at least a thousand bucks for nothing.
Lets face it, some of the shit I say is Way Out There, or at least from a tangent you are afraid to investigate further than absolutely necessary (this is often the tangent you mentally take when someone points at a screen full of static and says "Do you see a gorilla face there? A gorilla in a tutu, eating goldfish? look, there it goes again!")

But you know, I mean you no harm.
I try to make sense of it all, because I swear, most folks are looking at the static and seeing goldfish eating, tutu wearing gorillas and demanding that I look until I see it as well...

I'm a product of the prevailing environment.

Just read this news piece on a couple of cases.. one is a woman who had some brain damage and now has trouble recognizing her own children in a crowd, the other a lady who can recognize just about anyone she has met for 30 seconds, several weeks ago.

There was a link to a web site with tests you can take.

On the first test, I scored 97%, or WELL above normal.
So the next time we are watching some movie or TV show and I say "Oh, that is that person from that other show."

Just take my word for it.
And no, I did not realize that this was an unusual trait.. I thought everyone had about the same level of facial recognition.

Turns out we don't.

Go figure.

I need to be less honest when I am drunk.

Alltern8.com | D&D 4th ed: Need a random shop?


I don't know how or why, but this blog post just smashed the record for numbers of hits in under 24 hours.
Hey, I'm not complaining, but WTF?
Did I accidentally use exactly the right google keywords or something?

I have a few ideas scribbled down for future D&D blog posts, but I was wondering if anyone had any special requests for topics.. do you want monsters? Weird alchemical concoctions? Gadgets of cunning artifice? Magical mayhem? Weird and wonderful locations? Charts and tables of amusing diversity? Items of legend, of infamy and disrepute?
How about barbarians with laser guns riding giant flaming air squid?

Hit me with your wild ravings.. I can take it.
I live for it
I need it baby

I dare ya.

Seriously ending the year on a high note, my D&D blog article http://www.alltern8.com/library/tabletop_collectible_card_games/dd_4th_ed_how_to_make_a_troll_serum/l-4556.html has made it to Front Page on the web site, that means banner advertising and more hits than a toy stuffed with sweets at a Spanish child's party.
Maybe writing is a viable second career, or very slow moving primary career for me?
Who knows, the idea I think, is to plug away at it and just hope for the best.
So often it seems we don't realize what we are really good at until our peers tell us, in no uncertain terms, that we are good at.. what they enjoy about what we do.
Anyway, feeling great, have a rather indulgent spread of delicious food set out for myself tomorrow, the list is too long to type out here, but suffice to say, it is great eating.
I am also indulging in a little intoxication, and with a day off in this gorgeous summer weather... why not eh?

Merry Christmas my most excellent friends and loved ones.
I am thinking off all of you, as always, on this special day.
I hope your year brings you as many highs as mine, with a few less of the lows.. but you know, years from now, I will look back on this one and remember it as one of quite a blunt contrast between the highs and the lows.

And really, that is what life is all about right?

The dreaded Troll Serum is one of those sick and twisted ideas I once sprang on my players, which turned out to be hilarious.

Alltern8.com | D&D 4th ed: How to make a Troll Serum.

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I just got promoted to level two writer status on www.alltern8.com along with four other bloggers.

I'm... I'm getting paid to write.

I am fairly jazzed right now, this was one of those things on my life-long To Do list.

It's not a lot of money, but that matters less than the fact I can now say that, yes, I am a professional writer.

It's like my brain is wearing a nice suit now.

The lovely folks at Alltern8.com have installed my first official D&D blog!

Although I'm going to have to wait a while before they start paying me to do this kind of thing, I'd appreciate it if any of you could go clicky and take a gander, because it features one of my favorite things in the whole world.

Random Roll Tables!
(*squee!*)

Just me?
OK then..

Anyway www.alltern8.com/library/tabletop_collectible_card_games/dd_4th_ed_random_encounter_motivations/l-4423.html is the link.
I am very proud of my title logo.. took me an entire 15 minutes using microsoft paint!
I tell you, the things you can do with that program are so often overlooked.
I mean, there's copy, and paste!
That right there is half of anything a graphic designer actually does.. really, they are up to their elbows in scotch tape and bullgum glue all day, I swear to you.

I'm not as sore today as I should be, all things considered..

Recap:

Friday was my day off, so I stayed up all night after work, started the day with a stale can of Kentucky bourbon and cola (I know, I know, but hey, it doesn't count as breakfast if you have not slept yet), teamed up with Don and Becs, we hired a trailer, went over to their old flat, surveyed the task at hand and I went into "AJ the ex-moving man" mode.
Washer, dryer, bed base, Becs gets a concussion, bed, sets of drawers, a few lead lined kitchen boxes... (seriously, what the hell was in those things? They just blasted my arms by the end of the second load).
Big praises on Bec's trailer reversing skillz.. I'm afraid my directions for reversing were probably a bit scew-wiff due to the second can of bourbon and cola.
Second trip, shelving unit, more drawers, antique chest, lots o boxes, everything wrapped safe for stacking in the wire walled trailer.
The sun hammered down, shirt off, lugging the last few boxes and... time for a powerade and a lie down.

Then finally, off home to get a good mid day's sleep. ahhhh... well ok, not a good sleep, but it's the lack of being awake which counts.
Sometimes sleep is just good for dividing one day from another.

Work today was crazy busy, many thanks to Becs for the loan of the Scooter.. sometimes I fail at bus time table checking when my work hours get randomly tinkered with.

My new hair cut (I think this is by far the shortest it has ever been.. just a touch off shaved bald really) is nice and cool, easy care and hey, I was right, I do have lots of old scars on my head.
Thanks for that, older siblings and adventurous farm boy childhood!
There is at least one large scar there that I have no recollection of getting...
Hmmm..

Anyway, work is going very well, with compliments about my performance. The delayed contract is finally getting seriously chased down for me, and I'm all sorted for my roster up until Christmas and beyond.

The Tuesday night game (and drinking session) is kicking into high gear this week, as the guys have finished the introductory quest and are off on their first real, serious mission.
The location was randomly generated on my home brewed tables, and sure enough, the situation is completely wild!
They have been hired by the Manu snail people to rescue them from some insane dragons who are going through some sort of decade long dragon-rage. The location is the great fungus forest found in the ten mile deep ear channel of the Great World Serpent Jörmungandr!
The snail folk are offering ten cans of the universe's most precious ear wax if they can be safely relocated to a new home, or twenty cans of wax if the dragons can be subdued or eliminated somehow.

Now that is what I call an exotic adventure to strange and distant lands!

Right, time for an early night I think.
2.40am ha ha ha!
Oh the life of a night shift worker.. it's like permanent jet lag or something.

FIRST NAME: Adam (technically), but although I might introduce myself as that, my name to friends and family, as well as the name I sign to books and written work, is AJ.

AGE: 36, born in the year of the Water Ox, in a small white room in Rotorua, under slightly mysterious circumstances that it is best not to dwell on for too long, as they are not actually that important to the overall narrative structure of the tale. I was born on Valentines day, which is inconvenient when trying to organize a birthday party, but I am an Aquarius as a result of the month, and that is just awesome!
This is the age of Aquarius after all, so I know exactly what is going on and am cool with everything.. any questions, just send me an email.

LOCATION: Hamilton, New Zealand. I've lived in NZ all my life, although I wasn't born in Hamilton - I did most of my growing up in Turangi and then Whitianga. Turangi is kind of a dull, dank and miserable town, I am glad we moved out of there, prior to living in the town we were just outside it on a little farm, which was AWESOME.. it broke out hearts to have to leave there really. I spent my youth in Whitianga (Coromandel peninsula) and grew up working in the family restaurant, which funded some trips overseas, provided a stable base to return to after travels to Auckland and down south and taught me how to cook. I moved to Hamilton pretty much on a whim and fell in love with the place.. it is now my home.

OCCUPATION: I work as a Gaming department Machine Operator.. I wear a nice uniform, look after the slot machines and hopefully, I will be writing blogs professionally in my spare time in the near future.
Prior to this Casino job, I worked for Waikato Hospital for a little while as a storeman and delivery guy, which was not that sucky, but the manager was a knob, and before that I was Site Manager at Caltex Naylor street, before it was sold for a tidy profit by the owner and demolished.. it is now a day care center. Other work in Hamilton includes the Genesis Energy call center and working heroicly for Steel and Tube as a level two storeman, where I was refered to as "The Machine"... never again will I work that hard, on this I swear.
I remember one time my friend Iain commented that he was walking up a inclined street with me and puffing away, I was marching up the street like the incline was not even there... ha ha ha.. I don't think I will be that fit again for the rest of my life.

KIDS: Not likely at this stage, and really, not up to me. If it did eventuate, I'd be happy to be a dad, but it is not something I will care about unless it actually happens, in which case my entire world view will shift instantly to center around being a dad. Until then.. meh.

BROTHERS/SISTERS: Oldest is Kim, she is currently living in Australia, then there is Wade, living somewhere near Auckland, and then Ned, she is living down on the west coast.. unfortunately, both my sisters married guys I am now obligated to have to shoot on sight (well, I say obligated, but I'd be happy to do it in all honesty). My brother Wade has five kids, Ned has three and Kim has one. When I was little, living on the farm near Turangi, we had two foster brothers called Malcolm and Grant, and I sort of have another sister, Tracy, who is such a close friend of Ned and me that she is really a part of the family. Same with Neera, Max, JP and "Uncle" Selwyn (rip).

PETS: I share the house with Tuttoo the Fairy Princess, whom I love. I am definately a cat person, and they seem to like me as well.

3-5 THINGS GOING ON IN MY LIFE: Working at the casino (went from part time to full time and am on the cards for a fill-in supervisor role at some point), trying to balance work and life by shifting to daytime hours come January, with Monday/Tuesday off. Getting at least one Dungeons and Dragons game per week, accomplished by sheer providence really, as some guys at work are into it as well, and who knows, maybe Iain will have a spot for me in the Monday game, later on?
Related to D&D is the recent pursuit of paid Blogging work for a special interest site called Alltern8.com where I shall be posting once a week on D&D stuff.
Aside from Gardening and trying to spend more time with loved ones and friends, I have little else going on.

PARENTS: Two, both married young (by today's standards) and are still together, living a working retirement in Katikati with one cat (came with the property), a goat, a herd of chickens, some ducks, a grove of kiwifruit, heaps of citrus and a giant avocado tree.
My Gran also lives with them (mother's mum), I also have Dad's mum and my step grandad living over in Aussie. I have one uncle in Hamilton whom I rarely see (mum's bro), one living in Canada who I wish I could go visit (mum's bro), one in Aussie who is one of life's unique people (Dad's bro), an aunt in Canada I barely know at all (mum's sister) and one living at the family house in Whitianga (Dad's sister, and the house is her's by consensus for the rest of her days).. I have a few cousins, but we are not close.

CLOSE FRIENDS: Woooo, ok, chronologically and not repeating multiples of Mark, Paul, etc...
Conrad, Tama, JP, Max, Shane, Trent, Rowen, Paul, Daniel, Weston, Robin, Sarah, Anna, Angela, Shannon, Raylene, Pomare, Mark, Gene, Candice, Pete (Strongwolf), Ange, Jo, Alison, Simon, Nile, Kristen, Gary, Claire, Sue, Donna, Charles, Lee, Verena, Iain, Errol, Kelly, Rosco, Dave, Robert, Sam, Hazel, Gerwin, Malcolm, Diane, Natalie, Hannan, Jessica, Scott, Lyz, Katherine, Lem, Jason, Faran, Michael, Clint... to name a few.
I tend to make friends, and have a long memory.
Except for birthdays.. don't even ask me when my Mum's is, because I don't know. I have it written down somewhere safe.

Normally I have a very twitchy delete finger when it comes to checking email, and thus I will delete anything that I don't recognize, anything with the word 'free' in the subject line never even makes it to my in box.. I am toying with the idea of auto junking anything sent from the entire Yahoo network.. but every now and then, something pops in there that actually gets my attention.

OK, lets say once every ten years.

This one was an offer sent from www.alltern8.com/
I'm not sure if they saw some of my blogging online or just sent the email randomly, but they are accepting applications from people interested in blogging for them, at first for free, then as the hits increase and based on the number of posts, it becomes paid work.

Now, I already post RPG related stuff for free, so I have nothing to lose from doing it for possible monetary rewards, however, I am concerned that I will be able to do it on a weekly basis.

But then, I run a weekly game and I create material for that all the time... and if there is one thing Dungeons and Dragons players like, it is blogs that post about stuff they can use in their games.
While I could use the blog to talk about theory and tactics, hints and tips.. there are many bloggers that do that already.. but not that many, as far as I know, concentrate on usable resources.
I know of a few excellent locations to pick up freely offered material (public access), and I have my own creations (obviously, I'm going to have to do the monster entries without using my hard drive load of monster images, unless I get express permission from up and coming artists for a free plug on the blog) and I love to make random roll tables and the like... so really, it just comes down to time and effort.

I am seriously considering it.
First though, I want to create a decent backlog of stuff so that I always have something I can throw in at a moment's notice.. maybe aim for a regular weekday post on a Friday... hmmm

OK, more on this if it pans out!

On the health front... Getting over the lurgy is directly proportionate to the requirement to go get a medical cert if I take one more day off work... I hate going to the doctors, I'll just load up on cold meds and vitamins and to hell with the joint pain, mucus and dizzy spells!
It's all in my head... that's why they call it a head cold right?
Ha Ha Ha *cough cough*!
I'm gonna die

"A big British supermarket chain, Waitrose, is refusing to stock New Zealand-caught hoki - which is certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) - because bottom trawling is used in the fishery"

At first glance at this news piece in the Herald I thought "Ha! Cheeky beggers, we have a great sustainable fishing industry!" and after reading on, I am now of the opinion that they are quite right, we have areas that we need to lift our game and become, not just a sustainable industry, but a fully green industry that is not simply fishing the stock within a safe margin, but rather skimming the cream of the crop from a fully enriched marine environment, with minimal impact on it as far is as possible.

I believe we not only can do this, I think it is the direction we should be going if we want to be the leaders in the export market.

Bottom trawling is stupid and lazy fishing.
To put it in frank terms, it is like ripping the tree out of the ground in order to harvest the apples.

Yeah, really.
It's that stupid.

www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/the-insiders

I'll be leaving log entries of each game, as well as entries on NPC info, maps, etc.

(nice site thanks 3_2_1!)

In other news, I have managed to pick up a sore throat bug and am at home sick.. hope to get some gardening done tomorrow, new leafy greens and herbs to go in, as well as a healthy looking Red Current.
Beautiful weather, yesterday was awesome, hope it continues through to the festive season.

Oh yeah, managed to do a shift swap for the 12/12/09 Christmas dinner with Don and Bec's.
Sweet!

So last night was the first visit of Farron, Jason, Murray and Robin to my house for the Tuesday D&D game, and I think it went really well.
The very basic plot for the evening saw the guys make their way across the city of Sigil using a mirror portal, intimidate some pesky Bugbears and scoot down chasm (called The Ditch) to enter a newly discovered dungeon of some kind, inside it was revealed that this was an ancient dwarven tomb now inhabited by a lesser type of Beholder (called a Gauth) and it's feeble skeleton and zombie dog minions.
Battle was done, the heroes prevailed and managed to acquire almost all of the physical components that they needed to collect, so they could make their own Astrons (kind of like how a Jedi has to make his or her own Light Saber, except the Astron is just a handy navigation tool for traveling around alternate realities, dimensions and planes of existence).

Farron = Olka the Changeling Bard (cross class Warlock)
Jason = Ash the Long tooth Shifter Rogue
Murray = Ilantra the Changeling Warden
Robin = Catanya the Tiefling Warlord (cross class Paladin)

Highlights of the evening include...
Proving once again that 4th edition is easy for people to pick up from scratch and get playing right away.
Farron naming the monsters .. for instance, the Gravehound was named "Piggle-Sticks".
Me managing to pull off a couple of passable Jamaikan accents for Master Blue and Ma Gamyo (the Githzerai Guild leaders).
Jason actually breaking off from the party, flanking the Skeletons from behind and basically being an awesome rogue.
Robin taking a little prompting, but now fully understanding that his character is a leader.. which means striding up to well armed Bugbears and Smack Talking them to distract them from the more sneaky members of his party who are going to attempt to dupe them into backing off.
Murray valiantly grinding the combat rules into his head the hard way, but eventually clicking as to what his role is all about... such as treating his enemies heads like basket balls, getting all up in their faces, and discovering that even his basic attack, minus all the fancy footwork, is good for seriously hurting stuff.

Moment I knew the game was going well... Farron and Robin looking up at the wall clock and saying "Oh shit, is that the actual time?"
Mind you, the case of Bourbon and Cola, box of El Salvador Pilsner and quarter of a bottle of Captain Morgan's spiced gold rum certainly helped!

Bring on next Tuesday!

The Herald says that the native Katipo spider is slowly being out-bred by the South African species Steatoda capensis.. a related type of spider, but still, not prone to biting people (neither is the Katipo actually)... and I really don't care.
The only down sides are.. the new species breeds faster, so in theory there might be more of them, and thus a proportionate increase in the incidents where they might bite someone, and of course, the loss of another native species, which, let's face it, is just the dumb cousin of the Australian Red Back spider.. or the American Black Widow spider.

I'd rather see a third option, if it is inevitable that the Katipo is going to die out in the wild completely.. let's just kill them all off and have no venomous spiders in New Zealand at all.

And those conservation mad turkeys who are galloping about restocking the beach areas with (agitated and displaced) Katipo spiders..
Stop it you idiots! Those are poisonous spiders, we don't actually want them there anyway.

The arrival of Humans is great like that, we get rid of nasty predators and reduce the numbers of species in overly complex and messy ecosystems, until eventually, all the wild species pretty much depend on our continued existance to survive.

Ha ha ha!
What could possibly go wrong?

I'm getting an away-kit organized for the D&D game with the work guys tonight.. selecting from my new Dungeon Tiles and the assorted miniatures I own (and taking the opportunity to re-organize the collection into groups in the miniatures tackle box), gathering the essential books and my file folder of campaign info.. borrowing a bag to stow it in (can't find my old bag for the life of me)... ringing Farron (work mate) to arrange things and ... relax.
I figure by the time we all arrive, it will be around 7.30, we will talk ass for maybe half an hour, then start to look over the books and decide on characters.. then most of the rest of the night will be spent on character creation (man I hope someone there has the Character Builder software installed on their computer), with a bit of an intro to the campaign world and notable characters they will be interacting with, and if it all goes incredibly smoothly... we might get to squeeze in one actual encounter within the game... I doubt it, but I am going well prepared anyway... I even packed a hand full of plasticine.. just in case.

As far as I know, there are two others and possibly a third showing up to play tonight.. I've never been to the venue before, so I have no idea what to expect.

WOOT!

Turns out some guys at work are D&D players, including one current work mate. We are trying to organize a get together for Tuesday over on New Street, at the flat of a guy I have met once (briefly).. A large part of their agreement to come along is my keen willingness to run the game, and it looks like I will be showcasing 4th edition to maybe one or two folks.

So, all good on that front.

Hazazel and I had a wonderful day yesterday, catching up on a lot of time spent passing each other by on way to work or out of sync bed times.. I also got to give her a belated birthday present (or two) and we went for a wander to the Westfield Mall, watched the new movie Surrogates (it was not that bad really, I'll give it a 6 out of 10), and went shopping.. had fun looking at cute and clever stuff at Arbuckles.
The evening saw me crash out and watch some Stargate with Hazazel, and have a bit of a snooze.. she abandoned the room though, due to me sucking all the oxygen out of it and attempting to slow cook her... sorry honey!

Anyway, very nice day off, now I am back to work for the weekend and beyond.
However I do get a double days off "weekend" this week, so I am looking forward to that!

Some would ask, AJ, how do you reset your internal clock to shift between day and night shifts so smoothly?

Well, sometimes I fail, such as last night's Warhammer 40K Dark Heresy RPG game, and sorry to Gerwin, that was uncool of me to konk out like that.

Maybe I should have resulted to more drastic measures, such as this little tool...

ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNO CRITTER!

In reply to crsg

ME:
1. Name: AJ Pickett
2. Date of birth: Valentines Day '73
3. Where you live: Hamiltron (City of the Fuchsia! wait, what?)
4. What makes you happy: Making incremental and insightful improvements to existing systems and designs, increasing net efficiency and enjoyment.
5. Currently listening/the last thing you listened to:  White Stripes "Ball and a Biscuit"
6. Do you read my journal?: Absolutely, it's one of my favs
7. If yes, what makes it especially good or bad?: You help me learn about things I have little experience of, and I like the way you think.
8. An interesting fact about you: I can swim further under water, and faster, than anyone you know, and I will happily take anyone on.
9. What do you love at the moment?: New spring foliage on the trees.
10. Favourite place to spend time: In the backyard, feet up on the picnic table in the sunshine, reading D&D books, having wicked ideas.
11. Favourite lyric: Nothing poetic, it's stuck in my head on repeat though "I was walking with a Ghost, I said please, please don't exist" -white stripes-
12. The best time of the year: Maybe a month from now, who can say, lets find out!

RECOMMEND:
1. A film: Watch "The Thing" followed by "The Fog" and then "The Mist".. by which time it is morning in Hamilton.. now go out in the fog, I dare ya, and have someone throw whole squid at your face... HA HA HA! (where are my pills?)
2. A book: I mourn the loss of David Eddings.. all of his books were great.
3. A band, a song, or album: Led Zepplin.. the simple act of turning blues songs into rock songs, what a great idea.
4. An anime: I haul out and watch Akira every couple of years.

PLUS:
1. One thing you like about me: hard to choose.. ok, at random... your laugh.
2. Two things you like about yourself: My sense of humor, and my creativity.
3. Look at my friends-list and tell what you like about one of our mutual friends: 3-2-1 Letsdance has the biggest heart in the world.
4. Put this in your journal so that I can tell you what I like about you.

Done!

So nice to have a day off with my honey bun, I really should get more sleep but, well, I don't want to be unconscious all day (I'll settle for semi conscious instead I guess), and I just downed two cups of delicious coffee.. oops.

Anyway, I've decided that, even though I will be having my D&D time curtailed by my work hours, there is no reason why I can't still contribute somewhat to the group.. so, I am going to build up a stock pile of weird and/or cool magic items, locations, creatures and encounter combination's (and creations) for my later use, and possibly the use of Iain or other DM's if they can fit them into their existing campaigns.
I quite enjoy making new stuff up for the game, I always have, and since I won't be getting many chances to play, I'll need to get my D&D fix somehow.

And no, World of Warcraft is, really, nothing like D&D.. sure there are Orcs and Elves, they use spells and swing swords at each other... but no.

As for the Sigil Campaign, it would seem, going by the article I just read on the D&D Insider web site, that the R&D folks there are all quite mad keen on the old Planescape setting and the city of doors (Sigil), hence the easy decision to include a large article on it in the second Dungeon Master's Guide..
Leaves me feeling somewhat prophetic.
Also, I wonder if their idea of the plane hopping dynamics of the new game are the same as mine?
From what I have seen so far, I think, largely, that they are.

So that is all good.

Oh yeah, and if you want the Recycling collection guy to take extra bottles and stuff that just won't fit in the regular green bin, just stand there when he is collecting your stuff, thank him before he gets a chance to say no, and scuttle off with your bin before he decides to gripe at you.
Heh heh.

Not as elegant as waving my hand and saying "You will be happy to take my extra crap", but none the less, a mind trick of another sort.
That and the Hamilton Recycling service is pretty damn good.
Way to go folks.

The good news is, the casino have decided to employ me full time, the bad news, is that I will be working all of the week day nights and have a regular weekend off type of working week.. this means I won't be able to continue with either the Tuesday or Friday role playing game evenings with my buddies.
But, I will be able to make the games days and any regular weekend activities, and maybe, just maybe, I could scrape up some interest in a weekend game for my Sigil campaign... *sigh*.... not highly likely, but maybe there would be one or two people who could attend.

Anyway, yay full time work! It will mean regular hours, access to overtime hours, free health insurance, more pay in my account each week and I'll be working my way up to supervisor that little bit faster.

Went to work at around 7pm last night, worked until 5am this morning, now I have work again at 4.45pm until 1am... with another early morning walk home (I hope it is not raining again).
Last night was the Tua vs Cameron fight, the casino was jam packed.. luckily there were not that many raincoats and umbrellas.. but wow, it was busy.. normally during a night I'll process something like 5-10 free parking vouchers (I use them as my indicator of how the night went), last night I did 62.

The reason I pulled a ten hour shift, was that the girlfriend of one of the other gaming machine staff was sick, so he went home early...
Well, at least he made the three of us who were left to deal with the crowds look like heroes.

As for the boxing itself... it seemed to turn all the drunken Samoans who turned up at the door into totally aggressive assholes.. the term "He's had to much Tua" has been coined.
No actual punch ups in the casino all night though, so that was excellent, in fact the mood of everyone was pretty jovial, so although long and very busy, it was an enjoyable night for many reasons.

Very much looking forward to the upcoming Scottish banquet on Hazazel's birthday.

</div>
Note that this is a few minutes long, as it comprises one hundred well known guitar riffs in an unbroken medley.. seriously had me mesmerized.  Now I want to learn how to play a guitar  :(

If ever you are in the mood for an adventure. you have to try taking a ride on the 3.30am Night Rider bus in Hamilton.
First, you take up a wait and watch position next to where all the cops are camped out in the middle of Victoria street, outside the notorious Outback Bar.
Marvel at the skin tight outfits, the extreme displays of drunken idiocy, the shouting, screaming, staggering mass of our nations young adults, engaged in what I once thought was something akin to a good night out... now, I am happy to say, it just slightly amuses and mostly sickens me to watch from a safe distance.

The bus arrives, weaving slowly through the milling mass, I dodge and scramble through the crowd, accepting an apology from a gregarious drunk barely twenty something, who explains "I was not aiming that bottle at you bro"... I accept explanation with good grace (I mean, it was three feet away from me, gently rolling along the pavement.. the bottle, not the guy).. I explain that the bus he wants is the one behind, and we all join the cue to get on... it is very much like a line to a unisex bar room toilet.. with what I never really considered to be "difficult stairs up" until I saw not one, but two blond, shrink wrapped young ladies fall off of with ear shattering screams... to fall back, possibly strategically, into the mass of guys behind them...
I sit, squeezed into my usual seat, right behind the driver in the little nook seat, and yet, I have a couple making out right next to me on the WAY overloaded bus, who seem to think my thigh is perfectly good to sit on, and my shoulder is great to lean into with an elbow.. I don't really mind though, at least they make more of a barrier between my ears and the noise.

The bus takes off, drunken wankers pushing the stop button every 20 seconds, and as we progress, the bus gradually empties out, the noise level gradually decreasing, and then the last gaggle of drunken girls, who it turns out were the nucleus of the noise nova, were dropped off, and I turn to see that I am the last one on the bus.

The security guard looks over... "Hey, don't I know you from somewhere"
"Yes, you do.. we both stayed at Dey street hostel"
Ahhh... how is so and so? Have you seen blah? Where are you working now? etc.
We have a nice chat, and the bus roars down the streets, eventually dropping me off right at the mouth of our quiet little cul-de-sac.

I rub my ears, shake my head and wander the short distance home.

Ahhh alcohol you minx,
What wonders and horrors you hath wrought.

Behold!
Having finished my five night stint of late shifts at the casino, I am enjoying my day off... pity I am enjoying it alone, since everyone else is at work, but, gives me time to mow the lawn and do some minor chores, of which I have been terribly slack at lately.

Yesterday I went into work early so that Retired Police Officer Bob could perform the official Internal Affairs and Police interview for my COA (Certificate of Approval)... which actually cost me around $300 to get but is taken out of my wages (slowly but surely)... in a week or so, I shall be officially "Not A Criminal or Liable to be Suspected of Criminality in past or future Capers, Jobs and/or Hijinks"... I also had the fun experience of having my fingerprints taken for the very first time.
It was so much fun, I want to go do crimes, get caught and do it again!

Ok, I jest.

So, license on the go, I shall go from my mere 40 hours a week part time contract (yeah.. ha ha ha.. what?), to full time, as they are almost hemorrhaging staff at the moment and really need more feet on the gaming floor.
Plus, looking at my pay slip, I have already racked up 6 hours of annual leave, and it looks good for me getting leave to go to Raglan later this month for our weekend away.

Now... on to the Saga of the Tuna Sandwich!
So.. I went for my first half hour break (I get two every night, around three hours apart), down to the staff room, put $1.50 in the meals vending machine and selected the Tuna Sandwich.. reading the very clear label "TUNA".. but unable to see the sandwich inside... yet.
I retrieve the sandwich from the sliding door and rotating tray compartment, sit down and open the pack... hmmm... Why, I wonder, would there be egg in a tuna sandwich?
A bit of lifting and poking later.
There is no tuna at all... this is an Egg sandwich... the one damn thing I can not eat.. actually, if I took a bite of that, I would be off work for the night, curled in pain and swearing dire vengeance..
I eat a pie ($2.00) and finish my break, go back to work and remark, in passing, to my supervisor Michael, about the mislabeled sandwich... he goes "Oh, that sucks, and you are allergic to egg?".... "Yeah" I laugh "That would have sucked if I ate any of it".
Michael wanders off.
Ten minutes later, supervisor Jason shows up with a workplace Health and Safety "Near Miss" form... I laugh and fill it out, stating the facts.
Twenty minutes later, Jason comes and informs me that there is $6 in a locker down near the staff room for me, so I can have a meal... "Can't have you missing out on food bro"... oh cheers man, that's great! I say... kind of stunned.
I go on break, enjoy a nice meal of Pork Fricasse and a can of coke, plus a stick of Mentos mints (yeah, our vending machines are dirt cheap.. that all cost me $6.50).

Last night at work, a sealed envelope is delivered to me by Supervisor Clinton.. he has no idea what it is, we both look worried and I take a look... inside is note from Rose, Human Resources Manager, which reads..
"Hi, Sorry to hear of your tuna sandwich experience! I've advised the kitchen and we are in the process of improving our food offering to staff in general. Enclosed is an F&B (food and beverage) voucher which will hopefully 'reimburse' you! Best regards, Rose"

The voucher is for $10.

So that $1.50 tuna sandwich that was not tuna has actually earned me $14.50.

I am liking this new job!