Don Comes to Town

Don will arrive imminently. He is now an illegal citizen and will soon depart the this country for good. He's heading to Laos. Probably not a bad choice. The building work carries on and is, frankly becoming a pain in the derriere. They are good chaps, of course, but not being ablr to cook and feeling restricted in my own home is a bore. The house has been full of people for about four weeks now and is a nightmare for someone of my delicate misdonmenuer. STill, it will be great when it's finished. Watching Grace these days is amazing. There is so much going on inside her head. I attempt to influence her slightly. She has been watching The Lord of the Rings these past few days, and enjoying it. I am in a bit of a fantasy glut at the moment which may not be very healthy for her as princesses, monsters and castles seem to be the main subject of conversation. And then there is Big Bad Barry who lives in the local pond in what is, Sunnyview. The worst thing about Sunnyview is exactly that. It's name. It conjures up images of Four Marks where dear Joel used to live; the most devoid, characterless village in Christandom. Though we did our best to destroy it. Sunnyview is great for kids, but heaving with gossip and neighbourly disputes. I've been off work for about two weeks and there is innane sports week going on; three hours of cheering practice and dancing, 2 hours for lunch and a five minute running race at the end. Oi is well into her school, possibly to her detriment. Fortunately she has been recognized as an excellent teacher, not hard when everyone else is bone idle. And because of this she has been earmarked by the Thai establishment as someone they should keep. This may lead to good things for her in the future; like earning 2 pieces of coal a year instead of one, but we shall see. Meanwhile there is a mass exodus of casual teachers going on. On the 12th of August anyone seen to be border running is out.

Sports Week

More holidays as it's Sports week and we don't have to teach, just sign in and escape very quickly. So, I've been at home while the building work has been going on. This has been okay, but I feel a bit restricted about wandering about outside as I like to do. Still, it's time off and I've been laminating cards, playing the excellent Lord of the Rings card game and eating lots of sandwiches. The extension looks awesome I should say. The kitchen is going to be huge. It's a galley with a worktop either side. The door at the end leads to a newly constructed covered area which will be paved and to be home to a large hardwood table for outside activities. It's going to be great. Grace is so active it's hard to remain calm with her. Moments of cleverness had me playing Snap and the matching card games with her, and she loves exploring the games I've bought.

Building Work

It's a few days at home for us all. There is building work going on. We are doubling the size of the kitchen at the rear and putting up an outside roof with a tiled area for outside lunches and parties. We also had the rear wall reinforced and a drainage system that picks up water from all around the house and discharges it into the street at the front. The builder is a family friend and a lovely guy. They work fast and hard. Every day there has been substantial progress made. The roof is up already and the existing kitchen stripped and one wall knoked down to ajoin the extension. All quite exciting really, as all these things (buying the house, having extensions etc. are suddenly a reality). A bit different to the normal renting, living from paycheck to paycheck as is the norm.

Indeed, I have positively spoiled myself with games from Battlefield Bangkok. The kind chap, Chris from UK, I believe and a Tai Kuondo expert runs the shop and is super kind with lightening  efficiency. My games are ordered from overseas, arrive and are dispatched the moment I transfer the money, which isn't a lot for a few games. I just ordered a paint set from Games Workshop (Peter may remember) to coat all my lovely Descent fantasy figures. I bought a super lamp for close-up work; very bright and looks like a robot.

There is a package arriving tomorrow with two expansions for Descent (Trollfens and Halls of Nerekhall) and two entire fleets of Star Wars ship, with which I can commence galactic warfare. In the mail is 2 core sets, X-Wing and TIE fighter expansions, 2x B-Wing expansion, Millenium Falcon and Slave 1. I will be able to conduct a fleet of 7 TIE fighters or 4 X-Wings in a single battle. Quite awesome.

There are more ships on back order (they have to make another batch) of Vader's ship, Y-Wings (my fav), TIE interceptors and Rebel transports, as seen in Hoth escape in Empire Strikes Back.

I have been spending soothing moments neatly trimming the various cards and really look forward to painting goblins and heroes. I envisage a captivating experience.

Actually, one reason for getting these games is to break up the "drinking every night" culture that exists here; to do something different, though I, for one, got blind on the initial game. I blame it on my nerves.

Enough.

Descent Pix

 

Harry

 

 

Arun

 

Jon

Descent

Hosted the first game in Descent last night.

As night fell, a massive downpour and powercut sent by God did it's best to deter the young adventurers. Two were forced to turn back. Jon and Harry came riding through and an emergency call to Arun saw him coming to the rescue. Thus, the brave party consisted of three fine warriors; a fighter, a mage and a thief.

Many beers were drunk, the party fought bravely and sent the mighty Ettin, Mauler to his death. Arun getting the final death throw in with his handy knives.

It was a lot more fun than I expected actually and I drank way too much beer, forgetting all restrictions in the blinding fun that ensured.

I woke up downstairs at some early hour and crawled into bed.

In the morning receiving condeming look s from wife and daughter.

Oh well. It was huge fun.

Mid Term

Coming up to exam week thank god.

It's been lots of work and what with Grace, there has been little time for any escape.

I started lifting some weights which has revitalised me somewhat though as soon as I sit down from working, I immediately feel very tired, and in no mood for any activity as I would like to do.

I have been waiting weeks for my Star Wars spaceships to arrive which is a bit of a pisser and I have not felt the urge to attempt getting friends together for my other games. I expect I will be dead before that time arrives. Horrific, I know.

I love these games that I have bought. I hope I get passed the point of merely gazing at all the pieces and imagining actually playing a game. Bloody Hell.

I actually watched a movie two nights ago. First in ages. It was shite but quite fun; Non Stop with Irish rogue Liam Neeson. I think they have lost the abilty to make movies. The French Connection lies in my collection awaiting a viewing.