an engaging weekend

[reverancepavane]

Wow! I'm still <bouncing> from the performance of The Idea of North at The Gov tonight. They played a lot of their old stuff and a quite a bit of excellent new stuff, including a hauntingly beautiful and evocative rendition of Eleanor Rigby that left the crowd in awesomely stunned and a marvelous new comic piece which I've tentatively entitled An Ugly Woman Said No (A Cautionary Tale) which had the audience rolling around on the floor in hysterical laughter (Nick is a brilliant comedic singer). Unfortuneately The Idea of North is not a group you can appreciate simply by listening to their music which is just (?) technically perfect a cappela. It is the energy, enthusiasm, sheer fun and love for their art which raises their live performances to a whole new level. Definitely intimate acappella. I'd recommend going to their next Adelaide gig on July 19, but as it is a fundraising dinner for Musica Viva, I suppose only loonies like me will be attending (at A$195 a head). Hmmmm. But will I need a tax write-off next financial year? I survived Mike and Jane's engagement party, but only just. Probably a combination of the equinox (I never really could cope with balanced situations - there is no differential to draw on) and the process of reconfiguring and streamlining my internal structure for a fast descent. Did you know that people look at you strangely when you ask them the names of the couple getting engaged at an engagement party? (My name look-up table wasn't quite acessable at the time [1]). <grin> Oh well. Again I noted the human behaviour that if you don't see someone for a year or two they assume you are no longer their friend. Curious. Also inconvenient when one tends to be as laconic and hesitant to invade someone's privacy as I am. And I must remember not to confuse the suburbs Hazelwood Park and Redwood Park again (although there was a park near where I used to live as a child called Hazelwood Park which could explain the source of my confusion as whenever I think of Hazelwood Park that location pops into my memory). Still: "Mike and Jane. Jane and Mike <bounce> <bounce> <bounce> <bounce> <bounce> <bounce> <bounce> <bounce> <bounce> <bounce>" <tee hee> <grin> Hmmm. Redmond A. Simonsen and Andre Norton have both passed away last week. You probably know Andre as the author of the Witchworld books, but you are probably going to say "Huh?" to my mention of Redmond. You see, many years ago, there was a game company called SPI who published hundreds of wargames. Some worked. Some didn't. Most were cheap enough for a high school student to buy (as opposed to Avalon Hill games), and allowed the designers to experiment with new ideas. I fondly remember trying to survive the first winter in the ultra-realistic After The Apocalypse (an almost impossible task). Redmond founded that company. He also coined the term Game Designer. I direct you to Greg Costikiyan's weblog for more details. I only knew his work; I did not know the man. [1] I generally don't reference people internally by their given names, so I need a translator function to go from the terminology I use to identify someone to their actual name. And no, the identifiers I use are not quite translatable, so don't ask.

Comments

[dalmeny]

the human behaviour that if you don't see someone for a year or two they assume you are no longer their friend

If I thought that I wouldn't have any friends left. What a strange notion.

[kriste]

Exactly what I was thinking. In fact, some people have become better friends by me not seeing them for so long :) (I think - maybe I can't tell because I don't see them! ;)

[dalmeny]

In fact, some people have become better friends by me not seeing them for so long :)

:)

I think we've somehow managed more extensive conversations since you moved than we managed in the Rubble. It's good.

[kriste]

Agreed. Let us know also the worldcon plans as they progress. It will be good to catch up in person again. Johnwinolj had a lot of fun talking with dmw last year.

[freyaw.livejournal.com]

I don't find it strange at all. It explains, if this was the Mike and Jane I'm thinking of, why I was neither invited nor told.

The problem is, for me, my woeful lack of keeping-in-touch skills. And the fact that I have great difficulty picking up the phone to call even people I know want to hear from me. So if I don't see people, I don't keep in touch, and it gets worse from there.

[reverancepavane.livejournal.com]

It was. And yes. Oh, and before anyone gets the wrong idea, I wasn't talking about Jane and Mike, just some of the other attendees. <grin>